Torture Via Reading

In 1990, soon after the publication of The Satanic Verses, a Pakistani film was released in which [author Salman] Rushdie was depicted plotting to cause the downfall of Pakistan by opening a chain of casinos and discos in the country. The film was popular with Pakistani audiences, and it “presents Rushdie as a Rambo-like figure pursued by four Pakistani guerrillas.”

Rushdie called the film “a distorted, incompetent piece of trash.” The film was a massive hit in Pakistan, but went virtually unnoticed in the West. In Rushdie’s favorite part of the movie, his character tortures a Pakistani fighter by reading aloud his book, The Satanic Verses.

Salman Rushdie – Wikipedia

Sincerely, Your Friend Iran

Salman Rushdie has reported that he still receives a “sort of Valentine’s card” from Iran each year on 14 February letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him.

Salman Rushdie – Wikipedia

Non-Prophets

The [Charlston, SC] chapter of Habitat for Humanity would not let the Secular Humanists volunteer to build houses wearing T-shirts that said “Non Prophet Organization.”

The t-shirt stunt was too polemical, I admit (just like Affirmative-Action Bakesales), but quite funny nonetheless.

More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops – NYTimes

A Growing Minority Soon To Become a Majority

“…the ranks of atheists are growing. The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released last month, found that those who claimed ‘no religion’ were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years. Nationally, they nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent.”

More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops – NYTimes

Champion of Reason: John Adams

John Adams is regarded as one of the most important Founding Fathers of the United States of America. Before becoming the second President of the United States, John Adams served as the Vice-President under President George Washington. Prior to that, John Adams was a signer of the Declaration of Independence as a delegate from Massachusetts.

Founding-father John Adams was a Unitarian (but raised a Congregationalist) who rejected orthodox Christian beliefs, including the divinity of Christ and the far-fetched ‘trinity’. He valued religion in general because he believed it restrained “human passions” such as “avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry.” Like other Founders who leaned toward deism or agnosticism, Adams thought religion was important not because it was true but because it helped keep the common people in line.

In his youth, Adams’ father urged him to become a minister, but Adams refused, considering the practice of law to be a more noble calling. Although he once referred to himself as a “church going animal,” Adams’ view of religion overall was rather ambivalent: He recognized the abuses, large and small, that religious belief lends itself to, but he also believed that religion could be a force for good in individual lives and in society at large. His extensive reading (especially in the classics), led him to believe that this view applied not only to Christianity, but to all religions.

Adams was aware of (and wary of) the risks, such as persecution of minorities and the temptation to wage holy wars, that an established religion poses. Nonetheless, he believed that religion, by uniting and morally guiding the people, had a role in public life.

Adams was a champion of reason because he was objective in his thoughts on religion, which allowed him to be critical of religion’s flaws, and at the same time, he was tolerant of believers. He was reasonable, but was not one-sided or militant. For this we should thank him, as this post-Enlightenment luminary has set a fantastic example for all of us to follow.

Excerpted from:

The Religious Affiliation of Second U.S. President John Adams, with citations

And Everybody Hates the Atheists: Romney tries to get ahead by climbing over unbelievers – Reason

The Supply Chain.

Cameron: What are you doing, cupcake?
Budding Jeweler [feverishly browsing eBay search results]: I got some jewelry supplies on eBay for like, an amazing price, and now I can’t buy more–that b**** isn’t putting any more up for auction!
Cameron: Have you tried calling the seller and buying direct?
Budding Jeweler: Yeah, but she doesn’t return any of my calls–I NEED these f***ing beads*!
Cameron: Hmm. Perhaps you shouldn’t completely rely on eBay as your supply chain.

[*or something; unintelligible jewelry-talk]

Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden – Bonkers

I didn’t like the track at all until I saw the video. Watching this vid is like being on drugs, I imagine.

Make sure to click ‘HQ’ in the bottom right corner of the vid once you hit ‘Play’, better sound/video qual!

Single Digits

I don’t think I’ve ever drunk champagne before breakfast before. With breakfast on several occasions, but never ‘before before’.

-Fred Varjak

Bliss

Holly Golightly: Did I tell you how divinely and utterly happy I am? 
Fred: Yes.

Happy Birthday

Cameron: wow, I forgot you were 21
thought you were deuce deuce
Jeanna: not for another 16 days!
i don’t want to turn 22
Cameron: i don’t want you to either. slit your wrists.

NEW ‘YE!: Kanye West and Malik Yusef – Magic Man ft. Common and John Legend

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Pretty good ish.

Prison Economy

Prison Economy Spirals As Price Of Pack Of Cigarettes Exceeds Two H*** Jobs

For All The Right Reasons

Holly Golightly: I’ll tell you one thing, Fred, darling… I’d marry you for your money in a minute. Would you marry me for my money? 
Fred: In a minute. 
Holly Golightly: I guess it’s pretty lucky neither of us is rich.
Fred: Yeah.

Loaded .45

Daraun Prince: my portfolio is up today. Any thoughts about the [banking industry's] stress test [results being released] in two hours?

Sean Banerjee: Yeah.  Put a loaded .45 in your mouth and make sure I’m behind you, and pull the trigger.

Really bullish sentiment out there.

Locked Up

“If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges, and today, we have about 500,000 of them, and the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes—possession crimes or minor sales.”

Jim Webb, D (VA)