All entries by this author

Sign, sign, sign your rights away

Jul 26th, 2009 5:15 pm | By

Doesn’t Scientology sound attractive. All you have to do if you want to be a scientologist is sign away all your rights, including the right to earn the minimum wage. Then if you leave or they kick you out – you have to give them some money.

7. BREACH OF COVENANT. If a staff member . . . breaks his agreement either by leaving staff before completing his commitment [either 2 1/2 or 5 years] or by violating his good standing as a Scientology staff member so that he is dismissed in accordance with policy, he or she shall remit forthwith to the Church a penance for violation of this covenant in accordance with the ecclesiastical policy of the

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The Scientology Contract *

Jul 26th, 2009 | Filed by

You too can become a scientologist provided you don’t mind signing all your rights away.… Read the rest



Solution: Blame Scientists, Add Fluff *

Jul 26th, 2009 | Filed by

The cause of scientific illiteracy in America is the aloofness of scientists. Next question?… Read the rest



Angry Jaffa Christians get Jesus Play Canceled *

Jul 26th, 2009 | Filed by

Amos Kenan’s satirical play deals with the nature of being Israeli and with the occupation.… Read the rest



Woman’s Whipping Sentence Prompts Backlash *

Jul 26th, 2009 | Filed by

A Sharia court sentenced her to six strokes of the cane and a fine for consuming alcohol a year ago.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on Tory Hypocrisy *

Jul 26th, 2009 | Filed by

Reactionaries left and right.… Read the rest



An oxymoron is repudiated

Jul 25th, 2009 5:39 pm | By

The Economist has more sense than some people I could mention

It’s hardly a new charge against atheists, but it has come up again several times recently in the blogosphere: that today’s secularists, atheists, anti-theists and whatnot, including the publicly active ones, are “just as fundamentalist as the fundamentalists”…This trope needs to be laughed out of existence, immediately.

I’ve been working on it. Backup is welcome.

On one hand you have faith that makes people fly planes into buildings, genitally mutilate young girls, murder abortion doctors (in church), stone adultresses, outlaw certain forms of consensual sex or even just make it impossible to buy beer on Sunday in some states. On the other hand there is the atheist “faith” that

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Jonathan Derbyshire Profiles Amartya Sen *

Jul 25th, 2009 | Filed by

Sen taught Labour that the first question to ask about equality and inequality was ‘equality of what?’… Read the rest



Palin Ditches Job Amid Confusion, Criticism *

Jul 25th, 2009 | Filed by

The desire not to be a lame duck of dead fish hasn’t quite satisfied Alaskans.… Read the rest



Max Dunbar Reviews Karen Armstrong *

Jul 25th, 2009 | Filed by

Armstrong seems to associate all transcendent and mystical activity with religious faith.… Read the rest



Atheism is so Totally Fashionable *

Jul 25th, 2009 | Filed by

‘Everyone claims to be one. Like in the 90s, everyone was a Buddhist, then doing Kabbalah.’… Read the rest



‘Fundamentalist Atheist’ Trope Must Go *

Jul 25th, 2009 | Filed by

There is a difference – call it a fundamental one – between being certain and wrong and being certain and right. … Read the rest



Support Offered for Rejected Child *

Jul 25th, 2009 | Filed by

Her father said he no longer wanted her in the home because she brought shame to the family.… Read the rest



Child Raped, Then Rejected by Her Family *

Jul 25th, 2009 | Filed by

Allegedly raped by four boys, an 8-year-old Liberian girl is now in foster care after being shunned by her family.… Read the rest



A Discussion of the Ethics of Book Reviewing *

Jul 24th, 2009 | Filed by

Alain de Botton makes an energetic contribution.… Read the rest



Possible ‘Honour’ Killings of Four Women *

Jul 24th, 2009 | Filed by

Montreal couple and son suspected of killing three daughters and husband’s first wife.… Read the rest



Possible ‘Honour’ Acid Attack in Leytonstone *

Jul 24th, 2009 | Filed by

Victim reportedly suspected of having an affair with a married Muslim woman; she has been told her life is in danger.… Read the rest



Jesus and Mo Toast Ireland’s Blasphemy Law *

Jul 24th, 2009 | Filed by

The more seriously we take our beliefs, the bigger fools we feel we are being called.… Read the rest



To Serve God and Wal-Mart *

Jul 24th, 2009 | Filed by

New book chronicles Wal-Mart’s role in mainstreaming evangelical and free market values.… Read the rest



Obama is a Furriner! From Hawaii! *

Jul 24th, 2009 | Filed by

Everbody kno this and it is being cuvvered up by the libruls. It is a skandle!… Read the rest