On Thursday, a hundred or so demonstrators gathered outside a US military base at Mirwais in southern Afghanistan on hearing that there had been a ritual Quran-burning inside the base. In fact, it had been a routine pit burn of documents. At one point in the rally, a demonstrator raised an AK-47 toward a base […]
Maher on Dr. Laura etc.
Bill Maher is starting his fall season on HBO Friday night— here is a rant on our moment of neo-racism…. (Adult language and themes).
1 Dead, 45 Wounded in Kabul anti-American Protest
Kabul Bank Taken over by Government
Thousands of angry protesters rallied in West Kabul on Wednesday, chanting “Death to America,” “Death to Christians,” and “Death to Karzai,” burning tires, and blocking a road going south. Police fired in the air, killing one protester and wounding 5 others. Some reports say that 35 police officers and 10 protesters were injured. Reuters reports […]
Maher: Tea Bag Repubs are Racist
Bill Maher comes right out with it on CNN’s “Larry King Live”: The Tea Bag branch of the Republican Party just does not want an African American in the White House, and he implies that Newt Gingrich’s references to “the Kenyan” and “Luo tribesman” are just a roundabout way of saying the N word. (Breaking […]
US Drone Strikes Kill 15 in N. Waziristan
The Associated Press does an important story about an intensive drone strike campaign by the US military since September 2 in southern Afghanistan and in Pakistan’s North Waziristan that has left 60 persons dead, among them innocent civilians. On Tuesday alone, US drone attacks targeted suspected militants killed some 15 persons in the village of […]
Squirrel! – Stewart Skewers Media Islamophobia
Jon Stewart at the Daily Show has some fun with corporate media’s recent Islam obsession The funniest thing about the bit is his comparison of them to that dog in the animated film Up who can talk but who cannot help interrupting himself and shouting “Squirrel!” every time he espies one. Last week I saw […]
Amnesty: 30,000 Held in Iraq without Due Process;
Evidence of Abuse
Iraq holding thirty thousand prisoners without due process, often torturing or abusing them, according to Amnesty International
Schama: Islamophobia Recalls anti-Catholic, Anti-Jewish Nativism of America’s Past
Historian Simon Schama explains the outburst of anti-Muslim bigotry in contemporary US society on CNN. Yay for Schama and kudos to CNN for seeking out a historian’s view. I made a similar point last week in this post: “They used to burn Catholic Churches, now they Burn Mosques”
Turkey’s Constitutional Referendum Extends Range of Liberties
The question in the American blogosphere seems to be whether the referendum on Turkey’s constitutional changes was good for democracy or good for the sharia (the system of Muslim law, analogous to Roman Catholic canon law, against which the American right wing is now rallying). First of all, no one in Turkey is talking about […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved