On September 12, 2001, in the immediate aftermath of the events of what we now use the shorthand 9/11, the late gonzo journalist wrote what seems to be eerily prophetic.
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Mano Singham
Just another Freethought Blogs site
Mark Oppenheimer has a long article titled Will Misogyny Bring Down The Atheist Movement? that uses as his starting point the accusations leveled against well-known skeptic and author Michael Shermer for being at the very least a sexual predator.
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In the previous post in this series, I discussed the fear of death that arises from thinking that one will not be remembered by posterity and that this implies that one’s life did not matter. This can drive people to acquire great wealth and fame hoping that this will ensure that their names will live on.
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It is interesting how yesterday’s major threat to civilization as we know it (al Qaeda) has suddenly become relegated to being an insignificant factor as soon as a new actor (ISIS/ISIL) came along. This is the usual pattern of the US always needing to have some boogeyman to scare the hell out of people so that wars can be promoted and executed.
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A couple of readers sent me this clip of senator Ted Cruz getting booed off the stage at a gala dinner organized by a group called In Defense of Christians (IDC), a group of Arab Christians that is trying to raise awareness of the plight of Christians in some Arab countries where extremist Muslim groups are attacking them.
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Kirsten Gillibrand has written a book in which she reveals some of the appalling comments that some of her male colleagues in the US Senate have made to her. In response, Senator Ron Johnson makes the kind of comment one often hears in such situations by people who are skeptical of the claims but don’t want to outright say so.
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The new session of the US Supreme Court starts soon with the first meeting of the justices on the 29th of this month and they already have seven petitions on same-sex marriage submitted to them as a result of Appeals Court verdicts. These cases consist of three from Virginia, and one each from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wisconsin.
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So as expected, president Obama said yesterday that he will continue the long-standing US practice of all war, all the time, finding new wars to start even a the old ones drag on. ISIS/ISIL has now given momentum to that effort by moving public opinion in the US by some horrific acts. Of course, if the beheading of two Americans can anger public opinion here so much, one can imagine what is the reaction of people in that region when the US blasts so many of their people to bits with powerful hi-tech weaponry.
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This brilliant but strange and fascinating film by director Lindsay Anderson stars Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren and a raft of first-rate British character actors. It is a biting satire on the ruthlessness of the capitalist system in which McDowell plays a naïf who thinks that he can become rich by doing the will of wealthy people and thinks that they will show their gratitude by taking care of him and rewarding him, and ends up in one mess after another. It is an illusion shared by many today. I liked one gag where the graffiti on a wall has the message “Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals”.
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We heard about the trend to build McMansions, huge house that have far more space than the occupants could possibly need. An opposite trend is to build what are called microhouses, tiny living spaces that try to utilize every bit of space efficiently. Some of them are ingenious in their design and quite beautiful
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