Snakes and Ladders

[pan]

“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”
Steven Weinberg

[pan]

In the small village of Cutud, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Manila, men cried out as nails the size of pencils were driven into their hands and feet before they were hoisted up in the scorching heat. Nineteen were to go through the process.

But government health and safety officials were keeping their eye on proceedings, after health minister Francisco Duque told those planning to be crucified to ensure they have a tetanus jab and use sterilised nails.

Never mind the clear dangers to your health of crucifixion, so long as the danger of infection is safely reduced.

Thousands watched the spectacle in Cutud, which has grown from a village production started in 1962 to a media and tourist attraction copied in other parts of the country.

For hours before the crucifixions lines of men, hooded and half naked, flayed their backs with bamboo whips and paddles tipped with broken glass. Blood splattered over the road.

The atmosphere was festive, with hawkers selling beer, ice-cream and souvenir whips. VIPs watched from a specially elevated "viewing platform".

[pan]

Cannon Fodder for the Rapture

[pan]

The Straussian "noble lie" of religion

[Cal]

The Four Horsemen

"On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen.

All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion - some positive, and some negative. In this conversation the group trades stories of the public's reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations. They discuss the tough questions about religion that face the world today, and propose new strategies for going forward. "

Videos of the discussion (all 2 hours of it) here ....
http://richarddawkins.net/article,2025,THE-FOUR-HORSEMEN,Discussion...

[curt]

As the Knight of the Couchant Leopard continued to fix his eyes attentively on the yet distant cluster of palm-trees, it seemed to him as if some object was moving among them. The distant form separated itself from the trees, which partly hid its motions, and advanced towards the knight with a speed which soon showed a mounted horseman, whom his turban, long spear, and green caftan floating in the wind, on his nearer approach showed to be a Saracen cavalier. "In the desert," saith an Eastern proverb, "no man meets a friend." The Crusades was totally indifferent whether the infidel, who now approached on his gallant barb as if borne on the wings of an eagle, came as friend or foe--perhaps, as a vowed champion of the Cross, he might rather have preferred the latter. He disengaged his lance from his saddle, seized it with the right hand, placed it in rest with its point half elevated, gathered up the reins in the left, waked his horse's mettle with the spur, and prepared to encounter the stranger with the calm self-confidence belonging to the victor in many contests.

more of Scott's Talisman

[Mouse]

Have espoused a cause here:
CROP Coalition for the Removal of Pimping
A voluntary organisation working to end the sexual exploitation of children and young people by pimps and traffickers.

Sexual Exploitation
As stated on the home page CROP is dedicated to combatting sexual exploitation in all its forms. In particular it looks at the role of pimps and traffickers (most commonly older men) in controlling and exploiting victims (usually young girls). Our research shows that there is a recognisable sequence of phases in grooming girls for exploitation.

Initial contact is often made in public places such as at school, in shopping malls, entertainment arcades, cinemas, bus or train stations, but may also be through the internet. Even if the initial contact is of her own age, the girl may be passed on to an older ‘friend’ who flatters her with gifts, attractive outings and extravagant promises. She is gradually inveigled into truanting from school, becoming secretive, returning home late and spending increasingly shorter times with her family as well as being introduced to alcohol and drugs.

In the second phase of grooming and exploitation, the friendly association turns into an exchange of favours. Sexual responses are sought as a means to pay back the money spent on cigarettes, drinks, drugs, lifts in cars and mobile phones. As exploitation increases so she is alienated from her family and other support systems such as friends and teachers. She may comply with the perpetrator’s demands out of fear for her own and her family’s safety.

In the third phase, the pimp completely controls the girl’s life. As far as possible he severs her relationships with her family and any other friends or support systems. Threats are made about her own and her family’s safety if she does not comply with the wishes of the pimp. It is very difficult for the girl to break out of this situation of control and dependence, especially as she may by then be addicted to drugs.


And the following quote is from 'Tackling Human Trafficking - Consultation for Proposals for a UK Action Plan'
CROP's parent support work brought to light the movement of young people from and across
towns and cities within the country for purposes of sexual exploitation by criminal perpetrators. It is important to recognise that means and methods used for purposes of grooming and trafficking by organised criminal pimping networks within the country are similar to those at the international level and that these activities at the domestic and international level equally serve to meet demands of the domestic sex markets. As one parent puts it, "We talk of international trafficking. We are not saying that we should not do anything about that. But look here, they are passing these children from gang to gang just like they are doing with girls brought from abroad. That's what is happening." CROP is concerned that internal trafficking of children, young people and women within the UK and other Western countries, operates through targeting and grooming and is accompanied by extreme abuse and violence; and yet is not regarded by society in the same way as international trafficking which evokes necessary public outrage. Girls targeted by criminal pimps are sent to different parts of the country which is why they go missing from home. CROP has become aware of gangs and individual pimps from Yorkshire sending girls to many towns and cities in the Yorkshire region and around the country where they know of demand - e.g. to Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester and London. Developing a national overview and acknowledging the scale of the problem of trafficking at the domestic level would lead to the development of an action plan aimed at prevention and prosecution at all levels.

As it currently stands the law is failing to protect girls from this flourishing new form of an old trade. Distaste, denial, hypocrisy and political correctness r

[pan]

Satan's Slave

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Wild scenes as monks brawl next to Jesus' tomb

[BO]

Damn, these guys sound worse than management at my last job. It sure would be fun to go there though, and drench oneself in all that history. I can smell the musty clay from here.

"The Israeli government has long wanted to build a fire exit in the church, which regularly fills with thousands of pilgrims and has only one main door, but the plan is on hold because the sects cannot agree where the exit will be built. In another example, a ladder placed on a ledge over the entrance sometime in the 19th century has remained there ever since because of a dispute over who has the authority to take it down. More recently, a spat between Ethiopian and Coptic Christians is delaying badly needed renovations to a rooftop monastery that engineers say could collapse."

[waldopaper]

Turners and freethinkers... in High School, my future ex-wife and I used to park behind the Turners Club (long-gone now... as Duckberg became part of Dominionist Krakkerland)... but a great German-USAn heritage- before us USKrauts learned we could get fat by being obedient sheep.

Oh well. at least they provided a parking lot for young waldo to git some woodle.

[waldopaper]

A tangent on another tangent... what I love about real scholarship. Check out Reed's drawings. Now my browser has crashed and I gotta shut down.

[pan]

In Nigeria: Killing kids for Christ

In South Carolina: No Communion for Obama Voters