Let's Take Over

A Brief History of Creation Science

Just found this rather good video by YouTube user sapperbloggs.

In his commentary on the video, he says:

A brief history of Creation Science, and why the USSR is to blame for starting it all. [NB this is not as crazy as it sounds - watch the video - DJ]

If you wish to refute a point made in this video, please do so.
If you wish to use bible verses to refute a point made in this video, I will direct you to a video I made called... 'Why I think you're a twat'

The bulk of the information here is from a lecture given by Dr Martin Bridgstock, a senior lecturer at Griffith Uni in Brisbane. That said, my opinions are MY opinions, not his.

Brisbane Politics: Anonymous Anti-Scientology Rally May 10 2008 Brisbane, Australia

On Saturday May 10, Anonymous groups around the world protested aganst the "Church" of Scientology's "Fair Game Stop" policy. This report has photos and video from the protest in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Attendees included Yoshi and a redshirt, and there was rickrolling.

read more | digg story

Brisbane Politics - Cyclist Protest Ride by CBDBUG

Via Public Polity:

Call TONIGHT if you want to go on this ride - the phone number is below.

Calling all cyclists who are fed up with Local and State Government failures to provide safe and direct routes for Brisbane cyclists.

Detours of bikeways due to major infrastructure projects like the North South Bypass Tunnel, AirportLink and Northern Busway are severely impacting upon the ability of cyclists to ride in safety, particularly on Brisbane’s north side - which is already poorly served for cycling access.

A protest ride is being organised by the Central Business District Bicycle User Group (CBDBUG) to highlight the frustrations of cyclists and the dangers we face.

Time: Friday 9 May 2008. 4:15pm for a 4:30pm start.

Meeting Point: Corner Gregory Tce and Bowen Bridge Rd Herston

Route: Bowen Bridge Rd Herston to Federation St Lutwyche and back to Gregory Tce (Total Distance: 3km)

(Click here for a Google Map of the starting point and the route)

The ride is pro-cycling, not anti-infrastructure development (although we would like a more balanced development)

A media release will be organised as part of the protest, highlighting these issues - we need a decent turnout by cyclists riding on the day to really make our point.

The ride will not go ahead unless we have at least 20 confirmed starters, so please RSVP to John Lister on john@whcp.com.au or 0428 667 827 by Wednesday 7 May 2008.

All riders must adhere to Qld Road Rules and ensure that you:

* Wear an approved and fastened bike helmet at all times
* Have a bell or horn in working order
* Do not ride more than two abreast

For more information on the CBD BUG visit us at http://www.cbdbug.org.au or the CBDBUG blog at http://cbdbug.blogspot.com, or email convenors@cbdbug.org.au

Brisbane Politics: May 1968 Seminar, Friday 16th May, Ahimsa House, West End

Via Public Polity:

Paris 68-08. Was 1968 the most revolutionary year of the 20th Century?

When: 16th May, Friday 6:30pm

Where: Emma Goldman Room, Ahimsa House, 26 Horan St, West End (Click here for a Google Map)

A forum on the world-wide struggles and themes which were raised in that year and have continued through to the present.

Speakers from these sponsoring groups:

Brisbane Labour History Association, Institute for Social Ecology, Rank
and File Group, 17 Group, The Greens, Indigenous Activists.

Speakers will include:

There will be ample opportunity for participation from the body of
the meeting. All are welcome to speak in this two hour seminar on 1968
and the late 60s generally. Live music and records from the time. BYO
and food available.

Brisbane Politics - Anonymous' AntiScientology March, Saturday May 10th.

Via the Brisbane Anonymous website (but I put the links in):

In Anonymous’ continuing efforts against the Cult of Scientology, Anonymous is holding its fourth global protest. Taking place on May 10th, it will be aimed at exposing the tactics used by the Cult of Scientology to silence its critics and media investigating the cult.

The Brisbane chapter of Anonymous will be marching through the streets of Brisbane in support of this message, and members of the media and the public are welcomed to join in with us.

Fair Game Stop will be a parody on the name ‘Fair Game’ and thus a ‘Game’ and ‘Computer Game’ styling will be prevalent.

When: 10:30am to 3pm May 10

Assembly Point: Post Office Square - Assembling at 10:30, speeches at 10:45 and marching at 11. (Click here for a Google Map)

Marching to: Brisbane Square, along Elizabeth Street.

Marching back: 2:30pm to Post Office Square again, along Adelaide Street, with speeches etc.

Bring:

Masks
Flyers
Signs (No wooden sticks please)
Something game related (Games will be played on the day)
Food/water
A fun attitude

Brisbane Transport - Made Of Fail

Yes it is. The buses here are getting beyond a joke.

For more info click here to read my post in the 'brisneyland' LiveJournal community.

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If you have a fast connection, use this feed instead - it takes longer, but you can read the full stories in your newsreader

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia License.

This means that you may use any work by me, David Jackmanson, that you find on this site for any purpose at all, as long as you give credit to Let's Take Over and include the site's web address.

It's your responsibility to check that the work is created by me and not somebody else. Accounts on sites like flickr or Odeo that are listed as belonging to 'Let's Take Over' or 'djackmanson' will probably be mine.

Review of "God's Crucible - Islam and the Making of Europe" in the New Yorker - Muslim revisionism?

Via Opinion Dominion comes news of a review in the New Yorker, by Joan Acocella, of David Levering Lewis' book "God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215".

Aocella sums up the book:

The Muslims came to Europe, he writes, as “the forward wave of
civilization that was, by comparison with that of its enemies, an
organic marvel of coordinated kingdoms, cultures, and technologies in
service of a politico-cultural agenda incomparably superior” to that of
the primitive people they encountered there. They did Europe a favor by
invading. This is not a new idea, but Lewis takes it further: he
clearly regrets that the Arabs did not go on to conquer the rest of
Europe. The halting of their advance was instrumental, he writes, in
creating “an economically retarded, balkanized, and fratricidal Europe
that . . . made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, persecutory
religious intolerance, cultural particularism, and perpetual war.” It
was “one of the most significant losses in world history and certainly
the most consequential since the fall of the Roman Empire.”

This is a bold hypothesis.

While some of the criticism of the book appears to be sound, I think that Aocella, and Steve at Opinion Dominion, have failed to see that Lewis has at least clearly implied that there is some way that civilisations can be judged as backward or progressive.

At Opinion Dominion, I said:

Having just read the review, I'm not sure the book is as pernicious as
you and the reviewer appear to think, despite the examples of special
pleading for the Muslim regime in al-Andalus.

I think it is positive to be specific about why one thinks one civilisation is
superior to another - as long as this does not devolve into self-hatred.

Without making such distinctions, it would be impossible to say that today's
liberal bourgeios democracies are better places to live than the
stagnant fascist dictatorships that blight much of the Arab world today.

I certainly don't see that criticising the civilisation of mediaeval
Europe necessarily leads to the mistake of refusing to defend today's
civilisation against Islamo-fascist terrorists today - I imagine that
is one of the broad lines which causes you to have doubts about this
book?

I also can't help wondering why a civilisation that was once so much more advanced that Frankland fell so far behind it.

I'd suggest you drop into Opinion Dominion to continue the debate over the book, the issue of judging civilisations, and the most important question - what was Islamic underarm deodorant made out of in Al-Adalus?

One Hundred Thousand Brave Burmese March for Freedom, While Troops Start to Crack Down and Amateurs Outwit the Censors - photos and videos

NOTE: Further updates here at Last Superpower.

By flickr user racoles

Tuesday, September 25th, Yangon (Rangoon) - the Associated Press reports:

Five truckloads of soldiers were seen heading downtown in Myanmar's largest city Tuesday soon after tens of thousands of people led by Buddhist monks defied orders to stay off the streets and marched in another peaceful anti-government protest.

Monks have taken over leadership of anti-government protests that began over a month ago, leading marches for the past eight days that are the largest anti-government protests since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed by the military.

The soldiers' movements in Yangon followed announcements by the junta earlier in the day warning monks not to take part in the demonstrations and the public to stay at home or risk arrest.

Two army divisions were either already in or moving toward Yangon from outlying areas, including the 22nd, which took part in the suppression of the 1988 uprising, according to diplomats and ethnic guerrillas.

From YouTube user dennisbier09 - march on Monday September 24th.

AFP reports on bloggers getting around censorship and getting photos of the protests onto the Internet.

The article mentions The Mandalay Gazette (based in California), which publishes 4 pictures of the march here.
The Gazette also provide this picture showing the protest outside Aung Sun Suu Kyi's house

Also mentioned is the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma, which has a photo album here.

The BBC is publishing accounts from people inside Burma here.

Flickr user racoles has 12 photos of the protests, including this one below:

From YouTube user dennisbier09 - march on Monday September 24th (Part 2).

Wed Sep 26th - Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports, via monstersandcritics.com:

Yangon - Myanmar troops used batons and tear gas Wednesday to keep tens of thousands of marching monks and their layman followers out of Yangon's holiest shrines in a standoff between rifles and rust-coloured robes that is expected to end in bloodshed.

Barricaded police and soldiers beat monks and laymen back from the east gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda with batons and tear gas twice Wednesday afternoon, leaving dozens injured.
There were unconfirmed reports of two monks dying in the melee.
At least 30 monks and 50 civilians were taken away in military vehicles to an unknown destination.
Monks have used the Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon's most revered temple, as a launch pad for their peaceful marches for the past nine days.
The show of force, however, failed to stop the monks from marching elsewhere.

This Google Map shows the layout of Yangon, with the important Shwedagon and Sule Pagodas marked.

NOTE: Further updates here at Last Superpower.

Andrew Johns: STFU Australia - None of your business

The personal troubles of Andrew Johns are none of Australia's business.

Shut the f**k up. Unless you are family, or a close friend or very close colleague, it's got nothing to do with you.

I'm tired of your self-righteous posturing over the fallen "role-model".

Find your own path in life, and teach your kids that as well. In particular, learn well that people you admire might not be all you think. Deal with it.

Two final thoughts.

1) This story broke after Johns was stopped by a "routine" police stop-and-search operation at Kings Cross station after the Notting Hill Carnival. Given that the Carnival is a major event of London's Carribbean community, is this a case of Johns being caught up in a racial-profiling operation?

2) How was this made public? Was it from someone in the police?

Debt Relief - not helping Africa, says Ghanaian film

Last Superpower points to two articles from spiked online magazine saying that debt relief is not helping Africa to develop the industry it needs to be rich.

One article is by Ghanaian film-maker and teacher, De Roy Kwesi Andrew, called "You hate being affluent? Then swap with us", where he argues that industrial development is exactly what Africa needs, and that the debt-relief/Live8 approach is grossly inadequate.

Andrew's article is about a lecture tour he did in the UK, promoting the film "Damned by Debt Relief". A short version of the film, placed on YouTube by YouTuber worldwrite (the producers) is below: