Elior Chen found guilty of all charges against him
Self-styled rabbi convicted of perpetrating sadistic attacks on the children of a couple who became his followers; sentencing at later date.
By DAN IZENBERG • Jerusalem Post
Jerusalem District Court Yoram Noam on Tuesday afternoon convicted Elior Chen of all charges against him. Sentencing will be at a later date.
In the meantime the self-styled rabbi’s lawyer, Ariel Attias, has already said that his client is innocent that that he will appeal the lower court decision to the Supreme Court.
Chen was found guilty of perpetrating sadistic attacks on the children of a couple who became his followers.
Attias charged that Noam had not allowed him to question the children who were victims of Chen’s acts. He also said that he had been given only five weeks to read all of the evidence involved in the case, whereas it had taken the court five months to do the same.
Last week, four of Chen’s disciples were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for taking part in the brutal attacks against the children, one of whom has been in a coma ever since.
On November 23, Jerusalem District Court judge Nava Ben-Or sentenced David Avraham Kugman to 20 years in jail and a one-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay NIS 200,000 in compensation to the children. Avraham Maskalchi and Shimon Gabai were each sentenced to 17 years in jail, a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay NIS 100,000 in compensation.
Roi Tzoref, who spent only part of the time during which Chen was in control of the children, was sentenced to 30 months in jail, six months suspended and ordered to pay NIS 10,000 in compensation.
The mother of the children, identified as M., has already been sentenced to five years in jail for her role in the affair. She turned state’s witness and testified against her former “teacher.”
Month: November 2010
Conspiracy Theory Addiction and Christian Fundamentalism
Rational people don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy adherents share a flawed worldview with religious adherents, one derived from flawed thinking and anti-scientific methods.
Conspiracism mirrors Creationism or its ridiculously pretentious euphemism, Intelligent Design.
These ideologies invariably begin with a false premise and then amass entirely selective factoids said adherents believe will support their crackpot hypothesis, but their false premises inevitably only lead to false conclusions.
Their methods are alien to civilised notions of the pursuit truth and of course, a complete disregard for scientific principles and methodology.
Religious fundamentalism embraces conspiracism and is historically the seminal source of modern conspiracism.
Here’s first hand accounts and insights, tripping through the millieu of conspircaism and Christian fundamentalism:- Christian Fundamentalism’s Easy Compatibility with Conspiracy Theories
I began my journey through Christian Fundamentalism in about 1975. In short order, even at my good church, Bensalem Baptist Church, I was introduced to the idea of a conspiracy of Satanists from then reigning conspiracy cuckoo, Johnny Todd, who barked at us from the pulpit that the Satanists, the Illuminati, the pope and–oh, I can’t recall who else–probably Henry Kissinger, were all running the world from one huge Satanic secret society.
More here:- Conspiracy Theory Addiction and Christian Fundamentalism
Though Shermer has given us a list of great cognitive fallacies typical of belief in conspiracy theories (posted in yesterday’s blog), he does not give us a reason that some people (or cultures) persistently flock to conspiracy theories, urban legends, etc., as a pillar of their world outlook.
Iron Man Suit for Future Soldiers
CNNTech reports on comic book fiction becoming reality!
Raytheon is designing in real life what comic books and Hollywood have promised for years, a real life Iron Man-like suit. Raytheon is designing in real life what comic books and Hollywood have promised for years, a real life Iron Man-like suit. A lunchtime crowd is gathering beside the parking lot at Raytheon Sarcos, the defense contractor, on a recent day in Salt Lake City. White-collar workers from nearby office parks stand with their yogurt cups and sandwiches, watching with quiet awe as a man in a metal suit — sort of half-man, half-robot — performs superhuman feats of strength. This may be the closest these people will get to a real-life “Iron Man,” the character from the comic books and hit movies.
Raytheon is designing in real life what comic books and Hollywood have promised for years, a real life Iron Man-like suit.
Texas Tea Baggers Push for Judenfrei Republican Leadership
About Atheism has some interesting and insightful comments on the Tea Bagger loonies:-
It would be difficult to understate just how bigoted America’s Tea Bagger movement really is. It’s unlikely that many are consciously bigots, like members of the KKK, but they do subscribe to an extreme form of tribalism in which white, Protestant Christians are the only “true” Americans.
The extremes to which this can be taken are evident in Texas where State Rep. Joe Straus should have the votes to become Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, but a coalition of Tea Baggers is fighting him — and one of their key arguments is that he’s a Jew. The anti-Semitism of their anti-Straus campaign is evident to everyone but them — they seem to believe that they are immune to anti-Semitism because they are Christians guided by God.
– “Straus is going down in Jesus’ name,” said one e-mail, whose origins were unclear.
– Straus “clearly lacks the moral compass to be speaker,” said another, written by Southeast Texas conservative activist Peter Morrison. A Morrison e-mail said that Straus’ rabbi sits on a Planned Parenthood board and then pointed out that Straus’ opponents in the Speaker’s race “are Christians and true conservatives.” Morrison is a contributor to the white supremacy website VDARE.
– The Tea Party-backed groups are now running anti-Straus robo-calls and e-mails demanding a “true Christian speaker,” reports News 8 Austin.
– The Quorum Report, an online newsletter, reported extensively late Monday on e-mails that mentioned Straus’ Judaism, his rabbi and the Christian faith of his House critics, who include Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola.
– Patrick Brendel reported that David Barton, leader of the group WallBuilders, has helped organize much of the anti-Straus campaign. Barton is a frequent contributor to the Glenn Beck program.
– Kaufman County Tea Party Chairman Ray Myers sent an e-mail last week praising a Straus opponent as “a Christian Conservative who decided not to be pushed around by the Joe Straus thugs.”
Source: Think Progress
It’s important to recognize that these aren’t just some fringe Tea Baggers at work here. All of these groups have operated alongside other conservative groups without a problem for a while now. They are accepted as being as “mainstream” as a group can get in conservative circles today. What this means is that this anti-Semitism, bigotry, and extreme tribalism are also accepted as “mainstream” among conservatives and Republicans today. Indeed, they are arguably what is driving modern American conservatism.
Myers, Morrison, and others have signed letters and worked in conjunction with major right-wing and Republican groups, like Americans for Prosperity. Americans for Prosperity, funded and financed by billionaires David and Charles Koch, is one of the most prominent conservative organizations in the country. Its leader, Tim Phillips, ran a similarly anti-Semitic campaign before being asked by David Koch to manage Americans for Prosperity.
That anti-Semitic campaign was, interestingly enough, against Eric Cantor in 2000. Today Eric Cantor is one of the leaders of the Republican Party — and he hasn’t wasted a second of his precious time condemning or even mildly objecting to the anti-Semitic tribalism or Christian Nationalism of his political cronies. He doesn’t have enough self-respect to complain when it’s directed at him, much less enough respect for others to stand up for them — not even when they are conservative Republicans.
This is the true heart of the American Tea Bagger. Gaze upon it well, for sooner or later it will direct its hatred in your direction. This sort of tribalism always seeks out new targets to attack, until there is nothing left but to turn in on itself and become self-destructive.
Latest Wikileaks Dish Out “brutally candid” Dirt
New York Times:-
WASHINGTON — A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
The Guradian:-
• More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreign strategies
• Diplomats ordered to spy on allies as well as enemies
• Saudi king urged Washington to bomb Iran
The Spectator apologises for falsely accusing Muslim of antisemitism
Apology follows settlement in which magazine and contributor Melanie Phillips agreed to pay Mohammad Sawalha compensation and his legal costs
- Josh Halliday
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 November 2010 16.45 GMT
Melanie Phillips, journalist and political commentator.
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
The Spectator and contributor Melanie Phillips today published an online apology to a prominent British Muslim they falsely accused of antisemitism.
Today’s apology, published on the Spectator website, follows an out of court settlement in which the magazine and Phillips agreed to pay Mohammad Sawalha “substantial” compensation and his legal costs.
Sawalha, president of the British Muslim Initiative, took legal action over a blog post by Phillips published in July 2008 in which she accused him of calling British Jews “evil/noxious”.
The apology stated: “On 2 July 2008 we published an article entitled ‘Just look what came crawling out’ which alleged that at a protest at the celebration in London of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, Mohammad Sawalha had referred to Jews in Britian as ‘evil/noxious’.
“We now accept that Mr Sawalha made no such antisemitic statement and that the article was based on a mistranslation elsewhere of an earlier report. We and Melanie Phillips apologise for the error.”
Solicitors acting for Sawalha said he was “delighted” to be cleared of the false allegation.
Sawalha, a long-time campaigner for community cohesion in Britain, took the dispute to the high court after the Spectator initially refused to correct Phillips blog post, which alleged that he had referred to Jews in Britain as “evil/noxious” at a protest in London of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.
Instead, the Spectator published a second story by Phillips, titled “Taking the airbrush to evil”, repeating the false allegation and casting doubt on the suggestion that the “evil/noxious” quote was the result of a mistranslation of the transcript of an interview.
They continued to defend the claim even after an independent expert commissioned by both sides had confirmed that the phrase in the original transcript could not be translated as referring to Jews as “evil/noxious”, before finally settling shortly before the case was due in court.
In October, the Spectator paid substantial damages and legal costs to the campaign group IslamExpo, of which Sawalha is a director, for an article it also published in July 2008. Matthew d’Ancona was editor at the time, replaced by Fraser Nelson in August last year.
The article, written by Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard, called IslamExpo a racist, fascist and genocidal organisation.
Crackpot Krauthammer Says ‘Liberals Are Obsessed with Palin’
One of the saddest falls from sanity has been Charles Krauthammer’s. Of all the conservative pundits, he was frequently one of the most rational, back in the day, but now he’s completely controlled by the Obama Derangement Syndrome that has subsumed the entire right wing like a vampiric virus.
Here’s one of the silliest points he’s made yet, as he bashes the “liberal media” for being “obsessed with Sarah Palin,” at the same time as he works as an analyst for Fox News — where it’s all Sarah Palin, all the time — and as Palin puts herself and family in front of the cameras at every opportunity.
Krauthammer’s frustration probably stems from the fact that he doesn’t have much respect for Sarah Palin, and the last thing he wants is for her to run for President. But I predict that when she does, Krauthammer’s going to jump right on board and sing her praises like every other right wing pundit.
U.K. Rightists Recruit Jews, Gays
In the Independent in Britain, Robert Verkaik writes, Jewish? Gay? Join us, white Rightist extremists say:
A white extremist organisation is forging links with Jewish, Sikh and gay communities to fuel prejudice and fear and hatred of the Muslim community, it was claimed today. The English Defence League (EDL), which was formed last year in protest at Islamic extremist activity, has also reached out across the Atlantic to build close ties with the American right-wing group, the Tea Party.
Hundreds of EDL members are planning demonstrations in Nuneaton and Preston today to protest at the building of mosques and what they claim is the growing influence in the UK of Sharia law. But a new report, written by Professor Nigel Copsey of Teesside University, warns that the growth of EDL membership will spread Islamophobia in communities sharing a perceived “historical angst” against Muslims. … As well as aggravating religious tensions, the EDL has established a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Division to “defend” gay people from Sharia law.
There are also specialist divisions for women, soldiers and disabled people. The report warns these communities to be vigilant against “selective racism” and the EDL’s attempts at manipulation. … Founder and director of Faith Matters, Fiyaz Mughal, said: “The EDL’s main aim is to increase tensions, raise hate and divide communities. Their attempts to portray themselves as a legitimate and open movement cannot disguise their violent, anti-Muslim agenda. This hate can easily mutate against another community.”
America’s real priorities (and the arms industry are very happy)
Some revealing facts from the essential War is Business blog:
$10.9 billion was the value of military training and sales agreements executed in fiscal year 2000 by the Pentagon’s global arms delivery service, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. $31.6 billion was the sum of the agency’s business in fiscal year 2010, which concluded at the end of September. The DSCA just released the new figures.
$4.7 billion of that total comprised training and equipment for the Afghan military and police services. (Eager recruits, pictured.)
$4.0 billion worth of hardware went to Israel, the DSCA’s top buyer.
$2.6 billion went to Egypt.
$463 million is the latest official tally of US aid to Pakistan for flood relief.
$250 million is how much China has pledged for flood relief. Swaths of Pakistan’s Sindh province are expected to remain underwater for months.
Palin’s PAC Tied to Islamophobic Dutch Writer
Mother Jones magazine reports on an “incendiary Dutch journalist” named Joshua Livestro who is apparently working on Sarah Palin’s political action committee (emphasis mine):
Not surprisingly, Livestro’s views skew to the right. He helped to found the Edmund Burke Foundation, a right-wing Dutch think tank created to push back against progressive politics in the Netherlands. In one manifesto, citing the number of Muslims in the Netherlands, the foundation warned of ethnic conflict and said the country’s borders should be closed. In the Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland, Livestro once wrote that the gruesome photos depicting detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib resembled little more than an out-of-control frat party; he complained that Abu Ghraib critics were “cry-babies” exaggerating the episode’s signficiance. On his blog, Livestro similarly quipped that the CIA’s torture techniques—with the exception of waterboarding—were milder than the hazing methods of fraternities.
Livestro founded the Edmund Burke Foundation along with a fellow Dutch journalist named Bart Jan Spruyt, who went on to advise the virulently Islamophobic Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Spruyt accompanied Wilders on a trip to the United States in 2005, the purpose being for Wilders to publicize here “what is happening to his country because of the rise of radical Islam and why he is promoting a moratorium on non-western immigration.” (Spruyt has now distanced himself from Wilders.)
It’s no surprise that Palin would be tied to an anti-Muslim Dutch writer. Palin has stoked bigotry against Muslims herself, from referring to the president as Barack Hussein Obama to calling on “peaceful Muslims” to “refudiate” the “Ground Zero mosque” to defending Franklin Graham, who once called Islam a “very evil and wicked religion.” She’s also the hero of the Tea Party, a right-wing movement that’s no stranger to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Race and religion-baiting of President Obama and Muslims will be par for the course if/when Palin runs for president in 2012.
The Christian Reconstructionist Roots of ‘End the Fed’
At Religion Dispatches, Julie Ingersoll has an excellent post on the extreme fundamentalist sect known as “Christian Reconstructionism” and its influence on the modern libertarian movement’s call to destroy the Federal Reserve: Better Dead Than ‘Fed’: Behind Palin’s Dig at ‘Unbiblical’ Fed.
While Ron Paul’s anti-Fed crusade is widely thought of as economic libertarianism, the roots of this combat lie in a theocratic reading of the Bible, arising out of the nexus between Paul (and now his son, Senator-elect Rand Paul), Howard Phillips and his Constitution Party, and Gary North and the Christian Reconstructionists.
For decades, the elder Paul, Phillips, and North have shared the libertarian economic philosophy of the Austrian School, which advocates a strict free market approach to an economy they portray in terms of individual choices and agreements rather than systemic forces. With respect to the Federal Reserve System in particular, they have argued against its fractional reserve banking, and its manipulation of interest rates to control economic ups and downs.
North, the architect of Christian Reconstructionist economic theory, and controversial libertarian economist Lew Rockwell both worked on Ron Paul’s congressional staff in the late 1970s. That collaboration continues today, even after reports during the 2008 presidential campaign that Rockwell had ghostwritten racist and anti-gay statements in Ron Paul’s conspiracy-minded newsletter in the 1980s and ’90s. They continue to collaborate through the Ludwig von Mises Institute, founded by Rockwell and the anti-“statist,” anti-New Deal economist Murray Rothbard, who believed Joseph McCarthy was “the most smeared man in American politics” in the 20th century.
Their work is also found at LewRockwell.com, where North currently writes, often in support of Paul. In promoting their libertarian economic views, Rothbard and Rockwell have, according to the libertarian Reason magazine, “championed an open strategy of exploiting racial and class resentment to build a coalition with populist ‘paleoconservatives.’”
While each of these figures comes to the table from different places, they come together in agreement on Rothbard’s anti-statism, which dovetails with North’s views. For North, the Bible limits the legitimate functions of civil government to punishing “evildoers” and providing for defense. Reconstructionist theocracy, based on the Reconstructionists’ reading of the Bible, gives coercive authority to families and churches to organize other aspects of life. In this view—one that also meshes with Tea Party rhetoric—the Fed’s control of monetary policy is a prime example of federal government “tyranny.”
North argues that the Federal Reserve is unbiblical because it usurps power not legitimately held by civil government (because God didn’t grant it) and it promotes inflation, which he says is nothing more than theft from those who are not in debt in favor of those who are.
Where Cinema and Biology Meet
November 16, 2010
Source: New York Times, Nov 15, 2010
Molecular animation and other visualizations will be increasingly necessary in the face of increasing complexity and increasing data, say several biologists who are bringing visual representations of some of life’s deepest secrets to students and the general public.
The Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson is leading a project to develop the next generation of digital biology textbook that will integrate complex visualizations as a core part of the curriculum. Called “Life on Earth,” the project could change how students learn biology.
Image: from the video “Powering the Cell: Mitochondria.” (Robert A. Lue)
The Age of Blasphemy 