Egypt slides back into autocracy

For all the hope for democracy that was generated by the toppling of the Mubarak regime by popular demonstrations, we now see Egypt slide back into a familiar system, with a military general taking power in a coup and then consolidating his power by elections that are heavily slanted in his favor, cracking down on the media, and a judicial system that treats dissidents and opponents of the government harshly.
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Judge rules no fly list to be unconstitutional

I have railed against the abuse of the US government’s notorious ‘No Fly List’, where the government keeps a secret list that tells airlines not to let people fly without telling them why they have been forbidden, what they need to do to get their names removed, nor even (in the early days) that they have such a list at all. This is such an arbitrary abuse of government power and due process that it boggles the mind
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Debate Q/A videos are up

Thanks to Mark Tiborsky of the Cleveland Freethinkers, the Q/A portion of my debate last Saturday with Joe Puckett has been posted. I find the Q/A parts the most interesting because I enjoy dialogue more than giving speeches because you often address specific points.

The creators of the videos were hampered by not getting a direct sound feed from the microphones but had to pick it up from the air which is the reason for the slightly inferior quality.
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My reflections on the radio show

[The podcast, either just audio or audio/video, can be obtained here.]

I thought the radio show went pretty well. These shows always tend to generate interest and we run out of time for the callers. Craig Bauman, the president of the University of Akron Secular Student Alliance who put up some of the atheist billboards in the region, contributed via phone and I thought he made some excellent comments, both about the billboards and his own disbelief that he said started in fourth grade, helped by a supportive family. Tracy Lind, a well-known minister of a local church, also called in and made the often-heard point that some people in her congregation are scientists and see no problem with science and a belief in a god. She is a liberal Christian and so speaks of god in more abstract terms, unlike Joe who is an evangelical and more literal in his approach to the Bible.
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