FREEDOM: As a Concept Works, in Practice is Flawed

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The concept is flawed because we aren't truly free.

We are bound by the law of man.

Others are not only bound by the law of man, but by the law of "God", which takes away other freedoms granted by the law of man. They are bound because they are convicted in their beliefs. By shunning the oppressive draconian nature of religion, one can gain freedom. Or, some level thereof, because we are still bound by the laws of man.

If we were truly free, the laws we had would allow for freedom. But, then, we'd have anarchy. So, we aren't truly free and never will be.

Think about it.

Church Fires Teacher for Being Female

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1. Corinthians, 14:34-35: "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."

1. Timothy, 2:11-14: "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner."

These are from the New Testament, a book that is the focal point of Protestant Christianity, and where the majority of out-of-context quotes are derived.

Wiki: Books of the Bible

There is a biblical quote for any situation, provided that the person spouting the biblical non-sense takes the word of "God" out of context, as is the norm.

It is frequently done to justify actions that would otherwise in today's western world be deemed... "discriminatory", such as dismissing someone from a position because that person is a woman.

And one of the above quotes, Timothy, 2:11-14 was used in the letter given to the woman, Mary Lambert, who had taught at the United Baptist Church in Watertown, NY for 54 years, significantly longer than the time the pastor had been at this location.



Church Fires Teacher for Being Female

Sunday School Teacher Dismissed Because She's A Woman?

The letter of dismissal was signed by the church's clerk, Kendra Labouf, the wife of Reverend Timothy Labouf. The letter wasn't even signed by the pastor himself. However, he had endorse Lambert's dismissal.

"I believe that a woman can perform any job and fulfill any responsibility that she desires to" outside of the church, LaBouf wrote Saturday.

It seems that the state doesn't endorse the church's position and unlike the church, the state is in the 21st century.

Mayor Jeffrey Graham, however, was bothered by the reasons given Lambert's dismissal.

"If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age," Graham said. "Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."

Further proof why religion is a pox on the backside of humanity...

Interestingly though, while the context for Lambert's dismissal was around the gender issue, she believe that her dismissal wasn't for that reason alone and that perhaps internal politics were playing a significant role in the issue.

Either way, who would dismiss someone volunteering to spread the word of "God"? Especially in a day and age where people put little "value" on the morals that the church intends to impart onto the mass, and help guide people away from a life of "sin"? I guess they figured she was doing her job too well and needed a nice little misogynist

Defending The Polar Bears From the Yankees

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It seems that Prime Minister Harper thinks it's far more imperative to protect the Canadian north than to attend the AIDS Conference in Toronto, that the nation had the honour of hosting. It was an excellent opportunity for the administration to show it cares, but, it seems that this doesn't fit into its neo-con agenda, since AIDS is a gay disease... and it's best contained by making marriage between homosexuals illegal...

AIDS 2006 coverage @ The Toronto Star

Hopefully, like the inadequate response with the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon, this will come back to haunt the Conservatives at the next election. Now, we just need for the Liberals to get their act together. Hell, leaderless Liberals are doing well in opinion polls right now... they're tied with the Conservatives and their incompetent leadership.

It seems that the Prime Minister fears that the polar bears won't be there next week. It is far more important to ensure that the Yankees don't impale a Canadian polar bear with their patriotism-laden flag than to show solidarity with the world in the uphill, stalemate battle against HIV/AIDS.

Bone-Chilling Reality of Oppressive Brutality and an Assault on Freedom of Speech

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In 1982, Liberal leader and then Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, repatrioted the Canadian Constitution and signed into existance the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Unlike the Charter's predecessor, the Bill of Rights, signed into existance by the Conservatives, under the leadership of John Diefenbaker, was entrenched.

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

a) freedom of conscience and religion;

b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

d) freedom of association.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The United States of America was founded on the principle of freedom and liberty because the people who made up the original thirteen states wanted to escape the oppressive nature of the English monarchy, where there was only a King and the parliament, which had no teeth, and the nobility, which had rights from the Magna Carta of 1215. The nation didn't grant freedom and liberty to its lowest citizens.

The American Revolution in 1776 resulted in the American colonies superceding English control and becoming a nation in their own right. Many lawmakers were there, including the man who would be the first president of the newly established United States.

When the people spoke, they included this as their constitutional preamble:



...of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

In the years following, Amendments were added to the original articles of the constition, the first being: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The Constitution of the United States of America

Now, before the Senate is a treaty. It is one that is going to sneak through the Senate. It would require the US to enforce laws in its nation against otherwise legal activities regarding the internet, should the activity be considered illegal in another nation.

The World's Worst Internet Laws Sneaking Through the Senate

The treaty requires that the U.S. government help enforce other countries' 'cybercrime" laws - even if the act being prosecuted is not illegal in the United States. That means that countries that have laws limiting free speech on the Net could oblige the F.B.I. to uncover the identities of anonymous U.S. critics, or monitor their communications on behalf of foreign governments. American ISPs would be obliged to obey other jurisdiction's requests to log their users' behavior without due process, or compensation.

The treaty came into force last year on the international front, but not in the US, where it needs to be ratified by Congress first. So far, ratification has been blocked thanks to a "hold" placed by conservative lawmakers. But Republican senators this week are now being heavily pressured by the administration to drop their objections, and let it fly.

Convention on Cybercrime, Budapest, 23.XI.2001

To make laws governing the use of the internet in one's nation, provided that it doesn't spill over international borders, even if oppressive, as long as it leaves another nation's internet use unaffected, it's fine. But, should a law supercede international borders when it contravenes a basic right to freedom of speech that a nation holds dearly, a nation's core laws should override that international law by default.

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A Name by By Any Other...

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Now, let's settle this, what exactly do you call a soft drink where you live?

Do you call it a "pop", or a "soda", or are you like those crazy Texans and insist on calling ALL types of soft drinks as "coke"? Which nice generic category do you fit into?

Well, this map of the US should paint a nice general picture of what you ought to think.

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