Welcome to Heather’s Homilies
Worry of the Week – 1 November 2015: Bangladesh
For the fifth time this year, I've woken to news that another person associated with the tiny atheist community in Bangladesh has been brutally murdered via machete. In February it was author and atheist blogger Dr Avijit Roy, who was murdered in the street in a...
Winner of the Week – 1 November 2015: Raif Badawi
It was announced on Thursday that Raif Badawi won the European Union's Sakharov human rights prize. The Guardian reports : Raif Badawi, the Saudi blogger and activist sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam, has won the EU’s Sakharov prize...
This is What’s Wrong with US Politics
I've just watch the first segment of today's episode of Fox New's The Five (5pm Monday EST, 10am Tuesday NZT). The segment was about the operation where US soldiers helped in the rescue of DAESH hostages, who, intelligence suggested, were about to be executed. During...
Exorcism for the Masses
I wrote about the increased demand for exorcisms since the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy back in June - what many are calling the "Pope Francis Effect". In June 2014, Pope Francis formally recognized the statutes of the International Association of...
Worry of the Week – 25 October 2015: Ben Carson Chosen by God
The success of so-called "outsider" candidates has been a feature of the GOP presidential nominee race. So far, Donald Trump has won almost every poll since he entered the race. That changed this week. Until now, it was possible to put the success of complete f**kwits...
Winner of the Week – 25 October 2015: Hillary Clinton and The Back-Flipping Hamster
I was just going to do this post about the hamster (below), but Hillary Clinton is such an obvious candidate for Winner of the Week this week, I couldn't really ignore her. After a tough few months, it's all looking pretty good for both her and the Democratic Party:...
Worry of the Week – 18 October 2015: The Democratic Party
My actual biggest worry this week is what's going on between the Israelis and Palestinians and their supporters and proxies. However, I just don't know where to start. I don't even know how to finish this paragraph with a suitably wise comment about the situation. I...
Winner of the Week – 18 October 2015: REST, Namibia
Yesterday I got this great video from Amy Carparelli (@AmyAmylou1993) on Twitter. It's about the Rare and Endangered Species Trust (REST) in Namibia and the work they're doing with the pangolin or scaly anteater. If you check out their Facebook page, you'll see some...
Worry of the Week – 11 October 2015: Kunduz, Afghanistan
My number one worry is still Syria, but it's not the only part of the world that needs to concern us all at the moment. Another is the province of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban is resurgent there, and the people are suffering even more than usual as a...
Winner of the Week – 11 October 2015: Guinea, Sierra Leone & Liberia Free of Ebola
Fantastic news! Neither Guinea, Sierra Leone nor Liberia has had any new Ebola cases for almost two weeks. This is the second time Liberia has been declared disease-free, but they had a flare-up in June which set them back. Now though, it looks like they've finally...
Simon’s Cat – Two New Episodes
Somehow I've missed two new episodes of Simon's Cat. One was posted almost two months ago and the other just over a week ago. So, without further ago ... Pizza Cat (20 August 2015) https://youtu.be/OsOYg5gpS0s and Box Clever (1 October 2015)...
Winner of the Week – 4 October 2015: Japanese Rugby
The Japanese rugby team have been stunning everyone with their impressive performances at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in the United Kingdom. As a Kiwi, I should be writing about our team, the All Blacks. They've won all three of their matches so far and are still the...