₦airaland Forum

^^^Seconded.

Robbers Operate Unhindered For Two Hours On Lagos Street


It was a horrendous morning for residents of Ogo-Oluwa Street, Ade-Alu, in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos on Wednesday as a gang of armed robbers numbering about 15 terrorised the area, robbing and maiming residents unhindered for two hours.


PUNCH METRO learnt that the robbers armed with rifles, axes and machetes stormed the community around 3am and moved from house to house, dispossessing residents of their belongings.

It was also gathered that the robbers overpowered the only night guard on the street and tied him to a pole.

A landlady in the area, who craved anonymity because of fear of reprisal, told our correspondent that though no lives were lost, the robbers were ruthless in their operations.

She said, "We were sleeping when we were roused by a deafening noise. Behold, many armed robbers were operating on the building next to ours. Some stayed outside to monitor activities. Hence, people could not run away. My son and I called the police and we were told they would come.

"When the robbers came to our building after forcing its door open, we noticed that some of them had masks on, while others did not. They simply asked us to cooperate, warning that if we failed to do so, we would be wasted. We obeyed. They ransacked our apartment and went away with money and cell phones. The same thing happened to all other apartments in our building."

Another victim, who identified himself as Amuda Joseph, said three bandits entered his apartment and pointed their guns at him.

"They thoroughly searched my house, removed N25,000 and carted away my motorcycle. Because I did not give them problem, they patted me and said, 'you are our guy,'" Joseph said.

As for a victim, who identified herself simply as Mrs. Duru, she told our correspondent that she was woken up by 3.30am when the robbers were trying to force an iron door open.

Duru said, "Around 3am, I was woken up by a deafening noise. I thought some people were doing some panel beating work. But when I started to hear a cacophony of noise, it became clear they were robbers trying to gain entrance into a storey-building that has an iron gate.

"I woke my husband up and told him robbers were around. He asked me to arrange some money so that we would give to them as soon as they arrived. That we did. When they came, we quickly gave them the money and they left us. They moved to the next apartment. That was how they robbed all the apartments in our building."

A landlord, who declined to give his name because of fear that he might be attacked, said the robbers laid seige to the area as if there was a kind of revolution.

"The police came around 5am and by that time the robbers had left. It was such a black day," he said.

When our correspondent contacted the spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, on the phone he did not answer his call. He also did not respond to the text message sent to his phone around 11am on Wednesday as at 8pm before the paper went to bed.

http://www.punchontheweb.com/ViewComments.aspx?theartic=Art201110063235642

Calabar-Bishop Frank Owali of the World Overseer of Hebron-Harvest International Ministry, with headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, has raised alarm over alleged hostile treatment and harassment of Nigerians by the authorities of Thailand.


The cleric, who fled the country, alleged that at the time of his departure no fewer than 700 Nigerians have been arrested and clamped into detention in various towns in and around Bangkok. He said there were no effort by officials of Nigerian Embassy in the country to wade in the matter.

Owali said following insecurity, unprovoked harassment, sustained assault, arrest and extortion of money from Nigerians by Thai security officials, several Nigerians had decided to go underground.

He said: The whereabouts of about five Nigerians pastors, including the clerics in charge of The Throne of Grace Church, New Life International Ministry, and of one of my pastors are unknown." He alleged that they were among those penciled down by the Thai police for arrest or extra-judicially execution.

Bishop Owali said that the Thailand legal system was so draconian that it did not give room for suspects to defend themselves, as many Nigerians were said to have been in prison custody for several years without appearing in court for trial.

SOS to Jonathan

He appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian Minister for Foreign Affairs to intervene in the matter to stop further unlawful killing and incarceration of Nigerians in Thailand, stressing that several Nigerian business enterprises and churches had been shut down by the Thai police.

Lamenting their plights, he regretted that since the arrival of the Nigerian Ambassador to Thailand in Bangkok, Mr. Umaru Sulaiman, the envoy had never visited Nigerians imprisoned without trial. He said the Nigerian community in Bangkok was rebuffed by the envoy when they asked him to appeal to Thai authorities to allow one Mr. Obi Peter, who was arrested and detained on trump up charges, to have access to medical care, as the inmate's health going bad.

Mr. Peter, said to be a former President of the Nigerian Community in Thailand, reportedly died in prison custody due to lack of medical treatment, and a peaceful protest by Nigerians at the embassy led to the arrest and detention of some of them.

The death of Mr. Peter, Mr. Obi Parker, Mr. Henry Ogbimi and other Nigerians in prison custody was said to be the cause of the peaceful protest. He said they were accused by the Nigerians embassy of breaching the peace of Thailand, leading to the arrest and detention of many of them.


http://odili.net/news/source/2011/oct/5/306.html

*Headache* caused by rib-crackin laughta. . . . Guy u r Wicked!. Last left toe of a cockroach?!, beard of a mosquito?!! Haba!. . . . .why not add right scrotum of a wild buffalo? LWKMD!

Destroy the US? The Congress has come way closer than the Mujaheeden ever has.

Rich white american girls who are beautiful could never do anything bad.

Casey Anthony gets off with NO CHARGES, not even child endangerment for not telling the authorities her child was missing for over 30 days.

They can't prove she did it with absolute certainty, so they have to let her go, its how society works.

My heart goes out to the KERCHER family.

Niyi Odebode and Fidelis Soriwei, Abuja
http://odili.net/news/source/2011/oct/2/816.html



There was pressure last month on President Goodluck Jonathan to impose a state of emergency on Plateau following the renewed killings in the state.

Investigations by SATURDAY PUNCH showed that at the height of the killings in Plateau, some prominent politicians from the North advised the President to impose a state of emergency on the state.

It was learnt that the pro-state of emergency politicians intensified pressure on the President during the crisis, where two separate families were wiped out. Our correspondents, however, gathered that Jonathan resisted pressures from the politicians, who urged him to emulate former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obasanjo, on May 18, 2004, imposed a state of emergency on Plateau State following the ethno-religious crises that claimed about 600 lives.

Investigations however showed that politicians in the North were divided on the call for state of emergency in the state.

It was learnt that while politicians from the far North supported the call for a state of emergency, their colleagues consistently advised the President against the move.

A Presidency source said, "During the recent crisis in Plateau State, some politicians actually contacted the President and advised him to impose a state of emergency on the state.

"Such people cited Obasanjo, who removed former Governor Joshua Dariye after imposing a state of emergency. But the Middle Belt is not taking things lying low again.

"One of the things they told the President was that if Borno State did not have state of emergency, it should not be in Plateau State.

"But I can tell you that President Goodluck Jonathan is not considering state of emergency in Plateau State. He has said that he would rule like a Pharaoh."

It will be recalled that Senator Kabir Gaya (Kano State) last month called for a state of emergency in Plateau State.

He was, however, opposed by Senator Gyang Dantong (Plateau State), who described the call as "reckless."

Dantong wondered why Gaya did not call for a state of emergency in Borno, Bauchi, Kaduna and Kano states, which he said, had recorded their share of violence.

Also, the coordinator of the Middle Belt Dialogue in Plateau State, Mr. Aminu Zan, condemned the call for state of emergency.

Accusing the far North of bias, Zan said, "This is why people like former the governor of Kano State, Gaya, could call for a state of emergency in Plateau and not in Borno or Kano where there had been crises of serious dimensions."

It will be recalled that some newspapers reported on Monday that some northern governors actually plotted the declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau State at their meeting on September 21, 2011.

According to the reports, the sudden appearance of Governor Jonah Jang at the meeting, was said to have thwarted the move.

It was reported that before Jang's arrival, some governors from the far North had started debating the need for a state of emergency in the state.

Jang, who did not want to attend the meeting, changed when he got an intelligence report about the impending decision of his colleagues. The governors, who planned to push their agenda through Vice-President Namadi Sambo, changed their minds when Jang unexpectedly arrived at the Niger Governor's Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, venue of the meeting.

Frazy:
People who don't believe in God get nothing when they die, if they are right. People who do believe in God get nothing if they are wrong. People who don't believe in God have a serious problem if they're wrong, whereas people who do believe in God get heaven if they are right. I think logic says God is the safer bet. One has from nothing to real bad, the other has from nothing to real good. Do the math on that.

That s called Pacals wager, YAWN. Consider the 'math' on THIS then:

Since there have been many religions throughout history, and therefore MANY conceptions of gods, then the possibility of all of them need to be factored into the wager. This would lead to a high probability of believing in the wrong god, which destroys the mathematical advantage Pascal claimed with his Wager.

Also, if you choose to believe in 'god' in order to increase your chances of getting into heaven, thats called 'inauthetic' belief, which is inherently dishonest. In addition, it is absurd to think that God, being just and omniscient, would not be able to see through this deceptive strategy on behalf of the "believer", nullifying the benefits of the wager.

[quote author=Opus-deii link=topic=768208.msg9225285#msg9225285 date=1317066509]I am an atheist, and yes, i would say that i am an astute person, so i guess this article makes sense, but in response to some of the comments: I would never ever tell a christian, or any other religious person to stop believing in god/religion. Religion is something that cannot be argued because it's a faith based system, and faith when it comes to religion means believing in it without question,  I'm pretty sure that's a basic component in most religions.

My point is that it doesn't make sense to try to "prove" religious people "wrong," because religious people do not want/need physical, hard proof to believe in god. I, personally am not comfortable believing something without questioning it, but I have no problem with people who do, nor do i think i am better,  as long as it's a positive message, and you're not hurting yourself or anyone else (physically or emotionally) or forcing people to believe what you believe, I don't really care what you believe in. There are worse messages that people are spreading to the world. The world needs positivity in any way, shape, or form.[/quote]I Think the bolded statement should be:

Religion is something that cannot be proven because it is a faith based system, and faith when it comes to anything means believing in it without full understanding,

There are very solid, logical arguments for religion, but in the end, faith is necessary, whether you're an Atheist, Christian, Jew, Muslim. Every belief system, has gaps needing to be filled by faith.

“Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear”
Thomas Jefferson

One can and definitely should question their faith, I did, I do and I will.

^^^@White007 - You don't seem like you want to read about legitimate explanations but I will try. Jesus may have been a great man. 30-100 years after his death, others may have written about him in a way that made him out to be the sun of god. He may not have been a lunatic, liar or Lord, but those that wrote about them could have been the prior two.

^^^I believe in God because of math. the relationship between numbers would exist whether humans were here or not. "God is a mathematician of a very high order".

@ frazy- It's alright, I am confidant in my math so will show you the way most people would understand it better, I tutor. First off, Ignore the $1.00, it's already spoken for in the word problem, "a dollar more", with the $1.00 being removed, there is now 2 items left, the bat & the ball that comes to 10 cents. Divide 10 cents by 2 (2 items, bat & ball) and that makes them 5 cents a piece, now as the story said, the bat was $1.00 more, making it $1.05 & that is how the ball is 5 cents! Hope that helps!

For many people, believing in God comes down to a gut feeling that a benevolent deity is out there. A study now finds that gut feelings may be very important in determining who goes to church every Sunday and who avoids the pews.

People who are generally more intuitive in the way they think and make decisions are more likely to believe in God than those who ruminate over their choices, the researchers found. The findings suggest that basic differences in thinking style can influence religious belief.

"Some say we believe in God because our intuitions about how and why things happen lead us to see a divine purpose behind ordinary events that don't have obvious human causes," study researcher Amitai Shenhav of Harvard University said in a statement. "This led us to ask whether the strength of an individual's beliefs is influenced by how much they trust their natural intuitions versus stopping to reflect on those first instincts."

Shenhav and his colleagues investigated that question in a series of studies. In the first, 882 American adults answered online surveys about their belief in God. Next, the participants took a three-question math test with questions such as, "A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball.

How much does the ball cost?"

The intuitive answer to that question is 10 cents, since most people's first impulse is to knock $1 off the total. But people who use "reflective" reasoning to question their first impulse are more likely to get the correct answer: 5 cents.

Sure enough, people who went with their intuition on the math test were found to be one-and-a-half times more likely to believe in God than those who got all the answers right. The results held even when taking factors such as education and income into account.

In a second study, 373 participants were told to write a paragraph about either successfully using their intuition or successfully reasoning their way to an answer. Those who wrote about the intuitive experience were more likely to say they were convinced of God's existence after the experiment, suggesting that triggering intuitive thinking boosts belief.

The researchers plan to investigate how genes and education influence thinking styles, but they're quick to note that neither intuition nor reflection is inherently superior.

"It's not that one way is better than the other," study researcher David Rand of Harvard said in a statement. "Intuitions are important and reflection is important, and you want some balance of the two. Where you are on that spectrum affects how you come out in terms of belief in God."

The research was published Sept. 19 online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

The legislators have not made the case for their irrational, irresponsible, unnecessary, wasteful and selfish incease in the number of committees. They did what they have done, not because it is in the best interest of Nigeria, but because it would best serve their selfish interests, and because they can. This is a glaring and worrying example of the worst form of abuse of power. The way no law makers should use power. This is the type of action that destroys peoples’ confidence in a government and conviences them that the government should be consigned to history. Governments are swept away from power, not so much because of corruption, but because of insensitivity, arrogance and lack of due consideration in their behaviour, attitude and conduct. The behaviour, conduct and attitude of Nigeria legislators to corruption and their constitutional duties have reached a point where no serious minded person, would believe that they are good for Nigeria. There is urgent need for Nigerian legislators to demonstrate to Nigerians that they have their best interest at heart and are capable of playing their role in its future. Otherwise, they will all be swept away by the wind of change when it reaches Nigeria.

Isn’t it surprising that in a country that has the types of problems Nigeria has, that the best its law makers could do, is to think out ingeneous and dishonest ways of fragmenting its services to give them the best economic advantage? What is the law makers’ solution to the problem of Boko Haran, ethnic cleansing in Jos and corruption and extrajudicial killings by the police and members of armed forces and discrimination on the basis of state of origin? How would the fragmentation of committees in an atmosphere of limited resources help solve these problems? The law makers continue to demonstrate that they do not care about what the voters think. This may be because they think that they do not need their votes to remain in power, or the law they make is too impotent to hold them accountable for their actions. Either way, it is a bad omen for the future of Nigerian’s democracy.

As I have arguned elsewhere, the future of Nigeria depends on the reduction of the cost of her government and control of corrupton and honest and sincere leadership at all levels of government, and the behaviour of the law makers do not give hope for optimism. How can a legislative body that is more interested in increasing the natural advantage of its members in a dishonest manner, protect Nigeria from the pressure by some western governments, IMF and World bank on Nigeria to borrow money it does not really need? Nigeria is about to enter into a financial trap to borrow money that would end up in the foreign account of corrupt politicains. The excuse would be that it needs the loan to increase defence spending to control and contain Islamic terrorism and Niger delta insurgency. The arm producing natons allow their weapons to get into the hands of terrorists and when they use it to cause unreset in countries they loan the countries money to buy their weapons to defend themselves. In either case they win. Nigeria is now expected to beef up its military and Boko Haran is the excuse. Where is the articulate and patrotic legislative arm that would protect the interest of the country by subjecting these suspecious deals to scrutiny? This is a legislative body whose members are involved in all sorts of corrupt practices. Howcan they pass just laws that would help Nigeria control corruption if they themselves can engage in such elaborate scam to disguise their real ?

I plead with Nigeria’s legislators to pause, and understand that what they are doing is wrong. That they were not elected to concoct a scheme to ripe off the country by hiding behind forms without substance. Nigeria does not need 139 legislative committes. It makes caricature of Nigeria’s democracy. This would only put pressure on Nigera to further increase an already disproportionate cost of government which is already outrageously high. I am sure there are better Nigerians who, have honest conscience, know what is right, believe in civil and noble values, and know what is appropriate, who can do a better job. It is time for such people to seek public offices to save Nigeria.

Honest and patrotic Nigerians should come together to tell the law makers and corrupt executives that what they are doing is wrong and unacceptable. Nigeria is in des[erate need of men who will call evil by its rightful name, separate right from wrong without sentiments; who will not be bought or sold: men who will stand for the right no matter the pressure. Expecting the current Nigeria legislators to bring about the change that would transform the country would be like expecting a fox to work for the welfare of chickens. Nigerian should wake up to the magnitude of the problem we need to sumount to create a stable democratic and accountable democracy. I hope Nigerian will see the gathering storm, and do what is right, because as Bob Marley sang, ‘No one, but ourselves can free our mind’ and I will add, can free ourselves, from corrupt and self centred leaders with bankrup values. Every honest Nigeria must begin to ask, what can Ido to help save Nigeria.

By E O Eke.

The American House of representative has just about 24 committees. However, Nigerian law makers have just inugurated 56 senate committes and 83 House of representative committes. Under any circumstance this is outrageous, unnecessary and unacceptable. Instead of coming out with a realistice and well thought out plan of how to move Nigeria forward, and address its many problems, the lawmakes have spent the last 100 days devisising various means by which they would contnue to suck Nigeria dry by exploiting their previleged position. At a time, all major economies are reducing the cost of government, Nigeria’s law makers are increasing the cost of government in a way that would only benefit them economically and further increase govenment bureacracy and spending. Their strategy is to create many committees to ensure that as many of them as possible become heads of committeee, a position that entitles them to further renumerations. To achieve this, they embarked on the task of spliting committes and government departments. This is simply hiding behide legitimate government organs to perpetrate crimes against the state.

For instance, instead of one armed forces committee, the law makers split the armed forces into three, Army, Air force and Navy. Most countries in the world have only one armed forces committee either in the lower house or as a joint committee of both Houses. In Nigeria the senate and the House of Representatives have their own different armed force committee, I suppose. In essence, Nigeria is doing with about six committees what other countries do with one committee. Another example is the committe on petrolum and natural resources. In most countries of the world, this is a single committee which caters for petroluem and natutral resources. However, in Nigera, the legislatore have created not just one committee for petrolume, but more than two in both houses I suppose. The national assembly even has a committee for upstream petrolum! I wonder why there should be a special committe for it. Could it be that it is the committee for oil bunkering as it is well known that many Nigerian politicians are involved in oil bunkering acording to wikileaks. Even more rediculous is the existence of committes for Drugs and narcotices and financial crimes. By definition ‘Drugs’ include narcotices. If the law makers mean pharmaceticules, then it should have come under health committee. These are just few examples of the many phony committees members of the National Assembly have inugurated as a cunduit to continue to syphone Nigeria’s resources into their private pockets. All these are on top of the fact that the average Nigeria legislator earns more tha eight hundred thousand pounds( £800,000) a year, while the aveage British MP earn about sixty five thousand pounds£65,000) a year and American congressmem about one hundred thousand pounds(100,000) a year, I suggest that Nigerians should study the number of the National assembly committees to understand the extent of the scam, and how deep rooted corruption is in Nigeria polity.

Where is the love of the legislators for Nigeria? Where is their patrotism? Where is their honesty of purpose? Where is their vision for Nigeria? This is clear evidence, that those who preside over the affairs of Nigeria do not love the country and see politics as simply a game to enrich themselves, and not an opportunity to serve and honour one’s country, and contribute to its development.

This action of the National Assembly is a big disappointment. It demostrates the contempt the law makers have for Nigerians. Where are educated and honest Nigerians? Where is the outrage from the opposition parties? Where are Nigerians who know what are are right, honest and decent? Where are Nigerians who believe in truth, intergrity and due process? Why should Nigeria be a country where legislators’ main concern should be discussing how to share the country’s resources amongst themselveves? Why should Nigeria law makers fix their renumeration? Why should they have a certain amount that is paid to them for community projects which they are not required to account to anybody?

This action of the law makers makes one wonder what the problems are with Nigerian politicians, and if something changes in their mind once they are elected into offices. Is it that Ngerians who are inherently dishonest find themselves in power, or that being in power in Nigeria alters one’s perception of probity and reality? Why is it that Nigerian leaders continue to behave in office, in ways and manners no honest, patrotic individual, with a sense of respnsibility, honesty of purpose and stewardship would? I am perplexed because the number of committees is just unrealistic, unreasonable and unnecessary and incompatible with the economic realities of our time. To bring a sense of comparism to what the law makers have done, let us examine what is obtainable in other democracies which we have copied.

In Britain there is a select commitee for each governnment department examing three aspects, spending, policies and administration. The departmental committees have a minimum of 11 members who decide upon the line of inquiry and then gather written and oral evidence. The total number of select committes is 35 for the House of Commons. The house of lord, British senior chamber, has only 5 major committees. Their investigations look into specialist subjects, taking advantage of the Lords expertise and greater amount of time available to examine issues. The five major committes are:

European union
Science and technology
Communication
Constitution
Economic affairs and commerece
The American senate has about 16 standing committees

Agriculture and nutrition
Appointments
Armed forces
Banking, Housing and urban affairs
Budget, commerce, science and transport
Energy and natural Resources
Environmental and public works
Finance and Foreign relations
Health, Education, labour and Pensions
Homeland security and governance affairs
Judiciary, rules and administration and Small Business
Vetaran Affairs and four special committees, select and other committees below
Joint economic committee
Joint committee on printing
Joint committee on Library
Joint committee on deficit reduction

Sadly, Nigeria continues to prove a good example of how a country should not conduct its affairs, and government manage its resources, and relate to its people.

The latest scene in this never ending schizophrenic existence of Nigeria, is the recent inuguration of committees by the National Assembly. The memebers of the National Assembly have demonstrated that the normal rules of proportion, decency, and rationality do not seem to apply to them and their vision for Nigeria. If not, how can one explain their inuguration of 139 committies at a time when most countries of the world are downsizing, restructuring and learning to do more with less? This is coming after the furore of exposing the fact that the National Assembly, about 550 people, consumes aproximately 25% of the national recurrent expenditure; a scandal that is unprecidented in the whole history of mankind.

This is yet another unfortunate example in the catalogue of evidence that suggest that Nigeria politicians do not appear to care about noble values, Nigeria and its people, but how to use their position to secure maximum economic advantage for themselves, their familes and friends. It would suggest that in Nigeria, the form is more important than substance. That the government is more interested in giving the impression that it is doing something rather than actually doing the things it is elected to do, portentous that Nigeria may be a kind of 419 state.




Continue reading the article below,

Too many atheists miss the point of religion, it's about how we live and not what we believe, writes John Gray.

When he recounts the story of his conversion to Catholicism in his autobiography A Sort of Life, Graham Greene writes that he went for instruction to Father Trollope, a very tall and very fat man who had once been an actor in the West End.

Trollope was a convert who became a priest and led a highly ascetic life, and Greene didn't warm to him very much, at least to begin with.

Yet the writer came to feel that in dealing with his instructor he was faced with "the challenge of an inexplicable goodness". It was this impression - rather than any of the arguments the devout Father presented to the writer for the existence of God - that eventually led to Greene's conversion.

The arguments that were patiently rehearsed by Father Trollope faded from his memory, and Greene had no interest in retrieving them. "I cannot be bothered to remember," he writes. "I accept."

It's clear that what Greene accepted wasn't what he called "those unconvincing philosophical arguments". But what was it that he had accepted?

We tend to assume that religion is a question of what we believe or don't believe. It's an assumption with a long history in western philosophy, which has been reinforced in recent years by the dull debate on atheism.

In this view belonging to a religion involves accepting a set of beliefs, which are held before the mind and assessed in terms of the evidence that exists for and against them. Religion is then not fundamentally different from science, both seem like attempts to frame true beliefs about the world. That way of thinking tends to see science and religion as rivals, and it then becomes tempting to conclude that there's no longer any need for religion.

This was the view presented by the Victorian anthropologist JG Frazer in his book The Golden Bough, a study of the myths of primitive peoples that is still in print. According to Frazer, human thought advances through a series of stages that culminate in science. Starting with magic and religion, which view the world simply as an extension of the human mind, we eventually reach the age of science in which we view the world as being ruled by universal laws.

Frazer's account has been immensely influential. It lies behind the confident assertions of the new atheists, and for many people it's just commonsense. My own view is closer to that of the philosopher Wittgenstein, who commented that Frazer was much more savage than the savages he studied.

I don't belong to any religion, but the idea that religion is a relic of primitive thinking strikes me as itself incredibly primitive.


In most religions - polytheism, Hinduism and Buddhism, Daoism and Shinto, many strands of Judaism and some Christian and Muslim traditions - belief has never been particularly important. Practice - ritual, meditation, a way of life - is what counts. What practitioners believe is secondary, if it matters at all.

The idea that religions are essentially creeds, lists of propositions that you have to accept, doesn't come from religion. It's an inheritance from Greek philosophy, which shaped much of western Christianity and led to practitioners trying to defend their way of life as an expression of what they believe.

This is where Frazer and the new atheists today come in. When they attack religion they are assuming that religion is what this western tradition says it is - a body of beliefs that needs to be given a rational justification.

Obviously, there are areas of life where having good reasons for what we believe is very important. Courts of law and medicine are evidence-based practices, which need rigorous procedures to establish the facts. The decisions of governments rest on claims about how their policies will work, and it would be useful if these claims were regularly scrutinised - though you'd be well advised not to hold your breath.

But many areas of life aren't like this. Art and poetry aren't about establishing facts. Even science isn't the attempt to frame true beliefs that it's commonly supposed to be. Scientific inquiry is the best method we have for finding out how the world works, and we know a lot more today than we did in the past. That doesn't mean we have to believe the latest scientific consensus. If we know anything, it's that our current theories will turn out to be riddled with errors. Yet we go on using them until we can come up with something better.

Science isn't actually about belief - any more than religion is about belief. If science produces theories that we can use without believing them, religion is a repository of myth.


Myths aren't relics of childish thinking that humanity leaves behind as it marches towards a more grown-up view of things. They're stories that tell us something about ourselves that can't be captured in scientific theories.

Just as you don't have to believe that a scientific theory is true in order to use it, you don't have to believe a story for it to give meaning to your life.

Myths can't be verified or falsified in the way theories can be. But they can be more or less truthful to human experience, and I've no doubt that some of the ancient myths we inherit from religion are far more truthful than the stories the modern world tells about itself.

The idea that science can enable us to live without myths is one of these silly modern stories. There's nothing in science that says the world can be finally understood by the human mind.

If Darwin's theory of evolution is even roughly right, humans aren't built to understand how the universe works. The human brain evolved under the pressures of the struggle for life.

Through science humans can lift themselves beyond the view of things that's forced on them by day-to-day existence. They can't overcome the fact that they remain animals, with minds that aren't equipped to see into the nature of things.

Darwin's theory is unlikely to be the final truth. It may be just a rough account of how life has developed in our part of the cosmos. Even so, the clear implication of the theory of evolution is that human knowledge is by its nature limited.

It's been said that the universe is a queerer place than we can possibly imagine, and I'm sure that's right. However rapidly our knowledge increases, we'll always be surrounded by the unknowable.


Science hasn't enabled us to dispense with myths. Instead it has become a vehicle for myths - chief among them, the myth of salvation through science. Many of the people who scoff at religion are sublimely confident that, by using science, humanity can march onwards to a better world.

But "humanity" isn't marching anywhere. Humanity doesn't exist, there are only human beings, each of them ruled by passions and illusions that conflict with one another and within themselves.

Science has given us many vital benefits, so many that they would be hard to sum up. But it can't save the human species from itself.

Because it's a human invention, science - just like religion - will always be used for all kinds of purposes, good and bad. Unbelievers in religion who think science can save the world are possessed by a fantasy that's far more childish than any myth. The idea that humans will rise from the dead may be incredible, but no more so than the notion that "humanity" can use science to remake the world.

No doubt there will be some who are deeply shocked by Graham Greene's nonchalance about the arguments that led him to convert to Catholicism. How could he go on practising a religion when he couldn't even remember his reasons for joining it?

The answer is that he did remember - but his reasons had nothing to do with arguments.

Human beings don't live by argumentation, and it's only religious fundamentalists and ignorant rationalists who think the myths we live by are literal truths.

Evangelical atheists who want to convert the world to unbelief are copying religion at its dogmatic worst. They think human life would be vastly improved if only everyone believed as they do, when a little history shows that trying to get everyone to believe the same thing is a recipe for unending conflict.

We'd all be better off if we stopped believing in belief. Not everyone needs a religion. But if you do, you shouldn't be bothered about finding arguments for joining or practising one. Just go into the church, synagogue, mosque or temple and take it from there.

What we believe doesn't in the end matter very much. What matters is how we live.

A 58-year-old pastor, Mr. Femi Alo, on Wednesday told a Grade A Customary Court sitting in Mushin, Lagos, that he received instructions from God to marry a new wife and divorce Felicia, his wife of 34 years with whom he had four children.



Femi said this during the hearing of a divorce suit he filed against Felicia on the grounds that she deserted him for 15 years without any reason and that Felicia did not love him anymore.

"Felicia left home since 1996 under the guise of visiting her parents in Iddo-Ekiti, Ekiti State and since then she has not returned home. I have lived like a bachelor all this while and I am tired of living such a life. I sought the face of God on this and God has given me the go-ahead to divorce her and marry a new wife. He has revealed this to me," he said.

When asked by the court whom God directed him to marry, Femi said God's will for him in marriage was a 43-year-old divorcee who is currently a student in his church's school of evangelism.

Femi whose first two children are married, however told the court that his children were opposed to his decision to divorce their mother.

He said, "Though my children are not supporting the divorce, I will go ahead with it because I want peace for myself and with God.They don't have a say over me.I brought them up and made them who they are today.

"I have been patient enough for 15 years. Despite my appeal and entreaties from my relations to her to come back home she refused to return. I don't even know about her affairs over there. Besides, I can't even go against God's will."

Felicia was however absent in court despite being served with the hearing notice. The court urged Femi to furnish it with Felicia's phone number so as to establish oral communication with her with a view to ensuring her prescence at the adjourned date.

The President of the court, Dr. Gladstone Ipaye, adjourned the case till October 4 for further hearing.

http://odili.net/news/source/2011/sep/16/820.html

The Underpant Bomber is delusional

For long, the Federal Government has been calling on Nigerians in the Diaspora to come home and invest in the country, describing them as an invaluable catalyst in Nigeria’s transformation agenda. Well, a Nigerian based in the United States who heeded the call is regretting the decision.



Dr. Okechukwu Unogu owns a pharmaceutical company in the United States. He says his intention was to come home and establish such pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria’s rural areas, asserting that he has a deep passion for rural dwellers and their healthcare.

Dr. Unogu says he was, however, beaten black and blue by some miscreants over a plot of land he purchased in Igando, a suburb of Lagos State.

Hear him: “I told a classmate and friend, Mr. Ugochukwu Ezeugwa, to help me purchase a plot of land in 2003 since I was not based in Nigeria. I gave him some amount of money. Actually, I have been coming home since then but I never had a chance to visit the place until I came home this time. I called my friend, who later asked me to call one Adewumi Dada to show me the land. The very day we were going to see the land, I went with my brother, Emmanuel Unogu, and another friend, Mr. Emeka Irregbi. As we were going, I noticed that this man, Adewumi, was making some calls in Yoruba. When we got there, I noticed that my name had been removed from the gate, and the two-bedroom apartment that I told my friend to build on the land before building the pharmaceutical factory had been demolished and a new duplex built on it.

“At this juncture, I had to call my friend, Ugochukwu, whom I gave money to. He told me to be careful, saying this was land matter. I was not happy. As the argument continued, I saw four guys. They came and started asking, ‘where is the man?’ Immediately Adewumi pointed at me and they started beating me, hauling stones and using every available weapon they could lay their hands on. Thank God, my brother was able to escape from the scene. He ran to the police station. The mob threatened to burn me together with my car but thank God for the early arrival of the police, who arrested two of them. Unfortunately, I was told the police released them the following day.”

When contacted for clarification, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Igando Police Station, Mr. Adeoye, confirmed that division was handling the matter. He said the matter was already in court, adding that prosecution was halted because the plaintiff is out of the country.

http://odili.net/news/source/2011/sep/14/508.html

TRIPOLI - The NATO bombing campaign that fatally weakened Muammar Gaddafi's rule had a secret asset: A 24-year-old Libyan woman who spent months spying on military facilities and passing on the details to the alliance.

The woman, operating under the codename Nomidia, used elaborate methods to evade capture - constantly changing her location, using multiple mobile telephone SIM cards and hiding her activities from all but the closest members of her family.

Her biggest protection against arrest by Gaddafi's security forces though was her gender: As a young woman in Libya's conservative Muslim society, they did not suspect her.

"I was not on the radar," the woman, an engineer, told Reuters in an interview in the lobby of a Tripoli hotel, two weeks on from a rebellion that broke Col. Gaddafi's control over the Libyan capital after 42 years in power.

"They were concentrating more on the guys and it was almost impossible to think that a girl was doing all of this."

Nomidia spoke to Reuters on condition that her real identity not be revealed: She said that while Tripoli was now under control of a new interim government, there was still a "fifth column" of Gaddafi loyalists who might target her or her family.

The account she gave of her activities was corroborated by two other people who were part of an underground anti-Gaddafi network and helped her send details about his security forces.

"[She was] a very important source, and very trusted," said Osama Layas, a forensic pathologist who was a member of the network.

When Nomidia began her undercover role five months ago, Col. Gaddafi and his security forces had a firm grip on the city and stifled any information that could be useful to his opponents.

A tall, slender woman with a green chiffon scarf draped over her head, Nomidia said she felt compelled to act after the brutal way in which Gaddafi's forces put down the first stirrings of revolt in cities around the country.

She began by calling Libya al-Ahrar, an anti-Gaddafi television station based in Doha, Qatar.

With little real information leaking out of Tripoli, producers at the station put her voice on air - under the name Nomidia - with accounts of what was happening in the city.

Soon she was dialling in with details of military forces, which the channel wanted to keep off the air to avoid alerting Gaddafi's government.

Instead they began passing on the information to NATO, via officials with the rebel government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), said Lina, at the time a producer at the station who was Nomidia's principal point of contact.

The information Nomidia upplied was "basically, where they were storing their arms,t heir tanks," said Lina, who sked to be identified only by er first name.

"She did an amazing job," Lina told Reuters by telephone.

The number of Americans living in poverty rose to a record 46.2 million last year, official data has shown.

This is the highest figure since the US Census Bureau started collecting the data in 1959.

In percentage terms, the poverty rate rose to 15.1%, up from 14.3% in 2009.

The US definition of poverty is an annual income of $22,314 (£14,129) or less for a family of four and $11,139 for a single person.

The number of Americans living below the poverty line has now risen for four years in a row, while the poverty rate is the biggest since 1993.

Poverty among black and Hispanic people was much higher than for the overall US population last year, the figures also showed.

The Census Bureau data said 25.8% of black people were living in poverty and 25.3% of Hispanic people.

Its latest report also showed that the average annual US household income fell 2.3% in 2010 to $49,445.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans without health insurance remained about 50 million.

The data comes as the US unemployment rate remains above 9%.

President Barack Obama last week launched a new $450bn job creation plan.

He wants to fund huge construction projects, schools and services, while giving tax cuts to workers and small businesses to boost recruitment.

However, his plans require backing from Congress, where Republicans - who control the House of Representatives - have voiced their opposition.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14903732

The big story all over Arabic-language news outlets is that embattled Libyan president Mu’ammar Gaddafi is secretly a Jew (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, for example). This points to the general antisemitic attitudes of the Muslim and Arab world–else why would this be such a big story? Muslims frequently contend that they are anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish. But that doesn’t explain this story, as Gaddafi’s grandmother apparently was a Jew of Libyan descent, and even converted to Islam. Would there have been such a ruckus if it had been discovered that Gaddafi secretly had a Swedish grandmother, for example? The following is a translation of just one of the stories from Arab press.


Israeli media outlets continued to follow-up on the news about Libyan president Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi, especially after the appearance of two Jewish women on Channel 2 on Israeli television, confirming that he is the son of their sister.

For its part, the Hebrew magazine “Israel Today” alleged that al-Gaddafi was from Jewish descent. Therefore, it was his right to seek refuge in Israel. Guaita Brown and her granddaughter Rachel Sa’da, both Jewish women from Libyan descent, confirmed that al-Gaddafi was from Jewish descent. Guaita Brown pointed to the fact that her grandmother and al-Gaddafi’s grandmother were sisters.

Meanwhile Sa’da made clear that al-Gaddafi’s grandmother was Jewish, and that she had married someone from the same religion. However, he abused her, so she left him and married a Muslim, (who was) a tribal leader. By him she gave birth to a daughter, who was al-Gaddafi’s mother. The magazine stated that even though al-Gaddafi’s mother converted to Islam when she married that leader, she remains–according to Israeli law–Jewish

http://israelinsider.net/profiles/blogs/with-a-jewish

http://bigpeace.com/amutarjim/2011/03/02/gaddafi-is-secretly-a-jew-so-says-the-arab-press/

We need more dumb A*S like that. This will truly stimulate the economy. Verizon\/ Sprint , AT&T etc, 's stocks will go way up. And maybe, maybe that will save Obama's job next year.

On a serious note, there must be something special about the Guy.

Not excessive? 65,000 phone calls is excessive under any circumstances, even between people that love each other to death? I think this lady needs to go into phone rehab for a while before they release her back out into the world.

Youth is a circumstances you can't do anything about. The trick is to grow up without getting old.