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Reason TV: Judge Napolitano: How Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson Destroyed Constitutional Freedom
December 12, 2012 — xanthippa“I escaped a North Korean prison camp” – Shin Dong-hyuk’s Survivor Story
December 2, 2012 — xanthippaPat Condell: December is “Hatred and Violence in the Koran” Awareness Month!
December 1, 2012 — xanthippa
And here is the longer version – a better one, in my never-humble-opinion:
A Year in Jail for Not Believing in God? How Kentucky is Persecuting Atheists
November 24, 2012 — xanthippaMany of my Christian friends seem completely blind to the very real-life persecution many atheists in our society face from, yes, Christians…
It’s as if a sectarian ‘see-no-intolerance-committed-by-my-co-religionists’ exists within every single religion – which is yet another reason why this world will never get better until all organized religions (with their dogmatization of faith and dividing the world into ‘us vs. them’ along sectarian lines) are a thing of the past!
From Alter.net:
‘In Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state’s citizens to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God–or risk 12 months in prison.
…
The law and its sponsor, state representative Tom Riner, have been the subject of controversy since the law first surfaced in 2006, yet the Kentucky state Supreme Court has refused to review its constitutionality, despite clearly violating the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
…
“The church-state divide is not a line I see,” Riner told The New York Times shortly after the law was first challenged in court. “What I do see is an attempt to separate America from its history of perceiving itself as a nation under God.”’
According to the article, Riner is a Democratic State representative. Hey, aren’t the Democrats in the US be the less religious of the two parties?
So much forfreedom from religion inthe USA!!!
Meanwhile, in the UK…
November 24, 2012 — xanthippa...liberal fascists do not care if it harms children or not – removing them from a home because the adults in the home support a perfectly legal political party which represents the UK in the European Parliament, but just isn’t liberal fascist enough…
This reminds me of the case a while back when a pregnant woman had to leave the UK because the ‘officials’ had deemed her to be an unfit mother because of her past political affiliation with the English Defense League and were going to take her baby away as soon as it was born. Too bad thay don’t show this kind of concern for children born into the families of UK Muslim fascists, who routinely mutilate their children in the name of religion…
Tarek Fatah: receives ‘Lion of Judah’ award, gives a patronizing speech
November 21, 2012 — xanthippaWhat a wonderous world we live in!
Like it or not, we live in a world where people are increasingly being categorized not by who they are (as individuals), but by what they are (race, gender, religion, ethnicity, political ideology, etc.).
It is essential that we fight this category-based fragmentation of our society because if we do not, we will necessarily lose our individual identities – or even the right to aspire to our individual dreams!
That is why it is important that we help amplify the very voices that defy ‘neat categorization’.
Like, say, the voice of Tarek Fatah!
A respected commentator and a self-described moderate Muslim, he has been critical of those who try to force Muslims into a monolithic block, denying the individuality of the Muslims and their right to hold a variety of views, from religious to political to any other kind. Good on him for that!
Last Sunday (18th of November, 2012), Mr. Fatah had been recognized for his role by receiving the ‘Lion of Judah’ award from the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJC). Following the award, Mr. Fatah delivered a speech that, from all accounts (and I’ve heard a few) was at odds with the spirit of the event in that it denied the Jews that same individuality and attempted to treat them (as well as other members of our society, like, say, ‘conservatives’) as monolithic groups, reduced to simple ‘cogs in a machine’ and not the individuals that we all are.
In addition, Mr. Fatah’s speech appears to have been fraught with factual errors, like his claim that south of the border, the Republican party was against the civil rights of blacks while the Democrats supported them. (This is an often repeated lie, but even a cursory examination of historic data will demonstrate that during the civil rights movement in the South, it was the Democrats who were passing the racist laws and the Republicans who fought them…)
Unfortunate, to say the least.
For a first hand account of the event, with direct transcripts from Mr. Fatah’s speech, please, head over to BlogWrath.
Scaramouche has another eyewitness account of the event.
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 