The Spoof: Wicca Finally Proven to Be a Hoax

Many offshoots of the original 'religion' have popped up since its first appearance in 1954. Originally, to become a member of a Wicca coven required a member of the opposite sex to 'initiate' them. Americanization and politics have caused many groups to disregard the original doctrine in favor on all female and solitary witch covens. Dianic Wicca is a feminist manifestation of the system created by Gardner. Kevin Carlyon, self proclaimed God and refers to himself as THE witch, was reported as saying, "Gardner stole his ideas from me."

Taking a first initiative, President George Bush, in a new faith based initiative, located the resting place in Tunisia of the reputed cult's leader, and had his body exhumed last month in an effort to settle the question of the would-be cultist's death. "These Wickers are a threat to the security of the United States, and intelligence reports that they may have weapons of mass destruction." Bush said at a White House press conference. "They have been using spells and fortune-casting to reveal national security secrets to the Islamic Jihad. Just like Helen Duncan, who in 1944 was using séances to spy on allied troops, we need to stop this threat before we have another 9/11.

Local authorities were happy to cooperate with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying, "If it will keep those Satan worshippers away from Allah's followers, it is a good thing." What Mrs. Rice and her taskforce found was a surprise, even to faithful Wiccans.

Gardner died of a supposed heart attack while at sea in February of 1964. Wiccans have speculated that his death was actually the result of an FBI 'religious cleansing operation' initiated by J. Edgar Hoover some years before. FBI Director Robert Mueller denied these allegations, but many still believe. Mueller said, "Gardner was small potatoes. The FBI has never had in interest in him, or his religion."

 

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15 Great Movies You Didn't Know Were Science Fiction

The greatest science fiction movies sometimes aren't labeled as science fiction at all. As with literary novels like The Road and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, some classic movies explore alternate or futuristic worlds, even as they slip under the radar of mainstream (or alternative) audiences. Call them slipstream, or "stealth science fiction." Here's our list of 15 great movies you may be familiar with, but didn't know were science fiction.

Methods: We compiled a list of 35 or so movies that we believed were unsung science fiction classics. And then we winnowed it down, eliminating movies that weren't great, or which everybody already acknowledges as science fiction. And here's what we ended up with...

...Confederate States of America (CSA). This is possibly the greatest alternate history movie ever, because it does such a great job of reworking our media-saturated culture to a very different timeline. It's yet another "South won the Civil War" narrative, but with a sharp satirical edge to it. In the early 21st century, large swathes of America still own slaves — and drugs like Prozac are used to keep the slaves under control, as we see in fake ads. CSA is not just alternate history, it also pays tribute to Brave New World...

...Modern Times. The original movie about human alienation from technology is also, arguably, the first cyborg movie. Charlie Chaplin becomes so ingrained in his dehumanizing factory work, he actually becomes part of the machine he works with. And then, in a famous scene, he's literally swallowed up by the gears of his machine...

...W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism. Half documentary, half bizarre sexual-psychological drama, Dušan Makavejev's strangest film explores the weird science of Wilhelm Reich, who believed you could collect orgasmic energy in "orgone boxes." It ties that science in with the sexual (and social) repression of Communism, culminating in a representative of Communism having sex with a woman and then beheading her with her own ice skate...

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Nuremberg trials revisited

From The Law Explored: the Nuremberg trials :

Before these trials it was possible to bring legal proceedings against military people for conventional war crimes (such as torturing prisoners of war) but what had not been done was arraigning the leaders of a nation for crimes against peace and humanity. Four crimes were alleged: conspiracy to wage aggressive war, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The justification for these newly framed crimes was based on reasoning like that of Robert H. Jackson, the American prosecutor, that they have been "regarded as criminal since the time of Cain".

The term genocide was coined by Dr Rafael Lemkin, the Jewish-Polish lawyer, in 1943. It means the deliberate attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. His efforts to have it recognised as a crime were successful as it is now against international law and national law such as that of the UK's Genocide Act 1969. It was not, though, one of the charges levelled against the defendants at Nuremberg because those prosecutions were aimed at crimes against humanity at large.

As is vividly recounted by Professor Richard Overy (in a paper in From Nuremberg to The Hague), the British Government was originally against the idea of trying the Nazis for crimes. Churchill wanted enemy leaders shot after the war and Anthony Eden,the Foreign Secretary, said that the Nazis were so evil "they fall outside and go beyond the scope of any judicial process". But the Americans and Russians both pressed for a legal "due process" set of trials, and that approach prevailed. The victors would be as bad as the defeated Nazis if they simply relied on a "might is right" principle and shot the losers. It was therefore necessary to have the defendants given the full details of the charges against them and the right to be represented. The trial had to be conducted according to set procedures and for charges to be backed with evidence.

You can fault the trial in many ways. The defendants were being tried for charges that while they were chillingly savage, were not crimes in international law at the time they were committed. The trouble with saying something is a crime after the event is that, in Richard Overy's great phrase, this "required international law to be written backwards". Certain crimes, such as bombing civilians, did not make it on to the final charge sheet because the Allies were just as guilty. And while the Soviet judge was sitting in trial at Nuremberg and hearing about the German concentration camps, the Soviet authorities were establishing concentration camps such as the one at Mühlberg to which 122,000 were sent without trial and more than 43,000 were killed or died.

Sex trafficking of minors grows in U.S.

From the Baptist Press :

 

American children are becoming victims of human sex trafficking, according to statistics released by Shared Hope International.

"The figures we use say between 100,000 and 300,000 American children are at risk of trafficking," said Karrie Delaney, director of communications for the Vancouver, Wash.-based organization that seeks not only to prevent sex trafficking but to rescue and restore women and children trapped in it.

"At least 100,000 American children are trafficked each year," Delaney said.

Based on these numbers, domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) has become a serious problem in many locations across the United States. A fact sheet on the Shared Hope International (SHI) website reports age 12 as the average age of entry into illegal pornography and prostitution.

 

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According to the SHI website, pimps can earn up to $632,000 per year by selling four young woman or children. Seventy-five percent of minors engaged in prostitution have a pimp, and most pimps have more than one minor working for them.

Many of these girls are taken off the street. The SHI website says a third of the 2.8 million children living on the streets are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

 

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Statistics about the extent of the problem that may be surprising:

-- The sale of child pornography is a $3 billion annual industry in the U.S.

-- 55 percent of child pornography on the Internet comes from the U.S.

-- One in five pornographic images on the Internet is of a child.

-- One in five American youth who regularly use the Internet has been sexually solicited.

US attack against Iran scheduled for 4 am on the morning of April 6th

From The Apocalypse :

This brings us to the leaked news of the next US attack that is still pending against Iran, scheduled for 4 am on the morning of April 6th that is scheduled to last until 4 pm of that same day. "The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.

The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. The goal is allegedly to set back Iran's nuclear program by several years, writes Uglanov, whose article was reissued by RIA-Novosti in various languages, but apparently not English, several days ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.

Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world."