US, self-appointed global cop

This is a reply to a thread currently being discussed in the Pinoy atheists mailing list.

Do the neo-cons really believe in the Christian solution or is it only a card they they use to rally the gullible American majority into any war it fancy? Is McCain a religious nut just like Bush is? The greatest puzzle for me is why did the Americans voted that idiot TWICE into the White House. The Americans must really be proud of their president.

Just a curiosity, do you guys think that the neo-cons have not lost some credibility or do the majority of Americans still buy the fear that they manufacture? Will it more likely that they will vote for McCain or with the Democrat? How about Clinton, has she expressed an unequivocal commitment to a US pull-out if voted? I think Republican or Democrat, it doesn't really matter since the US will continue to be in Iraq indefinitely as much as can be possible. History is replete with examples including the Philippines. According to Dean Jorge Bocobo, the Philippines is the first Iraq. He's got a point. If not for Marcos - one of the good things that he did as president - who re-negotiated the "lease" of the US bases from 99 years to 25 years which expired in '92, and for Erap, one of the good things that he did as a senator who voted against its extension, the American "global cop" will still be in Subic and Clark and the US service-men out of reach of our courts. It's a complete disgrace to us as a nation that only a full-blooded Am-boy can accept. That's what the Americans want, if possible, from all the nations that host their bases. Unfortunately, the Philippines was too weak economically to escape the unequal "partnership". This is what will eventually happen with Iraq. The government will be handed over to the Iraqis but the US bases will stay. The Americans will do all the best they can to prevent an anti-American Iraqi president from being voted whether the US president be a religious nut
or otherwise.

Organizing Eyeballs (EB)

Organizing eyeballs require communication. Constant communication building up the the headcount and disseminating information in a timely manner. I have had experience only in organizing small eyeballs where there are only less than 15 participants. The advantage of small groups is that it doesn't require a lot in terms of reserving venues. You just meet-up and can decide right there which place you want to sit for a chat be it restaurant or cafe. Recently, I tried to organize one for the Pinoy atheists but I didn't have time myself so it was a resounding failure. I have been organizing meet-ups and I was busy with my high school reunion meetings to have time to look after the PA meet-up. I have been doing this with the various groups I help keeping in touch. I have a group each for my HS and college friends, and a newwave music group. So far I have been most successful with the three having organized meet-ups for as much as twenty-five people excluding children. This was mainly because venue is not much of a problem in Laguna where most of my high school friends are. But organizing a Pinoy atheists EB is always difficult. Some wise guy once said organizing atheists is like herding cats. It has been proven once more that he is right on the money.

PhilippineAtheists.Org Is Offline

It will be back soon. Apologies.

Updated PA.org Forum

I took advantage of the Golden Week holidays to update the Philippine Atheists forum consolidating forums and posting initiating a few new topics. Hopefully, I can sustain this for some time until it becomes self-sustaining.

Re-organizing Pinoy atheists

There is again an initiative to register a truly atheist organization for and by Pinoys. This time, it's being started by somebody new to the Pinoy Atheists mailing list. If you are interested, please visit the Pinoy Atheists for details.

Duh? Atheism List?

The Pinoy atheists are in a cunundrum. A poll was conducted to determine if the atheism list should rid itself of a believer who has made it a point to make it his turf and think it’s his right to defend his belief when it’s being attacked by atheists. Does that make sense? But it seems it does to some atheists if we are to take the result of the poll as an indication.

It’s only in Pinoy atheists where a Christian runs amuck and atheists think that such behavior is necessary for the health of the discussion, or to serve as a reminder of how far stupidity can go. The same nutcase claimed that “god is energy” and the resident irreligious members think that they are learning from such claims. It’s also in Pinoy atheists where posts by believers - believer really, since there is only one very active nutcase - is a good percentage of messages. It’s only in Pinoy atheists where you can see that believers complain about being provoked by atheists (duh? as expected since atheists are irreligious) and getting sympathies from the atheists! On first glance, an atheist who is willing to join might mistake the list as an INC-ADD debate list and turn away. No end to be in sight, the debate has caused undue distress to some of the early members who never intended the list to degenarate into its current state where discussions have been hijacked from being mostly secular to just about anything nonsense and a long parade of name calling. If there are topics that the non-believers try to bring up for secular discussion, they are quickly lost in the longest raging debate that should have been moot and academic in an atheism list.