Nancy asks…
What are your views, Julian Assange has said attempts to extradite him to Sweden are part of a smear campaign?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12015140
Pip answers:
I have no idea whether it’s a smear campaign, if it is- it doesn’t seem to be working.
Law Guru gives a good answer. I carry no torch for rapists, but this is a pretty feeble rape allegation, isn’t it? In the UK this would not get past the CPS sift.
I think what Assange fears is that if he’s sent to Sweden then the US will apply to extradite him from there and they think it’ll be easier to do from Sweden than the UK.
Problem is, no-one in the US has discovered any law he’s broken yet and with senior US politicians saying he should be “shot in the head” and “hunted down” I think he has every reason to be fearful about going to the USA.
But above all, we must not get Assange the wanted man and Assange the owner of Wikileaks confused.
I do not care whether he’s a nice man or a nasty man, his actions in releasing this material stands on it’s own two feet: i care not one iota for his personal morality.
Richard asks…
USA visa waiver programme and definition of moral turpitude?
I’ll soon be flying to Peru via America (short stop-over of 4 hours)…..i was once arrested in the UK for damaging a window whilst drunk (there was no planned intent). I didn’t get cautioned or prosecuted….just accepted an £80 fixed penalty fine. It was a very minor offence. Do i need to declare it under the moral turpitude section of the visa waiver programme in the US? Would be insanely harsh if i was deemed inadmissable because of that regrettable incident?!
Pip answers:
Without being able to read the wording of the statute and without being able to know what the maximum possible penalty for the offense might have been, it’s not possible to answer your question accurately.
The Board of Immigration Appeals long ago ruled that the crime of wanton & malicious destruction of property is a crime involving moral turpitude. The statute that you violated might have similar wording as in the case decided by the court many years ago.
If you paid the fine after a formal judgment of guilt, you have a conviction. It’s hard to tell if you were convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor and if it qualifies as a petty offense by reason of the penalty imposed.
The words “moral turpitude” refer to conduct which is inherently base, vile, or depraved, contrary to accepted rules of morality.” Going around destroying property could be considered to be contrary to the accepted rules of morality. Reckless conduct can constitute moral turpitude.
So, in the absence of the wording of the law and knowledge of the maximum possible sentence that could have been imposed, you might be inadmissible. Failing to reveal the arrest & conviction could be considered fraud if it turned out that the crime involved moral turpitude.
Charles asks…
What are the differences between Reform and Reconstruction Judaism?
Pip answers:
Reconstructionists beleieve that Jewish law is not binding upon them and consider personal autonomy is utmost and takes presedence over obligation. The founder, Mordecai Kaplan thought that it was impossible to adhere to the law in the modern times. Basically, like Reform, Reconstructionist puts emphasis on Western life and a humanistic morality in mordern times. They do not believe in divine intervention. They say God did not inspire the Torah.
It is an odd branch of Judaism and one I have only learned about in Yeshiva. I personally know no reconstructionist Jews.
Reform Jews are found mostly in the US and the UK. It is based on the believe in one God and on morality. The reform movement has also evolved as time progressed just like reconstructionist. Some reform Rabbis consider halacha “kind of sort of” important and some do not. Reform conversions are not recognized by Orthodox or most Conservative Rabbis. Most Reform Jews will accept Jewish decsent from both father and mother and not just, as the Orthodox do, from the mother. If you are a convert to Judaism and converted through Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism, most other branches will not see the person as a Jew at all.
I think the main difference is that Reconstructionists have rejected halacha outright in favor of modernity and Reform has said it is up to the individual.
I am sure there are other differences but I am Modern Orthodox so I can’t tell you specifically but I can say there are many Reform Jews on here and they might be able to.
I have never seen a Reconstructionist Jew on here before but I am sure there must be some.
Hope what little bit I said helps in some way.
Mark asks…
Church and State should ALWAYS be separate ?
As a British person I greatly admire the Constitution of the USA which says that the state and the church should always be separate. But what happens if, in a state of emergency, when normal government is suspended, the judges happen to believe in a marriage of church and state ? Should they be exposed ?
I believe this issue is a real danger to democracy. What do you think ?
p.s. The UK doesn’t even have a real constitution so the USA can really teach us on this one.
The basic problem is that the Vatican is a foreign power. That is why allegiance to the state and to the democratic constitution can be marginalised if a person’s true allegiance is to a foreign power – as in the case of Roman Catholicism.
Pip answers:
Church and state is becoming an issue in the US in order to keep the elections going, watch the ballots, abortion, gay marriages, ect. The issue is a big danger, see when we stop seeing God as the Creator, and the controller, we get hurricaines, tsunamis, wildfires, tornados, droughts, and the Big Guy says, hey,*look what I can do* the decline in morality, the rise in divorces, the wars, the microchip, will all fall under church and state eventually, the worst part, the US in a state of emergency can declare martial law, all Constitutional rights can be suspended, and in the event of signing over to New World Order which is in the making, will produce chaos and the need for it all. The Patriot Act, also has a claus that states in the event of this type of disaster, civilians can be arrested, detained without charges or a lawyer indefinately. Sweet, huh? The patriot act isn’t there to protect us in the long run, it’s just getting harder to tell who the terrorists are. For those who say separation of church and state is a myth, when it comes time to get microchipped or be tagged a rebel and a patriot, I’d like to know how real it is when we’re told to take this chip or starve to death?
Ken asks…
Is it alright for the Catholic Church to get involve or get involve/engage in politics & other social issues?
Is it alright for the Catholic Church to get involve or get involve/engage in politics & other social issues??
Pip answers:
Only if you think it is also OK for the Islamic Theocracies to enforce their insane laws upon the people of the Middle East…
And we have seen how well THAT has worked out.
Theology, cherry-picked morality, and overall insanity and oppression have no place in the LAWS of a “Free Nation”.
~*~ NOT SOLICITATION ~*~ DOCUMENTATION ~*~
❀How Ahmad Batebi Survived Torture In Iran
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/03/60minutes/main4917310.shtml
❀Muslim Women Are Told to “Laugh Off” rape:
http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2009/01/australian-muslim-clerick-wives-to-laugh-off-rape.html
❀Women Protesting Rape Laws are Stoned:
http://middleeast.about.com/b/2009/04/15/afghan-women-protesting-rape-law-get-stoned.htm
❀Egypt rights group wants ‘wife rape’ outlawed
29% said husbands forced them to have sex
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2007/09/17/39242.html
❀Abu Dhabi: no divorce for woman beaten, cheated on and deserted
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/011416.php
❀Men Allowed to Rape Their Wives
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2009/04/05/karzai_seeks_review_of_law_critics_say_lets_men_rape_their_wives/
❀Critics: New Afghan Law Allows Men To Rape Wives
http://www.the-peoples-forum.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=10666
❀Islamic “Virtue” Laws Put Rape Victims In Prison & Legally Beaten:
Evil Islam: Had women raped, shamed, then forced to commit suicide bombing
http://shawarmamayor.blogspot.com/2009/02/evil-islamic-woman-had-women-raped.html
❀Pakistan: Woman Raped for Leaving Islam
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/011966.php
❀Beaten For Removing Veil:
http://www.rawa.org/beating.htm
These photos are caught from a video film that has been filmed by RAWA on August 26, 2001 in Kabul using a hidden camera. It shows two Taliban from department of Amro bil mahroof (Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Taliban religious police) beating a woman in public because she has dared to remove her burqa in public.
❀Exclusive: Saudi Rape Victim Tells Her Story
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=3899920&page=1
❀Saudi court ups punishment for gang-rape victim
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/17/saudi.rape.victim/
❀Saudi Arabia Rape Victims Punished + Punishment Doubled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyIDl00j-fE
❀Saudi Arabia defends sentence for rape victim
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1570495/Saudi-Arabia-defends-sentence-for-rape-victim.html
❀Saudi Arabia: Rape Victim Punished for Speaking Out
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/11/15/saudi-arabia-rape-victim-punished-speaking-out
❀Rape Victim’s Lawyer Refuses to Give In
http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/articles/2007/ioi/071119-rape-victim.html
❀Report: Saudi King Pardons Rape Victim
http://cbs2chicago.com/national/saudi.arabia.rape.2.612299.html
❀Jeddah, gang-raped woman sentenced to prison, one hundred lashes
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14486&geo=1&size=A
❀Saudi Barbarity: Gang Raped Woman Sentenced To Prison, 40 Lashes
http://paxalles.blogs.com/paxalles/2009/02/saudi-barbarity-gang-raped-woman-sentenced-to-prison-40-lashes.html
❀Saudi gang rape sentence ‘unjust’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7098480.stm
A lawyer for a gang-rape victim in Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail says the punishment contravenes Islamic law. “My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates the pertinent international conventions,” he said. “The judicial bodies should have dealt with this girl as the victim rather than the culprit.”
❀How a British jihadi saw the light http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article1685726.ece
❀Time reporter blames Israel and the West for Muslim intolerance
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/Ignoring_the_Real_Causes_of_Christian_Exodus_.asp
❀Spiraling violence targets minorities
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Spiralling-violence-targets-minorities/articleshow/4531720.cms
THE PROBLEMS WITH ISLAM
❀ http://www.nobeliefs.com/islam.htm
THE PROBLEMS WITH ISLAM consists of selected articles, mainly from ex-Muslim authors who have written against the violence, corruption, and tyrannical nature of Islam. Many of these essays come from islam-watch.org which dedicates itself to the scrutiny of Islam. Considering the Fatwas against those who criticize Islam (which could eventually result in their censorship or death), it takes special courage and dedication for these authors to risk revealing the actual nature of Islam to the world.
General: Islamic Hypocrisy
❀Islam Watch – http://www.islam-watch.org/
❀Apostates of Islam – http://www.apostatesofislam.com/
❀Jihad Watch – http://jihadwatch.org/
❀The Skeptic’s Annotated Quran (SAQ) – http://skepticsannotatedbible.com
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