Teh interesting (non-PHL-related) news stub thread

[Twin-Skies]

a church divided is no church at all O_O

Amen, rabbi.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

-C. S. Lewis

[maitreya]

Spaniards return to farms as unemployment soars
LEPE, Spain- Beneath rows of plastic sheeting that dot a swathe of Andalucian countryside, Spaniards are back at work as seasonal farm labourers, a role they had left to immigrants during a decade-long boom that ended last year.

Allal Nejjaria, a foreman at a 70-hectare (173-acre) strawberry farm operated by the Agromartin cooperative at Lepe near the Portuguese border, said he is hiring locals this year instead of recruiting almost all his seasonal workers abroad as he did in the past."For the 2008 season we hired around 600 seasonal workers, of which 95% were recruited in their home countries," he said as he walked through the dirt paths between the strawberry fields and peach trees.

This year he predicts 40% of all seasonal workers will be locally hired, either Spaniards or foreigners already legally residing in the country.

With the unemployment rate soaring in Spain at one of the fastest paces in Europe, the pattern is being repeated in farms across the Andalucian province of Huelva, one of the world’s largest producers of strawberries."The hiring of workers in their home countries has dropped significantly because we are employing more local workers," said Luisa Cornejo, the local representative of Spain’s Union of Small Farmers.

Of the 60,000 seasonal farm laborers expected to be hired this season in Huelva, only 15,000 will be recruited abroad, half the amount hired outside of Spain last year, according to official data.

The unemployment rate in Andalucia, whose sandy beaches attract millions of sunseekers every year, hit 21.85% at the end of 2008, well above the national rate of 13.9%, the highest rate in the European Union.

"There are a lot of people who worked in construction or in the service sector who want to return to the fields," said Aurora Martinez, a local representative of CCOO, Spain’s largest trade union confederation.

Jacobo Palanco, a 23-year-old father, is one of them. He began working in construction when he was just 16 and even set up his own firm. But now that construction jobs have tried up, toiling in the Andalucian countryside has become an attractive option."Things became difficult at the end of last year," he said at the packaging workshop of the farm where he is employed with his wife, brother and sister-in-law. — AFP

[Hempire]

a church divided is no church at all O_O

Amen, rabbi.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

-C. S. Lewis

Hehe, you agree with the church thing but not the hemp culture eh? You know the church played a very big role in 'demonizing' marijuana, by their logic hemp is the devil's plant....lol Thinking bout the collective history of the so called churches around the worlrd, it's like the demons already won O______O DUN.....DUN DUN......

[Twin-Skies]

NASA discovers liquid water on Mars...
http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/The_Sal...s_999.html

...and they didn't have to look too far

Salty, liquid water has been detected on a leg of the Mars Phoenix Lander and therefore could be present at other locations on the planet, according to analysis by a group of mission scientists led by a University of Michigan professor. This is the first time liquid water has been detected and photographed outside the Earth.
"A large number of independent physical and thermodynamical evidence shows that saline water may actually be common on Mars," said Nilton Renno, a professor in the U-M Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences and a co-investigator on the Phoenix mission.

"Liquid water is an essential ingredient for life. This discovery has important implications to many areas of planetary exploration, including the habitability of Mars."

[Twin-Skies]

Interview with a former Madoff employee:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s...silence/4/

[Grim]

Something different from the political/religious discussions we've been seeing here lately.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...092717.htm

[Twin-Skies]

Hopes up for three Red Cross hostages

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Kidnappers on Tuesday put off a threat to execute three workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Gov. Abdusakur Tan of Sulu raised the possibility that they would be freed.

The reprieve came amid the declaration by the Sulu governor of a state of emergency in the province.

Troops were later deployed back to positions encircling the hideout of the kidnappers in the Indanan forest on Jolo Island, military and police officials said.

“I have information that the three are OK,” Tan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone hours after a scheduled 2 p.m. execution passed.

“They were not beheaded. There’s a possibility that they would come out alive,” he said.

“There were some last-ditch efforts by some religious leaders to save the lives of the hostages and, perhaps, the rebels listened to them,” Tan said. “We’re preparing for the worst. We’re not taking this sitting down.”

Sources in the Moro National Liberation Front and police said the hostages had been seen alive, although they were still tied up.

Good to hear. When this is all over, I can only hope for one thing: That the AFP blasts these motherfuckers off the face of the earth. Preferably slow. And painfully.

[Sforza]

This whole Red Cross thing is really stupid, because of what the Red Cross is. It's basically an apolitical international humanitarian institution that's neutral in all conflicts. All they do is provide medical aid or post-conflict reconstruction.

Kidnapping or killing its members just ensures no help at all from the Red Cross, and gives the military free reign to commit human rights abuses unabated on the insurgents. They might be doing that already, but now they don't need to worry about being caught Red Cross members. I'm not too sure about what's happening in the south, but this is not going to help their cause at all.

[Twin-Skies]

Priests tested for homosexuality

MELBOURNE'S Catholic Church has embraced a Vatican suggestion to test potential priests for sexual orientation. Those who "appear" gay will be banned.

The head of the Vatican committee that made the recommendations has made it clear celibate gays should also be banned because homosexuality is ‘‘a type of deviation’’.

Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesman James O’Farrell confirmed Carlton’s Corpus Christi Catholic seminary had started adhering to the guidelines, but refused to comment further.

So what shall the church call this detection technique they will use: the gaydar, or the the homometer?

[clonezero]

gaydar XD

[Twin-Skies]

Crud - we missed another important holiday.

Belated Happy Cthulu Day peeps!

So, how did you celebrate this special day?

[Grim]

North Korea, what a douchebag.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7982874.stm

[Twin-Skies]

Afghanistan, what a dingleberry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090402/ap_o...ghan_women

[maitreya]

Zimbabwe stops using its own dollars
Philippines News.Net
Sunday 12th April, 2009

Zimbabwe has suspended the use of its own currency.

The state media service, quoting Economic Planning Minister, Elton Mangoma, said the Zimbabwean dollar would be suspended for at least twelve months.

The minister admitted there was nothing to support and hold the value of the currency, the highest denomination of which is a 10 trillion dollar bill.

Hyperinflation in 2007 and 2008 made Zimbabwe's currency virtually worthless.

Prices have stabilised or fallen since the government legalized the use of other currencies, including the US dollar in January.

[Twin-Skies]

Rick told me about this on the phone last night, so I had plenty of time to rage about it.

Now it's your turn folks

House wants to ban pornographic cartoon

Hentai, the Japanese pornographic cartoon that depicts children in explicit sexual activity, is considered child pornography material and one may be severely penalized by just mere possession of it.

A bill banning this pornographic cartoon was approved recently by the Joint House Committees on Justice and Welfare of Children chaired by Rep. Matias Defensor (3rd District, Quezon City) and Rep. Monica Prieto-Teodoro (1st District, Tarlac), respectively.

Prieto-Teodoro, one of the authors of the measure, said the bill penalizes the offenders who sell, offer, advertise, and promote child pornography; and have been found to possess, download, purchase, reproduce, or make available child pornography materials with the intent of selling or distributing them.

Prieto-Teodoro said child pornography material refers to the means and methods in which a child carries out pornography.

"It can be in forms of visual depiction, audio representation and written text or materials that advocate explicit sexual activity with a child," Prieto-Teodoro said.

She explained that the said images of real and indistinguishable children in films, digital images or computer images, whether made or produced electronically or mechanically; drawings, cartoons, sculptures or paintings depicting children in an explicit sexual activity are just some of the visual depictions considered as child pornography materials.

Prieto-Teodoro said there is a need for a legislative measure to address this disturbing social phenomena considering that the provisions of RA7160 or the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act are mainly related to child prostitution and do not provide adequate protection to victims of other forms of sexual exploitation particularly child pornography.

Rep. Darlene R. Antonino-Custodio (1st District, South Cotabato) another author of the bill to be known as the "Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009", said the Internet which is used for gaining knowledge is being used by some as a medium to gratify sexual desire.

"Once the picture of child victim is flashed either on the Internet or video clip, the picture is open for the entire world to see. The child loses his or her privacy and innocence which can never be restored," Antonino-Custodio said.

"Adults indulging in child pornography either by purchasing, viewing or producing them, should be subjected to the most severe punishments,"Antonino-Custodio said.

Under the bill, child pornography refers to any representation of a child below 18 years of age, engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child primarily for sexual purposes.

The bill provides that the mere possession of drawings, cartoons, digital images, computer-generated images -- even if it is indistinguishable from that of real children engaging in an explicit sexual activity – may be penalized with 6 to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than P500,000.

The measure also imposes 12 to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than P2 million to violators who have been found guilty of committing unlawful acts such as hiring, employing, using, persuading, inducing, or coercing a child to perform in the production of child pornography, including its production people.

Other authors of the bill are Reps. Rene M. Velarde (Party-List, BUHAY), Ignacio T. Arroyo (5th District, Negros Occidental), Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro), Narciso D. Santiago III (Party-List, Alliance for Rural Concerns), Matias V. Defensor (2nd District, Quezon City), Jr., Lorenzo Tanada III (4th District, Quezon), Edgardo M. Chatto (1st District, Bohol) and Luzviminda C. Ilagan (Party-List, Gabriela).

That's the full press release.

My initial reactions:

11. Okay, how the hell are they going to enforce this bill? Based on personal experience, most of the hentai/loli stuff I've seen isn't even distributed in malls. It's downloaded (at least the quality stuff).

For them to enforce this law in cyberspace would require resources and manpower the police can barely provide. As a friend of mine who used to work in Level-Up said: "The NBI can't even crack down on account hackers."

2. How do you define "cartoons, digital images, computer-generated images -- even if it is indistinguishable from that of real children engaging in an explicit sexual activity"? This is a very loose definition - does that mean even the slight revealing of panties/Ecchi is going to get you jailed? Almost every friggin' manga out there will contain e elements of Ecchi.

That aside, what happens in the case of nude paintings, or pre-finished works? I know artists who draw their characters "nude" first before adding on the clothes as a separate layer. It's standard OP for them, and they don't consider that to be "sexually explicit". It's only one step of an otherwise meticulous process. Shall we arrest them too?

Or how about artists who carry illustration guides that contain detailed instructions on drawing the human body? Those have nude "sexually explicit" drawings too. Shall we arrest these pervs as well?

3. It's 2010 folks. What better time for otherwise obscure groups and organizations to crawl out of the woodwork and pass some legislation - no matter how retarded it is - to prove to everybody that they still hold some sort of relevance. In this case though, said groups probably just proved how out-of-touch and anally ignoralt they are.

4. Of all the rape and molestation incidents that happen here, just how many off these perps had access to any sort of hentai manga? And if so, did the material directly cause them to commit their crimes? The legislators are using a slippery slope argument in pushing this bill, by assuming that exposure to child porn will cause people to become real pedos.


Remember these legislator's names - make sure they shamed for their stupidity.