OVO

Richard Meyhew and Curt Brown: Court sides with church on its ban of autistic teen [LINK-ZUM]

An autistic 13-year-old boy from central Minnesota won't be going back to his family's church anytime soon. Upholding a May 13 restraining order that barred the teen from the church, Todd County District Judge Sally Ireland Robertson has ruled that 6-foot-2, 225-pound Adam Race engaged in "repeated harassment" and was perceived as a threat by those attending services at the Church of St. Joseph in the town of Bertha. Robertson said that even though Adam "did not specifically intend to harass anyone," his conduct at church services was "objectively unreasonable" and included "repeated, disruptive or distracting acts, sounds, and gestures."

[Article continues at link. As anyone who reads the Bible knows, the Church of St. Joseph was only doing what Christians are supposed to do in banning Mr. Race. God punishes the wicked with madness. God commanded that anyone with any blemish not be allowed to attend worship. Jesus Christ orders us to keep Mr. Race out of church. If God wanted Mr. Race to know eternal salvation, He would not have made him autistic. Instead, Mr. Race was made by God for the purpose of experiencing eternal suffering in Hell. God decided long ago who was going to be going to Heaven and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Sounds cruel? That's what Christianity says. What do you say? - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, krankheit

John MacDonald: Mohels Give Non-Jewish Babies a Slice of Tradition [LINK-ZUM]

When his son was born, Reverend Louis DeCaro Jr. was dismayed to learn that none of the doctors on call at Manhattan's Allen Pavilion hospital had time to perform the circumcision. At a loss, the DeCaros turned for advice to their Manhattan pediatrician, Andrew Mutnick, who offered a simple solution: Hire a Jewish ritual circumciser, known as a mohel. [...] "When [a circumcision] is done by a mohel, you appreciate the gravity, the beauty of the religious connotations," DeCaro said. [...]

According to [Emily Blake in New York and Joel Shoulson in Philadelphia], non-Jews make up between 2% and 5% of their clientele. Some, like the DeCaros, are motivated initially by practical circumstances, but others seem drawn to the mohels for spiritual reasons, if not explicitly religious ones. Both Blake and Sherman have even been approached by "Torah-observant Christians" - those dedicated to observing Old Testament commandments - seeking to have their sons circumcised on the eighth day after the birth. In all cases, families say they are drawn to the intimacy and convenience of a nonritual circumcision performed at home.

[Article continues at link. Beautiful, religious, intimate, convenient - fine words to describe infant genital mutilation by untrained amateurs to satisfy a superstition dictated thousands of years ago by an invisible monster that lives in the sky. If these parents had a stranger play doctor with their babies for any reason other than religion, they would rightly be arrested, tried, and imprisoned. But because they do it for religious reasons, they are forgiven. Religion makes unnecessary cosmetic surgery somehow become a good idea. Religion makes everything okay, because it's ancient and sacred and stuff. Like the ancient and sacred tradition of performing circumcisions by chewing off parts of a baby's penis. Haw, ain't God good! - Trevor Blake]

Labels: judaism, krankheit

Trevor Blake: OVO blog October 2007 [LINK-ZUM]

Christ @ Work. The Bible does contain some fine moral advice in it. It also contains some inhumanly evil moral advice. It also contains some foolish nonsense that dresses itself up as moral advice. That doesn't make it much different from any number of other books, ancient and modern.

Extremophiles. What might humanity be able to engineer for ourselves to become extremophiles? What dangers do exremophiles present to humanity?

Interfaith Dialog. In some places, disagreements are resolved by discussion. In other places, disagreements are resolved by flogging.

Islam is Peace. Islam, like Christianity and all religions, is a collection of mean-spirited superstitions invented by illiterate pre-scientific nobodies that we have no reason to heed.

Krankheit. Sometimes sickness is a benefit.

The Latter-Day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America. Maybe it wouldn't be such a terrible thing if the Mormons got out of the Scouting business.

More Sperm. February 2005 saw the return of OVO after 13 years of hibernation. The theme for that issue was 'sperm.' Sperm remains in the news, and here are some of the top sperm stories from the past two years.

Peaceable Protests After Amsterdam Attacks. Police in the Dutch city of Amsterdam say several peaceful protests were held in the sixth night of memorials after officers shot a Moroccan man dead.

Priorities. It seems that other people being free to celebrate or have their own superstitions is intolerable to Muslims, while public whippings and stoning are just fine as long as they occur in-house.

Publius Enigma. It has something to do with Pink Floyd and the Internet and a treasure hunt.

Saturn Return. Saturn Return is when Universe picks you up from under the Christmas tree and shakes you to see if it can figure out what you are.

SB777. SB777 protects religious belief against discrimination. It also protects discrimination in religious belief. Only religion can distort the rule of law to this degree.

Sharia in the United States of America. It is illegal to non-surgically amputate people's hands as a punishment for a crime. Illegal under United States law, but legal under sharia law.

Superstitious Exemption from the Rule of Law. For better and for worse, it is not the case that we can all happily get along. But where there is the rule of law and not force, fiat or superstition we can at least get along peaceably.

Two Articles from All Africa. Replacing witch doctors with Christians is not going to help the situation.

Two Links via God is for Suckers. All money spent on religion is money wasted, wasted more thoroughly than money spent on weapons or torture. At least when someone is killed or tortured, something happened.

Workplace Religious Freedom Act (S. 893). If this bill becomes law, then religious employees will have rights and privileges that no atheist employee can have.

Labels: christianity, extremophiles, islam, krankheit, music, ovo, periodical, sperm, theocracy, zine

Richard Spencer and Juliet Turner: Doctors battle to save 'human pin-cushion' [LINK-ZUM]

Doctors in China have saved the life of a woman who had 26 pins and needles inserted into her body when she was a child in an apparent attempt to change her sex to a boy. The objects were discovered when the 29-year-old woman, named in local papers as Luo Cuifen, went to hospital for a check-up after she started experiencing blood in her urine. Doctors in China have saved the life of a woman who had 26 pins and needles inserted into her body when she was a child in an apparent attempt to change her sex to a boy. The objects were discovered when the 29-year-old woman, named in local papers as Luo Cuifen, went to hospital for a check-up after she started experiencing blood in her urine. [...] Since the one-child policy came into force, around the time of Miss Luo's birth, many girl children have been aborted, abandoned, or killed after birth - in some cases by grandparents. Miss Luo, who comes from a rural area in Yunnan, one of China's poorer provinces, told doctors she had two needles removed when she was a child but had had no health problems until she gave birth.

[Article with photographs continues at link. Here is the side of 'alternative medicine' and 'Chinese medicine' and 'traditional medicine' that you don't hear as much about in the West. Although there are perhaps thirty (30!) wild South China Tigers left in the world, they continue to be butchered for 'medical' treatments that do not now nor have they ever worked. Acupuncture may be an effective placebo delivery system but it can also result in sickness and death. China is a socialist country, suggesting socialism does not provide an immunity to superstition or poor parenting. It isn't alternative medicine if there is no alternative. The real alternative here would have included access to actual medical care and not attempting to change the sex of an infant. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: krankheit, science, sex, socialism

Trevor Blake: Krankheit [LINK-ZUM]

Sometimes sickness is a benefit. Dr. Eugeniusz Lazowski fabricated a typhus epidemic to save Polish Jews from the Nazis. Stuart Baker-Brown considers his schizophrenia to be a component of his painting skill. Leg-Calve Perthes disease is part of Bill Shannon's performance art and dance.

Sometimes medical care is detrimental. Accusations of mental and physical illness are used to imprison people who have committed no crime. Medical care sometimes makes the situation worse. Doctors sometimes do harm.

I seek professional help when I need it. I try to take care of myself as best I can and decide for myself what is healthy and what is sickness. I am left-handed, a minority condition which is associated with social stigma and shorter lifespans but also with creativity and intelligence. Is being left-handed a sickness?

Labels: krankheit

diy tags [LINK-ZUM]

DIY commerce del.icio.us games krankheit mac p2p paper robots rockets sex tools transhuman trevorblake

Labels: commerce, del.icio.us, DIY, games, krankheit, mac, p2p, paper, robots, rockets, sex, tools, transhuman, trevorblake

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