Both Iraq and Syria saw massive violence on Sunday. But there is a key difference between the two, and therein lies a cautionary tale for Syria. In Iraq, guerrillas of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq,” an al-Qaeda affiliate, set off car bombs in almost every single important town and city in the country, leaving […]
Archives for September 2012
Omar Khayyam (307) “clerics drink the people’s blood”
I am busier than you are, cleric of the faith! And, despite my drunkenness, I’m soberer than you. I drink the blood of the vine, while you drink that of people. Be fair, which one of us is more bloodthirsty? Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 307
Dear Mitt: *You* Don’t Get to Say That
Dear Mitt Romney: Your so-called Medicare reform is just a way of shifting health expenses from millionaires (whose taxes you want to lower) to middle class and working people (with whom you want to stick the bill). A 48-year-old today, who starts getting Medicare in 2030, would have to pay an extra $124,600 under your […]
Omar Khayyam (233) “The sun has lassoed rooftops with its rays”
The sun has lassoed rooftops with its rays, and the king has splashed the light of day into my glass. Have some wine, for passionate love called out at dawn, saying ‘drink up’ every single day. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 233
NASA Explains how We Caused the Hottest Decade and are generally screwing ourselves over (Video)
NASA’s 5-minute video explains why the last decade has been the hottest ever (we did it) and what climate change means for our hot, thirsty future. It is entitled “Piecing together the Puzzle” and is narrated in a slow, calm voice. But it should be entitled “Run for the Hills!” and should have been narrated […]
Libyans say CIA Tortured Them (Ross)
Alice Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism President Bush and his CIA director Michael Hayden have each claimed that the US has in the past only used the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding on three prisoners. This number, however, is being called into question by a Libyan dissident who has contradicted these claims […]
Omar Khayyam (172) “A passion for heavenly goddesses”
I hope my mind will always be consumed by a passion for heavenly goddesses, and that my hand will always cradle the juice of the grape. They tell me they hope that God will lead me to repent! But if he did that, and I didn’t respond, I’d be farther away than ever. Translated by Juan Cole […]
Dear Democrats: If you do That you have to do This
Dear Democratic Party: If you bring Gabby Giffords to say the Pledge of Allegiance, you have to bring up the issue of gun control somewhere in your speeches or platform. If you slam Republicans for foreign policy naivete, you have to explain why you just pissed off 1.5 billion Muslims by giving away all of […]
Top Ten Ways we are Better off than in January 2009
It is breathtaking impudence that Republicans should try to campaign on whether we are better off than were were in the last six months of the Bush administration. I can’t believe we are even arguing about this. Seriously? The country had fallen off a cliff in the last years of Bush, or rather had been […]
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