Things have changed once again.  It used to be that you could get on a plane quite easily after your baggage was x-rayed for contraband – drugs, excessive cash etc. However, the September 11th attacks ushered in a slew of aviation security changes which are now considered to be commonplace such as: metal detectors, pat downs and stricter check-in procedures to name a few. It seems unfathomable that knives were once allowed onto planes. The botched attack of the infamous shoe-bomber, Richard Reid, meant that some of us now have to accept being asked to take off our shoes for x-raying as part of the security measures. The 2006  transatlantic aviation attack plot led to hand luggage liquid bans/restrictions as well.

Things are different now. The attempted attack by the 23-year old Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, otherwise known as the “christmas or crotch bomber” on Detroit-bound Flight 253 has change things once more. The latest slew of security measures in include full body x-rays, tighter immigration rules and behavioural profiling…
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The devastation caused by the earthquake has led global society to rally round in such an extraordinary manner. If it was not before, Haiti (the poorest country in the Western hemisphere) is on everybody’s mind at the moment. The vivid extensive media coverage and availability of modern technology has ensured that global society has been able to rapidly coordinate a program of much needed relief through donations of cash and kind. This is a true testament of human empathy – Governments (like Senegal’s have even offered free land for resettlement), along with celebrities and individuals alike whom have also risen to the occasion after having been compelled to respond creatively and give generously. A new report by the Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the total cost of reconstruction from ‘the most destructive disaster of modern times‘ could be as high as $14 billion.

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There is campaign currently being waged in the UK to get Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” to be Christmas Number One and it is hard not to support such a move when the motivation has arisen from the grassroots. Basically some music fans fed up of being on the receiving end of another X-Factor ballad ruining their listening pleasure set up a Facebook page to get RATM to Number One. Indeed the campaign has been such a success that Rage are currently leading X-Factor winner Joe McElderry by about 10,000 copies… and the song could hardly be more appropriate with the infamous lyric opposing conformity used as the title for this article. Check out the video below where the band themselves explain why they think the campaign is a good idea. What a shame the BBC could not allow RATM to vent their frustration live on air, even if it was eight in the morning. Indeed the idea that Rage would agree to be censored by the BBC, particularly on this song, for this cause and not sing the lyrics they have written is laughable. Go on RATM, take the power back!!!!!

Download the single now from itunes to show your support!

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Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the former Iranian vice-president and leading reformist in the administration of President Mohammed Khatami (1997 to 2005) was yesterday released on bail of $700,000 (£424,000) pending his appeal. Mr Abtahi has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for fomenting unrest after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in June. The most senior of hundreds of dissidents to have been locked up in the past five months “confessed” to his alleged crimes during a state televised trial that has been internationally denounced in similar fashion to Mr Abtahi’s claims about the election, as ‘a swindle’.

The protests on the streets of Tehran were of an unprecedented scale and the reaction of the Iranian Government speaks for itself as the regime has gone as far as to state that the protests were illegal whilst nationally televising rallies that support the Government. The right to protest is a fundamental part of any society, especially a democracy but Iran is not a democratic state, indeed it is one that is deeply divided. The main split, between those who support the Government and those who do not, appears to centre around different and opposite understandings of Iran’s political evolution since the 1979 revolution. One side wants a gradual evolution of democratic institutions and a more democratic reading of Islamic institutions, whilst the other desires a more a populist and authoritarian reading of Islam. Both sides claim to represent the majority of the population which is difficult to prove either way although it can be argued that the split is also one between the younger, more globally-minded individuals who wish for Iran to have more connections to the outside world and those who feel that Iran has been bullied culturally and politically by the West and trust in Mr. Ahmadinejad to deliver the revolution’s promises of economic and social justice.

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Calling for reciprocity of respect, This isn’t politically correct, this might offend my religious connects.

When Aspecks was started, we made a conscious decision not to talk about religion because of its sensitivity. The decision was made to preclude the chance of causing offense. However it is for the precise reason that religious faith is so sensitive a topic; we would be doing ourself an injustice (as members of a diverse global community) by not addressing it. The revulsive insensitivity of this video was part of the stimulus for the change in our position.

Religious faith is an unshakeable pillar of many of the world’s societies which provides moral and ethical direction to many people’s and societies in varying degrees. The beliefs of Atheists or uncertainty of Agnostics are also by their very nature an exhibition of, or another form of faith (an acknowledgement of it at the very least). Some people are devout believers of their faiths and live quite strictly according to their teachings, while others merely ascribe to various faiths by name alone. However, in order to exist as a positive contributor in any community, a person must have some understanding of ethics/morals and how to treat other people.This would develop as a natural consequence of collective learning from socialisation between people over long periods of time.   read more…