Edward Falzon's Blog

What have you done for your country lately?

If you subscribe to HuffPost Politics, then you're probably concerned with some aspect of government. But when you do learn of governmental behaviour you don't like, what do you do about it, other than post angry comments online? What could you do about an issue that concerns you?

There's a common perception that the only two options for political involvement are to vote or to run for office. These avenues are certainly open to us all, but most of us seem to forget a third option: Lobbying. And the perfect how-to guide is now on the shelves.

Lobbying isn't the exclusive domain of well-funded groups with huge memberships and infinite political connections. You, the individual, can just as easily make an appointment with a government official and discuss matters you'd like addressed at a council, state or federal level.

You just need to know how.

The Citizen Lobbyist - A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard in Government (Pitchstone, 2013) takes readers step-by-step from concept to results, whether one's issue is signage at a local intersection or an amendment to the federal constitution. Author Amanda Knief learnedly details the intricacies of the lobbying process, including how to identify and appropriately articulate an issue for lobbying, hands-on instructions on how to get in to see the right official, how to comport oneself during the meeting and follow-up procedures to ensure a favourable outcome.

The unfortunate but unavoidable reality is that some things simply don't make sense. There's a large and fast-growing demographic in the United States -- possibly 60 million or more -- who accept the reality and finality of death and, in troubling times, simply need community, upon whom they can lean without someone meekly attempting to explain an event in the context of a powerful entity who, apparently, could have prevented the whole catastrophe.

It's saddening to me and to these countless millions, that as much as half of the Massachusetts population was left out of last week's memorial service that involved all levels of government.

Though the speakers did so with the best of intentions, quoting from a Bible is as comforting to an atheist as quoting from Mein Kampf might be to a Christian. In the Boston interfaith service, though there were some words of comfort that dispensed with religious phrasing, a secular humanist could be forgiven for being distracted and put off by the repeated invocations to the Abrahamic god.

It continues to befuddle my mind that the USA permits its citizens to arm themselves with a personal arsenal. In some states, I understand, it's even legal to carry concealed weapons to work.

After the Aurora shooting, handgun sales in Colorado soared, assisted in no small way by certain politicians claiming that if others had weapons in the cinema they could have taken out the shooter.

Yes. In a dark, smoke-filled theatre full of panicking patrons and gunfire, the solution is for more people to start firing rounds in whatever direction they think the shooter might be.

I have a simple solution for the USA. It might be a tough sell, but I think you're at that point:

Repeal the Second Amendment.

I'm Australian, I have European citizenship and I live in Asia. On behalf of the 6.7 billion people on this Pale Blue Dot who are not permitted a vote for the leader of the Free World, I beg you: Vote for Barack Obama.

It's not just me. In a GlobeScan survey of 21 countries, the residents of all but one have overwhelmingly indicated a preference for Obama. Please understand that your vote affects us, your international family. By an accident of birth, you have both the right to vote for your nation's leader and the privilege to vote for the man (this time around) who will set the world's economic and diplomatic tone for the next four years.

This table shows just how much we Earthlings prefer Obama. Spain's Christians, Indonesia's Muslims, India's Hindus, Japan's Buddhists and Australia's drinkers-of-beer are all in agreement. For once. Your three closest allies, the next six largest economies in the world and both of your adjacent neighbours. Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa all strongly prefer Obama, up to 45-to-1 over Romney.

Such cultural, economic, political and religious differences, yet the world agrees on this one choice. Everyone but Pakistan, that is. Pakistan, where a man in Romney's former position, the governor of Punjab, was murdered by his own bodyguard for suggesting that the death penalty for blasphemy might be a bit harsh. Yet even in this deeply religious, atrociously conservative place, Obama's only trailing by a couple of percent.

But why? What reasons could there be for the entire planet agreeing that Barack Obama is the right choice and that Mitt Romney is not?

It's because the United States has the world's largest economy, whose stability dictates the economic stability of the world. It has the world's most powerful military, whose budget is higher than the military budget of the next sixteen countries combined, with active forces deployed to 150 countries. Your population, 4.5 percent of the world, produces 16 percent of the CO2 emissions.

We care about these things and I think most of you do, too.

I'm Australian, I have European citizenship and I live in Asia. On behalf of the 6. who are not permitted a vote for the leader of the Free World, I beg you: Vote for Barack Obama.

It's not just me. the residents of all but one have overwhelmingly indicated a preference for Obama. Please understand that your vote affects us, your international family. By an accident of birth, you have both the right to vote for your nation's leader and the privilege to vote for the man (this time around) who will set the world's economic and diplomatic tone for the next four years.

This table shows just how much we Earthlings prefer Obama....

Don't get me wrong: I consider Dinesh to be wasting his time and brain power believing and proselytising things that are objectively untrue.

But this new fiancee-mistress "scandal" in which he has become embroiled is the embodiment of both the proverbial storm in a tea-cup and the abuse of religious power over even high-profile individuals. Fancy losing one's job over dating.

It seems that a conference organiser suspected Dinesh of (gasp! spending the night in a hotel with a woman. He has been separated from his wife for two years, apparently at her behest, and the divorce is progressing. Meanwhile, he has started dating someone else. Where's the scandal?...

September 30 2012 was the fourth annual Blasphemy Rights Day International, and we needed it this year as much as any other.

there are new calls at the United Nations to introduce an international law restricting blasphemy.

before we condemn a violent reaction to it, we'll always be bestowing power upon those who wish to pass this kind of law.

kind of law, precisely? If an anti-blasphemy vote is passed at the UN, what will the definition of "blasphemy" be? by his own bodyguard, not for blasphemy, but merely for suggesting that a death-sentence for blasphemy might be too harsh; what actions will constitute blasphemy and what penalties will be prescribed under this new international resolution?

More than that, what sanctions will be imposed upon a country who fails to stamp out blasphemous speech, print and behaviour to the satisfaction of the OIC?

No, a Blasphemy Rights Day is crucial, given today's religio-political climate....

In recent days, a certain film has received a great deal of buzz, but nobody has taken the time to review it. I have decided to oblige.

I can take a bad movie. I'm almost always glad to suspend belief for the sake of immersing myself in the fiction of a good show, so I find myself enjoying some flicks that other, more-sophisticated movie-goers might poo-poo.

by nobody-knows-who, going by the 14 minutes that have been released in trailer form, might well be the worst movie ever made on this or any other planet.

But I can think of a couple of reasons you might want to see it. techniques this director uses to ensure eternal embarrassment for every single person involved in its production.

Secondly, watch the trailer as a test of your willpower....

I know the Ten Commandments," I hear you muttering. Worship only God, no idols, observe the Sabbath, don't kill, steal, lie, cheat on your spouse.

Yeah, that's not them. the rules that were called the Ten Commandments in the Bible!

But a little background first. There are 95 uses of the word "commandment" in the five books of Moses. Well, that's in the King James, anyway. In the TNIV ("Today's New International Version"), this number drops to just 10....

For what might be the first time in the history of the United States, possibly the whole world, an atheist will deliver the opening "prayer" at a government meeting.

Dan Nerren will deliver the opening invocation at the Tulsa City Council meeting.

The invocation] advocates the Humanist perspective without denigrating religion along the way. It's something everybody ought to be able to agree with, as opposed to the religious invocations that necessarily exclude those who don't believe in the chosen god.

Says Nerren, "As far as I know, I'll be the first to offer a secular invocation. not praying.

the council had been reminded several times that a sectarian prayer was unconstitutional. Though the goals of the Northeast Oklahoma Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State is to stop the opening prayer altogether, the chapter's vice president said allowing an atheist to offer the invocation was "a very good move on the part of the council....