Stephen Fry: The Importance of Unbelief. Anti-church sentiment rises in Europe as more people seek 'de-baptism' A sharp decline in the numbers of church-goers and new baptisms over the last century in Europe has been called a "crisis of faith" by many religious leaders. Now that crisis is ballooning into a full-blown exodus, as thousands flock to new websites offering "de-baptisms," according to Voice of America. The idea of getting "de-baptized"-- or having your name officially deleted from the baptismal registry-- is relatively new, but one which the Catholic Church is beginning to take seriously, and with grave concern.
The movement may have begun just a decade ago when Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society in Britain, posted an unofficial "de-baptism certificate" on the society's website, mostly as a joke. To date it has been downloaded at least 100,000 times. Many disenfranchised ex-parishioners have begun to take it a step further, seeking official, legal acknowledgement for de-baptism.
Such a proactive strategy may be for naught, however, if de-baptisms continue to increase. Stanley v. Georgia. Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court decision that helped to establish an implied "right to privacy" in U.S. law, in the form of mere possession of obscene materials. The Supreme Court of the United States, however, per Justice Marshall, unanimously overturned the earlier decision and invalidated all state laws that forbade the private possession of materials judged obscene, on the grounds of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Justices Stewart, Brennan, and White, contributed a joint concurring opinion. Justice Hugo Black also concurred, with a separate opinion having to do with the Fourth Amendment search and seizure provision. The case also established an implied right to pornography. The right to privacy to pornography is not absolute, however. History[edit] Prior to the Stanley case, the prevailing precedent was that of Roth v. Facts[edit] The case[edit] The First Amendment to the U.S.
Stewart concurrence[edit] Stanley v. Subsequent cases[edit] How To Troll Wall Street In 5 Seconds. Conscience. Commonly used metaphors for conscience include the "voice within" and the "inner light".[5] Conscience, as is detailed in sections below, is a concept in national and international law,[6] is increasingly conceived of as applying to the world as a whole,[7] has motivated numerous notable acts for the public good[8] and been the subject of many prominent examples of literature, music and film.[9] Religious, secular and philosophical views about conscience[edit] Although humanity has no generally accepted definition of conscience or universal agreement about its role in ethical decision-making, three approaches have addressed it:[2] Religious views[edit] Seated Buddha, Gandhara, 2nd century CE.
The Buddha linked conscience with compassion for those who must endure cravings and suffering in the world until right conduct culminates in right mindfulness and right contemplation. Marcus Aurelius bronze fragment, Louvre, Paris: "To move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. SourceWatch. Koch Spy Agency Led by Voter Fraud Huckster The Kochs have been complaining about a "lack of civility in politics" as they seek to boost their public image--but one of their top operatives helped propel perhaps the most egregious case of race-baiting voter fraud hucksterism in recent years.
At the same time that the Kochs have been on a PR blitz, publicly spinning an image of themselves as well-intentioned patriots trying to make the world a better place and decrying "character assassination," they've been quietly ramping up a clandestine surveillance and intelligence gathering operation focused on their perceived political enemies, Ken Vogel reports at Politico.
At the helm of this "competitive intelligence" operation is a man named Mike Roman, Vice President of Research for Kochs' Freedom Partners and who was paid $265,000 last year, according to Freedom Partners' recent tax filing. Read the rest of this item here. Wisconsinites Reject the "Eric O'Keefe Session" of the Legislature Rep.
Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Piracy! Newzbin2 Uses TOR To Kill Domain Blocking Before It Even Happens | Systema. Can you imagine free web hosting service that has 99.9% uptime? Too good to be true? No more! 000webhost.com has made the revolution, forget the stereotype that free hosting is unreliable.. Here is the proof: uptime stats of 20 servers. We beat your paid hosting provider! 1500 MB disk space, 100 GB data transfer! Our free hosting service is supercharged with over 60 features, just like paid hosting. Need unlimited premium hosting that is really UNLIMITED? Signup with www.hosting24.com - unlimited disk space, unlimited data transfer, host unlimited domains for just $4.84 1500 MB Disk Space, 100 GB Data Transfer Every account receives 1500MB space and a whopping 100GB bandwidth, made possible by the unmetered connections our servers utilise.
PHP with MySQL Database Support Unlike other free webhosts we do support PHP and MySQL with no restrictions. cPanel Control Panel cPanel is the most advanced control panel in industry. Fantastico De Luxe 1-Click Autoinstaller Finally! ACLU, EFF challenging US 'secret' court orders seeking Twitter data. Thursday, April 7, 2011 Late last month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed objections to the United States Government's 'secret' attempts to obtain Twitter account information relating to WikiLeaks. The ACLU and EFF cite First and Fourth amendment issues as overriding reasons to overturn government attempts to keep their investigation secret; and, that with Birgitta Jonsdottir being an Icelandic Parliamentarian, the issue has serious international implications.
The case, titled "In the Matter of the 2703(d) Order Relating to Twitter Accounts: Wikileaks, Rop_G, IOERROR; and BirgittaJ", has been in the EFF's sights since late last year when they became aware of the US government's attempts to investigate WikiLeaks-related communications using the popular microblogging service. Case background 2009 File photo of Bradley Manning.Image: Daniel Joseph Barnhart Clark. The Manning connection The United States Government versus WikiLeaks.
Leon Trotsky. Leon Trotsky[a] (Russian: Лев Дави́дович Тро́цкий; pronounced [ˈlʲef ˈtrot͡skʲɪj] ( ); born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein;[b] 7 November [O.S. 26 October] 1879 – 21 August 1940) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army. After leading a failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and the increasing role of bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, Trotsky was successively removed from power in 1927, expelled from the Communist Party, and finally deported from the Soviet Union in 1929.
As the head of the Fourth International, Trotsky continued in exile in Mexico to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union. An early advocate of Red Army intervention against European fascism,[1] in the late 1930s, Trotsky opposed Stalin's non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler. Before the 1917 Revolution Childhood and family (1879–1895) WikiMiniAtlas Split with Lenin (1903–1904) Jeff Cooper. John Dean "Jeff" Cooper (May 10, 1920 – September 25, 2006) was a United States Marine and the creator of what is known as "the Modern Technique" of handgun shooting, and one of the 20th century's foremost international experts on the use and history of small arms.[1] Early life and education[edit] Career[edit] In 1976, Cooper founded the American Pistol Institute (API) in Paulden, Arizona (later the Gunsite Training Center).
Cooper began teaching shotgun and rifle classes to both law enforcement and military personnel, as well as civilians, and did on-site training for individuals and groups from around the world. He sold the firm in 1992, but continued living on the Paulden ranch. He was known for his advocacy of large caliber handguns, especially the Colt 1911 and the .45 ACP cartridge. Cooper died at his home on the afternoon of Monday, September 25, 2006 at the age of 86.[2] The Modern Technique[edit] Cooper favored the Colt M1911 and its variants. Bren Ten[edit] Firearms safety[edit]
Michele Bachmann Exclusive: Pray Away the Gay at Candidate's Clinic? <br/><a href=" US News</a> | <a href=" Business News</a> Copy A former patient who sought help from the Christian counseling clinic owned by GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, told ABC News he was advised that prayer could rid him of his homosexual urges and he could eventually be "re-oriented.
" "[One counselor's] path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, pray to God that I would no longer be gay," said Andrew Ramirez, who was 17-years-old at the time he sought help from Bachmann & Associates in suburban Minneapolis in 2004. "And God would forgive me if I were straight. " In the past, Marcus Bachmann has disputed the clinic has treated gay patients this way. But Ramirez's account, which was first reported by The Nation, is similar to the counseling session that appears on new undercover video shot by a gay rights advocacy group last month. Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf 2012 US House candidate. New PBS Doc: An Atheist Mom Goes to the Supreme Court - and Wins | Secular Coalition for America. Imagine that you are a religious minority sending your child to public school, only to find out that the school has implemented a "voluntary" program of religious instruction that reaffirms the doctrines and creeds of the largely Christian community.
Like most people, you don't want to make waves by challenging the views of the majority, so you allow your child to participate in this program, hoping that it will emphasize education, not indoctrination. Your child soon comes home with artwork and other materials, however, that indicate that the program is little more than a Christian Sunday school, having nothing to do with objective education and everything to do with instilling Christian beliefs. Fed up with the blatant proselytizing, you advise the school that you do not want your child to participate in the "voluntary" program. The above facts, unfortunately, are not fictional. And I'll add one post-script not mentioned in the documentary. (via "Our Humanity, Naturally") Alhazen. In medieval Europe, he was honored as Ptolemaeus Secundus ("Ptolemy the Second")[10] or simply called "The Physicist".[11] He is also sometimes called al-Basri (Arabic: البصري) after Basra, his birthplace.[12] He spent most of his life close to the court of the Caliphate in Cairo and earned his living authoring various treatises and tutoring members of the nobilities.[13] Overview[edit] Biography[edit] Born c. 965 in Basra, which was then part of the Buyid emirate,[1] to an Arab family.[14][15] Legacy[edit] Front page of the Opticae Thesaurus, which included the first printed Latin translation of Alhazen's Book of Optics.
The illustration incorporates many examples of optical phenomena including perspective effects, the rainbow, mirrors, and refraction. Alhazen made significant contributions to optics, number theory, geometry, astronomy and natural philosophy. Book of Optics[edit] Main article: Book of Optics Theory of vision[edit] Alhazen on Iraqi 10 dinars Scientific method[edit] G. A. Operation Payback. Early Operation Payback flyer Background and initial attacks[edit] Media detailing the attack on Gallant Macmillian Attacks on the recording industry[edit] Law firms[edit] On 21 September 2010, the website of ACS:Law was subjected to a DDoS attack as part of Operation Payback.
When asked about the attacks, Andrew Crossley, owner of ACS:Law, said: "It was only down for a few hours. I have far more concern over the fact of my train turning up 10 minutes late or having to queue for a coffee than them wasting my time with this sort of rubbish On 30 September, the Leesburg, VA office of Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver law firm – also doing business as the "U.S.
Australian pro-copyright organization[edit] On 27 September 2010, the DDoS attack on the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) unintentionally brought down 8,000 other small websites hosted on the same server.[25] ACAPOR[edit] More attacks[edit] Musician and copyright advocate[edit] RIAA[edit] Poster detailing the attack on the RIAA.
Internet Archive. Coordinates: The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge. "[2][3] It provides permanent storage of and free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly three million public-domain books. As of October 2012, its collection topped 10 petabytes.[4][5] In addition to its archiving function, the Archive is an activist organization, advocating for a free and open Internet. The Internet Archive allows the public to upload and download digital material to its data cluster, but the bulk of its data is collected automatically by its web crawlers, which work to preserve as much of the public web as possible.
The Archive is a member of the International Internet Preservation Consortium.[10] This non-profit digital library was officially designated as a library by the State of California in 2007.[11] History[edit] According to its website: World Wide Web archiving[edit] Anonymous (group) Anonymous (used as a mass noun) is a loosely associated international network of activist and hacktivist entities. A website nominally associated with the group describes it as "an internet gathering" with "a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives".
The group became known for a series of well-publicized publicity stunts and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on government, religious, and corporate websites. Anonymous originated in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan, representing the concept of many online and offline community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, digitized global brain.[3][4] Anonymous members (known as "Anons") can be distinguished in public by the wearing of stylised Guy Fawkes masks.[5] In its early form, the concept was adopted by a decentralized online community acting anonymously in a coordinated manner, usually toward a loosely self-agreed goal, and primarily focused on entertainment, or "lulz".
Cops Tell Obama Drug Czar to Legalize Drugs. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Petition of Right. The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. Passed on 7 June 1628, the Petition contains restrictions on non-Parliamentary taxation, forced billeting of soldiers, imprisonment without cause, and restricts the use of martial law. Following disputes between Parliament and King Charles I over the execution of the Thirty Years' War, Parliament refused to grant subsidies to support the war effort, leading to Charles gathering "forced loans" without Parliamentary approval and arbitrarily imprisoning those who refused to pay.
Moreover, the war footing of the nation led to the forced billeting of soldiers within the homes of private citizens, and the declaration of martial law over large swathes of the country. Despite debates over its legal status, the Petition of Right was highly influential. Background Charles I Martial law and the Parliamentary response Passage Formation.