The Inferno

when you see stuff like this?

Arab ministers have urged Denmark to punish a newspaper which printed cartoons that offended Muslims.

Ministers from 17 Arab countries criticised the "offence to Islam" and called on the Danish government to ensure this would not happen again.

taken from Anyone with a sense of humour 29843796597845554, Religious People 0

You know, this speaks volumes about the mentality of nations that claim that the West is culturally imperialist, is forcing Western morals and values onto their traditional societies, thereby hastening their downfall. It looks like the shoe’s on the other foot now. Who’s asking someone else to impose foreign cultural standards now? Who’s asking Denmark to forego their ‘traditional’ freedoms of press and punish a newspaper now?

Dare one even enquire as to the nature of these punitive measures? Caning the editor in the public market square of Roskilde? Don’t make laugh, ministers of 17 Arab countries. This only serves to worsen the public stereotype of the Middle Eastern countries as hidebound autocracies that propelled themselves from the 8th century into the 21st thanks to petrodollars. Maybe all those National Geographic pictures with the Bedouin neatly juxtaposed against gleaming skyscrapers were trying to tell us something.

But it’s not really their fault, I mean, a certain seriousness in one’s faith is expected from all religious twits. Would they really expect to enter Paradise and enjoy all the pleasures within if they didn’t protect their faith? I guess this means Religion has once again been the source of more discord between men, causing them to bicker and fight rather than live together in peace, which is what they are presumably all about. But what would I know, I am a damned atheist whose soul is already consigned to a certain corner of hell for all eternity. I’ve already paid my deposit and I encourage all of you to drop in and fan the flames, as it were.

And who said blogs couldn’t convey sarcasm.

Why didn’t I think of suing the Church for falsely claiming that Jesus existed?

Cascioli, a lifelong atheist, claims that Righi violated two Italian laws by making the assertion: so-called "abuse of popular belief" in which someone fraudulently deceives people; and "impersonation" in which someone gains by attributing a false name to someone.

Cascioli says that for 2,000 years the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people by furthering the fable that Christ existed, and says the church has been gaining financially by "impersonating" as Christ someone by the name of John of Gamala, the son of Judas from Gamala.

Taken from About time

And this in Italy too, one of the bastions of Christianity. I hope it goes all the way to the Hague, as the article says, it’ll be a spectacle indeed. I wonder what’ll happen if they decided that Jesus never existed, and it becomes legal fact. Will millions of religious lawyers be torn asunder?

On June 7, 1981, Israel destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak in a pre-emptive strike, which potentially changed the course of history in the Middle East. Just imagine, if you will, Saddam Hussein with a vast oil supply AND nuclear weapons. The US would have never dared to start Operation Desert Storm. And in an almost expected show of double standards, Israel got away with a gentle pat on the wrist from the UN. This could imply that the world secretly applauded the decision, while forced to reprimand Israel in public, in accordance with international law. I mean, Israeli-Palestinian vendettas aside, who would really want a lunatic like Hussein to go nuclear anyway?

The issue is, how long before something like this happens between Israel and Iran? Will Israel do us a favour and knock out the Iranian nuclear resarch sites before they go nuclear? This is not a trivial decision, because if the reactor has already started producing nuclear fuel, there is the possibility of nuclear fallout affecting the surrounding civilian population. It was precisely this factor that led Begin to attack when he did, since the reactor was expected to go live three weeks after June 7, 1981. Oh, and the upcoming Israeli elections might have had something to do with it too.

I guess the most we can do is sit back and watch. What will it be called this time, Operation Opera, Act II?

So it’s a new year and a new semester. I’m in three courses, two of which promise to be fairly difficult. Let’s hope the third one doesn’t turn out to be like them. At this rate, 9 credits a term, 27 credits a year, I’ll finish the needed 75 credits in just under four years. Eeep. I’d always thought I’d just charge right in, finish the whole damn thing in two years and march off with that vital piece of paper.

Alas, it’s not to be. Not if I want good grades AND sleep, as it turns out. Well, maybe I could take 2 difficult and 2 easy courses, balance the load and get more done in the process as well.

We shall see.

Can anything be more reprehensible than smoking? After examining all the evidence, one must conclude that smokers are simply mentally deficient. Putting aside the obvious biological harm cigarettes do to you, can one really ignore the fact that by smoking, one is contributing to the likes of Bush and Co.? Big Tobacco is a big contributor to Republican coffers, which in turn lets them seduce teens with marketing while the government looks the other way.

Smokers put forth many arguments for smoking, with the strongest being the self-destructive one that goes something like this: “It’s my life and I can do with it as I please, so let me smoke”. You can replace “smoke” with any other form of self destructive behaviour such as shooting up heroin, drinking ad infinitum. While this defence would make Sartre proud, one is forced to point out the glaring hole in this house of cards: Biologically, smoking reduces the quality of life that’s left. For most people, maximizing the quality of their life is a rational choice they wouldn’t think twice about. One can only assume that most smokers are aware of this, but go ahead and smoke anyway.

Other smokers claim it is difficult to quit, since nicotine is addictive. This excuse is just that, an excuse, a crutch to rely upon. A little pain to rid oneself of a bad habit is not a bad thing, especially if it might prolong your life considerably. Since people who have quit smoking permanently do exist, one must conclude that the others who tried and failed are simply showing a poor effort in this endeavour.

Thus, we may conclude that smokers are on par with the mentally challenged at some level. Refusal to acknowledge hard evidence, a bullish persistence in adhering to some sort of ingrained habit…they might almost be creationists or sports fans.