Archive for April, 2004
Collateral damage
Mahmood Mamdani recently appeared on “Now, with Bill Moyers,” where he expanded upon the thesis of his new book, which I had previously described as being about how terrorism had been the defining feature of the last years of the Cold War:
MOYERS: You say in your writing that the spread of terror as a tactic […]
Liberalism
Kevin Drum thinks that the problem with both Liberals and Conservatives is that each side has only its hatred of the other holding them together.
So what we’re left with is little more than conservatives who are appalled with liberalism and liberals who are appalled by conservatism. There’s really not much of a vision on […]
Wishful Thinking
From the Paul Krugman Archives. (Via a comment by Joe Buck on Political Animal.)
Vajpayee
Is Vajpayee “the benign face of Hindu extremism,” or simply “the right man in the wrong party”? Does it matter?
For all its emphasis on development and the benefits of globalization — such as the trend among U.S. firms to outsource service jobs to India and other developing countries — the party remains the political arm […]
Superflurous
A conversation between, Ghassan Shakah, the mayor of Israeli occupied Nablus, and the unnamed occupying Colonel, as reported by Ghassan Shakah:
Mayor: Our people are suffering terribly. You destroy our electricity and water systems, we repair them with German and Norwegian money, and you destroy them again. We can’t bear this collective punishment any longer.
Colonel: One […]
TOS
Here is a special clause in the “Terms of Service” agreement that the Kerry campaign will be automatically agreeing to by accepting any money from me this year:
(xxxvi) The Kerry Campaign, by accepting this money, consents to the fact that, in the event that John F. Kerry wins the election, the campaign donor reserves […]
Burn
It seems that the Bush campaign’s attempt to attack Kerry early and often has backfired. The attention on Iraq has mitigated their smear campaign, and they’ve already blown half their budget:
…of the advertising budget, $90 million, the Bush campaign has already spent at least $40 million.
By comparison, John Kerry has spent about $10 million.
… Making […]
Nong Thoom
BoingBoing seems to have linked to the website for the movie Beautiful Boxer, mostly because of the tagline:
He fights like a man so he can become a woman.
But it actually looks like it is a good film:
This amazing film is based on the true story of Parinya Charoenphol, known to everyone as Nong Thoom – […]
Jew
If you use Google to search for “Judaism,” “Jewish” or “Jewish people,” the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for “Jew” different? One reason is that the word “Jew” is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word “Jewish” when talking about members of […]
Slums
Some facts from Mike Davis’ article “Planet Of Slums“:
In 1950 there were 86 cities in the world with a population over one million; today there are 400, and by 2015, there will be at least 550.
The present urban population (3.2 billion) is larger than the total population of the world in 1960.
‘The primary direction of […]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
