All entries by this author

Impossible Dreams

Jul 28th, 2005 1:34 am | By

The Christians are coming, the Christians are coming. Well, at least, a dozen or so of them are, to part of South Carolina. And they got plans, dude.

In the South Carolina of their dreams, abortion would be illegal. The Ten Commandments would be proudly displayed. Public schools would be a thing of the past. Taxes would be severely limited, and property rights would be paramount.

Doesn’t that sound like paradise? Doesn’t that just sound like a little corner of heaven right here on earth? The Ten Commandments would be proudly displayed. Cool. So no graven images then – no graven images of anything in the sky, or on the earth, or in the water. No stars, no fish, … Read the rest



The Netherlands After Bouyeri Conviction *

Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by

Van Gogh murder has made people afraid to speak.… Read the rest



Foucault and Laing and the Asylum *

Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by

Unfortunate consequences.… Read the rest



The Power of Ideas – Especially Bad Ones *

Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by

The power of an ideology that is not social, economic, ethnic, nationalist, or political.… Read the rest



Liberal Academic Plays Golf Shock *

Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by

And there are others. No names, but that queer theorist, that Marxist analysis guy…… Read the rest



Loonies Move to S. Carolina in ‘Christian Exodus’ *

Jul 27th, 2005 | Filed by

Hope to establish ‘Biblical’ state. Even Bob Jones staff think they’re a bit much.… Read the rest



Flexible Labour

Jul 26th, 2005 11:12 pm | By

However. I said I think there actually is a genuine grievance lurking behind all this rage and alienation we’re hearing about. I don’t know, I’m only guessing, but it’s my suspicion that this grievance is less bogus and worked-up than the ones that are more usually rolled out are. I don’t see this one mentioned much, if at all. Because – ? Because it’s too sensitive, too close to the bone, too uncomfortable to talk about? Maybe – but I don’t know.

Muslims in the UK are the underclass, and that’s why they’re there. They were recruited to move to the UK for that reason – to provide cheap (meaning unskilled, uneducated) labour. Just as Turks were in Germany, and … Read the rest



Time to Stop Polite Tiptoeing Around Religion *

Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Why are reason and enlightenment of less value than dogma and delusion?… Read the rest



Born-again Atheist Recommends RE *

Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Secular humanists have many reasons to be delighted at popularity of religious studies.… Read the rest



The Coerciveness of ‘Family Values’ *

Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Be like us or else.… Read the rest



Bouyeri Given Life Sentence *

Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Van Gogh murderer had said he would do it again if given the chance.… Read the rest



Women’s Rights in Iraq Under Threat *

Jul 26th, 2005 | Filed by

Religious groups seek to write Islam into the new constitution.… Read the rest



Make a Splash

Jul 25th, 2005 9:29 pm | By

This comment says pretty much exactly what I was thinking (and saying) a few days ago. I would guess that a lot of other people are thinking it too – but that’s just a guess. But it is related to Mona Eltahawy’s point, that it’s insulting for non-Muslims to think Muslims can’t take responsibility.

The notion that the British Muslim suicide bombers of July 7 were spurred on by some passionate form of public-spiritedness, of course, is both flagrantly idiotic and deeply dangerous…Yet Mr Ahmed’s apparent reasoning – that his nephew was compelled to kill himself and seven innocent people near Liverpool Street station by a combination of righteous anger and sheer desperation at injustices suffered by fellow-Muslims – is

Read the rest


Crash Course on Darfur [scroll down] *

Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by

We have failed in Darfur.… Read the rest



Stanley Fish’s Original Intentions *

Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by

Skeptical of tendency to blur distinction between scholarship and politics.… Read the rest



The World Summit on Evolution *

Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by

Science’s greatest strength: learning from disagreement.… Read the rest



Tariq Ramadan Says the Young are the Future *

Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by

‘The young will have an enormous impact on the future.’ Very true.… Read the rest



Mona Eltahawy is Out of Patience *

Jul 25th, 2005 | Filed by

‘It is at least in some way bigoted to think that Muslims can only react violently.’… Read the rest



Eltahawy and Manji

Jul 25th, 2005 2:30 am | By

Mona Eltahawy in the Washington Post.

The July 7 London bombings did it for me. Perhaps it was because my parents moved us from Cairo to the British capital when I was 7 years old, and so London was my childhood “home.” Or maybe it was because our route to work and school every morning crisscrossed those same Underground stations that were targeted.

I know the feeling. As, of course, do countless other people – literally millions of them. They live there, they once lived there, they visited there, they have friends and relatives there. Many, many millions of people know the feeling.

I’m sure it was also those dog-eared statements that our clerics and religious leaders read out

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Wrong Verb

Jul 25th, 2005 12:03 am | By

The Guardian has booted Dilpazier Aslam, because of his membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir. You may remember his comment in the Guardian July 13:

Second- and third-generation Muslims are without the don’t-rock-the-boat attitude that restricted our forefathers. We’re much sassier with our opinions, not caring if the boat rocks or not. Which is why the young get angry with that breed of Muslim “community leader” who remains silent while anger is seething on the streets.

Sassy. Rocking the boat. Oh, is that what this is – sassy boat-rocking. Interesting take. Okay, and what is it that all this seething is about? Somalia? Bosnia? Kosovo? The Kurds? No?

Anyway, as Norm points out, Aslam did a silly thing after getting … Read the rest