Fart Charge (or a 'charged fart'?)

Okay, this is one article that's good for a laugh:

Man Charged With Battery After Passing Gas

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va.–A West Virginia man who police said passed gas and fanned it toward a patrolman has been charged with battery on a police officer.

Jose A. Cruz, 34, of Clarksburg, was pulled over early Tuesday for driving without headlights, police said. According to the criminal complaint, Cruz smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and failed three field sobriety tests before he was handcuffed and taken to a police station for a breathalyzer test.

As Patrolman T.E. Parsons prepared the machine, Cruz scooted his chair toward Parsons, lifted his leg and "passed gas loudly," the complaint said.

Cruz, according to complaint, then fanned the gas toward the officer.

"The gas was very odorous and created contact of an insulting or provoking nature with Patrolman Parsons," the complaint alleged.

He was also charged with driving under the influence, driving without headlights and two counts of obstruction.

Cruz acknowledged passing gas, but said he didn't move his chair toward the officer nor aim gas at the patrolman. He said he had an upset stomach at the time, but police denied his request to go to the bathroom when he first arrived at the station.

"I couldn't hold it no more," he said.

He also denied being drunk and uncooperative as the police complaint alleged. He added he was upset at being prepared for a breathalyzer test while having an asthma attack. The police statement said he later resisted being secured for a trip to a hospital that he requested for asthma treatment.

Cruz said the officers thought the gas incident was funny when it happened and laughed about it with him.

"This is ridiculous," he said. "I could be facing time."

Ahh, that article has put me in a mood to watch some Farting Preacher videos on YouTube:



Oops! Forgot to reference the original story: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/505698

Christopher Hitchens Interview

I'm a huge Hitchens fan and I was thrilled to come across this interview on the WashingtonPost.com website.

Here is the URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/01/08/VI2008010802087.html

I tried to embed the clips but IE went bonkers.

Sam Harris and The View From The End Of The World

This is an old talk by Sam Harris. I'm sure much of it has been said before but I still found it interesting (I love listening to these things while I do some mundane chore like washing that backlog of dishes that can't go in the diswasher!).

Sam Harris on Fora.TV

Does Faith Trump Doctors' Actions?

The Toronto Star is reporting that the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons is considering changing a policy that gives "doctors' limited right to refuse to provide medical treatment to patients on the basis of their personal religious beliefs." In other words, doctors can refuse to prescribe contraception, offer artificial insemination or refuse to refer a patient to a doctor that performs abortions. It could also include a refusal to treat gay couples.

But why stop there? Could a doctor refuse to provide blood transfusions or organ transplant? Maybe they should be allowed to prescribe homeopathy over standard drugs? Why not laying on of hands or prayer to remove that pesky cancer tumour?

Let's also not forget that euthanasia laws are being blocked mainly by the religious. I am a member of 'Dying with Dignity' because I believe that if I find life unbearable due to a fatal disease or injury I want the option to end my life in a peaceful, dignified manner. Will a doctor refuse to grant my wish because of their religious belief?

If the policy change will refuse to let doctors apply their personal religious beliefs in their practice then I support these changes. A doctor has an obligation to their patient; including respecting the wishes of a religious patient (ie. an adult wants to refuse a transfusion or would rather see a faith healer than taking chemotherapy). But a patient should never be refused the benefits of real medical treatments by a doctor's irrational faith.

Full story: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/500852

New Idea On Gravity?

I don't have a physics degree so I don't know if this is old news or not but in this video, Cruz deWilde proposes that gravity is not the warping of spacetime but a result of the expansion of mass:



I don't follow all his ideas but it was interesting. Visit his website for some interesting animations including some stereoscopic 3D:

http://www.avantgravity.com/3d_animation.html

Centre For Inquiry Ad

I recently watched the promo on YouTube for the Centre For Inquiry. The video is below:



I couldn't help but get the feeling while watching of, why do reason and logic need to be promoted? Is it possible that within my lifetime we'll look at an ad for an organization that promotes reason, science and logic as ridiculous?

"Were people really so stupid back then that they needed to be convinced on the benefits?", my grandchildren will hopefully ask...

Religion and Starving Babies

A mother grabbed her baby and ran away from the Hospital for Sick Children fearing that they would take her baby from her. The baby showed signs of severe malnutrition weighing only 11 pounds (normal weight is about 20 pounds for a 9-month-old).

Yes, she's a poor mother but don't worry, her church has everything under control,

the 22-year-old woman... belong(s) to an obscure type of religious sect that prefers homeopathy to traditional medicine. "It's not like (she) neglected the baby for nine months," said Kudjo Adwo Sut Tekh El, the grand sheik of the Moorish Science Temple of America.

Why use 'traditional' medicine when sugar water obviously works better? This obscure church of 30 members says they have a "way of life" and not religious beliefs. Bullshit! Any group that would believe in homeopathy and create a 'way of life' that would cause a baby to become severely malnutritioned needs to be jailed. Oh, but wait, we must respect religions, right?

"They're making it seem like she's some negligent baby mother running away from her duties and that's not the case," said the grand sheik. "But we have a way of dealing with our people, so please respect that"

Fuck that! Your 'religion' doesn't deserve any respect.

Here's a link to the story:
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/499632

Brilliant!

Sometimes a simple picture can say all that needs to be said:

Religion or a Job: Pick One

In today's Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/496394) a Muslim woman is at the Canadian Human Rights Commission to protest losing her job at a UPS plant. She was fired for refusing to follow proper safety regulations:

After almost two years of flipping boxes at the UPS plant, Yusuf, 35, a devout Muslim, and mother of six, lost her job at the plant on July 13, 2005, because she refused to hike her skirt up above the knee over her long pants. Seven other Muslim women also lost their jobs at the UPS plant for refusing to raise their skirts up over their long pants.

Part of their job involves climbing steep ladders and metal stair cases and skirts below the knee are a safety risk as they can restrict movement of the knees causing a fall. Remember, she was already wearing pants so hiking up a skirt shouldn't be a big problem, should it?

Yusuf told the panel she offered to wear her skirt at mid-calf, over her pants, even though she said her leg shape is not permitted to show.

Ahh, so that's it. Her religion doesn't allow a woman to show any body shape. Sorry, Yusuf, there is no rational reason for your position (evidence? well, millions of women do show their body shape in the workplace and yet business still seems to get done).

I can't help but wonder why her head and shoulder shape would be allowed. Considering she worked at a place full of boxes, wouldn't this be a perfect place to find clothes? Using advanced Photoshop techniques, I've managed to show a picture of Yusuf sporting a fashion more in keeping with the Muslim idea of modesty:


New Muslim Workwear?