http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/turning-30/

I have stopped writing blogs on myspace, largely because there are better blog formats out there. The main page has a link to the main blog but just to make life easier I thought I would include here some of the main categories I have written/write about.

Latest blog: http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/

Atheist Alliance International Conference 2007: http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/category/aai-conference-2007/

Atheism: http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/category/atheism/

Jehovah's Witnesses: http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/category/jehovahs-witnesses/

OUT campaign: http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/category/out-campaign/

Jet lagged but had the time of my life and I owe it all to Dawkins and great people that make up RDFRS!

Link to blogs --> m -->http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/

Well off to the USA, will be blogging about the conference (28th - 30th) hosted by the Atheist Alliance International.

Excited as anything - first time outside Europe.

So watch this space!

Christopher Hitchens has been for some on the atheist front a man they love to loathe - they love him for his outspokeness in god is not great (on the whole) but his support of the war on Iraq and continued support for the allies to be involved has meant that he is a man very much left in the cold like a chilled beer.

 The thing is when you see Hitchens in action and spend a night out with him he is very much a man that you want on the inside of your tent pissing out rather than on the outside of your tent pissing in. Especially if it has been quite a night. His mark is high and what is more when he is in full flight refreshing to see boldness and a point well argued.

By all means disagree with Hitchens about the war. But that is separate from what he argues as an atheist. Really it seems a strange ad hom - "He supports the war in Iraq so whatever else he has to say I do not care for" rather like saying "He supports Manchester United so whatever he has to say about evolutionary biology I do not care for".

god is not great does reveal perhaps nothing new in the argument about theism and anti theism. Or atheism for that matter to those that have read books from Russell to Dawkins. What however is of interest is the prose and style that Hitchens employs. His wit and arguments hang together like Spartans in Hell's Gate using reason to fight off the hoards of mysticism that have invaded through the ages.

 Religion poisons everything - we really do not need this to make life sacred or feel any more special than we need too. Cheap conjuring tricks for those that wish to be ignorant of what science can answer. For those that embrace science but feel god must be there they are like chicken little believing without god the sky will come crushing down on them without that assumption.

Hitchens argues with style, and so many quotable quotes that to mention them would be like a trailer for a movie that ruins the film when you see it because you already know what is coming (and have seen the best bits). Read because this is one of the finest writers out there at the moment.

 And please enough of the "if only" jibe. I for one am glad to count on his fellowship in this large tent as we battle the hordes.

Trying to reach as many people as possible I have now gone on to a blog site, some of the posts on there will be familiar:

http://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/

It looks good and hopefully will get a bit more chair throwing and comment then myspace.

I think I may keep the blog on myspace going in tandem, and for not so serious blogs.

Thanks for reading.

Saddam had to be dealt with. Mass genocide, flouting of international law, a quest to buy WMD from the Koreans, satellite TV punishable by the death of the whole family. It is pie in the sky to believe that Saddam was a non issue and the Middle East would be fine with him still in power until he died of natural causes. His track record, his conduct suggest otherwise.

After 9/11 one thing did change - that was the risk of doing nothing, but waiting for something to happen. That would be unforgivable for any government that could perceive a threat but did nothing to act until something happened. In the case of WMD used on civilians it needed to be shown that any state proving a threat would be subject not to appeasement, but action.

That is separate from how the case was made. It was made on the basis that Saddam had WMD and was prepared to use it/give it to groups that meant the West ill. That was an overstatement of what intelligence actually revealed - a downright lie at worst.

The law on genocide is clear - the sovereignty of a state is null and void. Saddam should have been brought down after the liberation of Kuwait - but no one seemed to be prepared for the aftermath. It took over ten years for the political will for Saddam's overthrow to happen and rather than being prepared, there has been error after error, lack of planning, not enough international consensus to put the resources into trying to stabilise Iraq. The aftermath has been made worse than it was going to be due to this.

It is not going to be easy. But a peaceful, stable, secular, democratic state is one that the Iraqi people deserve. It is something that we need to succeed at helping them to achieve - as atheists we should know the risk of allowing a radical Islamist theocracy taking hold of the government on not only the people of Iraq but for the rest of the world. Which is why I find it disheartening when atheists do say that whatever the situation left in Iraq we should pull out right now.

I do not want us to abandon our fellow secularists, trade unionists, workers in Iraq to the fate of murderous madmen poisoned by religious fanaticism. Shame on those that do. Where are their humanist principles that tell them that genocide must be stopped, and that humans that our oppressed must be supported by those fortunate to be free? That liberty is not just to be enjoyed but something that is rarely in the history of our species given without extraordinary effort and the sacrifice of many people who knew that it was not theirs to enjoy but to pass on to others in the hope of a better future for their people. Such people are patriots and they deserve our support.

I feared that voices to the contrary would win. It is always easier to do nothing when people elsewhere are suffering but not yourself - when you are not part of the struggle. There is not the same tangible benefit, but the real cost of service personal killed, loved ones lost, resources that could be used elsewhere. I remain convinced that Afghanistan was enough of an issue to deal with, unless the world community was prepared to be involved with the overthrow of Saddam and a stable secular Iraq afterwards. I was aware that we were being manipulated and lied too about the case for war in Iraq. I wanted the real case - that the rules of the game had changed, the Iraqi people deserved better, that our own future security and that in the Middle East depended on us getting this right. I did not want us to go to war on a false premise.

Saddam did not deserve to die a natural death when millions because of him had not. At least so far we have 100% achieved that. But that is one battle, and there is much much more to be done. But I fear the political will to do the right thing by the Iraqi people will give way to political expediency on Capital Hill.