[EN] Christopher Hitchens – Collected Articles, Memories, and Obituaries
Posted on December 16, 2011
Filed Under English | Leave a Comment
The End of God.
“Oh, Lord?”
“Hm, yes, Peter?”
“Someone here to see you.”
“Ah, I see. Who is it?”
“One Christopher Hitchens, Lord.”
“Oh. Oh shit! Oh fucking shit!”
“Yes, Lord. Shall we drink the Kool-Aid now?”
“Yes. Yes! Hurry!

In remembrance of my friend Hitch – Guest Voices – The Washington Post
A lesson from Hitch: When rudeness is called for – - The Washington Post
Simon Hoggart’s week: Christopher Hitchens: monster and turnip | From the Guardian | The Guardian
Christopher Hitchens: tributes and reactions | Books | guardian.co.uk
God didn’t kill Christopher Hitchens – Christopher Hitchens – Salon.com
My take: My love/hate relationship with Hitchens – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs
The dark side of Hitchens | Pharyngula
How Christopher Hitchens Inspired Me to Become a Journalist | Friendly Atheist
Christopher Hitchens Is Hailed by Stephen Fry as a Man of Style and Wit – The Daily Beast
Christopher Hitchens: ‘the consummate writer, the brilliant friend’ | Books | The Guardian
Christopher Hitchens: God’s favorite atheist? | Conservative Republicans of California
James Randi: We’ve lost a giant
My Take: An evangelical remembers his friend Hitchens – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs
Christopher Hitchens’ atheism was a gift to believers – The Washington Post
Christopher Hitchens, under siege from book reviewers – The Washington Post
For atheists, this life is enough
Tikkun Daily Blog » Blog Archive » On the Death of Christopher Hitchens
Hitchens and I Shared an Office | Mother Jones
Affected by an Atheist: How Hitch Changed Me | Secular Coalition for America
News Desk: Postscript: Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 : The New Yorker
Christopher Hitchens has died: Fighter, doubter, provocateur – latimes.com
New Humanist (Rationalist Association) – discussing humanism, rationalism, atheism and free thought
Christopher Hitchens and Courageous Writing | Book Think | Big Think
God is not great, but Christopher Hitchens was! – National atheism | Examiner.com
RIP Christopher Hitchens. Provocateur and Damn Good Writer | Mother Jones
BBC News – Christopher Hitchens on life, death and lobster
Obituary: Christopher Hitchens – FT.com
Hitch is not in heaven | Pharyngula
So Long, You Magnificent Sonofabitch | Blue Collar Atheist
Atheist intellectual Christopher Hitchens dead at 62 | Reuters
Christopher Hitchens: His greatest Slate hits. – Slate Magazine
Christopher Hitchens Is Dead at 62 — Obituary – NYTimes.com
Vanity Fair essayist Christopher Hitchens dead at 62 – CNN.com
Author, Atheist Christopher Hitchens Succumbs to Cancer | TheLedger.com
RIP Christopher Hitchens, the Cicero of the saloon bar – Telegraph Blogs
Christopher Hitchens, in his own words – Under God – The Washington Post
Christopher Hitchens 1949 – 2011 | Rock Beyond Belief
Olivia Wilde | Stars Pay Tribute To Hitchens | Contactmusic
Contrarian writer Christopher Hitchens dies at 62 – The Globe and Mail
Christopher Hitchens: a noble contrarian – Telegraph
Christopher Hitchens in quotes – Telegraph
The Immortal Rejoinders of Christopher Hitchens | Video | Vanity Fair
Ferocious atheist Hitchens is dead | FreeThinker UK
“Christopher Hitchens is Now Burning in Hell!” | Debunking Christianity
Christopher Hitchens Dead at Age 62 | God Discussion
Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 | Greta Christina’s Blog
RIP Christopher Hitchens | Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Farewell, Christopher Hitchens « Featured « AtheistConnect
Christopher Hitchens, Controversial Author and Television Personality, Dies – ABC News
Christopher Hitchens is Dead | Friendly Atheist
BBC News – Christopher Hitchens dies after battle with cancer
Christopher Hitchens obituary | Books | guardian.co.uk
God is not great: Remembering Christopher Hitchens, Atheist hero – National Humanist | Examiner.com
In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011 | Blogs | Vanity Fair
[EN] Freedom?
Posted on November 6, 2011
Filed Under English | Leave a Comment
A society that is obsessed with money and property, a society that has organized its political process around money and property, a society that extends status and influence to those who have money and property, will never achieve freedom, or even an approximation thereof. Even if the political process is based on pluralism, on the so-called ‘marketplace of ideas’, it will never lead to more freedom if the currency of that marketplace is money and property, and not the greatest good for all.
When the political decision-making process is driven (both in terms of agenda-setting, and in terms of expending energy and means to achieve an outcome) by monied interests, almost entirely excluding or ignoring interests that try to achieve outcomes that benefit the lives of the broadest possible population in the longer term, it can never achieve an equitable, reasonable outcome. When inequitable outcomes are the norm, or even an outspoken ideal, liberty goes out the window.
The smaller the fraction of the population that can “buy” freedom by influencing the political decision-making process, the bigger the part of the population that will have less freedom, not only expressed in terms of money and property, but also in terms of opportunity, rights, and social mobility — in other words: freedom. When it is clear that a society is organized around this type of political decision-making, with maximizing of opportunity, rights, and freedoms for the few, and minimizing the exact same things for the majority, there will be no actual freedom across the board at all, not even for those who attempt to secure it by investing money in the process; likely even least for them.
There will be high walls, not only symbolical walls, but increasingly also real walls, dividing those who have, hoard, and keep, and those who want, strive, but can’t get. There may even be a street named after this phenomenon, who knows. A government that perpetuates this situation by continuously helping those who need walls to keep out the rest of society (hiring influential contractors to erect and maintain those walls at the same time) is in fact suppressing the majority of its people, and actively incapacitating its quest for freedom.
Without a political process based on achieving the greatest good for all, there will never be a government that will do anything other than take money from, and dispense desired outcomes to those who provided that money. And in that type of society, freedom, even the type that is bought and paid for, is minimized, and forever gridlocked in a spiral of guns (‘freedom defenders’), violence (‘achieving equitability’), lies (‘fair and balanced media’), and pork (‘home state development’).
Luckily, such a society does not exist anywhere. I guess there must be a God.
[EN] Leaving Scientology – Paul Harris, The Apostate
Posted on February 8, 2011
Filed Under English | 1 Comment

Paul Harris
A fascinating 26-page spread turned up in The New Yorker Magazine today, chronicling the rise and fall of one of the highest ranking Scientologists, author and screenwriter Paul Harris.
This gripping account could well serve as a dramatic screenplay on its own.
Read all about it in The Apostate by Lawrence Wright.
A small excerpt:
According to a court declaration filed by Rathbun in July, Miscavige expected Scientology leaders to instill aggressive, even violent, discipline. Rathbun said that he was resistant, and that Miscavige grew frustrated with him, assigning him in 2004 to the Hole—a pair of double-wide trailers at the Gold Base. “There were between eighty and a hundred people sentenced to the Hole at that time,” Rathbun said, in the declaration. “We were required to do group confessions all day and all night.”
The church claims that such stories are false: “There is not, and never has been, any place of ‘confinement’ . . . nor is there anything in Church policy that would allow such confinement.”
According to Rathbun, Miscavige came to the Hole one evening and announced that everyone was going to play musical chairs. Only the last person standing would be allowed to stay on the base. He declared that people whose spouses “were not participants would have their marriages terminated.” The St. Petersburg Times noted that Miscavige played Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” on a boom box as the church leaders fought over the chairs, punching each other and, in one case, ripping a chair apart.
Tom De Vocht, one of the participants, says that the event lasted until four in the morning: “It got more and more physical as the number of chairs went down.” Many of the participants had long been cut off from their families. They had no money, no credit cards, no telephones. According to De Vocht, many lacked a driver’s license or a passport. Few had any savings or employment prospects. As people fell out of the game, Miscavige had airplane reservations made for them. He said that buses were going to be leaving at six in the morning. The powerlessness of everyone else in the room was nakedly clear.
[EN] We are part of all worlds
Posted on October 21, 2010
Filed Under English | Comments Off
A singularity, tiny beyond comprehension, burst forth with power and energy. In seconds, the foundation for reality and existence in our universe were created. Only Hydrogen and Helium existed as elements. They formed stars. Eventually, those stars died. Some collapsed and became black holes, singularities working in the reverse of the one that raptured outward to form our universe, instead gobbling up all reality around them. Other stars broke down and exploded, hurtling their essence further into the universe that still grew and expanded and changed around them.
[ ... ]
We don’t have to look up and feel insignificant — we are more significant than we can ever probably truly appreciate, as the consciousness of all that exists. We are part of it, part of not only this world but all worlds. Now tell me — what miracle could be more awe-inspiring than that? Knowing and believing these things, the idea of a God having made everything would actually be a let-down, wouldn’t it?
Read the entire article written by Mark Hughes (which is actually a comment on Roger Ebert’s blog) here.

