The Local Blogosphere

Sir Peter Gluckman, the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor has released an interesting discussion paper today looking at peer review and its role in influencing what sort of research gets funded in New Zealand. Those who have been through the Marsden or Health Research Council wringer will find it particularly interesting. Many scientists have told [...]

[Click on the headline above for the full story]

How many deaths does it take?  We hear that question asked time and again following a tragic event.  We also hear it with calls for changes to our public health priorities.  Well, I am now asking it with respect to Acute Kidney Injury. Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is one of the most common hospital events (4-5% of … Continue reading »

[Click on the headline above for the full story]

The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman has today released a discussion paper Which science to fund: time to review peer review?

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman

The paper arrives as both New Zealand and Australia consider their priorities for public science funding and while it doesn’t focus on the subject, it deals with the “more complex and sensitive issue of how funding should be allocated within a contestable system”.

“It is not my intent to suggest any particular solution but I do think that it is timely to have a more objective look at the process of funding decisions as this is the most important element in matching our research community to the changing shape of our innovation system,” said Sir Peter.

“When all is said and done, funding decisions affect what science will contribute to our world”.

In an additional blog post, Sir Peter writes that the peer review system in place in New Zealand may no t be delivering the best possible outcomes for publicly-funded scientific research.

“The outcome can be that the research that gets funded is not necessarily the most innovative; rather, there is an almost inevitable progression towards predictable and safe activity.”

The report can be downloaded here.

The UK Government has given the go-ahead for hydraulic fracking activity in the country to tap valuable sources of shale gas.

A drilling company Cuadrilla, was previously stopped from fracking after two small earthquakes occurred near Blackpool in the region of where fracking was happening. (See additional scientific commentary on thew Blackpool tremors).

Conditions have been imposed to minimise the risk of seismic activity and fracking activity will be subject to existing laws and regulations governing environmental protection and health and safety.

Our colleagues at the UK Science Media Centre gathered reaction from scientists and engineers:

Professor Robert Mair FREng FRS, Chair of the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering review, said:

“We are pleased to see the Government recognise the importance of the joint Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering report on the geological and environmental risks of shale gas extraction in the UK. We welcomed the opportunity to discuss our recommendations with the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency recently and commend their commitment to implementing the recommendations set out in our report. Our report concluded that the risks associated with hydraulic fracturing can be managed effectively in the UK as long as operational best practices are implemented and robustly enforced through regulation. It is now up to the Government, regulatory bodies and operators to ensure that these responsibilities are met.

“Safeguarding well integrity is at the heart of ensuring that risks associated with hydraulic fracturing can be managed effectively. Our report highlighted the need for continued monitoring by independent experts to ensure that each well is designed, constructed and operated in a safe and responsible manner. We strongly encourage both the Government and the operators to implement a properly independent examination and onsite inspection programme so that the public can have confidence in the process.

“The decision by Ed Davey to commission a study of the possible impacts of shale gas extraction on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change should be welcomed. There are few reliable estimates of the carbon footprint of shale gas extraction and potential methane leakages during the extraction process have been highlighted as a concern, as methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The findings of this study will be important in deciding the future of large scale extraction of shale gas in the UK.”

Andy Furlong, director of policy at the Institution of Chemical Engineers, said:

“Shale gas represents an enormous opportunity for the UK. The health, safety and environmental risks associated with hydraulic fracking can be managed effectively as long as the activity is fully risk-assessed and operational best practice is implemented through appropriate regulation.

“Fracking is an established technology that has been used in the oil and gas sector for decades. Chemical and process engineers have extensive knowledge of the exploration and production of natural gas. Furthermore, the UK has 60 years’ experience of regulating the oil and gas industries, offshore and onshore.”

Professor Kevin Anderson, Deputy Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester, said:

“Shale gas is the same as natural gas – it is a high carbon fuel, with around 75% of its mass made of carbon. For the UK and other wealthy nations shale gas cannot be a transition fuel to a low-carbon future. Anyone who says differently does not understand our explicit international commitments under the Copenhagen Accord, the Cancun Agreements – or, alternatively, is bad at maths.

“The UK’s commitment to make our fair contribution to reduce emissions in line with keeping global warming below a 2°C rise gives a very clear global carbon budget, and hence a UK budget: in other words, how much carbon we can put into the atmosphere over this century. Here the maths is unambiguous – we have insufficient budget for the carbon we are already emitting and by the time shale gas is produced in any quantity (five to ten years) there will be no emissions space left for it. The maths is that simple, even if the conclusion is not what we want to hear.

“Another fundamental mistake made by many experts on shale gas is that they assume it is lower carbon than coal, but this is valid only if we don’t burn the coal! In a world that is hungry for energy, any UK shale gas used here will mean we import less gas and coal – gas and coal that will simply be burnt elsewhere. The climate does not care from which country the carbon comes from – so burn shale gas here and UK emissions may go down but global emissions will go up. Shale gas is another high carbon fossil fuel – it just adds to the problem – in the absence of a stringent limit on total carbon emissions it will not substitute for coal.

“Finally, even if the technology of ‘carbon capture and storage’ can be made to work with gas – the level of emissions reductions will not be enough to meet our international carbon commitments. In the UK and globally we are now reaping the reward of a decade of hypocrisy and self-delusion on climate change. We pretend we are doing something ourselves, whilst blaming others for rising emissions. The truth is out – it is a tragedy of the commons par excellence – we are all to blame and we have left it too late for a technical fix. We are heading towards a global temperature rise of 4C to 6C this century; if we want to get off this trajectory shale gas needs to stay in the ground and we, in the wealthy world, need to consume much less energy – now!”

Professor Michael Bradshaw from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), said:

“Only an exploratory drilling programme can provide the information needed to arrive at a better assessment of the reserve base, but the US experience suggests that even that will provide limited understanding.

“It is only by extensive drilling that commercial levels of production can be guaranteed. Any further decisions must assess the commercial viability of shale gas in the UK, against the regulatory costs and tax regime, the environmental impacts (both direct in relation to the drilling activity and indirect in terms of greenhouse gas emissions) and the wider societal acceptance of the industry. In short, shale gas will remain a conditional resource in the UK for some-time to come.”

Prof Quentin Fisher, Professor of Petroleum Geoengineering at the University of Leeds, said: 

“This is a sensible decision given the overwhelming evidence that hydraulic fracturing is safe.

“However, no one should get too excited about potential revenues from UK shale gas exploitation. A massive amount of uncertainty still exists regarding the volume of shale gas in the UK and whether it can be produced economically. Around 10-20 wells are needed before gas volumes and flow rates can be reliably estimated. Even if large volumes of gas are proved to exist, they may be too expensive to exploit on a large scale in the near future given the poorly developed supply chain for unconventional gas production in Europe and the large amount of cheap gas being supplied from elsewhere.

“A key challenge will now be overcoming opposition from local communities who are feed a constant steam of scare stories by environmental activists whose underling objection is the burning of fossil fuels and not the safety of fracking itself.

Prof Andrew Aplin, Professor of Petroleum Geoscience in the School of Civil Engineering and Geoscience at Newcastle University, said:

“This decision is in line with the substantial body of evidence that gas can be safely and cleanly produced from shales, given an appropriate and transparent regulatory framework.

“Gas will be an important transition fuel as we strive for a lower carbon economy and it is noteworthy that the US has actually reduced its CO2 emissions in the last two years as a result of switching some of its power generation from coal to gas.

“The UK is heavily dependent on gas for its energy and without new sources we will be importing up to 80% of our gas needs by 2020. All energy production has a visual and environmental impact, whether shale gas, wind turbines or major solar projects. With careful planning, the visual impact of shale gas production is probably less than that of wind turbines, per unit of energy generated.”

Prof Peter Styles, Professorial Research Fellow at Keele University and co-author of the scientific report to DECC into the Blackpool earthquakes published in April 2012, said:

“As part of the expert group (Styles, Green, Baptie) which examined all of the data and evidence concerning the minor seismicity which occurred last year near Blackpool, I welcome the decision to proceed with carefully monitored exploratory hydraulic fracturing as we recommended to Government in April.

“We have recommended protocols and modus operandi for the industry which will monitor the operations and use these data to control the process in a measured way in order to understand the behaviour of shale rocks in the context of UK Geology. The resources which are potentially available are large and we should be cognisant of our need for a cleaner, more secure source of energy than coal at a time when we are net importers of gas and heavily dependent on it (50% is imported) for our domestic heating and cooking (70% of which comes from gas) and electricity generation (about 50%).

“During this recent spell of very cold but very still air the welcome contribution from renewable sources such as wind has been minor (0.5 GW out of about 50 GW). We must under EU regulations on Flue Gas Desulphurisation close around 10% of our generating capacity by 2015 as six coal-fired power stations are taken offline and we have had no shipments of LNG since October as they have all been bought by Japan and Korea. Even if we did obtain LNG shipments, we have only limited (12 days) of storage as compared to France and Germany who have ten times this amount.

“We must also avoid the hypocritical position of refusing to face up to our responsibilities of producing our own indigenous supplies (and also bearing the responsibility for disposing of the CO2 generated from them) while happily importing and using gas from countries where political frameworks and regulatory legislation are illusory at best – and where the actual transport of that gas through the pipeline has a higher carbon footprint than actually burning it!”

Prof John Loughhead from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) said:

“The full adoption of the recommendations made in the review by the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering on safe practice, and its own independent review of seismic risk mitigation, shows that DECC has taken the best technical advice to establish safe regulation and processes.

“There is no doubt that it is possible to recover shale gas safely, and in an environmentally acceptable way.

“The ability to exploit shale gas could dramatically increase accessible UK reserves of the cleanest fossil fuel and is an economic opportunity that cannot be ignored. If successful, it is likely to eventually displace coal from the UK’s energy supply, and make more gas available to do the same elsewhere in the world, which has major environmental benefits.

“No-one can say what the impact might be on gas prices in the UK, but we shall not see serious production for at least 10 years even if the reserves are both proven and economically recoverable.

“Over the next 25 years it is technically unrealistic to expect current renewable energy technologies to replace coal, so shale gas would not displace their further deployment.”

Dr Christopher Green, Director of G Frac Technologies Ltd and co-author of the scientific report to DECC into the Blackpool earthquakes published in April 2012, said:

“A decision on continuation of shale gas was urgently needed, if we are to secure a sustainable energy future for the UK.

“This is a welcome boost in an area where the UK could see benefits on several fronts: defining an industry best practice for ‘legislator-operator regulation’ that addresses the need to minimise risk and conducts safe shale gas operations; developing a resource that could help as part of the future energy mix to UK energy security; and developing local personnel and expertise that will be of benefit not only to the local economy but also might be exported world-wide, to help other nations develop their own shale gas resources.”

Prof Jim Watson, Director of the Sussex Energy Group at the University of Sussex, said:

“The view of Ministers that shale gas will significantly boost UK energy security is questionable for two reasons.

“First, the UK is already in a comparatively strong security position, with access to a diversity of domestic and international sources of gas via pipelines and ships. Rather than relying on shale gas, a priority to strengthen gas security should be more attention to the low amount of gas storage we have.

“Second, even if UK shale gas resources turn out to be large and low cost – and that is a big if – this will not necessarily bring down prices to UK consumers. It is unlikely that UK shale gas will be anywhere near as cheap as it is in the US, and any price difference between UK gas and continental European gas will quickly disappear as a result of demand from other countries.”

Dr Nick Riley, Head of Science Policy (Europe) at the British Geological Survey, said:

“Drilling and testing for shale gas will allow Britain to assess whether we have an economic resource and how it can be accessed with minimum impact to the environment.

“Gas is the greenest of the fossil fuels and may have a role in reducing carbon emissions in countries which are dependent on coal for electricity generation, but shale gas also has high emissions from all the energy used in drilling and fracking. If gas power generation is connected with carbon capture and storage the convenience of home grown gas can be combined with very low emissions to help keep Britain within its emissions targets.”

Prof Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Edinburgh, said:

“The UK undoubtedly has some shale gas resource and, if the relevant environmental regulations and monitoring are enforced, this can be a lower carbon source of fossil energy than imported gas.

“Fracking is well established in the subsurface industry, and monitoring should greatly reduce the risk of earth tremor. High quality well casing and sealing of drilling fluids and gas production from surrounding aquifers is equally important, as is control of fugitive emissions. However, I expect the rollout of shale gas in the UK to be a lot slower than the Treasury hope for, and not to control the price of domestic gas supplies.”

 

Well, surely I’m not the only one surprised that what was to be the establishment of an Advanced Technology Institute – or a supercharged IRL – somewhat on the model of Taiwan’s ITRI, is instead going to end up as … Continue reading →

[Click on the headline above for the full story]

I chatted with Radio New Zealand about fat taxes on Wednesday. I talked about the problems of defining healthy and unhealthy foods, and the lobbying waste that can result around boundary cases if we go the route of taxing specific foods rather tha...

[Click on the headline above for the full story]

A New Zealand study reviewing the available research on pricing strategies to increase healthy eating has received media attention both in New Zealand and abroad.

Researchers from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, Wellington conducted a comprehensive review of modelling studies investigating the association between food pricing strategies, food consumption and chronic diseases.

You can read the full study, published in PLOS Medicine, here and expert commentary, collected by the SMC, can be read here.

The research has featured in media report both here and over seas:

NZ Herald: Fat tax would benefit Kiwis
ODT:Fat tax could improve health: study
MSN Health NZ: Junk food tax linked to healthier diet
ODT: Tax on sugary drinks and fatty foods not planned
Radio NZ: Food taxes and subsidies ‘could improve health’
3 News: Food price controls have ‘potential’ to improve health – study

Examples of international coverage:

Huffington Post: Raising Junk Food Prices Could Spur People To Consume Less: Study
LA Times: Study offers new support for taxing soda and other junk foods

Participants in conferences and workshops all seem to use laptops these days. So I find myself trying to establish if Apple or Windows dominate when I watch videos of these meetings. It seems to vary according to the subject. I … Continue reading →

[Click on the headline above for the full story]

Participants in conferences and workshops all seem to use laptops these days. So I find myself trying to establish if Apple or Windows dominate when I watch videos of these meetings. It seems to vary according to the subject. I think Apple dominates at this meeting.

Moving Naturalism Forward workshop

Sean Carroll has announced that videos from the October Moving Naturalism Forward workshop are now on-line (see Moving Naturalism Forward: Videos and Recap). See my posts Moving Naturalism Forward and Reports from the Moving Naturalism Forward workshop for more information on the workshop.

There are ten videos of about an hour-and-a-half each. I haven’t watched any of them yet – but plan to get started this weekend.

You can find all the videos at the Workshop web-site.

Sean describes the workshop this way:

The format of the meeting was a relatively small group of people sitting around a table and discussing things. Each session had someone say something to kick things off, but in general the discussion was central, not formal presentations. Participants included Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, Terrence Deacon, Simon DeDeo, Daniel Dennett, Owen Flangan, Rebecca Goldstein, Janna Levin, Massimo Pigliucci, David Poeppel, Nicholas Pritzker, Alex Rosenberg, Don Ross, Steven Weinberg, and me. A good cross-section of philosophers, physicists, biologists, and assorted other specialties. From start to finish the conversation was lively, informative, and at a very high level.

and

Nicholas Pritzker, who helped support the workshop, attended the sessions as a participant. Jennifer Ouellette also attended some of the sessions. Richard Dawkins had to leave early on the second day, due to travel complications caused by Hurricane Sandy. Hilary Bok, Patricia Churchland, and Lisa Randall were scheduled to attend but each had to cancel for different reasons.

Similar articles

The results of the latest National Health Survey have been released, providing a snapshot of the health of New Zealand health and how has changed over time. Growing ethnic and and socio-economic inequalities, particularity in child and adult obesity rates, have raised concern.

The survey contains information about smoking, nutrition, access to health care and oral health, based on data collected from 12,000 adults and 4000 children.

The new and improved National Health Survey, which started last year, aims to integrate a number of individual surveys that including the Adult and Child Nutrition Surveys, Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Use Surveys, Te Rau Hinengaro (the New Zealand Mental Health Survey) and an Oral Health Survey.

The information collected is an important source of supporting evidence for health and health service policy and strategy development.

You can read more about the survey here. Several of the core findings for both the adult and child surveys are listed below.

Key findings from the adult survey include:

• Improving trends: reduced daily smoking, less psychological distress, fewer people unable to get an appointment within 24 hours, higher vegetable intake.
• No change: fruit intake, physically active.
• Worsening trends: obesity, diabetes, fewer dental visits.

Key Findings from the child (0-14) survey include:

• Improving trends: later age for introducing solid food, more general practitioner visits free for those under six years.
• No change: eating breakfast at home every day, asthma.
• Worsening trends: obesity.

One million obese Kiwis

The survey data indicate there are about one million adults in New Zealand who are obese.  Obesity rates have continued to increase over the past 15 years, from 19% in 1997 to 28% in 2011/12. The survey also found that there had been a substantial jump in obesity incidence among younger people; in the 15-24 year-old demographic the obesity rate has increased from 14% to 20% in the last 5 years.

The children’s survey found that 10% of those aged 2-14 were obese, with rates higher among Maori (17%) and Pacific (23%) children, and children living in the most deprived areas (19%).

Obesity is a major risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer.

Inequalities highlighted

Both surveys also highlighted differences by population group with generally poorer health and more unmet need for health care among Maori, Pacific adults and children and people living in more socioeconomically deprived areas. Health inequalities in New Zealand came under public scrutiny in the year in the wake of research which showed dramatic rise in infectious disease rates over the last 20 years – with Maori, Pacific and poorer populations worst affected.

Condemnation from health expert

In response to the latest survey data Professor Tony Blakely from the University of Otago , Wellington, has called for action on child obesity.  “I’m used to researching inequalities in health in New Zealand,” he said in a media release, “but I’m shocked by the latest figures on child obesity which show an increase rates from 8% in 2006/7 to 11% in 2011/12, and in particular the extreme inequalities that we now have in New Zealand. ”

“But perhaps the most shocking inequality is the six-fold gap between the most deprived (19% either obese or overweight) and least deprived (3%) neighbourhoods in New Zealand.”

“Some of this deprivation gap in child overweight/obesity is due to Maori and Pacific children being more likely to live in deprived areas, but the reality is that we now have extreme inequalities between rich and poor neighbourhoods.  Not only does this create disparities in health now, but it bodes badly for diabetes, cardiovascular and cancer inequalities in the future if action is not taken.”

Actions to curb youth obesity suggested by Prof Blakely included:

• Banning all junk food advertising during children’s TV viewing hours
• Making sugar-free drinks the norm, not high sugar soft-drinks, through regulation, taxes and the industry stumping up to its responsibilities
• Ensuring schools and other public institutions provide healthy food
• Making healthy food the easy option for all New Zealanders, through subsidies or removing GST on fruit and vegetables combined with possible taxes on fatty and sugary foods (the impact of food subsidies and taxes was highlighted by New Zealand research just published this week).

If you would like to contact an expert for comment on any of the issues raised in the latest survey, please contact the Science Media Centre (smc@sciencemediacentre.co.nz; 04 499 5476)

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Wairarapa appears to be a hotbed of paganism (strange, I seem to have been left off their invite list to this years midnight Satanic orgy?) and the sleepy town of Carterton is the vortex for this shameless devil-worship.

This coven of devil-worshippers was exposed when the towns-library was temporarily housed in the local Masonic Lodge.

As every good Christian knows those goat-molesting Freemasons are in league with Beelzebub and Reverend John Cromarty from St David’s Church in Carterton wants the mayor to close the temporary library being run out of the lodge – least it corrupts the population.

In his letter to the town mayor Cromarty spells-out the evils of Freemasonry and the potential dangers of being exposed to its dark-craft.

"Freemasonry, while it does good works in the community, is based upon the worship of pagan gods,"

“While it portrays a facade as being compatible to Christianity in its teaching, it has its foundation rooted in witchcraft and pre-Christian teachings and practice."

The reply from Cartertons mayor, Gary McPhee, to Reverend Cromarty’s complaints could have been penned by yours-truly, given its acerbic nature.

McPhee told Cromarty in his open reply he was "stuck in the wrong century" and "We are now in the 21st century but clearly some people didn't move along with us."

Looking at the retard in the photo above (check-out the jutting jaw and small cranium) – I have to agree with McPhee’s line of reasoning on this one, but he appears to have let diplomacy get the better of his vitriol.

After closer examination of Reverend John ‘Missing-Link’ Cromarty’s photo, I would place that period of time closer-to 400,000 years ago when Homo Neanderthalensis roamed the planet, rather than mere centuries.

This is ‘the’ legendary DM (a.k.a David Marbus) the author of such gems as the one below, which appear with annoying regularity in the comments section of atheist blogs through-out the world, including mine:

add comment moderation to your BS you will not have a PUBLIC FORUM NEW GAME WITH YOU LITTLE F*CKERS - SPEAK N DIE. Come see the latest DM videos for your viewing pleasure! the WORLD TRADE CENTER PROPHECY - THE DANCE OF DEATH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Hez25fFrg http://media.depechemode.com/micro_sites/remasters/gr/wallpaper/violator_8_640.jpg _______________ And the Pope is 100% correct: The Nazis and the atheists both wish to ABOLISH FAITH.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11332515 ________________________ hawking is WRONG science cannot explain NOTHING! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMRJJcfEXls& FAIR AND BALANCED! ________________ http://dissidentphilosophy.lifediscussion.net/philosophy-f1/the-boobquake-911-t1310.htm

If that wasn’t enough indication DM is a looney-tune extraordinaire, take-a-look at another one of his delusional rants, I recently deleted:

the only crap you will ever need from this so-called "philosopher" called massimo pigliucci http://chem.tufts.edu/science/pigliucci/rationally-speaking/RS2001-091.htm "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1iy39_depeche-mode-john-the-revelator_music JOHN THE REVELATOR! FAIR AND BALANCED! KING OF TERROR add comment moderation to your BS or more people will die with you... NO GODS AND NO POLITICS WITH THESE LITTLE IDIOTS! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyEISfS15g4&feature=player_embedded plush safe he think http://www.christies.com/lotfinderimages/D14781/d1478164x.jpg http://vimeo.com/13704095 but with recent revelations about James Randi, I think he likes DICKS! THE SECOND COMING! THE END OF ATHEISM FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smwrw4sNCxE THE B**BQUAKE - 911 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeblvLoVJCA&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

David Marbus turns-out to be a Canadian called Dennis Markuze and he’s a lot younger than I expected.

But then again I should have guessed he was closer to 30 than 50 when I had in front of me the stunning truth that Nostradamus predicted the formation of the group Depeche Mode and that somehow in-turn lead to September 11th.

If you ask me his jacket is more Spandau Ballet than Depeche Mode and the later have penned more than fair share of atheist anthems as it happens – not that DM is aware of much happening in the real world outside his Montreal bedroom.

Markuze also seems to like the Japanese horror-film ‘The Ring’ from other rants I’ve seen over the years – hardly suprising since I don’t think he gets out much of his parents house, except to fill-up his prescription.

Basically ‘the tough-guy’ DM turns-out to be a sniveling creep.

This song is for you DM.

Part of the all-but automatic beatification process of a pope and the road to his sainthood, is evidence of a credible miracle.

To gain sainthood a pope must show they are in-effect a kind of middleman ‘lightening rod’ on earth for their god called Yahweh.

Invariably this anecdotal evidence when provided is flimsy at best, and placed-on the-table long after their deaths.

No one seems to care that when someone is alive they are never able to display their magic-tricks and never, but never, in an open-public forum or say under scientific scrutiny.

If the current pope is to show us the power of god channeled through his form – why not stump-up with the goods right now rather than later when he is dead and buried?

Why doesn’t The Catholic Church show us Benedict is literally ‘gods emissary’ by showing-us now, rather than decades later, his miracle, so we can examine it in the harsh light of day?

The time for Benedict to show us his magic, say regeneration of a severed limb, is now - but there sweat FA chance of that happening.

That would lead the entire public and scientific community playing the devils advocate.

The images and act of book-burning is etched in our psyches as being a formative part of National Socialist Germany - when copies of anything from Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud to H.G Wells went-up in flames.

Yet, the sordid history of book burning pre-dates 1930’s Germany by centuries and still goes-on all too frequently even today.

Catholics in particular love nothing better than to destroy the writings of anyone that upsets their narrow sensibilities.

In their hey-day The Spanish Inquisition relished burning Korans & any other Islamic text they could lay their hands on.

Virtually the entire writings of the Mayan Civilization were destroyed with perverted pleasure by The Catholic Church.

For good measure nearly every Cathar text that could be found by The Catholic Church were also destroyed as well.

This fruit-loop pastor Terry Jones would have to build a bonfire the size of the state of Florida to come close to the Catholic Churches suppression of free-thought and alternative beliefs through-out the ages.

It was only four years ago Catholics in Rome and Manila decided Dan Browns ‘Da Vinci Code’ deserved being BBQed.

Whist doubtlessly top-of-the-pyre for destroying writings that threatened their self-appointed place in the world, The Catholic Church is not alone amongst religious zealotry when it comes to book-burning.

The evil texts of Harry Potter and Superman Comics have gone up in flames lit by evangelists.

In the 1980’s orthodox Jews in Jesuleum incinerated New Testaments by the score.

More copies of Salman Rusdies ‘Satanic Verses’ were probably destroyed than read.

The Taliban also did what the Taliban does best.

God evidently loves a good book burning!

The fallout-out (or would “blow-out” be a more appropriate term of phrase given the subject matter?) from Bishop Eddie Long rent-a-choir-boy affair has reached New Zealand.

And the stains (of the type not even modern washing-powers will remove) have reached the crocodile shoes of our own self-proclaimed bishop, Brian Tamaki.

Bishop Long, or as his rent-a-choir-boys got to call him ‘Big Ed’, journeyed down-under in 2003 after the year prior Tamaki had made it to Atlanta for some well-earned R&R.

2003 was a spiritual journey at the behest of Tamaki who runs New Zealand’s version of a mega-church, Destiny. Rather than being a double-meat wopper burger like say Longs ‘Birth Ministry’ Destiny would be better termed as one of those crappy small cheese-burgers McDonalds have. Soggy in the middle and with a tacky outer wrapping.

This trip and the ‘connection’ (not in a biblical sense one presumes?) Tamaki had with Long is out-lined in his autobiography. I think it’s in the section just after he admits fathering children out of wedlock?

In the chapter rather appropriately titled, given what now we know happens behind the scenes at The Birth Ministry, “Spiritual Father – a long time coming” Tamaki waxes lyrical over Long and his set-up. In case you get confused that’s the set-up of Longs organisation rather than the ‘set-up’ where he befriends teen boys, lavishes them with gifts and attention – then sodomises them.

"The instant that Bishop Long walked into the room our spirits connected without having said a word”

In the most Freudian of statements possible, Tamaki goes-on to say in his bio:

"I was a little taken aback by his embracing nature and the manner with which he greeted each and every one of us as if we were long lost brothers."


"I was impressed, yet the ease of our connection and the confirmation of a date was entirely in line with Kingdom principle - when God speaks, do it,"

Clearly when Longs felt the urge for “a connection” he didn’t have to look far to “do it.”

Tamaki is apparently going to issue a statement today about ‘Big Ed’ Long in which no doubt he’ll say he’s praying for him and to return the christening gifts.

I’ll be sure to do a follow-up on this.

Human invention makes real miracles happen.




 

The outward vestiges of Catholicism’s wealth and immortality is; The Vatican Bank.

The Vatican Bank is not a bank in the same terms that define first-tare global financial institutions, such as the one you and I hold accounts at.

This bank operates at a level that would make an Internet finance company in the Bahamas with a P.O Box for an address, look like The Bank of England.

That is to say The Vatican Bank functions in the global financial under-belly, well outside the controls of normal EU/U.S regulations, governmental controls and more importantly for 'Gods bankers' as far away from ‘the grasp of the law’ as possible.

Those holding an account at The Vatican Bank fall loosely into three categories (a.) Catholic Churches and clergy (b.) Criminals (c.) Tax Evaders.

Which depositor is which, is frankly hard to tell.Over the years many a regulator and media-commentator has wanted to know “who is actually running the bank - it's biggest clients, The Mafia or The Catholic Church itself?

When it comes to symbiotics like The Vatican Church and Italian Mafia, a quick look at historic-record shows the line between both groups is some-what blurred.

The Vatican Bank was formed in the middle of WW2 and made its initial wealth by accepting tainted funds from the deceased bank accounts & riches of Europe’s Jewish population, acquiesced by corrupt regimes - such as the one that gave the Vatican the very statehood it now uses to avoid prosecution and act beyond international law. The relatives of the Holocaust victims are still trying to recover those stolen ‘blood’ monies six decades later.

Money laundering still remains the main ‘money-making’ activity of The Institute for Works of Religion (the banks technical name) to this day. This week we learnt its current head, not for the first time in its sordid history, has just been caught-out by Italian officials for what is by their terms is a paltry 20 million Euros of illegal transactions.

As a financial institution that will take monies ‘no questions asked’ operating with the luxury of having a board which has immunity from prosecution, and no need to open its books to public scrutiny, The Vatican Bank has been and always will be the bank of choice to the criminal underworld as well as your run-of-the-mill despotic regime. Catholic dictators Pinochet's and Noriega knew full-well where to safely place their ill-gotten gains. They left it amongst comrades in faith. Hopefully they got a discounted rate.

Criminal fraternity’s ranging from the local Sicilian mafia, right through to Central & South American drug syndicates, also have accounts with The Vatican Bank, much to the chagrin of global law enforcement who are powerless to seize the profits of their criminal enterprise once it goes into the same vaults which still holds Nazi gold and valuables stolen literally in some cases from the corpses of Holocaust victims.

It is on public-record The Vatican Banks ‘cut’ on the Gambino crime-families drug-money was a straight 50% - so ‘laundering’ is a very profitable business for The Institute for Works of Religion and ultimately the Catholic Church - it’s sole shareholder and benefactor from its secretive venal activities.
If you wanted to 'knock a hole' in the worlds illicit drug trade and organised crime the biggest single-thing any government/policing-organisation could do -would be to dissemble The Vatican Bank.
The Vatican Bank (read: Catholic Church) aids and abets global money laundering on a massive scale and remains an integral part of the multi-billion dollars international drug trade, acts with impunity as a ‘financial life-raft’ for corrupt dictatorships and happily deals with any criminal desperado & tax dodger with money to hide from their respective authorities.

It’s hardly surprising The Vatican Bank gets caught-out now and again given its modus-operandi, scale of corrupt activities, dubious nature of its clientele and total lack of scruples of the people involved – especially its head.
Try picturing RATzinger acting like a crazed ecumenical Scrooge McPope, divested of robes and running naked deep-within the bowels (now there's an appropriate turn of phrase if ever there was one) of the cavernous church vaults. Squealing in proverbial joy as those tainted 'pieces of silver' run through his grubbied fingers and dribbling in anticipation as his favourite choir-boy climbs al naturale up to join-him on-top-of the mountains of illicit loot not even L.Ron Hubbard could place one of his enormous figures on. Becoming erect when he finds a gold-bar embossed with a Nazi swastika amongst the money-mountain.

This is a You Tube I did one night over a few beers at the end of last year, not one of my better ones, but effective enough.

I wanted to know “What will happen to a soul when we have brain transplants?”

Clearly this day will happen sooner rather than later so this question is more than being merely a hypothetical one.

Sadly no one has even attempted to answer this ponder-able.

Why isn’t there anyone who believes in the concept of a soul that can give me an answer?

I am therefore doubling my efforts to get an answer by re-posting it here in the hope there is a simple answer to what-is a simple question.

So after viewing the video please leave your answers in the comments section.

BURGLAR FINDS ATHEISM AND AVOIDS JAIL (NZ Press Association 22nd Sept 2010)

A burglar who walked into Hamilton police station and confessed his crimes after rejecting religion has avoided a prison term.

Neum Muliaumasealii, 24, was sentenced at Hamilton District Court yesterday to three months community detention and 50 hours community work after admitting burgling four properties, including the home of a friend between 2005 and 2007 , The Waikato Times reported.
Muliaumasealii also admitted to four counts of theft, breaking into cars during an international rugby match to steal car stereos.

The court was that in March he went to the police station to confess his crimes prompted by his "new found lack of religious beliefs" and a desire for a "clean slate".

"It's really your conscience which has led you to appear before the court today," Judge Glen Marshall told Miliaumasealii

He said a prison sentence would normally be an option for his offending but gave him credit for changing his ways.

Now the true headline and report;

BURGLAR FINDS RELIGION AND AVOIDS JAIL (NZ Press Association 22nd Sept 2010)

A burglar who walked into Hamilton police station and confessed his crimes after finding religion has avoided a prison term.

Neum Muliaumasealii, 24, was sentenced at Hamilton District Court yesterday to three months community detention and 50 hours community work after admitting burgling four properties, including the home of a friend between 2005 and 2007 , The Waikato Times reported.
Muliaumasealii also admitted to four counts of theft, breaking into cars during an international rugby match to steal car stereos.

The court was that in March he went to the police station to confess his crimes prompted by his "religious beliefs" and a desire for a "clean slate".
"It's really your conscience which has led you to appear before the court today," Judge Glen Marshall told Miliaumasealii.

He said a prison sentence would normally be an option for his offending but gave him credit for changing his ways.

WHAT A FUCKING JOKE!