Happy International Blasphemy Day, September 30th

If a religion can’t take a joke, then that religion IS a joke. Only the emotionally insecure and infantile can’t handle criticism and mockery.

And if “god” is powerful enough to create the universe, then it doesn’t need stooges to do its dirty work. Let “god” punish me himself.

The inevitable has happened three times

Members of the Greek fascist party "Golden Dawn" incited and advocated anti-immigration violence, what is known as "stochastic terrorism".

One of the "lone wolf" fanboys of the far-right party murdered a Greek celebrity who spoke out against hate speech.

And now, the "Golden Dawn" party is under investigation, including members of its party in the Greek parliament.

The only person that needs to be tried is the public persecutor

Long overdue, the farcical "conviction" of Marissa Alexander has been overturned.  The question now is, will the overzealous careerist who falsely convicted her try to do it again?  Will that prosecutor be allowed to continue a chain of corrupt and biased decisions of who to charge and who not to?

The War On Cyclists and Pedestrians: Five children run over, no charges for the driver

http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/09/12/running-down-five-children-on-a-sidewalk-is-legal-in-new-york-city/

Running Down Five Children on a Sidewalk Is Legal in New York City

DNAinfo is reporting that the driver who jumped a curb and hit five kids in Maspeth this morning, an incident captured on video, probably will not be charged.

A surveillance tape shows a group of kids on a Grand Avenue sidewalk when the driver of a Honda SUV runs one of them over, missing the others by inches. Witnesses lifted the SUV off at least one of the victims. One girl reportedly suffered a broken leg and another a broken hip. One boy has a leg injury and another was treated for a swollen arm. The victims were age 12 to 14. From DNAinfo:

Obituary: Opera web browser, 1994-2013

Opera was an innovative and customizable web browser.  It created many features adopted by other browsers (e.g. tabbed browsing, gestures, extensive right-click menus among others).  It never attained a large market share for a variety of reasons, none related the browser's functionality or reliability (see also: Beta videotape).

Opera's demise was a voluntary decision of the company to stop making a web browser, and instead create an overlay for Google's Chrome browser (similar to Rockmelt and Iron, or Maxthon based on Internet Explorer).  It is no longer a browser, but instead an attempt to cut costs, an admission of defeat by a company that once led the field in innovative thinking.

Life Imitates Bad "Art"

It is the height of irony (or inevitability of the product coming to life) that a man in England has been violently assaulted, stabbed and mugged by thieves who wanted his copy of "Grand Theft Auto 5".

Religious dishonesty: Tim Tebow was a "victim of discrimination"

The only discrimination going on in the New England Patriots' camp is the discrimination between talented and untalented players.

http://www.examiner.com/article/christians-claim-persecution-after-patriots-cut-tim-tebow

Christians claim persecution after Patriots cut Tim Tebow

September 1, 2013  

Christians are claiming persecution after Christian darling Tim Tebow was cut from the New England Patriots. The Patriots released Tebow on Saturday, a move that leaves the polarizing and proselytizing quarterback's NFL future in doubt.

Many Christians are unhappy with the decision, claiming Tebow is the victim of persecution because of his outspoken and public profession of his Christian faith. Tebow, raised by controversial evangelical missionary parents, is famous for praying on the football field. His pretentious public displays of piety have thrilled his Christian fans, while making many others slightly ill.

There is no "anti-christian bias", especially when the teams' owner is vocally christian, as are the bulk of the players and many of the team's management and coaching staff.  The same stupid accusations were made in the Roy Moore / "ten commandments" case (where Moore was removed from office for breaking the law).

Religious criminality: Is the pope protecting another pedophile?

Why the rush to remove someone from a position?  It's not as if he's going to arrested for something.

Or is he?

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/catholic-church-removes-dominican-republic-envoy-20156575

Vatican Abruptly Ousts Dominican Republic Envoy

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic September 4, 2013 (AP) 

Authorities in the Dominican Republic will look into allegations of child sex abuse against the papal envoy to the Caribbean country following his abrupt removal from his post by the Vatican, the attorney general said Wednesday.

 Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito was careful to note that his office is aware only of rumors about the papal nuncio, Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, and has not received any accusations.

 A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed that Wesolowski had been removed from his post and that the church was conducting an investigation of him. He declined to provide any details about the accusations against the Polish-born prelate.

A nuncio is the pope's ambassador to a country and such an abrupt removal is rare.

Another case of rape in India

Except that this time, it's a religious leader.  Earlier in 2013, he blamed the victim of a rape, the woman who was murdered by a gang of rapists on a bus.

Indian spiritual leader arrested on rape charge

JAIPUR, India (AP) — A controversial spiritual guru was arrested early Sunday on a rape charge filed by a teenage girl in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, police said.