What news story has caught your attention recently?

[DHP]

Russel Crowe has become a Christian and is getting baptised soon. Possibly something to do with working with Denzel Washington recently, who is apparently very outspoken about his Christian faith.

[Moon-Crane]

Russel Crowe has become a Christian and is getting baptised soon. Possibly something to do with working with Denzel Washington recently, who is apparently very outspoken about his Christian faith.

That reminds me, I was flicking through the god awful religious channels on Sky the other day, while looking for the regionalised BBC stations. Who the heck should appear on one but bloody Chuck Norris

[DHP]

Yeah, never seen any of those, and no interest in seeing them either. They sound incredibly naff.

[Mr Blue Sky]

Russel Crowe has become a Christian and is getting baptised soon. Possibly something to do with working with Denzel Washington recently, who is apparently very outspoken about his Christian faith.

That reminds me, I was flicking through the god awful religious channels on Sky the other day, while looking for the regionalised BBC stations. Who the heck should appear on one but bloody Chuck Norris

I've watched those channels as well with a mixture of humour and disbelief (literally! )

[DHP]

Not likely ever to subscribe to Sky or Cable, as I'm more than happy with Freeview, but I've heard so many bad things about those channels that I daresay they'd be enough to make me cancel my subscription if I did.

[Moon-Crane]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

I may be being completely dense here but is not calling yourself Muhammad, then taking a picture of yourself, also then an insult to Islam for "It is seen as an insult to Islam to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.?" Surely no different to naming an inanimate object, if all it takes is associating the name with something?

[Mr Blue Sky]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

I may be being completely dense here but is not calling yourself Muhammad, then taking a picture of yourself, also then an insult to Islam for "It is seen as an insult to Islam to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.?" Surely no different to naming an inanimate object, if all it takes is associating the name with something?

This is religion we're talking about, it doesn't have to conform to such concepts as 'logic'.

[CatNamedRudy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

I may be being completely dense here but is not calling yourself Muhammad, then taking a picture of yourself, also then an insult to Islam for "It is seen as an insult to Islam to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.?" Surely no different to naming an inanimate object, if all it takes is associating the name with something?

I'm with you MC! That was my first thought! There are about a zillion Islamic people named Muhammad. How is that any different?

They should go out and arrest every person named Muhammad. Or every parent who names their kid Muhammad!

I don't get it!

[DHP]

I find it very strange that women in these countries are allowed to burn to death because firefighters can't rescue them if they're not properly dressed, and it doesn't get anywhere near our news. Also, some islamic governments allow their militia to hunt, torture and kill anyone who isn't islam, in a bid to throw them out or hunt them out of their country. Again, not a mention of it.

Yet some woman gets done for blasphemy and all of a sudden these chaps aren't seen as very nice and perhaps a bit unbalanced?

[CatNamedRudy]

I find it very strange that women in these countries are allowed to burn to death because firefighters can't rescue them if they're not properly dressed, and it doesn't get anywhere near our news. Also, some islamic governments allow their militia to hunt, torture and kill anyone who isn't islam, in a bid to throw them out or hunt them out of their country. Again, not a mention of it.

Yet some woman gets done for blasphemy and all of a sudden these chaps aren't seen as very nice and perhaps a bit unbalanced?

I'm sure she was mentioned in the British press because she was British.

[Moon-Crane]

I find it very strange that women in these countries are allowed to burn to death because firefighters can't rescue them if they're not properly dressed, and it doesn't get anywhere near our news. Also, some islamic governments allow their militia to hunt, torture and kill anyone who isn't islam, in a bid to throw them out or hunt them out of their country. Again, not a mention of it.

Yet some woman gets done for blasphemy and all of a sudden these chaps aren't seen as very nice and perhaps a bit unbalanced?

I'm sure she was mentioned in the British press because she was British.

Also, i wasn't even particularly pointing out that they were somehow unbalanced as such, or saying they weren't very nice - illogical maybe, but that's nothing to do with being a good or bad person. Rather, this story highlights another example of people rewriting a basic religious belief to suit their own extremist ideas. People who are so-called Christians, along with other faiths, do stupid shit all the time, too, so i'm certainly not singling the story out because it's Islamic.

I'd agree with Cat, the story made the news on the BBC site because it features a British lady. If British citizens were also being burned alive or tortured to death that would be news too. When it doesn't involve Brits, unless on a genocidal scale, the Western mainstream media won't give two hoots about it - unless it can support a particular agenda.

[DHP]

I find it very strange that women in these countries are allowed to burn to death because firefighters can't rescue them if they're not properly dressed, and it doesn't get anywhere near our news. Also, some islamic governments allow their militia to hunt, torture and kill anyone who isn't islam, in a bid to throw them out or hunt them out of their country. Again, not a mention of it.

Yet some woman gets done for blasphemy and all of a sudden these chaps aren't seen as very nice and perhaps a bit unbalanced?

I'm sure she was mentioned in the British press because she was British.

Also, i wasn't even particularly pointing out that they were somehow unbalanced as such, or saying they weren't very nice - illogical maybe, but that's nothing to do with being a good or bad person. Rather, this story highlights another example of people rewriting a basic religious belief to suit their own extremist ideas. People who are so-called Christians, along with other faiths, do stupid shit all the time, too, so i'm certainly not singling the story out because it's Islamic.

I'd agree with Cat, the story made the news on the BBC site because it features a British lady. If British citizens were also being burned alive or tortured to death that would be news too. When it doesn't involve Brits, unless on a genocidal scale, the Western mainstream media won't give two hoots about it - unless it can support a particular agenda.

Yeah, sorry if I offended anyone, I wasn't having a dig at anyone here, but rather the British media. Worse travesties are committed each day, and they don't get a mention in western media apart from the occasional Panorama special or something because no-one in them is from the west. Sucks a bit.

[Moon-Crane]

Yeah, sorry if I offended anyone, I wasn't having a dig at anyone here, but rather the British media. Worse travesties are committed each day, and they don't get a mention in western media apart from the occasional Panorama special or something because no-one in them is from the west. Sucks a bit.

No i think i was agreeing with you. It actually doesn't sound like i was when i read it back - but i was Apologies if it also sounds like it was aimed at you. I was tryign to bounce off the point made and expand it in a general sense.

I think we agree, anyway, that the media are very poor at a very simple job of reporting news.

[CatNamedRudy]

I understand what you are saying DHP but unfortunately, the things you speak of are every day common occurences in some parts of the Islamic world and to put them on the front page of the press every day isn't exactly practicle nor is it really feasible.

Should those practices me spotlighted more often? Yes, they most certainly should. But then again, what are we to do about such things? We're already in a bind (I'm speaking of the US, Britain and Australia here for the most part) because of our sticking our noses into the goings on in the middle east and as horrible as the treatment of women and other non-Muslim people in those nations is, how do we, as outside nations step in and put a stop to it? Without starting yet another war?

Extremist religion should never be allowed to propagate but unfortunately, it does and sometimes it takes over entire countries!

[Mayday Malone]

What caught my eye today was on...page 4 of the Times. A woman appeared on Spanish daytime TV without knowing why...she was confronted with her ex-boyfriend who proposed to her....she demurred...some days later he murdered her...what was revealed was that he had been beating her up to when their relationship ended. A tragic story I found.

edit...

the link

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 943339.ece

[Moon-Crane]

What caught my eye today was on...page 4 of the Times. A woman appeared on Spanish daytime TV without knowing why...she was confronted with her ex-boyfriend who proposed to her....she demurred...some days later he murdered her...what was revealed was that he had been beating her up to when their relationship ended. A tragic story I found.

edit...

the link

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 943339.ece

That's terrible. It won't cause these awful shows to stop though.

[Mr Blue Sky]

What caught my eye today was on...page 4 of the Times. A woman appeared on Spanish daytime TV without knowing why...she was confronted with her ex-boyfriend who proposed to her....she demurred...some days later he murdered her...what was revealed was that he had been beating her up to when their relationship ended. A tragic story I found.

edit...

the link

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 943339.ece

That's terrible. It won't cause these awful shows to stop though.

Jeremy Kyle, take heed...

[Mr Blue Sky]

I'm looking foward to PMQs tomorrow when Gordon Brown will be under severe pressure following a disasterous week for the Labour Party. Personally I didn't see too much wrong with the recent 'Party Donations Cover-Up' scandal as donations have only recently become public knowledge anyway, it never used to matter how a party raised it's cash (it mattered if they were getting something in return, but that's another issue). Still, if you're going to paint yourselves whiter than white then it looks even worse when you're covered in shit. Roll on 12:00 tomorrow!

[Moon-Crane]

I'm looking foward to PMQs tomorrow when Gordon Brown will be under severe pressure following a disasterous week for the Labour Party. Personally I didn't see too much wrong with the recent 'Party Donations Cover-Up' scandal as donations have only recently become public knowledge anyway, it never used to matter how a party raised it's cash (it mattered if they were getting something in return, but that's another issue). Still, if you're going to paint yourselves whiter than white then it looks even worse when you're covered in shit. Roll on 12:00 tomorrow!

It'll certainly be fairly hypocritical if the the Conservatives go after it so strongly - but then we are talking politicians.

[Mr Blue Sky]

I'm looking foward to PMQs tomorrow when Gordon Brown will be under severe pressure following a disasterous week for the Labour Party. Personally I didn't see too much wrong with the recent 'Party Donations Cover-Up' scandal as donations have only recently become public knowledge anyway, it never used to matter how a party raised it's cash (it mattered if they were getting something in return, but that's another issue). Still, if you're going to paint yourselves whiter than white then it looks even worse when you're covered in shit. Roll on 12:00 tomorrow!

It'll certainly be fairly hypocritical if the the Conservatives go after it so strongly - but then we are talking politicians.

To be honest it will be like a fairly dull game of cricket. Cameron will bowl Brown a yorker by trying to pin the blame on him, and Brown will use that time honoured politicians forward defensive stroke by saying the Tories never used to have transparency.

I do enjoy the 'theatre' of it all though!

[Dorset Girl]

The conviction of teacher Gillian Gibbons over the 'Mohammed' teddy bear row is in my opinion one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard, but now it seems to be getting worse for the poor woman...

Sudan Crowd Call For Teddy Teacher Gillian Gibbons To Be Shot

[CatNamedRudy]

The conviction of teacher Gillian Gibbons over the 'Mohammed' teddy bear row is in my opinion one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard, but now it seems to be getting worse for the poor woman...

Sudan Crowd Call For Teddy Teacher Gillian Gibbons To Be Shot

Hence my issues with organized religion! IMHO, it leads to extremism in far too many instances.

[Moon-Crane]

The conviction of teacher Gillian Gibbons over the 'Mohammed' teddy bear row is in my opinion one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard, but now it seems to be getting worse for the poor woman...

Sudan Crowd Call For Teddy Teacher Gillian Gibbons To Be Shot

I see you (and Yahoo which you've taken it from) have spelled Muhammad wrong. Blasphemy!!! That'll be 1000 lashes for you, my girl

[Dorset Girl]

The conviction of teacher Gillian Gibbons over the 'Mohammed' teddy bear row is in my opinion one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard, but now it seems to be getting worse for the poor woman...

Sudan Crowd Call For Teddy Teacher Gillian Gibbons To Be Shot

I see you (and Yahoo which you've taken it from) have spelled Muhammad wrong. Blasphemy!!! That'll be 1000 lashes for you, my girl

Oops! I actually typed it with a 'u' to start with, but then saw that the article used an 'o' so I changed it, thinking I was wrong. Yahoo are up to their usual standard of reporting then. My excuse is that the headlines are on my email log-in page, so that's why I often link to Yahoo.

PS. What sort of lashes?

[Moon-Crane]

The conviction of teacher Gillian Gibbons over the 'Mohammed' teddy bear row is in my opinion one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard, but now it seems to be getting worse for the poor woman...

Sudan Crowd Call For Teddy Teacher Gillian Gibbons To Be Shot

I see you (and Yahoo which you've taken it from) have spelled Muhammad wrong. Blasphemy!!! That'll be 1000 lashes for you, my girl

Oops! I actually typed it with a 'u' to start with, but then saw that the article used an 'o' so I changed it, thinking I was wrong. Yahoo are up to their usual standard of reporting then. My excuse is that the headlines are on my email log-in page, so that's why I often link to Yahoo.

Tell that to the extremists when they hunt you down

PS. What sort of lashes?

Not the kind your thinking about