Saturday, July 17, 2004

Saturday, July 17, 2004
Jesus and Jihad
"If a Muslim were to write an Islamic version of "Glorious Appearing" and publish it in Saudi Arabia, jubilantly describing a massacre of millions of non-Muslims by God, we would have a fit. We have quite properly linked the fundamentalist religious tracts of Islam with the intolerance they nurture, and it's time to remove the motes from our own eyes.

People have the right to believe in a racist God, or a God who throws millions of nonevangelicals into hell. I don't think we should ban books that say that. But we should be embarrassed when our best-selling books gleefully celebrate religious intolerance and violence against infidels."

posted by tim @ Saturday, July 17, 2004

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World Press Freedom Rankings
"The ranking distinguishes behaviour at home and abroad in the cases of the United States and Israel. They are ranked in 31st and 44th positions respectively as regards respect for freedom of expression on their own territory, but they fall to the 135th and 146th positions as regards behaviour beyond their borders."

posted by tim @ Saturday, July 17, 2004

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Saddam Replacement Said to Personally Execute Prisoners
"Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings."

posted by tim @ Saturday, July 17, 2004

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Congo: Farmers Grab Gorilla Parkland
"Farmers have overrun vast areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo's oldest national park, the latest threat to more than half the world's 700 remaining mountain gorillas, conservationists and park workers say."

posted by tim @ Saturday, July 17, 2004

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Joseph Wilson vs. the Right-Wing Conspiracy
". . .Wilson is firing back."

posted by tim @ Saturday, July 17, 2004