God loves atheists

Palin Claimed Dinosaurs And People Coexisted

Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago -- about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct -- the teacher said.

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Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

A 28-year-old Russian female, who visited Dubai on a tourist visa, and a 30-year-old male citizen of Lebanon, a salesman in a local store, were put on trial for drinking juice in a public place in the daytime during Muslim fasting.

The police caught the two people red-handed at a gas station in Dubai, Emirat.ru reports with reference to Gulf News.

In accordance with the Federal Penal Code of the United Arab Emirates, a public intake of food and beverages during daytime hours of the month of Ramadan is forbidden by Article 313. The article stipulates the punishment in the form of either a monetary penalty – up to 2,000 dirhems ($555) – or even a term of up to one month in prison.

The young people told the court that they were not Muslims and were thus unaware of the fact that their actions could be punishable.

The court took the mitigating circumstances into consideration, but found the defendants guilty, since ignorance did not exclude responsibility. The court ruled that the young people must pay the fine of 1,000 dirhems ($278) each.

The case became the first one in Dubai in violation of Article 313 since the beginning of the month of Ramadan on September 1.

Thousands of foreigners from Europe and Asia reside in the emirate of Dubai, the major tourist center of the Persian Gulf . Dubai is known as a relatively liberal region in comparison with other territories of the UAE. Tourists can be seen in the streets wearing shorts, whereas alcoholic beverages can often be available in bars and hotels.

This year, however, the authorities intend to remind all residents and guests of the emirate that they are staying on the territory of a Muslim country. There have been quite a number of incidents recently when the local police in plain clothes arrested women sunbathing topless, nudists and other violators of public order.

Many tourists acknowledge that that they do not always understand how they should behave in Dubai.

Guide-books advise tourists should always carry their IDs, or better their copies, with them for the majority of police officers wear plain clothes and can be rather meticulous in their inspections.

Assault with a Deadly Ass?

Man gets charged for assaulting a police officer with Flatulence

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Two Jehovah's Witnesses murdered 13 people on "mission from God"

When the pair were arrested, Egorycheva was armed with two axes

When the pair were arrested, Egorycheva was armed with two axes (file photo)

Two twisted Jehovah's Witnesses have been arrested as suspected serial killers, accused of murdering 13 people during a nine-month killing spree in Russia.

Claiming to be on a mission from God, Vladimir Gurianov, 44, and Elvira Egorycheva 46, hacked, shot and bludgeoned their victims in a case that left even hardened Russian detectives shocked.

The pair were finally spotted in a supermarket in a suburb of the city and arrested. By then they were on nationwide search lists and their photographs had been widely circulated in the region.

When they were searched Egorycheva had a revolver, two axes, an electric-shock device and a rope in her belongings.

Another gun and a knife were found in Gurianov's jacket.

Gurianov - who locals said had 'mad eyes' - and Egorycheva first met at a Jehovah's Witnesses sect meeting 16 years ago.

Creeping Islamization in Europe

"Is Europe lost?" The answer is, "No, not yet." And losing Europe, I would add, is by no means inevitable. But that doesn't mean the continent isn't currently hell-bent to accommodate the dictates of Islamic law, bit by increasingly larger bit. Such a course of accommodation, barring reversal, will only hasten Bernard Lewis' famous prediction that

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7 Things From Pop Culture That Apparently Piss Jesus Off

It's not that all Christians are crazy, it's just that the religion seems to give certain types of crazy people a chance to shine. These are the ones who can't worry about the homeless because they're too busy doing things like decoding secret gay propaganda in cartoons.

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Lose your house in the mortgage crisis, lose your right to vote?

The Obama campaign yesterday went to court to block what it alleged was an attempt by Republicans in Michigan to stop people who lost their homes in the mortgage crisis from voting in November's election.

The suit, filed in a Michigan court yesterday, is the latest sign of contention over voting procedures. Voting rights activists in several battleground states have reported an aggressive push by Republican elected officials and activists to make it harder to vote.

In Macomb county, Michigan, a swing constituency, Republican officials for the first time tried to use America's housing crisis as a way of striking people off lists, the Obama camp told reporters yesterday. "There is no doubt that there is an immediate threat to the voting rights of citizens in Michigan whose names could appear on a foreclosure list," said Bob Bauer, an Obama lawyer.

The situation came to light last week when the Republican party chairman of Macomb county told a local newspaper he planned to draw on publicly available lists of home foreclosures to bar people from casting their vote.

"We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," the official, James Carabelli, told the Michigan Messenger.

The national Republicans later distanced the party from his comment, but other state party officials confirmed there were plans to deploy an army of poll "challengers" who would check voters' credentials.

The Republicans argue that people who have lost their homes may no longer be resident at the address listed on voter records, and hence are ineligible to vote, and that their efforts are aimed at preventing voting fraud.

Such a claim is dismissed by campaign experts, who say there is minimal fraud in American elections.

Instead, they say the drive in Michigan to deploy poll challengers is intended to reduce turnout in poor areas and among African Americans, disproportionately affected by the housing crisis and thought to be likely Democratic voters.

Voting rights activists say they have already found a much more aggressive attempt by Republicans this election season to try to strike people off voting lists.

"I think that certainly the Republicans seem to be much more out front about how they are going to challenge people's right to vote," said Gerald Hebert, director of the nonpartisan campaign legal centre. "What we are seeing this time around is more of a broad-based effort, and we are also seeing the Republicans being much more assertive and bold in their announcements and not necessarily trying to do it under the radar."

Voting rights activists in Ohio and Missouri have reported attempts to use the housing crisis to try to disqualify voters.

Jewish Taliban: Ultra-Orthodox Vigilantes in Jerusalem

Modesty squads are roaming the streets, attacking and brutally beating people who fail to live up to a narrow religious code defining moral purity. People are afraid, and women are being victimized most of all. Is the Taliban resurgent? Well, yes, but that's not what this story is about; instead, this story is about Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem taking the "law" into their own hands and punishing people for failing to adhere to strict religious standards.
Traditionalist Muslims tend to take first place in the Oppression Olympics, getting high marks for their efforts to stifle free speech and prevent women from achieving real equality in society with conservative Christians working hard to challenge them. Jews, though, tend to be quieter — but maybe some have decided that they can give the other a real run for their money? Even conservative, evangelical Christians haven't thought to create their own Taliban-inspired morality police.

Two weeks ago police arrested two alleged members of a modesty patrol accused of brutally beating M. The gang allegedly gagged her, hit her, kicked her and said she would be killed if she did not move out of the ultra-Orthodox Maalot Dafna neighbourhood. "They beat me up, tied me up and threatened to kill me," M. said, holding back her tears. "Who will prevent them from killing me?"

Neighbours had complained of what they called the divorcee's "indecent" lifestyle, which in such neighbourhoods can mean anything from wearing trousers to meeting men in private. "I don't know why I was treated this way. What has my life got to do with those guys," said M., who until three years ago was married to a Haredi -- a word used to describe the most theologically conservative form of Judaism. ...

In June, a 14-year-old Mea Sharim resident was taken to hospital with burns after an attacker hurled acid at her. Israeli media said that at the time of the attack the girl had been wearing loose-fitting trousers and a short-sleeved shirt, enough to provoke the ire of religious fanatics.

In 2006, a 50-year-old American-Israeli woman was viciously attacked by four men because she refused to go to the back of a bus while on holiday in Jerusalem. The bus was not one of the sex-segregated lines Jerusalem runs to accommodate Haredi preferences.

Oh no, not Mickey too?

13 die in Witchcraft Soccer riot

Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo set off a riot that killed 13 people, a radio station financed by the United Nations reported Monday. Most of the victims were ages 11 to 16, the station, Radio Okapi, said. They suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits on Sunday in Butembo in North Kivu Province. Police officers fired into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by spectators, the station said. But instead of calming the crowds, the firing exacerbated the panic, the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, said.

Best of times, Worst of Times:Lisa Magdelena, Former Jehovah's Witness

Click the title to link to a heart wrenching story of young girl dealing with the loss of her father because he refused to take a blood transfusion.

Church Apologises To Charles Darwin - 126 Years After Death

The Church of England will tomorrow officially apologise to Charles Darwin for misunderstanding his theory of evolution.

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Saudi OKs Killing "Immoral" TV Execs

Saudi Arabia's top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.

The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the "deviance of thousands of people."

Many of the most popular Arab satellite networks - which include channels showing music videos often denounced as obscene by Muslim conservatives - are owned by Saudi princes and well-connected Saudi businessmen. Al-Lihedan did not specify any particular channels.

Al-Lihedan is chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council. Saudi Arabia's judiciary is made up of Islamic clerics whose decrees, or fatwas, on everyday issues are widely respected. Their fatwas do not have the weight of law. In the courts, cleric-judges rule according to Islamic law, but interpretations can vary.

Al-Lihedan was answering listeners' questions during the daily "Light in the Path" radio program in which he and others make rulings on what is permissible under Islamic law.

One caller asked about Islam's view of the owners of satellite TV channels that show "bad programs" during Ramadan.

"I want to advise the owners of these channels, who broadcast calls for such indecency and impudence ... and I warn them of the consequences," he said.

"What does the owner of these networks think, when he provides seduction, obscenity and vulgarity?" he said.

"Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it's permissible to kill them," he said. "Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don't, it is permissible to kill them."

12-Old Girl Kicked Off Boys' Hoops Team For Being Too Good

Did I mention that she is a 6-foot, 1-inch 12-year-old?

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What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists?

A theocrat is a theocrat, whether Muslim or Christian.

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Creationists rewrite natural history

Sir David Attenborough retains his dignity even when Dutch creationists censor his documentaries to remove references to evolution and the age of the earth, and even remove a complete episode about apes and humans, when they are broadcast in the Netherlands. But at least the creationists reveal their contempt for free speech.

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Yeah But Have You Ever Fought Bacteria - On Weed?

Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs. Digg it for the thumbnail of the THC-Enhanced Bacteria Devourer!

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Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With 'Falling' Theory

As the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools continues, a new controversy over the science curriculum arose Monday. Scientists from the Evangelical Center For Faith-Based Reasoning are now asserting that the long-held "theory of gravity" is flawed and they have responded to it with a new theory of Intelligent Falling.

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Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain

A steady stream of devoted evolutionists continued to gather in this small Tennessee town today to witness what many believe is an image of Charles Darwin—author of The Origin Of Species and founder of the modern evolutionary movement—made manifest on a concrete wall in downtown Dayton.

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The 9 Most Eerily Cultlike Kids Shows

These days, children’s TV doesn’t take many chances. Shows are so concerned with being boycotted or sued that you get stuff like Dora the Explorer hanging out with a talking map cleverly named “Map”. But it hasn’t always been that way. Check out these shows and some of the creepy cultlike premise they were based on.

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Blood boils over Pakistan 'honor' killings

DESPAIR among human rights workers in Pakistan over a rash of so-called "honour killings" intensified yesterday when it was disclosed that a girl forced into marriage with a 45-year-old man at the age of nine had been killed by her parents because she asked for an annulment.

The girl, 17, who had been fighting a lonely but successful legal battle, was coming out of court in the Punjabi city of Sahiwal after being granted the annulment by a judge when she was surrounded by a group of men and shot in view of police.

The death of Saira Nusrat Bibi has added further to concerns among human rights campaigners already outraged over the case of five women - among them three teenage schoolgirls - buried alive in the province of Baluchistan because they wanted to marry men of their choice in defiance of the wishes of tribaleaders.

The Baluchistan case was worsened by an attempt by a member of the country's national parliament, senator Israr Ullah Zehri, to defend it, telling colleagues that "these are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them".

Members of the religious Jamaat-e-Islami party rounded on Senator Zehi, declaring: "We condemn this barbaric act. This is against Islam, against humanity and against civilised culture."

Yesterday, the Government bowed to pressure and ordered an inquiry into the killings.

Details that have emerged from the village of Baba Kot in Baluchistan indicate that the three girls - aged between 16 and 18 - and two of their elderly relatives were "shot at" before being buried alive. "When the fuming elders of the Umrani tribe came to know about the intentions of these girls, they picked them up from their homes along with two of their elderly relatives," one account said.

"The crying girls were pushed into official cars and driven to a deserted area. There they were pushed out of the cars, made to stand in a queue, and volleys of shots fired at them. As the bleeding girls fell to the sand, the tribesmen dragged them into a nearby ditch and levelled it with earth and stones.

"As the two shocked elderly women tried to rescue the hapless girls, they too were gunned down and buried in the same manner. The killers after burying these women returned to their tribe like conquerors without any action taken against them."

Brazilian Judge Orders Recall of Playboy at Request of Catholic Priest

Osvaldo Freixinho, a judge from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ordered the Brazilian version of Playboy magazine to recall its August issue which contained a photograph of actress Carol Castro, semi-nude and posing with a rosary. The recall was requested by the Rio-based Pela Vida Catholic youth institute and a priest from Goiás identified as Lodi.

Ricardo Brajterman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the photograph "hurt the feelings of believers". According to Brajterman, the decision also ordered the magazine to refrain from using religious elements in future articles that include nudes. In February, Brajterman also obtained a court order prohibiting a parade float with allegorical references to the Holocaust from entering Rio's Carnaval.

The magazine continues being sold freely in Brazilian news stands three days after the court decision. The erotic essay is one of the most daring by the Brazilian version of the publication ever, including rare shots of frontal nudity.

Playboy Brazil says it has not yet been notified of Freixinho's ruling. If the magazine fails to follow the judge's order after being notified, it could be ordered to pay as much as 1,000 reais (US$ 617) per day in
fines.

Castro is a novela (soap opera) star of Globo network, Brazil's audience leader TV. Edson Aran, editor of Playboy Brazil called the polemic "a tempest on a teacup."

Talking to Dia FM, a Rio radio station, the actress called herself a good catholic and denied that she had any intention to shock, stir a scandal or challenge de Catholic church. She called the pictures artistic and in good taste. As for the rosary, she explained, it was just an allusion to a character in Dona Flor and Her Two Husband by Jorge Amado whom she is playing on the stage right now.

A spokesperson for the São Paulo archdiocese, Juarez de Castro, however, disagreed. For him, the picture is a flagrant disrespect "not only to the Catholic church, but also to the people's faith. It's fashionable to say that these pictures are a photo essay, but in truth they are not more than vulgar eroticism."

Are they saying that God doesn't like hot naked girls?

One more reason not to vote Republican this year

If McCain is elected I hope he stays healthy because that Palin chick scares me!

Stalin's mass murders were 'entirely rational'...

Stalin acted ‘entirely rationally’ in executing and imprisoning millions of people in the Gulags, a controversial new Russian teaching manual claims.

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