Egypt’s Potential Liberty – Revolution

Egypt’s revolution is under way.  Reports of police officers removing their uniforms and joining the protesters fills me with hope.  My own country’s interest in Egypt and horrifying human rights record when it comes to respecting foreign powers fills me with dread.  The likelihood of their success depends upon a number of factors.  Outside influence [...]

Fighting Religious Tyranny

We need to step up our fight against religious tyranny, for there are surely those fighting as hard as they can on theocracy’s behalf. The politically dominant expression (and face) of faith in this country is that of conservative Christianity.  And conservative Christians are in battle mode over their perceived right to force their religion [...]

Theocrats: Don’t Tread on Me

I’ve got a post over at Revolutionary Act on Republicans, Gay Marriage, Palin, and Theocracy.  You are all warmly encouraged to drop by and share your voice.

Amy Goodman Arrested: RNC Police State Follow Up

My very politically astute friend Jeff sent me this (it isn’t hard to see why): That’s Amy Goodman of Democracy Now being arrested on obviously bullshit charges.  I think Jeff’s reaction captures my own in better words: On Democracy Now today (Monday morning), Amy Goodman reported that 2 Democracy Now producers (along with a slew [...]

There is Nothing Less American Than Censorship

Something to remember when John McCain has people arrested at his rallies for opposing political messages: A 61-year-old librarian was ejected from an ostensibly public McCain campaign event at the Denver Center of Performing Arts in Denver, CO on June 7 because she was brandishing a deadly memetic weapon: a hand-lettered sign that read “McCain=Bush.” [...]

Atheism is Not a Religion

This particular falsehood crops up, often, in debates surrounding religion and its intrusion into the affairs of state.  Let’s get this straight.  Atheism is the belief that there is no God.  That’s it.  A single belief. A religion is a system of beliefs grounded in faith.  It contains traditions and instructions on how best to [...]

Pharmacists For Controlling Your Sex Life

The group Pharmacists for Life International wants to control wombs.  They stand against personal freedom in the name of utter nonsense.  As always, the surprise comes when you consider that these folks are allowed to operate at all.  Refusing to sell contraceptives to women is by any practical measure as prejudicial as refusing to serve [...]

China Imprisons 30 Protesters

In an effort to win more goodwill for the 2008 Summer Olympics, China has imprisoned 30 protesters: BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced 30 people, including six monks, to jail terms ranging from three years to life in prison for their alleged roles in deadly riots in the Tibetan capital last month, [...]

China is Crushing Tibet, and The World is Standing By

I’ve watched the protests unfolding in Tibet over the past few days with increasing despondency. China is killing Tibetans. They are doing their best to censor news of the protests, even going so far as to censor youtube videos. As the Chinese government brutally tramples the Tibetan people, pollutes their land and exploits their resources, [...]

Abortion Myths and Lies

This is about those anti-choice standbys, myths and lies.  We’ll start with Neil’s post (4Simpsons) about abortion and guilt, then move into the comments: Pro-choicers may claim that people feel guilty because others make them feel guilty.  There could be an element of truth to that.  But abortion is legal and 90% of the media are [...]

J Edgar Hoover and Giuliani

Via NewsCat, this set off some alarms: Over the holidays there was a little noticed story published about recently declassified papers showing that in July 1950, only a few days after the beginning of the Korean War, J. Edgar Hoover wanted President Truman to round up and detain 12,000 American citizens. Who was he targeting?  [...]

American Mercenaries and the Death of Law

Blackwater mercenaries:  Coming to an American neighborhood near you (pecunium at Majikthise, emphasis mine): The reports out of New Orleans, that Blackwater had been deputised to provide security, were worrisom. Then I see things like this piece by Naomi Wolff which is about the ways in which Blackwater is positioning istelf to get more work [...]

Bangladesh Protests: Its About Liberty

The Bangledesh military government is imposing curfew on top of a perpetual state of emergency. The protesters(video, HayWire) aren’t backing off either. In fact, they show signs of growth (Al Jazeera): “The situation is deteriorating as teachers now have came out to join protesting students,” said a police officer in Dhaka. So what are people [...]

China and RFID: For Your Protection

So China’s setting up a pilot people tracking program.  Who else thinks this is awesome?  You just know President to be Giuliani is drooling over the possibilities state-side.  Maybe we can up the ante and inject our citizens instead of using “cards”.  Although if you think about it, cards offer more opportunity for the totalitarian [...]

Ron Paul’s Freedom Ain’t Free

Up until this point I was still watching Paul with great interest.  After all, you don’t really see a politician saying such wonderful things about freedom and transparent government out loud in public.  He and his supporters were also quite sympathetic figures given his treatment in the media. Then I found a few very worrying [...]