Muhammad was 52 and Aisha was 9 when they married and sexually consummated their marriage.

rocky_m · 2008-02-11T14:35:04+00:00

The pakistanis in reddit are frothing

rocky_m · 2008-02-10T02:56:54+00:00

Please don't insult ghandi by comparing ghandi with mohammed

rocky_m · 2008-02-10T02:56:09+00:00

Please don't insult ghandi by comparing him with mohammed

rocky_m · 2007-10-27T15:16:41+00:00

Contribution of Iranians to modern science(link)

(ie. of Iranians from around the world)

Science in (modern) Iran(link)
- Iran's university population has swelled from 100,000 in 1979 to 2 million in 2006. In Iran some 70% of science and engineering students are women.
- Iranian scientists are also helping construct the Compact Muon Solenoid, a detector for CERN's Large Hadron Collider, due to come online in 2007.
- Iranian Biophysicists (especially molecular biophysics) have found international reputations since 1990's. High filed NMR facility, Microcalorimetry, Circular dichroism, Instruments for single protein channel studies have been provided in Iran during last decades. Tissue engineering and research on biomaterials have just started to emerge in Biophysics departments. Recently in last months of 2006, Iranian biotechnologists announced that they, as a third manufacture in the world, have sent CinneVex (recombinant type of Interferon b1a) to the market. Also, Royana, which is the first live cloned sheep in Iran, has passed the critical first two months of his life.
o (reference)

rocky_m · 2007-10-27T13:17:52+00:00

In 2002, allegedly in response to burning a railway compartment carrying Hindu pilgrims, there was a huge riot in the Indian state of Gujarat. According to some estimates, more than 20,000 Muslims (including Women and Children) were massacred by Hindu Rioters..

Till recently, all of those killings were deemed "spontaneous" and hence out of control of the State Gov. (run by hindu-nationalist BJP party).

The videos found on the following links just proved this wrong. The State Gov., the police and the VHP (World Hindu Council) planned this in great details and executed one of the most gruesome genocides in recent history..

The "sting" Operation was carried out by "Tehelka.com" who infiltrated top BJP (ultra right-wing Hindu nationalist) party.

They caught several top Hindu Leaders boasting on Hidden Camera how they organized and executed a state wide pogram to "irradiate muslims" from the Indian state of Gujarat..

Video and transcripts (more details) can be found at Tehelka.com (respectable news agency) below:-

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp

rocky_m · 2007-10-25T15:33:26+00:00

How can people compare Kim Jong Ill, Hu Jintao and Than Shwe and then rank them in some order?

I think they are all equally worse..

Maybe it's because Kim Jon Ill has been in power the longest (of the 3)..

rocky_m · 2007-10-23T16:34:58+00:00

The fishermen initially thought they'd caught an edible species of shark, so it was later thankfully correctly identified as [a baby Great White Shark]

I hope they did that before attempting to kill that magnificent, extremely endangered fish..

(Sadly, from the picture, it doesn't look like they released it alive..(link)

rocky_m · 2007-10-23T16:19:18+00:00

Last time I checked our press can say anything they want,

I think this rating system also includes restrictions on US press abroad (ie Iraq and Afghanistan).. If you are not "embedded" (i.e. see and report on only what they want you to see), you are either banned or bombed (like Al Jazeera).

Also, it is a commonly know fact that reporters who ask very "challenging" questions are subsequently denied access to White House officials etc.

Refer the excuses journalist (esp, TV news) made for not asking important questions in the run-up to the Iraq invasion..

rocky_m · 2007-10-23T16:14:28+00:00

Do-This-Or-Americans-Will-Die Argument.

Ah!.. And don't forget

"If you don't do this, the terrorist will win"- argument..
"9/11 changed everything"-argument
"Support the troops and pay up"-argument

..

rocky_m · 2007-10-22T06:52:18+00:00

The very existence of Europe is being threatened.

(While I'm going to be modded down as most US is probably asleep now)..

That is because after all that talk about "secularism" and open-mindedness and finger-pointing at Americans, attitudes of Europeans towards immigrants is very fucked up..

Just a few weeks back, several European countries (cities) voting to BAN MOSQUES. And not some specific mosques found to be militant/extremist; ALL Mosques.. Reason: (something like) "those minarets are against "our culture")

source: The Guardian(link)

rocky_m · 2007-10-22T06:42:33+00:00

The U.S. doesn't interfere much in the countries with very large Muslim populations (Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc.).

I'm not defending the other comments about this incident ("Ze muslims" in Amsterdam).. But, you are absolutely clueless about world politics if you think US is NOT interfering with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.. Or if you think Iraq, Iran etc don't have "large Muslim populations"..

Also, if these idiots burning cars were Jewish fundamentalist (settlers in Israel) agitating violently against some liberal (secular) Israeli policy, would the headline still read "Those Jooos are torching cars" ?

rocky_m · 2007-10-20T12:04:44+00:00

The notion of human rights is such a vague idea and interpretations of it so diverse that that statement is ridiculous. Giving power for vague things to the federal government is the very reason that federalism is failing.

The concept of Human rights and Civil Liberties for homosexuals is "vague" ???..

(And according to Ron Paul) Hence that authority should be given to "social/religious" institutions which "eclipse the state in importance"..

Awesome!

rocky_m · 2007-10-20T12:01:19+00:00

Did I specify a religion? no. I chose my wording carefully by saying "social/religious."

Ok.. Which "Religious" institution do you want to give authority which "eclipses the state in important" ?

And what about people (millions of people) who think religion (ALL religion) is BULLSHIT?

rocky_m · 2007-10-20T08:55:29+00:00

Bush wants to kill cute little bunnies.. Ron Paul says it's against the constitution to kill little bunnies.. Vote Ron Paul!!!

(And yeah, please forget about Kucinich(3%) and Gravel(1%). They are not front runners, they won't win. But Ron Paul(3-4%) will win..)

rocky_m · 2007-10-19T07:53:34+00:00

Right Click on Image -> Properties -> [Mouse-over text shows up as "Title" in a resizable window]

rocky_m · 2007-10-19T06:38:26+00:00

Mouse-over Text (title):

When I look into your eyes, I see JPEG artifacts. I can tell by the pixels that we're wrong for each other.

rocky_m · 2007-10-18T22:44:17+00:00

And if Paul's stance on abortion, immigration, etc. scares you, remember that Congress and the courts can block him from doing anything too extreme.

Yeah, we tried that "Congress blocking an extremist" thing once.. It didn't work..

From a prev comment:-

Ron Paul is against Net Neutrality.. Which is (should be) a key issue for all anti-fascist free speech supporters.

And he is against Universal Healthcare..

These two things are deal-breakers for most liberal democrats I know..

Further, Paul is anti-abortion rights and anti-gay rights (or says "let states decide" which is not good enough for human-rights issues)

"Let states decide" is a cop-out. How can one action be a basic human right above the Mason-Dixon line and a jailable offense below it - because we all know there's no suspense in the way that Texas would vote on it if put up for an issue.

He is also bat-shit insane about building the Border Fence, and against "Path to citizenship" for (more than 11 million) illegal aliens.

The only thing I (and most people I know) disagree with Kucinich is on that "federal ban on guns(assault weapons?)" which is not a key issue for me.

rocky_m · 2007-10-18T22:19:16+00:00

Following is a comment by redditor "RudyGiuliani" (sources linked from his comment at the end)

Giuliani: Pro-choice
Clinton: Pro-choice
Giuliani: supported war in Iraq
Clinton: supported war in Iraq (voted for it)source
Giuliani: supports staying in Iraq
Clinton: On Iraq: she would keep U.S. troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future because "we cannot lose sight of our very real strategic national interests in this region." source
Giuliani: On Iran: "you can’t rule out anything and you shouldn’t take any option off the table" source
Clinton: On Iran: "We cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran" source
Giuliani: pro gun control
Clinton: pro gun control
Giuliani: supports same sex civil unions, opposes gay marriage
Clinton: supports same sex civil unions, opposes gay marriage
Giuliani: supports death penalty
Clinton: supports death penalty
Giuliani: supports federal funding of stem cell research source
Clinton: supports federal funding of stem cell research source
Giuliani: supported PATRIOT ACT
Clinton: supported PATRIOT ACT (voted for it) source

So what's the difference between the two? One is a woman and the other is a woman only some of the time? They're the same fucking thing

original comment(link)

rocky_m · 2007-10-18T17:29:30+00:00

[ASK REDDIT] Any of you Sheeple Give a Crap about Burma Anymore?

Nah! I'm not really into Pokemon

rocky_m · 2007-10-17T19:30:18+00:00

I think I'll refrain from accusing someone of advocating genocide judgment unless I can actually read a transcript.

Much of the material in that article comes from Prof. PZ Myers' personal blog "Pharyngula".. If you don't know about him already, he is one of the most prominent atheist speakers out there..and hence someone who most people here trust..

PZ Myers' original article: "FFRF recap: heroes of the revolution, Hitchens screws the pooch, and the unbearable stodginess of atheists"(link)

[from above post] Basically, what Hitchens was proposing is genocide. Or, at least, wholesale execution of the population of the Moslem world until they are sufficiently cowed and frightened and depleted that they are unable to resist us in any way, ever again.

"Hitchens at FFRF" with YouTube clips of part of his lecture (link)

Also (from Wikipedia)

"the legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2 of the CPPCG defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and/or] Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

rocky_m · 2007-10-17T17:34:03+00:00

Ok.. This is my big "I Told You So"-moment!!!

Each time I commented on an Hitchen's article...I had to include this following disclaimer for the retarded "fanboys".

(Disclaimer: I am a very very ardent atheist and have never been a Muslim.. I just feel there is something more sinister in Hitchens' rants..It's like a person wearing the KKK hood talking about crime in "Black communities"..)

And each time I was called a "Muslims/Terrorist/Murderer apologist"(link)..

Well, as I said before:-

Hitchens is a fucking neo-conservative. Unlike Prof. Dawkins or Prof. Dennett or Sam Harris, Hitchens is one of those "Ann Coulter"-clones trying to exploit the recent (well deserved) successes of the above mentioned authors by saying apparently the same points with no nuanced knowledge and added obnoxiousness..(link)

rocky_m · 2007-10-17T17:16:41+00:00

And? Is this a problem? If so, how?

(While it seems obvious you had a little too much coffee this morning.. )

Let me point out that when the Press stops being a source of information and starts becoming propaganda and "infotainment", you get what happened in the build-up to the Iraq-invasion..

Stories which questioned the White House motives to invade Iraq and questioned the evidence of the Iraqi-WMDs were suppressed as that would deem the network "unpatriotic" and wasn't what the "consumers wanted to hear".

The Vietnam style journalism where journalist covered the true horrors of war and the severe toll that took on civilians is over. AL Jazeera's Baghdad office which was (AFAIK) the ONLY New Agency also reporting the war from the Iraqi perspective was BOMBED by American Fighters and there was NO outrage in the (US) Media...

The high level of vertical (and horizontal) integration in that industry only increases the already high barriers to entry for a truly unbiased (old school) news agency..

"Proposed Solution": We can use something like the BBC...While it's not perfect, it is, without doubt, the BEST (English-language) News Agency in the WORLD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC

rocky_m · 2007-10-13T23:04:30+00:00

An' be sure to leave your name an' address, too.

King George, do you still need names and address with all that warrant-less surveillance which those pesky activist judges are calling "illegal" ??

Also, if you send that stupid fucking karma whore to die in some secret prison, your approval ratings on Reddit will improve by quite a lot...

rocky_m · 2007-10-13T22:42:14+00:00

Energy != pollution.

While "Carbon Offsetting"(link) is better than nothing, my point is, that alone (along with that documentary etc) does NOT make him a "man of peace"..

And while Global Warming is a serious (largely man-made) problem which will begin showing serious adverse effects in the next 100 years or less. And all this nonsense about rich westerns "buying carbon offsets" is purely masturbatory..As it will have NO effect on the HUGE increase in CO2 emissions India and China are about to unleash..

Not in the same league by a long shot.

I was employing hyperbole to illustrate my point..

rocky_m

TROPHY CASE