Iraq was a totalitarian state. Iran is an authoritarian state. You think Iran allows semi-free elections (albeit between mullah vetted candidates) which Iraq under Saddam did not do, cause the Mullahs have read Burke and Aristotle and believe in limited democracy? Nah, its cause theyre afraid if they dont allow enough […]

Very interesting article from someone who knew Cho (loosely). It also has copies of two plays he wrote for class:
http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/
On a related note, daytime talkshow moron, Dr. Phil predictably blames video games for the shooting.

As widely expected from the trailers and such, 300 is a bad-ass amazingly visual movie. No one will be disappointed who wants some well shot, visually stunning action scenes, blood splattering and dismemberment set to cool background music.
However bad-ass the movie is, the ideals presented in the film cause me to think […]

Evil is a term that gets thrown around too much lately. As a rhetorical tool it can be effective in making a stark contrast between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” as the President attempts to do, but is it accurate? And do we harm our understanding of “evil” by defining it […]

From the Post:
“The Shiites are rising,” he said, arching his eyebrows in an expression suggesting both revelation and fear.
The growing Sunni-Shiite divide is roiling an Arab world as unsettled as at any time in a generation. Fought in speeches, newspaper columns, rumors swirling through cafes and the Internet, and occasional bursts of strife, the conflict […]

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this, but it it is pretty fascinating. I’ve always heard that if taken by itself California would be like the 5th or 6th biggest economy in the world. This map makes comparisons with all US states. The map and the pie chart below it just […]

Jason asked in the NYRA Forums for people to simply list off why they oppose the Iraq War. So I did. Reposted here for your everlasting enjoyment:
- The one and really only reason for going to war we were presented with initially was WMD. No WMD have been found. At least nothing close […]

Good call Bruce Bartlett and Andrew Sullivan:
If the ancient political wisdom is correct that a charge unanswered is a charge agreed to, the Bush White House pleaded guilty yesterday at the Cato Institute to some extraordinary allegations.
“We did ask a few members of the Bush economic team to come,” explained David Boaz, the think tank’s […]

The outrage over the Mohammad cartoons printed and reprinted throughout Europe prompted the top newspaper in Iran to fire back by publishing Holocaust denial cartoons. They explained it with this quote:
“A serious question for Muslims … is this: ‘does Western free speech allow working on issues like America and Israel’s crimes or an incident […]

If you don’t think this is in some way funny, then you are just an overly partisan conservative.
If you think this is a legitimate and important news story, then you are just an overly partisan liberal.