Who is for Free Speech...?

Shall we count them, the people who are holding their hands up and saying 'Free Speech? That's for me!'? First off define free speech. It is that point in time that states that you are legally allowed (not encouraged, note) to say almost anything that you want to. The USA seems to have this sewn up pretty well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution Unfortunately, there are people who simply don't understand what this actually means. http://www.newser.com/story/206299/2-shot-dead-outside-texas-draw-mohammed-contest.html We have to try to be clear here - there are things - a lot of things! - that people say, and things that people may do, that will really upset other people - anybody with half a brain will agree to this! What that does mean is that, apart from odd things like treason, inciting to riot, mass-murder, and probably things that I can't even imagine (and don't want to) mostly people have the legalised freedom to say and do pretty well whatever they want to. That established one of the ground rules. Going a little further, what that also legally means is that you, if you are the 'offended' party, have some legal redress - if you are really miffed, then you may find a lawyer who will take up your case. If you are lucky...There are some people who leave you wondering about some peoples level of sanity: http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/nebraska-woman-files-suit-in-federal-court-against-all-homosexuals/article_91c7526c-f33b-11e4-964f-97697770307b.html In the recent Texas shootout, we see an event that is clearly open to be called 'provocative', and the response from a couple of thugs who thought they could take on the armed guards there (fail!). Bear in mind that mindless violence, whatever the rationale, is not unique to the Islamic Jihad monstrosities that we are currently seeing. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6560685.stm Violence seems to be endemic in certain parts of the world, the USA being a fine example. The apologistic people seem to be very vocal, but with no real point: they actually go ahead and blame the victim for the offence! You were attacked by armed thugs? It's your fault! This failed logic is not a winner. It is a loser. It means that no-one is safe. It means that I may not only draw cartoons of this prophet, I may not even criticise him ofr his faith, or any of those that follow it! That is pure 1930 Nazi germany, where the troopers went through and trashed anything they wanted, because no-one was able to stand in their way! If we re not able to change things in the UK, we will go the same way. yes we will. We are well on the way, if the Labour leader can promise something as utterly vacuous as this: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5665/uk-islamophobia-ban This not only makes no sense, it is positively dangerous! Reclaim the UK, while you can. Vote at the elections. While you still can! It's just around the corner. http://capitalismmagazine.com/2014/11/freedom-speech-go-hell/ UKIP seems to be common sense, the others are all falling over themselves and failing in making anything that makes the slightest bit of sense.

What is Religion?

Well, aren't you glad that I asked that question! Go on, admit it - yes you are. What it is...is... a hoax, a farce, a fantastic piece of fiction that has been visited on generation after generation, often by force, frequently by family, from parent down to children. This can safely be called the most appalling case of child abuse that has ever been invented. Yes it can. Oh, come on, wake up! For anyone to point to the Bible and say 'It says so here, in the Bible, so it must be true'. It's a book (these days it's an electronic book, but still a book). The Bible, The Talmud, the Quran, and countless other 'Religious Text' books have no more authority than the Harry Potter books, or Asimov's Robot series, or Poldark, or Robert Heinlein's stories about the Howard families. Before you start complaining, NO THEY DON'T! Sit yourself down, and switch the mobile phone off, and THINK. It doesn't matter if you are an active athiest, a Scientologist, a Christian Science follower, a Buddhist, a Baptist, a follower of one or other of the 'flavours' of Islam, an Orthodox Jew, a Reform Jew, or a Liberal Jew - it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me, and if you were to spend ten minutes actually thinking about it, instead of just following what you have been told to follow (sheeple) then it would not matter to you! Virtually all religions started many centuries ago, when the people in charge told you that the earth was flat, or that the Sun moved around the Earth, or that the stars in the sky might be angels, or that 'of course we are right - it says so in this book!'. Centuries ago anyone who was in power simply didn't have a clue! No, they didn't. Admit it. They were as ignorant of the placing of Earth in the Solar System as anyone, and they were more than plain ignorant of the sheer scale of the Universe, as we understand it now. We still don't have all the answers! There are thousands of questions that we cannot yet answer, but I prefer that to the blind assumption that there are answers that cannot - must not! - be questioned. That way lies madness. On that note - how do women sleep at night, when they follow a faith that is driven by the men, the men tell the women what they can (and cannot) do, what they can (and cannot) wear? They also have this text (in their holy book, of course!) that stipulates that a Mans testimony is worth that of two women. Think about that. What does that even mean? A man, some ignoramus from centuries ago, can (and frequently did) spout some garbage that meant that two women had to get together to even equal his utterings, in a court of (laughter inserted here) law? The Catholics got it wrong centuries ago. Make the woman subservient, dress her up in a wimpole, etc, and let her think that she is free in the faith. Almost every faith has repeated this lie, ever since. Islam (insert more laughter here) has announced that they have an ambassador - a female ambassador. That's rich. http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Apr-14/294380-iran-to-appoint-first-female-ambassador-since-islamic-revolution-in-1979-reports.ashx Oh come on, people! Are we supposed to say encouraging things? 'Wow, look at Iran. That's fantastic.' or are we supposed to say 'You are still a few hundred years behind the rest of the world - grow up!' Women in faith are treated as second class the whole world over - it's just that women don't seem to see it that way! How the Hell did that happen?

More people dying...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Sledge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnter_Grass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Kitzinger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viv_Nicholson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Benaud

2015 did not start off well. Well, I don't think it started off well! I found out that Paris is a hotbed of Religious psychopaths, and essentially the rest of the world is approaching a meltdown. And along the way, some people that I had held up to be legends had reached their time: read: shit happens. This list is NOT comprehensive - it is a sampler from Wiki, with relevance that I understand. So perhaps Brian Clemens is unknown to many, but Brian was part of the foundation TV of my youth. Of course there will be very few people who have not heard of Leonard Nimoy. Legends all...:) I will try to keep this up to date (sort of) but it will only ever be a selection of people who have been noted by me along the way, on my journey. To all of them, Live Long, And Prosper. :) 2015 April http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Lewis_%28actor%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Best http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Ball_%28musician%29 and the wonderful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Lennon March one of my heroes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaw_Taylor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Katin February Who remembers Laugh-In? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Owens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Jourdan Live long, and prosper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Nimoy January http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Percival another of my heroes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Taylor a disgusting insult to The West and Free Speech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Clemens ah, the music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Ward-Davies legends come, and legends go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_Hass ah, even more music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Taylor_(drummer) never really watched it, but hey, legends come, legends go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Kirkbride that music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Swingle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Brittan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrie_Ingham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_McKuen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_McEwan

Just to be sure...

In case any of you thought that it couldn't happen (again) it has happened (again). We have seen that this demented, mindless violence of extremists is not confined to any one spot on this planet. We see that Pakistan has its own stupidity, where public stoning STILL takes place (how is this even possible, in the 21st century?). We also see that a rather pathetic group, called the Taliban, have only one aim in life - to make everyones elses life a misery. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/12/16/taliban-gunmen-storm-pakistani-military-school-killing-100_n_6332076.html?ncid=webmail1 This is utterly indefensible. It was bad enough with Malala, but to target a deliberately soft target sets the bar at a new low. The Taliban has no argument, they can make no argument, they are not worthy of even having an argument with! Those sad animals are now lepers in the real world - no-one will want to touch them, or have them in the same room or town as they are. They are finished. They just won't admit it. They deserve no sympathy in their passing, and the fact that they have made their families, their wives, their children all valid targets should be publicised for what it is - a mess, of the Talibans making. From now on, anyone even suggesting that they belong or are associated with the Taliban are to be taken outside and shot (in some countries this happens very often) and in some countries they should still be taken outside and given a good kicking. Then arrested. Then made to vanish. Taliban is now a dirty word, get used to it, and use it. Boko Harem? What a saddo bunch. Another group of animals, based around Nigeria. http://www.dw.de/boko-haram-barrage-against-western-values/a-18134419 They can't hold a conversation, and kidnap and rape is all that they know. They deserve another good kicking. Hamas? A professionl bunch of Arab animals, who don't care about the population of Gaza, except how they can be used as media fodder. Another kicking overdue. What most don't seem to get is that this phenomenal tragedy is global. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_designated_terrorist_organizations These sad and twisted people are everywhere, and with the latest ISIS messes in Syria this is all coming home - they fight in Syria and then get back to the home country, setting up terror cells there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant You can't talk to these vile people, so why delude yourself? Take them out, before they take you out - and they do want to take you out - outside, up against a wall, and shoot you! If you are a follower of that thing called Islam, WHY??? What is it about Islam that makes you accept all of this, while the world is crumbling around you? It's like saying the Nazi party wasn't so bad. At least they had the trains running on time. It's time for the world to take stock. It cannot continue - the United Nations has been a travesty for a few years, and will get worse, as more and more of it is hijacked by the Arab nations and the media. Lies piled on top of lies.

Stop speaking with authority on subjects that you don't understand!

This man is a fool, and what is worse, he is clearly an ignorant fool: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2014/10/catholic-archbishop-ebola-is-punishment-from-god-for-homosexuality/ He, like many in his position of 'power' abuse that power. They speak with conviction on subjects that they obviously do not understand, to audiences who will accept what he says. That just adds to the tragedy. Although it was said a while ago, this man was also an ignorant fool, speaking with authority on a subject that he clearly didn't understand: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/17/pope-africa-condoms-aids For completely different reasons, this statement summed up the ignorant thinking of the time (1912): http://www.historyonthenet.com/titanic/unsinkable.htm This is one of the saddest things: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-26754992. people who 'commit adultery' or 'commit blasphemy' are also executed? Huh? How's that? I curse your God, or some other God, and that (in some countries) is a capital crime? This again is where some people have risen to the top of the tree, and assume that THAT gives them the right to tell everyone else what to do, how to do it, or even how to think - or not to think! The world is tiny enough, and how there can be so many countries laughingly calling themselves 'civilised' is pathetic. Many countries like to progress, to move on with things, and there are so many countries that are committed to keeping us back in the Dark Ages (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and many more. There is something called BDS (apparently) which is a 'movement' for keeping away from Israel, and all things that Israel may make - foods, technology, anything. They miss the point that THAT kind of operation is a blind one. It achieves nothing positive, and starts to alienate people, in an already fragile world. Stop BDS-ing!

I do not wish to fund terrorist-based ideologies!

The DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) has just dropped me an email. I must assume that they still have my details after I sent them some money towards that nightmare time when the tsunami hit the Far East and decimated some many countries, killing thousands. That was way back in 2004. Which brings me neatly on to the Middle East, and in particular Gaza and Israel. There have been running battles for years between these two ‘countries’ (Israel is a country, I don’t actually know what category Gaza falls into – is it a country?). Most of the time all that we see is the verbal diarrhoea, mostly from the ‘leaders’ of Gaza – the PA and Hamas. The PA seems to be a sad waste of everyones time, and Hamas is just a murderous enterprise who seem to publically want to annihilate Israel and its entire population. The latest stretch of imagination is that we (the rest of the world) is now going to subsidise the rebuilding of Gaza by donating some hundreds of millions of dollars. Why? If I read this correctly in the past we have ‘subsidised’ Gaza to already ridiculous amounts, and it turns out that we have been paying for the people of Gaza to build a terrorist network, and a set of tunnels that can have only one purpose, that of mass murder of the Israelis. Why are we now being so damned Politically Correct that we are giving even more money to the PA and Hamas, so that they can laugh at the West (again) and start to rebuild their messy terror systems (again!). I object to this – I am not in the habit of actively funding terrorists, so this current UK government has lost my support (yes, it had it, initially). It has systematically ignored so many real problems and made mountains out of mole-hill sized problems. The recent rise of UKIP will bring a lot of hope to a very disillusioned population, and I can only trust that the voters apathy of recent years, where we struggle to get even 50% turnout, will change. Your vote will count, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.