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Heed the warning of the Holy Father

Dec 19th, 2012 11:57 am | By

LeftSidePositive pointed out yesterday that when Catholic archbishops prate of freedom of conscience they are bullshitting, because they don’t believe in or promote other people’s freedom of conscience to have nothing to do with Catholic rules.

This needs to be mentioned more often.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement on religious freedom last April. It is of course that kind of bullshit from beginning to end. They don’t mean religious freedom in general at all; they mean only “freedom” for them to coerce everyone else, including non-Catholics.

We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of

… Read the rest

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Devon and homeopathy calling it quits

Dec 19th, 2012 9:25 am | By

There’s one bit of cheery news – an NHS “homeopathic outreach clinic” in Devon is closing because of falling demand.

But why did such a clinic ever exist in the first place? Homeopathy isn’t a thing. The NHS doesn’t have outreach clinics that do bloodletting, does it? Or exorcisms? Or treatment for an excess of black bile?

Patients who use the centre for treatments for conditions including rheumatism and allergies have reacted angrily to the news.

The trust said patients would be offered continued care in Bristol.

Greta Rankin, from Willand, is one of the patients against the closure.

She said: “They will lose all that personalised expertise. The approach of the homeopathic doctors is completely different. If I want

… Read the rest

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Three more

Dec 19th, 2012 8:38 am | By

Three more anti-polio campaigners killed dead in Pakistan. That’s showing them.

That makes 8 this week.

Wednesday’s attacks all took place in the restive western frontier province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – one just outside the city of Peshawar and two others in the town of Charsadda. Two men and a woman have been killed.

The volunteers were taking part in a three-day government-led drive, supported by the World Health Organisation and Unicef, to vaccinate tens of millions of children at risk from polio in Pakistan.

After a decades-long struggle by multilateral organisations, governments and NGOs worldwide, the disease is now endemic only in three countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Thank you Allah.

Women health workers held protests in Karachi

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Three more anti-polio campaigners shot dead in Pakistan *

Dec 19th, 2012 | Filed by

Women health workers held protests in Karachi and Islamabad. “We go out and risk our lives to save other people’s children from being permanently handicapped, for what?”… Read the rest

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Oh the door’s been unlocked for a week, hahahahaha

Dec 18th, 2012 4:41 pm | By

Alber Saber is out on bail, Paul Fidalgo tells us. On the other hand, bail was posted a week ago, but he was kept in jail for another week just for shits and giggles, apparently. That’s nice.

Daily News Egypt also notes that these kinds of charges about offending religious feelings have been on the rise under the presidency of Mohamed Morsi.

Imagine my astonishment.… Read the rest

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The archbishops want more women dead

Dec 18th, 2012 3:09 pm | By

Well the four archbishops of Ireland have given their opinion of this radical new suggestion that it should be legal for hospitals to perform abortions when necessary to save the woman’s life. (H/t to Marie-Therese)

The four Catholic Archbishops of Ireland: Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin; Archbishop Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel & Emly; and Archbishop Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam, have issued the following response to the decision today by the Government to legislate for abortion:

Today’s decision by the Irish Government to legislate for abortion should be of the utmost concern to all.

If what is being proposed were to become law, the careful balance between the equal right to life

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One by one by one they add up

Dec 18th, 2012 12:38 pm | By

I’m going to piss off some people with this, but…

I think the reaction to what happened at Newtown is a little bit out of proportion. Wait, I can explain. I don’t mean it wasn’t absolutely horrible. But the reaction seems to imply that it’s terribly out of the ordinary, and the fact is…it’s not nearly as out of the ordinary as it should be except in the fact that it was 20 children in one go.

The US has a shamefully high rate of violence against children. The BBC reported on this more than a year ago.

Over the past 10 years, more than 20,000 American children are believed to have been killed in their own homes by

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Yes, it is a sin

Dec 18th, 2012 12:07 pm | By

Cristina Odone is worried. What’s she worried about? She’s worried that Ireland is planning to change its abortion law – to legalize abortion when it’s necessary to save the woman’s life – on the basis of a mistake about what happened to Savita Halappanavar. Oh noes!

I’m a Catholic but I believe abortion has to be legal. Yes, it is a sin; and yes, there are women who use it as contraception. But the risk of having a long roll call of tragic deaths like Savita’s is too cruel to contemplate. Like divorce, abortion should be available, but reserved as a last-resort nuclear option – and when the mother’s life is in danger is precisely such a scenario.

The Irish

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Cristina Odone worries about Ireland’s changed abortion law *

Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by

Because when in doubt, let the woman die.… Read the rest

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Ireland to legalize abortion when mother’s life is at risk *

Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by

Up until now the government has not enacted legislation to give certainty to doctors as to when terminations can be carried out and under what circumstances.… Read the rest

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They would regret helping the “infidel” campaign against polio

Dec 18th, 2012 11:30 am | By

First, do no harm.

First, don’t be evil.

It’s strange how easily a lot of people lose sight of that basic thought, or never entertain it in the first place.

What would be high on a list of harms not to do? Killing people who are working to prevent polio in a country where 35 children have been infected with polio this year, when nearly all other countries in the world are polio-free.

High high high on the list. One, polio is bad; very very bad. Immunizing people against it is an unqualified good. Two, people who are working to immunize children against polio are doing a good thing, and don’t deserve to be killed for doing it.

And yet, … Read the rest

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Pakistan: gunmen shoot five anti-polio workers *

Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by

Four women killed, one man injured for helping the “infidel” campaign against polio. At least 35 children in Pakistan have been infected this year.… Read the rest

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“Married” six times in one night

Dec 17th, 2012 4:36 pm | By

The Islamists in Northern Mali are getting more unpleasant.

On a sweltering afternoon, Islamist police officers dragged Fatima Al Hassan out of her house in the fabled city of Timbuktu. They beat her up, shoved her into a white pickup truck and drove her to their headquarters. She was locked up in a jail as she awaited her sentence: 100 lashes with an electrical cord.

“Why are you doing this?” she recalled asking.

Hassan was being punished for giving water to a male visitor.

Grabbed, beaten up, abducted, “sentenced” to 100 lashes with an electrical cord, for giving water to a man. Fatima Al Hassan does something ordinary and sociable, and a bunch of men commit a whole set … Read the rest

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Mali: Islamists’ attacks on people grow more brutal *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

A woman is sentenced to 100 lashes with an electrical cord for giving water to a male visitor.… Read the rest

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Delhi: woman gang-raped on private bus *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

The woman was travelling with a male friend on Sunday night when they were attacked. They were brutally beaten, stripped and thrown out of the vehicle.… Read the rest

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What dialogue?

Dec 17th, 2012 11:33 am | By

The pope has his message of peace for the new year all written and typed up and translated and posted online. The pope is way ahead of the game! The pope can kick back and watch some football.

Well it won’t have been very difficult. It doesn’t break any new ground. Somebody could have put it together by cutting and pasting from previous messages of peace for the new year.

It’s not very rich in what you might call self-awareness or self-knowledge.

In addition to the varied forms of terrorism and international crime, peace is also endangered by those forms of fundamentalism and fanaticism which distort the true nature of religion, which is called to foster fellowship and reconciliation among

… Read the rest

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The pope has a fancy new hat *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

It’s got pictures of people on it. Carmen Miranda would be jealous. Oh and btw same sex marriage threat to peace blah.… Read the rest

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Kuwait introduces death penalty for ‘cursing God and prophets’ *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

Kuwaiti MPs approved a death penalty for Muslims who curse God, the Koran, all prophets and Mo’s wives. Non-Muslims get a minimum of 10 years.… Read the rest

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A scientific pioneer and a reluctant role model *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

“I have not set myself up to be a role model for women, but it does seem to be more of an issue than it used to be,” cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Brenda Milner explains.… Read the rest

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Epidemics of accusations

Dec 16th, 2012 5:34 pm | By

I re-read some of Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things this morning, to refresh my memory. I’ve read that and Why We Believe and the odd article here and there. I’ve never liked his writing much. It’s not bad, but it’s a little loose and lazy. Characterless. Journalistic.

I was interested to see that chapter 7 is titled Epidemics of Accusations: Medieval and Modern Witch Crazes. The modern ones are the panics about “Satanic” abuse in the 1980s and about “recovered memory” in the 90s. They’re interesting subjects and ones I’ve read a fair bit about, thanks to Frederick Crews and Elizabeth Loftus among others. It’s terrible stuff – people’s lives ruined by ridiculous beliefs about Satanic rapes … Read the rest

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