The Swearing Preacher

This is noticeably a very old clip, but humorous regardless. It features a preacher, who supports bad editing skills, and who swears just about every sentence.

I get the impression he's speaking to rival gang members when he looks into the camera. [Note: Explicit]

I'm sure they cancelled his television show soon after.

Richard Nixon on: When is Abortion Correct?

According to this New York Times article, recent tape recordings regarding conversations Nixon had whilst occupying the White House show the ex-president had some ambivalent feelings towards abortion rights in the wake of Roe vs Wade. Unsurprisingly...

Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.”

Not a big deal to read about. But what I read in the following sentence was tragic.

But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.

“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”

I'm not saying Nixon necessarily equated interracial pregnancies to rape, but it sure as hell was not a flattering sentiment.

What, Google isn't kosher?

Amusing news this time. Apparently, Google's search engine isn't kosher enough for orthodox rabbis and Jews. So, through their encouragement comes a new "kosher-friendly" search engine titled (wait for it)...

Koogle.

The site, at www.koogle.co.il, omits religiously objectionable material, such as most photographs of women which Orthodox rabbis view as immodest, Altman said.

Its links to Israeli news and shopping sites also filter out items most ultra-Orthodox Israelis are forbidden by rabbis to have in their homes, such a television sets.

Whatever you see fit, I assume...

"I'll slay you over a cup of tea..."

On May 9th, a Christian man traveling around Pakistan decided to stop for a cup of tea in a village in Punjab. Ultimately, he met his death.

The owner of the roadside stall had posted a sign declaring that only Muslims were allowed to drink of that tea, and when the owner of the stall noticed the victims cross necklace, he grabbed him and called for his employees to bring anything to beat him with.

The owner and 14 of his employees beat Ishtiaq with stones, iron rods and clubs, and stabbed him multiple times with kitchen knives as Ishtiaq pleaded for mercy.

The other bus passengers and other passers-by finally intervened and took Ishtiaq to the Rural Health Center in the village. The doctor who took Ishtiaq’s case told ICC that Ishtiaq had died due to excessive internal and external bleeding, a fractured skull, and brain injuries.

To read more, click here.

It's the sad reality that dogmatic beliefs (whether religious, political, etc.) can lead to acts of violence. All this because people cannot be left to question their beliefs. To question whether what they have faith in is true. If it's good. If it can potentially harm others.

To have faith in unsubstantiated beliefs isn't a good thing. To express acts of violence because of that faith is even worse.

These men are killers, let none of them claim the moral authority.

Wikipedia bans Scientology

I found it amusing that Wikipedia took it upon itself to create a policy banning "high ranking" Scientologists from editing the Scientology article on the famous online encyclopedia. This is all in the hopes that the site can do a better job at keeping it's articles neutral.

While Wikipedia aims to be a site for "neutral" information, Scientology critics and admirers have slanted entries to fit their views and "resorted

to battlefield editing tactics," according to the arbitration board.

Scientologists need not be crestfallen, though. According to this, critics of scientology are also a target for their biased (albeit perhaps true) commentary. Remaining neutral has been Wikipedia's policy, and I believe it should remain that way. Besides that, Scientology does enough to make itself seem highly ludicrous already.

I don't understand how people can find this to be equivalent to truth.

Some Summer Reading

As a result of my desire to become addicted to reading, I decided to challenge myself to read 100 pages of anything, each day, for as long as I can (or until it becomes a habit). And, while I do have quite a few good unread titles in my collection, I decided to go searching for some more to add to my list.

Since I'm a big advocate for the first amendment, I decided what better place to find something interesting than the list of most commonly challenged books in the United States.

I cannot for the life of me imagine living in a country where I couldn't read something because the majority group didn't enjoy its message. Everybody has a voice, we should be able to write freely without fear of being put away for speaking our minds.

Don't ban books. What deserves to be praised will be praised. What deserves to be scrutinized will be scrutinized. Make nothing sacred. Don't limit yourself.

[There are quite a few classic novels on this list, such as "1984", "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "Brave New World", "The Catcher in the Rye", "Fallen Angel", "The Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice and Men", etc.

Also, surprisingly on the same list, is "Where's Waldo".]

A pleasant surprise...

While looking at the top search queries for my blog, I saw this-

1	27%	phrases for church signs	6
2	18%	any surprise any time	8
3	9%	b is for barnstorming	1
4	9%	"don t" be afraid of losing	3
5	9%	barnstorming youtube	3
6	9%	ideas for a scene with the title "well i thought it was funny"	5
7	9%	commits on youtube	10
8	9%	christian commits suicide	17

When a pastor decides to do a quick google search for a new witty phrase to put on his church bulletin, he might stumble upon the devil's tools. I need to be more damning, then.

Anybody else find anything interesting in the top 20 queries in which their blog appears? (I used Google Webmaster Tools).

Up and running... Again.

I didn't have Internet access for the previous couple of days so I haven't posted- But my computer is up and running again.

Is there anything interesting I've missed?