What a great pic, though I haven't made up my mind whether she looks like a punk rocker or dinosaur. Stolen from PhiloSuf. Read more

I've long been struck by how atheists are second-class citizens in this country, and paradoxically at a time when its popular culture is highly secularized (not to mention wallowing in the sewer in a lot of ways, frankly). I  don't have time to comment now–I am packing miserably at the last minute for a move–but this article on the injustices faced by atheists in American society deserves to be reflected on carefully and considered widely.  Tikkun Daily Blog » Blog... Read more

John Feffer in Guernica on Turkey’s increasing influence and potential. Guernica / John Feffer: Stealth Superpower: How Turkey Is Chasing China to Become the Next Big Thing The future is no longer in plastics, as the businessman in the 1967 film The Graduate insisted. Rather, the future is in China. If a multinational corporation doesn’t shoehorn China into its business plan, it courts the ridicule of its peers and the outrage of its shareholders. The language of choice for ambitious... Read more

I have a new post over at Tikkun Daily:  Infiltration and revisionism in Texas Read more

A very interesting-sounding book has come out by progressive scholar and activist Gilbert Achcar–whose work I've often read over the years in the excellent tiers-mondiste newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique–on the ugly phenomenon in the Arab world of Holocaust denial.  t r u t h o u t | The League Against Denial" "The phenomenon of Holocaust denial in the Arab world is wrong, misleading and causes  damage to the Palestinian cause." In his new book, Lebanese-French academic Gilbert Achcar grapples... Read more

This is just a start–it’s pretty toothless since sponsors still hold most of the cards–but it at least sends the message to Kuwaiti society that laborers have legal rights, too. And I imagine it opens the door to legal action in pursuit of stolen back pay in extreme cases (i.e., where the evidence is so undeniable and damning that the courts have no choice but to rule in the laborer’s favor). Kuwait Mulling Minimum Wage Law for Maids Asharq Alawsat... Read more

This is indeed a historic development in Internet technology, and emanating for a change out of the Gulf. BBC News – ‘Historic’ day as first non-Latin web addresses go live Arab nations are leading a “historic” charge to make the world wide web live up to its name. Net regulator Icann has switched on a system that allows full web addresses that contain no Latin characters. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first countries to have... Read more

There’s a long, thought-provoking piece by Joseph Bottum in the current issue of The Weekly Standard on the Catholic abuse scandals and the MSM’s often tawdry and irresponsible handling of them. Anti-Catholicism, Again | The Weekly Standard Read more

Online Muslim sex shop conforms to Sharia law | Herald Sun CANDID but demure, an online sex shop for Muslims has been launched in the Netherlands to tap into a demand for erotica that does not offend Sharia law.[MORE] Of course, it’s not all that incongruous if you know much about Islam. As a famous hadith states, “There is no shame in [discussions of matters of] religion.” Talk about a “virgin territory”. HT: Goatmilk Read more

I don’t agree with libertarians on much, but they can be relied on to provide entertainingly contrarian interpretations of any society that is for some reason without an effective central government.  Somalia is no exception. Stateless in Somalia, and Loving It – Yumi Kim – Mises Institute Somalia has done very well for itself in the 15 years since its government was eliminated. The future of peace and prosperity there depends in part on keeping one from forming. [MORE] Read more