SpiceMan

I'll believe the sun beds can be cleared only when I see it.

Congress changed the oath in 2013. When the airman first enlisted he'd have sworn a different oath. Article VI of the Constitution prohibits requiring religious tests to hold an office or public trust. Forcing the airman to swear to a supreme being as a condition of his reenlistment is tantamount to a ‘religious test’ and is therefore violative of this constitutional provision as well.

The US is now a theocracy An atheist airman at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada was denied reenlistment last month for refusing to take an oath containing “so help me God,†the American Humanist Association said Thursday. And in a Sept. 2 letter to the inspectors general for the Air Force and Creech, Monica Miller, an attorney with the AHA’s Apignani Humanist Legal Center, said the airman should be allowed to reenlist without having to swear to a deity, and instead given a secular oath. Miller said the AHA is prepared to sue if the airman is not allowed to reenlist. According to the AHA, the unnamed airman was told Aug. 25 that the Air Force would not accept his contract because he had crossed out the phrase “so help me God.†The airman was told his only options were to sign the religious oath section of the contract without adjustment and recite an oath concluding with “so help me God,†or leave the Air Force, the AHA said. That is unconstitutional and unacceptable, the AHA said. “The government cannot compel a nonbeliever to take an oath that affirms the existence of a supreme being,†Miller said. “Numerous cases affirm that atheists have the right to omit theistic language from enlistment or reenlistment contracts.†Creech officials referred inquiries to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Officials at Nellis referred questions to Air Force public affairs officers at the Pentagon, who had not confirmed the incident by Thursday night. The AHA’s letter also called attention to a quiet update last year of Air Force rules governing reenlistments, which now require all airmen to swear an oath to God. Air Force Instruction 36-2606 spells out the active-duty oath of enlistment, which all airmen must take when they enlist or reenlist and ends with “so help me God.†The old version of that AFI included an exception: “Note: Airmen may omit the words ‘so help me God,’ if desired for personal reasons.†That language was dropped in an Oct. 30, 2013, update to the AFI. The relevant section of that AFI now only lists the active-duty oath of enlistment, without giving airmen any option to choose not to swear an oath to a deity. “Reciting ‘So help me God’ in the reenlistment and commissioning oaths is a statutory requirement under Title 10 USC 502,†Air Force spokeswoman Rose Richeson said Thursday. AFI 36-2606 “is consistent with the language mandated in 10 USC 502. Paragraph 5.6 [and] was changed in October 2013 to reflect the aforementioned statutory requirement and airmen are no longer authorized to omit the words ‘So help me God.’ †The Air Force said it cannot change its AFI to make “so help me God†optional unless Congress changes the statute mandating it. Miller pointed out that Article VI of the Constitution prohibits requiring religious tests to hold an office or public trust. “Forcing [the airman] to swear to a supreme being as a condition of his reenlistment is tantamount to a ‘religious test’ and is therefore violative of this constitutional provision as well,†Miller said. Miller also said that swearing an oath the airman does not believe in would be dishonest. “This airman shows integrity, commitment to the nation, and respect for religion in standing firm for a secular oath that reflects his true values and intentions,†said Jason Torpy, president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and a board member of the AHA. http://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20140904/NEWS05/309040066/Group-Airman-denied-reenlistment-refusing-say-help-me-God-

I thought Joan Rivers was a very funny lady. There was nobody like her but many aspiring comedians could learn from her.

American tourists are generally polite and well behaved. English tourists are generally drunk and clueless. Aussie tourists are generally a good bunch. Except those who insist on blaming me personally for the excesses of the British Empire.

Somebody smells money.

I'm currently re-reading the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. It is a non-fiction book that debunks religion. It would be a great help to anybody who has lost their faith and is thinking about coming out as an atheist.

More racial stereotyping and bigotry, King Kung.

Sun beds banned? Tourists forced to sit on beach towels? That might suit the backpackers but it will make the beaches less attractive to the wealthier middle aged and elderly tourists.

Death of the world’s most deluded woman: Umm Nidal, mother of “martyrs†What kind of mother would send her young son off to die in a suicide bombing of children—knowing he would die—and then rejoice and pass out candy after his death and the deaths of other innocents he took with him? What kind of mother would lobby her other sons to become “martyrs,†too? A religious mother, of course. And you know what religion we’re talking about. Umm Nidal (“mother of the struggleâ€: real name Maryam Farhat), who died three days ago at the age of 64, is a hero to Palestinians. That’s because three of her six sons were “martyrsâ€. The youngest, Muhammed, was only 17 when he died in a suicide attack against an Israeli military academy (the mother had encouraged him to engage in this “jihadâ€), another made explosives targeting civilians and was blown up by one of his drones, and the third was killed by Israeli intelligence. After Muhammed died (taking with him five Israeli students and wounding 23), she thanked Allah and handed out boxes of chocolates and halvah.She was later elected to the Palestinian parliament. Nidal’s funeral was attended by thousands of Palestinians and many dignitaries, including the Palestinian prime minister. On the eve of Obama’s visit, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid homage to Nidal and gave her a special award, the “Order of Sacrifice.â€

The guy who redecorated his home with losing lottery tickets has a problem. And why would he want to be reminded of his shame?

I spend the equivalent of 1,600 Baht on lottery tickets every month. I'm not expecting a big win, Its really just amusement with occasional prizes.

Faster Payments Service only applies to transfers between bank accounts. Transfers to credit cards are not subject to this so can take as long as the companies involved want it to.

The main frame computers used by UK banks update financial transactions as "batch jobs" over night. The software is incredibly antiquated and nobody understands it or dares to tinker with it. The last time anybody looked at is was to check it for Y2K bugs. A friend who did that reported that at one bank the software didn't handle pounds and pence transactions but rather pounds, shillings and pence i.e. Britains old pre-decimal currency which went out in 1970. There was a COBOL language software routine in place on top to convert from pre-decimal currency to decimal but the underlying internal representation of money was still pounds, shillings and pence. I think the banks should have been required by law to modernise their systems during the boom years, so that transactions can take place within seconds rather than days.

I saw on TV news an Israeli crowd gleefully chanting "There is no school in Gaza now because all the children are dead".

Opera all the way for me. If you want to know what benefits other browsers will have in the future, look at Opera today.

Anybody who chooses to work at the Dead Sea, is not wealthy enough, in my opinion.

Being a low sugar fruit, olives are healthy. Eating cheese with them is not.

Yes, I know there are desperate people everywhere. Yet Thailand has rich people and they generally don't get kidnapped and held for ransom.

Hopefully he'll be sober and less unpleasant tomorrow but I doubt it. Murdering immigrants and dumping their bodies in the Rio Grande sounds like a psychopath.

I really must stop laughing at you as you are clearly pitiably insane.

Lets not get into a "my alcoholism is bigger than yours" pissing contest.

I loved Gilligan's Island as a kid and was shocked to read this. I guess its not true.

Covenient? Not really. The cold war stale mate is still in effect. Putin can't invade Europe without Russian cities getting nuked.

I am a male who was circumcised at the age of 19. I have had sex with a foreskin and without. The foreskin is the most sensitive part of the penis. Removing it leads to the tip of the penis drying out and being unable to provide any lubrication during sex. I believe infant male circumcision should be banned worldwide, as it already has been in some countries. If an adult male has a good reason, such as where it is medically necessary, or if he wants to participate in unsafe sex with less risk, then let him choose to have circumcision as an adult. The practice of infant genital mutilation as a ritual of sacrificing flesh to a barbaric god is particularly repugnant to me.