Friday, March 26, 2010

Why is China opposed to “defamation of religion”?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s holidays:  Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel (Greek Orthodox Christianity), Feast of Mansur al-Hallaj (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Repower America | We got next”, “Take Action: Send Congress Your State's Invoice for Foodborne Illness.”, and “MoveOn.org Political Action: Republican Leaders: Condemn the hate”.

New cool software:  Ancient Semitic Scripts, which is a collection of fonts for Hebrew and Aramaic based on historic texts.  Mac OS X users can put the font files (things ending with “.ttf”) into the Fonts folder of the Library folder (personal or system).

Topic 1:  More anti-Semitism:  “Not the White Response” and “Muslim-Jewish tensions roil a Swedish city”.  The first article deals someone saying something outrageous and then trying to rationalize it, thus metaphorically only stuffing his foot further into his mouth.  The second deals with anti-Semitic hate crimes in Malmo, Sweden, much of them connected with Islam.

Other religious persecution:  “Pakistani Christian couple refuses to convert: husband is burnt alive, wife raped by police”, “Christians Face 1,000 Attacks in 500 Days in Karnataka, India”, “Kidnapping reflects fears of Pakistan minorities”, “Christian Woman Jailed under Pakistan’s ‘Blasphemy’ Laws”, “Islamic Extremists in Somalia Kill Church Leader, Torch Home”, “RUSSIA: Lutheran extremists?”, and “RUSSIA: Who initiated anti-Jehovah's Witness and anti-Nursi campaigns?”.

SVG version of :Image:State Religions.png base...Image of state religions which really ought to include atheism via Wikipedia
Topic 2:  “UN rights council slams 'defamation of religion'”.  This article has me puzzled.  Islamic countries are infamous for promoting prohibiting “defamation of religion”, the intent being to protect Islam from criticism or condemnation, whether it be fair or not.  However, China, of all countries, supported the resolution.  China, you will recall, is an officially atheist country.  The only way I see around the discrepancy is that China wants atheism protected from defamation as a religion, though this may be pushing it.

For the record:  I am opposed to this resolution because it seeks to squelch legitimate debate.  If one cannot make decent replies to criticism but has to squelch it, then one should be questioning whether one is right in the first place.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor, based on the next major Jewish holiday, Pesaḥ (Passover):  “Tough Love” and “All Together”.

Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron
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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

He REALLY isn’t the Maitreya you’re looking for

Greetings.

Jewish date:  9 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s holidays:  Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Feast of Priapas (Thelema), Student Day (Scientology).

NOTE:  Yesterday I created an iCal calendar for Scientology holidays.  iCal calendars for holidays of religions I am not currently tracking would be appreciated.


Worthy causes of the day:  “Take Action: No stolen elections in Sudan | Save Darfur” and “ColorOfChange.org:  Tell the GOP: Stop inciting and supporting hate”.

Questionably worthy cause of the day:  “A Ticket For Rush!”.  (Submitted by Barry.)  Apparently Rush Limbaugh said on the air that if health care reform passed, he would go to Costa Rica.  This site is trying to raise money for his ticket.  While I would not be saddened by Limbaugh leaving the United States, I do not wish to inflict him on another country.


Topic 1:  Yesterday I posted on how Share International thought that author/activist Raj Patel is Maitreya, a Mashiaḥ/Messiah-like figure.  Someone calling himself “Dave” left a comment on that post denying that Share International actually thinks that Patel is Maitreya, claiming that it is all just a rumor started by Christian fundamentalists.  A bit of searching revealed that Share International makes no mention of Patel at all on their Web-site, and I wrote to Share International for further confirmation.  This is what they wrote back:
Thanks for visiting the Share International website and for your query.

A pity the media doesn't check the validity of these 'facts' as well, before
publishing. But, yes, the "Patel is Maitreya" claim is indeed "only a
spurious rumor".
Why Christian fundamentalists (or anyone else) would start such a rumor or why anyone is bugging Patel, I do not know.  Maybe someone got annoyed at both Share International and Patel and decided to be mischievous towards both.  But the moral of the story is not to blindly trust everything in the news.

Topic 2:  “Super-sizing the "Last Supper"”:  Just something curious reported recently.  Apparently the portion sizes in paintings of the Last Supper have increased over time.

Topic 3:  I had long heard of a strange claim popularly mocked that if one were photographed one’s soul would be stolen in the process.  Only recently did I learn who actually believed it:  Crazy Horse (of the Battle of Little Bighorn fame).  He apparently took this belief seriously enough that there are no known photographs of him in existence.

Topic 4:  For today’s religious humor:  “Happy Passover LOLCat Graphic”:
Happy Passover LOLCat Graphic


Yes, that is a scarf the cat is wearing, not a ṭallith.

Peace.

Aaron
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

He’s not the Maitreya you’re looking for

Greetings.

Jewish date:  8 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s holiday:  Feast of Turibius de Mogrovejo (Roman Catholicism).




Topic 1:  “I'm not the messiah, says food activist – but his many worshippers do not believe him”.  I do not know what to do with this article.  Apparently Share International, an offshoot of the occult religion Theosophy, has decided that author and environmental activist Raj Patel is Maitreya (the group’s equivalent of the Mashiaḥ/Messiah).  Mr. Patel has been identified as Maitreya on the basis of him fitting multiple items of what Maitreya is supposed to be like.  One question to be considered is whether there are criteria for Maitreya which Patel does not fit; Patel himself claims that his politics are the opposite of what they should be for Matreiya.  It would be nice to know whether there are “misses” which are not not covered in this article.  Also, there is the question about how many of the “hits” are by chance alone.  The chances that one single human will fit an arbitrary list of criteria are often small, but with over 6,000,000,000 humans on the planet, the chances that someone will fit the same list is usually higher.

Also:  Patel has a sense of humor about his Maitreyahood.  See “Stephen and me” and “Call Me Brian”.

Also note:  If anyone of you, like me, is awaiting Mashiaḥ or any similar special figure, the statistics works in your favor.  The more humans there are, the more likely there is someone who fits the bill.

Topic 2:  The Dry Bones cartoon “Occupied Territories (1977 2009)”.  This cartoon puts Israel’s situation in perspective.

Topic 4:  For today’s religious humor, for which I blame Alan:  “Best pesach photo I could find”.  If anyone needs me to explain how crazy people get cleaning for Pesaḥ (Passover), please let me know.

Peace.

Aaron
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Monday, March 22, 2010

The Sphinx versus Alexander the Great (sort of)

Greetings.

Jewish date:  7 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s holidays:  Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of Wolfgang von Goethe (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:  “MoveOn.org Political Action: Get It Done”.

Topic 1:  The latest episode of Caprica: “Ghosts in the Machine”.  Much of the religious aspects of this episode is bits and pieces.  Amanda Graystone, in a variation on seeing dead people, sees a destroyed car.  Joseph Adama, seeking the virtual version of his deceased daughter Tamara, visits a virtual nightclub called Mysteries (as in Eleusinian Mysteries and mystery religions in general), and the proprietor tries to force him to solve a riddle (think of the Sphinx).  Unlike Oedipus, Joseph follows Alexander the Great’s approach to undoing the Gordian knot and uses virtual violence to get the information he wants.  More interesting are the moral reasoning of Daniel Graystone and Zoe II in this episode.  The previous episode ended with Daniel suspecting that Zoe II really was still in the Cylon body based on her subtle behavior towards the family dog.  In this episode, he is determined to get her to acknowledge her identity.  Zoe II, however, is bearing a grudge towards her father, who failed to give her informed consent about transferring her into the Cylon body, and is determined to remain hidden.  Daniel thus puts Zoe II in a series of situations where he hopes she will react as herself and not as a robot.  The situations are cruel, e.g., ordering her to shoot the family dog (unbeknownst to her, with blanks), but he considers getting Zoe II to admit who she is to be worth it.  Though Daniel is unsuccessful in this episode, I fully expect his failure to be only temporary.  (He has to be a genius; idiots do not build functional robots.)  At the very least, he should eventually hit upon bugging his own lab to see if Zoe II acts human in his absence.

Topic 2:  Two articles on religion which I am trying to figure out what people mentioned therein were thinking:  “Mexican drug smugglers embrace bandit as patron saint” and “Hialeah man investigated over feeding Giant African Snails to followers”.  In the later, Charles L. Stewart fed giant African snail mucus to his followers in what was supposed to be an Ifé healing ritual, and his followers got sick.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Ghost cat iz
funny pictures of cats with captions
They say all dogs go to Heaven.  Apparently the cats come back…


Peace.

Aaron
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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Translation anomalies and the origin of ethics

Greetings.

Jewish date:  6 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s holidays:  Fifth Sunday of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Spring Equinox (Thelema), Naw-Rúz (Bahá’í Faith).


Topic 1:  Yet another translation problem:  The King James Version translates the Hebrew minḥah (used  first  in Leviticus 2:4 and periodically afterwards) as “meat offering”.  While this may have been an accurate translation in the days of King James I, the meaning of “meat” has changed substantially since then.  The actual meaning of minḥah, which makes sense in context, is “flour offering”.

I also came across a translation anomaly in the New Testament recently, too.  In the story of the prodigal son, Luke 15:16 specifically, pigs are described in the original Greek as eating keratiōn.  The King James Version translates this as “husks”, while the New International Version says “pods”.  But the dictionary claimed something rather more specific:  “St. John’s bread”, also known as “carobs” and Ceratonia siliqua.  I have no idea why this discrepancy exists.

Topic 2:  “The Ethical Dog”.  There is a major question about where morality and ethics come from.  My view is that they are social constructs which may (or may not) be imposed by a god.  This article notes that the constructs have evolutionary roots:  ethics evolved because they aid the survival of those who play by the rules and thus getting genes on to the next generation.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “My temple is prepared.
funny pictures of cats with captions
I am under the impression that at least some cats really seem to think this way.

Peace.

Aaron
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Friday, March 19, 2010

The ridiculous Jerusalem incident and the US’s lack of a chief rabbi

Greetings.

Jewish date:  4 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Wayyiqra’).

Today’s holidays:  Saint Joseph's Day (Roman Catholicism), Bahá’í Month of Fasting (Bahá’í Faith), Eve of the Holy Season (Thelema), Mojoday (Discordianism).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Save the Internet: Take Action!:  Stop the Great Internet Rip-Off”, “American Heart Association - Reinventing Healthcare:  Time to Act: Tell Your Representative to "Vote YES"”, “Heart Disease and Stroke. You’re the Cure.:  Tell your Senator NOW is the time to protect South Carolina kids”, and “Save BioGems: Take Action: Stop Pebble Mine”.

Topic 1:  More on the ridiculous Jerusalem incident:  “Special Report: Making Sense of the Jerusalem Crisis” dismantles the ideas that adding new housing to Ramath Shelomo prevents peace between Israel and stateless Arabs and that the Ḥurvah Synagogue undermines the Temple Mount (from 330 meters away).  Also noted is that the stateless Arabs thought this would be a great time to name a public square after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who in 1978 murdered 38 and wounded 71; it is a glaring double standard to consider planning to build housing a provocation but not honoring a murderer.  Rav Shmuley Boteach argues in “Obama’s Bullying of Israel” that Israel is under no obligation to do whatever the United States government wants it to do.  Israel is an independent country with a functional government, not US territory, and the duty of its government is to act in Israel’s best interest, not that of the US.  Correctly noted is that the governments of other nations who receive aid from the US are not held by anyone to do whatever the US wants them to.  Yaakov Kirschen in his Dry Bones cartoon also puts in his two cents in “Latest News (1990)” and “The Response”.

Topic 2:  Also by Rav Boteach:  “Why America Has No Chief Rabbi”.  Rav Boteach argues that the lack of an obligatory rabbinical hierarchy in the USA is a good thing.  Rabbis here are free to innovate and act as they believe right, as they are not beholden to a system in which they must take politics into account.  A rigid hierarchy collectively works to protect itself and can easily stifle anything that does not fit well with what the hierarchy is trying to do.  Though Rav Boteach contrasts the USA with the UK, arguably the problem exists elsewhere and even within the USA in more hierarchically organized groups.  It also is not limited to Judaism.  Contrast the USA and Europe in general; the USA, without any official state religion or obligatory religious hierarchies, is the most religious country in the West, while Europe, which has multiple official state religions, is infamous for religious indifference and secularism.  I hope that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel takes this to mind; I have already heard about too many scandals and political maneuvers over there.  When we get a Sanhedhrin again, they last thing we need is for it to be try to squash people trying to take initiative in doing what YHWH wants.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  Since Pesaḥ (Passover) will be soon:  “The 2010 Facebook Haggadah” and “Robots of the R&D Institute for Intelligent Robotic Systems, Computer Science Department”:


Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Amanda Graystone sees dead people!

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Wayyiqra’).

Today’s holidays:  St. Patrick’s Day (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of the Magi: Dionysus (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “DemocracyForAmerica.com » Speaker Pelosi: The Public Option is in your hands”, “Take Action: TrueMajority.org”, “Health Insurance Reform: Finish the Job | Senator Harry Reid, Nevada - HarryReid.com”, and “Union of Concerned Scientists:”.

Topic 1:  The latest episode of Caprica:  “The Imperfections of Memory”.  Most of the theology in this episode deals with Amanda Graystone.  Early on Amanda gets upset at an attempt to move a sidewalk memorial to the victims of the train bombing.  She also sees her dead brother at the site of the memorial.  In fact, she admits to Sister Clarice (who is trying to charm further information out of her), she has seen him ever since he died in a car accident when she was 11.  Once Amanda was even put in a mental institution over her visions.  While Sister Clarice thinks Amanda’s visions are a sign from God, Amanda thinks seeing her dead brother is a form of Divine punishment.  What I remember from Battlestar Galactica (new series), the dead brother may actually be an angel in his form.  Sister Clarice also makes use of the steady-state philosophy saying “All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.”  On an unrelated note, Lacy decides to dishonestly join the Soldiers of the One in order to be able to convince a Soldier of the One to help her get Zoe II to Geminon.

Topic 2:  More anti-Semitism:  “Johann Hari: Back With a Vengeance”, which deals with historical revisionism, quoting out of context, bad analogy, and other rhetorical abuses.  “Forgetting History (1995)” and “Kabooom !” deal with the Obama administration sticking its nose into the Israel’s plans to build housing in Jerusalem and promoting the discriminatory notion that Arabs should be able to live anywhere in Israel but Jews should not.

Topic 3:  For today’s (peripherally) religious humor:  “Buh Wheres The Pot Of Gold” and i had a“”:

funny pictures of cats with captions


Peace.

Aaron
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Friday, March 12, 2010

Joe Biden shoots his mouth off and someone sells bottled ghosts on eBay

Greetings.

Jewish date:  26 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s holidays:  Bahá’í Month of Fasting (Bahá’í Faith), Friday of the Third Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of Jacobus Burgundus Molensis the Martyr (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Save BioGems: Take Action: Protect the Spirit Bear”.

Official portrait of Vice President of the Uni...Image of no true friend of Israel via Wikipedia
Topic 1:  “YOUNG ISRAEL MOVEMENT CONDEMNS VP BIDEN'S COMMENTS ON JERUSALEM”.  Probably everyone by now has heard about US Vice President Joe Biden shooting his mouth off condemning Israel for deciding to build more housing units in eastern Jerusalem, i.e., in Israeli territory.  This article correctly notes the (probably unthinkingly) anti-Semitic discriminatory nature of Biden’s condemnation and how the tactic he is trying to use to move along the “peace process”, putting pressure on Israel, has no chance of working because the Palestinian Authority is interested in destroying Israel and has no real interest in making peace.  (The sad thing is that despite claims of being great friends of Israel, all the US presidential administrations at least as far back as Jimmy Carter have pressured Israel to do stupid things and appease terrorists in the name of “peace”.  Had John McCain been elected president, I fully expect that it would be Sarah Palin getting mad at Israel for no good reason instead of Joe Biden.)  Also notable on the topic of anti-Semitism:  “BBC Complaints: A Complaint in Itself” and “Expose ‘apartheid’ charge's real agenda”.

Topic 2:  “New Zealander auctions "ghosts" in a bottle”:  I appreciate the fact that the seller admits the effect of the exorcism might have just been psychological.  Rituals do often have psychological effects.  However, if I were buying bottled ghosts, I would want solid evidence that there really were ghosts in the bottles first.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Build Your Own Easter Island Kit” and “Build Your Own Stonehenge Kit”.

Peace.

Aaron
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Islamic terrorism and communion on the Moon

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s holidays:  Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Feast of Israel Regardie (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:

Topic 1:  There is no way I am going to escape this, since it was on the news yesterday:  “Pa. woman charged with recruiting jihadists”.  This article deals with Colleen LaRose, an American convert to Islam who became involved with terrorists.  One of the things said in this article struck me as notable:

The case "demonstrates that terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause, and it shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance," U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said.
What was so great about LaRose (so far as Islamic terrorists were concerned) is that she looks like an ordinary American, thus reducing intuitive suspicion of her activities.  Apologists for Islamic terrorism have complained that being suspicious of Muslims of Middle Eastern descent is racist.  Indeed, I have heard of a few incidents of hostility against Middle Eastern-looking people (Syrian Jews, Sikhs) by some Americans who did not have the knowledge or good sense to be able to distinguish from Muslims.  But Mr. Levy has a point:  suspicion against Muslims is not about race.  Islam is the most pro-terror of all the major religions, and it makes sense for non-Muslims to be cautious of Muslims, regardless of what they look like.

I also keep running across this video a lot lately:  “British Islamist Anjem Choudary: They Give US Money, But We Attack Their System”:

Anjem Choudary, interviewed in this video, is an apologist for Islam terrorism and seeks to implement shari‘ah in the United Kingdom.  Interesting is his claim that under such a system the monarchy would be eradicated, which is odd since Muslim countries are highly autocratic, including the Kingdom of Jordan.  Also interesting is that he identifies un-Islamic ideals, such as “freedom” and “democracy”, with idolatry; I hope this is a metaphor, though as a metaphor it has gotten very stale.  Choudary seems to think that everything would be rosy and wonderful under shari‘ah in the UK; please note that countries which implement shari‘ah are not noted for freedom or respect for humanity.

Topic 2:  “Communion on the Moon”:  Just a little historical article I ran across lately.  I had been aware of one of the astronauts transmitting back a reading of the opening of Genesis on the Apollo 8 mission, but I had no idea that Buzz Aldrin took communion on the Moon.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  Yet another LOLcat picture featuring Basement Cat:  “And what”:
funny pictures of cats with captions
Peace.

Aaron
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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Defending the indefensible

Greetings.

Jewish date:  23 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s holiday:  Feast of Frances of Rome (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Alliance for Justice:  Call for Investigation of Missing Torture Emails”, “MoveOn.org Political Action: Tell the party establishment to stay out”, and “CARE:  Voices Against Violence”.

Topic 1:  “When Court Jews Defend Moral Cowards”.  This article by Rav Shmuley Boteach has much less to do with court Jews than moral cowards who defend the indefensible.  Particularly taking a beating is Pope Pius XII, who is infamous for his failure to do much of anything against the Nazis and all their moral atrocities during World War II.  Religion is supposed to be about what is true, not what would be politically expedient to believe or what we want to believe.  Do note that all glossing over the Armenian genocide and Pius XII’s indifference is actually doing is making people angry.

Topic 2:  More anti-Semitism:  “What New Settlement?” and “Jerusalem on the Media Frontline”.  Both of these articles deal with dishonesty in reporting, the first with the untenable claim that adding 112 housing units to a preexisting city in Israel constitutes a “new settlement” and the second attacking the assumption that anything the government of Israel does regarding Arabs living in Jerusalem is necessarily not for their benefit.  Meanwhile, Muslims have been rioting on the Temple Mount, including throwing stones at Jews worshipping at the Western Wall, and blaming Jews and Israel for their temper tantrum and Israeli police trying to restore the peace.  This indecent, rationalizing sort of behavior is precedented; after all, Yasser ‘Arafat launched second intifada and made the excuse that ’Ari’el Sharon was somehow to blame for simply taking a stroll around the Temple Mount.

Topic 3:  Other articles which I wish to note but do not have time to discuss:  “Al-Qaida calls on US Muslims to attack America”, “Scientology in the spotlight amid fresh allegations”, and “Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin, evolution”.

Topic 4:  For today’s religious humor, courtesy of Barry and Nancy: “The economy is hitting us all pretty hard”:
epic fail pictures
Probably this was totally unintentional.

Peace.

Aaron
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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Winning by other than straightforward tactics

Greetings.

Jewish date:  21 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s holidays:  Bahá’í Month of Fasting (Bahá’í Faith), Third Sunday of Lent (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell Obama: Let us fight for the public option.

Topic 1:  The latest episode of Caprica, “Know Thy Enemy”.  The more I watch this show, the more my intuition insists that the Tauron culture has serious religious dimensions to it.  Revenge seems to be a major value.  Tauron industrialist Tomas Vergis, from whom Daniel Graystone had a metacognitive processor (MCP) stolen, believes that Daniel is responsible not only the theft of the MCP but also for the death of two of his sister’s children.  Rather than kill Daniel, Tomas has decided to play mind games with Daniel and ruin something that Daniel loves.  It also must be noted that the Tauron honor system does not allow for theft from fellow Taurons.  On a different track, life in a virtual world, as Zoe I worked to create, is seen by Sister Clarice as a form of afterlife.  She is also not above spy tactics to try to get information on Zoe.

Topic 2:  “Another Tack: An Arab land”:  This article deals with Arab tactics in the Arab-Israeli War.  Covered are fabricating the past, appropriation of Jewish history, and trying to silence the Jewish point of view—anything to make Arabs look in the right at all costs.  Major rule:  If you lie, you effectively admit you have no argument.  Another major rule:  none us us has the right to always be right.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Basement Cat Jr’s”:
funny pictures of cats with captions

Peace.

Aaron
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Friday, March 5, 2010

Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work. Proof by assertion does not work.

Greetings.

Jewish date:  19 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s holidays:  Friday of the Second Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of the Magi: Lao-Tzu (Thelema), World Day of Prayer (Christianity).




Topic 1:  Pesaḥ (Passover) is coming in less than a month.  You can find out a lot about it at the site of the Orthodox Union, which includes their annual Passover Guide.

Topic 2:  “Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets” and “Redefining The Creation/Evolution Controversy”.  Both of these articles deal with creationists.  The first deals with creationists also supporting denial of global warming and trying to use legal maneuvers to coerce have both unlikely beliefs taught in public schools.  Major rule:  Truth is not determined by governments.  For example,
Trofim Lysenko convinced Joseph Stalin that Medelian genetics was wrong and hypotheses that acquired characteristics could be inherited.  Lysenkoism therefore became what the USSR deemed truth, and since Lysenkoism is wrong, Soviet genetics was put back by decades.  The second article attacks the notion that the evolution-creationism controversy is an argument between science and religion.  This idea is often assumed to be true because it is said so often (proof by assertion).  The author of this article is the man behind The Clergy Letter Project, a series of letters signed by thousands of clergy affirming the truth of evolution and exposing the proof by assertion as baseless.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Buddha Cat”:
peace.jpg

Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron
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Thursday, March 4, 2010

None of us has a right to always be right

Greetings.

Jewish date:  18 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s holiday:  Casimir (Roman Catholicism).




Topic 1:  More anti-Semitism:  “Israel Apartheid Week Comes to Town” and “Conjecture vs. Fact Drives Vancouver Sun Reporting on Assassination”.  These articles deal with poisoning the well (working to avoid anyone listening to one’s opponents, usually accomplished through lying) and presenting speculation as if it were fact.  (Again, I acknowledge this topic gets a lot of play.  I plan on stopping harping on it once the problem goes away.)  More interesting is “Opposing the digital pogrom”; the government of Israel has gotten so fed up with anti-Semitic attacks from foreign reporters that it struck back with Masbirim (English translation via Google Translate), a site encouraging Israeli citizens to do pro-Israel PR when abroad.  Foreign reporters are reportedly not pleased with being parodied in the videos as being totally clueless, but considering that said reporters frequently have little or no idea of the context of what they are reporting on, the lampooning is fair.

Topic 2:  “Libya slaps embargo on Swiss, demands U.S. apology”.  Libya in this article illustrates the fallacy that one is always entitled to be right, no matter what.  Libya may not appreciate the Swiss ban on new minarets.  Libya may even feel that it is religiously proper to declare a jihad against Switzerland.  However, it is beyond all reason for Libya to expect the United States or Switzerland (or any other non-Muslim country) to necessarily agree to what Libya (or any Muslim country) wants.  The United States and Switzerland are religiously tolerant countries with civil liberties.  Jihad—the epitome of religious intolerance—is not appreciated in either country, and their citizens are free to criticize anyone, including heads of state.  As such, if Mu‘ammar al-Qaḏāfī’s son broke laws in Switzerland on how domestic help is supposed to be treated, then the Libyans should not expect the Swiss to be anything but displeased.  And if the Swiss feel that Muslim immigrants have been abusing their civil liberties, then Libya should not be surprised if the Swiss get wary or even take measures against abuse.  And if Mu‘ammar al-Qaḏāfī calls for a jihad, then he should not be surprised that a US diplomat does not approve.  And, as a US citizen, I invoke my own right of free speech and suggest that everyone in the US, Switzerland, and elsewhere, counter the Libyan boycott with a boycott against Libyan products; there is no point in rewarding a regime which expects to be kowtowed to at all times.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Even Basement Cat”:
cat

Peace.

Aaron
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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

It is no surprise why the Cyclons tried to kill all the humans

Greetings.

Jewish date:  16 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s holidays:  Bahá’í Month of Fasting and Ayyam-i-ha (Bahá’í Faith), Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Take Action: Help stop expanded logging in the Tongass”.

Topic 1:  The latest episode of Caprica, “There Is Another Sky”.  The first of two major religious themes of this episode is the treatment of artificial people.  Daniel Graystone, arguing before the board of his company, claims that artificial intelligences do not have rights and do not need to be treated with the same consideration as humans and can be exploited and bossed around at will.  To illustrate, he orders Zoe II to rip her own arm off.  He still has no idea that Zoe II is still alive and possesses a Cylon body, and she complies, apparently to avoid blowing her cover.  (Why she keeps up the pretense of being just another robot, I have no idea.  I hope she will eventually explain her reasons.)  Meanwhile, the virtual reconstruction of Tamara Adama falls into the hands of a gang who realize that she is pure avatar and not a normal human; she cannot be injured—though she can feel pain—and she cannot be knocked out of the virtual world.  The gang feels no qualms about forcing her to participate in New Cap City, a crime-based game in which normal rules of morality are ignored.  Eventually she turns on them and shoots them all, knocking them out of the virtual world, except for one; the reason for this will be explained shortly.  But suffice it to say that many of the humans have little or no moral regard for artificial people.  This explains a lot about why 58 years in the future the Cylons rebel and try to kill all the humans.

The other major religious theme is mourning.  Joseph and Willie Adama spend this episode trying to come to terms with the deaths of Shannon and Tamara.  Joseph finds out that Willie has been skipping school and tries to bond with his son.  Eventually the two of them participate in a Tauron mourning ceremony involving giving coins for the dead—shades of the ancient Greek practice of placing a coin under the tongue of the dead so as to pay Charon to take him/her across the river Styx to Hades—and officiated by a bald, darkly-clad priest.  At this point Joseph seems well on his way to recovery (that is the point of mourning ceremonies, after all), when all of a sudden a visitor shows up.  It is the one gang member which Tamara II did not shoot, and he tells Joseph that Tamara II sent him.  The gang member runs away in fear before delivering any more information, and Joseph is left clearly disturbed.  Clearly Joseph’s search for Tamara II is meant to be a long-term arc.

Topic 2:  Despite a prediction to the contrary, Utah was not destroyed by a comet yesterday.  Reason:  1, Bible codes:  0.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Even Basement Cat”:
cat

Peace.

Aaron
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Monday, March 1, 2010

Islam is not and never has been a religion of peace, and wishful thinking will not change this

Greetings.

Jewish date:  15 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s holidays:  Purim Shushan (Judaism), Monday of the Second Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Holi (Hinduism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “MoveOn.org Political Action: Strip insurers of their antitrust exemption”.

Topic 1:  “Utah to be destroyed by a comet! Or not!” and “BIBLE CODE PREDICTIONS: 2010”.  I have mentioned it before, and today is the day that someone has predicted on the basis of Bible codes that Utah is going to be obliterated by a comet.  If Utah is still standing within the next few hours, tomorrow I gloat.

Topic 2:  “Islam: Verses of Violence”.  This is a list of verses in the Qur’an and Ḥadith calling for intolerance, violence, and jihad (holy war).  (Not only references are given, but links to the relevant material itself, so it is very easy for you to check that what is claimed is true.)  Yes, I know, many people these days have a vision of Islam being or at least becoming a religion of peace—and we all would like it to be so.  But the roots of Islamic intolerance go back to Muḥammad himself.  He himself advocated and practiced intolerance and violence, and no amount of denial is going to change the past or the contents of Muslim traditions.  Since Muḥammad is the model of behavior for Muslims, it is very easy for them to justify behavior no other major religion sanctions.  Some modern applications of Muḥammad’s teachings:  “UN deplores Gaddafi call for anti-Swiss 'jihad'” (Switzerland decides to restrict the building of new minarets, therefore Colonel Mu‘ammar al-Qaḏāfī of Libya calls for a jihad against Switzerland), “Israeli police, Palestinians clash at holy site” (Arabs consider mere unsubstantiated rumors an “attack” and “provocation” and start throwing stones at Israeli police; anyone who considers this harmless is dared to stand still while stones are thrown at him/her), “No models of example” (multiple incidents of Islamic terrorism and how the terrorists were treated by their fellow Muslims; hint:  as heroes, not criminals).  Yes, there are some tolerant and peaceful Muslims out there, but let us not pretend that Islam as a whole, whether in the past or the present, is innocuous.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Your cat goddess”:
funny pictures of cats with captions
Apparently this cat has a Bast complex…

Peace.

Aaron
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