Sunday Links: Zebra Foal Edition
22nd October 2006
by gordo
Juan Cole laments the end of press freedom in Iraq:
Al-Zaman, the Times of Baghdad, reports that press freedom may soon be a thing of the past in Iraq. The Iraqi parliament on Monday passed a resolution calling on the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, to intervene to close down the offices of the al-Sharqiyah television channel in Iraq, and to close down a newspaper, al-Zaman itself!
Both are owned by a media group headed by Saad al-Bazzaz, and they have a mild secular, Arab nationalist tone. It is not a point of view welcome to the Shiite fundamentalists who dominate the Iraqi parliament.
So, what were we fighting for again? Some thing about freedom? Or was it weapons of mass destruction? Ties to al-Qaeda? Wait– it was to keep a madman from killing a bunch of Iraqis, right?
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Alon Levy links to this heartbreaking letter from an Iranian man whose mother was stoned to death:
Have you ever held a bloody tool in your hands with which they have murdered your mother?
Have you ever touched the bloody skin and hair of your mother who has just been killed in a deep hole?
Have you ever followed the line of your mother’s blood in order to find her corpse thrown at the back of a truck?
Have you ever seen the fresh grave of that dearest being with a small piece of paper on which they have written her name wrapped around a small branch of tree?
Has anyone ever said a word about the children of the people who have been stoned to death?
Actually, the link goes to a commentary on the letter, but the letter is reproduced in full.
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American Street found an open letter from Kevin Tillman. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Kevin and his brother Pat volunteered for the Army, because they believed it was their duty. Pat walked away from a $3.6 million NFL contrct, and was killed in Afghanistan.
Read the letter here.
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A Washington Post headline writer seems to think that the problem with American math classes is an emphasis on self-esteem. However, the article cites more plausible explanations, like a generally flawed instruction methodology:
In Japan, the report found, 14 percent of math teachers surveyed said they aim to connect lessons to students’ lives, compared with 66 percent of U.S. math teachers. Yet the U.S. scores in eighth-grade math trail those of the Japanese, raising similar questions about the importance of practical relevance.
The study cited in the article did indicate that American students have more confidence in their abilities than their more competent peers, but this inflated self-esteem is probably the result of incompetence, not the cause of it.
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Via Liberal Avenger, we get this bit of news from the world of bigotry:
The religious right is, predictably, freaking out that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week swore in the new AIDS Czar and referred to his partner’s mother as his “mother in law.” Naturally, America’s hate groups swung into action in order to bash Rice and gays.
Let’s not forget that antigay bigotry doesn’t come from the Bible. It comes from the same place as race hatred:
A prominent member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is under fire for publishing an essay in which he argues that Africans were fortunate to have been sold into slavery, and the civil rights movement was “irrational.”
“There is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America,” writes Gerald Schoenewolf, a member of NARTH’s Science Advisory Committee. “Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle… Life there was savage … and those brought to America, and other countries, were in many ways better off.”
NARTH is a coalition of psychologists who believe it’s possible to “cure” homosexuality, a position rejected by the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. The controversy over Schoenewolf’s apology for slavery has battered the so-called “ex-gay” movement with accusations of racial bigotry for the first time. The movement’s leaders and their close allies at Christian Right powerhouses like Focus on the Family have failed to condemn Schoenwolf’s inflammatory arguments.
And from the Oslo Natural History museum, there’s yet more evidence that homosexuality is perfectly natural.
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Speaking of race hatred, Para Justicia y Libertad has two must-read essays on the subject:
Racism Is Not A Thing Of The Past
Is the GOP the Party of White Supremacist?
Of course, the idiots at Townhall are convinced that racism is mostly directed against whites. Criminals in the movies are always white? Does anyone really believe this?
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Speaking of crime, I can honestly say that I won’t be a bit sad when this guy finally takes a long-overdue dirt nap.
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You think MySpace is hot? Think again. Orkut is where all the cool people are.
(via Bricolage Fantasy)
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Helmet has found yet another great resource: the complete works of Charles Darwin, now online.
Helmet also found a device for measuring the quality of an artwork.
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15 Seats points out that even the neocons are making fun of Bush these days:
“In a not so subtle dig at Mr. Bush’s “cut and run” charges toward Democrats, his former No. 2 at the State Department, Richard Armitage, says the United States should “notify and walk,” reports CBS News White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.
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Harold Meyerson replies to those who claim that Democrats don’t have a plan:
In the House, the Democrats have made clear that there’s a first tier of legislation they mean to bring to a vote almost immediately after the new Congress convenes. It includes raising the minimum wage, repealing the Medicare legislation that forbids the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices, replenishing student loan programs, funding stem cell research and implementing those recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission that have thus far languished.
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Timothy Shortell, Ph.D., found an excellent David Neiwert essay on Bush’s Bizarro World, a world in which reality is deemed “unacceptable.”
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Nicaragua plans to build a $20 billion canal. Panama plans improvements to the existing canal.
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Mike the Mad writes about why he blogs, but fails to include a cool picture.
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Speaking of cool pictures, you have to see the Lords of Logistics.
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The 20 stupidest quotes of Campaign 2006