this is not the genocidal campaign of a government at the height of its ideological hubris, as the 1992 jihad against the Nuba was, or coldly determined to secure natural resources, as when it sought to clear the oilfields of southern Sudan of their troublesome inhabitants. This is the routine cruelty of a security cabal, [...]
The fact that George W Bush borrowed money from BCCI in 1987 but John Kerry launched the investigation in 1988 that eventually brought them down really says about all you need to know about the character of the two men. This is exactly what caught my eye when I first looked into Kerry’s record back [...]
A million thanks to Carthik!!! This blog is now running on WordPress instead of MovableType, but Carthik has helped do it in such a way that all the old links should still work. You hopefully won’t notice too many difference around here. The only big change (from the reader’s perspective) should be the comments. You [...]
Yes, there is a little gulag in New York City. It is located in Queens and its name is the Wackenhut Detention Center. And everybody should know about the more than 200 human beings languishing behind its walls. Especially since they are now on a hunger strike. (via BoingBoing) UPDATE: A bunch more Wackenhut stories [...]
I’ve been holding off writing a post about Benjamin Lee Whorf thinking that I would wait until I had time to do the topic justice; but the announcement (more here) of a new article in Science has caused a flurry of posts around the internet, and I felt that it was an opportune time to [...]
There was a lot of attention paid to the fact that Republicans in Florida were pushing voters to cast absentee ballots. But it seems that this is a much more widespread phenomenon, and that both parties are urging supporters to lock in their vote in a number of states where it is legal to vote [...]
First, a little background: A cheese steak sandwich is not really a steak at all – it is a sandwich made with chipped steak, steak that has been frozen and sliced really thin) and cooked on a grill top. Locals think in terms of steak sandwiches with or without cheese. Without cheese, the sandwich is [...]
Everything you ever wanted to know about Halliburton, and more. Like this juicy tidbit: Halliburton announced yesterday that the Army would withhold 15 percent of future payments because of suspicious bills. A few hours later, the Army announced it would not withhold those payments, but would instead give Halliburton more time to explain why it [...]
I love WordPress. Not just because it is Open Source, but because it is written in the PHP coding language. (I like PHP because it is easy to modify, and changes are reflected instantly on your web site, unlike MovableType which I am using now.) I used WordPress to setup Shashwati’s web site and blog; [...]
I’ve just finished reading Qurratulain Hyder’s River of Fire. Written in 1959 in Urdu, and translated into English by the author, this sprawling history of India is one of the classics of Indian literature. It has unfortunately gone fairly unnoticed in the United States, and I am not surprised. One feels that the translation should [...]