.png){kind=logo}
I received secondhand this reply to my post on Clinton’s response to the situation in Egypt: 1. I’d like his explicit definition or explication of “long term concerns for stability in the region.” 2. If we really want the United States not to be dictating to foreign countries what they should do then we should [...]
Archive for the ‘World Affairs’ Category
Dissent of the Day
January 31st, 2011 
Daniel Fincke 
Posted in Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, News Discussion, News Discussion, Politics, Politics, World Affairs, World Affairs 
Tags: Egypt 
2 Comments »Is This What Secretary Clinton Really Means?
January 31st, 2011 Daniel Fincke I have already made my case that Secretary Clinton is saying the right things. In the interest of giving equal time to alternative viewpoints, here is a wholly uncharitable and scathing video which “translates” recent remarks to show that she allegedly “really means” the wrong things: Your Thoughts?
Thoughts On Secretary Clinton’s Response To Egypt
January 30th, 2011 Daniel Fincke As always when I venture out of my areas of specialization, let me preface all following remarks with the obvious reminder—I am by no means a foreign policy expert or a Middle East expert. So take the following on the merits of my arguments and bring forth any facts you think I may need to [...]
Projecting US Pathologies Onto Muslims
October 29th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Glenn Greenwald offers a mirror for those of us who worry about the elements of theocratic expansionism which are enough a part of the Koran and early Islamic history to be considered potentially dangerous forms of the religion itself on its own terms (and not just of its appropriation by political agents): I’m always amazed [...]
France To Ban Burqa-Like Veils
July 13th, 2010 Daniel Fincke EuroNews.net writes: A law banning the wearing of a full Islamic veil in public in France has been adopted by the lower house of parliament. The ruling UMP and the New Centre party voted for the ban on the burqa or niqab while the Socialists, Communists and Greens abstained. The law goes to the upper house in [...]
Posted in Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Feminism, Feminism, Free Speech, Free Speech, Islam, Islam, Law, Law, Law & Politics, News, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Women's Issues, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Burqa Ban, France, French Burqa Ban, Veil No Comments »“Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” Advocates Under Threat
July 13th, 2010 Daniel Fincke The New York Daily News reports: A CHARISMATIC terror leader linked to the botched Times Square car bomb has placed the Seattle cartoonist who launched “Everybody Draw Muhammed Day” on an execution hit list. Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki – the radical who has also been cited as inspiring the Fort Hood, Tex., massacre and the [...]
Arrested For Being A Single Man In A Shopping Mall
July 12th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Saudiwoman writes: I have to tell you what I was up to last night. My very dear friend Tine has finished her time here in Saudi and is leaving soon. Unfortunately, being cooped up in expat compounds; she has never had a chance to see muttawas in action. These lions of Saudi morality are a [...]
Posted in Islam, Islam, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Morality Police, Muttawa, Saudi Arabia No Comments »Iran Bans Mullets
July 8th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
Posted in News, News Discussion, News Discussion, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Iran, Mullets No Comments »Gay Rights Advocate Decapitated In Uganda
July 6th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Unspeakably sad and outraging: A search for a missing pro-gay priest, the Rev Henry Kayizzi Nsubuga, who disappeared almost two and half weeks ago after delivering a scathing speech at St. Paul’s Church, Kanyanya supporting homosexuality in Uganda, led the joint search team of Integrity Uganda and Namirembe Diocese to the severed head of another [...]
Iranian Woman Sentenced To Stoning After Being Lashed 99 Times Until She “Confessed” Adultery
July 6th, 2010 Daniel Fincke CNN reports: Ashtiani, 42, will be buried up to her chest, according to an Amnesty International report citing the Iranian penal code. The stones that will be hurled at her will be large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill her immediately. Ashtiani, who is from the northern city of Tabriz, was [...]
Posted in News, Women's Issues, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Human Rights Abuses, Iran, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani 8 Comments »Threatened With Death Penalty, Maldivian Skeptic Of Islam Recants
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke A while back I highlighted the story of a Maldivian man who was attacked by a crowd for expressing his lack of belief in Islam during the Q&A session by a the visiting Indian scholar Dr. Zakir Naik. Maldives is a state where it is illegal to not believe. Now, via Atheist Media Blog, here’s video [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Skepticism, Skepticism, Theocracy, Theocracy, Videos, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Maldives, Mohamed Nazim, PZ Myers, Zakir Naik 3 Comments »A Dictatorship Of Relativism?
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke BBC Radio 4 analyzes the pope’s catchphrase, “a dictatorship of relativism”, used for describing the secular West. Here’s the program description: The idea that no one has a monopoly on the truth seems to be fixed in the modern Western psyche. But it’s an idea that is under attack. Pope Benedict claims that we are [...]
Posted in Authority, Authority, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Culture, Cutural Criticism, Cutural Criticism, Ethics, Ethics, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Ann Widdecombe, Europe, Leslie Green, Marcello Pera, Moral Aboslutism, Moral Relativism, Rowan Williams, Ruzwan Mohammed, Simon Blackburn, Stephen Wang, United Kingdom No Comments »Contrasting Muslim And Western Psychologies: The Locus Of Control
July 1st, 2010 Daniel Fincke Nicolai Sennels spent several years working with criminal Muslims in Copenhagen (where as of March 2009 “70% of the prison population in the Copenhagen youth prison consists of young man of Muslim heritage.”) He writes the following about the different ways that Westerners and Muslims view the locus of control: There is another strong difference between the [...]
Posted in Islam, Islam, Psychology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, Sociology, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Copenhagen, Denmark, Islam In Europe 8 Comments »New Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard Affirms Her Non-Belief, Will Not Patronize Believers
June 29th, 2010 Daniel Fincke I love what she has to say and do not know why anyone, religious or irreligious, would prefer a faith panderer to this, even if the faithful politician was at least somewhat sincere: She says does not go through religious rituals for the sake of appearance. “I am not going to pretend a faith I [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Julia Gillard No Comments »Lord Mayor Bans Lord Mayor Bans “Intrusive And Outdated” Christian Prayers Before Council Meetings
June 24th, 2010 Daniel Fincke From the Telegraph: Colin Hall said religion had no role to play in the conduct of council business. Mr Hall, who has just taken over the mayorship in Leicester, said the “majority” of councillors and city council staff were not practising Christians therefore there was little point in having the prayers, which were introduced in [...]
Starvation
June 23rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke This ripped my guts out to watch. Thanks to the “Let’s Lodge A Complaint Against God” Facebook page for the video. But the takeaway from this video should not be just another reiteration of the problem of evil, it should be refreshed urgency in our thinking about proactively remedying the problem through humane human efforts. [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, World Affairs Tags: DestitutionS, Peter Singer, Poverty, Starvation, The Life You Can Save, Uganda No Comments »“The Law Of God Which Is Above Human Rights”
June 20th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Any religion, or interpretation of a religion which takes the view that the law of God can be above human rights cannot be immune to violating human rights. In this case, we have an Iranian cleric calling for unveiled women to be treated like criminals as though they were drug traffickers, robbers, or terrorists: Guardian [...]
Posted in Islam, News, News Discussion, World Affairs Tags: Ayatollah Ahmad Alam Hoda, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Iran No Comments »Muslims Illegally Shutting Down Streets Of Paris For Prayer
June 20th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Last week we mentioned that a proposed street festival of pork and wine protesting Muslims praying in the streets was prohibited from occurring in Paris. Here is footage of such prayer sessions, which apparently are meant to be an act of civil disobedience: Thanks to Tony for the link. Your Thoughts?
Pakistani Police Investigating Mark Zuckerberg On Charges Of Blasphemy From Lawyer
June 19th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In response to “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day”: Last month, according to English-language Pakistani newspaper The News International, a Pakistani High Court judge summoned the police after lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique filed an application for a First Information Report (FIR), claiming that the owners of Facebook had committed a heinous and serious crime under Section 295-C of [...]
The Asian Sex Trade
June 19th, 2010 Daniel Fincke “The sex trade now accounts for 14% of Thailand’s economy.” Your Thoughts?
Posted in News, Sex, Videos, Women's Issues, World Affairs Tags: Cambodia, Sex Trade, Thailand No Comments »Paris Bans A “Sausage And Wine” Protest Of Muslims Who Close Down Roads By Praying In The Streets
June 17th, 2010 Daniel Fincke From Reuters’s FaithWorld blog: A giant “sausage and wine” party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday. The event, announced on the social networking site Facebook late last month (see page here in French), [...]
Haiti’s Human Trafficking Problem Exacerbated By Earthquake
June 16th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
Russian Orthodox Church Wants Creationism In Schools
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Sigh. The Russian Orthodox Church called recently for creationism to be taught along with evolution in Russian schools, according to Reuters. Senior Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion said, “The time has come for the monopoly of Darwinism and the deceptive idea that science in general contradicts religion. These ideas should be left in the past,” Reuters [...]
Spanish Singer Prosecuted For Cooking A Crucifix In 1978
June 15th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Here’s the offending video: And the story of the penalties to be paid for it: Musician Javier Krahe faces a fine of £159,000 after stills from the spoof cookery show, which involved baking an effigy of Christ for three days, were shown on television in 2004 during an interview with the star. Despite the length [...]
Recent Comments