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Proponents of unregulated capitalism, or if you will, the ‘free market,’ maintain that it provides a better life for all than do other systems. This allegation is demonstrably untrue if the question is public health across the board. In Iran, under the hyper-capitalist Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, infant mortality was 122 per 1,000 in 1970. […]

Philip Jenkins studied violence in the Bible and in the Qur’an, and found that the Bible is ‘far more violent.’ This conclusion is obvious to anyone who seriously studies the two scriptures. The NPR article quotes someone named Bostom who claims that violence in the Bible has a context but in Qur’an is commanded to […]

Daily Kos analyzes a Kaiser poll showing that a majority of Americans does not care one way or another that the Republican Party opposes heath care reform. Among those who in the public have feelings on the matter, the opposition drives more to support it than to reject it. Public support for the bill is […]

Today Iranians mark Now Ruz, their ancient New Year’s day, celebrated on the vernal equinox (which most often falls on March 21 but sometimes, as today, on the 20th). Now Ruz literally means “New Day.” Persian is an Indo-European language ultimately related to English, and “now” (pronounced “no”) and “new” are cognates. As he did […]

For the seventh anniversary of the launching of the Iraq War, Jasim al-Azzawi interviews Juergen Todenhoefer and myself: End/ (Not Continued)

Jon Stewart uses satire to point to the real dangers of Glenn Beck’s demagoguery (brought to you by the world’s most evil billionaire, Rupert Murdoch) The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

The visit to Gaza of Lady Ashton, the head of foreign policy in the European Union, was marred Thursday when a small fringe militant group calling itself Jund Ansar al-Sunnah fired a homemade rocket at a nearby Israeli farm collective, killing a Thai immigrant farm laborer. Aljazeera English reports on the rocket attack, the first […]

Here is the video version of Jeffrey Goldberg’s punditry on the Middle East. End/ (Not Continued)

CIA director Leon Panetta said Wednesday that US strikes against targets in northern Pakistan have left al-Qaeda in disarray and without the command and control necessary to plan and carry out major operations. The US is claiming a big success in a precision strike on the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan, saying that it […]