A whole lotta banning goin’ on

1. Muslim nations seek to ban blasphemy -

Four years after cartoons of the prophet Muhammad set off violent protests across the Muslim world, Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery – essentially a ban on blasphemy that would put them on a collision course with free speech laws in the West.

2. Texas bans all marriage – Religious fanatics aren’t the only ones who can slip nonsense into a bill:

When the people of Texas passed a 2005 constitutional amendment to “protect” marriage, those clever, clever gays somehow forced them to word it poorly enough that it might prohibit ALL marriage in the state, same-sex or otherwise:

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that “marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.” But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

“This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively “eliminates marriage in Texas,” including common-law marriages.

News From Around The Blogosphere 10.28.09

1. Obama Administration slams U.N. anti-blasphemy position -

The Obama administration on Monday came out strongly against efforts by Islamic nations to bar the defamation of religions, saying the moves would restrict free speech.

“Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called anti-defamation policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters. “I strongly disagree.”

2. Did the anti-vaccinationists convert Star Trek’s Data? – Oh, please tell me it isn’t true. Apparently, actor Brent Spiner tweeted that he was a fan of Jay Gordon and when asked if he was an anti-vaccinationist, here was his tweeted response:

RT @SusietheGeek @BrentSpiner Are you an antivaxxer–Not completely. But it’s worth investigating before letting drug cos. bamboozle us.

No, don’t do it, Data!! Don’t be assimilated! Resistence is not futile!

3. Help the Center For Inquiry educate our legislators – CFI is fighting to keep religion and quackery out of health care reform and they need your help.

Bill Donohue’s pissed again. As is Michael Savage

That’s right. Child Rapist Apologist Bill Donohue is pissed off at something. I swear, if I had a penny for every time this happened, I’d be a rich man. Wasn’t it only a week ago that he The Simpsons outraged him?

So what’s made baby Jesus cry now? Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David has mocked religion before in the show (for instance, here, here, here, and here). But I guess Donohue only cares when its his religion that’s being mocked.

But Donohue’s not the only one. Michael Savage (yeah, that Michael Savage) also attacked Larry David, who he refers to as a “self-hating Jew,” “insane,” and somehow an “anti semite.”

The guy complains that Seinfeld teaches people that all Jews are like Woody Allen stereotypes despite not watching Seinfeld. . .obviously. He then mischaracterized Curb Your Enthusiasm, another show that he doesn’t watch, claiming that “the only Christian in the show” is depicted as fat and stupid, etc. The only Christian in the show? What?! Right off the top of my head, David’s on-screen wife Cheryl is a Christian. She was in the episode and was neither depicted as fat nor stupid. I’m pretty damned sure Ted Danson’s not Jewish. And he’s in almost every other episode of the show. Though I don’t recall seeing him in this particular episode, he was in the previous episode. And there are countless non-Jews in Curb Your Enthusiasm. And they’re not depicted as all fat and stupid. And let’s be fair here. Similar cases to the one mocked in the show really do happen.

Then Michael Savage says something else incredibly ignorant and stupid (I know. Shocker) by using the old Donohue “they only mock Christianity because they’re afraid to mock Islam” gambit. Which is of course absurd considering Larry David HAS MOCKED ISLAM IN THE SHOW!!!

Oh, I am outraged, Mike. I’m outraged that your bullshit is allowed on the air. It’s not Larry David that makes Jews look bad. You make humanity look bad, you hypocritical, self-righteous ass-clown!

What book are Christians burning now?

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in North Carolina has decided to organize an annual book burning around Halloween. So yes, they are celebrating Halloween, only in their own fascist, Nazi-like way. Among the many books they intend to burn is the Bible. I’m not joking:

Yes, apparently “God” didn’t write the Bible; he just cribbed off of thousands of older versions and decided to copy it all into his native language, English.

Boing Boing busts Ralph Lauren

Just yesterday I blogged about the great work Glamour Magazine has been doing to promote realistic body images. Now today, comes a related controversy. After Ralph Lauren created an ad using an emaciated model, a blog called “Photoshop Disasters” reposted it. And then the website Boing Boing reposted it with their own scathing article. This led to Lauren filing a copyright claim against the use of his ad in their article even though it clearly falls within fair use as commentary and criticism. But Boing Boing didn’t give up:

In response, Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow issued a stern warning to Ralph Lauren yesterday on the website, saying that the company’s attempt to silence their criticism has only inspired them to step up their efforts in the future:

“Copyright law doesn’t give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings. You should know better. And every time you threaten to sue us over stuff like this, we will:a) Reproduce the original criticism, making damned sure that all our readers get a good, long look at it, and;

b) Publish your spurious legal threat along with copious mockery, so that it becomes highly ranked in search engines where other people you threaten can find it and take heart; and

c) Offer nourishing soup and sandwiches to your models.”

All I’ve got to say to Boing Boing is keep up the good work and don’t let assholes get away with trying to silence critics.

News From Around The Blogosphere 9.16.09

1. Sam Noble Museum of Natural History apologizes for hosting creationist film premiere. . .sorta – Actually, it’s more like an excuse. . .and they’re still going ahead with the premiere. . .because of free speech. Funny, but I don’t remember anything in the First Amendment saying museums can’t discriminate regarding who they rent out their space too. Maybe David Irving should try and book a Holocaust denial lecture there. After all, they don’t discriminate.

2. What’s the harm in believing in reincarnation? – It turns out that some Hindus believe that if your organs are removed, you may be reincarnated with them missing. So lots of them are deciding not to donate organs!! Ugh!

3. The atheists of Liberal, Missouri – It seems that there was once a town in Missouri that was founded as an atheist-only community. For countless reasons, the experiment failed, not least of which being that it wasn’t a very good idea in the first place.

4. Ten Commandments tablet goes up in Louisiana park – It’s right across the street from a public high school and allegedly the tablet and its installation was paid for by a former city councilman, A.T. Furr:

Mayor Harold Rideau supports it, adding “We’re a Christian-based community.”

He’s in for one hell of a lawsuit.

News From Around The Blogosphere 9.14.09

1. $cientology tries to censor critics in Australia – The Australian branch of CoS submitted a proposal to the local Human Rights Commission to censor those who commit, as they call it, “Religious Vilification.” Essentially, they want to create their own blasphemy laws.

2. 2010 California Marriage Protection Act - Safeguarding marriage from the evils of divorce. As if you needed another reason to hate religion.

3. Proposed law in Indonesia calls for stoning adulterers to death -

Muslims who commit adultery in Indonesia’s Aceh province may be stoned to death under a controversial new sharia law passed by the local parliament on Monday.

As if you needed yet another reason to hate religion.

4. Bill Gates intends to control the weather -

Turns out Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and a team of scientists have filed a patent on technology that would seek to eliminate the danger of hurricanes. The idea is pretty simple: A fleet of barges would be dispatched to the waters ahead of a raging storm. There, they would use a system of conduits to both push warm surface water below the ocean surface while bringing deeper, colder water up. This would theoretically weaken the approaching hurricane, possibly saving lives and money and binding all those affected into a blood debt with Mr. Gates.

Gates may be onto something but some experts aren’t convinced for various reasons. For more info, click the link above.

5. Science Daily explains how stem cells make skin -

Stem cells have a unique ability: when they divide, they can either give rise to more stem cells, or to a variety of specialised cell types. In both mice and humans, a layer of cells at the base of the skin contains stem cells that can develop into the specialised cells in the layers above. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Monterotondo, in collaboration with colleagues at the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas (CIEMAT) in Madrid, have discovered two proteins that control when and how these stem cells switch to being skin cells.

This Week In God 9.9.09

1. New Hampshire court orders home-schooler to attend public school – The judge criticized the “rigidity” of her mother’s religious views and said the 10-year-old needed to consider other worldviews as she matures. This definitely isn’t a case of a judge overruling parental rights particularly because one of the parents was calling for it:

The girl’s mother, Brenda Voydatch, has engaged the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., to contest the ruling, in which the judge granted a request by the girl’s father, Martin Kurowski, that the girl go to a public school.

While other groups are also protesting this decision, I fully support it. I think home schooling should be illegal unless it can be regulated to ensure children get a proper and well-rounded education that isn’t just religious indoctrination.

2. Spanish astrophysicist EXPELLED for criticizing the Catholic Church – Now I admit that I don’t know the full story here. For all I know Javier Armentia deserved to be fired. But it seems as though it merely was the result of his being accused of being an anti-Catholic atheist. But I just love the irony of it, since Ben Stein’s mockumentary made such a big deal out of false claims of people losing their jobs merely because they had the audacity to criticize evolution.

3. Finnish politician EXPELLED for criticizing Islam – Yup, there’s a theme today. Jussi Kristian Halla-aho went to court for saying:

Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile and islam revers pedophilia as a religion. Islam is a religion of pedophilia. Pedophilia is Allah’s will.

Now I happen to agree with every word he said here but, fine, take the guy to court. What I find shocking, however, is that Halla-aho lost the case and has to pay a fine because of nothing other than words. He didn’t hurt anyone. He just said things that offended some people. . .things that happen to also be true. Though even if they weren’t true, why shouldn’t he have the right to say them anyway? Finland, I expected this kind of crap from the U.S. but I thought you were better than this.

Laurie Higgins is still a crazy bitch

The other day, I blogged about the mis-named Illinois Family Institute’s Director Laurie Higgins’ insane attempts to get The Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta fired from his job as a math teacher because he blogs about atheism in his spare time.

Now she’s continuing her crusade. This excerpt pretty much summarizes her whole argument:

“… parents really should spend some time perusing… math teacher, Hemant Mehta’s website to determine whether he is the kind of man with whom they want their children to spend a school year. He absolutely has a First Amendment right to promote any feckless, destructive, offensive, and immoral ideas he wants via his blog, but, as I mentioned in my earlier article, parents have the right not to have him as a teacher and a role model for their children. I want to be very clear about what I’m suggesting: I am suggesting that parents who have serious concerns about Mr. Mehta’s potential influence on their children’s beliefs politely insist that their children be placed in another teacher’s class.”

She seriously wants to empower parents to blacklist any teacher they don’t like for any reason they want. But the best part of her recent attack is here:

“Some parents fail to understand the adolescent mind: they fail to understand that teens are often predisposed to affirm the ideas of adults whom they find cool or personable or funny or iconoclastic. Those parents, no matter what their personal beliefs, will likely be comfortable with their children in Mr. Mehta’s class.

Some parents may be ideological kindred spirits with Mr. Mehta. Those parents may relish the idea of their children being impressed by Mr. Mehta and influenced by his subversive ideas.

But those parents who are troublied by the ideas Mr. Mehta expresses, posts on his blog, and endorses, and who recognize that their teens may be predisposed to look favorably on his ideas merely because they like him, may want to ensure their teens have another math teacher.

It’s all about diversity and choice.”

She’s already conceded that she can find not a single instance of Mehta pushing his atheistic non-beliefs in his classroom and yet now she implies that he is influencing his students with “his subversive ideas.” But she herself has previously said that she admits he is doing no such thing. So WHAT THE FUCK is she talking about?

Would it be out of line to make the race comparison here? Fuck it! I’ll go with the McCarthyist comparison. This is like trying to get a gym teacher fired because in his spare time, I writes harsh criticisms of capitalism and then claiming that it’s because students might look on him as a role model and embrace his communist values even though he never discusses them with his students.

Well, you know what, Ms. Higgins? There are lots of teachers out there, all with their own unique politics, religions, and ideologies. And the mere facts that they have their own opinions about the world, that those opinions aren’t the same as your own, and that they choose to express them in their own spare time does not in any way reflect poorly on their character or on their ability to do their jobs.

So if you really want your child taught in a fascist society, I recommend you move to North Korea. And that you have the audacity to end by saying “It’s all about diversity and choice” shows just what a deluded, hypocritical loony you are.

Bill Donohue vs. Penn & Teller

Fascism’s best friend Bill Donohue is up to his old tricks again. Donohue is the head of the Catholic Legion of Doom–err, I mean the Catholic League. The man’s tried to censor more art and media than most people consume in a lifetime. Now Donohue’s targeting Penn & Teller for an upcoming episode of their skeptical Showtime series Bullshit, which Donohue informs us criticizing Catholicism.

Donohue also wants you to know that this episode airs on August 27, because it’s important that you know exactly what day it’s on so that you can, I guess, not watch it. And while advertising the show, he’s also calling for Showtime to cancel the show and fire the Penn & Teller. Good luck with that one, Bill.

And of course, Bill trots out his favorite lame-ass argument he always uses:  You wouldn’t pick on Islam because it’s only become acceptable to offend Catholicism. Never mind the fact that this argument has yet to ever prove true. PZ Myers was more than willing to desecrate a Koran right alongside Donohue’s Nabisco-produced god. And really, is there anyone who honestly thinks Penn & Teller would hesitate to offend Islam?

On August 27, Showtime, owned by CBS, will feature a vicious assault on Catholics. In the season finale of Penn & Teller’s show, they “take on the secretive inner world of The Vatican, the holy city of Catholicism and home of the Pope.” How do we know it will defame Catholics? Because on the show’s website, it says so: There is a Showtime Advisory for “Graphic Language, Adult Content.”

If Showtime posted that warning about a show on Islam, Muslims would brace for the worst (and so might CBS). But Muslims need not worry: it’s not all religions that Showtime likes to trash–just Catholicism. Indeed, Showtime is currently working on a show, “Revelation,” that promises to be at least somewhat respectful of Protestantism.

What will the upcoming show be like? On his Twitter page, Penn Jillette brags how he rips a Catholic encyclical on sexuality: “I’m dressed as Darth with a condom c–k light saber.” He even boasts that the show is “hardcore,” admitting that “we attack the Vatican.” From trashing The Last Supper to mocking Catholic prayers, anti-Catholic bigots who feed on this kind of stuff will have a stomach full.

This is not the first time Showtime has featured a vile Penn & Teller show. In 2005, Mother Teresa was called “Mother F—ing Teresa,” and her order of nuns were branded “f—ing c–ts.” The year after, Jillette said on his CBS radio show that Mother Teresa “got her [sexual] kicks watching people suffer and die.”

Just recently, Jillette took after me again in his usual foul way. That doesn’t matter, but what matters greatly is his pathological obsession with bashing Catholics and their religion. There is no legitimate place for this kind of frontal assault on any demographic group.

CBS/Showtime needs to send Penn & Teller a message and let them know that they have crossed the line for the last time. This should be their final season. We know that they’ve been told before to drop the Catholic bashing, and yet they persist. By doing so, Penn & Teller have effectively stuck their middle finger right in the eye of CBS.

You gotta laugh at his classic super-villain, “. . .they have crossed the line for the last time.” Can’t you just picture him pounding a mechanical fist against his desk and startling his evil cat as he says that? And again, really? After 7 seasons of criticizing just about everything under the sun from New Age Medicine to bottled water to 12-step programs, it’s only NOW that they’ve “crossed the line?”

You gotta hand it to Donohue though. The man passionately defended habitual child rapists but a chocolate Jesus sculpture and a  silly TV show mocking that parody Donohue calls a religion is “crossing the line.” Way to prioritize your values there, Bill.

Truly no non-persecuted individual is better at crying persecuation than this guy. He’s even got a book coming where he exercises his Constitutionally protected free speech to talk about how persecuted he and his cult brethren are, Secular Sabotage: How Liberals are Destroying Religion and Culture in America. According to the “review” of the book by the sicophantic L. Brent Bozell:

“Secular Sabotage” is serious business. Donohue insists the United States should be considered unequivocally a Christian country. Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves as such. Indeed – and I didn’t realize this – the United States is the most Christian country, in quantitative terms, in the world. “In fact,” states the author, “the U.S. is more Christian than Israel is Jewish.” And yet if this is so, why can’t we celebrate Christmas? Why can’t our children pray in school? How did we just elect a president who insisted the United States ought not to be considered a Christian nation?

The man uses hyperbole like it’s going out of style. Am I missing the part in that paragraph that explains how Christians are margionalized or persecuted? Donohue really felt it was necessary to write a book arguing over literal semantics. Donohue, you can call this country whatever the fuck you want. You can call it a Zoroastrian nation for all I care. That doesn’t change the facts that the U.S. is full of non-Christians, and that  the U.S. legally cannot, and should not, respect the establishment of religion, any religion. Plus there’s a decent chance this nation will be majority Muslim in 50 years, so do you really want to declare whichever religion can claim the most citizens the official religion of the land, especially considering that the majority religion in this nation is Protestant, not Catholicism.