Category: Politics & World Affairs
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Photo galleries of last weekend's Stewart-Colbert "Sanity" rally – here and here. [Note: I am leaving on a week long trip and won't be posting during that period.]
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Here is a series of links to stories in the news recently. Americans are afraid of people who "look" like Muslims and even more afraid of "looking" like a Muslim. Obama avoids visiting Sikh Temple in India for fear of looking like a Muslim. Juan Williams gets fired by NPR for saying, "people in Muslim garb on airplanes make him…
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The National Council of Applied Economic Research has released numbers about the number of Indian households at different income levels, for 2001 and 2010. I couldn't find the paper online with a quick search, but there's a story here. (The headline is a bit polemical, but whatever) I tabulated the numbers: Number of Households (millions)…
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Ahem. At last a western historian has the honesty to face up to what India, the middle east, Africa and Barack Obama knew all along. In a new biography of Winston Churchill, British historian Richard Toye exposes the rampant racism of the WWII hero so revered in the west for his fight against the spread of fascism in Europe.…
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A very interesting piece of writing - part memoir, part commentary by Evert Cilliers over at 3 QD. Do take the time to check this one out. Evert wears his heart on his sleeves and it is quite astonishing to be a spectator.
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In case you somehow failed to hear the news, a federal trial court held that California's Prop 8 (the ballot initiative overruling the state supreme court's ruling that the state constitution required the availability of same-sex marriage) is unconstitutional. I only skimmed the legal-conclusions section of the opinion, but it looks like it's a much…
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Everyone knows that Afghanistan, is, in cricketing parlance, at best, a sticky wicket, if not a downright pigsty. Now, we have the Leaks pouring onto an already damp pitch, 90,000+ documents regarding the day-to-day conduct of the war in Afghanistan, of which 75,000 are now available for your perusal. Or if you don't have the…
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The US State Department, on the Iranian woman who’s been sentenced to death for adultery: “Stoning as a means of execution is tantamount to torture. It’s barbaric and an abhorrent act.” If I understand correctly, in the State Department’s view, stoning to death > torture ( = waterboarding?) > execution, on the awfulness scale. There…
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Ethan Leib (with Michael Serota) in USA Today, on the senate confirmation hearings of Elena Kagan. The political rhetoric and popular media coverage of Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings has been filled with significant debate over matters of constitutional law. We've heard questions and answers (or non-answers) about the freedom of speech, about executive power,…
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I have been sitting on this link for more than a week although the story caught my eye on the same day that it came out. The current and future problems of the beleaguered nation of Afghanistan may go well beyond war, the Taliban, Al Qaida, US occupation, poverty and heroin trafficking. The land locked nation of rough and rugged terrain is…
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President Obama's "BP Speech"from the Oval Office on Tuesday night disappointed on several levels. To put it mildly, Obama spoke without focus, conviction or determination. In a vapid speech full of generalities about making BP pay, changes in our energy habits and the strength of Americans to deal with adversities, we heard very little that was new. We…
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