They say you always hurt the ones you love, but this is taking it too far:

A Turkish teenager found dead in a hole next to her house was probably buried alive, a post-mortem examination has revealed.

Medine Memi, 16, was found in the hole in December. Large amounts of soil were in her lungs and stomach, according to a source who has seen the report.

Her father and grandfather have been arrested, but not charged.

[...] Her hands had been tied behind her back, and they discovered large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach.

The autopsy has concluded that she was almost certainly buried alive.

The police went to her home after a neighbour reported that Medine had not been seen for a month.

They found her body in a hole, newly covered with concrete, next to the hen-house.

I was going to make this another in the Too Much Faith series of posts I’ve been doing, but the article claims religion didn’t really have anything to do with it:

Medine, who had never been to school, lived in Kahta, a town in the mainly Kurdish south-east of Turkey, where most honour killings have taken place.

The town is known for being very conservative and religious; it is a stronghold of the once powerful Naksibendi Islamic sect, which was banned by modern Turkey’s founding father Ataturk in 1925 but has revived in recent years.

But while it is true that most such killings are carried out in conservative Muslim communities, the practice is linked more to the customs of this region of Turkey, than to religious belief.

When girls or women are deemed to have stained the family honour, by behaviour as innocent as simply talking to boys, there is strong peer pressure from the community on the male members of the family to restore their honour, say groups working on the issue in the south-east.

The only way allowed by their code is to kill the girl or woman – usually a young man is given the task after a family council meeting, and the method and location of the killing are discussed in detail.

It still stinks of delusion to me. Seriously, how fucked up do you have to be to bind one of your own kids, put them in a hole, and shovel dirt in on them until they choke to death on it? I can’t imagine the horror of being the victim of such an act let alone it being compounded by the fact that the perpetrators were people who supposedly loved me. And what horrible thing had this poor girl done to deserve such a fate? She had talked to some boys.

According to the news article, there have been 16 honor killings in the province of Adiyaman, where Medine lived, between 2003 and 2007. It’s the sort of thing you’d think the world would have outgrown by now, but it’s not confined to just Turkey.

Here’s something to think about: According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) there are some 5,000 honor killings yearly around the world with some countries having laws that make it perfectly legal.

It can be tough to be the son of a clergyman. You’re held to a higher standard and any transgressions on your part can reflect poorly on your father. This sometimes results in extra pressure from your Dad to put forth the best image you possibly can.

In this case it seems the Pastor may have gone a tad too far in motivating his son:

ALCOA, Tenn. (AP) – The son of a well-known Alcoa pastor has taken out an order of protection against his father, claiming he was threatened with a gun during an argument at a church over his lack of church attendance. The order of protection was filed by 32-year-old Michael Louis Colquitt against 60-year-old Joe Colquitt, pastor of St. John Missionary Baptist Church.

The younger man told police his father pulled out a handgun when they met at the church to discuss church attendance. He told officers his father pointed the gun at him and threatened to kill him, his wife and family.

via Pastor accused of pulling gun on son at church.

Good thing you didn’t tell him you’re an atheist and have stopped attending church altogether. He would’ve used a tactical nuke on your house.

It’s a problem all parents have faced, with the possible exception of my in-laws as their daughter (my wife) was preternaturally good at doing her schoolwork, sooner or later your kid comes home with a bad grade.

Now if you’re a good parent you try to find some way to motivate your kid to do better. If there’s something in their life that seems to be getting in the way of their schoolwork then you might limit access to it or deny it until things improve. What you don’t do is somthing like this:

WARM SRPINGS, Ga. — Police have arrested a Georgia woman who they say forced her son to kill his pet hamster with a hammer as punishment for earning a bad grade.

Meriwether County sheriff Steve Whitlock told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday night that the 12-year-old boy told his teacher about the killing. The teacher reported it to the Division of Family and Child Services, who contacted police.

The pet’s death allegedly took place at the family’s Warm Springs home.

Whitlock said 38-year-old Lynn Middlebrooks Geter faces one charge each of animal cruelty, child cruelty and battery.

Yeah, you’re probably never going to get a “World’s Greatest Mom” mug with that approach. Mental trauma really isn’t a great motivator to do well in school.

A Ms. Angela Mejia lost her shit when she woke up in the middle of the night to find her 14-year-old son playing video games hours after she had told him to go to bed. Out of frustration she ended up calling 911 to report her son to police:

Mejia’s son – one of four children the 49-year-old is raising alone – was playing “Grand Theft Auto,” an exceedingly violent video in which the gamer assumes the role of ladder-climbing criminal.

An argument ensued as Mejia unplugged her son’s PlayStation. Then, this mad-as-hell mother dialed 911. Police responded and managed to talk the boy into shutting off the game and going to sleep.

“They (police) were just like, ‘Chill out. Go to bed,’ ” the boy told the Herald.

The details in this news item are brief so it’s probably unfair to judge, but I can remember being 14 and getting into arguments with my parents over stuff and I can tell you this: They never had to call the police in to deal with me.

Were my parents perfect? Far from it and there’s probably plenty of situations they could’ve handled better, but then the same could be said of me. They made it clear, however, that they had rules for a reason and that they were doing their best to look out for my better interests whether I could see the truth of that or not at the time. We had our fair share of screaming arguments and there were times I know they were so frustrated as to want to smack me silly, but call the police?

The closest we ever got to that was the one time I stole some candy and rolls of cap-gun caps from a from a store at the age of 8 or 9 — not sure how old I was or what store it was, but my mother will probably remember — after asking my mom to buy them and being told no. Later that day she caught me with them and marched my ass back into that store where she made me return what I hadn’t already used, offer an apology for stealing, and pay for all of it out of what small savings I had. She asked the man at the store if he wanted to press charges, I can remember my heart stopping as I held my breath at the time, and he said that it wouldn’t be necessary as I had just made amends. I don’t recall a lot of my early childhood, but I can clearly remember her telling me how lucky I was that he didn’t want to press charges as we marched right back on out of there. I don’t know if she really would have called the police if the man had said yes or not, but I wouldn’t bet against it even today. There were some things my mother just didn’t abide by and I’m a better man for it.

Somehow I don’t think Ms. Mejia has that kind of fortitude:

Mejia said she approves of athletic-themed videos, but as for “Grand Theft Auto,” she said, “I would never buy that kind of video. No way. I called (police) because if you don’t respect your mother, what are you going to do in your life?”

So not only is the kid disobeying her by staying up late playing video games, but he’s playing games she doesn’t approve of and she doesn’t do anything about it?

I can’t recall at what age I finally allowed Courtney to play Grand Theft Auto III, but I was still working at Ford Motor Company at the time and that was at least four years ago, so she was probably 14 or 15. She was right around the age of the kid in this story at least. Up until that point I hadn’t even allowed her to be in the same room when I was playing the game due to the content. Every now and then she’d ask if she could play it and after much consideration of where she was maturity-wise and the content of the game I eventually said OK. It wasn’t long after that that I got into a rather heated argument with a coworker who suggested that I only had myself to blame if Courtney ended up becoming a prostitute someday because I allowed her to play GTA III, but that’s a whole other story in itself.

The point being that Courtney respected my decision not to allow her to play the game until I felt she was ready for it. She had that respect because I made it clear to her that I had concerns over the content and felt that the time wasn’t right for her to be exposed to it. She wasn’t happy with the decision, but she understood that I wasn’t withholding it just to be a dick. As it turned out, she only wanted to play the game so she could drive around the city crashing cars and doing the stunts. She didn’t care about the actual story at all so she never saw most of the content. She did a few of the missions, but mostly she just took great joy in launching her vehicle off of whatever nearby ramp she could find to watch it smash into traffic and then giggling as though it was the funniest thing in the world.

Again I’m not privy to all the details of Ms. Mejia’s situation so I probably shouldn’t judge, but it seems like she’s doing it wrong.

I realize that kids can be a lot to handle and that this is doubly so in a daycare environment, but it’s probably going a bit too far when you attempt to drug them into sleeping:

The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office and Springfield Township police are probing the daycare at Covenant Apostolic Church, 7630 View Place Drive, according to a letter Police Chief David Heimpold sent to children’s parents on Monday. Police also personally called each parent.

At issue is whether workers gave children Melatonin to help them sleep during the daycare’s naptime, according to the chief.

“The investigation has just begun and the Springfield Township Police Department does not know definitively at this time which staff members were involved in providing the dietary supplement to the children and which children were given (it),” the chief wrote. “However, we are providing this information to you at this time so that you can take whatever actions you deem necessary to protect your child or children in the event that they were given Melatonin on one or more occasions.”

The letter urges parents to contact their family physicians or the Poison Control Center to learn basic information about the drug.

Melatonin is a naturally occurring compound in plants, animals, and microbes. In animals it plays a role in regulating the circadian rhythms of a number of biological functions. In humans it’s produced by the pineal gland and it forms part of the system for regulating the sleep-wake cycle. Production of melatonin is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness and it’s onset each night is called the Dim-Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO). Melatonin has been marketed as a natural form of sleeping pill. The idea seems to be that if you’re having trouble falling asleep then just dope yourself up with the hormone that puts you to sleep. Overall most studies seem to indicate that it’s safe to use at low dosages for three months or less.

The problem with dietary supplements (read: “drugs” not under the FDA’s jurisdiction) is that there’s no real regulation or quality requirements so how much of dose you’re taking can vary wildly between manufacturers. Add to that the fact that, according to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the 3 milligram pills most commonly sold are way more melatonin than is actually needed. They found that a mere 0.3 mg is enough to do the job. Then there’s the fact that at high doses it can be counter-productive and can include side effects such as headaches, nausea, next-day grogginess or irritability, hormone fluctuations, vivid dreams or nightmares and reduced blood flow. Now stir in the fact that most people (read: idiots) see the word “natural” and assume it means 100% completely safe and will never harm you now matter how much you consume and you can begin to see why feeding this to kids may not be a great idea.

In all fairness, we keep a bottle of melatonin on hand in the house ourselves and it does help on those occasions when insomnia has me in its grip, but I’m an adult who has taken the time to research what it is and what it does and what the risks are and make an informed choice on whether to take it. There’s no way in hell I’d put my kids in a daycare that was feeding it to the kids. In part because most kids don’t need it as they produce melatonin just fine (Here’s a hint: try drawing the shades and turning off the lights). More importantly, though, is if they’re giving the kids melatonin then what the hell else are they giving them that I don’t know about?

Fortunately for me, my kid is 19 and well out of daycare.

You guys remember the story back in May about a teenager named Daniel Hauser and his attempt to avoid chemotherapy in favor of “alternative” treatments for his cancer? At one point, after a judge had ruled that that he had to undergo chemo, he and his mother went into hiding in defiance of the court because, they claimed, the treatment was a violation of their religious beliefs.

Eventually the pair turned themselves in and agreed to continue Daniel’s chemotherapy. Now reports are that Daniel has had his last treatment and is cancer free.

Daniel gained national attention when he stopped treatment after one session in February and fled, citing his religious beliefs. After he returned, he underwent court-ordered chemo to treat Hodgkin’s lymphoma, then started radiation therapy.

Family spokesman Dan Zwakman tells KSTP-TV everything is going as planned. A call to the family’s home from The Associated Press rang unanswered Saturday.

via Minn. Boy Who Fled Chemo Treatment Now Cancer-Free – FOXNews.com.

The article is very brief and has nothing on whether the family continues to believe that chemotherapy is ineffective in spite of the fact that their son is in good shape as a result of it. As noted above, they’re not talking to the press about it. It’s almost certain Daniel would’ve died had he not undergone chemotherapy, but I doubt the family recognizes or even appreciates that fact. If anything they’d probably say that it was God’s will, and not the chemotherapy, that cured their son.

I’ve never been on trial so maybe I’m just ignorant of proper legal defense, but somehow this just seems like a bad move:

A Halifax Crown attorney filed a complaint with police after a man she is trying to have declared a dangerous offender lost his cool and shouted at her in a courtroom Tuesday morning.

“I hate your (expletive) guts,” Christopher Edward Newhook yelled at prosecutor Catherine Cogswell during a profanity-filled outburst in Halifax provincial court.

“I wish I could cut your (expletive) head off with a rusty hacksaw blade.”

But wait! There’s more:

Mr. Newhook, who is being sentenced for stabbing a man in the head two years ago in Halifax, also called Ms. Cogswell a maggot, parasite and goof and said her mother was a goof for having her.

A goof? Really? Is that the best you could come up with for an ending? You started off so promising in the Bat-Shit Insane Competition, but that dismount is going to cost you points with the judges.

Got the following this morning:

From: “Baumann, Brent”
Subject: Feel sorry for you

I am a geologist who has watched the creation show a few times and I certainly have not heard any of the claims you are making but I have studied creation science and worked as a geologist in the “real world” for many years and the more I work and the older I get the stronger my faith becomes in intelligent design.  I have worked in mines two miles underground and mapped above ground throughout Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.  It all points to a creator.

Maybe in your infinite wisdom you can explain thousands of feet of coal beds supposedly laid down over millions of years of time containing “polystrate” fossils but containing no rock debris.  Or maybe you can explain why scientists are constantly finding and covering up geological anomalies in rock strata throughout the world with the convenient phrase “unconformities or non-conformities”.  You will probably have to look those words up in the dictionary.

I probably check out this site again because I am not talking to people with any credibility or desire to learn about intelligent design or a creator.  All you want to do is spout your anti-Christian point of view.

Understand this, there will be a day of reckoning and a place of judgment.  You were created in God’s image and despite the fact that you despise Him, He desires that you come to a knowledge of the truth which can only be found in Jesus Christ.

My reply is somewhat lengthy so I’ll post it after the jump.

Here’s what I sent back to Mr. Baumann:

Mr. Baumann,

Nice to hear from you. I see you claim to be a geologist, but you don’t provide any information to back up that claim. You’ll pardon me if I’m skeptical, but you use terms such as “polystrate” which isn’t a geological term and is used almost exclusively by creationists. That leads me to think that your background in geology comes entirely from reading Creationist materials, but I could be wrong and you might have a perfectly legitimate degree in geology. There’s also the fact that you do not show up in the Wyoming Board of Professional Geologists roster (http://wbpg.wy.gov/roster_search.asp) to make me skeptical, but perhaps you’ve never bothered to apply. I did notice that you have a Wyoming government email address, but you never bothered to say what it is you do for the great state of Wyoming. If you’re going to lay claim to the mantle of Geologist then it would do much for your creditability to actually say why you feel it’s a legitimate claim. Do you really expect me to just take at face value the claims of some random person on the Internet?

I make no claim to being a geologist, amateur or otherwise, as I am but a lowly computer support technician, albeit a fairly well-read one. I have read a lot of material from both professional geologists and various Creationists, which is why I recognize the term “polystrate” which you used previously. As I recall it is most commonly argued as being an example of fossilization geologists are unable to explain. The truth is that geologists in the 19th century had already figured it out (see “Polystrate” Tree Fossils by Andrew MacRae at http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/polystrate/trees.html) and the method in which such fossils come to exist is well understood. It doesn’t take infinite wisdom to figure such things out.

You go on to claim that ‘scientists are constantly finding and covering up geological anomalies in rock strata throughout the world with the convenient phrase “unconformities or non-conformities”.’ Why it’s a world-wide conspiracy! Unlike the term “polystrate” you threw out earlier, the terms “unconformity” and “nonconformity” are actual geologic terms and they refer to a gap in the geologic record usually caused by erosion. There are actually four main types of unconformity of which a nonconformity is one of them. The other three are the Angular Unconformity, the Disconformity, and the Paraconformity. You can find a nice brief write-up of each of them in the article “Unconformities: Gaps in the Record” by Andrew Alden (http://geology.about.com/od/geoprocesses/a/unconformities.htm). They really aren’t that hard to understand and are far from being a cover up by scientists.

Nice dig there at the end of the paragraph suggesting I’ll have to look the words up in the dictionary. Your presumption that I am ignorant of the topic at hand is telling of your biases. It’s interesting that you would attempt to insult my intelligence and then make such a very basic error in your very next sentence. You write: “I probably check out this site again because I am not talking to people with any credibility or desire to learn about intelligent design or a creator.” I’m guessing you meant to say that you won’t be checking out my site again. Which is fine with me as it’s clear you have nothing to offer beyond the usual cut-and-paste nonsense from various Creationist literature and assumptions as to my motivations, both of which are wrong.

Though I will posit one question to you to see if you are able to provide an answer. If Intelligent Design is a proper theory, as you and many others like to claim, then please provide me with one example of a testable prediction that it makes. Evolution has come up with countless predictions over the years, but I’ve yet to see one from Intelligent Design theory which seems to be able to offer nothing beyond “I can’t explain how this happened so it must be designed.”

And finally we come to the traditional YOU’RE GOING TO HELL closing paragraph wherein I am once again warned of my pending day of Judgment by an all-powerful creator who loves me so much he’ll send me to eternal torment if I don’t believe in him. Again you are arrogant enough to presume to know my feelings towards your non-existent sky fairy. I don’t despise God for the same reason I don’t despise invisible pink unicorns. They don’t exist. What’s truly amusing to me is how ignorant of your own arrogance you are in presuming to know much of anything about me from a single entry on my weblog. Not only do you think you’ve got geology all figured out, but you think you’ve got me all figured out as well.

That’s the problem with faith in things unseen. It leads you to false certainty without need to actually learn anything about the subjects you’re passing judgment on. You presume to know whether or not I have any desire to learn about ID or a Creator, you presume to know that I wouldn’t understand the terms “polystrate” or “unconformities and noncomformities”, you presume to know that I despise God and that I only wish to spout anti-Christian viewpoints. You are so certain of all of that after reading one blog entry and without ever having said one word to me directly. Your knowledge of me is almost God-like considering how little you’ve actually interacted with me.

Have you ever stopped to consider how that makes you look to others? Have you ever considered whether or not Jesus would approve of such an approach? I don’t know that you have or haven’t, but I’d be willing to make a guess…

Sincerely,

Les Jenkins

Hoo boy, it’s amazing the kind of uproar that new-fangled Twitter thingy can cause. It seems earlier today the words “No God” became what the Twitterettes call a “Trending Topic” and all hell broke loose. Theists were confused, upset, outraged, and horrified that the phrase “No God” could be the number one trending topic. Meanwhile us atheists were quite amused at the ruckus it was causing and some of the stunning tweets it was generating from the True Believers™.

The common assumption among the theists was that this was all due to us nasty atheists out on a God bashing spree, but the truth is it all got started when someone posted that cloying cliche: “No God, No Peace, Know God, Know Peace.” Apparently Twitter has a funky way of determining what the relevant words in a tweet are and, as the phrase was repeatedly retweeeted by the faithful, it made “No God” a trending topic. Which then led to what is the other amusing aspect of this thread: The numerous clueless TBs who kept posting tweets such as this one:

@TechNoteDaGreat How did no god become a tt

I can answer that. In part it happened because a lot of clueless Twats Twits Tweeters kept asking how it became a Trending Topic. Every time one of these morons used the words “No God” in their tweets asking how it became a trending topic they helped to bolster that trend. Many of the outraged felt they should do something to knock it from the top spot yet they kept using the words “No God” in their tweets thus helping to ensure it stayed number one. You’d think the logic of this would be self-evident, but it left many TBers confused and angry.

Personally I had a great time watching the thread grow and taking potshots at some of the more stupid arguments being tossed into the fray. Pascal’s wager, which I saw stated in hip-hop terms for the first time ever, was a popular one as was the “without God there’s no purpose, no love, no blah blah blah” line of reasoning. Which isn’t to say they didn’t have anything new that I hadn’t heard before. For example. did you know that God is the reason you wake up in the morning? It’s true! According to many TBers who say it ain’t the alarm clock that wakes your sorry ass up, but God. ***Dave asked if that meant he could blame God if he overslept and was late to work. Sounds logical to me. A comment that probably would’ve gotten him lumped in with us Godless heathens had he not sent it straight to me.

Anyway, the point I wanted to get to is this: I’m sometimes accused of being overly harsh or rude to the True Believers™ when they come around. I’m told I am disrespectful and intolerant and that I should be more like the even-handed Christians I’m accused of bashing. I always find that amusing when I come across tweets like the following which I’ve placed after the jump to tidy things up.

These are presented here in all their original glory with no alterations from me save a couple of spaces here and there for legibility.

@TeamJuliony FYI, if there was no God, I wouldnt of met Julian 3 times, or all the other celebs I did & i would of killed myself yrs ago

@TeamJuliony: (in reply to) @lesjenkins Have a nice time burning in hell. And for the record, MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS, SATAN.

@KymberlyReneeJ If there is No God WOW you athiest have gone 2 an all time high of disrespect Y don’t yall go play russian roulette with a fully loaded GUN

@prettii_black RT @BigSDot That no God topic is pissing me off #yesgod #yesgod #yesgod #yesgod, damn atheist! < -TELL EM!

@cantdoitlikemee RT @betty_newmoon May God’ve mercy on those hu r sayin No God <

< I concur. People are fucking stupid these days!!! >

:/

@itsqianajones I am truely disappointed that No God is a Trending Topic. It’s Sad. Dumbass Athiests.

@Blackanesebbyy i’m assuming all the ppl who say there is No God are white supremacist as well. smh.

@melmerbay Wow the trending topic about no god makes me want to cry, hope all the non believers burn in hell, I say that with love.

no god….NO gOD.. you disgust me you non believers! to hell with all of you (via @AJK92) No god? what is this fuckery? o_0(via @klssothl89)

You can find more examples of True Believer love here.

Truth is I’ve been spoiled by the folks who visit SEB. We don’t tend to get too many of these sorts of True Believers™ by the site much these days—which is probably for the best as it’d be like shooting fish in a barrel—so when I encounter them elsewhere I’m always amazed at the simplicity of their arguments. Of course Twitter is hardly conducive to a decent debate given its 140 character limit on messages, but still you’d hope that the level of discourse would have some thought behind it.

Ultimately Twitter ended up yanking “No God” from the trending topics list because the thread was killing their servers, the Twitter Fail Whale showed up several times, and the service was quickly accused by many of censorship. I doubt that was the reason it was pulled as opposed to simply trying to stay sane in the face of crushing server utilization. It quickly popped back up and they then turned around and merged it with “Know God” which is how it appears in the TT now much to the delight of the Theists who wanted it gone.  One went as far as to claim God, and not Twitter, was responsible for removing “No God” from the Trending Topics list.

Which is another thing that amazes me about Twitter. It’s a great way to remind yourself of the crushing stupidity and gullibility that exists in this country. In my day-to-day life I don’t come across too many True Believers™ and the few I do are usually in a setting where it would be inappropriate to discuss such topics (e.g. at work). Given that my peers are generally of similar point of view it can be easy at times to forget that a lot of people are just plain old idiots. Watching the news will give you a taste, but stepping into a Trending Topic on Twitter will hit you full force with it and really bring the point home. It’s probably good for my sanity that I don’t dip my toes into that end of the gene pool too often.

Because that amount of stupid can leave you with severe burns.

Because it can come back to bite you on the ass:

CARLSBAD — A rancher in Kentucky called a nearby natural cave his “animal pit,” which he used to dump garbage and dead animals.

Surveyors went deep into the cave one day, and a metal pipe was discovered extending down from the ceiling. It was later determined to be the rancher’s drinking well.

He said his water tasted strange whenever it rained.

“Sometimes what we can’t see, can hurt us,” said Aaron Stockton, a cave specialist for the Bureau of Land Management.

This guy was basically using his water supply as a landfill and then wondering why his water tasted bad after heavy rains. I know Kentucky doesn’t have a reputation for breeding the smartest of people, but you’d think they’d at least recognize that dropping dead animals and garbage into a cave that also supplies them with their drinking water would be a bad idea. At the very least you’d think they might make the connection between the heavy rain, the garbage and decaying carcasses, and the foul water. Worse yet, the water table this moron was polluting supplied water to several wells in the area so he wasn’t just putting himself at risk, but his neighbors as well.

How much you want to bet this genius continues to dump crap in his cave even after being told he was creating his own problem?