Elections (don't forget to vote)

8 days to the local elections... and then the politicians will stop knocking on the door every evening,

I'll have to go back to arguing with the Jehovah's witnesses.

Poem

Make your way in silence to the edge of our cities

and hide yourself there,

behind the newest addition

of multi million showcasing we call art.

Keep your eyes downcast,

do not cry out or we will find you

and bundle you off to anonymous elsewhere

to muffle your voice, fearing the human story.

You are 22 per cent that falls

through the cracks of policy.

The other 78 do not want

to bear witness,

as you peer through the double glazing,

flattening the flowerbeds and rosebushes

and mucking suburban content

with the detritus of a broken life.

Commission to inquire into child abuse

While it doesn't make for easy reading it is important that every Irish citizen make themselves aware of what the report of the Commission to inquire into child abuse found.
(http://www.childabusecommission.ie/)

The systematic and vile abuse of the most vulnerable in Irish society, those who should have been protected, by those who were in a position of absolute power is horrifying.

I could start now on a rant about church and state but this is not about my agenda, those who were hurt should be compensated and every Irish person should be aware of what was allowed to happen, this was not abuse shrouded in secrecy but abuse deliberately ignored.

It will break your heart.

Empire Attacks

Having a fun bout of Insomnia for the past couple of weeks... but this game is great for passing time when I can't sleep... www.empireattack.com

Very addictive, you have been warned.

The Reason Project

The Reason Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. Drawing on the talents of the most prominent and creative thinkers across a wide range of disciplines, The Reason Project seeks to encourage critical thinking and wise public policy through a variety of interrelated projects. The foundation will convene conferences, produce films, sponsor scientific studies and opinion polls, publish original research, award grants to other charitable organizations, and offer material support to religious dissidents and public intellectuals — all with the purpose of eroding the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world.

http://www.reasonproject.org/

New Blasphemy law in Ireland - what Atheist Ireland have to say

The Irish Government’s new proposed blasphemy crime combines the oppressive religious thinking of 1950s Catholic Ireland and modern Islamic fundamentalism. This proposal should be opposed for three reasons.

One, it does not protect religious belief. Instead, it encourages outrage and it criminalises free speech. Two, it treats religious beliefs as more valuable than secular beliefs and scientific thinking. Three, we should be removing 1930s religious references from the Irish Constitution, not legislating to enforce them.

The bill’s first test of blasphemy is that religious adherents express outrage. Instead of encouraging outrage, we should be educating people to respond in a more healthy manner than outrage when somebody expresses a belief that they find insulting. More worryingly, this law would encourage the type of orchestrated outrage that Islamic fundamentalists directed against Danish cartoonists.

Many atheists find it insulting that the Christian Bible suggests that women must not teach and must learn in silence, or that effeminate people are unrighteous, or that people should worship a God who threatens to make you eat your own children. But we do not believe that the Bible should be banned, and neither should discussion of the Bible in terms that cause Christians to be outraged.

Blasphemy is not the only anomaly of running a 21st century state with a 1937 Constitution. You cannot become President or be appointed as a Judge unless you take a religious oath under God asking god to direct and sustain you in your work. We should be amending our Constitution to remove these theistic references, not creating new crimes to enforce provisions that were written in the 1930s.

If you live in Ireland, please lobby your local TD, the Justice Minister, and the members of the Oireachtas Justice Committee that is considering this proposal. Contact details here: http://tr.im/k4Mq

Pop over to Atheist Ireland here: http://blog.atheist.ie/

Swine Flu

100 people get swine flu and masks sold out. Millions get HIV yet nobody buys condoms... just sayin...