All entries by this author

Compassion in action

Dec 21st, 2011 11:13 am | By

The Irish government again notes that the Catholic church failed to prevent child abuse by its own employees, failed to follow its own rules, failed to call the cops, failed to protect children, failed to act like decent human beings, failed failed failed. It succeeded at protecting itself and its own people, and that’s it.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has highlighted the failure of the Catholic Church to bring child abuse allegations to the attention of gardaí, following the publication of previously redacted portions of the Cloyne report.

…

“The publication of the redacted portions of the Cloyne report yet again details the failure of the church to comply with its own child abuse guidelines and its failure to

… Read the rest

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

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Cloyne report highlights failure of diocese *

Dec 21st, 2011 | Filed by

The failure of the Catholic diocese of Cloyne to deal properly with allegations of child sexual abuse up to 2008 has been highlighted in previously redacted elements of the Cloyne report.… Read the rest

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Baby at risk of ‘honor killing’ must be adopted *

Dec 21st, 2011 | Filed by

Because otherwise someone might kill her.… Read the rest

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Israeli woman refuses to move to back of bus *

Dec 21st, 2011 | Filed by

A woman passenger on a public bus was told by a Haredi male passenger to move to the back of the bus. She didn’t.… Read the rest

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Dr Hilary Jones promotes Burzynski Clinic on TV *

Dec 21st, 2011 | Filed by

The UK mainstream media are doing a terrible job of covering the subject.… Read the rest

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Comparative memorialization

Dec 20th, 2011 4:13 pm | By

Neal Pollack knew Christopher Hitchens better than you.

Christopher Hitchens and I were friends for 40 years, plus another five when we were enemies. He took ideas so seriously that if he disagreed with you on a matter that he deemed important, he’d literally throw you in a ditch. It was 1972, the height of our mutual virility. He and I went to a pub to celebrate his most recent intellectual victory over the establishment press. I intimated that sometimes women could be funny on purpose. Even back then, the thought enraged him. Hitchens threw a drink in my face, pressed a lit cigarette into my neck, and hit me over the head with a barstool.

Compare Dave Zirin, … Read the rest

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Neal Pollack knew Christopher Hitchens better than you *

Dec 20th, 2011 | Filed by

We’d all make fun of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, then remove our pants to compare our manhoods. We were so middle-aged and foolish then, so committed to the struggle.… Read the rest

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Christopher didn’t wait his turn

Dec 20th, 2011 12:36 pm | By

Yesterday I expressed (via Katha Pollitt) reservations about a certain kind of combative anger that Hitchens sometimes deployed. Daniel Dennett talks about when rudeness is necessary.

He starts with an example.

We were both appearing in a debate as part of the program of Ciudad de las Ideas, an excellent gathering held annually in Puebla, Mexico. (It’s modeled on TED-I call it TED Mex. Go. It’s well worth the visit.) One of the speakers for the other side, the God side, was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and after our short set pieces, the rebuttals started with the rabbi. We each were allotted four minutes only for rebuttal, and the rabbi launched into a series of outrageous claims trying to besmirch

… Read the rest

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CPJ report on journalists killed in 2011 *

Dec 20th, 2011 | Filed by

At least 43 journalists were killed around the world in direct relation to their work in 2011, with the seven deaths in Pakistan marking the heaviest losses in a single nation.… Read the rest

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Dennett on Hitchens: when rudeness is called for *

Dec 20th, 2011 | Filed by

Don’t let anybody play the God card in these discussions as if it were a “Get Out of Jail Free” card that excuses misrepresentation.

 … Read the rest

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One rule for thee and another for me

Dec 20th, 2011 11:49 am | By

Religious privilege in action.

Some guy from something called The Christian Institute (why do I suspect its membership consists of the guy in question?) is saying he’s going to boycott Tesco, because some other guy who works for Tesco in some capacity said something on Flickr. Yes really. Mind you it’s in the Telegraph, which seems to specialize in this kind of non-story, but it’s still worth a tiny smile of disdain (because after all, how much trouble is a tiny smile of disdain).

Nick Lansley, Tesco’s head of research and development, said he was actively taking a stand “against evil Christians” who opposed the right of same-sex couples to marry.

In a message on his profile page on

… Read the rest

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Judges find minister is not employed by god *

Dec 20th, 2011 | Filed by

The Methodist Church had claimed that ministers were not ordinary employees but “stewards in the house of God” so employee tribunals have no jurisdiction.… Read the rest

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“Blasphemous” billboard destroyed *

Dec 20th, 2011 | Filed by

100 or so Roman Catholics gathered to pray in front of the ruined billboard, which had shown Mary gasping in shock as she examined a pregnancy testing kit.… Read the rest

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Anti-vaxxer Meryl Dorey to speak at folk festival *

Dec 20th, 2011 | Filed by

Chrys Stevenson explains why this is a terrible idea.… Read the rest

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Miscellaneous, or, feel free to be OT, since there is no T

Dec 19th, 2011 5:01 pm | By

I said maybe I should do one of these, because sometimes people do go OT and that can be tiresome if you want to talk about the T, but it’s fine if there’s no T to begin with. If the particular set of people who bump into each other here want to talk about everything in general, I might as well make that possible.

I have a cold. I asked Facebook to sing “Soft Kitty” for me, and it did.

Newt Gingrich plans, if elected president, to arrest judges who don’t do their judging according to the bible.

Kim Jong-un is not sure he’s crazy enough to run North Korea.… Read the rest

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

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Science blogger 1, SLAPP suit 0

Dec 19th, 2011 4:44 pm | By

Popehat has a great post on a pro bono victory (his) in a junk science SLAPP suit against a science blogger.

The pro bono client is Michael Hawkins of For the Sake of Science, and the adversary is Dr. Christopher Maloney, a licensed naturopath in Maine.

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Dr. and Ms. Maloney’s central legal theory was expressed in the cover letter: “As should be clear to you, you can say anything you want against naturopathic doctors, but you cannot attack and bully a single person.” This is not, to put it mildly, a correct statement of law. The First Amendment protects Mr. Hawkins’ right to call naturopaths in general quacks, and to call Dr. Maloney in particular a quack for

… Read the rest

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Gingrich promises theocracy *

Dec 19th, 2011 | Filed by

Told reporters that as president he would abolish courts whose judges make decisions that are out of step with fundamentalist Christian views.… Read the rest

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Popehat v a SLAPP suit against a science blogger *

Dec 19th, 2011 | Filed by

The First Amendment protects Mr. Hawkins’ right to call naturopaths in general quacks, and to call Dr. Maloney in particular a quack for promoting naturopathy.… Read the rest

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Not another one

Dec 19th, 2011 12:59 pm | By

Hey guess what the war is over!

This year has marked, I believe, the beginning of the end of the war between science and religion. Creationism cannot last. The New Atheists are now old (or departed). And between these camps the middle ground continues to expand.

Has it all, doesn’t it. The air of easy omniscience, the disdain for atheists, the gloating at the death of one particular atheist, the false dichotomy, the warm uncritical affection for the middle ground, the stupid assumption that it’s “extreme” (not to mention old, or dead) to think science and religion are not in every way compatible.

Indeed, many folks have been hard at it, doing a new kind of peace work. Some

… Read the rest

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

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Kim Jong-un not sure he’s crazy enough to run N Korea *

Dec 19th, 2011 | Filed by

While emphasizing that he was definitely completely insane, Kim still wondered if he could ever be enough of a lunatic to replace the most unhinged dictator on the planet.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News