24 May 2013
Greek gov’t seeks military camp to serve as prison for state debtors
Gradually, Greece turns into the 21st century version of the dark and gloomy world of Charles Dickens: with households burning wood for heating, with workers working for nothing, … and to put the icing on the Greek cake, soon also with debtors’ prisons. What we reported in January, turns into reality: tax prisons! The government seeks a military camp to turn it into a prison for those unable to pay their debts: to tax office or social security funds, for example.
However, this prison conditions will not be as harsh as in the Marshalsea prison, where Willam Dorrit spent long time. Modern Greek imprisoned debtors, for owing the state more than 5,000 euro will “live in humane conditions,” as the ministry of Justice told members of the Parliament on Thursday.
“The state is seeking a military camp within the limits of Attica prefecture for the housing of state debtors charged with prison penalties, ” deputy Justice minister Kostas Karagounis told MPS adding that the special prison for debtors will improve their detention conditions that will be more humane.
Iran moves to legalize marriage for girls under 10 years old
When Saudi Arabia announced three months ago that girls as young as 10-years old would now be allowed to marry, Iran decided to drop the age limit even further.
Iranian Christian news service Mohabat News reports a member of the Iranian Parliament (Majiles) Mohammad Ali Isfenani, "we must regard 9 as being the appropriate age for a girl to have reached puberty and qualified to get married. To do otherwise would be to contradict and challenge Islamic Sharia law."
He argues,"Before the revolution girls under 16 were not allowed to marry. Parents determined to get around the law would often tamper with their daughter's birth certificate. Under the previous constitution, people were legally regarded as adults when they were 18. After the revolution the age at which children were regarded as going through puberty was lowered to 9 for girls and 15 for boys.
Mohabat News reports statistics that show over the past few weeks, over 75 female children under 10 were forced to marry much older men. And in nearly 4000 cases, both the bride and groom were under 14.
23 May 2013
What Would You Do?
In this segment, this examines how people will react when they see a jerk harass a waitress played by Carmen Carrera who used to be a man and denounces the waitress after finding out they are transgender. How will the people react when they see someone be insulted?
Atheists Rising: Wolf Blitzer Learns a Lesson
You’d think by now CNN would have learned to stop treating their assumptions and as truths. But when Wolf Blitzer made a casual comment Tuesday, it turned out to be a teachable moment both for the newsman and television viewers.
Speaking live to a survivor of the deadly tornado in Moore, Okla., Blitzer declared the woman “blessed,” her husband “blessed,” and her son “blessed.” He then asked, “You’ve gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?” But as she held her 18-month-old son, Rebecca Vitsmun politely replied, “I’m actually an atheist.” A flummoxed Blitzer quickly lobbed back, “You are. All right. But you made the right call,” and Vitsmun graciously offered him a lifeline. “We are here,” she said, “and I don’t blame anyone for thanking the Lord.” Nicely done, Rebecca Vitsmun.
One in five American adults – and a third of Americans under age 30 — now declare no religious affiliation. We are less religious now than at any other point in our history, and our secularism is rising at a rapid pace. Get used to it, Lord thankers.
22 May 2013
Dumbass
Song by Ai Weiwei
Translation:
Dumbass (Explicit Lyrics)
When you're ready to strike, he mumbles about non-violence.
When you pinch his ear, he says it's no cure for diarrhea.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life's invincible.
Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life's invincible.
Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass! Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass!
Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass! Oh dumbass, oh such dumbass!
Lalalalala, lalalalala Lalalalala, lalalalala
Lalalalala, lalalalala Lalalalala, lalalalala
Stand on the frontline like a dumbass, in a country that puts out like a hooker.
The field's full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.
The field's full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.
Fuck forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life's invincible.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
You say you're a mother-fucker, he claims he's invincible.
The field is full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.
The field's full of fuckers, dumbasses are everywhere.
Abuse of prison regulations against imprisoned human rights defender in Belarus
On 16 May 2013, the wife of Belarus human rights defender Mr Ales Bialiatski went to the Bobruysk colony No.2, where her husband has been held since February 2012, in order to bring him a food parcel. However, the food parcel was refused by prison officials, who informed her that in March 2013 Ales Bialiatski's right to receive food from visitors had been suspended for six months.
Ales Bialiatski is the Chairman of Human Rights Centre Viasna. On 24 November 2011, he was found guilty of tax evasion on a large scale by the Pervomayski District Court of Minsk following an unfair trial, and was condemned to four and a half years imprisonment as well as the confiscation of all property including belongings registered in the name of other persons. The court also fined the human rights defender 721 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 82,700 USD) for alleged unpaid taxes and 36 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 4,100 USD) for state costs.
This incident is not the fist time that disciplinary measures have been used against Ales Bialiatski. Between March and June 2012, he received three reprimands, one of which resulted in the loss of visitation rights. Following the three reprimands, in June 2012 the human rights defender was named a 'malicious disturber', which resulted in his exclusion from the 2012 amnesty for economic crimes.
More on Front Line and on Viasna
21 May 2013
Bizarre Video: Pope Performs "Exorcism"
Pope Francis appears to have been captured on video performing an exorcism in St Peter's Square.
British MP Attacks 'Aggressive Homosexuals'
Gay weddings moved a step closer on Monday evening after David Cameron was forced to accept Ed Miliband's help to defeat an attempt by backbench Tory MPs, who complained about the "aggressive homosexual community", to derail the legislation. Anti-gay marriage Conservatives had tabled an amendment to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill that, if passed, would have introduced civil partnerships for heterosexuals at the same time as gay marriage.
However the government had warned that to do so could cost up to £4bn and significantly delay the implementation of the entire bill. A vote in the Commons saw the amendment overwhelmingly defeated by 375 votes to 70. Pro-gay marriage campaigners cautioned MPs that the amendment, tabled by Tim Loughton, was a cynical attempt to kill the legislation rather than a genuine desire to allow straight couples to have civil partnerships in the interets of equality. On Monday morning it appeared as if Loughton and his colleagues would be successful after the Labour Party, which backs gay marriage, indicated it would vote with the Tory backbenchers to defeat the government and secure equal civil partnerships.
20 May 2013
Bilderberg Fringe Festival
Every year politicians, royalty and CEO’s meet in secret to discuss the fate of the world. This year, you are all invited! 2013 welcomes the first ever Bilderberg Fringe Festival. Taking place between 7th – 9th June in Watford, the festival is a unique, FREE event which will nurture dialogue and discourse about Bilderberg in a peaceful, fun environment – alongside a jam-packed weekend of speakers, comedy, music, workshops, arts and entertainment!
Seeking to stimulate hearts and minds and unite the politically conscious, the event will be a positive platform which harmonises fun with enlightened idea exchanges. The Bilderberg Fringe Festival is an unmissable occasion for conscious citizens from all over the world to join together and have a fantastic party. We are expressing our outrage at this travesty of democracy the only way we know how. By hula-hooping in the sunshine and dancing barefoot in the grass. Except where cows have been. Where Bilderberg is closed, dark and joyless, we are open, happy and free. They may have better spa facilities, but we have better chai.
The Bilderberg conference is an annual, unaccountable, off-the-record summit attended by royalty, politicians, intelligence, Big Pharma, tech, banking and corporate CEOs plus policy-makers and media moguls from all over the world. The press are not invited, nor given any details beyond a participant list and a sketchy agenda. The group was established in 1952. Their first conference took place in 1954, taking its name from the Hotel De Bilderberg which hosted the first meeting.
The group is run by a Steering Committee (which is the Bilderberg Group proper). The Bilderberg Group’s own website is incorrect as it maintains that the conference is the group’s only activity through-out the year, when in fact the 39-strong Steering Committee meets four times a year.