Sim-O

Never mind the lofty battle of the gods/non-gods, here something a little more downto earth…

Get yours here.

Via Tim, amongst the many.

Can we start fucking over the Vatican, like we have done Iraq and Afganistan?

It’s obvious that Vatican City has been lead by a serious of religious extremists that dictate almost every aspect of it’s citizens life.

From making them eat fish on Fridays to controlling womens bodies with regard to birth control and more besides.

How can those barmy bishops deny being homophobes, for a start, when they do stuff like this…

An Austrian cleric who said Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for the homosexual sins of New Orleans has been made a bishop by the Vatican.

The people of Vatican City need our help!

So the fascination with celebrities by politicians carries on.

Telegraph:

David Cameron was due to unveil a package of proposals aimed at improving numeracy, including a maths task force headed by former Countdown host Carol Vorderman.

I don’t deny Carol is good at maths. To most ordinary people the speed at which she can multiply 7×6 is phenominal. The way she does division, what I’ve always found rather taxing, is just well, stunning. But how good is she? Really? She may be the most famous maths person, but that doesn’t make her the best person for the job. She could be the Austin Allegro of the maths world for all we know.
Does Carol know anything about teaching or teaching methods? I’d guess not. In reality, she is just a TV presenter “with good mathematical skills“.

See also Dungeekin: Vorderman to Front Tory Numeracy Initiative

LC:

Monday 9th February is the launch date for FactCheck UK, a new blogger-driven project that aims to pull together some of the best talent from the British blogosphere and subject the veracity of Britain’s politicians and mainstream media to some much needed independent scrutiny.

I shouldn’t really have to explain the concept as you should all be familiar with the US FactCheck website and Channel 4’s own sporadic efforts. We’ll operating to more or the same principles but with a somewhat wider brief, one that takes into account the role of the media in spreading disinformation and bullshit. We’re also planning to be a bit less po-faced that our American counterparts and lace the site with a bit of humour to go along with the serious business of chasing the truth.

Also starting up are the Bullshit Awards (nothing to do with US ones, I think). The awards nominations are open from the 16th February for 10 days and have loads of catagories, of which the Churner Prize, the Witchfinder General Award and the Whores of Babylon Prize sound interesting.

See Liberal Conspiracy or Ministry of Truth for more details.

Winners don’t use drugs.

Don’t they? Looks like he’s an old pro, too. You don’t pick up a bong the first you smoke Mary-Jane, especially not in public.

antiwar.com:

After ordering a cameraman to turn off his camera, Israeli Ambassador to Australia Yuval Rotem engaged in a very frank discussion about the recent Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, calling it “a preintroduction” to an attack on Iran that Israel apparently expects within the year.

Before the camera was turned off, Ambassador Rotem said “the best thing to do is to have a very open dialogue if there are no reporters or journalists here,” adding “I am far more reserved in the way I am saying my things (on camera).” Unbeknownst to him however Sarah Cummings, a reporter for Australia’s Seven News service, was actually in attendance at the meeting after having been “accidentally” invited.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, and while its officials have repeatedly attempted to tie the Iranian government to its war on the Gaza Strip this is the first time one of their officials has publicly (if inadvertently so) suggested that the attack on the strip was a warm-up to its long talked about attack on Iran.

Via