Here is a photo gallery from my visit on May 9, 2013, to the Iraqi National Museum, courtesy the Ministry of Culture. Ancient Iraq or Mesopotamia was, of course, the cradle of civilization, and the treasures on display are breathtaking. Donald Rumsfeld allowed thousands of items to be looted from the museum in 2003. (US […]
“If you Eat a 2000 Hamburgers in the Name of Vegetarianism, You aren’t an Extremist Vegetarian”; Nabil responds to Woolwich Murder
Nabil goes in: A British Muslim responds to the Woolwich murder in which Lee Rigby, 25, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was butchered by clearly unbalanced persons. Our hearts go out to the Rigbys. h/t reddit.com, where it went to the top today.
When Politicians promise ‘Lower Taxes’ they are promising Collapsed Bridges
The next time you hear politicians campaigning on “lower taxes,” you should realize two things. First, they don’t intend to lower your taxes, which are probably mostly social security. In fact, they might like effectively to raise those taxes by extending the retirement age. They mean they intend to lower taxes for rich people and […]
President Obama and Counter-Terrorism: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Here are the good, the bad and the ugly things in President Obama’s important speech on counter-terrorism Thursday, and in the off-stage steps he has announced that mysteriously did not appear in the speech: The Good: President Obama seems determined to give responsibility for drone strikes to the Department of Defense, taking it away from […]
Obama: US will Continue its Targeted Killing with Drones (Woods)
Chris Woods writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism Barack Obama has made it clear that the US will continue with its controversial targeted killing programme. In a major speech the US president also announced that he has signed into force a new – and secret – rule book for lethal action that provides ‘clear […]
Big Oil’s Hit Men have a Contract to Whack the Earth (Engelhardt)
Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com: We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide. And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide. But we don’t have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known […]
Sen. Inhofe: “When a Disaster Occurs in America… Everyone … wants to pour Money on’em”
From last fall: Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma argues against relief aid for Hurricane Sandy, in part because working on it in the Senate would delay the beginning of his Christmas vacation. He admits that in Oklahoma “we do get some Federal help.”
Rafsanjani’s Exclusion from Iran’s Presidential Race a Sign of Creeping Totalitarianism
Iran’s Guardian Council startled that country when it announced that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president (1989-1997) who was among the founders of the Islamic Republic, would not be allowed to run for president in the June election. Less surprising, it struck down the candidacy of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a confidant of outgoing president Mahmoud […]
Dear Oklahoma: We Feel for you, we love you, but do us some favors
The immense, mindless violence of a tornado hitting a small Oklahoma town, turning houses into splinters and crushing people under rubble, including children, has rightfully dominated the American airwaves for the past few days. Oklahoma is a great state, a state with profound history, a place of big plans where Native Americans play an outsized […]
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