One classic rhetoric the Catholic Church loves to throw around is that “secular media” is a leading cause of moral degradation in kids today. This includes just about everything on TV that isn’t treating their priests and bishops with outright adulation, or isn’t airing on EWTN.
You’ve seen the effects of this mindset on Dan Brown’s films, and the MTRCB’s conservative streak.
But you’ve got to ask yourself: Is secular, non-religious media really a poison that addles and corrodes the bonds of community? I’ve decided to take another look at my anti-depression medication, a potent cocktail that’s helped me through some rough spots over the last few months.
Fillies and gentlecolts, my drug of choice:
We’re looking at the Generation 4 incarnation of the show, which was created by Lauren Faust. Despite its exceedingly cute appearance and tone, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic garnered a large following far beyond its target audience thanks to its animation quality, pop culture references (The Big Lebowski, anyone?), song numbers, character depth, and witty humor.
Yes. I am a Brony.
One other aspect of the show that shines is its presentation of the various issues that little girls will face as they grow up, and providing them with creative ways of handling these problems while learning from the experience. It takes some pretty good script writing to teach kids how to deal with the resident Alpha bitch, without becoming one themselves.
We’ll take a closer look at the lessons FiM imparts, as narrated in the friendship report at the end of each episode, and compare them with the traditional “values” the Catholic Church proclaims.
Friendship is Magic: Love and accept people for who they are.
Dear Princess Celestia,
My friends and I have all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don’t care what your “cover” is; It’s the “contents” of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.
When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn’t know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem – your sister, Princess Luna! She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others, and help them find it themselves! And I’m happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even though somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you’ll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Star Swirl bearded costume didn’t go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever!
Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing. Even the worst of enemies can become friends. You need understanding and compromise. You’ve got to share. You’ve got to care –
The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage and the social acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex relationships, but teaches that homosexual persons deserve respect, justice and pastoral care. The Vatican and Pope John Paul II are speaking out against the growing number of places that recognize same-sex marriages.
Today I learned a great lesson about friendship. Well, you might think that it would feel good to get lots and lots of stuff, but it doesn’t feel nearly as good as giving something special to somepony you really care about. But I learned that it truly is better to give than to receive, and that kindness and generosity are what lead to true friendship. And that’s more valuable than anything in the world.
Friendship is Magic: True friends never give up on you.
Dearest Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that it’s hard to accept when some pony you like wants to spend time with some pony who is not so nice. Though it’s impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behavior. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and one that is true will surely come to light.
I used to think the most important traits to look for in a pet, or any best friend, were all physical competitive abilities. But now I can see how short-sighted and shallow that was. Today I learned what the most important quality really is. A certain kind of spirit. A stick-to-it-ive-ness. A never give up, can-do attitude that’s the mark of a real winner. And this tortoise has it.
The Church: It’s alright to be buddy-buddy with a serial divorcee (http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/candidates/newt-gingrich) or an accessory to the enactment of Martial Law, as long as they tow the party line against reproductive health.
Friendship is Magic: Be honest with your friends and loved ones.
Dear Princess Celestia,
This is Spike, writing to you about my adventures. This week, I learned that being jealous, and telling lies gets you nowhere in friendship. I also learned that there’s plenty of love for every friend to share.
The report found that Bishop John Magee – who stood down in March 2009 after serving as bishop of Cloyne since 1987 – falsely told the government and the health service that his diocese was reporting all abuse allegations to authorities.
It also found that the bishop deliberately misled another inquiry and his own advisers by creating two different accounts of a meeting with a priest suspected of abusing a child, one for the Vatican and the other for diocesan files.
It’s a sad state of affairs when a cartoon does a far better job at teaching our kids about the right set of values, than a 2000-year old institution that regularly claims the moral high ground.
If there is one thing that Equestrians and the RCC can agree on, it’s that their leadership has its share of sexually deprived, power-tripping weirdos.
But at least Princess Celestia/Molestia actually does her job, ruling all ponyfolk with (relative) benevolence and wisdom. She just has some unusual tastes.
On a parting note, I recommend Friendship is Magic as good viewing for the non-theists ponyfolk out there looking for wholesome, educational programs for their kids.
Just stay the hell away from the “Cupcakes,” unless you’re into that sort of thing.
It’s been a while since we’ve last heard from Dr. Ligaya Acosta, who drew acclaim for her sold-out performance at last January’s RH Bill forum at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health. Everybody still remembers how her crazy antics had the audience rolling in the aisles…
In any case, Dr. Acosta’s at it again, but instead of more aneurysm-inducing presentations on the Reproductive Health Bill, she’s set her sights on the gay community. Ligaya goes through great lengths in her rhetoric to discuss the rising trend for gay rights, before attempting to dismiss its legitimacy.
I’ve taken the liberty of correcting her more salient points where necessary. After all, much like her, I would prefer to hear the truth of the matter
Curing the “Disease”
Dr. Ligaya Anacta Acosta, regional director of Human Life International (HLI) Asia and Oceania told delegates to the “Philippines for Life” Congress that there is a need to alert the public about the campaign to promote homosexual practice, and to call people in all sectors— especially us in the Catholic Church — to make a firm and appropriate response and address different approaches available to men and women of homosexual inclination who wish to leave… the life of active homosexuality.”
Said “appropriate response” includes the use of conversion therapy from groups such as the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), which claims that it has means of curing homosexuality, as if it were a mental disorder.
The problem is, gay conversion therapy has long been debunked by the greater medical community. The British Medical Association (BMA) has declared conversion therapy to be harmful to patients, while the American Psychological Association (APA) has removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders all the way back in 1975.
You’re probably wondering why a good doctor like Acosta would be advocating gays to undergo quack treatment to “cure” their condition. *Hint hint*: She’s not a medical doctor. Acosta’s HLI profile indicates that she has a Doctorate in Management, and Bachelor Degrees in Law and Social Work. Note the lack of certification in psychiatry, or even a graduate degree in psychology.
Discrimination? What Discrimination?
Quoting from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, she reminded everyone that healing can be and has been found after living a homosexual lifestyle, and that “every sign of discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
Acosta noted that there is an agenda to advance homosexual rights by presenting gays as a discriminated minority.
Are homosexuals really discriminated against? Whether or not the answer is yes, presenting themselves as victims of oppression is one of the steps in advancing homosexual rights, ultimately to include the recognition of such rights by the law, she said.
The Roman Catholic Church opposed the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which adds sexual orientation to existing anti-discrimination laws in the United States.
Catholic charities refused to allow gay couples to adopt children, and while receiving state money at that.
The CBCP threatened legal action for a gay wedding in Baguio…against a denomination that’s not even Catholic.
And these are just the Catholic cases. I have yet to cite the more recent examples from around the globe, such as Nigeria’s recent gay marriage ban, or Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill (which was in turn linked to anti-gay Christian fundamentalism.
So despite Ligaya’s baseless posturing, we have plenty of evidence to indicate that not only are gays being discriminated against, but that one of the groups responsible for this discrimination is the RCC itself. At least we now know why she’s being so evasive.
Starstruck
“Are they really oppressed? We see many gays in the media… in fact, they lord it over [in the industry] so how can they say that they are being oppressed?” Acosta asked a group of over 200 pro-life delegates.
While it is true that the appearance of gays like Vice Ganda in Philippine cinema can be seen as progress, it is also equally true that gays are still a discriminated minority that are the target of hate crimes. These two facts do not cancel each other out. As per the Philippine LGBT Hate Crime Watch, At least 32 were killed in 2011, and another 34 in 2010, with the victims being targeted because of their sexual orientation.
Following Ligaya’s logic, it’d be like saying it’s alright not to give a damn about the chronic problem of domestic violence our women face, or that 11 of them die each day because of birth complications, because we have Sarah Geronimo, KC Concepcion, Kim Chiu, and Shamcey Supsup in the spotlight.
Her reasoning is flawless!
Illegitimate
Being true to the pro-abortion, pro-gay rights monicker given to him, the president has established an LGBT Month (LGBT stands for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders), appointed homosexuals as key officials in government, and carried out other measures that have ended up bestowing illegitimate rights on homosexual members of society.
What Acosta calls “illegitimate,” most people see as progress to a more tolerant society that grants gays the same rights as any other person. They’re in the same vein as the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the legalization of same-sex marriage in states such as New York, and the enactment of more comprehensive anti-discrimination and anti-bullying laws.
None of these measures grant any “special” or “illegitimate” privileges to the LGBT community. At the very least, they provide them with same rights as everybody else, and ensure that they don’t have to live in fear of being discriminated against.
Ligaya’s attempt to make the matter of gay equality an issue is tantamount to her crying over the fact that blacks can finally sit anywhere they damn want on a bus.
Gay Recruitment
“Hindi lang po ‘yan sa US because the policies of the United States of America affect the whole world… It’s actually also part of population control. If they cannot force us to legalize abortion or massively use contraception, then [they] promote homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle. Start at kindergarten… and therefore we have to know what is the agenda.”
Yes. Because as everybody knows, going gay is the perfect alternative if your girlfriend refuses to let you do it because you’re not wearing rubber.
For the readers who’ve seen the Harvey Milk film, Ligaya’s “Gays recruiting your children in schools” argument should be familiar. It was the same mantra chanted by the Save our Children coalition founded by singer and notorious anti-gay bigot Anita Bryant.
The coalition was established to help repeal a Florida ordinance that made it illegal to discriminate based on an individual’s sexual orientation. And much like Bryant, Ligaya has yet to present any evidence that gays are indeed turning our schools into recruitment centers for their cause.
New World Order
“I have to tell you that there is a huge homosexual network all over the world, and although constituting a minority only of less than 3% of the population, we have to know that the homosexual movement is highly organized and very well-financed,” Acosta pointed out.
For once, Ligaya is right. Sort of.
There are a growing number of movements around the world that are advocating the eradication of discrimination against the LGBT community. One of the biggest being the United Nations, which passed a resolution this year declaring equal rights for all people, regardless of their gender identity.
There’s also the It Gets Better Project, established to provide moral support for LGBT teens who are being bullied and discriminated against in school because of their sexual orientation.
By contrast, Catholic-affiliated anti-gay groups such as the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has been losing legal ground over its accusations of experiencing harassment while advocating gay discrimination; One incident involved one of its members being given mean looks as he handed out anti-gay pamphlets.
And if Ligaya really wants to push the matter of highly organized and well-funded groups with an agenda, she doesn’t have to look further than her own Human Life International. Over its history, HLI has been knee-deep in scandals regarding the accuracy of its research and its blatant…well…insanity.
Here’s a few choice words from Father Thomas Euteneuer, HLI’s president from 2000 to 2010:
Fundamentally, Harry Potter indoctrinates young souls in the language and mechanics of the occult. The fact that the fake curses and hexes are not able to be reproduced because the “ingredients” are pure fantasy is beside the point. Curses are not pure fantasy. The fact that “curse” as such, and other elements of witchcraft, are presented in a glorified state throughout the Harry Potter series means that our kids’ minds are being introduced to and imbued with occult imagery.
Euteneuer subsequently left HLI, under a cloud of suspicion that he had sexually abused a woman he was performing exorcism duties for.
If there is anything we can take away from people like Ligaya, it is that they are running scared. They are terrified of the fact that in the past few years, several landmark decisions have been made that are slowly eroding the layer upon layer of lies that the Catholic Church sits upon.
For those who’ve never watched Mystery Men, a blame thrower is a non-lethal weapon that causes the targets it affects to start blaming the guy nearest to them for their woes.
The end result is usually a fistfight, followed by much hilarity (and finger-pointing).
While the movie’s heroes have had to use a mechanical blamethrower though, the Catholic Church has gone far beyond mere toys.
In its years of existence, this institution has developed its skill to Sith levels of mindtrickery, conveniently throwing one scapegoat after another in its constant attempts to evade public outrage regarding its hypocrisy.
If you thought their name game was bad enough with the RH bill, wait ’till you get a load of their other material. Every statement is a worthy read in its own right, so like a good serving of sashimi, I’ve opted to present each snippet in its raw form, sans the usual snark.
Without further ado, here are the choice cuts:
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Pope Benedict XVI told Vatican officials Monday that they must reflect on the church’s culpability in its child sex-abuse scandal, but he also blamed a secular society in which he said the mistreatment of children was frighteningly common.
In his traditional, end-of-the-year speech to Vatican cardinals and bishops, Benedict said revelations of abuse in 2010 reached “an unimaginable dimension” that required the church to accept the “humiliation” as a call for renewal.
“We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen,” the pope said.
Benedict also said, however, that the scandal must be seen in a broader social context, in which child pornography is seemingly considered normal by society and drug use and sexual tourism are on the rise.
“The psychological destruction of children, in which human persons are reduced to articles of merchandise, is a terrifying sign of the times,” Benedict said.
(Reuters) – A study commissioned by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops concludes that neither the all-male celibate priesthood nor homosexuality caused the church’s sexual abuse crisis, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The five-year study says the abuse occurred because priests who were poorly prepared and monitored, and were under stress, landed amid the social and sexual turmoil of the 1960s and ’70s, according to the newspaper.
The “blame Woodstock” explanation has been floated by bishops for years but the study was likely to be regarded as the most authoritative analysis of the scandal in the Catholic Church in America, The Times reported.
Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican”, according to the Holy See’s chief exorcist.
Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican’s chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as “cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon”.
He added: “When one speaks of ‘the smoke of Satan’ [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and paedophilia.”
Speaking on a visit to Chile, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, said: “Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relationship between celibacy and paedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and paedophilia. That is true. That is the problem.”
The most obvious change must occur within American seminaries, many of which demonstrate the same brand of cultural liberalism plaguing our secular universities. My hope was rekindled last week as our American Cardinals proposed from Rome an “apostolic visitation” of seminaries emphasizing “the need for fidelity to the Church’s teaching, especially in the area of morality.” It is an arduous task. However, the Pope made it clear last week that he expects the strong appeal of the Cardinals to be followed by decisive Episcopal action.
It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning “private” moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.
The Vatican has attacked the media over charges that the Pope failed to act against a US priest accused of abusing up to 200 deaf boys two decades ago.
A Vatican newspaper editorial said the claims were an “ignoble” attack on the Pope and that there was no “cover-up”.
The head of the UK Catholic church said the Pope had made important changes to the way abuse was dealt with.
The Catholic church has been hit by a series of allegations in Europe and the US over the past months.
The latest allegations stem from the US, after it emerged that Archbishops had complained in 1996 about a priest, Fr Lawrence Murphy. Their complaints went to a Vatican office led by the future Pope Benedict XVI.
Monsignor Giacomo Babini, the Bishop Emeritus of Grossetto, was quoted by the Italian Roman Catholic website Pontifex as saying he believed a “Zionist attack” was behind the criticism of the Pope, given that it was “powerful and refined” in nature.
Bishop Babini denied he had made any anti-Semitic remarks. He was backed by the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), which issued a declaration by Bishop Babini in which he said: “Statements I have never made about our Jewish brothers have been attributed to me.”
However, Bruno Volpe, who interviewed Monsignor Babini for Pontifex, confirmed that the bishop had made the statement, which was reported widely in the Italian press today. Pontifex threatened to release the audio tape of the interview as proof.
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Of course, with the RCC as it is today, you may also want to keep on the lookout in case they decide to take their scapegoating up another notch in the near future.
Now if you’ve just finished reading all that, I leave the floor to the readers. Enjoy. Discuss. Deconstruct. Facepalm.
Attention fellow heathens, blasphemers, filibusters, fornicators, teroristas, and Nazis of all colors! If you don’t have any plans for this Sunday evening, you might want to take a look at ABS-CBN’s upcoming HARAPAN debate:
HARAPAN
RH Bill: Ipasa o Ibasura?
The Grand Debate
May 8, 2011/Sunday/9:15pm – 11pm
Debate Moderators:
Julius Babao
Karen Davila
Venue:
PDA Hall or Studio 6 (ABS-CBN Compound)
Opening Statements ng Pro-RH at Anti-RH – 2mins each
Ano ang RH Bill? 3 Malalaking isyu sa bill
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Issue 1: Saan ba nagsisimula ang buhay? (When does life begin?)
Debate Proper I
Anti-RH
Fr. Melvin Castro
Dr. Ligaya Acosta
Couples for Christ (CFC) representative
Pro-RH
Protestant Bishop Rodrigo Tano
Dr. Esperanza Cabral
Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) representative
Poll Partial Results (Online & Text)
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Issue 2: Responsible Parenthood, Overpopulation, State Intervention, and Contraception
Debate Proper II
Anti-RH
Rep. Anthony Golez
Rep. Roilo Golez
Joey Lina
Pro-RH
Rep. Edcel Lagman
Rep. Janette Garin
Carlos Celdran
Fast Facts or Poll Partial Results (Online & Text)
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Issues 3: Sex Education, Access/Right to Information, Women’s Rights
Debate Proper III
Anti-RH
Atty. Jo Imbong
Christine Jacob Sandejas
Pro-RH
Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel
Beth Angsioco
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CONCLUSION: Summary of points raised FINAL TALLY OF PULSO NG BAYAN (online & text surveys)
If it were a matter of brute strength, our side has that in spades ,with speakers like Ms. Baraquel, Ms. Angsioco, Mr. Celdran, and Dr. Cabral offering their collective ass-kicking rhetoric to defend the bill. It’s beauty and brains, muscle and finesse, all rolled into one deadly combination!
On the other hand, the opposition is also worth a look. Will Dr. Acosta befuddle us once again with those unorthodox, mind-numbing tactics she’s become notorious for in previous bouts?
Will Golez whips his trademark rope-a-dope strategy to wear down the opposition? What the man doesn’t have in technical finesse or instinct, he makes up for with experience and tenacity.
And of course, remember to participate in the polls – the Anti-RH bloc just loves to brag about how they’ve got the winning team. A good pharngulating of ABS-CBN’s polls should let them know otherwise.
Ever since the whole business with the Reproductive Health Bill erupted, I’ve witnessed just how creative the Filipino people can become in trying to push an issue.
Now, while I’d love to gloss over some of FF’s accomplishments in the past, the frequently requested performance at the Women’s Day Rally (go Margie! w00t!), I think it’s only fair we cover the other side.
Supporters of the Consolidated Reproductive Health bill have been battered left and right by the Anti-RH bloc, who have resorted to some truly diverse choice of language.
But aside from the usual accusations of us being “murderers,” “heathens,” “secularists,” and “abortionists”, some of our detractors have gone the extra mile with one-of-a-kind statements that take the mudslinging up to eleven, leaving our own “DAMASO!” seem feeble by comparison.
So sit back, take a break from the frantic exchanges regarding this issue, and witness some of the more colorful accusations that have been thrown at the RH Bill and its motley lot of supporters.
On a side note, I do understand that there are plenty more colorful names on the net that I have yet to discover. If you find any, do let us know over at our FB page .
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“In this fight against RH Bill, our true enemies are not the people (who proposed it) but Satan. It is the evil that is manipulating the minds of all (pro RH Bill Congressmen) or those higher ups in the world. This is the reason why it is difficult to fight this enemy,” the prelate admitted.
He said this issue about the RH Bill is not only the concern of Catholics (Christians) but of all Filipinos of good will.
On a related note guys, it was not too long ago, that a Vatican official – their chief exorcist at that seriouslytried to blame the Devil for the ever-increasing reports of sex abuse being committed by priests. Padre, do you know who else blamed the devil for everything?
It goes without saying that Satan has always been the church’s umbrella term for anything that displeases them, and I am seriously beginning to feel sorry for the guy.
And apparently the RCC’s beginning to realize it’s becoming very old rhetoric too, as another high-ranking member of the CBCP attempted to pull something straight out of Dubya’s scare-monger’s cookbook…
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“Walang pinagkaiba sa mga terorista ang mga mambatas na sumusuporta sa RH Bill” (Law-makers who support RH Bill are no different than terrorists), said Archbishop Jose Palma, CBCP vice president.
Earth to Palma: It wasn’t those damn dirty atheists and freethinkers that resorted to veiled threats of civil disobedience, if their demands were not met. Neither were the Pro-RH guys the ones guilty of a conceited self-entitlement that made them think that their belief over sexuality is the only rule to follow, or that separation of church and state only happens to other people.
But looking it another way, I guess Palma might have a point: A lot of guys on our side are ‘da bomb! (Sue me, I’ve been waiting to say that for a week XC).
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The Dirty word: Tsunami
Who said it: Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.
“Let us not only walk for life. Let us, without cease and without fear, stand, fight, work and pray for life … For today, there are forces that threaten the right to life itself, especially the right of the Unborn,” Davide, a KC member, said in a statement.
“The threats to life caused by earthquakes or tsunamis, or even nuclear radiation, and terrorism and war pale in comparison to the destruction of life or the threat to life by state policies or legislation,” he added.
To put his statement in context, at the time Japan was still reeling from the effects of massive tsunami that struck the Fukushima prefecture, which resulted in billions of dollars of damages, and tens of thousands of deaths.
And at a time when the world was rightfully grieving for those who died and sending whatever aid they could, Davide just couldn’t resist feeding off the victims’ suffering just to fuel his few minutes of fame.
And speaking of shameless ghouls…
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The Dirty Word: Martial Law
Who said it: Lito Atienza
Former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said yesterday that the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill is “worse than Martial Law,” reports PhilStar.com. According to the report, Atienza claimed that people who will not practice contraception use stand to be jailed from one to six months.
Calling the RH Bill “unconstitutional” and “anti-life,” Atienza added that congressmen who support the passage of the bill would expect an extra P10 million, which he calls their “condom development fund,” to be added to their pork barrel.
Strong words from a man who banned contraceptives in Manila back in 1998, in an attempt to distract the populace from his atrocious choice in floral-pattern shirts. Rounding out his retinue is the blasting of gay marriages alongside the issue of the RH Bill, and banning The Da Vinci Code film in Manila not because it bored viewers to tears (Sorry Tom Hanks – we still love you), but because he genuinely thought it might damage his Catholic Faith.
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He has opposed the reproductive health code, saying it is a dictated and imperialist law that muddles women’s rights. He is also against the establishment of Ocean 9 Casino in Subic and the commissioning of the Bataan Nuclear Plant.
He has been an organizer of Kapatiran sa Pangkalahatang Kabutihan (KPK) as early as 1998 and worked for the Comelec accreditation of AKP in 2004. He was the lone winner of AKP in 2007 when the Party fielded 30 candidates for national and local positions.
The Dirty Word: New World Order
Who said it: bebarrs
Reproductive Health Bill is a conspiracy created in order to allegedly stop the ballooning population of Filipinos in the guise of addressing poverty issues that were apparently exaggerated by the New World Order in the Philippines.
The truth and purpose behind restraining the Filipino population via the approval of the Reproductive Health Bill, is nothing but to easily monitor and control the activities of each and every Filipino local and abroad and continue the New World Orders dominion over Philippine Politics, Media and Businesses.
Alright, I admit I cheated a bit here. Bukisa is hardly known on the web, and I have no idea who bebarrs really is. But c’mon – where else can you find an article that lumps together the UN, the Illuminati, the New World Order, and the RH bill into one grand conspiracy against the Filipino people? I’d cite Jose C. Sison over at Philstar, but even he hasn’t gone over the deep end. Yet.
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I’m talking about the latest Hitlerian, neo-fascist stunt of pro-Reproductive Health bill’s mindless mob composed of socialists and a collective of neo-mystics and neo-Nazis (the Filipino Freefarters) who protested and attempted to desecrate the gathering of anti-RH bill Catholics inside the Manila Cathedral.
I call their stupid, pathetic stunt “Hitlerian” because it simply parallels the evil strategy employed by Hitler and his followers before the Nazis’ rise to power: the use of subversion and provocative demonstrations to promote their statist agenda designed to fool the unthinking people. I call this pro-RH bill mob “socialists”, “neo-fascists”, “neo-Nazis”, and “neo-mystics” because of their rights-violating acts and their subversive intention to impose their will on others. Their rights-violating acts are the by-product of their utter stupidity and ignorance.
Of course, no list of this sort would be complete without our old friend, the dude who runs the Vincenton Post. I can’t honestly say anything that’s even half as entertaining as what he’s already said in there, so I leave our readers to enjoy his text.
Proof once again that the Catholic Church is a big, spineless bully: Attempting to play the victim when people start calling out their anti-gay bullshit.
People who criticise gay sexual relations for religious or moral reasons are increasingly being attacked and vilified for their views, a Vatican diplomat told the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said the Roman Catholic Church deeply believed that human sexuality was a gift reserved for married heterosexual couples. But those who express these views are faced with “a disturbing trend,” he said.
“People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behaviour between people of the same sex,” he told the current session of the Human Rights Council.
“When they express their moral beliefs or beliefs about human nature … they are stigmatised, and worse — they are vilified, and prosecuted.
“These attacks are violations of fundamental human rights and cannot be justified under any circumstances,” Tomasi said.
What pisses me off the most is that while this news report was written in the context of the church’s activities in Europe, it is also an issue I find close to home; One I literally found in my own backyard.
As you’ve seen in my previous article, the RCC has gone as far as attempting to indoctrinate innocent young minds with their brand of hatred, while their leaders have had the audacity to demand that matters such as women’s welfare should not be forced on their schools, because it would infringe on their religious “moral” teachings.
It’s a blatant double standard that’s become a signature of RCC apologists, and the more they try to play this game, the more I am convinced that these bigots deserve no respect.
They are, of course well within their rights to talk about their stance on homosexuality. But the same rules apply to us too. And while they may bitch and moan, they can’t invoke “blashpemy” or religious discrimination when we decide that enough is enough – at least not anymore – and actively call out these shameless motherfuckers for the cretins they are.
A few weeks ago, my sister was telling us about one of the more memorable presentations her class had in the Immaculate Conception Academy.
My sister is in high school, and for those of you who have never set foot in a Catholic school before, each school year includes a mandatory Christian Life Education (CLE) class or its equivalent, where students are taught the basics tenets of Catholic education.
Getting back on topic, sis narrated that one of the groups in class was asked to do a presentation on why homosexuality is wrong. To summarize the presentation’s points:
Homosexuality is a psychological problem.
Gays became that way because they experimented with what the media presents.
Gays shouldn’t be condemned for being what they are, as long as they don’t act upon it.
Gays should be pitied.
Homosexuality can be cured.
Gays only want to marry so they can have limes and lemons
Gay couples cannot be good parents
Marriage is only for straight couples
It’s not love unless it’s straight.
Granted there is plenty of data countering each of these points, but that’s not the reason I’m hunkered down in front of my laptop, and writing this short piece. My reason is simple: to illustrate the sort of “values formation” that a lot of these Catholic schools indoctrinate their students in.
It is an important point to raise, given that religious freedom is one of the more common arguments the Catholic Church uses against the Reproductive Health Bill.
That is, for their leaders, the RH Bill’s sex education program will teach people family planning methods not supported by their laws, namely contraceptive use. Practically any debate that starts up will begin with this argument from Pro-Lifers, who believe that anything contrary to the church’s teachings on sexuality is unacceptable, and is a breach of their right to teach.
And by extension, church leaders have also questioned the RH Bill with regard to how much authority it will leave with their own private schools. Recent discussions have gone in this direction, with Jesuits discussing the matter on whether Catholic schools should have the right to implement their own sex education curriculum, based on their religious beliefs.
The problem is, where does one draw the line on what Catholic schools – or schools owned by a religious institution for that matter – can teach their kids, when it’s become bleeding obvious that it’s become a platform for bigotry?
On a parting note, I do leave with some good news. My sister also told me that virtually everybody in the class thought the presentation was bullshit, and hence didn’t believe it. Perhaps it’s worth noting that sis has also mentioned that their entire class admitted to being Gleek.
For those not familiar with the term, a shotgun marriage is another term for forced marriages (though not necessarily under the business end of a gun). The term originated in the United States, and is used to describe marriages that are enacted not out of love, but due to an accidental pregnancy.
Regardless, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that shotgun marriages are not an ideal model for what a proper modern marriage should be like, where couples today are often united under a mutual declaration of love (Sue me – I’m a romantic).
But you’re probably asking: What am I doing talking about shotgun marriages, and what do they have to do with the matter of the Reproductive Health Bill? The Anti-RH side of the discussions have shown continually that they are more than willing to distort otherwise credible research, just so they can parade its data around as ammunition for their screeds. In today’s example, I’ll be tackling one of their more common statements used against RH, which goes something like this:
Wide contraceptive use leads to more premarital sex, more fatherless children, more single mothers, more poverty, more abortions; and also a decline of marriage, less domesticated men, more crimes, more social pathology and poverty, according to the studies of Nobel prize winner, George Akerlof. Many other studies reached the same conclusion.
At first glance, it sounds like a solid case. You’ve got a Nobel Prize Winner who appears to back up the Pro-Lifer’s claims that contraceptive use will lead to the destruction of the concept of the family, leading to general moral decay in society.
Or does it?
The study under discussion in this case is titled “An Analysis on Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States,” and a copy of its abstract can be found here.
This paper relates the erosion of the custom of shotgun marriage to the legalization of abortion and the increased availability of contraception to unmarried women in the United States. The decline in shotgun marriage accounts for a significant fraction of the increase in out-of-wedlock first births. Several models illustrate the analogy between women who do not adopt either birth control or abortion and the hand-loom weavers, both victims of changing technology. Mechanisms causing female immiseration are modeled and historically described. This technology-shock hypothesis is an alternative to welfare and job-shortage theories of the feminization of poverty. Copyright 1996, the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nowhere does the abstract say anything about “moral decay” in the family. What the abstract does say, however, is that there is a close link between the decrease of forced marriages with the prevalence of legal abortions and modern birth control.
On the matter of out-of-wedlock first births, Akerlof himself has stated in a separate article that this trend may be more of a case of the decreasing stigma against single mothers.
Before 1970, the stigma of unwed motherhood was so great that most women would only engage in sexual activity if it came with a promise of marriage in the event of pregnancy. Men were willing to make (and keep) that promise, for they knew that even if they left one woman, they would be unlikely to find another who would not make the same demand. In the 1970s, women who were willing to get an abortion, or who used contraception reliably, no longer found it necessary to condition sexual relations on a promise of marriage in the event of pregnancy. But women who found abortion unacceptable, or who were unreliable in their contraceptive use, found themselves pressured to participate in premarital sexual relations as well. These women feared, correctly, that if they refused sexual relations, they would risk losing their partners.
To be fair to the Pro-Lifers though, the prevalence of contraceptives did lead to an increase in the incidence of incidences of single-parent births and abortions; Akerlof coined the event as “Reproductive Technology Shock.”
But instead of going off on the Pro-Life rant about this being evidence of the decay of family values in the United States, Akerlof’s analysis indicates that the trend is going in the direction of women empowerment – women of the time realized that they did not need to be dependent on a partner to be survive, and were given the opportunity to have kids on their terms, as opposed to being forced to submit to the whims of their spouse.
But getting back on topic, while Akerlof cited that the increased access to birth control contributed to the increase of unmarried (Note: NOT unwanted) births and abortions, enacting restrictions on women at this point of time – as most Pro-Lifers have asserted time and time again – are counterproductive. Quoting Akerlof’s exact statement:
What should be done? Even if possible, attempts to turn back the technological clock by restricting abortion and contraception would now be counterproductive. Besides denying reproductive freedom to women, such efforts would increase the number of children born and reared in impoverished single-parent families. Most children born out of wedlock are reported by their mothers to have been “wanted,” but “not at that time.” Some are reported as not having been wanted at all. Easier access to birth-control information and devices and to abortion could reduce the number of unwanted children and improve the timing of those whose mothers would have preferred to wait.
Straight from the horse’s mouth.
It is because of cases like this, where an uncscrupulous opponent of reproductive health resorts to misrepresenting the statements of an otherwise credible researcher to hoodwink people who don’t know any better, that we have to remember to be vigilant in our efforts. This is not the first time I’ve caught them lying through their teeth, and it certainly won’t be the last.
And from this same case, we can also see the Pro-Life side’s poorly veiled misogyny, and their contempt for family concept outside that of their ideal. Back in 2009, The Philippines Government had signed the Magna Carta for women into law.
Among other tenets, this Magna Carta secured several rights for pregnant women, one being their right not to be expelled due to their condition:
Expulsion and non-readmission of women faculty due to pregnancy outside of marriage shall be outlawed. No primary or secondary school shall turn out or refuse admission to a female student solely on account of her having contracted pregnancy outside of marriage during her term in school
The CBCP, being the organization that it is, howled in protest over the new law, saying that the it was an invasive of the religious freedom of Catholic schools, which made pregnancy a punishable offense.
Women’s welfare and empowerment seen as a threat to male authority. Gnashing of teeth for perceived enroachment of “religious rights.” Demonization of single parents as being less than the ideal.
He also maintains a blog, wherein he periodically writes about his stance against the Reproductive Health bill, and where in he attempts to justify his opposition with data.
Manny’s article basically states this: A recent article states that the Philippine Government is planning to drastically cut the amount of rice it will be importing this 2011. According to National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Angelito Banayo, this was done because the gov’t already had a large surplus of rice accumulated in past years.
By Manny’s reasoning, this surplus translates to there being no food crisis among Filipino families; ergo, the issue of overpopulation is a boogeyman that the cabal of Pro-RH heathens (myself included) conjured up to scare the populace into supporting our agenda.
While he did get it right that past shortages are due to rice hoarders and rampant government corruption, Manny’s assertion that surplus = no overpopulation doesn’t hold much of a grain of truth; More so when one looks at other related studies.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Washington D.C. reports that while the number of pinoys suffering from starvation has decreased over the past few decades, a good portion of RP’s population still suffer from lack of food.
Getting into specifics, the IFPRI’s Global Hunger Index (GHI) updated the score given to the Philippines from 19 in the 1990s, to 13 in their latest report. Here’s a lowdown of how those numbers are rated:
Less than 5 :Low Hunger Level
5 – 9.9 :Moderate hunger
10 – 19.9 : A serious problem
20 – 29.9: Alarming
30 and above :Extremely Alarming
You don’t need a degree in statistics to understand that while less pinoys are going hungry today than they did before, starvation remains a serious problem, whether or not our gov’t decided to cut down on rice imports.
What makes these figures especially disturbing is that a large percentage of those going hungry are our youth. A recent joint study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that from the time period from 2003 to 2006, approximately 12.8 million Filipino children below the age of 15 live in poverty, with 5.4 million of them being deprived at one point of one of their three basic necessities to life: Food, Water, and Sanitation.
Chronic malnutrition begins in infancy, the study suggested, with more than eight in 10 Philippine toddlers aged between six months and five years not eating enough to meet the recommended daily energy and nutrient intake.
Acute malnutrition, which reflects more recent setbacks such as illness or failing to eat properly over the past week, stood at 25.6 percent in 2008 among school children, up from 22.8 percent in 2005.
Aside from affecting their health, a related study by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) indicates that poverty prevents these children from receiving a proper education.
“An assessment of the situation points to poverty as the main cause of this lower-than-expected increase. This is further exacerbated by the high cost of schooling-related expenditures. High school students seeking employment to augment family income also contributed to the low increase in enrollment,” the NEDA report stated.
The Department of Education admitted that the country’s “volatile economic situation” is preventing children from going to school. Even with the “zero tuition” offer of the government, poor families are hindered by lack of employment, hunger and malnutrition, among other problems.
“Time and again parents have complained of financial obstacles,” said Kenneth Tirado, communications officer of DepEd.
I’ll concede that perhaps Manny is right – the overpopulation isn’t the issue.
Given the data I’ve managed to dig up however, the problem seems to be more of our inability to provide basic necessities for the population we already have.
It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to understand that most of the families these kids belong to would prefer to limit the children they have to a manageable number, to enable them to provide all of them with enough food to secure their physical well-being, and to properly fund their schooling to secure their mental well-being.
Manny Amador calls people like me doomsayers for going through the trouble of researching the sobering data I have provided here; I prefer to call it a rude awakening.
* And that wraps up Part 1 of my rebuttal for Mr. Amador. Join me again next week as I prepare a new piece to counter the second-half of his writings.
While I don’t mind people openly stating their opposition for the RH Bill, it strikes a raw nerve in me when these people attempt to prove their point by distorting data, fear-mongering, and strawman attacks.
Most of these guys are usually ripped a new one within a few comments, but there are the occasional special cases. These are the guys who just don’t know when to quit, even when they’re backed up against a wall, and openly admit they have no solid facts to back up their case.
People like Timothy, a commenter who took up residence at an FF article covering some of the crazier shit that was said by the Pro-Life camp at a recent Reproductive Health forum.
The long story short: Timothy pretended to be curious about some of the details of the RH Bill with regard for its policies on contraceptives. Then he eventually let slip in his writing and tone that he was another Anti-RH apologist who wasn’t so much concerned about seeking the facts than about distorting them to suit his needs.
We had a rather long (and in my case, furious) exchange in the comment logs, and while I thought that was the end of it, fellow resident innerminds got a good look at the material, realized it merited an article all its own, and convinced me to lay off the Dead Space 2, and Monster Hunter Portable 3rd combi-marathon long enough to make it so.
What you are about to read is my exchange with Timothy – I’ve some of the juicier snippets of his original comments in quote blocks – followed by my rebuttals to each of them.
Of course, you’re also welcome to read the original exchange at the article itself, in case you think I’m just demonizing the guy or that I’m leaving out the best parts. And without further ado, join me in my descent into madness:
Even if we use condoms/contraceptives correctly there is still a risk, yes, the risk is signifcantly lowered but a risk nonetheless. It is already a scientific fact the contraception routinely fail at statistically signinifcant rates, in the US 54% of the women who have had abortions were using contraceptives
If we make contraceptives widely accessible we might address some of the problems as mentioned by the proponents of the bill, but it’s also possbile that this would result in greater sexual activity and because contraception fails so consistently there would be more “unwanted” pregnancies which later lead to a demand for abortions
And if you cared to read the rest of the RH bill, you’d also see that a good portion of it aims to educate women in responsible contraceptive use, which means teaching them the risks that go with each method they plan to use.
You’re only telling half the story by claiming that Reproductive Health is only about making contraceptives widely available – that is only part of the solution. The rest of it involves educating people.
The reality you also fail to understand is that regardless of abortions being illegal, they are still happening. According to the locally done study Forsaken Lives, at least 560,000 illegal abortions occur in the Philippines each year, with women falling prey the practices of unlicensed, unregulated clinics. And it is because of these often unsafe conditions that 90,000 of these women will suffer complications, with a further 1,000 dying every year.
And quite frankly, while I’d rather not see abortions happen – nobody does – I still think it makes far more sense to at least have them done in properly sanctioned clinics and hospitals to ensure a far better chance of survival for the woman involved.
And furthermore, I suggest you take a good look at your own link – the Guttmacher’s study also indicated a long-term decline in abortions in the US when contraceptives became more prevalent, from a peak of 29.6 abortions for every sample population of 1,000 women, to just 19.6 in 2008.
I’m rather surprised you missed it, given that it’s right at the top of the link. This observation is further confirmed by related studies, as pointed out in one of FF’s previous articles.
But the point I was trying to make was that contraception fails, even if you are well educated on how to use them and considering that you use them properly, chances are that it will fail. Does it bother you that more than 50% of those who are seeking abortion are actually using contraceptives. How can you explain this?
As compared to what, NFP/Abstinence-only? I have already pointed out that the most probable alternative available has been a failure – just ask the Texasstate health department.
Reading further into your own figures, the Guttmacher paper indicates that of the 54 percent of the women who had an abortion despite their use of contraceptives, 76 percent were pill users who reported that they were inconsistent with with their use of contraceptive method. That point is further elaborated on here.
The rates in abortion has decreased or stalled for so many years and you attribute that to contraceptives but that is just your opinion probably substantiated by some research group or something.
It’s a fact substantiated by several research groups, including the Guttmacher Institute – whom you cited as well as IIRC – the American Medical Association, and various reproductive health organizations worldwide.
So yes, it is just “my” opinion; it just happens to be backed up by cold facts, which is more than I can say for your sad attempt to distort the data to serve you needs, and dropping it like a hot potato when you realize it’s not working in your favor.
A little word of advice – if you’re going to attempt poisoning the well, make sure you’re not drinking from it too.
So present me with that reliable source concluding that contraception was the reason for the decline in abortion rates because there are also equally reliable sources out there that say that evidences are inconclusive since for the past years pro-lifers have also been very aggressive in their campaign to educate people about the risks of abortion
I already have – four links in my previous replies in fact, and it’s not my problem if you haven’t read them.
One of our articles cited several credible studies indicating a long-term decline in abortions with the rise of RH education; and for the umpteenth time, before you mouth off on how I did not provide solid data,
As for your reliable sources for the Pro-Life case, you’re welcome to post them. Just be reminded that everybody already has a pretty good idea of how they operate:
*At this point, Timothy asked if we’d reconsider our stance if he presented evidence that contraceptives were counter-productive to lessening abortions. Innerminds and I agreed that we’d rethink our views when said facts were given, at which point Timothy just had to say this:
That’s good to hear, I believe it’s very important to have an open mind especially when it comes to issues like the RH bill
A little tip, cupcake – having an open mind is not the same as being gullible. Having trouble telling the difference? :3
But the thing here is….I cannot present you with any hard facts or conclusive evidence that will give you something to think about let alone reconsider your stand….but neither can you
You’re only half-right in this regard. I have posted several links since we started this discussion, including supplementary readings to the Guttmacher article you yourself linked to.
The FF articles I have also linked to in turn linked to several long-term studies analyzing the effects of contraceptive use in more than half a dozen countries; Studies that were conducted by medical professionals and health organizations based on the most accurate data they had at the time these studies were conducted.
But to humor you, here is a list of some of the studies that our article had reported on:
Is this the fabled hard evidence you claim our side did not provide?
As for your inability to provide for any evidence, I can only think of two reasons why you cannot:
There isn’t any on the web, or at least any that would hold water under scrutiny, or
You’re a puss-nutted, dimwitted twat who’s too fucking lazy to do a proper search.
As with most things in life, I think the truth is somewhere in between.
I came here, hoping I would come across something new, something more conclusive, unbiased data/argument/reasoning that will shed light on this matter but sadly the ones you have been using have either been disproven or challenged.
And once again you’re resorting to your self-righteous, pandering tone.
You did not come here to look for something new; You came here to try to hoodwink us into thinking you’re right, by distorting data from credible sources, and accusing us of not doing our research into matters.
You were caught lying, and now that we are rubbing your hypocrisy in your face, you’re trying to play the part of a sympathetic peacemaker who’s about to be martyred. That’s not going to fucking happen. Not on my fucking watch.
Give it up Timothy – the only thing here that is being disproven and challenged is your rhetoric.
You have yet to provide any data rebutting the information we have provided – you claim that the data has been disproven, then why not provide evidence that it has been, instead of bitching about us needing to be more open-minded.
Come to think of it if we did find a conclusive evidence we would not be having these arguments, but unfortunately we don’t have it yet, it is not as clear as black and white, not as certain as the sunrise, sadly, when it comes to these repductive health issues, we are all left on the gray area
I guess the answers or the facts we are looking for will not come in the form of data or statistics but on a more personal and experiential level. When we have seen our families crumble, our women degraded, treated as objects, our society disintigrate then maybe just maybe we would really have something to think about
*As you can imagine, this was the point at which I lost it, and decided to let this idiot have it. It did not help any that I recently received word that a close relative was dying of cancer. This was not a good time to piss me off.
Timothy, take a look at the newspaper, seriously.
Our society is disintegrating, our families are crumbling, our women are being degraded and treated as objects, and it’s all happening even before the appearance of an RH Bill.
We are not children to be spooked by your pathetic attempts at fear-mongering, insinuating that an RH program will somehow make us a moral quagmire
In the case of our women being degraded and objectified, I would go out on a limb and accuse the Pro-Life bloc of doing that with their bullshit, by trying to prevent women from gaining access to information and resources that will give them a fighting chance in living happy lives.
And again, it is only with an open mind, a pure heart one that is not clouded with hate and prejudice but tempered with compassion and love for our nation that we could truly become a true Filipino Freethinker until then all we are doing here is nothing more than intellectual masturbation.
Timothy.
Fuck you. Seriously. You’re being a self-righteous gobshite.
You can wank off to your morality all day, but the fact is that you know nothing about us, and it pisses me off that you think you do. The reason we are so pissed off at people like you is exactly because we care for these women.
We have grown tired of hearing one religious leader after another coming up with scapegoats for the ills of society, and refusing to accept progressive measures of effectively solving the problem.
We are tired of watching our women suffer and die needlessly to birth and illegal abortion complications, as these so-called moralists stonewall any meaningful attempts to help our women, just so they can get a moral hard-on.
We are angry because we are tired of watching people die at the feet of your so-called love and concern for our women. We love our women, and that’s exactly why we hate liars like you, when you try to take away their rights under the guise of “morally” uplifting them.
If there is anybody here who shows prejudice, it is you, Timothy. I have already cited my sources several times, and yet somehow, you failed to read them or at least try to debate them head-on. You instead pretend they do not exist.
You don’t get to tell us about compassion, purity of heart, or whatnot, you stinking, fucking Hypocrite.
Now in case it hasn’t sunk in yet, I don’t like you
but none of us is like that, pure of heart that is; we are all comiung from a certain perspective, from a particular hurtful, bitter or nurturing experience that have greatly influenced our way of thinking. It’s hard to breakfree from these touchstone experiences, the most that we could do is be aware of our issues and don’t let them get the best of our reasoning capacities.
And that is why we study on the issue exhaustively – reading and sharing links to studies that will help us find the truth of the matter. We are quite aware of the issue at hand.
I am praying for you, actually a lot of people are praying for people like you, for the Lord to touch your heart and heal you from your hurtful experiences, hope that gives you some conselation.
And that’s your problem right there – you seem to spend so much time praying, when it could be better spent for other things, such as looking for credible evidence to counter my argument.
Remember the old adage: “Nasa Diyos and awa, nasa tao ang gawa.”
I know it will only be a matter of time befor this bill is passed so all we could really do now is pray and hope for a miracle that our dear congressmen/women/senators and most especially our beloived president would have a change of heart.
You mean they’d suddenly wake up one morning and just collectively tell the CBCP to shut the fuck up, and let the state do its job? I look forward to that day too
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26
Ah, let me quote my favorite good book as well:
But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless, and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape…we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality. – Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
And our exchange ended there – Timothy has yet to reply.
Instead of burying it into the darker recesses of memory, I thought it would be of much better use to the Filipino Freethinker community to metaphorically mount this sad face of Anti-RH rhetoric and stupidity on a stake, and display it as a message to all wannabe apologists: We know how you work, and we will fight you at every turn, destroying every lie you fabricate to push your agenda.
On a parting note, I also pass on this quote I’ve picked up from my favorite film – I do hope many of you will draw as much insight from it as I have. Use it as much as you wish should you ever run into anybody that sounds like Timothy.
Yo Red! How about having this as the official Filipino Freethinker uniform?
A couple of months ago, I wrote a rebuttal article to Minyong Ordoñez, a certain fellow who wrote a comment to the Philippine Daily Inquirer likening the Reproductive Health Bill to throwing babies into trash bins.
Now while you’re still wrapping your head around how one eventually leads to the other (it doesn’t), Ordonez has written another post for the PDIand Manila Times.
This latest post discussed the recent speech of Archbishop Socrates Villegas regarding the need for universities to produce saints and his admonition that Catholics today revere angels before priests.
But while the main body of Ordonez’s commentary alone makes for a target-rich environment, it’s this particular rocket that grabbed my attention:
Ordonez’s portrayal of New Atheism, as he sources the Eternal Word Television Network:
In a recent telecast of EWTN, a concept called “The New Atheism” was discussed as the prevalent lifestyle among the student population in American universities. New atheism is not a vociferous and fiery activism like the isms of the rowdy 1960s and 1970s. Instead it is an accepted fact, a quiet mindset that one is free to do anything or live a life free from moral constraint, as long as one is comfortable with his opinion and respectful of others.
Like most deviations from norms and values which are religion inspired, new atheism devalues and promotes the eventual collapse of the family. When families break up, social diseases spread widely across the urban landscape: teen suicide, teen prostitution, drug addiction, alcoholism, melancholia, kleptomania, vagrancy, and street crimes. Deterioration of civil society shows in police blotters, city jails, psychiatric couches, morgues and cemeteries.
Where to begin? For starters, Mr. Ordonez, a quick definition of New Atheism.
New Atheism, at least according to my understanding (and copious amounts of Google searches), is the media brand for a recent string of high profile authors and bloggers that includes Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett, Victor J. Stenger, Christopher Hitchens, and PZ Myers.
The New Atheism movement is defined by its scientific approach to tackling the matter of religion, especially in Dawkins’ case—particularly, that God, like any other hypothesis, can be proven or disproven given sufficient study and research.
And if you happen to follow Myers on his Pharyngula blog, it’s also a very vocal and aggressive movement, actively calling out the various supernatural claims and doctrines that have long been held by the religious, moreso if they promote prejudice and needless discrimination against our fellow human being.
New Atheism is comprised of people who have had enough of the falsehood and harm that have been inflicted on people in the name of faith. They have decided to speak up, and directly confront the assertions made by religious organizations, using hard facts to prove them wrong.
Now that we’ve got a basic sense of New Atheism, we’ll move on to the main event:
In a recent telecast of EWTN, a concept called “The New Atheism” was discussed as the prevalent lifestyle among the student population in American universities. New atheism is not a vociferous and fiery activism like the isms of the rowdy 1960s and 1970s. Instead it is an accepted fact, a quiet mindset that one is free to do anything or live a life free from moral constraint, as long as one is comfortable with his opinion and respectful of others.
And here Ordonez gets New Atheism wrong right off the bat.
New Atheism is not about doing what one wants free of moral constraints. It is simply about being vocal about one’s lack of belief in a god. It is non sequitur to assume that since one does not have a deity to worship, one is suddenly devoid of all moral constraints.
“Atheism = No Morals” is a common fallacy consistently drawn up by apologists like Ordonez and his ilk. This is based on their assumption that because atheists don’t believe in a god, the theist’s supreme source of morality, atheists are not moral.
I can’t speak for all atheists (I’m a Deist myself), but from what I have seen, the atheist community does have a multitude of personal reasons and motivations for having their own moral compasses. The more astute ones refer to secular humanism as their guide. Secular humanism is an ideology that espouses reason, ethics, and the search for human fulfillment as its primary goals. The Humanist Manifesto does a good job of summing up this mindset.
Atheists are not necessarily devoid of morals. Given their lack of belief in a god (or gods), the atheists I have met bear more culpability for their own actions, not relegating it to the tired scapegoat of “[Insert Deity’s Name Here] made me do it!”
But to humor Ordonez, yes, atheists do not adhere to the Catholic faith—at least, his idea of what it means to be Catholic – idea of what is “moral”, and I think that’s a good thing, as we pursue Ordonez’s next statement:
Like most deviations from norms and values which are religion inspired, new atheism devalues and promotes the eventual collapse of the family.
And once again, I’m still wondering where Ordonez found his data to make this assertion (If you do find it, send us a copy).
If there is anything inherently “family breaking” about being an atheist, it’s having to live in a traditional religious family that still adheres to the sort of cooked up boogeymen that people like Ordonez fabricate.
The sort of communities that will not hesitate to ostracize family members not because they’re criminals, but simply for believing in one god less. It’s a dilemma that the atheist community shares with the LGBT community (whom we are close allies with btw).
What we can learn after peering closer into Ordonez’s assertion, however, is that most atheists on the net are against the idea of having to break up families, unless this really is the only way to mend hostilities between member with different beliefs. One classic example being Richard Wade over at the Friendly Atheist Blog.
Richard has a regular series called “Ask Richard,” where he answers letters regarding people whose non-belief have put them under extensive friction with their religious loved ones. Some of these letters are simply seeking advise on whether it’s worth it for atheist couples to send their kids to a religious school.
The more serious cases involve families whose ties have been broken because a sibling, spouse, child, or parent has expressed their atheism at one point.
While Richard encourages the letter’s writers to stay honest with their non-belief, he consistently and painstakingly advises them to avoid confrontation if possible, always encouraging them to resolve the matters diplomatically and tactfully so as not to disrupt the family’s bond, while at the same time advising them to look for support from fellow atheists within their area.
If there is anything anti-family in the “Ask Richard” segments, it’s in the form of uncompromising fathers, mothers, siblings, and spouses whose dogma pushes them to drive away a loved one just because of a difference in personal belief.
And speaking of anti-family, Ordonez would do well to look back at his own church. The RCC has been rife with controversy over the past few years, owing greatly to bigotry against LGBT community. Pope Ratzinger himself has been very vocal about his opposition to the LGBT community. Last January, Ratzinger declared that homosexuality was a threat to creation.
And one didn’t have to be a homosexual to suffer their dogma either, as one unfortunate schoolgirl found as she was expelled from her school. The student’s crime? Her parents were lesbian. Sins of the father (or is it mothers) indeed.
If the church booting out hapless women from is institutions sounds like familiar territory for the Philippines, then it probably is, if you happen to have followed the passing of the Magna Carta for Women last year.
Among its tenets, the Magna Carta sought to remove discrimination against working women, namely using pregnancy as grounds for expulsion and job termination. It was a move that was opposed by the CBCP, which invoked its right to teach its own religious morals to its students.
Because as we all know, nothing teaches a woman the Catholic virtues of love and compassion better than kicking them out into the pavement, with no steady income or education, with a child on the way. And despite this, Ordonez insists that it’s New Atheism that’s responsible for breaking up families?
When families break up, social diseases spread widely across the urban landscape: teen suicide, teen prostitution, drug addiction, alcoholism, melancholia, kleptomania, vagrancy, and street crimes. Deterioration of civil society shows in police blotters, city jails, psychiatric couches, morgues and cemeteries.
And yet another claim that seems to be heavy on rhetoric, but sorely lacking in proof. Evidence to the contrary, on the other hand, is quite plentiful, and I won’t even have to explain them – you can read snippets from the news reports themselves:
______________________________________________ Teen Suicide and Melancholia
Two out of three Americans believe gay people commit suicide at least partly because of messages coming out of churches and other places of worship, a survey released Thursday found.
More than four out of 10 Americans say the message coming out of churches about gay people is negative, and about the same number say those messages contribute “a lot” to negative perceptions of gay and lesbian people.
Catholics were the most critical of their own churches’ messages on homosexuality, while white evangelical Christians gave their churches the highest grades, the survey found.
The Public Religion Research Institute asked 1,017 Americans their views on religion and homosexuality between October 14 and 17, in the wake of a highly publicized rash of suicides by gay people.
Gay rights campaigner Dan Savage said the idea that churches send out an anti-gay message “totally jibes with my experience and that of millions of other gay and lesbian people.”
THE Roman Catholic Church has secretly paid thousands of pounds in “hush money” to dozens of Britons who were sexually abused by priests.
The disclosure will come as a further embarrassment to the Catholic Church in England and Wales and to its spiritual leader, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to paedophile priests when he was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton.
One of them, Father Michael Hill, was jailed in 1997 for a string of sex offences and will be sentenced tomorrow after admitting further charges of indecent assault on three boys. Several of the compensation payments — which were made on condition that the victims did not talk about them — went to people abused by Hill and Cardinal Murphy- O’Connor is said to have been aware of them.
PORTLAND – A social service agency’s support for same-sex marriage has cost it local and national funding from the Catholic Church’s anti-poverty program.
Preble Street’s Homeless Voices for Justice program has lost $17,400 this year and will lose $33,000 that it expected for its next fiscal year.
Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Washington-based Catholic Campaign for Human Development say that Preble Street violated its grant agreement by supporting Maine’s “No on 1″ campaign last fall.
No on 1 opposed a ballot proposal to overturn the new state law legalizing gay marriage. Voters approved Question 1 on Nov. 3.
Homeless Voices for Justice, a statewide advocacy group, is led by people who have been homeless. It works on issues that affect the homeless, such as supporting affordable housing and preventing violence against the homeless.
Portland-based Preble Street, which runs a dozen programs to provide housing and other services for the poor and the homeless, provides staff support for Homeless Voices for Justice.
Catholics for Marriage Equality has begun an effort to replace the lost funding by raising $17,400 for Homeless Voices for Justice. Anne Underwood, a co-founder of the group that advocates for same-sex marriage, said Bishop Richard Malone is punishing the homeless because of politics.
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These are just among the many examples of the sort of damage the RCC has done in the name of trying to enforce its teachings.
To any Catholic who happens to be reading this: You are most probably honest, decent folks who truly believe in doing good for your fellow men, which makes me wonder how you can honestly stomach having to follow the directions and morals of a group that would willingly forsake a human being’s dignity and rights just to protect its status quo and reputation.
And with that, I’ll be leaving you guys to take the time to read through the links I’ve posted over this unexpectedly long piece. Red has convinced me to send a copy of this link to the PDI as a rebuttal letter to Ordonez, so just stay posted in case I have any updates.
Now I’m off to bag me some Deathclaws in the Mojave Wasteland…
You will probably remember the case of Baby George, a newborn infant who was found in a trash can that was being removed from a landed airliner in NAIA last September 13. It shocked the Philippine community, drawing equal amounts of outrage and compassion.
Outrage for anybody who would be so cold-hearted as to abandon a child in a trash bin, and compassion for Baby George (named after Gulf Air’s initials), who’s found no shortage of those willing to bring him into a kind, loving home.
Baby George is alive and well presently, and in the care of DSWD. While I wish I could say that this is the end of this story, that is not the case. Not when somebody decides to send a letter to the local papers, and tries to capitalize on the incident with hastily drawn generalizations, and shoddy attempts at trying to pin the blame on those who are in support of a reproductive health program in the Philippines.
Most of you in the forums know that I’m not one to mince words. If I don’t like somebody, I say it point-blank, and often with copious amounts foul language that would make a drill sergeant curl his toes. However, most of you also know that I don’t normally resort to carpet F-bombings in, at least not unless my opponent has proven themselves to be utterly devoid of common sense, or really, really get on my nerves.
More than just a counter-attack, this article will serve as a reference for some of the more relevant documents and studies that you, the readers, should know about with regard to the Reproductive Health Bill.
Without further ado – and before I get sidetracked by the hotter posts (Damn you, Noy and Celdran!/sarcasm) – I present the letter, and my rebuttal to its key points:
Aha! Compassion is alive and kicking!
…Except for the mentally imbalanced woman who didn’t think twice about tossing poor George into the rubbish bin, or opportunistic blowhard(s) who’d use a defenseless, motherless, child to take potshots at pro-choice advocates.
The difference being that the women was troubled, distraught, clearly not in a proper state of mind, and clearly needs help. Ordonez, on the other hand, is talking within normal parameters. What’s his excuse?
But didn’t SWS surveys show that unwanted pregnancies abound and that contraceptives and abortions have high approval scores?
Surely he isn’t talking about this SWS survey, right? In 2008, the Social Weather Station found that out of 1,500 respondents, 68% agreed to the distribution of legal contraceptives such as condoms, Intrauterine devices (IUDs), and pills to the public.
The RH Bill itself has been very explicit in explaining that one of its primary goals is the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, and by connection, abortions. For the benefit of those who haven’t read the bill yet (and really, you should), here is the Section in question:
SEC. 3. Guiding Principles. – This Act declares the following as basic guiding principles:
m. While nothing in this Act changes the law on abortion, as abortion remains a crime and is punishable, the government shall ensure that women seeking care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner.
As for Ordonez’ assertion that there has been a very high approval rating for abortions, well I’m still looking for that SWS survey he claims exists. I’d ask him where this copy is, but seeing that I’m no colorectal surgeon, we’ll move on.
The baby Georges of this world, creatures of unwanted pregnancies, say birth control plotters, are the big obstacles to the growth of our economy.
No. That’s an oversimplification of the problem of poverty in the Philippines.
It’s a multi-headed beast, and is caused by several factors, including severe corruption, poor discipline among both citizens and civil servants, a crumbling and neglected educational system, and lack of law and order; That’s an off-the-cuffs summary of course, and elaborating on each bit would probably take several articles.
On the family level, the pro-choicers I know generally agree that encouraging families to have children within their means often leads to them having more disposable income for essentials such as food, shelter, and education.
While it’s true that population growth impacts economic growth, my point is that there are several factors that serve as obstacles to the overall economic growth of the the Philippines, one of them being a wanton lack of regard for how many mouths a family should learn how to feed.
Trying to accuse Pro-RH people of being so shortsighted as to to think that family planning is a cure-all is being dishonest.
And really Ordonez, did you just call babies “creatures” ?
What SWS surveys don’t tell us (SWS didn’t survey the matter of guilt, trauma and remorse of women who together with the abortionists commit the dastardly act of infanticide) is that compassion is an inherent value and a strong characteristic in a human being when confronting the tragic in a fellow human being.
I find it ironic that Ordonez would ramble on about compassion, seeing as how he has no qualms about blaming women – who himself rightly states are experiencing severe guilt, trauma and remorse – of being murderers.
This is quite a common tactic among the more rabid examples of self-proclaimed pro-lifers. Just when the woman concerned needs emotional support and counseling the most, these vulture don’t have any qualms about swooping in to tear their already fragile condition apart just so they can feed their bloated, self-righeous egos. An ego, I might add, that has no qualms about murdering human beings in cold blood.
Actually, scratch that, it’s insulting. Vultures actually serve a vital role in nature’s web of life.
Shouldn’t the Reproductive Health bill pushers (attention: Rep. Edcel Lagman) brandish an actual case of unwanted pregnancy and declare baby George as a big obstacle to the growth of our economy?
Not really, and I don’t think I’ve seen any pro-choice (barring trolls) advocates even thinking of having baby George killed because we think he’s some sort of “hindrance.”
He’s a full-born human being, a life that deserves as much rights and protection as everybody else since the moment he’s left the womb. We’re all happy that so many people – despite how bad our economy is – are more than willing to give George a loving home. It’s a glimmer of hope in such dismal times.
What we do support, however, is a widespread education program that enables a woman to have the choice to raise child on her terms, at a time when she’s fully prepared for the journey to motherhood. You give women the opportunity and knowledge they need to prepare themselves, and situations such as George’s predicament are far less likely to happen.
The only guy I see here even thinking of murdering a child to push an agenda is Ordonez himself.
Shouldn’t the RH bill pushers come to the rescue of baby George’s mother and defend her human right to dump her baby in a garbage bin till he dies black and blue?
Once again, Ordonez is the only one who’s even suggesting this course of action. It’s getting rather creepy…
SWS (attention: Mahar Mangahas) should do an in-depth survey on unwanted pregnancies. We deserve to know the mental and spiritual health of pregnant women, unwanted or wanted. We want to know the real barometer of the Filipino women’s compassion toward the existence and maintenance of life, tragic or triumphant.
He is right – you can’t trust a quick survey group like the SWS to conduct something as in-depth and sensitive as interviewing women who endure the psychological trauma of having to endure an abortion.
Such a topic is best left to specialist groups such as the Center for Reproductive Rights, which did invest the time and money necessary to compile such a report, titled Forsaken Lives (you can grab a full PDF copy and summary here)
The results of the study are damning. Instead of curbing the problem, outlawing abortion has only driven the industry underground, away from properly monitored public health standards and into the hands of unscrupulous doctors, and others of dubious origins with ready access to Recto’s various diploma mills.
Juxtapose this with Ordonez’s following statement:
After all, to love and to make sacrifices in sustaining life are an individual decision, not a law enforced by the state.
Pure irony. The whole point of the RH Bill as a means of giving people a more informed choice in the first place is lost on him.
The latest news is that baby George’s mother has been found by the NBI and that she’s remorseful, wants to see baby George, and nurse him back to life (maternal instinct).
Good for mother’s change of heart then, and for the NBI.
The problem however, is that Baby George’s predicament is not an isolated case, and is in fact just one of the more prominent incidents in a very disturbing trend. According to the DSWD, up to a hundred 100 children are abandoned and turned over to their offices every two months.
“We hear news everyday about babies being abandoned in churches, garbage dumps and the streets,” says Senator Pia Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations. “In many cases, parents are forced by extreme poverty to give up their child for adoption. There are also instances where young mothers who are unprepared for parenthood simply abandon their baby in the hospital after giving birth.”
And remember that these are only the children who have been officially reported by the DSWD. . How many more out there have been yet to be found, left to die because their parents cannot provide for them, and some people are simply too bull-headed to see the problem even if it’s dangling in front of them.
She’s not a zombie after all. And who knows, someday, baby George may become the president of the Philippines.
Um, no, she was never one to begin with. And I think you just insulted her by implying she was one.
And the baby could turn out to be anybody, depending on an innumerable number of factors that will have a lasting effect on their life path. Becoming the president is only one of several possibilities, and is as likely to happen as George becoming a teacher, an astronaut, a drug lord, or a porn star.
On a parting note, I’d like to make a shout out to Columnist Mr. Bobi Tiglao, specifically for mentioning the document regarding population growth and the economy during his recent column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
He was also responsible for a couple of previous columns that shed light on the church sex abuse cases, and the rise of the skeptic’s movement, so if you have time to visit PDI’s website, email him a couple of thank-you letter to help counteract the hatemail he’s been swamped with following the publishing of those articles.
Greetings, denizens of the Filipino Freethinkers. I have added this new post to announce that a handful of our fellow members have been appointed by admin to be blog editors.
There hasn’t been an official announcement yet – Red’s been pretty busy lately- but I’ve been given the green light to go public with this news.
Aside from me, there are seven more members who have been promoted to editor – I had originally intended to announce their names in this post, but I figured it be best if they made the announcement for themselves. As editors, our responsibility will include the management of any new posts that are being submitted to the blog’s front page for proofreading.
Just so you don’t get the wrong idea and think we’re some sort of thought police, I should clarify that the role of an editor (at least to my understanding) isn’t to stifle or to censor your works. The Filipino Freethinkers blog stands for the free exchanging of ideas after all, and to be frank, a lot of our you guys submit some truly interesting posts.
Regardless of their style, theme, or topic, and whether we agree or disagree with them, your articles share the common thread that they invoke critical thinking. They challenge us to rethink our own perspectives, and force us (intellectually speaking) to always be on our toes, never giving in to complacency or conformism.
But let’s face it – ever so occasionally, in the heat of the passion of creating our next article, even the best of us mistakes. It’s nothing serious; perhaps a misplaced pronoun or two, or a dangling participle, or an abruptly cut off sentence, or maybe even a couple of misplaced commas or apostrophes.
And like a small blemish or wayward scratch, these seemingly small grammatical slips add up, and may distract some readers from the real gem that lies underneath them. And that is where the editors come in.
We’re not here to take anything away from the article. Quite the contrary, our job is to pick away at these blemishes and grime, adding a mirror polish to an already good read so it can be better appreciated by our visitors.
We may be ruthless grammar nazis, but we are your ruthless grammar nazis
Our job is to ensure that the author’s message is sent to the readers as clearly and as coherently as possible. To this end, we will try our damned best to clean up said articles without altering their content, or the writing style its author worked so hard to use as a voice.
The second (and quite admittedly, the more enjoyable) aspect of our job as editors is comment monitoring. Basically, we will also handle any spam troll or inappropriate comments found in the blog, and will deal with it accordingly.
Once again, this job isn’t something the editors can handle alone, and we encourage all readers to report any said spam or trolling to us (in my case, via PM at the forums). Please remember to enclose the name of said offender so we can more effectively zero in on comment, and to purge it with extreme prejudice.
Suffer not the troll to post!
As for the specifics, troll spams are basically posts that have nothing to do with the post, and are posted usually to advertise a product (porn sites, electronics shops, penis enlargement drugs, etc.).
Inappropriate comments are, if I were to use the FFF rules as a basis, include threats of violence, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic posts with the intention of offending other members.
Being a freethinker’s site, we welcome debates, but also understand that given the nature of our discussions, things can and will become heated in a very short amount of time. You’re welcome to attack the enemy’s argument – stab at its lack of structure, bludgeon its poor logic, or eviscerate its premise for its sheer insanity. Demand evidence and supporting data. That’s what critical thinking is all about after all.
On the other hand resorting to racial, sexual or cultural slurs or threats of violence is hitting below the belt. Anybody who resorts to these to attack their opponent will prompt us to call upon the Space Marine illustrated above to politely (but firmly) banhammer the living snot out of the poor sod.
That said, we will try to be fair with our moderation, and so long as you play by the rules, regardless of how disagreeable your assertion may be (and so long as you keep it civil), you have nothing to worry about.
It’s been a very sad week for most of us skeptics, given the recent updates that have been coming in regarding Christopher Hitchens’ condition. For those of you reading about this news for the first time, noted skeptical author Christopher Hitchens was recently diagnosed with oesophageal cancer during his book tour for Hitch-22 last June.
The cancer has since spread to his lymph nodes and lungs, and while we’re all remaining optimistic, we’re also being realistic, as is Hitchens, who’s taken the opportunity to lend his trademark rhetoric to contemplating his condition.
As for good news, Proposition 8 has recently been overturned in California. It may be a continent away, but I can only wish that the people in the Commission on Elections can take a cue from some of the sterner words that Judge Vaughn Walker, presiding judge over the case, had to say about Prop 8:
For the reasons stated in the sections that follow, the evidence presented at trial fatally undermines the premises underlying proponents’ proffered rationales for Proposition 8. An initiative measure adopted by the voters deserves great respect. The considered views and opinions of even the most highly qualified scholars and experts seldom outweigh the determinations of the voters. When challenged, however, the voters’ determinations must find at least some support in evidence. This is especially so when those determinations enact into law classifications of persons. Conjecture, speculation and fears are not enough.
Still less will the moral disapprobation of a group or class of citizens suffice,no matter how large the majority that shares that view. The evidence demonstrated beyond serious reckoning that Proposition 8 finds support only in such disapproval. As such, Proposition 8 is beyond the constitutional reach of the voters or their representatives.
Proposition 8 is a symbollic victory for gays in the sense that it has shown that a person’s core civil rights, as enshrined in the constitution, is not something that should be put up to a majority vote.
Speaking of gay news, Greta Christina has an hour-long speech at the recently concluded Secular Students Alliance conference in Ohio. The talk discusses what the atheist movement can learn from the LGBT when it comes to furthering our cause.
In any case, if you find any other interesting news for the week, make sure to post it at the News Thread.
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Iran’s Mahmoud survives IED attack blames the usual suspects (via Yahoo News) Link
Old men in dresses throw hissy fit over Israel gay pride march (via Huffington Post) Link
Sudan punishes suspected gay cross-dressers…with a public spanking? (via news.com.au) Link
Iran’s Ayatollah says music against Islamic Law. I blame you, Justin Bieber (Via Guardian) Link
Porn invades Indonesian parliament – personnel so shocked they let it play for 15 minutes before cutting the feed (via BBC) Link
California overturns Proposition 8 (Via Pam’s House Blend) Link
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