Shockwave : Transformers

Secular Europe Campaign September 2011

The Secular Europe website has a summery of information of the privileges the Vatican enjoys.

It's easy to fall into the Dan Brown style of conspiracy thinking about the Vatican, but recent history has shown that it can't be trusted, and is a blight on the human race. Of course some people will always defend it, no matter if it be child abuse being the fault of modern society, Nazi gold,  or lies about condoms in Africa.

 

Why March? For the promotion of:

• freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom of speech


• women’s equality and reproductive rights


• equal rights for LGBT people in all the European Union


• a secular Europe – democratic, peaceful, open and just, immune to the clandestine influence of privileged religious (or other) organisations


• one law for all, no religious exemptions from the law


• state neutrality in matters of religion and belief

 Opposing:

• the privileged status of the churches under Article 17 of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)


• the special status of the Vatican in the United Nations


• state-funded faith schools


• the economic privilege and political influence of the Vatican

The Campaign has a number of Videos up on YouTube   This one from Stephen Law is my favorite and pertinent to everyone in regards to religious based education.

Nearly 20,000 people attended the Protest the Pope rally in London last year protest against the State Visit of Pope Benedict in the UK,to demand an end to religious privileges and ask that European institutions remain secular.

The Internet (well mostly Facebook) is slowly drawing people together, protesters and activists are coming together and sharing information like never before. Secularists, Humanists and Atheists are finally finding a voice, and realising they can make a change for the better.



‘Secularism is the only way to protect people of all different religions and those with none. It is vital that everyone who believes in liberal democracy and who values human rights comes on the march in September to show their support. If you want to defend women’s rights, children’s rights, the rights of gay people, human and reproductive rights, then march with us this September and let people see that we object to the influence of religion within the law and on the state.’  - Marco Tranchino coordinator of the Secular Europe Campaign

Nymwars and the propaganda of Botgirl

                                                               


The Nymwars against the forces of Morder errr Google continue. Currently it still looks all very vague with Google not really seeming to know what of their executives are going to say next.

 SUCH AS :-

All wars produce some good artistic propaganda, and Botgirl has been a quite a bit prolific, and I would like more people to see them:-

Who is Creeper?

“Parodies and caricatures are the most penetrating of criticisms.” - Aldous Huxley

Wikileaks :- VATICAN ACKNOWLEDGES SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS

                                                                           
 

Reference ID	Created	Released	Classification	Origin
01VATICAN1615	2001-03-23 13:28	2011-08-24 01:00	UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY	Embassy Vatican

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the 

original cable is not available.

-------------------------------------------- 

VATICAN ACKNOWLEDGES SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS 

-------------------------------------------- 

 

¶5.   (SBU) IN A RARE STATEMENT ACKNOWLEDGING FAULT, VATICAN 

SPOKESMAN JOAQUIN NAVARRO-VALLS SAID MARCH 20 THAT THERE WAS 

A PROBLEM OF SEXUAL ABUSE OF NUNS BY PRIESTS IN SOME 

MISSIONARY TERRITORIES. HE SAID THE VATICAN WAS WORKING TO 

CORRECT THE SITUATION. THE STATEMENT WAS IN RESPONSE TO A 

MARCH 16 ARTICLE IN U.S. CATHOLIC WEEKLY, NATIONAL CATHOLIC 

REPORTER THAT CITED FOUR REPORTS BY SENIOR MEMBERS OF 

WOMEN'S RELIGIOUS ORDERS ASSERTING THAT SEXUAL ABUSE OF NUNS 

BY PRIESTS, INCLUDING RAPE, WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM, 

 

                       UNCLASSIFIED 

 

PAGE 05        VATICA  01615  01 OF 02  231320Z 

 

                       UNCLASSIFIED 

 

                           UNCLASSIFIED     PTO7054 

 

PAGE 01        VATICA  01615  02 OF 02  231320Z 

ACTION EUR-00 

 

INFO  LOG-00   NP-00    AF-00    ACQ-00   CA-02    CIAE-00  USNW-00 

      DODE-00  DOEE-00  DS-00    EAP-00   FBIE-00  UTED-00  VC-00 

      H-01     TEDE-00  INR-00   IO-00    L-00     VCE-00   M-00 

      AC-01    NEA-00   NSAE-00  OCS-03   OES-01   OIC-02   PA-00 

      PM-00    ACE-00   P-00     SCT-00   SP-00    IRM-00   SSO-00 

      SS-00    TEST-00  T-00     USIE-00  R-00     SNIS-00  NISC-00 

      PMB-00   DSCC-00  DRL-02   G-00     NFAT-00  SAS-00     /012W 

                  ------------------D63E4F  231330Z /38 

R 231328Z MAR 01 

FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN 

TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0000 

INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE 

AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 

AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 

AMEMBASSY SEOUL 

NSC WASHDC 

 

UNCLAS SECTION 02 OF 02 VATICAN 001615 

 

SIPDIS 

 

SENSITIVE 

 

DEPT. FOR EUR/WE (VAN CLEVE), EUR/SE, EAP/K, NEA/IAI, 

 

EUR/PD/PA, AF/E, AF/W, AF/S, DRL/IRF 

 

FROM EMBASSY VATICAN/MESSAGE NO. 48/01 

                       UNCLASSIFIED 

 

PAGE 02        VATICA  01615  02 OF 02  231320Z 

 

E.O. 12958: N/A 

TAGS: PREL PHUM SOCI IS GR KN KS PHUM SOCI IS GR KN KS VT MEPP VTPREL MEPP

SUBJECT: VATICAN - "VIEWS FROM THE HILL" 

 

ESPECIALLY IN AFRICA. ONE OF THE AUTHORS TOLD A VATICAN CITY 

NEWS AGENCY THAT SHE WAS VERY PLEASED THE VATICAN HAD ISSUED 

ITS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. (COMMENT: THE VATICAN HAS BECOME 

INCREASINGLY SENSITIZED TO INCIDENTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY 

CLERGY, PARTICULARLY IN COUNTRIES LIKE THE US, AUSTRALIA AND 

ENGLAND. WE EXPECT THE REPORTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS IN 

MISSIONARY TERRITORIES TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND DEALT WITH 

PROFESSIONALLY. END COMMENT). MERANTE 

"The best justification governments can find to shut down information isthat lives are at risk. In fact, 

lives have been at risk as a result of the silences and lies revealed in these leaks." -- Jemima Khan 

William Craig Lane V Stephen Law in London

William Craig Lane is on his way back to the UK again, doing the usual tours and talks to the faithful.
This time he is having a debate with Stephen Law  "Does God Exist"* on 17th October 2011 at Westminster Hall.

Tickets are £12.50 and available at http://www.premier.org.uk/craig

If you are in London and can go, it would certainly be an interesting event. It would also be interesting to see if William Craig Lane brings out the same arguments that he has in the past, or has thought of something new.

*No
Religion. It`s given people hope in a world torn apart by religion.  Charlie Chaplin

Latest news on the Australian (Anti) Vaccination network

The AVN have a few court cases coming up soon, here is a bit of a summery of the the conspiracy nuts at the Australian Vaccination Network.

But what is rather frightening, is when I did a google search for "Vaccination Quotes", just how many others like the AVN are out there.


Anyone who knows how difficult it is to keep a secret among three men - particularly if they are married - knows how absurd is the idea of a worldwide secret conspiracy consciously controlling all mankind by its financial power; in real, clear analysis.  Oswald Mosley

Mark No Religion Australian 2011 Census

August 9 is Australian Census night

In February I blogged about the upcoming Census in many countries this year , and how many Humanist Societies such as the Scottish Humanist Society  did a Good without God campaign

In years past if you wanted to get somewhere in Australian politics you never mentioned religion, now thanks to John Howard it seems that we seemed to have taken the American route and it has become a part of the Australian political landscape. Most of this isn't obvious unless you really scrutinise the members of  Federal and State Government. It makes you wonder how Julia Gillard at first was an Atheist, but now has become a non-practising Baptist.
How much influence does religion have in Government? Lets make a list.

1. Chaplains...no real use except for buying votes from Christians.
2. State funding of religious schools.
3. Government refusal to have a Charity commission, only 1st world Gov not to have one.
4. No tax on profits on Church owned businesses, only 1st world Gov not to do this.
5. Church exemptions on anti-discrimination law.
6. No general inquiry into Church child abuse
7. Evangelical Religious Instruction in schools

Do you really want Global warming denier George Pell, giving "advice" the many Catholic people in the Liberal Party?

 

How about Jim Wallace from the Australian Christian Lobby, a friend to all Gay people everywhere /sarcasm

 When you say your Christian, than your giving these self elected spokesman more influence than they deserve.

It's time to take Religion out of Politics  http://www.censusnoreligion.org/




Religious creeds encourage some of the craziest kinds of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and favor severe manifestations of neurosis, borderline personality states, and sometimes even psychosis. - Albert Ellis

Google+ and being who we need to be

        I have had this blog for about 4 years now, so I would guess this makes me an established personality, but not established enough for Google+. I jumped into Google+ when it first went live, and enjoyed the way it worked and the people on there. Then the purges began, people started to disappear...gone from my time line.
People such as :-

GoSpeed Racer
Moggs Oceanlane  (restored then she deleted it)
Wizard Gynoid (restored)
Crystal Rehula has been banned twice

Then I jumped from  Google+ as I had seen on twitter that some people had lost access to Gmail and didn't want to lose access to my account. As my name is made up of fairly common words, but not actual names, I guessed the  BanHammer was coming after me soon.

I'm rather sad about it as Google+ had the potential for me to stay in contact with friends that aren't on other networks, and to deal with the information overload issue that comes from networks I am on.

Then Botgirl Questi got the ban hammer treatment, and she's not taking it lightly, and is giving it her best parody treatment:-

  

Then she had to go and talk to Google, as she does....

It's not just just Second Life personalities falling foul of the names policy.

Violet Blue has a few comments of her own and and has added her name to  My Name is Me

Ex-Google Employee Skud had her Google+ account suspended and has written a great post about it here.

Another post I enjoyed reading was by Danah Boyd  "Real names" are an Abuse of Power  the article itself is quite good, but the comments show a complete range from total agreement, to those who haven't a clue.

My Name is Me is a site that lets people explain in their own words why they have chosen pseudonymity for their online existence.

A lot have to do with issues of sex, religion, (or lack of), politics,Human Rights and to avoid abuse and misogyny. (If you don't that this is a problem, I refer you to my last post on Rebecca Watson, and the daily amount of abuse she gets)

In the last year, we have seen Twitter, and Facebook become the launchpoint for the biggest shake up in world politics since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since  December 2010 there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, civil war in Libya, uprisings in Bahrain,Syria, and Yemen, major protests in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Oman. Minor protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Western Sahara. We can also add the failed Iranian protests.


Remember how Egypt turned off the Internet, to stop the people communicating. I wonder how many people where using real twitter and Facebook accounts. If it had all gone bad in Egypt, well, you can be sure those people with the real accounts would be either dead or missing by now.

Using alternate names is nothing new, it's quite famous for writers, sportsman, actors soldiers:-

Mark Twain = Samuel Clemens
Lewis Carroll = Charles Dodgson,
George Orwell = Eric Blair
Mary Ann Evans = George Eliot
John le Carré = David John Moore Cornwell
Mary Westmacott = Agatha Christie
Dr. Seuss = Theodor Seuss Geisel
Tiger Woods =  Eldrick Tont Woods
Larry Niven = Laurence van Cott Niven
Andre Norton = Alice Mary Norton
Batman = Bruce Wayne
Elvira = Cassandra Peterson
Wonder Woman = Diana Prince
Banksy = ????

Much to my surprise I just discovered Porn Stars don't use their real names!!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also support pseudonyms , and this quote sums it up best :-

As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens put forth in deciding McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm’n 514 U.S. 334, 357 (1995),

"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation—and their ideas from suppression—at the hand of an intolerant society. The right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. But political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse."

EDIT:-
We now seem to have Spartacus standing up for some of us We will see how long this lasts.

 Lady Gaga is my name. If you know me, and you call me Stefani, you don't really know me at all. - Lady Gaga

Rebecca Watson and the Religious War on Woman

This is one of the best videos on modern womans issues I've seen in a while. Rebecca Watson a the CFI leaders conference talks about what it's like to be an outspoken Atheist, and the terrible and disturbing abuse that she gets on a daily basis.

She then sums up how the rich christian organizations are attacking the rights of woman in the USA and are now exporting their vile ideology overseas.
 






Feminism is the radical notion that women are people. ~Cheris Kramarae and Paula Treichler

The Case of the Disappearing Complaints

 

In the last week, Minister Garret, has had two reports drop on his desk.

The First Report

 The Ombudsman's reports into the National Chaplaincy  says that some Chaplains believe that school children with bad behaviour are possessed by demons.

It also highlights a lack of oversight, and a totally inadequate complaints procedure. 

 From the Report:-

3.6 - The investigation also found that current complaint handling procedures do not appear to adequately serve parents and students and should be improved, as it was not apparent that the Department has an adequate process for capturing complaints regarding chaplains and the program. In particular, the Ombudsman is concerned about the absence of any formal protocols between State and Territory education authorities and the Department regarding the day to day administration of the Chaplaincy Program.

This is not surprising as while the Federal Government provide the money, the Chaplain providers hire the staff, and the the Schools house the Chaplains, it seems the perfect setup for everyone to avoid any responsibility. Initially DEEWR said it only received formal 35 complaints:- 

While it had initially told the Ombudsman that only 35 formal complaints had been received about the chaplaincy program over four years, the department later advised it had received 277 complaints and was still checking its database for more.
Mr Asher was unable to identify any guidelines provided to schools by the department on complaints procedures and suggested many complaints had fallen through the cracks - failing to adequately protect the rights of parents and children.

The word "formal" is also significant, how is that defined? Do you have to follow a set procedure, is there a form? Does it have to go to a particular person or department? Does anyone actually know about it? Probably not.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett said yesterday that the chaplaincy program was "very popular among school communities".

As many have said, The State School system has been run down for years, in favour of the religious based private schooling. This is quite comprehensive covered by Jane Caro and Chris Bonner AM in their book The Stupid Country.

So having anyone/someone who is an extra pair of eyes in the school ground would be useful. But then again the Minister could just be playing word games again, with the term "School Communities". I also suspect more word games with "Only 17 complaints about proselytising", nothing about evangelising, oh, but are these just "formal" complaints?


Australia's history with mixing Children with religion is not a happy one. In the past children where placed in Religious institutions such as orphanages, the 8000 British Child Migrants to Australia suffered terrible abuse, and of course the world wide child rape in the Catholic Church, and in each case we look back and say what a terrible tragedy, and it should never have happened in the first place, and we will learn lessons.

I suppose the lessons that have been learned are that you don't put children into evangelical religious institutions (as eventually they will get caught, but typically not punished), but put the evangelicals into childrens institutions eg schools.


The Second Report:-

About ACCESS ministries and their Evangelising. Minister Garret has given them the all clear. Well it seems there were actually no complaints, but then I suspect we come across the word "Formal" again. As usual FIRIS say it best.


So again we see a total whitewash of the Christian influence is schools and Government.
Now is the time to make proper Formal complaints and also time to give some money to the High Court Challenge


Further Reading:-


How the Chaplaincy Program continues due to dodgy statistics



The Bible is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel. - Thomas Paine

Pulp Science Fiction Fun

         I have always enjoyed Science Fiction, I remember waiting for Star Trek on Sunday afternoons and wondering when life will be like that.
Just recently I realized how much of my own moral values have been influenced by the show, and I would have to now classify Gene Roddenberry as a hands-on Humanist philosopher.

I was mostly inspired by the brilliant artist  Aly Fell , some of his Pulp Covers are here


I was advised the first edition was a bit dark, so I have brightened it up a bit and changed the colours on some text.


“Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.” – Isaac Asimov

Moral high ground...really?

One should examine oneself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others. - Moliere

What reason for Censorship, Sex, Violence, and Robots

Censorship is an odd thing, usually it's "Think about the Children". In the past it was usually books on religion and Atheism that would be banned, now it's Harry Potter, and books that portray single mothers in a positive light.

In the lists above I added a few I made up, but believe it or not "Harm to Plantlife", and having an A cup breast size have been used in the past. Actually if a woman in a movie sex scene has an A cup breast size, the film will be banned in Australia.

I'm slightly annoyed that Blogger doesn't show these images better. Hopefully Flickr might due better.

"Obviously, the danger is not in the actual act of reading itself, but rather, the possibility that the texts children read will incite questions, introduce novel ideas, and provoke critical inquiry." -Persis M. Karim