A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children’s television program was beaten to death in the show’s final episode Friday.In the final skit, “Farfour” was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour’s land. At one point, the mouse called the Israeli a “terrorist.”
“Farfour was martyred while defending his land,” said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed “by the killers of children,” she added.
You can see some videos of Farfur from Al Aqsa TV here. The show is really disturbing. Basically, it’s this Mickey Mouse-like character urging children to fight Israel.
Now, I know they come from a different environment and a much different culture, but this is just insane. It’s a perfect example of how religion can drive people to do crazy things. Read more…
Okay, I pirated the movie before it was supposed to come out. So sue me (please don’t).
Anyway, I’m not the biggest Michael Moore fan. I don’t dislike him as much as many people do, and I admit I’ve enjoyed watching his movies in the past, but I think sometimes he puts a little too much spin on the facts he presents. Sicko, however, I really liked. It succeeds in its mission of getting you pissed off and motivated to change something, and there isn’t really anything I can object to in this movie, bias wise. It’s a bit sensationalist, especially the part at the end where he goes to Cuba, but doesn’t seem to be as polarizing as his previous movies.
Moore tends to go for the emotional appeal, and Sicko is no different. I’ve been very fortunate that my mom’s health insurance has paid for all of my costly operations and medication recently, but many people aren’t so lucky. Health care workers tell stories of denying vital operations to save the company money. A woman shares the painful story of her husband who was denied a potentially life-saving operation and died. Stories of pain and death due to corruption in the health insurance industry pervade this movie, all of it contrasted with other countries that have universal health care paid for by the government, providing even the poorest with full medical coverage. The whole thing really made me want to go out and do something.
My AP English teacher brought up the idea of government-funded health care during class, and when a few students disagreed with her she asked them: “do you think everyone deserves health care?” I think that question fits the movie perfectly. To all those who disagree with this movie’s premise, I challenge you to answer that question. Read more…
Thomas Paine was a revolutionary and an intellectual that was influencial in the American revolution. His famous works include Common Sense, which advocated independence of the American colonies, and The Age of Reason, which criticized Christianity and the bible.
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
“There is scarcely any part of science, or anything in nature, which those imposters and blasphemers of science, called priests, as well Christians as Jews, have not, at some time or other, perverted, or sought to pervert to the purpose of superstition and falsehood.”
“I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.”
“It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.”
“To argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead.”
“A man will pass better through the world with a thousand open errors upon his back than in being detected in one sly falsehood. When one is detected, a thousand are suspected.”
“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression.”
“The Christian system of religion is an outrage on common sense.”
“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”
But you wouldn’t know it by listening to the politicians and pundits. They go on and on about how the single event has changed everything, but it really hasn’t. One day — 2,974 fatalities — has been the center of political debate for six years, and it’s because of fear. The biggest effect of 9/11 was in our minds. We are afraid; not of heart disease or car crashes, not of lightning strikes, but of terrorist attacks. It’s an irrational fear but it’s nonetheless real, and politicians have latched onto it. Fear mongering is common practice in modern political campaigns (the other candidate is weak on defense, and if you vote for him America will be attacked) because it’s in their interest to keep us afraid. Politicians have been using fear to win elections and gain power for decades, only now instead of communists it’s terrorists. Quite simply, the neocons wanted a war, and thanks to 9/11 they got one.
And this increase in money spent on defense… are we safer because of it? Possibly, I don’t really know, but I do know this: on the day of September 11, 2001, 2,974 Americans died in a terrorist attack. That same day, around 16,000 children worldwide died from hunger-related causes. Every day since then almost 16,000 children have died from hunger-related causes (that’s one child every five seconds). This is shocking to most people, and rightly so. As we’ve been arguing over a terrorist attack that killed a few thousand people, millions of children have died of starvation. Hell, by the time you finish reading this post a few children will have died. Are you doing anything about it? How about the people you voted for?
Maybe if that money spent on killing people in the middle east had been spent fighting world hunger we wouldn’t be safe from terrorists, but, honestly, I don’t care. I’d rather the money go to help starving children, even if it meant allowing another terrorist attack. Read more…
The Church of England has threatened legal action against Sony Entertainment due to the unauthorized use of the Manchester Cathedral in the PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man. The bishop of Manchester accused Sony of being irresponsible, noting “It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem.”
Free publicity ftw. Sony didn’t even have to include a secret sex scene or over-the-top graphic violence. Though this attention is certainly unintentional (and therefore more hilarious) I bet it boosts the sales of the game in Manchester.
