by Blogbot

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by Damon Martin

“I burned the candle at both ends and it gave a lovely light”
– Christopher Hitchens

It was a chilly November night when former British Prime Minister Tony Blair took to the stage of Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall to participate in his first public debate since leaving office. His opponent that night was Vanity Fair contributor and award-winning writer Christopher Hitchens, who originally hails from Blair’s home island as well.

Stepping onto the stage looking somewhat more frail than usual, Hitchens sat down opposite Blair, ready to face him in a battle of words focused on the simple question of whether or not religion was a force of good in the world.

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by Sash Suicide

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by Nicole Powers

“The thing you loved as a kid is the thing you should do when you grow up.”
– Larry Charles

Real Time comedian Bill Maher and Borat director Larry Charles are men on a mission: to destroy society’s blind faith in God. The medium they chose to convey their doctrine is not a dusty old book, but an entertaining documentary which highlights the ridiculous aspects of religion, hence its name, Religulous.

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by Darrah de jour

In the United States, faith-based abstinence-only programs in schools have received $ 1.3 Billion in government funding between 1982-2008. This “save yourself until marriage” agenda has a 90% failure rate. Rationalizing this kind of spending on an essentially faith-based agenda – as opposed to comprehensive sex education, which teaches students about birth control, such as condoms, as well as abstinence – in a country that has a supposed buffer (yeah, right) between church and state begs any thoughtful, sex-loving or even moderately literate human being to ask WTF?

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by Blogbot

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by Damon Martin

Jared Lee Loughner: It’s a name that will live forever in American infamy. The 22-year old was responsible for killing six people and injuring a further 14 on Saturday at a political gathering outside a supermarket in Tuscon, AZ. Among the dead was a Federal Judge and a 9-year old girl. Those wounded include Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, who it’s understood was the focus of the attack. Loughner stood before a judge for the first time on Monday, facing multiple charges that will likely land him in jail for life or end in the death penalty.

It was ironic that just two days after the shootings took place, the Showtime network had a planned broadcast of Michael Moore’s 2002 Academy Award winning film Bowling for Columbine. The film focused on gun control and the lack thereof in the United States, and the tragic events leading up to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that claimed 13 lives and injured a further 21 people. In the film, Moore went to great lengths to try to educate and inform the audience about how easy it is for guns to get into the hands of those with unstable minds.

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