A prominent Slovenian-born atheist, surveying the violence done in the name of Islam, argues in the N.Y. Times that we should submit Islam, along with all other religions, to a “respectful, but for that reason no less ruthless, critical analysis. This, and only this, is the way to show a true respect for Muslims: to treat them as serious adults responsible for their beliefs.”
Amid China’s explosive market-driven growth over the past decade, it’s sometimes hard to remember that it is technically a communist country. A dispute over property rights has brought the issue to the fore.
Truthdig’s Orville Schell examined this schism here.
The president’s former top domestic policy aide allegedly tried to swindle Target and Hecht’s stores out of more than $5,000. He resigned last month, claiming he wanted to spend more time with his family. (In some parts of the world, that’s called a lie.)
This is the guy LA Weekly called “a notorious homophobe, a ferocious enemy of abortion and an opponent of safe-sex education.”
The photo of him in a hood, arms outspread and with electrical wires trailing from his body became the definitive image of the prison abuse scandal.
He is now heading up a prisoners’ rights organization.
“It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings,” former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told a Georgetown audience, according to an NPR report. (Hat tip: Huff Po)
A nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank concludes: “the tax cuts have not paid for themselves, recent economic growth and revenue growth have not been particularly strong, and revenues remain lower than had been predicted before the tax cuts were enacted.”
Stephen Colbert continues to gain ground on Jon Stewart with his blistering satires of U.S. policy. This time he riffs on a new name that the Pentagon is using for the war on terror.
The state’s top newspaper refuses to run any editorial on abortion--despite the recent statewide abortion ban that may go to the Supreme Court.
“Rather than change anyone’s mind, we would create another controversy,” says an editor.
The energy company’s former CFO testifies that Ken Lay, the former CEO, lied about the company’s financial situation in the months before the company’s collapse.
Think Progress puts together an in-depth cheat sheet on all the ways Roberts has shrunk from his responsibilities as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
The indicted lobbyist says the president was close enough to him to joke about his weightlifting. “What are you benching, buff guy?” Abramoff said Bush asked him.
The House committee votes 62-2 to block the White House from allowing the UAE to acquire six major U.S. ports.
At the same time, however, Senate Republicans handed the president a victory by approving a plan to allow Bush to spy without warrants.
The New York Times says “rebellion” is in the air, but that’s mostly because of the ports. The spying program, although under some Senate control, is basically a win for Bush.
She sends out a GOP fundraising letter that appears to be from the IRS and instructs the recipient to respond.
A really dirty trick.
Blogger BlueNC broke the story, and AMERICAblog has good coverage.
That’s according to the Wall Street Journal. Also, progressives in Congress want to divert $60 billion in defense spending to humanitarian assistance, social programs, energy conservation, homeland security and deficit reduction.
Chevron in the White House
