The View from Number 80

August 23rd 2004

Saucer Silliness - some politicians will jump on any passing bandwagon - even when the bandwagon in question is a flying saucer. Such is the case with Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico who supplied the foreword to a new book on a tired old subject. Called "The Roswell Dig Diaries," the dig refers to an "archaeological" dig conducted at one of the supposed crash sites of a flying saucer dating from 1947. Richardson states in the foreword "With full disclosure and our best scientific investigation, we should be able to find out what happened on that fateful day in July 1947." ("Fateful day?" Sounds like he has already made up his mind) The real puzzle is why bother? The Roswell crashed saucer and alien bodies fable only serves two purposes these days. Firstly it is a cherished emblem of the saucer nuts, for whom no amount of disclosure or investigation would dispel the "mystery" and secondly, it is nice little tourist earner for an otherwise unremarkable small town. What it is not is any kind of great mystery, despite the best efforts of the Sci-Fi Channel who sponsored the dig and the book. In an unusual show of election year bipartisanship the executive director of the New Mexico Republican Party, Greg Graves is supporting Richardson's stance, confirming how desperate for publicity he must be. At least Graves is honest enough to reveal the underlying economic motive, "Thousands of people come to Roswell every year to visit the site and go to the museum. It's an incredible boon to the Roswell economy" Richardson gets rather less support from astronomer Andrew Fraknoi, who has little time for pseudoscience and UFO silliness. He told SFGate he found Richardson's foreword unbelievable and added "This continues to confirm that election or appointment to high office does not guarantee wisdom in all areas of human thought". (For more on Roswell and UFOs in general, 80 recommends the Klass Files)

Criticism Is Not Phobic - there is a good piece by Polly Toynbee in the Guardian entitled "We must be free to criticise without being called racist". For her comments on Islam, which are certainly unpalatable for some Muslims, she was given the "Most Islamophobic media personality" award by the oxymoronic-sounding Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC). This act of stupidity puts her in the same category as the leader of the British fascists, Nick Griffin, Ariel Sharon and "Islamophobe of the year", George W Bush. Toynbee's journalism shows that she is the last person who should be tarred with the brush of Islamophobia, a term which is not easy to define but is certainly offensive (see 80 on Islamophobia). To criticise Islam or any other religion does not imply hatred or fear on the part of the critic. To incite discrimination or violence towards any religious group is totally unacceptable and no one in their right mind could accuse Toynbee of this. The IHRC, if they cannot tell the difference between the two attitudes, reveal themselves to be an ignorant organization. It is the Toynbees and liberals of this world who fight for the right of people to follow their religious preferences, but no one can expect special treatment. A further point, criticising or commenting on someone's religious beliefs is NOT racism and calling it such is inaccurate. 80 believes religions and their adherents should be accorded tolerance, but respect has to be earned.  By the way, here is a word for Scrabble fans and lexicographers, enissophobia. This particular affliction is what seems to be gripping the IHRC.  Its meaning? Fear of criticism.

Science Out - Religion In - in a world torn apart by religious divisions and hatreds, a world that faces challenges to the environment, antibiotic resistant diseases, and a shortage of food and clean water for many regions, does Britain really need an increase in students opting for religious studies? According to the Independent newspaper, referring to the British A-level examinations "This year's results also showed a switch away from traditional academic subjects such as science and foreign languages to soft options such as media studies. The biggest rise in take-up was in religious studies - which was up 13.8 points." One positive interpretation of this last figure is that after September 11th students have become aware of the role that religion plays in world events. "It may well reflect a genuine interest in world religion and studying why these conflicts seem to have their roots in religious tension," says David Hart, of the National Association of Head Teachers. A subject that went down in popularity was science with a drop of 6.5%, and within that figure physics fell by 6.2%, prompting this gloomy comment from Mary Bousted, of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, "Over the past five years, the number of students taking the subject at A-level has dropped by 5,200. If this rate continues, will physics become the next Latin and disappear altogether?" Physics is the best and only reliable and consistent way to learn about how our entire universe works, from the unimaginably large to the infinitesimally small - it is not a subject that can just be dropped from the curriculum. 80 wonders, is this how a Dark Age begins? The current fuss and debate over whether exams have become too easy, leading to unrealistically high pass rates is trivial compared to the falling away from subjects we will desperately need in the 21st century. (Here is essay by Rob Colson in New Humanist on religious education, unanswerable questions and arrogance)

Grand Gesture - or just too fat? Much attention was given to Iranian Olympic judo contender Arash Miresmaeili for refusing to participate if drawn against an Israeli opponent. This is in line with Iranian government policy forbidding any contact with Israeli citizens, and a judo bout would certainly have involved contact. Now Miresmaeili's principled stand, applauded by President Mohammad Khatami, who said it will be recorded among the nation's glories, turns out to be an empty gesture. The Iranian athlete has been eliminated for failing a stringent weight test, which placed him over the 66kg limit for his class.

Hejab Handicap - Iran has also only managed to field one female contestant for the games, Nassim Hassanpour. She is competing in the 10 metre air pistol event. Shooting is not her main sport, this BBC item tells us she is, in fact, a gymnast. As her theocratic government insists that she wears the equivalent of a small tent in public, this would naturally not enhance her competitiveness in gymnastics. Still very keen to represent her country she chose the air pistol event instead. The Islamic Women's Games do allow competitors to wear regular gymnastic attire but no male judges or spectators are allowed to attend. It may well meet Islamic standards of decorum but it certainly isn't the Olympics. In Iran women only have limited access to sports facilities and have to play tennis, for instance, on a covered court. It all comes down to one thing and Hassanpour puts her finger on it "Basically in our society, women are not valued the same as men." (On reflection, whatever the culture/ religion, or to what greatly varying degree, this could be said of most societies. Especially if you interpret "not valued the same" as implying valued differently, and not valued less.) For more on the rules governing Muslim women in sport and the beliefs behind them, see this piece by Amir Taheri. "A circular from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture in Tehran asks TV editors to make sure that women's games are not televised live: "Images of women engaged in contests [sic] must be carefully vetted," says the letter, leaked in Tehran. "Editors must take care to prevent viewers from being confronted [sic] with uncovered parts of the female anatomy in contests." Otherwise dirty old men will become aroused - and blame the women as usual. "Sheik Yussuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian theologian based in Qatar, claims that female sport is exploited as a means of undermining "divine morality." Can these old boys not even watch a sporting event without thinking of sex?

August 27th 2004

Dirty War - the American presidential race was never going to be a gentlemanly affair. A group of Vietnam vets called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" via TV ads and a book are doing their best to belittle  Democratic candidate John Kerry's war record and in particular rewrite the events surrounding his rescue of Jim Rassman, a special-forces soldier, while under fire. What this group have succeeded in doing is directing attention to their Republican party links and the inconsistencies in their accounts. This article in the New York Times (reg req) takes a close look at the "Swift Boat Veterans", producing an effect akin to turning over a stone and revealing the wriggling lifeforms beneath. The changing testimonies of the vets and the sources of funding for their ads removes any trace of doubt that this is a put up job, a smear campaign. Regardless of your opinion of Kerry's politics one fact stands out above all the argument about the details of Kerry's war record and medals - he did actually serve in Vietnam. He was not in an elite Air National Guard unit back home, and what's more, he can account for all his time in service. President Bush has not condemned the smear tactics although asked to do so by Senator John McCain, who underwent something similar when running for the Republican nomination in 2000. As for Kerry, he is angry and sounding combative, "The president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on!"

Update - on the Swift Boat Veterans saga, the Kerry campaign upped the ante on Friday by filing a legal complaint against Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) for "violating the law with inaccurate ads that are illegally coordinated with the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign". In what could be an attempt to capture the higher moral ground, Kerry has condemned adverts by a liberal group, funded by Democrat supporters, which alleges President Bush used family influence to gain a place with the National Guard in order to avoid serving during the Vietnam war. Perish the thought!

Spook Chill Out - another ghost has been clumsy enough to be captured on a CCTV surveillance camera. A while back (December 2003 Is This Proof Ghosts Exist?) one of these elusive little blighters was supposed to have been seen on camera at Hampton Court Palace, England. Now Kent County Court House in Chestertown, Maryland is the setting for the appearance of "a round, translucent, white object that seemed to "walk" up and down a set of stairs inside the newer wing of the courthouse." The general manager of the firm that installed the cameras, Brooke Eyler, is distinctly unimpressed, saying "I've seen it so many times, it's not funny. It's definitely a bug." Naturally this down to earth attitude does not sit well with Beverly Lipsinger, president of the Maryland Ghost & Spirit Association, and a typical believer. She said "It's a ghost. They don't want to believe, so they're coming up with something." It is noteworthy that her strong opinion is based only upon hearsay, as she spoke without having seen the videotape of the phenomenon. She wants to set up her own "ghost detection equipment" which, 80 guarantees, will produce results that will confirm her belief. Whether anyone else, outside the Maryland Ghost & Spirit Association, will be convinced remains to be seen. One report, originally from Associated Press, says that observers watching security officer Phillip Price on screen, saw him walk right through the "ghost". "At that exact moment Price said he felt something. "I felt a real chill, I will tell you that." goes the report. There was no direct communication between the observers and Price, and no mention is made of the use of synchronized stopwatches, which  does lead one to wonder how it is known his subjective "chill" feeling ocurred at the "exact moment" that he was seen to walk through the apparition. Sloppy reporting, the love of cheap sensation and the imperishable (and irrational) will to believe of folks like Lipsinger will ensure that many more ghosts are waiting to make their appearance on TV or, if we are lucky, "live" in person. As 80 has said before, ghosts should outnumber the living on planet Earth, so how come we aren't knee-deep in ectoplasm?

August 29th 2004

Playing the Games - apparently as unconcerned as ever by any element of truth, George W Bush is now associating himself and his "war on terror" with the 2004 Olympic Games. This campaign ploy does not sit well with everyone, particularly the Iraqi Olympic soccer team, whose views were made known in an interview with a US sports magazine. In the campaign ad the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan were shown, accompanied by the words "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations - and two fewer terrorist regimes". To those experiencing the upsurge of Taleban and warlord violence in Afghanistan and the instability of the newly "sovereign" Iraq, this must have sounded very hollow. It ranks with the notorious "mission accomplished" declaration, when the president used an aircraft carrier as backdrop for declaring the end of "major combat operations" in Iraq. That was when he dressed up like an aviator and performed a Leni Riefenstahl-type descent from above, in a specially painted S-3B Viking airplane, onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. We are not likely to see this aired during the current campaign, as the propaganda stunt, which cost US taxpayers a cool $1 million, when seen against the background of the current mayhem in Iraq looks even more ridiculous than it did in May 2003. (Here is more on the Bush administration's stagecraft.)

Update - to the above. According to this piece in the UK Guardian the Bush campaign ad is infringing US copyright law as "only the US Olympic Committee has the right to use the Olympic insignia, images and trademarks for marketing purposes." Whether any action will be taken remains to be seen. There are even rumors that George W Bush, hitherto not known as a soccer fan, may attend the Games, the better to bask in the so far successful Iraqi team's glory. 

Pendulum Puzzle - does the Universe have a "grain" like a piece of wood?  One explanation for an experimental anomaly suggests that the force of gravity is different in different directions. While this may not be the answer to results that Maurice Allais obtained in 1954 and which been  replicated elsewhere since, it is an intriguing speculation that has great implications for the theory of General Relativity. Put crudely, Allais found that a pendulum moved faster than expected during a solar eclipse. Now Chris Duif, a researcher at the Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands claims the effect is real and not an error of measurement and would also fit in with observations of very distant US space probes. Pioneers 10 and 11, launched in the 1970s are streaking toward the edge of the Solar System - more slowly than expected. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has been studying this effect and can find no conventional answer. At the moment several competing explanations have been offered, including the above-mentioned directionality of space. More detail is available from The Economist and also Duif's paper is online here in PDF format. It is from anomalous measurements like those of Allais and Duif that we may learn a lot more more about the way the cosmos is put together, and they could perhaps even herald a complete reassessment of what we know, or think we know. Whether this is, to use a hackneyed term, a paradigm shift, remains to be seen but one thing is for sure - it is a damn sight more intriguing than all the hollow earths, ghosts, therapeutic touch, UFOs and other twaddle that attract so much uncritical coverage in the media.

August 30th 2004

Missing, One Empire - while browsing through David Meadows' admirable Explorator, an archaeology/history newsletter (the latest issue is here) 80's attention was directed once more to the odd world of "biblical" archaeology (BA). This is when folk use ancient texts from the bible in order to find archaeological evidence in order to confirm the accuracy of the ancient texts in the bible. If that sounds unscientific and daft that's because it is. This article, Digging Up the Bible, defends the conventional BA view that the books of the bible  reflect historical reality, and that there was a "united monarchy" established by David and inherited by his son Solomon, by which time their possessions were effectively an empire. This empire had foreign trade and diplomatic contacts across the ancient world. The only problem with this thesis is that, outside of the biblical texts, there is no mention of David or Solomon anywhere and no evidence on the ground for their kingdom/empire. The writer of the article, one David Hazony, is firmly in the "bible is a historical record" camp. He says there is plenty of evidence to support his view and it is all down to a matter of interpretation. Here he is plain wrong, the Davidic/Solomonic empire just does not fit into the known history of the area. It is a fairy tale place that exists outside the world revealed by archaeology. The "fortresses of Solomon" at Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer found by Yigael Yadin, using the bible as his guide, are of a later date than the supposed time of the great king. This kingdom is no more real than King Arthur's and perhaps, at the time the stories were written, served the same original purpose - consolation for a defeated people. Hazony's real agenda has little to do with archaeology or ancient history, but a lot to do with more modern interests. The original source of his article was Azure.org, where he is editor-in-chief, and whose avowed aim is to champion "the strength and relevance of Jewish tradition and the centrality of a strong, free and Jewish State of Israel for the future of the Jewish people." This mission does not encourage the objective analysis of archaeological evidence. Hazony can refer to only one artifact that demonstrates the historical reality of David, the Tel Dan inscription. For him, "the most important archaeological discovery in a generation was found: The first-ever inscription bearing the name of King David..." The only problem with this inscription is that it may have nothing to do with David whatsoever and its interpretation is still open. Even if it does refer to the "house of David", one inscription is hardly evidence of a kingdom large and rich enough to have had an impact on the world stage. (also see Solomon Arthur and Dubya and Aryan Covenant Lyer)

Not So Spooky - 80 was saddened to hear of the death of film composer Elmer Bernstein on August 18th. Some of his works have attained an iconic status and have become part of the world's soundscape. Two that fit into this category are his unmistakable and popular scores for the movies The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. As chance would have it after the announcement of Berstein's death 80 was cooking, a chore that has to be accompanied by the radio. The station chosen was BBC Radio 7 which has an archive section of classic comedies and dramas. (If you have a broadband connection and a love of British humor check it out) 80 first chose "Round the Horne" from 1967 which featured a parody film trailer - using Bernstein's theme from The Magnificent Seven. The next show picked at random (the only criterion was whether a show was funny) was a News Quiz from 1999. One of the musical clues was Bernstein's Great Escape title music. Spooky eh? Well actually no, as Michael Shermer explains in his latest skeptical column in Scientific American entitled "Miracle on Probability Street" Shermer shows us that "The Law of Large Numbers guarantees that one-in-a-million miracles happen 295 times a day in America" Good stuff - and not at all spooky.

August 31st 2004

Miracle Babies - Archbishop Gilbert Deya claims that he is able to help women who are unable to conceive naturally by proclaiming them pregnant - after an exorcism. That anyone should give this charlatan any credence whatsoever is hard to believe, but naive people have taken Deya at his word and now may well be embroiled in an investigation by the Metropolitan Police, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Kenyan authorities, the Church of England, the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the BBC radio program, Face The Facts. (Listen to the show A "Cure" for Infertility) Not quite what was expected when Deya prayed over them, and then declared that they were pregnant by Jesus. The next move was to send them to the "backstreet clinics of Nairobi's slums where they apparently give birth." Archbishop Deya, "whose group has more than 36,000 members in Britain and which is building a £1 million church in south London" also claims that "he can exorcise demons from women who have passed the menopause or who are infertile" according to the BBC. Now the Kenyan authorities have seized  several "miracle babies" for DNA tests, in order to to establish their parentage. Deya has said that it would not be surprising if the DNA did not match, as the babies "came from God". A Birmingham Pastor, Benjamin Mensah, defends Deya's absurd claims and says it is up to doctors to explain why the DNA does not match. "My own point of view is that God is able to do all things" Mensah told the BBC, which of course begs the question why doesn't God make the DNA match up - surely a trivial task for a deity and one that would save his devotees the distress of a police investigation. As Mensah is a member of Deya's church, whose own wife has had two miracle babies, he is hardly an objective bystander and any statements he makes are worthless. One puzzle which God's miraculous intervention does not seem to be able get around is why do the women have to travel all the way to Kenya to give birth? (Thanks to Simon for making this point). It does seem a longwinded way of doing things - unless Kenya is a more suitable venue for baby-trafficking of course. Deya has attracted attention in the past and was investigated by the Church of England for conducting exorcisms on young children but no action was taken. (80 is trying to find out more about this.) Deya's website is here replete with testimonials and prayers, including one for barrenness. For sale are videos, books, magazines, and audio tapes. Babies are not listed. Most interesting are the videos advertised, including "A Great Miracle - Jesus Healed a Woman with Three Breasts", "Debts Cancelled and the Spirit of Death Cast Out", "Ambassador Carrying Snake in his Belly Delivered in Jesus Name" and last but not least "(Witchcraft) 14 Year Missing Baby In the Womb Born (The Mother is 51 Years old)". Whether the debts cancelled are incurred by handing over money to Gilbert Deya Ministries is not made clear. (They are a proper Registered Charity, No.1051722, but maybe not for much longer) Looking at the pictures of happy parents blessed with babies miraculously born in Kenya, 80 notes that there do not seem to be any white couples. Perhaps none belong to the church, or is it because white babies are harder to obtain in a Nairobi backstreet clinic? (see Pregnant by Jesus? and Inquiry call on 'miracle babies' )

Update - to the above.Three clinics in Kenya linked with the "miracle births" have been closed down. The proprietor of one claims no such babies were born there, according to the East African Standard. Police have found that records for the relevant period are missing, in all three clinics. The question of the babies origin is still unanswered but at least one thing is for sure, they didn't come from Jesus.  David Ochieng of the Mama Lucy clinic in Huruma said of the elderly couple who claimed to have had babies there, "They are lying because there is no way somebody can give birth twice a year. This has never happened since God created man."

Deya Update 2 - "A total of 21 children are now being held by Kenyan police investigating a suspected child-trafficking ring." according to this BBC report. Following the seizure by police of 10 children found locked in Deya's house in Nairobi, his wife has been taken in by the police for questioning. Also 3 women have come forward after seeing pictures in the media, claiming to be the mothers of 3 of the children who were seized by the Kenyan authorities last week.

Deya Update 3 - According to allAfrica.com Deya has denied charges of baby trafficking, calling his accusers "evil, satanic and abnormal, I refute the evil allegations against me of trafficking children from Kenya to the United Kingdom." He may be able to conjure up miracle babies but he does not know what refute means, ie "to prove wrong by argument or evidence". Insults and bluster don't count. "The 'miracle babies' which are happening now in our ministry is beyond a (sic) human imagination, but it's not something that ... I can explain because they are of God and things of God cannot be explained by human beings." Blaming his God is no answer, and will not get him out of the unholy mess he is in. For a short biography of the great exorcist look here.

Deya Update 4 - it seems the archbishop is not waiting for his God to save him, he is taking action himself. He has written a letter cursing  the families of President Kibaki and Attorney-General Amos Wako of Kenya. No turning the other cheek here, this is pure Old Testament, the stuff of fable, much like the miracle babies yarn. According to AllAfrica.com Deya has said their "children and grandchildren will die in the streets, the way you have left these holy children of Almighty God to suffer and be humiliated throughout the streets of Kenya." Hmm nice. Can we say nutter? Yes we can. He claims to be speaking "as the servant of the Most High God in the presence of the citizens of the United Kingdom." 80 doesn't know how any deity may feel about Deya, but it is a fair wager that most folk in the UK are less than impressed.  Read much more at AllAfrica.com.

Deya Update 5 - the general director of the Evangelical Alliance, the Rev Joel Edwards, has published a statement on the "miracle babies", expressing concern that Gilbert Deya is bringing the evangelical movement into disrepute, although Deya is not actually member of the Alliance. In 80's view they are already disreputable enough, and need no help from the embarrassingly bizarre behavior of Deya. Edwards has said he is "uneasy about any link made between the giving of money and the hope of a miracle. As an evangelical leader I do not believe this can be supported biblically." This may be so, but he'd better double-check, as just about anything can be justified somewhere in the Christian bible, murder, racism, genocide, if you look hard enough. Money for miracles may well be in there somewhere  (see here). Edwards also says  "I do believe that miracles happen but in the examples cited by the radio programme (about Deya's scam) I would ask people to exercise their God-given gift of common sense."  He needs to be careful what he says, too much common sense among his flock could well lead to a drop in numbers. Common sense and blind faith have never been easy bedfellows.

Deya Update 6 - Police in Kenya have charged five people with stealing babies, one of them being the wife of Gilbert Deya.

Deya Update 7 - the authorities in Kenya are seeking the extradition of Gilbert Deya from the UK. Deya's wife, Mary, has been charged with stealing a child from a Kenyan hospital. "According to the police, women travel from Britain to Africa and appear to give birth to babies in slum clinics in Nairobi." says a report in the Guardian which also quotes Deya himself who still seems to think he can bluff his way out the mess he is in, "The allegation is a lie, an assassination attempt and it has been fabricated to destroy the name of my ministry, which is well-known and respected worldwide." Thanks to all the recent adverse publicity his ministry may be well-known but to call it respected is going too far. Claiming British doctors have confirmed the miracle births, Deya also said "The miracles which God has performed through me are of God, they are beyond human understanding and no man can explain them except God." Idiotic bluster such as this will convince no one of his innocence, except possibly some of the more intellectually-challenged members of his congregation. His following is said to number 36,000 in Britain, but this number has appeared in most reports with no indication of its source, as has the figure of £1 million for the cost of his new church in Peckham, London. One thing is known, and that is that his church is a registered charity, which no doubt will be coming under scrutiny from the British Charity Commissioners. A BBC report is notable for its daftness when it says "Church leaders and medical experts fear the "miracle babies" are simply victims of child trafficking." What the hell else do they think is going on?

Deya Update 8 - an arrest warrant is out for Gilbert Deya, described here as "at the centre of a child-trafficking probe that has spread to Britain, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria...". Let's see him exorcize himself out of this mess.

Deya Update 9 - the increasingly unstable-sounding Gilbert Deya has now alleged that a senior Kenyan official is out to kill his mother. He claims that his mother is now missing, a claim dismissed by police. Deya has also said that the police murdered one of their own officers because he had "vital evidence" of Deya's innocence of baby-trafficking. For more, also see this from the Daily Telegraph, which features another "curse" from Deya aimed at anyone questioning his preposterous miracle babies story "The Lord will blow their heads off and scatter their bodies in the streets." Now that doesn't sound very Christian.

Deya Update 10 - now the "archbishop" is ranting at the Daily Record, a Scottish tabloid newspaper, saying "You have become an enemy of god. You talk to my solicitor and you pay the price of what you wrote today. You have spoiled my name in the whole area. You reported lies. I am not smuggling babies, as you put it. That is rubbish and the truth is coming out." Lies or not, the Record article here says that Deya's church members have to pay 10% of their earnings into the organization, which goes some way towards explaining how this "former beggar" has "amassed three homes, a private jet and a helicopter." As predicted by 80, the British Charity Commission is now looking into the church's affairs - which should prove interesting.

Deya Update 11 - here is a BBC news report on how mothers in Kenya are desperate to identify thier missing children from photos of the seized "miracle babies" in the press. At the moment much hinges on DNA tests, initially promised within 10 days, but the results have yet to be announced a month later. Gideon Kibunja, a spokesman for Nairobi CID, quoted elsewhere, has said "We have charged Gilbert Deya and his wife with child abduction, along with four others, and suspect there may be more who had claimed to have miracle babies in the UK. We believe this has nothing to do with miracles, but is an international con. Gilbert Deya has shamed all Kenyans and we wish the UK would kick him out." Kenya has requested Deya's extradition but he is still at large in Britain and all media enquiries are currently directed to his solicitor. His church's website is still plugging unashamedly the miracle babies nonsense, but he will need a miracle of his own to avoid answering to the British and Kenyan authorities. Don't hold your breath.

Deya Update 12 - The self-styled Archbishop, still at large in the UK, has graciously given an interview to The Scotsman. He arrived in the company of, among others, a woman who claimed that she is nearly 10 months pregnant with a "miracle baby". This is in spite of her admission that she had not been sexually active before the conception, that she has had her fallopian tubes surgically removed, and that doctors who examined her found no trace of a child and said she was having a "phantom" pregnancy. "I am pregnant. The tests say I am not, but I can feel the baby." Like the medics said, a phantom pregnancy. She is also unconcerned that, in the unlikely event of her giving birth DNA tests show her unrelated to the child (as has occurred after tests on miracle babies in Kenya) for she says "It means nothing. That is thinking with a scientific, not a spiritual mind." Or to translate - claptrap beats science any day, a view with which the increasingly embattled Deya must be in accord. Still unexplained is why the mothers expecting these babies should have to travel to Kenya to give birth. As Deya is unwilling or unable to explain why his God only seems to come up with the goods in Kenya, perhaps a distinctly unspiritual answer to the question is more likely - until recently, it was easier to steal babies in Kenya than in Britain. Now the Kenyan authorities are on the case it is unlikely, no matter how strong the duped mothers faith, that any more miracle babies will be born.

Deya Update 13 - the latest on conman and fantasist Gilbert Deya is here, including how he tricked his way into a royal photo opportunity and inflated the number given for members of his church, which must surely be dwindling at every outburst the "archbishop" makes in his defence.

Deya Update 14 - In Kenya the trial has begun of Eddah and Michael Odera for the theft of 10 newborn children. The pair are still, so far, sticking to their ridiculous story that the babies came from God, after prayers by "Archbishop" Gilbert Deya. As for Deya himself, he is still in Scotland fighting extradition to Kenya. His wife Mary will appear in court in Nairobi this week. 

Deya Update 15 November  - regular readers will know that, since August this year, 80 has been following the "miracle baby" saga involving the self-styled archbishop, Gilbert Deya (see the whole story here). Now a British high court judge has ruled* that a one year-old child, far from being a miracle from God and a testament to the power of Deya's prayers, is the victim of a baby trafficking scheme "motivated by financial greed" reports the Guardian. While the "parents" of miracle babies may not have paid for them, considerable revenue was generated by tithes collected from congregations who were swayed by the miracle hogwash preached by Deya and others. The archbishop, who "says he casts out devils, cures illnesses and helps infertile couples in his congregation, estimated to be 36,000 strong, to have miracle babies." is wanted in Kenya over allegations of child-trafficking in the slums of Niarobi. According to the Scotsman, the judge described Deya as was "a self-serving and superficial witness who was only too happy to distance himself from the facts". Quite why this person is still at large in Britain is a mystery. (*Read the full judgement here. It makes very clear the cruelty of child-trafficking and confirms that the judge believes the "miracle" parents themselves were duped. This goes to show how sincere but gullible and ignorant people can be manipulated by the unscrupulous, using their religious faith. Thanks, Simon. For more on fleecing the flock, see here.)

September 2nd 2004

Onward Christian Soldier - in an op-ed piece in the New York Times (reg req) called Holding the Pentagon Accountable: For Religious Bigotry a familiar name bobs to the surface, like something unwelcome in a swimming pool - that of William G Boykin. 80 has looked at this individual before and did not find him a pleasant sight - but then bigots never are. He hit the news in 2003 for preaching what effectively amounted to a religious crusade against Islam, using the intellectually sophisticated argument "my God is bigger than your God". So what, you may think, yet one more religious nutter. The difference was that this nutter is a serving officer, a Lieutenant-General, who made his inflammatory comments from church pulpits wearing his uniform. The fact that he was also serving as a deputy under-secretary of defence for intelligence could give the impression his behavior had official sanction. This was compounded by the fact that no action was taken against him. More recently he "briefed a top Pentagon official last summer on ways military interrogators could gain more intelligence from Iraqi prisoners." At the time 80 remarked that the last person to be advising on such matters is a man who thinks Muslims are little more than Satanists. The NYT piece does not seem to have been triggered by any recent acts of Boykin's but more by amazement and frustration that the man is still around "General Boykin has to be removed from his current job. He has become a national embarrassment, not to mention a walking contradiction of President Bush's own policy statement that the fight against terror is bias-free and not a crusade against Islam." (For more see Crusader Values, What Was Boykin's Role and Still Waiting) Also see this piece from the latest (and highly recommended) Humanist Network News which has an unbelievable quote from the Deranged Crusader, "Boykin showed photographs he had taken of Mogadishu, Somalia, from an Army helicopter in 1993. When Boykin came home and had the film developed, he noticed a strange dark mark over the city. “Ladies and gentleman, this is your enemy,” Boykin told the congregation as he pointed to the shadow above the city. “It is the principalities of darkness. It is a demonic presence in that city that God revealed to me as the enemy.”

Faithful Forfeit - are those accustomed to putting blind faith in a deity more likely to fall for the wiles of religious con men? It looks like this may well be the case, especially if the one working the scam appears to hold some religious authority, or failing that, has a charismatic and forceful personality. And no, this is not referring specifically to the Deya miracle babies caper, which has yet to be resolved. Before you ask what resolved means, it does not mean that it is worth considering, even for a second, that a man can exorcise barren and post-menopausal women so that they may have babies. This is pernicious and primitive nonsense. Resolved in this instance means when the DNA evidence is in from Kenya, and those responsible for this scam are brought to trial. The religious con man that 80 has in mind now is Howard Welsh. It seems this nasty piece of work is accused "of defrauding investors out of almost £16m with a "divinely inspired" scheme he started five years ago in the US." according to the Guardian. His investment scheme targeted the "deeply religious", who were told that if they had faith their deposits would triple. They were not so deeply religious as to be adverse to the chance of some suspiciously easy profits, it seems. The FBI, which said one investor has lost £4 million/$7.2 million, think Welsh may now be in Britain having fled the US after charges were filed against him. Welsh, and his partner Lee-Hope Thrasher, had set up a non-profit entity called Dominion of Heaven on Planet Earth. Investors attended 3 day seminars with a "deeply religious" focus and "were promised they could make more than £1m on an investment of around £1,200 over six years." It seems their faith was so strong it didn't just blind them it also affected their sense of smell - otherwise how come they didn't notice the ripe odor of rat wafting from promises of such inflated returns? So, to answer the question posed at the beginning of this paragraph, yes, the blindly faithful are the perfect dupes for religious con men. Let's face it they are already committed to believing the impossible, so enticing lies, whether promising huge profits or miracle babies, are not that hard to swallow. They haven't learned that if something sounds too good to be true, then it is. Any sympathy 80 might feel for Welsh's victims is tempered, not by the thought of their blind faith, but by the thought of their blind greed.

 September 3rd 2004

What a Revoltin' Development - to steal The Thing's tagline. What is? The idea that Canada may introduce sharia law, the Islamic justice system, which among many other problems, values women less than men. What the hell is Canada thinking of? This question will certainly be on the lips of many women, including those who had fled Iran for life in Canada. One such told the BBC "I came here to escape Sharia, under it, a woman is worth half a man. He can divorce her and she has no rights." In reality the quest for Muslims to have their courts in Canada seems to have rather less to do with religion and more to do with jealousy and "me tooism". The main proponent of the Sharia campaign, Mumtaz Ali, is quick to point out "in Ontario Orthodox Jews are able to settle their civil disputes in religious courts, so why not Muslims?" The BBC article follows this with the question "why indeed" and presents it as a big dilemma for Canada. A rabbi, an unlikely ally for the Muslims, has said "All religious people have the right to settle difficulties according to their religion...." This is less of a feeling of brotherhood for fellow religionists, 80 suspects, and more a fear of what the rational, and only, answer to the dilemma should be. That is that no one should have a separate religious legal system, whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan or whatever. Just because you have some irrational belief should not accord you and your fellow religionists special treatment. Rather than allow sharia, Canada should put an end to the Jewish courts so that all citizens are on the same level and secular playing field. The only fair way for justice to be done is for ALL citizens of the country to abide by the laws of the country, as administered by the justice system. There is an international campaign to oppose the setting up of a sharia court in Canada and you can sign an online petition here. Some have said this whole thing is no big deal, and views such as 80's are an overreaction. That is wrong, it is a big deal - and the thin end of a very unpleasant wedge.

Just Good Friends - do you have someone that you would describe as a "good friend"? How do you define "good friend"? It is fair to assume that most people would perhaps think of someone they are close to, and with whom they can freely discuss the ups and downs of life and their mutual interests. This may be true in most circumstances but it does not apply to members of the Republican party, when to be a "good friend" seems to be a very distant sort of relationship. The "good friends" reference occurs in this article (reg req) about the resignation of the national counsel for President Bush's re-election campaign, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, after it was found he was also providing legal advice for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group busily attempting to smear Democrat candidate John Kerry's Vietnam war record. Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist, described Ginsberg in a TV interview as a "a great friend of this president" and that he had resigned "in order to remove any possibility of being a distraction to his friend." This is very noble of him, although one wonders how come a "great friend" kept his somewhat sensitive Swift Boat activities from his buddy. (Plausible deniability perhaps?) But that is only a great friend - one would think a "good friend" is closer than that - the old cliched disclaimer from couples accused of being closer than propriety would accept, "we are just good friends", comes to mind. Most of the initial funding for the Swift Boat Veterans group came from Bob J. Perry, a Texas house builder and longtime Republican donor (reg req) Perry is also described by Rove as a "good friend", but it appears that Karl Rove is a bit of a cold fish. He said that he had seen his "good friend" in the last year but that the two had only exchanged pleasantries and "certainly did not discuss with him or anybody else in the Swift boat leadership what they're doing." To which 80 can only quote that great American thinker, Bart Simpson - "Yeah, right".

(Check out Mark Fiore's take on the Swift Boat saga in his Flash cartoon Political Attack)

September 5th 2004

 Please, Enough Already - the Republican convention is making much of George W Bush's command of the "War on Terror", saying that he is the only man for the job. So, how are things going in the struggle? In Afghanistan a resurgent Taleban are doing their violent best to disrupt any chance of democratic elections and have driven away international aid organizations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres. Large parts of that country are governed by warlords with private armies, and the booming cash crop in the countryside is the opium poppy. Along the border with Pakistan, an area effectively beyond the law, is where the leaders of al Qaeda are most likely hiding, still free, and still plotting mayhem. Osama bin Laden has had a chance to regroup while the US and allies pursued another, unrelated goal, the invasion of Iraq and the ousting of Saddam Hussein. Iraq, never a base for al Qaeda or related groups, has become a magnet for such groups in the aftermath of the invasion and the continuing chaos, which Bush blames on the unanticipated "catastrophic success" of the invasion. Unanticipated perhaps, but only if the warning voices heard before the conflict were ignored. By his pre-emptive actions and sidelining of the UN, Bush has managed to alienate many allies, and dissipated much of the huge global goodwill toward the US that followed the 9/11 atrocities. He seeks 4 more years in office, using the War on Terror as a central plank in his campaign. Desperate to appear resolute, he admits no errors and intends to continue with the same team that produced the mess the world is now in. As the planet's only superpower, what happens in US politics obviously has a global effect. The question is, can the world take 4 more years of Bush?

Expert Opinion - when an expert on a subject offers an opinion it is always wise to listen, even though you may not necessarily agree with anything said. The expert in this case is the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, and his area of expertise is the sexual abuse of children. Given that the Catholic clergy around the world have featured in many high profile cases involving such abuse, it is perhaps hardly surprising that O'Brien arrogates to himself the right to speak out on the subject. The target of O'Brien's remarks is the Scottish executive's plans for sex education in schools. He states, in absurdly hyperbolic language, that ministers are favoring programs that amount to "state-sponsored sexual abuse" according to the UK Guardian, and that the executive's sexual health strategy is "one of the biggest challenges to the morality of our nation in a generation". Here is a page from The Scotsman (reg req), the first of six, (yes, six) detailing worldwide sexual abuse cases involving Catholic church personnel, mainly priests. Perhaps Cardinal O'Brien should spend a few minutes contemplating these reports and then concentrate on putting his own house in order before questioning the education policies of a secular authority. Keeping young people ignorant on sexual matters, like clerical celibacy, does not seem to have been an effective policy for the church in the past, and O'Brien's statements are hyprocritical in the extreme. The first minister of the executive, Jack McConnell, rejected O'Brien's claims and said his concerns were misplaced, prefacing his remarks by saying "I have a great respect for Cardinal O'Brien". 80 has none.

Update - to the above. The Roman Catholic church has now been joined by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) in whingeing about sex education in Scotland. Perhaps they couldn't let a bandwagon pass by without hopping on and gaining some free publicity. But publicity can be a two-edged sword, and closer examination of their beliefs and activities may not be advantageous to them. Any organization that blends religion and politics as they do is deeply suspect, in 80's view. It was they who had Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi as their guest in the UK recently. al-Qaradawi is the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, which, among many other achievements, murdered Egyptian President Anwar-as-Sadat in 1981.

 Quote - "I think Senator Kerry should be proud of his record. No, I don't think he lied.'' George W Bush talking to the New York Times (reg req) It seems he may be less proud of his own record, given articles like this in USA Today.  

September 7th 2004

A Vision of Evans - now and again 80 looks in at Beliefnet to see the latest thinly disguised book ad presented as an interview. The last time featured windbag N.T. Wright and his ideas of bodily resurrection - see Resurrection Inflation. This time we are privileged to listen respectfully to the delusions of Michael D Evans who has a current bestseller, The American Prophecies: Ancient Scriptures Reveal Our Nation's Future. Evans claims to find predictions about America in the bible and comes up with the idea that God has punished the US with terrorist attacks for being insufficiently supportive of Israel. Yes, you read that correctly, he thinks the US does not do enough to help Israel, and that God agrees with him. Amazingly, rather than keep him talking until someone can phone for a mental health professional, the interviewer, Deborah Caldwell, listens to his religious right-wing ramblings and feeds him easy, leading questions. His strange mish-mash of ancient texts, extreme politics and alternate history is not particularly original. For instance did you know that F D Roosevelt for "eight years refused to acknowledge Hitler was killing Jews because Roosevelt was trying to appease Stalin, Mussolini and King Saud so they would join him in the war." Apart from being ludicrous this statement is meaningless waffle, and the compliant interviewer does not even challenge its illogicality. In what way the refusal to acknowledge the beginnings of the Holocaust would appease Stalin and the rest is not explained - the lie is just left hanging there. Much of what follows is the usual cherrypicking of biblical pronouncements to interpret as prophecies about current times. Evans, in answer to the question what does he believe the nation's future is, based on prophecy, inaccurately paraphrases the gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 "The disciples said, “What shall be the signs of the coming of the ends of the age?” And he said, “The first sign would be deception.". Disregarding most of the extended prophecy in Matthew 24, Evans takes it be a direct reference to the 9/11 atrocity and the sin of liberal, "New Age" relativism. Why Evans takes parts of biblical sayings out of context and relates them to events occurring in the the early 21st century, instead of any other time in the last 2000 years or so, is not explained. It is a kind of arrogance to assume that these non-specific, vague statements apply to current events, assuming that our times are in some way special. The suspicion is that they are special only because they are occurring in the lifetime of one Michael D Evans. He also suffers from the mote and beam problem, as written about in that same gospel of Matthew, "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Evans inflammatory and inaccurate description of Islam as "100 million fundamentalists intimidating us and threatening us and using oil to do it...." is rich coming from such as he. 80 is no fan of the gangster Yasir Arafat, but where did Evans get the figures he uses when he says Arafat has committed "2,300 acts of terrorism." That's a very precise figure, and one which Arafat may well have to answer for, but Evans backs it up with no references -  but then from reading the whole interview with him it is obvious that factual accuracy comes a very poor second to religious propaganda and bigotry. We could be in "pious fraud" territory here. The intention of his book, apart from the obvious one of making money, is clear from the timing of its publication, and that is to rally the right-wing religionist voters in order to keep John Kerry out of the White House. Asked by willing dupe Caldwell about what a Kerry victory would mean "in a prophetic sense" Evans draws upon Old Testament fable. "We’ll get two Sauls in a row. King Saul was rejected by God. We’ll have gone from a Clinton Saul to a Kerry Saul." That's not quite right, but then, as already noted, factual accuracy is not Evan's forte. Surely, if memory serves, between the Clinton Saul and the Kerry Saul would be God's anointed, George W Bush. Is he David? David who started out so well, but then fell from grace and committed murder by proxy, by putting someone else in the line of battle to be killed? A final note on Evans and Israel. In keeping with his factually challenged view of history and current events it is no surprise he runs a prayer group, the Jerusalem Prayer Team, whose mission is "To guard, defend and protect the Jewish people, and the Eretz Yisrael until Israel is secure, and until the redeemer comes to Zion." Eretz Yisrael is the never-never land that exists nowhere outside the biblical Old Testament and the delusions of folk like Michael D Evans. (see Missing, One Empire)

School For Sale on EBay - 80 wrote a little while back about the Emmanuel Schools Foundation and the latest school under threat of takeover by these fundamentalist, creationist bigots, Northcliffe School in Conisbrough, near Doncaster, England. (see A Damning Document) Now one of the parents opposing this backward step has put the school up for auction on EBay. The description runs "Northcliffe School,Conisbrough. For a 10% contribution you too could take over a Comprehensive School and turn it into an Academy! You can teach whatever you please and the Government won't bat an eyelid!! In fact they will praise you for it!" Visit the Conisbrough And Denaby Parents Action Group and add your support. Don't bother to bid for the school unless you can match the 2 million quid the fundamentalists have reportedly offered - the Blair government will make up the rest (£20 million) from UK taxpayers. Sounds like a good deal for the fundies - and they get another batch of young minds to warp with their pernicious nonsense. Ain't democracy wonderful?

September 9th 2004

Of Vipers and Bosoms - It is ironic that someone having been given refuge in a western democracy then uses the freedom of speech that democracy bestows to promote abhorrent views. It is even more ironic that such a person, given half a chance, would turn that western democracy into a theocracy in which free speech would be one of the first casualties. The viper in question is one Omar Bakri Mohammed, the spiritual leader of the extremist sect al-Muhajiroun, and the bosom in which he is currently dwelling is Edmonton, north London. This individual, who originally is from Syria, came to Britain in 1985 after his deportation from Saudi Arabia because of membership of a banned group (which description, in Saudi Arabia, covers a lot of territory). Talking to the Telegraph in the aftermath of the horrific school seige in Russia this "guest" said "If an Iraqi Muslim carried out an attack like that in Britain, it would be justified because Britain has carried out acts of terrorism in Iraq. As long as the Iraqi did not deliberately kill women and children, and they were killed in the crossfire, that would be okay." It seems that Omar Bakri Mohammed's overlong sojourn in this country has taught him nothing at all. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the conflicts between Russia and its troubled southern republics the taking of children as hostages is a repulsive and despicable act. The very act of taking a hostage is, by implication, a threat to that hostage's life - otherwise there is no threat or pressure involved in the action, rendering it pointless. This conclusion seems  to have escaped Mohammed entirely, implying that either he is not very smart, or he is lying. Take your pick. As if his remarks were not enough, it appears that this most unpleasant of guests initially gave the interview to promote a "celebratory" conference in London to be held on September 11th on the third anniversary of the atrocities in 2001. The obvious question is what the hell is this person doing in the UK? Of what possible benefit is his continued presence here? None whatsoever. (before anyone trots out the latest buzz word "Islamophobia" to describe the above paragraph, take a look here. Anyone expressing views such as Mohammed's, of any faith or none at all, deserves to be roundly condemned)

Quote - the controversial Vardy Foundation, which, via the Emmanuel Schools Foundation is planning to take over Northcliffe School in Conisbrough, near Doncaster has, in a defensive statement managed to encapsulate exactly what many parents and others object to about its religious agenda. Bleating about how it is perceived, "The Vardy Foundation became pilloried as a creationist propaganda machine, seeking to infiltrate state education and poison children’s minds..." Spot on, that is exactly what this organization is up to. If you entertain any doubts read Christianity and the Curriculum, an agenda for poisoning children's minds if ever there was one. The page is currently hosted by a parents action group,who are fighting the takeover of Northcliffe School, as Emmanuel removed it from their site as part of a "redesign". A redesign that came a little too late to hide their intentions - see A Damning Document and School For Sale on EBay.

Conflicting Signals - opinions about the strange signal received by the Arecibo radio telescope and detected by the distributed computing program, SETI@home, vary widely. Even, it seems, when the same person is quoted by two different news sources. New Scientist, under the headline "Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away" reports Dan Wertheimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and the chief scientist for SETI@home as saying "We’re not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it". Meanwhile this BBC page reporting the same story, has Wertheimer saying "It's all hype and noise, we have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion." Now the big question is, which Dan Wertheimer is the alien doppelganger created to spread disinformation? Watch the skies! (Hint, one of them will have a crooked little finger)

Play On - after all the stage managing and false inclusivity of the Olympic Games, cartoonist and animator Mark Fiore takes us to a much more spontaneous and honest gathering, the Republican Games, live from New York City.

Unintended Consequences - the group that have kidnapped a couple of French journalists may have misjudged the reaction to their murderous threats. The self-styled Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) have threatened Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot of the Le Figaro newspaper with death if France does not rescind legislation banning conspicuous religious apparel from schools. This includes large Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps and Muslim headscarfs - although 80 doubts the Islamic Army are bothered overmuch about the first two items. In fact instead of causing strife and dissent in France, where the new law comes into force today, the IAI seem to have achieved the opposite effect. No one in France wants to be seen as aligned with the kidnappers, and three prominent French Muslim community leaders have flown to Baghdad in an attempt to intercede on behalf of the journalists. Across the Arab world leaders have urged that the men be freed, emphasizing how France opposed the invasion of Iraq. In France itself the IAI's action has effectively scuppered opposition to the new law as even radical Muslims do not wish to be associated with these would-be murderers. Many civilians are being taken hostage daily in Iraq but how well governments do in obtaining freedom for their nationals depends how much clout you have on the world stage. Nepal is a small and poor country which may explain why twelve Nepalis were murdered by Islamic militants. This was despite the fact that the Nepalese government had banned its citizens from going to Iraq. The militants say they killed their victims because they "came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians". The 12 men had in fact taken jobs as cooks and cleaners for a Jordanian firm. The only thing the IAI seem to have achieved by their disgusting and barbaric crime is to place members of the small Nepalese Muslim community, for the first time, in fear of their lives from distraught fellow-countrymen following riots and an attack on a mosque. How proud these "warriors" must be of the consequences of their actions.......... (For more on the forgotten hostages in Iraq see here)

September 11th 2004

Teheran Street Lust - what is it with the religious fanatics of Iran? They have now started a crackdown on what they perceive to be "prostitution", which in their book is women wearing "colourful headscarves and figure-hugging coats". What is the problem with these men, can they not walk down the street without indulging in a frenzy of priapic excitement at a glimpse of a woman not dressed like an army surplus tent? Apparently these heroes have decided the police are not doing a good enough job so they have taken matters into their own hands, patrolling the streets and intimidating woman. Perhaps they should take a few more cold showers, maybe some valium and try to make a huge intellectual leap by realizing women are people too, and not sex objects that they can cover up and blame for their own smutty obsessions. They should realize their repressive views appear to many as ridiculous and more than a little sordid, which is no doubt why New Zealand's Stuff relegates this story to Oddstuff, a section devoted to weird and quirky items. But it is not only men, we are told, who frown upon lax dress codes. A middle-aged female protester, one of more than 100 dressed in the all-enveloping black chador said, "A proper dress code is defined by our religion and allows women to expose only their faces and hands. We hate these girls who go around all dolled up in the streets." This sounds less like a religious stance and more like sour grapes to a cynical 80. What is the Persian for frump, anyway?  (also see Hejab Handicap)

Angry Eunuchs - one group that doesn't play much of a role in the life of many countries these days are the eunuchs. Yes, eunuchs are still around, although the demand for them in the world of opera has declined. One country that has a substantial number is India, where there exists a unique (and strange) cultural mixture of ancient and modern. According to this BBC article there are estimated to be "500,000 eunuchs, hermaphrodites and transvestites". Why these different groups are lumped together is not made clear, nor is what proportion of that 500,000 are actually eunuchs, but one thing is certain, the eunuchs are angry. Their traditional role of bringing luck to the superstitious, for which they were often paid, has declined and many have ended up in the so-called sex industry. Now, in the state of Tamil Nadu, in southern India, eunuchs are protesting at what they see as prejudice from a state-run insurance company, which has refused cover to at least one of their number. It seems there is a rule that insurance cover can only be taken out by a man or a women, and, in the eyes of the bureaucrats, eunuchs are neither and consequently receive no cover. 80 would feel more concern for the individual highlighted on the BBC page, Janaki, if she ( eunuchs are "she", apparently) earned her pay in another way. It seems she "makes a meagre living by predicting people's future in a village near the town of Vellore in Tamil Nadu. She is deeply angry at the moment." The question occurs that if Janaki is not making a fraudulent living, and can predict the future, then she would have no need of insurance in the first place. Perhaps the BBC could have found another, somewhat more sympathetic example.

Dynamic Duo - the Guardian newspaper has excelled itself with a couple of items recently, in 80's view. Firstly is an extract, called Walking Back to Genesis, from Richard Dawkin's latest book, which asks "If evolution could be re-run, how would the story end?" It begins with putting us humans in our place, and not as lords of creation, "It is a conceit of hindsight to see evolution as aimed towards some particular end point, such as ourselves." How likely are certain outcomes? Dawkins points out that the eye has evolved more than 40 times, and echolocation, such as a bat's sonar, at least four times. So, rerunning evolution it would seem that eyes of one sort or another are likely to crop up many times, and echolocation less often, perhaps. He also looks at things that are unique, that have, as far as we know, appeared only once in the stupendous period of time that Earth has hosted life. Some of the examples, described with Dawkins' trademark elegance and clarity, are staggering, . The new book, The Ancestor's Tale, is in part inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer, and follows a journey back through time and evolution, a pilgrimage to meet our near and distant ancestors. The second item is an essay by Umberto Eco, called Testing, Testing..., where he examines fundamentalist beliefs, and makes the case for science, or more accurately the scientific method, as a counterbalance to such beliefs. He contrasts the immutability of faith in the knowledge of past cultures, real or imagined, with the self-correcting nature of scientific investigations, where findings are continually reassessed in the light of new research. (another extract from Dawkins' book is here)