I hope to return to blogging in another day or two.

I THINK THIS IS HORRIBLE!! im infected to but no one knows

Just hilarious.

StatCounter provides more information on the joker’s identity. (Click on image below for larger view.) He’s using a computer at the Canadian Department of Education, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, and he found my site by entering these search words at Google: “swine kids names in kings edge hill infected with swine flu”.

Canada has no department of education, although Nova Scotia does, so that’s a bit of a puzzle. Be that as it may, some inquisitive jerk with spelling problems who appears to work for a government education bureaucracy is trying to find out the names of students at a private school who came down with swine flu. Doesn’t he have any real work to do?

ANHRI also alleges that the arrest “occurred with the collaboration of the Church in [his hometown of] Naga Hammadi”.

The controversy began on October 1st 2008, when some young Muslims were browsing Hani’s blog and found a link to another site containing an electronic novel called “Azazil’s Goat in Mecca” which included an attack on Islam. This work was written by an anonymous author under the name of “Father Utah.” The novel came in response to Yusuf Zidane’s famous novel “Azazil,” which was considered by some conservatives as offensive to Christianity.

Some young people in Hani’s village became very angry and thought he was the author of the story. Security Forces took this opportunity to arrest Hani Nazeer in order to get rid of the problems raised by his blog because of his strong opposition to both Muslim and Christian hardliners.
[…]
The crime against Hani was further agravated [sic] by Anba Cyrilus, Bishop of Naga Hammadi, when he asked the family to keep silent in order not to upset the state security.

Since Mr Nazeer’s arrest, “Father Utah” has continued to post at other Christian blogs. Nazeer’s own blog has been emptied of content.

Nazeer is an inmate at Burj Al Arab prison, where at least two other bloggers are currently imprisoned.

h/t: Religious Intelligence

Hamoud was arrested on 13th January 2009 and detained at the infamous Eleisha political prison in Riyadh. He had written in his blog of his decision to leave Islam to follow Jesus, and had also been critical of the judicial system in his country, highlighting corruption and human rights abuses. This was the third time that Hamoud had been detained, having been held for nine months in 2004 and for one month in 2008.

Hamoud has been forbidden to leave Saudi Arabia or to appear in the media. New entries have been posted at his blog, Christ for Saudi (Arabic).

After his arrest, Saudi authorities blocked his blog within the country. A few days later, Google closed his blog for alleged terms of service violations. Google restored the blog on 5 February, but gave no explanation for the temporary closure.

As Middle East Concern points out, Hamoud’s release is surprising, since leaving Islam is a capital crime in Saudi Arabia. In August 2008 it was reported that a Saudi man murdered his daughter for converting to Christianity.

May our Lord continue to encourage and protect Hamoud.

h/t: Persecuted Church Weblog

[A] 30 years old Christian man by the name of Mazaher R., who had been active in web-blogging and Christian evangelism via internet, was befriended by a person who was a local resident of Isfahan and introduced himself as Pastor Reza.

This man, Pastor Reza, invited the Christian web blogger to meet him at a location in order to fellowship and be better acquainted with each other.

Our brother Mazaher, along with his sister, and another web blogger named Hamed S. met this man called Reza on February 22, 2009 at a pre-designated location.

These 3 believers met Reza and another lady called Maria, who was introduced as Reza’s wife, met at the prearranged location. After some introductory conversation, Pastor Reza invited the 3 Christians to accompany him and his wife to a secret home church meeting, located on Ordibehesht Street near the Felezi Bridge in Isfahan, where he was to baptize a new convert in water.

When they arrived at the alleged house church, plain-clothes security police arrested the three Christians.  A week later, Mazaher’s sister was released after authorities determined she was not involved in blogging.

There is no news as to the whereabouts or physical condition of Mazaher and Hamed.

h/t: International Christian Concern

Chinese netizens are reacting angrily to reported attempts by government censors to stamp out a humorous form of protest against a recent Web clean-up campaign.

Apparent government directives widely posted on forums, chatrooms and on instant update services such as Twitter are now ordering Internet service providers to clamp down on spoof items about the “grass-mud horse,” a fictional alpaca-like creature dreamed up by netizens in response to a recent anti-porn campaign.

Campaigns against online pornography are common in China, and frequently target content that the government wants removed for political reasons, as well as that considered inappropriately violent or indecent.

The name of the grass-mud horse, or caonima, is a pun on an often-heard and offensive epithet concerning the recipient’s mother.

A statement purportedly from the Communications Bureau of Deyang said the “provincial propaganda department” has called for words related to caonima to be “removed from the entire internet”.

The list of websites banned by Anni’s [Nasheed’s] government is growing, all of them on the orders of the Ministry of Islam. According to Haveeru, eight websites have been blocked so far for allegedly publishing anti-Islamic and pro-Christianity content in the Dhivehi, the Maldivian language.

Blogger Jawish Hameed identifies several blocked sites and possible reasons for banning them.

Seedhaahithun.com, sidahitun.com and gospelgo.com were apparently blocked for “promoting Christianity”. The reason for blocking RaajjeIslam a few days ago is unknown and according to the media, the MoIA has not offered an explanation. As has been noted by Minivan News and Haveeru News, the website was blocked after they published an audio clip of Mohamed Shakeeb, an Imam at Shaviyani Atoll Foakaidhoo, claiming that he has been threatened by the State Minister of Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed.

Another Maldivian blogger points out that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs is controlled by an opposition political party.

The population of the Maldives is over 99 percent Muslim and the country has in the past been inhospitable to Christians and other religious minorities.  The constitution of the Republic of Maldives, ratified by former President Gayoom in August 2008, states that “a non-Muslim may not become a citizen” and that “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam may be enacted”.

President Nasheed, a one-time political dissident, took office in November 2008 after free multi-party elections. The current internet censorship campaign would appear to be an attempt by hard-line elements in the state bureaucracy to hamper his efforts to enhance democracy and personal freedoms in the Maldives.  Some are wondering if he has the stomach to fight “the threat facing Maldivian democracy”.

h/t: Global Voices

Part 1 of his story is posted here, and Part 2 here.

Actually, it’s a WordPress blog masquerading as a website, but whatever.

Several sermons by our rector, The Rev. David Curry, and other items are already posted.

Check it out. Subscribe to the feed. Spread the word.

Since the launch, his blog has received thousands of comments, many of them critical of the government. So far so good.

But the spirit of openness appears to have ended, as messages from ordinary citizens are being censored.

Readers in the northern city of Stepnogorsk contacted RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service to say that they had left comments on the blog, which appeared but then were seemingly removed. They had been complaining about problems with their drinking water.

A law limiting free expression on the internet is currently being discussed in Kazakhstan’s Parliament.

Now, however, Blogger.com has blocked his blog, so no one in the world can view it. Anyone trying to surf to Saudi Masihi sees only this.

Saudi Masihi was available two weeks ago when I first viewed it. Google, which owns Blogger.com, provides no information as to what has happened since then to cause the blog to be in violation of Blogger’s Terms of Service. Has Saudi Arabia pressured Google to shut it down?

If you’re concerned about this, a discussion has been initiated at the Blogger Help Group where you can add your (civil) comments.

Compass Direct has a story with a summary of the reasons Mr Bin Saleh gave for believing in Christ.

On his web site, which Saudi authorities have blocked, Bin Saleh wrote that his journey to Christ began after witnessing the public beheading of three Pakistanis convicted of drug charges. Shaken, he began an extensive study of Islamic history and law, as well as Saudi justice. He became disillusioned with sharia (Islamic law) and dismayed that kingdom authorities only prosecuted poor Saudis and foreigners.
[…]
After reading how Jesus forgave – rather than stoned – a woman condemned for adultery, Bin Saleh eventually received Christ as savior.

“Jesus . . . took us beyond physical salvation as he offered us forgiveness that is the salvation of eternal life and compassion,” he wrote. “Just look and ask for the light of God; there might be no available books to help you make a comparative study between the teachings of Muhammad (which are in my opinion a series of political, social, economical and human disasters) and the teaching of Jesus in Saudi Arabia, but there are many resources on the Web by which you might get to the bosom/arms of the Father of salvation. Seek salvation and you will reach it; may the Lord keep you from the devil’s pitfalls.”

In August 2008, Fatima Al-Mutairi was brutally murdered by her father, a Saudi religious cop, for writing online about her conversion to Christianity.

h/t: Glenn Penner at Persecuted Church Weblog

UPDATE (7 Feb.): The blog is available again.  No explanation has been given as to why Blogger/Google blocked it.

Later that same day, a blog called “Battered Moms Lose Children to Abusers” (hereafter BMLCTA) linked to my post, quoted the complete text, and added sentences claiming the judge’s decision was baseless, implying that the mother and children have been victimised.  Anyone reading that post would think I had contradicted myself from one paragraph to the next.

Here are the final four paragraphs of my post and the two extra paragraphs added by BMLCTA:

K.D. ignored several court orders, shut the door in A.L.’s face when he came to collect the children, and refused to answer the phone when he called to say good night. She would send police to his home when he had a child for an overnight visit.  Ultimately, she cut off all contact between A.L. and his children.

Justice McWatt heard that, as long as eight years ago, an expert had predicted that the girls would become alienated from their father unless the mother stopped brainwashing them.

Kudos to the judge for ordering this bold, if belated, change in custody. One hopes that the relationship between the daughters and their father will be restored.

The full text of the court ruling is posted here. The campaign to alienate the children from A.L. began while they were still married. It seems clear to me that K.D.’s child-rearing behaviour was, shall we say, inappropriate from the get-go.

And the decision, written to make the facts fit the theory – nevermind [sic] that the theory is not accepted by any ethical scientific organization, it is not in the DSM and is the sick philosophy of Pro-Pedophilia Dr. Richard Gardner.

Click on the lick below to read this bogus decision that one can only hope will be overturned on appeal for being based on a fictitious syndrome.

The “link below” is the same link to the court decision that I included above.

To compound the prevarication, the full text of BMLCTA’s post was copied in its entirety by two other bloggers who believe mothers can do no wrong:

• RightsforMothers
• Mama Liberty

Those bloggers purport to champion justice and fair play, but they put words in my mouth.

Barbara Kay has written a column on the custody dispute, criticising the authorities for taking far too long to intervene.

This has been around for years in one form or another but I always enjoy it. Here’s a version that was in the Spectator recently:

Socialism – You have two cows. The State nationalises one and gives it to your neighbour.

Communism – You have two cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

Fascism – You have two cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

Traditional capitalism – You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies and the economy grows. You sell your heard [sic] and retire on the income.

Lehman Brothers Venture capitalism – You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at Bear Stearns, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new President of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public then buy your bull!

And here are a few of my own additions;

French system – You have two cows. They go on strike for greener grass.

British system – You have two cows. One goes binge drinking and stabs the other to death with a screwdriver. The Heath & Safety Executive have the other cow put down because one of its toenails is getting a bit long.

He has a few more, but none as funny as the British system.

h/t: Global Voices

Based on information obtained by ANHRI, the Saudi authorities jailed the young blogger at the infamous Eleisha political prison in Riyadh; a prison which in 2004 witnessed the arrest of the reformists Matrouk el Falih, Ali el Domini and Eissa al Hamed.

The 28-year-old alumni of the al Yarmouk University in Jordan has been arrested twice before; for nine months in 2004 and last Nov. Saudi Arabia, which decided to sponsor an interfaith dialog conference in New York last Nov. and because his arrest may tarnish its image and expose the Saudi government’s false allegations, has to set him free. That conference was attended by representatives of 80 countries.

But the blogger re-arrest, after the conference wrapped up, raised fears upon his life because the entire world is busy following up the aggression on Gaza and the Saudi authorities may seize the chance to make him an example with nobody watching.

ANHRI condemns the arrest and calls on the Saudi government to act in accordance with the Saudi king’s  proclaimed tolerance for freedoms of speech and religion.

Mr Saleh’s blog is Saudi Masihi (Arabic).

h/t: Global Voices Advocacy

China’s blogs and online forums have reacted in different ways to the official indignation over French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dаlаi Lаmа.
[…]
But other netizens were inspired by the words of the deputy foreign minister; “The meeting grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs, severely undermined China’s core interests, gravely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and damaged the political basis of China-France and China-EU relations.”

Pouring through the online archives of the People’s Daily between 1946-2006 resulted in this map showing in black the 42 countries that have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

Here’s the list.

• Europe (12): Vatican City, UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, The Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Albania
• North America (2): USA, Canada
• Central America (6): Guatemala, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Honduras, Nicaragua
• South America (1): Chile
• Oceania (4): New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Marshall Islands
• Africa (9): Chad, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Swaziland, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gambia, Liberia, Senegal, South Africa
• Asia (8): Japan, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Jordan, (disputed: Cambodia, Laos)

h/t: Global Voices

The Pahang Government has appointed three pensioners as bloggers to thwart slanderous comments and allegations posted on the Internet.

State Information, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin said the bloggers, who would be paid allowances, would be provided with computers and the Internet access in their homes.

Sounds like a great gig.  Where does one apply?

Malaysian blogger Lillian Chan, aka The Obnoxious 5xmom, points out the obvious: The government can pay geezers pensioners to blog, but it can’t make readers believe what they write.

h/t: Global Voices Advocacy

Reporters Without Borders suggests this is part of an official campaign of intimidation against cyber-journalists.

“Gholami is the second cyber-journalist currently detained and we fear there could be a major crackdown,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The authorities no longer hide the fact they see most news and information channels as threats to Iran’s sovereignty. We call for the release of all detained cyber-dissidents.”

Another online journalist, Mojtaba Lotfi, was arrested on 8 October after “posting a sermon by a well-known opponent of Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei”.

Since Ms Gholami’s arrest, the publication of the Revolutionary Guards has printed an article calling the internet “a tool of subversion” and accusing the US of attacking the “opinions of young Iranians and the world population” with the help of CNN, BBC, Fox News, Washington Post, New York Times, Yahoo, and Google.

I wonder how the BBC feels about being labeled a tool of American interests.

A bill now before the Iranian parliament would make creation of websites promoting “corruption, prostitution or apostasy” a capital offence.

INTP – The Thinkers

The logical and analytical type. They are especialy [sic] attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

That’s me, all right—arrogant, impatient, and insensitive.

Although the Typealyser bills itself as a blog analysis, it isn’t necessarily limited to blogs. You can enter any URL you wish. The National Post and Globe and Mail come up as “ESTP – The Doers”, but The Star as “ISTJ – The Duty Fulfillers”.  Interesting.

h/t: Comment Central

A prominent Iranian blogger, nicknamed the Blogfather for spawning Iran’s spectacular blogging revolution, has been arrested in Tehran and accused of spying for Israel.

Hossein Derakhshan, who was last based in London after spending several years in Canada, returned to live in his homeland a few weeks ago.

He wrote that he “LOVES living in Tehran again” in his most recent posting nearly a month ago. He was “frustrated by slow internet connection, but generally impressed”.

Travelling on a Canadian passport, he made a highly publicised trip to Israel in 2006 on a mission to show his “20,000 daily Iranian readers what Israel really looks like and how people live there”. He also wanted to “humanise” Iranians for Israelis.

Mr Derakhshan’s arrest at this time seems odd because his recent blog posts have been strongly pro-Iran and anti-Israel.  If convicted of spying, he could face the death penalty.

In a post from Israel in January 2006, he acknowledged that the visit broke a “major taboo”.

Derakhshan is credited with designing a simple way to display Persian letters online, paving the way for the emergence of Iran’s rich and vibrant blogosphere.  Today, Iran’s percentage of internet users is second only to Israel among Middle Eastern countries.

In related news today, the Iranian government admits blocking access to 5,000,000 websites and censoring several million more.

h/t: Global Voices Online

UPDATE (20 Nov.):  Annie Lessard informs us in the comments that the “generally reliable” anti-mullah blog Iran Resist regards Derakhshan as an agent of the regime.