Musings of a free mind...

Another religious contradiction? Surely not!

BBC news reported Monday that Pope Benedict  XVI told a meeting of bishops that the pursuit of money and wealth is pointless.

He says that the current financial crisis is proof of this.  That the banking institutions going under, being nationalised or taken over are proof of this.

And here's the catch:  He says that instead of pursuing wealth, people should base their lives on God's word.  But, as the spokesman for God, wouldn't that effectively mean people would be basing their lives on what he, the Pope, says?

I agree that people SOLELY shouldn't pursue wealth, but ol' Benedict here is being a bit of a hypocrite.  Take a look at his shiny, expensive looking hat:

Oh, and the current economic climate isn't "proof" that people shouldn't pursue wealth and should, instead, pursue God.  It's proof that, as a collective of thinking, free-minded individuals, society as a whole is undergoing evolution.

We're adapting to change as time moves forward.  Unlike religion.

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No more mistakes!

So I'm just about to go to bed and I read a story on Yahoo (UK) news about a government official who is due to be charged after losing top secret files allegedly relating to al Qaeda, and also a report on the Iraqi armed forces.

The files were found in an envelope on a train and apparently this anonymous government figure will be charged under the Official Secrets Act.

Unfortunately the article didn't specify what exactly the person is going to be charged with.  This is important to me as I wonder to how inhumane we've become when we start filing criminal charges against a person who has made a mistake.

That's all it is, a mistake.  There has never been even an allegation that this person mislaid the files deliberately or had any ulterior motives for losing the files.

This is a mistake.  People are human.  Humans make mistakes.

How you can punish someone so severely for a genuine mistake is beyond me.

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Freedom of sp-

Yahoo (UK) news reports today that a third MP has been sacked, since Friday.  This MP, Barry Gardiner, also happens to be one of the many MP's who have spoken out in saying that there should be a leadership contest in order to determine a new leader of the Labour party and, therefore, of the current British government.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't think we're exactly approaching dictatorship rule, but when you're being sacked just for voicing your opinion against the current leader, I'm pretty sure we're heading in the wrong direction as a 'democratic' nation.

I mean, bless Mr Brown, he wanted to be Prime Minister for so long, through all the Blair years, and now he finally is.......... and no-one wants him.  It's gotta be tough.

But, Gordon, the people have a right to say they don't want you.

Maybe if you stopped silencing people and listened instead, people would be willing to give you a little more time to try and fix the mess that Blair left behind.

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Terrorisn't.

Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia's head of counter-terrorism, has today claimed that the West has taken the wrong approach in 'the war against terror' and that it, in fact, makes the fight more difficult.

He says that the all out aggressive approach (that'll be invading Middle-Eastern countries) makes it harder for morderate Muslims to tackle terror in their own countries.  He says that this imperial approach by the U.S has left Muslims feel like the whole thing is an attack against Islam.

Don't get me wrong here, I agree with him entirely.  But he's missing the point.  He's assumed that the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan is actually part of a 'war against terrorism'.

Of course it isn't.  It's a front for America to further its economic interests and put a financial strangehold on the rather lucrative, oil-rich Middle-East.

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Come on America. Open your eyes, but more importantly, open your mind.

First things first, people.  I'm BACK!  Yes, that's right, finally got my new cable internet today so I should be back up and running with regular posts from now on!

I've been sitting back and watching the American presidential race run it's course, just as everyone else has, and I can't believe what I'm seeing.  That's right, the same thing that happens every time a presidential election is on; Americans getting overly patriotic and forgetting to think about what really matters.

All I've read, from pretty much everywhere on the internet, is the usual talk of; left Vs right, democrats Vs republicans, elephants Vs donkeys and liberals Vs conservatives.  Being liberal or conservative isn't really an issue when it doesn't matter who gets into power anyway.  It's all a screen for what goes on behind closed doors:  The few, financial elite who control (almost literally) everything and dictate their will regardless of what the people think.

Bill Hicks' analogy sums it up perfectly:

"I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs."
"I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking."
"Hey, wait a minute!  There's one guy holding up both puppets!!"
"Go back to bed, America, your government is in control."

The problem is that the 'people', in this case, 'America', accepts this façade.

Read, listen, think and, finally, see through it all.  As the world's largest terrorist state (a deliberately provocative use of words, I'll admit, but it's all relative, just think for a moment about how America affects the rest of the world), America has more influence and power than any other nation in existence.

Americans need to wake up and PROVE they have 'freedom' and 'democracy'.  They need to free the rest of the world from planet Earth's largest and most terrifying bully.

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Catholicism: It's all me, me, me.

I thought without internet access I'd be without material to blog about.  Luckily you can always rely on the Pope and some hardcore catholics for a bit of irrational thinking, blog-fodder.

I'm sitting here in the library of my university trying to get Virgin Media to install internet into my new house, when I stumble across a story on Yahoo (UK) news.  In a nutshell, a now dead German artist created a sculpture of a green frog, up on the cross, holding a beer mug in one hand and an egg in the other.  Despite the obvious religious connection, I must admit that the first thing that occurred to me was that the frog was able to grasp things in his nailed hands.  Clearly a feat that Jesus wasn't capable of.  Pussy.  You've gotta work through the pain, man.

Anyway, I'm not here to have a go at Jesus, I'm sure he was a good chap, and he was definitely a great magician.  No, I'm here to have a go at the Pope.

His Holy-Popeness is up in arms (nailed ones?) at this sculpture, claiming it's offensive.  One of his representatives, Franz Pahl is president of the regional government that opposes the sculpture.  He went to the lengths of hunger-strike over the summer in a bid to get it removed.  His faith clearly didn't allow him the strength to follow through with this threat as he was taken to hospital and has subsequently recovered.  He's now threatening to step down as president of the regional government.  Isn't this obvious?  Let him!  The last thing anyone needs is some guy being president of anything if their judgement is so obviously blinded by religious dogma and superstition.  It's like a mini version of the Bush administration.

But here's what annoyed me most about this story:  The catholics involved are making a massive assumption that the sculpture is some kind of anti-God statement.  It's not.  The artist said himself that the sculpture represented a self-portait of human angst.

Doesn't catholicism remind you of that annoying guy in the workplace who always thinks you're talking about him?  The one who tries to get in on every conversation because he's so 'holier-than-thou' (excuse the pun) that you MUST be talking about him.  Pull your head out of your own arse, grow up and, please, go away.

Finally, even IF the sculpture was deliberately having a go at the catholic belief system, that doesn't make it wrong.  Offensive, yes, but not wrong.  I find things offensive every day, as do most people, but that doesn't mean I should be able to just click my fingers and make it go away.  It's called Freedom of Expression.  And it's beautiful.

Just because religion's involved doesn't mean it should be afforded more respect than any other belief system.  After all, if you're insulting God, so what?  Remember, I'm pretty sure he can look after himself.

I must credit the artist who created this sculpture.  Without him I would never have been able to write this blog post.  But, more importantly, without him so many catholics would not be upset right now.  Ladies and gentlemen:  Martin Kippenberger.

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Stop moaning America...

I've read many, many articles over the past few days written by disgruntled Americans complaining about their 'gas' prices.

Man, they should try coming to live over here in the UK.

As I understand it, prices in the US are roughly $4.00 per gallon, depending on your state (after all, it's a big place) this will vary.  The Americans are having a hard time dealing with this, but imagine how we feel over here.  After some quick dollar/pound and litre/gallon conversions I'd like to inform our cousins in the States that we're paying:

- $7.85 (Unleaded)
- $8.53 (Diesel)

Again, these are rough prices and it depends whereabouts in the UK you are, but it illustrates my point!

And to think, our government forced us to follow the US into war over all this oil (well, depending on how cynical you are) and yet we still don't get their lovely cheap prices.

It's gonna cost me £20 to drive to London tomorrow...

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We're all going to die!!

As sarcastic as the headline was supposed to appear it is also, ironically, true.  Sorry.  Nothing I can do about that one.

Today's post has been triggered by an article I read on Yahoo (UK) news.  The headline was:  "Thousands of Brits may have fatal disease."  Naturally, being British and NOT wanting a fatal disease, I was compelled to read further.  I simply must find out what this fatal disease is, why it applies only to the British, (maybe it's called 'Gordon Brown?') and how I can avoid it.

The article itself turned out to be something quite different to the apocalyptic scenario I had imagined.  Apparently two thirds of doctors (i'm assuming, British doctors) do not know how to read Hepatitis C results and this means that 90% of sufferers do not even know they are ill.  (I'd love to know how they did the maths to get the 90% figure.)

Firstly, there are thousands upon thousands of conditions that a person may have without knowing.  You simply can't cover them all.  Unless you can afford full body scans and intensive check-ups every 3 months then there's, I assume, quite a large probability that you're going to have some condition that you're unaware of.

Secondly, doctors are only human.  (Again, I'm making assumptions here.)  These guys study for many years, intensively, through a gruelling medical school and then go on to serve the millions of people who need medical attention each year.  They do an incredible job that many of us simply are not capable of.  But whilst they do hold this kind of 'gift of life' status, we must understand that they cannot know every one of the thousands upon thousands of medical conditions off by heart, inside out and back to front.  Eventually, mistakes will be made.  It's inevitible.  But give them a break.

Thirdly, if you think you may have Hepatitis C, go to the doctor and insist your GP double checks your results.

Finally, stop fear-mongering, Yahoo.

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The Sun prioritises...

Well the Olympics kicked off yesterday and everyone and his mum has been writing about the grandeur of the opening ceremony.  "Isn't it stunning!"  Clearly too stunning, as everyone seems to be overlooking IMPORTANT issues in the world today.

The Sun, the UK's most popular newspaper, (that shows how much of a moral mountain we have to climb, doesn't it?) today also reported on the 'spectacular' opening ceremony of the Beijing games.  In fact, as well as the substantial image on the front page, pages 4,5,6,7,8 and 9 were all dedicated to the Olympics.  It wasn't until you turn to page 13 that the new war between Georgia and Russia was mentioned.

Since when did the loss of an approximated 1,500 lives become less important than a few fireworks?

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China has got it wrong.

I just read a Sky News report on Yahoo about the lengths China is going to to ensure that the Olympics in Beijing runs flawlessly.

Some of the more humourous ideas they've taken on  include 'taxi drivers' English school' (one taxi driver was quoted to have said:  "National stadium, lovely jubbley" whilst giving a tour) and cabin attendants conscripted as hostesses at medal ceremonies.  The key word there being 'conscripted'.  To train for this, they practiced carrying heavy trays whilst gritting chopsticks in their teeth to 'perfect their smiles'.  Airport police were also sent to 'smile school' in order to ensure that guests receive the perfect welcome on arrival.

This would all be hilarious if it wasn't for the fact that the Chinese government is deadly serious about the whole affair.

An estimated £21bn  has been spent on the Olympic Games by the Chinese authorities this summer.  Fair enough, if you have the money to spend.  But when there are people dying in Tibet (people who just want their freedom), peaceful protestors being silenced by the government, people kicked out of their homes without compensation to make way for the games, children working in sweat-shops and countless other human rights abuses, this is silly money that could, no, should be spent elsewhere.

The Olympics are a marvelous world event, but when comparing it to loss of life and the suffering people are experiencing daily in China, they're nothing more than a few people running about.

China said they would improve their human rights record if they were given the Olympics.  Well they have been given the games, and nothing has changed.  Even foreigners in China are not allowed to access the Amnesty International website.  Countless other websites are censored by the government, also.

The only positive we can take away from this is that the games present an opportunity to embarrass China on a global scale.  Let's hope the games serve as nothing more than a window with which to view and raise awareness of China's colossal human rights abuses.

From there we can begin to make changes.

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