All entries by this author

More on “Elder Pastitsios” and blasphemy laws in Greece *

Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by

Four days before the arrest, MP Christos Pappas from the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party had brought the page to the attention of the justice minister.… Read the rest



Report on the Creation Evidence Expo in Indianapolis *

Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by

They have a funny idea of what “evidence” means.… Read the rest



An awkward position to adopt

Sep 28th, 2012 11:08 am | By

Sometimes an organization doesn’t speak for its members when it speaks. Sometimes an organization (or someone at the top of it) says something that’s abhorrent to many or most or almost all of its members. That can happen.

There’s SlutWalk London for instance. Sarah Ditum asks what it’s doing lining up behind Julian Assange.

Oh dear, SlutWalk London. On Saturday you’re marshalling crowds of women in fishnets and bras to chant “my dress is not a yes” and promoting petitions insisting that the Home Office should prosecute rapists. Come Tuesday, you’re taking to Twitter to issue statements objecting to the extradition of Julian Assange to face rape charges in Sweden. Rapists should be prosecuted, but according to SlutWalk London,

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



An expression of glandular-level contempt

Sep 28th, 2012 10:23 am | By

Slime Season is here, all festive with mildew and rot and weevils.

After four years of invective, four years during which the right has called President Obama a traitor, a communist, a fraud, an affirmative-action case, a terrorist-sympathizer and a tyrant, its shrillest voices have been reduced to the most primal insult of all. They are calling Obama’s mother a whore.

There’s this pseudo-documentary, Michelle Goldberg explains, that’s being mailed to voters.

The movie claims that Obama’s actual father was the poet and left-wing activist Frank Marshall Davis, who Dunham met through her father, who was a CIA agent merely posing as a furniture salesman. “My election was not a sudden political phenomenon,” says the narrator, speaking as if

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



What is SlutWalk London doing backing Julian Assange? *

Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by

SlutWalk London has inadvertently lined itself (and its unwitting supporters) up with an unappealing gaggle of rape apologists and victim blamers.… Read the rest



Obama haters now calling his mother a whore *

Sep 28th, 2012 | Filed by

A pseudo-documentary that slimes Ann Dunham is being mailed to swing-state voters, while D’Souza’s book essentially calls her a fat slut.… Read the rest



News from the Secular Coalition for America

Sep 28th, 2012 9:29 am | By

Secular Coalition for Pennsylvania to Officially Launch Sunday

Thu, 09/27/2012 – 14:42

Washington, D.C—The Secular Coalition for America is excited to announce the official launch of the Secular Coalition for Pennsylvania, expected to officially launch on Sunday. The Secular Coalition for Pennsylvania is the third chapter to launch as part of the SCA’s greater effort to establish 50 new state chapters throughout the country this year.

The Secular Coalition for America is a lobbying organization representing nontheistic Americans and advocating protecting and strengthening the secular character of our government. The Secular Coalition for Pennsylvania will lobby state lawmakers in favor of a strong separation of religion and government.

Secular Coalition for Pennsylvania Executive Board Co-Chairs, Justin Vacula, 24 of Scranton … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Joseph Anton

Sep 27th, 2012 5:39 pm | By

Salman Rushdie, on the other hand, is not a cultural relativist. He too talked to the New York Times, in his case about his new memoir about the fatwa years.

I found myself caught up in what you could call a world historical event. You could say it’s a great political and intellectual event of our time, even a moral event. Not the fatwa, but the battle against radical Islam, of which this was one skirmish. There have been arguments made even by liberal-minded people, which seem to me very dangerous, which are basically cultural relativist arguments: We’ve got to let them do this because it’s their culture. My view is no. Female circumcision — that’s a bad thing.

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



My way or your respect for my way

Sep 27th, 2012 5:30 pm | By

So Morsi’s a cultural relativist. You wouldn’t think a Muslim Brotherhood guy would be a cultural relativist, would you. Pretty much the opposite. There is one way to be and Mohammed is its prophet.

But then it’s not so much that he is a cultural relativist as that he thinks other people should be if they don’t share his non-relativist culture. Heads I win tails you lose. My way is the right way and your way is to respect my way. Mk?

He spelled it out for the New York Times, who wrote it down and put it in the paper.

On the eve of his first trip to the United States as Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Morsi tells New York Times he is a cultural relativist *

Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by

He says the US must respect the Arab world’s history and culture, even when that conflicts with Western values.… Read the rest



Ayaan Hirsi Ali on surviving rage over “blasphemy” *

Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by

Having renounced Islam and openly criticized its political manifestations, she was condemned to a life cordoned off from the rest of society.… Read the rest



Catherine Deveny on the dangers of being outside *

Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by

Men are far more likely to cop violence on the street. So why is no one telling them not to walk alone? Don’t tell me not to walk alone at night. Tell people not to rape and kill.… Read the rest



Mars Curiosity Rover finds evidence of flowing water *

Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by

The finding is based on the presence of rounded pebbles and gravel near the rover’s landing site in Gale Crater.… Read the rest



India: woman beaten to death for practising ‘black magic’ *

Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by

A man beat K Jamuna to death because he suspected she practised some witchcraft on a teenager son of his close relative.… Read the rest



Brendan O’Neill writes in his sleep

Sep 27th, 2012 3:13 pm | By

More “you want trolling? I’ll give you trolling!” from Brendan “I’m making a career of trolling” O’Neill in Troll Central, aka spiked. What is it this time? It’s that trolls aren’t the problem, “troll hunters” are the problem.

(How was I alerted to this one? Because somone I don’t follow tweeted it to two people I do follow, so I had a look. The one I don’t follow is Quiet Riot Girl – omigod I’d forgotten all about her. Ugh. She should go into partnership with O’Neill. Apparently she was outed by Julie Bindel last March. O’Neill knows how to find her for that partnership then.)

So, O’Neill on the evils of “troll hunters.”

Yet it turns out

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Facesmash

Sep 27th, 2012 12:05 pm | By

Godalmighty Soraya Chemaly’s article on misogynist shit on Facebook is horrifying and scary.

Earlier this week I wrote about how the use of photography (especially without the subject’s consent) intensifies harassment, abuse and violence against women.  Quicker than I could type “Feministe” this Change.org petition appeared in my inbox:  “Please sign to remove 12 Year Old Slut Memes from Facebook.”  One of the offending page’s profile photos is of a pink-lipped and pouty child (she looks a lot younger than 12) wearing a tank top that reads “I love COCK.”  Now, anyone can create a page in Facebook (published at Facebook’s discretion) and this page doesn’t openly advocate violence against 12-year-old sluts.  It is, however,

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Detain those women

Sep 27th, 2012 11:30 am | By

What was that about women and indecency and men are always right? That’s how it works in Saudi Arabia for sure. Saudi Arabia detained and deported a lot of Nigerian women who went there for the hajj but did it without a male relative along to make sure they didn’t fuck every man they saw. Sluts.

Since Sunday, hundreds of Nigerian women – mainly aged between 25 and 35, according to Nigerian diplomats – have been stopped at the airports in Jeddah and Medina.

Bilkisu Nasidi, who travelled from the northern Nigerian city of Katsina, told the BBC that hundreds of women had been sleeping on the floor, did not have their belongings and were sharing four toilets at the

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Afghan burqa-opponent wins Swedish rights prize *

Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by

Afghan human rights activist, ex-minister and burqa opponent Sima Samar won the Swedish Right Livelihood Award honouring those who work to improve the lives of others.… Read the rest



Lahore judge orders police to charge everyone with blasphemy *

Sep 27th, 2012 | Filed by

Everyone. YouTube, Google, everyone.… Read the rest



There was no rape, the woman was indecent

Sep 27th, 2012 10:59 am | By

What’s new in Tunisia? Nothing much. Two police officers accused of raping a young woman have accused the young woman of “indecency” and a judge has hauled her into court to respond to the accusation.

Leading human rights, feminist groups and other prominent members of civil society have formed a committee evening to co-ordinate a campaign in support of the woman, including the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women and the Tunisian League of Human Rights.

Faïza Skandrani, the head of the Equality and Parity organisation, told Al Jazeera that the case was an important one for two reasons: it marked the first time a woman allegedly raped by the police had taken the case to court, and it was the

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)