"Captain" William Morgan disappeared on this date in 1826 from Batavia, New York.

Just in case anyone knows where he is.

I'm not sure what bothers me most about this story: the fact that an Australian Masonic lodge was vandalized and its members insulted, or that the police act like it was nothing.



From 'Uneducated, foolish protest' by Annabelle Beale:

Offensive comments sprawled on a large wooden cross left at the front door of The Masonic Lodge, Trafalgar last week has been described as an “uneducated, foolish protest”.



The Masonic Lodge building, which is home to the the Freemasons, was also vandalised with religious and homosexual insults.



Freemason member Rod Drysdale said the vandalism “appears to be some teenage, witch coven protest”.



“It would have been credible and maybe even worrying if it was done in a more mature and credible way but because of the obscenities, which are so disgusting in their nature, it has no credibility whatsoever,” Mr Drysdale said.



He said the Freemasonry members were not threatened by the protest because of the “obscene, offensive and misguided” comments.



“Looking at the way it is put together it is done by someone totally ill-informed and uneducated, with no understanding of Freemasons and what it does,” he said.

Apparently, reporters at the UK's Telegraph have made an incredible discovery by using a mysterious tool few know about, called the "Internet." Reporter and "Investigations Editor" (Wow!) Jason Lewis has unearthed a secret Freemasons' lodge in London, secretly made up of secretive Masons who are secretly police officers in secret. Oh, I forgot the exclamation mark. And he did so by finding names of the officers secretly hidden on a secret website!



This is what passes for investigative reporting in England these days, apparently. Frankly, this would have even failed my high school Junior Journalist Club's standards.



In a political attempt to score points off of the Metropolitan Police and David Cameron's government in the wake of the London riots, Lewis' article stirs a meaningless pot of "controversy" over the fact that London police officers who are Masons established Sine Favore Lodge No. 9856 last September. They did so quite openly, and their website isn't exactly furtive. Yes, I know. Pesky details.



But let's get right to Mr. Lewis' scathing expose from the Telegraph, "Freemasons in the police leading the attack on David Cameron's riot response":

Leading police officers have set up a national Masonic lodge where they can meet in secret in defiance of fears about the influence of the secret society on the criminal justice system.

In defiance of fears... not laws, not rules, but simply "fears" because some people have hysterics over Freemasonry, stoked, not by any provable reality, but by myth and delusion. Over here, we call that paranoia.

The founding members include senior officials from the Police Federation, the police staff association, which is currently fighting the Government over its plans to cut budgets.



The new Masonic lodge is led by John Tully, a Metropolitan Police officer, who has given numerous interviews in recent days accusing the Prime Minister of "fighting violence, arson and looting on our city streets with sound-bites".

So, David Cameron's timid and slow response to the riots in an attempt to be sensitive and politically correct, a response that appalled Britons and foreigners alike, is not open to criticism by the police officers who were hamstrung by his "evolving" policies as the country burned. Got it.

Other founder members include officers from the Metropolitan Police, Essex Police, Thames Valley Police and from other forces including Northumbria, Dyfed Powys, South Wales, South Yorkshire and even a high ranking officer from the Royal Gibraltar Police.

Egads, no! Not the Royal Gibraltar Police! Zounds!

The "Sine Favore" Lodge was opened despite the conclusions of a Parliamentary inquiry which warned of public fears that "Freemasonry can have an unhealthy influence on the criminal justice system".

Fears. Not facts. Fears.

The inquiry followed questions about masonic involvement in the abandonment of an investigation into a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland and with the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad, which was disbanded after evidence of police malpractice.

NOT Masonic malpractice.

Membership is open to all serving and retired officers across Britain and others working alongside the police, including lawyers, criminologists and even the financial advisers who manage officers' retirement plans.

Sounds like they have pretty low standards, if they'll let all those lawyers, real estate developers, bankers and non-police in. Tough to keep law enforcement secrets with all those civilians roaming about in lodge.

The idea for the new police Masonic lodge grew out of a series unofficial get-togethers in hotel bars during Police Federation annual conferences.

Hotel bars, those dens of iniquities. Not good working class pubs.

Masonic rules require members to do all they can to support each other, to look after each other and to keep each others' lawful secrets.

Yes, that's right. Lawful secrets. Not unlawful ones.

New members of the so-called Brotherhood are blindfolded, a hangman's noose placed around their necks and they are warned their throat will be slit and their tongue torn out if they break their oath. Critics argue this could put them at odds with discharging their duty to serve the public.

"So-called" Brotherhood? If Lewis knew anything beyond what he read in his well-thumbed bathroom copy of "From Hell", and had actually researched Freemasonry, he would have found numerous instances of all lodges' generous gifts to all sorts of organizations. And if he'd ever seen the way the widows and orphans of fallen brother officers are aided by other Masons, he'd have shut his pie hole eight paragraphs back.



And by the way, Freemasonry in England removed the so-called "bloody oath" penalties from their ritual decades ago, specifically because crackpots like Lewis didn't understand symbolism. Frankly, a cowardly act that points out that Masonophobes will still use it as a stick to beat you with, so why bother changing ritual for people who are not members?

The inquiry by the Home Affairs Select Committee in 1998 called for a public register of police officers who joined the Freemasons, although in the end the then Labour government proposed that officers could make voluntary disclosures about their membership. Few did.

That's because ZERO wrongdoing was discovered by Jack Straw's cash-hemorrhaging witch hunt, and such registrations have been deemed illegal by both English law and the European Union. Picture having to "disclose" being a Catholic. In England. Again.

The new "Sine Favore" lodge, is named after the Latin motto of the Police Federation, "Without Fear, Without Favour".



The founders include Police Federation Treasurer Martyn Mordecai, John Giblin, chairman of the Federation's Sergeants Central Committee, and Steve Williams, general secretary of the Federation's Inspectors Central Committee.



Earlier this year Mr Giblin told the Federation's annual conference that government ministers "hate the police service" and wanted to "destroy" it.

A fair enough grumble from an officer who feels that government ministers make policy changes without consulting the police who have to carry them out. I'm guessing Lewis bitches about his bosses, too. Or is it merely Brother Giblin's Masonic membership that makes this seditious?

Other founding members include solicitor Tristan Hallam, a personal injury lawyer who specialises, according to his firm Russell Jones and Walker, in "road traffic accidents and public liability cases for both private clients and associations including the Police Federation".



Mr Hallam said: "Membership of any organisation is a personal choice. Russell Jones & Walker are aware of my membership."

I wonder if he's also a member of the Basingstoke Philately Hob Nobbers, the local ruggers club, or the IRA? Perhaps he's one of those creepy Rotarians! Or is his Masonic membership the only issue vital to national safety?

Stewart Imbimbo, an ex-Thames Valley police officer and now a senior official at Milton Keynes council, Robert Taylor, a financial adviser, Eric Misselke, director of a police credit union which provides cheap loans, savings accounts and insurance, and the Metropolitan Police's resident criminologist Dr Attilio Grandani.

...Did what? Lewis needs to go back to English Composition to learn that sentences have nouns, verbs and objects. But he can skip the class on innuendo; he's got that down pat.

Dr Grandani sits on the Metropolitan Police Authority's equality and diversity sub-committee and is behind the Met's new controversial statistical-led policing model, which aims to combat areas of high crime as opposed to more thinly spread bobbies-on-the-beat territorial policing.

Sounds like a common sense approach. Silly me. Can't be. Mason, you know. Must have a secret agenda.

Lodge number 9856 was officially opened by a senior Masonic official, Russell Race. He is the Metropolitan Grand Master, head of the Grand Lodge of London, a corporate financier and chairman of a construction firm behind the huge Westfield shopping centre in west London and The Pinnacle office development, which, when complete, will be the tallest building in the City of London.



The lodge is based at 10 Duke Street in central London, which is also the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, one of the most important and mysterious bodies in international Masonic circles, which has an elite membership of only 75 people.

Yes, only 75 members can be 33° Masons in England at any time. The U.S. jurisdictions also have limitations on "active" 33rds. An unlimited number may be 32° Masons. What's "mysterious" about it? Perhaps we can also have an accounting of all of London's membership numbers in its famous, infamous and "elite" private clubs.

The building, known as Grand East by Masons, contains the "Black Room", the "Red Room" and a "Chamber of Death", used for Masonic rituals.

The term is "Chamber of Reflection." Oh, silly me. Facts again. Lewis' line came directly out of Stephen Knight's juvenile exposé, "The Brotherhood," which has been denounced since its publication as false and filled with lies.

The Police Federation last night refused to discuss whether any of its officials had disclosed their involvement with Freemasonary.



A spokesman said: "Being a member of any organisation is a matter for the individual, so long as membership of that organisation does not compromise their duties and responsibilities as a police officer."

Indeed. And thank you for that. England is not a jackbooted dictatorship. Not yet.

Lodge Secretary Mr Tully, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation refused to comment.

And why should he comment on such a lurid, poorly researched hit piece masquerading as reportage?



Thankfully, in the U.S. we are not subjected to this brand of idiocy in the press. Freemasonry is treated here as a harmless diversion by doddering old men in crumbling buildings, and journalists who report on our successes behave as though they've discovered a curious alien species. But in Europe, our brethren are treated with derision, scorn, hatred and downright slander, as this character assassinating piece of codswallop proves.

Today's Calgary Herald online features an article by A. Millar, analyzing the Masonic references and connections (and delusions) of Norway murderer, Anders Behring Breivik.

See Millar: Norway murderer’s Freemason obsession.

Meanwhile, the AP featured an article hunting the purported London-based "Knights Templar" that Brievik claimed to be affiliated with that was mounting a modern-day Crusade against Europe's Muslim population. Far-right blogger Paul Ray, who was once a part of the anti-Islamic English Defense League, says the "The Ancient Order of the Templar Knights" was indeed formed in 2002, but was more of a pipe dream than a real organized, structured group. Ray is known online as "Richard" on the blog "Lionheart."

The EDL's motto is, incidentally, "In Hoc Signo Vinces".

(Interestingly, Ray says he fled England two years ago and moved to Malta after his arrest at home for inciting racial hatred. What is it with Knights and Malta?)

See British group says no link to twin attacks.

Of course, none of these pesky details has put a sock in the squeakhole of anti-Masons like Alex Jones, who used the Norway tragedy and Breivik's Masonic membership as an entrée to spout more falsehoods, errors and lies in a five minute "interview" on Monday than most folks manage in a whole year. In it he claims the Bohemian Grove is a Masonic black magic gathering; that the Illuminati was founded inside of Masonic lodges; Albert Pike, "Supreme Commander of all global Masonry" predicted three world wars to set up a universal government in worship of the Masonic God, Lucifer... And that's just in his first 30 seconds. (How does this self-aggrandizing parade float keep getting attention from supposedly reputable media outlets?)

And never mind that the opening to the interview simply lumps the Knights Templar of Brievik's imagination with the the Masonic Templars. It's much simpler than doing actual research. In truth, Breivik never advanced beyond the 3rd degree of Master Mason, and was not a Masonic Knight Templar (which is a part of the Grand Lodge of Norway's 10-degree system, and not divided into a separate Rite as it is in most other countries).

A photo of alleged Norwegian mass-murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, dressed in Masonic regalia has been widely circulated across the web over the last two days. So, naturally, the usual lineup of anti-Masons, from the Daily Mail to David Icke and Alex Jones, are having a field day naming Breivik as a foot soldier in some worldwide Masonic revolution.

A Mason in Miami, Florida who passed away at the age of 80 was denied a Masonic funeral service by the pastor of his Baptist church, of which he was a member for 30 years.

From the Westside Gazette in Ft. Lauderdale, "Bro. Thomas Hamilton’s death stirs Mt. Carmel dialogue," by Derek Joy:

A curious thing happened when Bro. Thomas Hamilton died April 23, of circulatory and respiratory failure.

Hamilton, 80, was an usher and member of Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church in Miami, for more than 30 years. He remained a faithful member of Mount Carmel when the Rev. James C. Kinchen, Jr., was selected to replace Bishop Victor T. Curry who left to form his current church home of New Birth Cathedral of Faith.

“They wouldn’t let us give him his last rites as a Masonic Brother,” said the Illustrious Bobby Meeks, Florida State Grand Master of the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons and Order of Eastern Star. “The pastor said he didn’t believe in it.”

Kinchen didn’t return a call for comment.

“When that happens, you find another church,” said Bro. Tony Williams, a long time member of Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in Southwest Miami Dade County.

And that is what happened. Hamilton’s funeral services were held at Peaceful Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where the last rites of the Masonic family were held and the Rev. Dr. C. P. Preston, Jr., delivered the eulogy.

“I was very upset,” said Hamilton’s daughter, Noble Lady Patricia Hamilton Dismuke. “He didn’t come or call the entire time daddy was sick and in the hospital. I was very upset about it.

“I thought a minister was supposed to visit the sick and shut in. I thought that was what the church was about. Everybody wanted to know why we didn't have his funeral at Mount Carmel. I tried to keep down confusion, so I just told people we were having his funeral at Peaceful Zion because it’s a bigger church.”

Consequently, the questions surface.

What happens when a deceased church member’s survivors are denied the availability of the church for funeral services? What actions can surviving family members and church members take? Is such an action in keeping with Christian values?

One school of thought was voiced by a Brother who grew up in Antioch Baptist Church of Liberty City and requested anonymity.

“I don’t know if that’s (Masonic last rites) enough to take a tenured member’s Home Going Service out of the church,” he said. “That’s enough to start a riot in the church. Family members will start a riot.”

Don't get bogged down in jurisdictional and regularity arguments in this situation. I'm certain the pastor wasn't objecting on the basis of Hamilton's membership in an unrecognized Masonic obedience. While he was an International F&AMM grand lodge Mason, even the Prince Hall Grand Lodge Grand Chaplain expressed his dismay, as all Masons should.

The Rev. Dr. C. J. Carpenter, pastor of Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church in Miami offers a bit of diversity to the dilemma. Carpenter is also the Florida State Grand Chaplain for the Prince Hall Affiliated Masons.

“No. I don’t think that’s reason to deny the family of a church member to have his funeral in the church,” said Carpenter. “I understand. A lot of the pastors won’t let the brothers come in and give the last rites.

“I know Kinchen. He’s a good teacher and preacher. A lot of the brothers and sisters have left Mount Carmel. You have to understand the Baptist Church. Some of these preachers think the church is theirs.

“It’s not. It’s God’s House. The church belongs to the community. The people in the community make up the church body. By rendering a service you stand to gain membership from the surviving family and friends.”

Amen, Brother. Amen.

The UK's Church Times has an article about the recent situation with the Church of England in which Reverend Jonathan Baker was encouraged to resign his Masonic membership by the Archbishop of Canterbury before his consecration as the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet.

If you have an opinion on the matter, the Church Times also has an online poll asking the question, "Is Freemasonry compatible with Christianity?"

Currently, out of 12,094 votes, 95% of the responses are "yes."

I'd say that's pretty overwhelming.

See also: More Masonophobia in the Church of England

Freemasonry in the U.K. has very different problems than we have in the U.S., and here is a perfect example. Dr. Rowan Williams (photo), the Archbishop of Canterbury, has over the years made egregious allegations about Masonry. He declared in 2002 that Freemasonry was "incompatible" with Christianity, and perhaps even Satanic—a statement he backpeddled on in 2003, after somewhat sheepishly admitting his own father was a member. His subsequent letter of apology to Britain's Masons made it clear that his remarks were, in fact, intended to just be private, and that he was very, very sorry anyone actually found out. As Bishop of Monmouth, he had blocked the appointment of Freemasons to senior positions, a practice he has apparently continued as head of the Church of England. Until now.

Earlier this month, Williams named the Reverend Jonathan Baker as the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet, in spite of Baker's active Masonic membership. He joined Apollo University Lodge in Oxford while he was a student, and he has recently served as an assistant Grand Chaplain. Apparently, over the last week, back channel griping within the Church grew vexatious enough that Williams and Brother Baker felt compelled to come clean. And now, Brother Baker has decided to demit from the fraternity after 20 years.

The appointment, and now Baker's decision to demit, have only made the situation more troublesome, because if there isn't anything wrong with the fraternity (described with suitably sinister spookiness in the press), and if the historically anti-Masonic Archbishop really didn't have a public problem with Baker's membership, why should he resign?

The row is turning into just one more punch in the face to the thousands of devout members of the CofE flock who are also Freemasons.

From "Archbishop allows Freemason to be Bishop" by Jonathan Wynne-Jones, the Telegraph's "Religious Affairs Correspondent" (who goes the extra mile and takes gleeful care to insensitively attempt to expose Masonic ritual in his piece):

When contacted by The Sunday Telegraph on Friday, Fr Baker defended his continued membership of the Masons and insisted it was compatible with his new role as a bishop.

Yet yesterday he said he had changed his mind was leaving the Masons so he could concentrate on being a bishop, adding: “I wish nothing to distract from the inauguration of that ministry.”

[snip]

Fr Baker, who is currently principal at Pusey House in Oxford, said he had told Archbishop Williams he was a Mason when they discussed his appointment to be the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet – one of the “flying bishops” who oversee clergy opposed to women priests. The post had fallen vacant when its previous holder quit to join the Roman Catholic Church.

He said on Friday: “For many years I have been an active member and I continue to be a member. This came up in discussion with Rowan, but it has not caused a problem for me at any stage of my ministry and it won’t cause a problem now.”

He argued that it would not interfere with his role of overseeing traditionalist parishes and said he saw no conflict in being a bishop and a Freemason.

“I’ve never found it to be anything other than an organisation that is wholly supportive of the Church.”

However, yesterday he said: “I have concluded that, because of the particular charism of episcopal ministry and the burden that ministry bears, I am resigning my membership of Freemasonry.”

He said that in his conversation with Dr Williams about taking up the Ebbsfleet post, the Archbishop had asked him to reconsider his membership of Freemasonry, but was happy for the appointment to go forward while he was still a Mason.

Yet Dr Williams has previously expressed serious concerns about clergy being involved with the organization.

In 2002, shortly before he became the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Williams wrote in a letter to Hugh Sinclair, of the Movement for the Register of Freemasons: “I have real misgivings about the compatibility of Masonry and Christian profession ... I have resisted the appointment of known Masons to certain senior posts.”

A year later he repeated this unease when he tried to apologise for upsetting Freemasons with his comments, saying: “Where anxieties exist they are in relation not to Freemasonry but to Christian ministers subscribing to what could be and often is understood [or misunderstood] as a private system of profession and initiation, involving the taking of oaths of loyalty.”

His senior advisers went even further at the time. “He questions whether it’s appropriate for Christian ministers to belong to secret organisations,” said The Rev Gregory Cameron, a close friend and former chaplain to Dr Williams. “He also has some anxiety about the spiritual content of Masonry.”

A spokesman for Dr Williams said at the time that he was “worried about the ritual elements in Freemasonry, which some have seen as possibly Satanically inspired and how that sits uneasily with Christian belief”.

He continued: “The other idea is that because they are a society, there could be a network that involves mutual back-scratching, which is something he would be greatly opposed to.”

Last night, Christina Rees, a member of the Archbishops’ Council, said: “The fact that Jonathan Baker has resigned as a Freemason suggests to me there is a serious incompatibility between the organisation and the Church. If it was only a matter of perception, surely he could have stuck it out.”

Her comments were echoed by Alison Ruoff, a prominent member on the General Synod, who said she had been stunned to learn of Fr Baker’s involvement with the Masons.

“I’m pleased to hear he’s resigned as a Mason because it is clear that the gospel does not go with masonic beliefs,” she said.

“I think Rowan should have said he could not be a bishop if he continued to be a Mason.”

The Rev David Phillips, general secretary of the Church Society, a conservative evangelical group, said: “The Church has said that Freemasonry is not compatible with Christianity so appointing him as a bishop seems to contradict its own stance.”

=========================================
UPDATE

This is the personal statement Fr Jonathan Baker has made on the See of Ebbsfleet web page:

I joined freemasonry as an undergraduate in Oxford, before ordination. Over the years I have found it to be an organisation admirably committed to community life and involvement, with a record of charitable giving second to none, especially among, for example, unfashionable areas of medical research.

Had I ever encountered anything in freemasonry incompatible with my Christian faith I would, of course, have resigned at once. On the contrary, freemasonry is a secular organisation, wholly supportive of faith, and not an alternative to, or substitute for it. In terms of the Church of England, its support, for example, for cathedral fabric is well documented.

Last year HRH the Duke of Kent invited me to serve as an assistant Grand Chaplain, an invitation which I was pleased to accept. This appointment was for one year, and ceased in April.

To be a bishop requires one to review commitments across every area of life; indeed, Archbishop Rowan had invited me, in discussion, to re-consider, amongst other commitments, my membership of freemasonry. I had intended to discuss the issue more fully with friends and colleagues.

I have, however, decided to take the decision now. My absolute priority is the new ministry to which I have been called and to the people who will be in my care. I wish nothing to distract from the inauguration of that ministry.

I wish to pay tribute to the aims and objectives of freemasonry and the work which it carries out. I am thankful for the part it has played in my life and for the many friendships it has nurtured.

I have concluded that, because of the particular charism of episcopal ministry and the burden that ministry bears, I am resigning my membership of freemasonry.

13th May 2011

Brother John Wallace reports that Onion Creek Lodge No. 220 in Austin, Texas recently suffered its fourth vandalism incident in the past year and a half. Its signage has been destroyed, at least two break-in attempts were made, windows have been broken, and the American flag in the front yard was turned upside down. Most recently, at the end of March, a Molotov cocktail was hurled through a window of the dining hall. Fortunately, the bottle didn't break, and the flames did not spread, but some fire damage did occur, including to a piano. It could have been far worse.

There have also been reports of other Austin-area lodges, as well as some across Tarrant County (the Ft. Worth area) having anti-Masonic material taped to their doors.

Because of the previous repeated attacks, the Austin Fire Department installed motion activated cameras and the images are being studied to see if faces and vehicles can be identified. The arson attempt raises the acts from vandalism to a 2nd class felony.

Onion Creek Lodge is an historic building—it's the second-oldest lodge building in Texas still in use today, along with being one of the oldest public school houses in the state. It is a state-designated historic site.

Unfortunately, reports of vandalism and worse activities are increasing against Masonic lodge buildings, as Freemasonry gets greater exposure in the press. And sad to say, not everyone who comes to your open houses has angelic motives. If your lodge doesn't have bright exterior lighting and a decent alarm system, with a monitoring service and an updated contact list of your officers, you need to bring it up at your next lodge meeting.

And it never hurts to remind brethren to drive by the lodge on their way home from work, or after a night out. Too many Masonic buildings sit empty 29 days a month, which makes them an easy target for bored miscreants or devious Masonophobes.

Scotland's Brother Robert L. D. Cooper speaking about his new book, The Red Triangle, which explores and exposes the phenomenon of anti-Masonry, or as he terms it, "Masonophobia."



A second video in which Bob talks about the Nazi persecution of Freemasons.


The book has been released in the UK, and is will be available on Amazon.com in mid April.

Last week it was Tunisia. This week, it's Canada.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service—essentially their CIA— just had to go and build a creepy "Masonic pyramid" building of their own back in 1995. Just to annoy or enrage the perennially spooked with their, well, spookiness.

It's in Ottawa at the corner of Blair and Ogilve Roads, in case you want to go all Googly over it.

And no, I'm not going to link to the paranoid anti-Masonic moonbat websites that talk about it.

A Sydney, Australia businessman has come up with a daft idea—bottling Sydney city water and marketing it internationally. The plan is to use offshore desalination plants on nuclear-powered ships, and have the stuff bottled in Germany.

Never mind that part of the story, because it's not the loony bit. Mr. Paul Makucha is in court now involved in a lawsuit over his scheme (the municipal water supply company is named Sydney Water, and the dispute is over who owns the name once you get out of the city limits, along with improper payments to him). Last week, he attempted to have the Supreme Court judge removed from the case.

Makucha seems to feel the judge is disqualified because he refuses to state for the record whether he is Jewish or a Freemason.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Paul Makucha is being sued by Sydney Water Corporation for $293,000 it says was incorrectly paid to him and his various companies in a scheme concocted by Mr Makucha and a former senior executive, Edward Harvey.

Mr Makucha claims he owns the intellectual property for the marketing and selling of bottled water under the name Sydney Water because the trademark did not extend that far. He told the court intellectual property was not recognised under Jewish law and requested ''that any judge that is Jewish … not hear this case because they may be influenced by religious beliefs regarding intellectual property''.

He also said the [New South Wales] Treasurer, Eric Roozendaal, one of the two shareholding ministers in Sydney Water, had used Masonic code in a picture published in the Herald in January because his ''eyes were looking up - that's an imitation of Jesus - it's a Masonic code''.

''I'm terrified of the Freemasons'' because ''they must conceal the crimes of their brother Masons'', Mr Makucha said.

Justice John Sackar refused to answer if he was Jewish or a Freemason and said he would not stand down from the case.

Eyes looking up, an imitation of Jesus and a Masonic code? Eye rolling? If so, every teenager and exasperated spouse I know is a Christlike Freemason.

Anti-Mason Henry Makow, Ph.D,, creator of the old party game "Scruples," and self-proclaimed genius, who routinely rails against Freemasons, Boy Scouts, Jews, feminism, the New World Order and gays, is just getting around to discovering that the official Google Mail avatar bears a striking resemblance to a Royal Arch apron.

Dang. He's all over us like white on rice.

Seriously, doctor. Didn't Mom and Dad have bigger dreams for you?

According to a story today at euobserver.com, European Union officials in Brussels will hold a fall summit with atheists and Freemasons. It is a political dialogue that is supposed to parallel the yearly summit the EU holds with Europe's religious leaders.

Obviously, the first question on the minds of mainstream Freemasons is how did we get grouped together with atheists as a bloc?

From the article EU to hold atheist and freemason summit by Leigh Phillips:

While the EU is a secular body, the three European presidents, of the commission, parliament and EU Council, alongside two commissioners, on Monday met with 24 bishops, chief rabbis, and muftis as well as leaders from the Hindu and Sikh communities. The annual dialogue, which has taken place since 2005, is for the first time this year made legally obligatory under Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Under pressure from Belgium, the EU has been forced to hold a summit for atheists, scheduled for 15 October.

Under pressure from Belgium, which constitutionally protects and financially supports humanist organisations as well as churches, the EU has been forced to hold a mirror-image summit, but of atheists, scheduled for 15 October.

However, in a move that perplexed and annoyed humanist groups, the EU atheist summit will also welcome under the rubric of ‘non-religious groups', the Freemasons, the secretive fraternal organisation, according to commission spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein.

"I find it rather odd," David Pollock, president of the European Humanist Federation, told EUobserver. "Some of the Grand Lodges are secularist organisations, and strongly for separation of church and state, but they also retain all sorts of gobbledygook and myths such as the Great Architect of the Universe."

Emerging in the late 16th century in England and subsequently spread throughout the world, the Freemasons split in 1877 between the English-speaking lodges and their continental counterparts over the question of god. Anglophone Freemasons require that their members believe in a deity, while continental freemasons do not.

"Their public face is that they do charitable work and they do indeed engage in this, but there are also rituals involving blindfolded candidates with their trouser-legs rolled up during initiation," continued Mr Pollock.

"It's boys' games sort of a thing."

Ah, yes. That "trouser leg" business. They just think that's a laugh riot in Europe. Hilarious. They left out "dodgy handshakes."

Pollock continues:

"Neither religious groups nor non-religious ones have any greater claim to taking up the time of commissioners."

"But sadly we lost that battle, and so with the atheist summit, at least we're being treated equally, although I'd rather if we were there along with the churches. Instead we're being bundled off with the Freemasons."

I can promise Mr. Pollock, we're no happier about it ourselves. The overwhelming majority of the world's Freemasons require a personal belief in God for admission into their lodges. While the Grand Orient de France does not, and is considered the largest grand lodge of Masons in France, they have been shunned by most Masons in the world specifically because they allow atheists to join and require no belief in a Supreme Being. Along with now allowing their lodges to initiate women.

According to the commission's Ms von Schnurbein, Brussels views the Freemasons as a "community of conscience interconnected throughout Europe," and "a form of humanist organisation."

She dismissed concerns that while churches and atheist groups are free for anyone to join, membership in the Freemasons, a private organisation of men, with some separate Grand Lodges for women, is by invitation only and requires initiation fees and an annual subscription.

The EUobserver attempted to speak with the United Grand Lodge of England, the oldest Grand Lodge of masons in the world, regarding this development but without success.

I'm guessing our English brethren will not be rushing out to Heathrow to catch a flight to Brussels in October.This is undoubtedly a result of the Grand Orient de France and the equally irregular Grand Orient de Belgique (Grand Orient of Belgium) attempts to have greater influence on EU commissioners. (See Grand Orient Freemasonry and the European Union from February 20th, 2010). Mr. Pollock's heartburn over being lumped in with the Masons stems from Grand Orient Freemasons opening a bureau in Brussels "to lobby against the rising influence of religious organisations in the EU institutions." Jean-Michel Quillardet, former Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France, was quoted in February as saying the role of Freemasonry is, in part, to "impose the universalist conception of the Enlightenment."

Grand Orient Freemasonry has a long reputation of getting entangled with governments. Unfortunately, few outsiders make the distinction between Grand Orient Freemasonry, and the rest of the Masonic world that has an entirely different view of its role in the lives of its members.

London's Canonbury Masonic Research Centre is pleased to announce that tickets for its twelfth annual conference, which this year is on the theme of ‘Anti-Masonry’, are now available.

Tickets for the conference are £100. Price includes entrance to the film screening of the film Les Forces Occultes during the evening of Friday 29 October at University College London and a wine reception, as well as two buffet luncheons over the conference weekend. Tickets for the Saturday evening conference dinner are an additional £40.

The film Les Forces Occultes was made in 1943 by two "former Masons", Jean Marques-Riviere and Jean Mamy. Both men were Vichey supporters and collaborated with the Nazis to produce anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic propaganda. When the war ended, Mamy was sentenced to death for his work with the Gestapo, and was shot in March 1949. Marques-Riviere escaped prosecution, and was condemned to death in absentia. He died in 2000.

The following lectures are scheduled to be presented at the conference:

• Keynote lecture: Protocols of the Elders of Zion Professor Michael Hagemeister, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

• Anti-masonry and masonic transnationalism: a complex interplay
Dr. Joachim Berger, Institute of European History, Mainz

• Blaming the Great War on the masons' entente: Friedrich Wichtl, 1872-1921
Dr. Reinhard Markner, Berlin

• The anti-masonic writings of General Erich Ludendorff
Jimmy Koppen, Free University of Brussels

• Anti-masonry as political protest: Fascist attitudes to Freemasonry in interwar Romania
Roland Clark, University of Pittsburgh

• Keynote lecture: Franco's persecution of Freemasonry
Professor José Antonio Ferrer Benimeli, University of Zaragoza

• 'Anti-masonry' in nineteenth-century Ottoman Lebanon: an offensive against Anglo-Saxon and protestant missionaries?
Saïd Chaaya, L'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes/Sorbonne

• Anti-masonry among the Ottomans and in contemporary Turkey
Professor Thierry Zarcone, CNRS, Paris

• Trends of anti-masonry in Eastern Orthodox cultures
Dr. Yuri Stoyanov, Research Fellow, SOAS, University of London

• 'The Devil's sons': one century of anti-masonry in the Arab world
Stephan Schmid, American University of Beirut

• Keynote lecture: Professor John Robison (1739-1805)
Professor Andrew Prescott, Hatii, University of Glasgow

• The reception of anti-masonry in the eighteenth-century English press
Dr. Róbert Péter, Senior Assistant Professor, University of Szeged

• Barruel's conspiracy theory - a theoretical approach
Claus Oberhauser, University of Innsbruck

• A Swedish diplomat's recently deciphered perspective on the Unlawful Societies Act of 1799
Dr. Andreas Önnerfors, University of Sheffield

• The voice of Morgan's blood cries from the ground': reading American anti-masonry through anti-masonic almanacs, 1827-1837
Jeff Croteau, MA MLS, National Heritage Museum, Lexington, Massachusetts

• Keynote lecture: War on the Freemasons: the fate of Nazi and Soviet seized books and archives
Dr. Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

• Anti-masonic thought in France: the example of Bernard Faÿ
Jen Farrar, University of Sheffield

• Visual evidence used by Franco's Police in the persecution of Spanish Freemasons Dr. Sylvia Hottinger, Carlos III University, Madrid

• Stolen truth or truth stolen?
Dr. Hans Kummerer, Quatuor Coronati Research Lodge, Austria

• The ongoing restitution of the Norwegian masonic library and archives
Helge Bjørn Horrisland, Norwegian Order of Freemasons

For further information please contact conference organiser, Matthew Scanlan, Tel: 020 7226 6256 Email: conference@canonbury.ac.uk Website: http://www.canonbury.ac.uk

With Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol being set in Washington DC and involving the Freemasons, undoubtedly we're in for more of the same, tired accusations about Masonic symbols in the streets of the capitol being Satanic or otherwise occult talismans of eeeeevil.
Here it is from overhead.



A Pyramid. A Star of David (or Sign of Solomon, or Zionist flag, depending on your favorite creepy, paranoid kink). And naturally, a Masonic square and compasses in the center. For what purpose, that remains unclear in the FSP material.




While we're looking around Europe, here is the alleged "Masonic" compasses in Brussels:


The Piazza Del Popolo in Rome:


And since we're talking about Vauban, the Place Vauban, in Paris.


But if the all-powerful Masons put them there, where are the "squares" to go with the compasses? (Well, the Paris streets line up, but Rome and Brussels don't. Cue the conspiracy theramin: the left side of the "square" at the bottom leg of the compasses is Boulevard Garibaldi, named after the famed Italian revolutionary and Freemason).