MUTO - is a wall-painted animation by BLU. My son turned me on to this amazing animation painted on public walls in Buenos Aires and in Baden. Take five minutes and give yourself an art break.
Check out Blublu.org or the blu blog for more information.
A 40-year-old former youth minister plead guilty yesterday to charges of deviate sexual intercourse and corrupting the morals of a 15-year-old boy.
James Wilkerson, who also uses the name James Haynes, was then sentenced as a result of a negotiated plea to a mandatory minimum of five to 10 years in state prison, followed by three years of probation.
Wilkerson was a youth minister at the Summerfield-Siloam United Methodist Church in Kensington when he improperly touched the boy from November 2006 to May 2007.
Assistant District Attorney Richard DeSipio said in court yesterday that Wilkerson told the teen that "in order to ensure spiritual and physical perfection," he had to engage in physical activity with Wilkerson.
The teen knew Wilkerson from attending his prayer services and karate classes at the church.
Source: Ex-youth pastor pleads guilty in sexual assault of teen boy | Philadelphia Daily News | 05/10/2008
I first posted on James Wilkerson back in August of 2007. The wheels of justice turn slowly if they turn at all.
Zee Harrison at Black Woman Thinks is hosting a new series called the Black Atheist Series. Her first post is about Henry Huber Harrison. I have never heard of him (my loss).
I have taken the liberty to include in this category freethinkers, skeptics, humanists, scientific naturalists and anyone else who debunks the supernatural or promotes rational thinking.
To be any of the above categories in many black communities around the world can invite ridicule, censorship, ostracisation or even worse. I invite you to search the net for 'black atheist' and you may discover how few black atheists are 'out'.
To have someone brave enough to challenge irrational thinking at a time when people were victims (and still are to a great extent) of traditional myths, who stands up and promotes the idea of thinking for oneself, is truly admirable.
I've struggled with the same issue, only in the wider American population. We do not know enough about those who have come before us. Their stories need to be told. Henry Hubert Harrison is a great start.
It is not what you think. Banksy is an artist. Barely Legal was a show he put on in various cities, including Los Angeles.
I'm a fan of stencil art, which makes me a fan of Bansky. Take a few minutes to browse Bansky's outdoor installments. They are sardonic masterpieces.
Stencil art is subversive by nature. One finds it posted in out-of-the-way places like freeway underpasses, light fixtures, and on the back of street signs. Once you start to look for it you will find it all over.
My favorite Banksy works are from Palestine.
This is interesting in an odd sort of way. It is a list of singers who have died since 1969. Check it out. Gone But Not Forgotten.
They forgot Bradley Nowell of Sublime. How can that be?
An Evangelical Manifesto is an open declaration of who Evangelicals are and what they stand for. It has been drafted and published by a representative group of Evangelical leaders who do not claim to speak for all Evangelicals, but who invite all other Evangelicals to stand with them and help clarify what Evangelical means in light of “confusions within and the consternation without” the movement. As the Manifesto states, the signers are not out to attack or exclude anyone, but to rally and to call for reform.
As an open declaration, An Evangelical Manifesto addresses not only Evangelicals and other Christians but other American citizens and people of all other faiths in America, including those who say they have no faith. It therefore stands as an example of how different faith communities may address each other in public life, without any compromise of their own faith but with a clear commitment to the common good of the societies in which we all live together.
For those who are Evangelicals, the deepest purpose of the Manifesto is a serious call to reform—an urgent challenge to reaffirm Evangelical identity, to reform Evangelical behavior, to reposition Evangelicals in public life, and so rededicate ourselves to the high calling of being Evangelical followers of Jesus Christ.
My litmus test is James Dobson. if he apposes the manifesto then it is moving in the right direction.
James Dobson, founder of the conservative group Focus on the Family, reviewed the document and was asked to sign it, Dobson spokesman Gary Schneeberger said. Dobson reportedly consulted the group’s board of directors but did not sign it “due to myriad concerns about the effort,” according to Schneeberger.
Source: Evangelical group issues political manifesto against "single-issue" politics
For the record - Dobson refused to support this. Yes! Our decade of hate is coming to a close.
This is a case of a Christian Principal molesting Christian children at a Christian school.
Citrus County sheriff's spokesperson Gail Tierney says it happened on several occasions, She's a 15-year-old girl and he's a 38-year-old man and given the relationship between school and students this obviously is a criminal offense.
Derek Vanderheyden admitted to his crimes when interviewed by police. He was the principle of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and School. The school taught K through 8th grade. Sex education was by appointment only.
Clark is a classic pedophile. He cultivated his relationship with a helpless 12-year-old girl, and then used her for his pleasure. Now Jack Clark is going to jail for a very long time.
Investigators say Jack began earning the girl's trust by allowing her to watch movies -- something strictly forbidden by the church -- after his wife went to sleep. Gradually, cops believe Clark began touching the young girl inappropriately, and his actions eventually escalated.
Source: AMW.com | Jack Clark - Fugitive
This is my first America's Most Wanted case. I'm going to include them in my newsreader for now on. They are a good source of information on criminal activity. And they do not forget.
Pastor Stanley Daniel is heading to the big house.
The Rev. Stanley Daniel pleaded guilty to first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy and two counts of distribution of obscene material Thursday morning in front of Fifth Judicial Circuit Judge Tom Young, who sentenced him to 20 years each on the first two charges and 12 months each on the second two.
Source: The Randolph Leader: News
What did Daniel's do? He ran a program for at risk youth, and then he raped one of them.
Jones told the judge he would expect the evidence to show at trial that Daniel was in charge of a program for troubled youths when he engaged in sexual intercourse, sodomy and oral sex with one of the youths in the program.
It is hard for me to imagine hate crimes against Hispanics. Living in Los Angeles as I do, Hispanics are an integrated part of the fabric of my community. Why would I hate my next door neighbor, childhood friend, or co-worker? My brain just does not think this way. Yet in Tennessee, hate crimes against Hispanics are on the rise.
Hate crimes rose dramatically in Tennessee last year, especially crimes against Hispanics and the disabled.
According to a new Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report, hate crimes rose 28 percent overall between 2006 and 2007. But hate crimes against Hispanics more than doubled...
My initial reaction is that this increase in hate crimes is a result the Bush administration's targeting of illegal immigrants as part of his War on Terrorism. In the name of keeping our borders safe, the Bush administration has painted a target on the backs of our Hispanic population. Opportunistic red-necked bottom feeders abound in the south. With Tennessee arguably the birthplace of the KKK, I'm starting to see a connection.
The article postulates that poor economic conditions drive non-Hispanic residents to attach Hispanics. I don't buy it. The government sends signal when they round up a bus load of hard working people. It does not take much thinking to understand that this is a tacit signal of approval.
Facebook is a neat place - I participate in several Atheist groups. The most ambitious is Are there 250,000 Atheists here? I wanted to give them a plug. If you are on the blogroll and would like to participate in this facebook group, please log in and join.
I've included a recent email from one of the 800 Atheists who have joined so far.
Bigger than any "dissent"
Today, the group "Are there 250,000 Atheists here?", is nearly at eight hundred members. This is amazing in less than two months time, with as little public advertising as we've gotten.
What's more amazing is that we've officially destroyed "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism", who stand at over seven hundred signatures as of early 2008.
While we've got a long way to go to really show that there are plenty of us out there in contrast with the religious majority (look at all the religious groups!), we're advancing at a good enough clip. I'm really proud of all the effort put into the group so far by the other administrators of the group, and all of the effort put forth by you, the members, so far.
Good work, and keep it up guys! We're almost 1/250 of the way to our goal, we can't slow down now! Tell your friends and your friends' friends!
Email: theDOTmotleyDOTcrueATgmailDOTcom
Website: The Seeker (not a blogroll member)
I am pleased to present one of our newest Atheist Blogroll members, Fed Up with Religion.
In the author's own words:
The whole of my, thus far, short life was spent studying religion, until recently. I finally figured out that it's false and immoral. Fed Up with Religion is focused on exposing the falsity and wickedness of religion and showing that life without god or religion can be true, meaningful, and good.
Welcome to the team!
We stand at 692 active blogs on the Atheist Blogroll. Just 8 more until we reach our next milestone.
We shrink:
We change:
We grow:
A special thanks to Religion is man-made. Keep sending those dead links my way.
I thought it odd that anyone would spend their time worrying about what they think. But some fundies do. There is a whole array of material aimed at closing the young male mind to any impure thoughts. They treat any impure thought as a sin.Commandment Seven. You Shall Not Commit Adultery.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus says that looking lustfully at a woman is like committing adultery in your heart. Contributor David Dickerson was raised as an evangelical Christian, and for many years tried not to have a single lustful thought. (9 minutes)
Some ask why God should care about thoughts and actions that affect no one else. The truth is that there are few thoughts or actions that do not affect others, either immediately or in some future circumstance. God is more interested in what we do with the thoughts that pop into our minds than in the thoughts themselves. We have not sinned when we are tempted by an impure thought that flashes into mind, but we are responsible, and do sin, if we harbor and linger on the evil thought. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can quickly discern each thought that tempts us, dispel it, and consciously change our thoughts towards what is pure. With His help even our thought life can be holy.The thoughts the rattle around in my head affect very few people. It is only when I take action on a thought that I affect others. I don't and cannot live a life burned by the random craziness that exists between the lucid focused thoughts. For instance, I am listening to The Truth is Marching In by Albert Ayler while I write this post. It is a repetitive live jazz recording that I find amazing. My random crazy thoughts range from thinking about using Ayler's music as mood music on my next date night with the wife to wishing I could play the sax (with all the musician sex god fantasies which that entails). None of these thoughts, or the thousands of others which crowd my mind each day, have any meaning unless I act on them. Guarding against them is a complete waste of time. Feeling guilty over one's thought life is pointless.
