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Scientology is a Dangerous Cult

2008-05-23T15:11:00.006+01:00

It's no secret that Scientology dislikes criticism. They have been infamous for their use of litigation and 'bullbaiting' to silence critics. They call this practice Fair Game.
At the recent protests in london, the Cult took this a step further than i had ever heard of them doing previously.
They had a teenager arrested for accusing them of being a cult rather than a religion (video). The City of London police force asked him to remove the offending sign, and he refused. He produced, among other evidence, a quote from a judge that supported his accusation(video).

Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious... In my judgement it is corrupt, sinister and dangerous. It is corrupt because it is based on lies and deceit and has as its real objective money and power for Mr. Hubbard, his wife and those close to him at the top.
It is sinister because it indulges in infamous practices both to its adherents who do not toe the line unquestioningly, and to those who criticise or oppose it. It is dangerous because it is out to capture people, especially children and impressionable young people, and indoctrinate and brainwash them so that they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult, withdrawn from ordinary thought, living and relationships with others.

- Mr Justice Latey, 1984, The Old Bailey

The crown prosecution service has seen fit to drop the case, and the City of London force says they will police future events with this precedent in mind.

But what of the Cult? Well, as Stewart Lamont commented years ago,"it would appear that to Scientologists, the decision of a court means what they want it to mean."
It would appear that the decision of the court will allow those who wish to criticise the cult to do so freely. Only time will tell if Tom Cruise and David Miscavige's 'Church' will accept this.

The as it happens thread started by the arrested boy is over here.

Fashionably Late Baby Jesus Presents

2007-12-30T16:20:00.000Z

Welcome to ahrefequals Winterval extravaganza, in celebration both of the end of winter and the birth of everyone's bestest best friend, Baby Jesus (not to be confused with Big Baby Jesus, RIP). Sure, I'm late, but a good party takes a few days to recover from. How was yours?
Of course, nobody reads this blog. But hey! If you do, you can get yourself some free stuff!

As you can see, Little Rock Records is giving away some music. It's pretty hot shit, and it's yours if you want it.
Little Rock are often to be found giving stuff away, doing free gigs and generally being really fucking cool about sharing their hard work. They have several acts across several styles, and all of their free MP3s are on their website. All of it is well worth checking out.
And be honest; if it wasn't free, you'd just dinghy it to go and download the new Girls Aloud or Katie Melua Best of for fuck all anyway. So, you know, why the heck not?

(The images below are links to zips, or you can go over to the website and see what other goodies they have.)

First up, for all your winterval disco needs, the Disco Beard has you:

Next up is the ever-free EP from Copyleft. Copyleft are a live band based in Glasgow who make hip hop. Featuring MC Tickle and producer Brad Manners, polemic and storytelling come together over laid back grooves bound by an ideal; that music is for sharing.

But wait! There's more! Ambient mystery men, Art/Audio Interface, have some of their chilled yet faintly disturbing wierdness for you:

IDM take on one of the old masters of comedy in a marriage of techno and slam poetry:

...and then there's a Trippy Diso edit; more diso for all you disco lovers, this time with Even More Sexy!

tap

2007-09-21T04:24:00.000+01:00

"There's nothing in any piece of legislation that stops you from putting a physical bug in a room, an office or something like that provided you are there lawfully and you haven't committed any criminal offence to get access to it"

mother of the future

2007-06-13T21:13:00.000+01:00

the sarah conner chronicles ...could be awesome.

2007-05-27T13:49:00.000+01:00

2007-05-23T23:58:00.000+01:00

...against their own kind!

2007-05-12T01:07:00.000+01:00

hero in a half shell!

2007-05-11T12:58:00.000+01:00

cowabunga!

sock monkeys

2007-05-08T13:54:00.000+01:00

zombies!
mr T!
life sized, anatomically correct sock monkeys!

orson whales?

2007-05-05T02:08:00.000+01:00

what the fuck kinda title is orson whales?
it's a good job it's cool, with a lame name like that.

play safe.

2007-05-04T02:00:00.000+01:00

hot or not?

evolution

2007-04-27T14:20:00.001+01:00

...graffiti style.
(NSFW site, SFW link)

Westboro Baptist Church; Pitching a Song to Slayer

2007-04-23T00:26:00.000+01:00

god hates the world!
and all her people!
to be honest, i don't think they'll be into it.
it's not scary at all.

i'm sure they had fun making it, though.
everyone i know loves a bit of cathartic expression of their unjustified hatred, and i'm sure these dullwitted fools are no different.

i am curious how they square the 'god hates the world' message with that whole 'god is love' thing, but hey, fuck it.
i have two leather belts and i'm vegetarian.
we can't all be perfect, can we?
i mean, come on.
if we needed these spiritually bereft morons to actually understand their saviour's message before ramming it down our throats then we'd have missed out on this classic track, and all those lovely sermons they broadcast.

i wonder if they'll get into terrorizer?

playing feminist bingo

2007-04-21T19:31:00.000+01:00

this is a bingo card.
have a look at the squares, familiarise yourself with their content, and then go over and play on the comments of this news story.

i was reading the story because it was in my google alerts for local news.
i wasn't reading it to suggest the web play feminist bingo.
i'm giving you the card first because i think it might be more fun than just reading the total bollocks from some of these tools.
god knows you can get enough of reading stupid shit written by tools.

some of the comments also put me in mind of my new friend morchades' words, words i loved when i read them.

When I mention the wolf in my front yard, please don't pop in to tell me the tiger in the next town is worse.
Yes, I know tigers are vicious.
Yes, I know tigers are bigger than wolves.
Yes, I know tigers are faster than wolves.
Yes, I know tigers are stronger than wolves.
Yes, I know the tiger was last seen traveling in my direction.
None of this changes the fact there is a fucking wolf in my fucking front yard.
I'm going to worry about that first, thank you.

what's ms. dynamite been up to?

2007-04-19T15:44:00.000+01:00

looks like she's been spending her time well.

jesus christ!

2007-04-19T02:37:00.000+01:00

click Him!

if that isn't enough for you, then yes, you can find out more.

do you protest?

2007-04-15T21:53:00.000+01:00

“Listen, here’s the thing about politics: It’s not an expression of your moral purity and your ethics and your probity and your fond dreams of some utopian future. Progressive people constantly fail to get this.”
--Tony Kushner

i'd have said it without the word progressive, but hey.
people like Tony like to express their moral purity and and their ethics by defining themselves against people's approach to politics as much as people, perhaps more often 'progressives', like to define themselves against other people's politics.

thanks to livejournal and zoje george for the quote.

bedlam and the weege

2007-04-13T13:27:00.000+01:00

extra! extra!
glasgow twinned with birthplace of the christ!

The two cities had signed a friendship agreement in 1990 which reflected circumstances in Palestinian areas at that time. Now, the council have voted to formalise its current links into a full town twinning. Baillie Devine said: "Glasgow and Bethlehem have a friendship going back many years. This agreement will deepen and strengthen those links."

work that wii!

2007-04-12T18:03:00.000+01:00

wee wii weegie workout...

love and hate and the hop

2007-04-12T12:11:00.000+01:00

there was once a thread, over on barbelith.
that thread began primarily about the false dichotomy between the underground and pop-hop camps, or myth of 'underground' hip-hop's creative and ideological superiority to 'hip-pop', but it went a few directions; it became about double standards, perceptions of misogyny, and some folks' distaste with the over-bling and super-sexing they perceive in modern hip hop.

zuky seems to be on the same tack at the moment, having a look at some of the shit talked around this subject, the subject of mainstream hip hop.

memo to white folks and the mass media
byron hurt - misogyny in hip hop

one post contains a video, and the other contains venn diagrams.
what's not to like?
also of interest is this PDF about 'detours', found on zuky's comments.

post hoc ergo propter hoc

2007-04-04T19:54:00.000+01:00

it's latin.

it refers to a fallacy:
A occurred, then B occurred.
Therefore, A caused B.

one of the more common mistakes made by the easily satisfied, myself and all you other talking monkeys included.

2007-03-28T03:35:00.000+01:00

i just finished a book

2007-03-23T18:04:00.000Z

i haven't finished a book in a while, not since one big damn puzzler, john harding's enchanting tale of an american lawyer out of his depth in the pacific. the promise of a pidgin-scripted hamlet kept me blasting through that quirky tome. since then life and all that shit that goes with it keeps getting in the way of simple fun stuff like reading, and no book has grabbed me sufficiently to get me all the way through.

but hey.
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time was so well written i rattled through it in only two short sittings in three long days. getting to geek-out on maths problems as i went was an added bonus, but i think the real draw is just how charming the main character is. haddon ensures his life feels very real and very likeable, however alien his reality is to my own, giving me what felt like an insight into the life of a kid with aspergers.

thank you, mark haddon, for all your hard work.
(markhaddon.com)

word flood...

2007-03-15T00:45:00.000Z

george carlin's HBO stand up, with a great slam intro.

sesame street?

2007-03-11T20:26:00.000Z

i wouldn't have picked it, but fuck me.
cool.
dude also does peter and the wolf, and more besides.