The Kansas anti-gay bill

I'm currently in Los Angeles visiting the grandchildren so I'm a bit more exposed to American culture than normal. I watched several discussions on the Kansas anti-gay bill on television and one thing struck me as highly unusual.

For the sake of non-Americans, let's begin with a description of the bill passed by the Kansas House, which is dominated by Republicans. Here's what Bill 2453 says ...

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no individual or religious entity shall be required by any governmental entity to do any of the following, if it would be contrary to the sincerely held religious beliefs of the individual or religious entity regarding sex or gender: (a) Provide any services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges; provide counseling, adoption, foster care and other social services; or provide employment or employment benefits, related to, or related to the celebration of, any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement; (b) solemnize any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement; or (c) treat any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement as valid.

In other words, if you are a bigot then the state will protect you from prosecution as long as you claim that your bigotry is based on religion.

The bill was expected to pass through the Kansas Senate and signed into law by a redneck governor. Fortunately for Kansas, the Republican-dominated senate decided that Kansas should drop out of the competition for most stupid state and they declined to pass the bill [Kansas Senate Comes To It’s Senses And Nixes Extreme Anti-Gay Legislation ].

That's not what I want to talk about. What I witnessed on the American TV channels was a debate over the legality of discrimination of gays. The discussion hinged on whether it was legal for an anti-gay bigot to refuse to serve a gay couple in a restaurant or whether an anti-gay bigot could refuse to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. Almost everyone I saw on TV agreed that it was perfectly okay for Americans to be anti-gay bigots, especially if their bigotry was related to their belief in God. The only serious question seemed to be whether there were legitimate times when anti-gay bigots could express their bigotry in public.

I read some newspaper articles, and some blog posts, that stated the obvious. It is totally wrong, all the time, to discriminate against someone based on their sexual preferences. If they use religion as an excuse then they should re-evaluate their religion. There is NEVER a time when an enlightened society should tolerate, let alone legalize, bigotry. I guess it's almost impossible to come out and say this on television, or maybe I'm just watching the wrong channels (mostly FOX and CNN).

I'm reminded of a statement by Winston Churchill about Russia; "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." That's the way I feel about the United States. There's such a huge difference between Boston and Texas that I wonder how they can both continue to exist in the same country.

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A new definition of kindness and empathy? (on educating children)

Today's version of the Toronto Star has several articles on kindness and empathy. The feature article appears on the front page of the "Insight" section. The title of the print version is "Kindness: A fledgling movement aims to instil empathy and make us a kinder, gentler, society." The online version is How to fight meanness? Try a bit of kind.¹

The article is written by education reporter Louise Brown. The gist of the article is that we need to teach empathy and kindness² and perhaps the schools should be involved. But the main teachers should be parents.

Atheist Freethinkers Support the Quebec Charter of Values ... with Reservations

There's a debate going on in Canada over the so-called "Charter of Values" proposed by the government of Quebec. The fact that the governing party is a separatist party (Parti Québécois) makes the debate much more interesting. (That's Premier Pauline Marois in the photo below.)

The main issue concerns how public servants present themselves to the public. The new law proposes to ban outward signs of religion on the grounds that public servants should represent a secular government. What this means in practice is that Sikh men won't be allowed to wear turbans and kirpas and Muslim women won't be allowed to wear hijabs or niqabs. Christians can't wear large crosses. Atheists can't wear a large red letter "A" on their lapel.

Opinion in Quebec is pretty evenly divided but most of the rest of Canada sees this (mostly incorrectly) as an infringement on fundamental rights and freedoms.

Atheist groups are struggling with this issue. Here's what the Atheist Freethinkers say in today's press release: The Quebec Charter of Values: A major advance towards secularism.

Montreal, 17th September 2013 — Atheist Freethinkers (LPA-AFT), an association which promotes secularism and supports the rights of atheists, welcomes the intention of the government of Quebec to adopt a so-called Charter of Values which would formally establish the secular status of the Quebec state. The project is outlined on its website www.nosvaleurs.gouv.qc.ca.

The proposed Charter would formally declare separation of religion and state, the religious neutrality of the state and the secular nature of its institutions. It would impose an ethics of restraint and religious neutrality for public servants. It would prohibit obvious religious symbols in the public service. And it would establish clear guidelines for so-called “reasonable” accommodations. Furthermore, it would make it mandatory for any client of public services to have one’s face uncovered in order to be served. All of these measures go in the direction of formalizing the secular nature of the state and assuring the independence and autonomy of the state from religion. This is very good news.

However, like most who support the proposed Charter, we do so with some reservations. Firstly, the title “Quebec Charter of Values” is very badly chosen. What Quebec requires is a Charter of Secularism, a charter which expresses values which have universal, human import, the values of the Enlightenment.

Secondly, it has not been proposed that the large crucifix be removed from the wall of the Quebec National Assembly in Quebec City. This object was installed there in 1936 by the Duplessis government of the day, with the aim of consecrating its alliance with the Catholic Church. If the crucifix is a “Quebec value,” it represents the worst possible value in this context. Its presence in the most important venue of the Quebec state is a blatant violation of secularism, a glaring symbol of non-secularism! The Charter should stipulate its removal – to a museum for instance. To leave it in place would be totally inconsistent and expose the authors of the Charter to charges of hypocrisy. However, it is important to realize that keeping the crucifix in the National Assembly is not explicitly stipulated in the proposed Charter. In fact, this crucifix is not even mentioned there.

Thirdly, the proposed ban on state employees wearing religious symbols while on duty has been poorly formulated. The plan is to include an official dress code in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, this Charter is a quasi-constitutional document and should stipulate only the principle that public servants must exercise restraint – so that public services remains neutral with respect to religion – and establish a mechanism for the implementation of this principle. The dress code and other aspects of the behaviour of public servants belong to the implementation of this principle and should not be included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms itself. In that way, the details and timing of the implementation would remain open to democratic debate.

The draft Charter was released barely a week ago and we continue to study it. Other aspects of the project may require critical analysis. Moreover, a completely secular charter would include several provisions not included in the announced project – such as cutting public funding to private religious schools; banning prayer at municipal council meetings; banning prayer rooms in government buildings; ending religious accommodations granted for ritual slaughter of animals; prohibiting mutilation of the human body without valid medical reasons and without the consent of the adult concerned; withdrawal of the Ethics and Religious Culture program from public schools; and removal of tax incentives to religious institutions and members of religious orders. These omissions remain to be addressed.

The organization Atheist Freethinkers commends the government for its courage. We note that the government is not responsible for the inflammatory and demagogic excesses of the exaggerated political opposition that arose against its attempt at secularization, even if such excesses could have easily been predicted. This project is not an exercise in identity politics. The numerous accusations of intolerance, xenophobia and even racism are extremely dishonest and even defamatory. Nevertheless, the government could have prevented the worst and minimized the damage by avoiding any measure which the opposition might use as an excuse. Excluding religious symbols is necessary in order to ensure not only the religious neutrality of the public service but also the perception of neutrality. By the same token, the government must not only avoid identity politics but also the perception of such politics. If the proposed Charter had specified the removal of the crucifix from the National Assembly, if its authors had chosen a title with more universal scope, if the plan for gradual removal of religious symbols had been better presented, then the intellectual vacuity of the opposition would have been obvious and that opposition would have been greatly defused.

Despite our reservations, we support the proposed Charter. It could serve as a model for other Canadian provinces and jurisdictions, each adapting the Charter appropriately and provided of course that the model is improved upon – in particular by avoiding the failings discussed above.

As atheists, we greatly value freedom of religion because atheists and apostates are often among the first victims when that freedom is violated. We know that freedom of religion is incomplete or even hollow if it does not include freedom from religion. Thus secularism is important not only for us as atheists but also for believers: it is essential that public institutions, i.e. state institutions, be independent of any religion and, at the same time, that total freedom to practice the religion of one’s choice, or to practice none, be protected in the private sphere and in the public sphere outside of such institutions.

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What? Me Worry?

Alfred E. Neuman may not have had a care in the world but most of us worry about something. John Brockman of The Edge asks his bevy of followers this question for 2013: 2013: WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?.

You'd think that most of the responses would be along the lines of global climate change, poverty, disease, crime, war, or the possibility that Earth might be destroyed by an asteroid impact. You'd think that the treatment of women in third (and second) world countries and the fanaticism of religious extremists might generate more than a few responses.

You would be wrong.

Here's what the best minds in the Western world came up with. I read most of them and I don't think I'll lose any sleep over any of these worries. I will, however, continue to lose sleep over women being raped in India and young children being shot to death in Connecticut.

Chinese Eugenics
What We Learn From Firefighters
That We Won't Make Use Of The Error Catastrophe Threshold
A Fearful Asymmetry: The Worrying World Of A Would-Be 'Science'
Misplaced Worries
We Are In Denial About Catastrophic Risks
The Disconnect
Unfriendly Physics, Monsters From The Id, And Self-Organizing Collective Delusions
Worry About Internet Drivel
We Don't Do Politics
The Black Hole Of Finance
The Opinions Of Search Engines
The Mating Wars
Computer-Generated Fascism
Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Words?
Data Disenfranchisement
The Patience Deficit
The Underpopulation Bomb
Big Experiments Won't Happen
"Smart"
What—Me Worry? by Craig Venter (one of the few decent responses)
The Promise Of Catharsis
I've Given Up Asking Questions
The Anthropocebo Effect
The Relative Obscurity Of The Writings Of Édouard Glissant
The Danger Of Inadvertently Praising Zygomatic Arches
The Loss Of Death
One Universe
The Rise Of Anti-Intellectualism And The End Of Progress
Applying Classic Science To Understand "Modern States" Shaped By Crime
Lamplight Probabilities
What Is Conscious?
Men
Science By (Social) Media
Unmitigated Arrogance
Technology May Endanger Democracy
"The Singularity": There's No There There
MADness
Blown Opportunities
The Power Of Bad Incentives
Quantum Mechanics
Are We Homogenizing The Global View Of A Normal Mind?
Science Publishing
Is The New Public Sphere... Public?
World As We Know It
Stress by Arianna Huffington, who is one of the important causes of stress
Science Has Not Brought Us Closer To Understanding Cancer
Losing Touch
The Human-Nature Divide
Are We Becoming Too Connected?
Putting Our Anxieties To Work
Incompetent Systems
Too Much Coupling
Power And The Internet
Close To The Edge
The End Of Fundamental Science?
The Paradox Of Material Progress
The Fragility Of Complex Systems by Randolph Nesse, worth a read
Rats In A Spherical Trap
Close Observation And Description
Global Greying
The Fourth Culture
The Coming Fight Between Engineers And Druids
Impact
The Complex, Consequential, Not-So-Easy Decisions About Our Water Resources
Children Of Newton And Modernity
The Teenage Brain
Augmented Reality
Where Did You Get That Fact?
Social Media: The More Together, The More Alone
Is Idiocracy Looming?
The Disconnect Between News And Understanding
Objects Of Desire
Say It Ain't So
Being Told That Our Destiny Is Among The Stars
Global Cooperation Is Failing And We Don't Know Why
Morbid Anxiety
Worrying About Children
A Synthetic World
The Death Of Mathematics
Losing Our Hands
Internet Silos
The New Age Of Anxiety
Does The Human Species Have The Will To Survive?
All The T In China
Neural Data Privacy Rights
Armageddon
No Surprises From The LHC: No Worries For Theoretical Physics
Losing Completeness
Worries On The Mystery Of Worry
The Growing Gap Between The Scientific Elite And The Vast "Scientifically
       Challenged" Majority
Presentism
Metaworry
Do We Understand The Dynamics Of Our Emerging Global Culture?
The Loss Of Lust
We Worry Too Much About Fictional Violence
The Consequences Of Our Increasing Knowledge Of What Causes Disease,
       And Its Consequences For Human Freedom
Natural Death
C.P. Snow's 'Two Cultures': The Nature-Nurture Debate
The Demise Of The Scholar
The Unavoidable Intrusion Of Sociopolitical Forces Into Science
Who Gets to Play in the Science Ballpark
Communities Of Fate
Working with Others?
Working with Others?
Super-A.I.s Won't Rule The World (Unless They Get Culture First)
Posthuman Geography
The Danger From Aliens by Seth Shostak, way, way down on my list
The Role Of Microorganisms In Cancer Is Being Ignored By The Current Sequencing
       Strategies
Human Intuitions Will Stifle Technological Progress
Illusions Of Understanding And The Loss Of Intellectual Humility
The End Of Hardship Inoculation
An Exploding Number Of New Illegal Drugs
Superstition by Matt Ridley, important but not in the top ten
History And Contingency
The Triumph Of The Virtual, And Its Consequences
There Is Nothing To Worry About, And There Never Was
The Cultural And Cognitive Consequences Of Electronics
Failure Of Genomics For Mental Disorders
Crisis At The Foundations Of Physics
The Behavior Of Normal People
Democracy
Human Population, Prosperity Growth: One I Fear, One I Don't
Magic
The Rise In Genomic Instability by Eric J. Topol, gimme a break
Can They Read My Brain? by Stanislas Dehaene, who would want to?
A World Without Growth?
The Dangerous Fascination Of Imagination
Worrying
The Gift Of Worry
Not Enough Robots
Safe Mode For The Internet?
Life As We Know I
Unknown Unknowns
Our Blindspots
The Is-Ought Fallacy Of Science And Morality
The Loss Of Our Collective Cognition And Awareness
The Decline Of The Scientific Hero by Roger Highfield, what's a
       "scientific hero"?
What Is A Good Life?
Digital Tat ...
Capture
Society's Parlous Inability To Reason About Uncertainty
Fast Knowledge
The "Nightmare Scenario" For Fundamental Physics
Homogenization Of The Human Experience
We Won't Be Able To Understand Everything by Clifford Pickover,
       really? that worries you?
Systematic Thinking About How We *Package* Our Worries
The Real Risk Factors For War by Steven Pinker, yes, we should be
       worried about war
Worrying About Stupid
The Belief Or Lack Of Belief In Free Will Is Not A Scientific Matter
Science Is In Danger Of Becoming The Enemy Of Humankind
Living Without The Internet For A Couple Of Weeks by Daniel Dennett,
       not in my top ten

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Jim Yeager Shows Americans Why Banning Assault Guns Is Necessary

My American friends need to watch this video. Be afraid, be very afraid.

I don't know how many people think like this but if it's more than a few thousand there's going to be trouble.

Isn't threatening to kill somebody a crime? Isn't he advocating the overthrow of the democratically elected American government by force? I don't think that's in the Constitution.

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This Is Why Christians Want Guns

I'm sure you've heard that Americans need guns so they can overthrow the government whenever it infringes on their personal beliefs. Many Americans believe they have a "right" to commit treason whenever they feel like it and, furthermore, that "right" must be protected by allowing them to bear arms, including assault weapons.

Here's what could happen. This is an interview by Janet Parshall of Mathew Staver. Believe it or not, Mathew Staver is Dean of the School of Law at Liberty University. He is also the Chair and Founder of a right-wing extremest group called Liberty Counsel. Mat is worried that the Supreme Court of the United States—the ultimate source of what's legal and what's not—could actually allow same-sex couples to get married!!!!

The consequences would be devastating, according to the Dean of Law. He says,

This is the thing that revolutions literally are made of. This would be more devastating to our freedom, to our religious freedom, to the rights of pastors and their duty to be able to speak and to Christians around the country, then anything that the revolutionaries during the American Revolution even dreamed of facing. This would be the thing that revolutions are made of. This could split the country right in two. This could cause another civil war. I’m not talking about just people protesting in the streets, this could be that level because what would ultimately happen is a direct collision would immediately happen with pastors, with churches, with Christians, with Christian ministries, with other businesses, it would be an avalanche that would go across the country.

I'm sure it's a great comfort to most Americans that these people have the weapons they need to start another civil war over legalizing gay marriage.

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[Hat Tip: Hermant Mehta: Christian Right Leader: Legalizing Gay Marriage Will Result in Another Civil War.]

The National Rifle Association: Part of the Problem

According the Toronto's Globe & Mail [NRA's call for armed guards in U.S. schools a warning for politicians].

The NRA is offering to help with the effort to put guns in schools. Mr. LaPierre named former Arkansas Republican congressman Asa Hutchinson to lead a National School Shield Program to help design security plans for every school in the country.

Because, as Mr. LaPierre put it: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

If there is a one statement that sums up the political divide in America, that may be it.

Here's the video of the NRA press conference.


And here's part of the transcript ...

With all the foreign aid, with all the money in the federal budget, we can’t afford to put a police officer in every school? Even if they did that, politicians have no business — and no authority — denying us the right, the ability, or the moral imperative to protect ourselves and our loved ones from harm.

Now, the National Rifle Association knows that there are millions of qualified active and retired police; active, reserve and retired military; security professionals; certified firefighters and rescue personnel; and an extraordinary corps of patriotic, trained qualified citizens to join with local school officials and police in devising a protection plan for every school. We can deploy them to protect our kids now. We can immediately make America's schools safer — relying on the brave men and women of America’s police force.

The budget of our local police departments are strained and resources are limited, but their dedication and courage are second to none and they can be deployed right now.

I call on Congress today to act immediately, to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school — and to do it now, to make sure that blanket of safety is in place when our children return to school in January.

There are about 130,000 schools in America. Let's say we find 130,000 people who are willing and able to use a gun to kill anyone who tries to get into the school. Imagine that many of them are "patriots" who belong to the National Rifle Association. They'll probably be working for close to minimum wage. A bored, underpaid, cowboy with a loaded gun in every school.

What could possibly go wrong?

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This Is What a Culture of Guns and Violence Looks Like

The man who is advocating gun culture is Louie Gohmert, a Republican member of the United States Congress representing the 1st Congressional District of Texas. Gun control will never be successful as long as a substantial number of Americans think like this. Gohmert won the last election (Nov. 2012) with 72% of the vote.

Change the culture. Violence is never the answer and more violence will never fix the problem. Change the culture and gun control automatically follows, as in most other countries. It's unlikely that tweaking a few gun laws will make much of a difference as long as everyone thinks it's okay to act like a gun-toting vigilante.

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America Is Headed Toward Socialism or Something Much Worse

I thought that people like Chuck Norris were big fans of the idea that America is the greatest country in the world. Apparently I was wrong.

This is an appeal to evangelicals to prevent the triumph of evil and 1,000 years of darkness.

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[Hat Tip: Friendly Atheist]

America Is Not the Greatest Country in the World

I been watching proceedings at the Republican National Convention in Florida. If you think it's annoying for most liberal Americans, imagine what it's like for us furriners!

Coincidentally, we watched the last episode of The Newsroom a few days ago then decided to re-watch all ten episodes. It's one of the best shows on television. Makes me sad that The West Wing was cancelled. It's not a show that Republicans will enjoy.

Here's the clip from the first episode that sets the tone for a new kind of TV news show. The hero, Will McAvoy, is a cable news anchor who wants to tell it like it is instead of chasing ratings. The excerpt is from a town hall meeting at Northwestern University. A student has just asked why America is the greatest country in the world. (The student shows up again in Episode #10 when she wants to become a "greater fool.")

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The Trouble with TED

An awful of of people seem to waking up to the idea that TED talks are not what they're supposed to be. They attract a lot of kooks who can speak well and exude enthusiasm. How many times have you listened to a TED talk in your area of expertise and wondered how the heck that person got on the stage?

TED talks are just big soundbites and soundbites are not good ways to explain complicated, and potentially revolutionary, ideas.

Stephen Fry and the Two Cultures Problem (Brits vs Americans)

I can't believe it was almost five years ago that I posted a quotation from Stephen Fry on the differences between dinner conversations in Britain and America [Two Cultures].

Here it is again because it's relevant to our discussion about IDiots. It's from: Getting Overheated (Nov. 19, 2007).

We must begin with a few round truths about myself: when I get into a debate I can get very, very hot under the collar, very impassioned, and I dare say, very maddening, for once the light of battle is in my eye I find it almost impossible to let go and calm down. I like to think I’m never vituperative or too ad hominem but I do know that I fall on ideas as hungry wolves fall on strayed lambs and the result isn’t always pretty. This is especially dangerous in America. I was warned many, many years ago by the great Jonathan Lynn, co-creator of Yes Minister and director of the comic masterpiece My Cousin Vinnie, that Americans are not raised in a tradition of debate and that the adversarial ferocity common around a dinner table in Britain is more or less unheard of in America. When Jonathan first went to live in LA he couldn’t understand the terrible silences that would fall when he trashed an statement he disagreed with and said something like “yes, but that’s just arrant nonsense, isn’t it? It doesn’t make sense. It’s self-contradictory.” To a Briton pointing out that something is nonsense, rubbish, tosh or logically impossible in its own terms is not an attack on the person saying it – it’s often no more than a salvo in what one hopes might become an enjoyable intellectual tussle. Jonathan soon found that most Americans responded with offence, hurt or anger to this order of cut and thrust. Yes, one hesitates ever to make generalizations, but let’s be honest the cultures are different, if they weren’t how much poorer the world would be and Americans really don’t seem to be very good at or very used to the idea of a good no-holds barred verbal scrap. I’m not talking about inter-family ‘discussions’ here, I don’t doubt that within American families and amongst close friends, all kinds of liveliness and hoo-hah is possible, I’m talking about what for good or ill one might as well call dinner-party conversation. Disagreement and energetic debate appears to leave a loud smell in the air.

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Gunfights Cause Collateral Damage

I heard on CNN that applications for gun permits are on the rise in Colorado. Apparently there are people who think that arming everyone will cut down on crime. They seriously believe that if more people in the Aurora Theater shooting were packing then there would have been fewer deaths and injuries. The idea is that a gunfight between the psychotic killer and an average citizen would have resulted in the killer's death.

Here's a bit of news from Toronto that might help put this in perspective. On June 2, 2012 a gang member opened fire on another gang member in the food court of the Toronto Eaton Centre. The intended target was killed but so was a nearby shopper. Three others were wounded. On July 15, 2012 two or three rival gang members decided to have a gunfight at a barbecue in a Toronto suburb. One of them was wounded. Two innocent bystanders were killed and 22 others were wounded [Scarborough shootings: What really happened on Danzig?].

Turns out that the average citizen isn't a very good shooter. More often than not, they miss their intended target and hit someone else. Lots of people die in gunfights, not just the bad guys—it's called collateral damage.

Imagine what the death toll in Aurora might have been with more than one person blasting away with an automatic weapon.

All civilized nations have strict gun control laws. Their citizens have this strange notion that killing other people is never a viable option and they can't imagine why anyone would deliberately buy guns with the intention of shooting a fellow citizen, even in self defense or prevention of a presumed crime.

I guess some nations have a long history of solving problem with gun violence and it's difficult to abandon that option.

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Image Credits: Charlton Heston (top), Tombstone (bottom)

What Does a Secular Society Look Like?

Lots of people don't understand what we mean by a secular society. If you're one of them, watch this video by QualiaSoup. He uses a very good example—the saying of prayers at city council meetings.

Most of you have been to business and/or organization meetings of various sorts. You don't normally start those meetings with a Christian prayer in spite of the fact that you might be making some very big decisions. At the recent evolution conference in Ottawa, for example, there were five society meetings of boards of directors and (I'm told) not one of them began with a prayer!

People believe in many different gods. Evey person on the planet thinks that the vast majority are false gods that do not exist. Some of us think that applies to all gods. You have no right to promote the existence of some gods over others at public meetings in a secular society, especially a multicultural society like those that exist in most modern, industrialized nations.

Whether or not you believe in god(s), the only reasonable approach in a modern society is the secular one where religions is a private matter, not a public one.

A link to this video was sent to Katie Mahoney, city councillor for Ward 8 (my ward) in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

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Hat Tip: Friendly Atheist

Dancing

Ms. Sandwalk sent me the link to this video. She knows that I love this sort of thing. It makes me happy.

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Ravel's Bolero at the Copenhagen Central Train Station

 
I love these things!

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Is WiFi Harmful to Children?

 

There are many things that are harmful to children—poverty and war come to mind. There's also superstition and ignorance.

Believe it or not, there are many parents who think that electromagnetic radiation from WiFi transmitters is harming their children. They want it removed from schools because their children are becoming sick when they are at school.

Steve Thoms at Skeptic North has a post on this issue [Why, Wifi? Why?]. He explains why some people believe stupid things and how they go about defending those beliefs in a scientific society. He also raises questions about the "evidence" of illness caused by WiFi.

Worth reading—especially for the students in my course.

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Montreal Police: Take "Mabus" death threats seriously

Go to this website, Montreal Police: Take "Mabus" death threats seriously, and sign the petition. We need to convince the Montreal police to take action against Dennis Markuze before he harms someone.

Read what PZ Myers has to put up with every day: Time to institutionalize Dennis Markuze. This is not right. It's an embarrassment that Canada can't deal with this problem.

For several years Dennis Markuze has harassed and threatened scientists, writers, public figures, atheists, and their friends under the pseudonym "David Mabus". While this was previously a minor annoyance, the intensity and frequency of his communications have increased.

"Mabus" attacks now include hundreds of Twitter accounts (used and discarded as they are reported). He has threatened young boys and girls as well as adults (including Rys Morgan, 16, who was acknowledged by some in the science community for exposing a dangerous quack medical treatment). In fact, anyone who associates with scientifically and skeptically minded people like PZ Myers, Phil Plait, James Randi, Brian Dunning or Michael Shermer is likely to become a target for unsettling rants and threats to their life and well-being.

Markuze has even gone so far as to attend meetings of such people, including attending the American Atheist Convention in October 2010, held Montreal.

It is time for the police to take his threats seriously. The problem must be addressed before it escalates beyond Internet bullying and veiled threats to become something worse.

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

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New York Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Same-sex marriage is legal in ten countries (Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden). In Canada it has been legal for gays and lesbians to marry since July 20, 2005.

In the United States same-sex is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the District of Columbia). A few hours ago it became legal in New York. I wonder if this will cause other states to make same-sex marriage legal?

The map shows where gays and lesbians have the same rights as other citizens and where those rights are restricted. I think it reflects a deep cultural divide in America and I wonder where this is going to end up? Is it possible that some of the red colored states will eventually change their minds on this issue?

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[Image Credit: modified from Wikipedia]

Happy Thanksgiving Day

 
Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. The holiday was proclaimed by Parliament in 1957.

A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed … to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

The modern holiday dates from about one hundred years ago and it is heavily influenced by the American tradition that was beginning to become well known at that time.

However, the original celebration clearly descends from harvest festivals celebrated in Europe hundreds of years ago. The first Europeans to come to North America brought this celebration with them and it likely became more popular because several East coast aboriginal tribes celebrated a harvest festival.

Canada claims that the first thanksgiving in North America was in 1578 when Martin Frobisher organized an autumn celebration in Newfoundland.¹ Samuel de Champlain frequently celebrated thanksgiving feasts in the early French colonies in Nova Scotia and Quebec beginning in 1604. The local natives joined in these celebrations [see L’Ordre de Bon Temps (Order of Good Cheer)].

Further south, the English settlers in New England began to celebrate a harvest festival in 1621. A tradition that they brought with them from Europe. It's this version of the English festival that has come down to us as the prototypical thanksgiving day. That part of the tradition was imported to Canada in the late 1700s when thousands of settlers fled north from the new United Sates of America to take up residence in the British Colony of Canada.

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1. The other contender is a festival on September 8, 1565 in Saint Augustine, Florida. Is Florida part of North America? :-)

[Photo Credit: Actors recreating the Order of Good Cheer in 1970 (The Members of the Order)]