Month: April 2007

It may not feel that way most of the time, but the data are geting clearer. As so often, Steven Pinker is a reliable and fascinating guide to the oh-so-marginally increasing civilization of mankind. (Hat tip: 3Quarks.)

Freshly green leaves dusted with snow out of my window at around 7 am today. Have a blessed triduum.

"Whaa? Marcotte seems to be pulling in signals from outer space. Just flat out nutty, Amanda. Or did you even read this post?" – Althouse on Marcotte on headscarves on speakers of the House.

An Iranian diplomat set free last Tuesday claims he was tortured by the CIA in captivity. Who is going to believe the CIA’s denials? Who, at this point, should?

DVD-burning in Islamabad. The practice of theocrats everywhere: destroy freedom of speech and music and art with violence. Especially fire. The file caption for the photo tells you most of what you need to know:

Students at an Islamic madrassa burn thousands of movie DVDs, videos and music CDs April 6, 2007 at the Lal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan. The event, reminiscent of the early days of the Taliban in Afghanistan, took place within two kilometers of the Pakistani presidential palace, as well as the heavily-fortified U.S. embassy. Thousands of Pakistani soldiers and paramilitary troops were deployed to the capitol in the previous week, and many believe a confrontation between government troops and the students is imminent. Clerics at the mosque, known as the most radical in Islamabad, want Pakistan to adopt a Taliban-style government. They maintain that movies and music are un-Islamic.

Today’s news is that Musharraf is holding back.
 
(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

I bang on about this issue all the time. So do many libertarians and liberals. But what happens when politicians have to deal with the issue? In many ways, the Democrats who know better and still pander to drug-war insanity on marijuana are worse than the authoritarians on the right. Arianna is right to huff. Clinton, Obama and Spitzer are all missing in action – and will be for the foreseeable future. Only a Republican can call off the drug war, it seems. And none will.

When Disneyland has same-sex fairy-tale weddings, the culture war is over, right?

The life-spans of most products are declining as human life-spans lengthen. The wonder of capitalism.

David Byrne sounds an alarm.

Cartman reincarnated as a sleep-free Wii hippie.