Banksy makes sculpture relating to Catholic Church sex abuse scandal

I only just go wind of this now but Banksy apparently made this sculpture at the end of last year in December following the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. It’s been named ‘Cardinal Sin’ and is a replica of an 18th century stone bust that had its face sawn off and replaced with a mosaic of squares to give it that pixelated appearance.

He has given the art piece to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool on indefinite loan. More here.

Read Full Post »

I spy Jesus

I can almost understand why so many Christians seem to almost be competing with each other these days to find images of their Lord and saviour in anything from chocolate bars, concrete floors, cheese sandwiches and in cats (??). Let’s face it, most of them are already bat-shit crazy, so it’s not really a big surprise. But why oh why are we filling up airtime on the News with this garbage?

The Muslim world is clearly one step ahead of us in this department, when was the last time you think they aired a story on someone seeing the image of Mohammad in something that didn’t end in the lucky finder’s live execution?

Read Full Post »

US soldiers urinate on dead Afghani Taliban fighters

A FB friend posted this video up today on his wall with the attached message

I don’t care how bad islamic extremism/terrorists are, this type of behavior isn’t helping, folks.

I emphatically agree with him there. Retaliation, doing something atrocious and degrading to those fighting on the side who have done similarly terrible things to your side is never justified. How can you ever take the moral high ground once you succumb to such actions of such a depraved and disgusting nature. It just leads to further fighting, further attempts for retribution on both sides. But where has that ever gotten anyone in the past? No one wins.

Read Full Post »

Simple geography is beyond Fox News

I don’t understand how one of the world’s biggest news groups can get something like this so abysmally incorrect. A simple google search is all that would be required to get this correct. And considering someone sat there designing the computer graphics for the below picture that would’ve taken hours, how on earth do they have an excuse?

Also, they can spell Bulgaria and Romania but use ‘Serb.’ for Serbia…?

Read Full Post »

+1 respect for Fox News

Wouldn’t have believed it until I saw it myself, but apparently Fox News have finally done something news worthy including Christopher Hitchens in their ‘Who We Lost In 2011′ segment.

Read Full Post »

Jehovah’s Witnesses warring within

The official Jehovah’s Witness magazine, The Watchtower, recently published the following in an article titled ‘Will you heed Jehovah’s warnings?’:

Jehovah, the Great Physician, tells us to avoid contact with them. We know what he means, but are we determined to heed his warning in all respects? What is involved in avoiding false teachers? We do not receive them into our homes or greet them. We also refuse to read their literature, watch television programmes that feature them, examine their websites, or add our comments to their blogs. Why do we take such a firm stand?

Because of love. We love ‘the God of truth’, so we are not interested in twisted teachings that contradict his Word of truth.

The offending article shamelessly condemns anyone who questions the official doctrine of the church, or decides to leave the church, and labels them “mentally diseased”. This has led to an outcry from former and present members of the church who are worried about people being shunned by friends and family as well as the church.

A man who didn’t want his identity to be known said that:

Many like me remain associated with the Witnesses out of fear of being uncovered as an ‘apostate’ and ousted, not just from the organisation, but from their own friends and families.

I find I am now branded as ‘mentally diseased’ – giving any who discover my true beliefs free licence to treat me with disdain.

There is also concern over such labelling of apostates effectively being a hate crime. Can you imagine if blacks, gays, or conflicting religions openly labelled one another ‘mentally diseased’. There’d be an absolute uproar from members of such groups as well as the general public.

So I definitely think it’s time we stop giving these religious groups the exorbitant privileges they’re currently granted, even apparently when it comes to vilifying their own. Everyone group and every person deserves equal treatment, as well as protection from those who would mistreat them.

More on the story here.

As a bit of a backstory, I’ve always had a bit of a hate on for the followers of Jehovah and the church itself. Growing up I was friends with three boys at my local primary school who were Jehovah’s Witnesses. I would hang out with them several times a week out the front of their house on my street, skate boarding, playing footy and having water fights in summer. They were good kids, their parents on the other hand…

I only learned that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses when one morning they rocked up on our doorstep all dressed in suits. My father opened the door and politely told them we weren’t interested (this didn’t deter them from showing up a few times every year).

The door knocking and the personal religious beliefs at the time didn’t bother me at all, I was probably 10-12 years old while friends with the boys. However, I soon started to hold a great deal of disdain for them because of their disapproval of their sons spending time with me. They began refusing to let me have a glass of water on hot days, or even enter their house to use the toilet. I think over the 3-4 years I was friends with them I was allowed to enter their house twice, once without the parent’s knowledge. Sometimes though they were nice enough to let one of their sons get me a cup from inside to use the outside tap for a drink of water. Eventually they stopped letting their boys play with us and that was that.

So that line from the article above “We do not receive them into our homes or greet them.” really reminded me of all this. What arseholes… You think if you were really comfortable with your belief in God and the teachings of the Bible you’d hardly be worried about speaking with apostates or unbelievers let alone denying them entry to your house. However, clearly such fraternisation with the enemy has lead to many a devout JW follower question the very core of their faith, and even leaving the church. Why else would they have such vicious tactics at retaining believers.

Anyway, one day many years later I met one of them out in the town. He’d subsequently moved out of home and left the church. His parents had turned their back on him, though he seemed to be fine and didn’t really care. Unfortunately, a few years later he showed up at my parents house in a suit, holding a bible…

Read Full Post »

Lawrence O’Donnell on Police Brutality at Occupy Wall Street

Read Full Post »

Catholic Church hid molestation of disabled children

I watched a fairly disturbing program tonight on 4 Corners on the Catholic Church’s covering up of the molestation of numerous disabled children from St Ann’s School. Below is the backstory to the program. Hit up the link above to watch the program online. It’s astonishing how these sorts of gruesome and cruel stories are being discovered at an almost exponential rate these days. Yet all we hear from the Catholic Church is, “we didn’t know…”.

In July this year, authorities in South Australia decided not to proceed with a case claiming sexual abuse of a child with an intellectual disability. The prosecution formed the view that the child could not give reliable evidence. The accused was released. The parents were enraged.

It was not the first time authorities in this country had made such a decision. Now Four Corners reveals the full story of the children and families from St Ann’s Special School in Adelaide. Speaking openly on television for the first time, parents whose children attended the school in the 80s and 90s tell stories of abuse which they say highlight the limitations of the legal system and the apparent incapacity of the Church to openly confront these issues.

In 1991, police searched the home of Brian Perkins, the bus driver from St Ann’s. They found photographs of several naked children who attended the school. Police moved to prosecute Perkins, but due to a “systems error” he was given bail and absconded.

But this wasn’t the only mistake. Although they knew it was possible that up to 30 children had been abused, the police and the school authorities did not tell all the parents whose children had come into contact with Perkins.

For 10 years nothing was done. Over that time many of the children developed terrible behavioural problems. Finally, as a result of a chance encounter between the parents, the full extent of their children’s abuse was revealed. The parents tell how, in the decade that followed their discovery, they struggled to get justice from the Catholic Church and the police. None of them can understand why the abuse was covered up or why Church authorities have fought so hard – in spite of their offer of a one-off financial payment to some families – to avoid admitting the extent of the abuse.

In light of this, and other cases like it, authorities in South Australia are looking at the law and the way children with a disability can be protected. Whatever happens, it will come too late for the children of St Ann’s.

Read Full Post »

Fox News your bias is showing!

Fox News have deleted a poll they set up regarding the Republican debate last Thursday night in Orlando when it was clear that the majority believed Ron Paul dominated. What a surprise… Unfortunately for them the poll is still accessible via Google cache file.

Read Full Post »

Fox News playing the religious victim story again…

Here they go twisting yet another story back on itself to make Christians look like they’re being hard done by the rest of the world. Fox News reported yesterday on a Californian couple that had been fined $300 ‘for holding a home bible studies’ in their house.

A religious legal non-profit group, the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), has taken up the case saying the fine was a violation of religious freedom. – Fox News

Uhhh bullshit… It had nothing to do with impinging on their religious freedom at all. Not until you dig a little further into the story do you realise the reason they were fined had nothing to do whatsoever with their practicing of their religion in their own home. They were fined because they were regularly having assemblies in their home with 50 or more people without first getting a permit from the council to do so. A spokeswoman for the city of San Juan Capistrano explained the real reason behind the fine to the Los Angeles Times.

The Fromm case further involves regular meetings on Sunday mornings and Thursday afternoons with up to 50 persons, with impacts on the residential neighborhood on street access and parking.

I’m sure she would’ve also told Fox News the exact same thing if they’d bothered to actually ask her…

Now the couple have got themselves a lawyer from the Public Justice Institute… HA! He’s stated that the city…

…needed some kind of rational basis to justify their rigid intolerance towards this family for having a Bible study in their home.

He says the couple should have their money returned, and that the PJI intends to defend the couple’s home Bible study all the way to the US Supreme Court if they have to. Good luck to you sir! I think both the couple and Fox News need to wake up a little…

Read Full Post »