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  • Losing arguments on the Internet

    In Scottsdale, Ariz., there is a restaurant so far gone that even Gordon Ramsay’s shouting cannot save it. In fact, the owners of Amy’s Baking Company so terrified the man behind "Kitchen Nightmares" that he decided to quit working with them rather than endure them any longer. If you haven’t visited the nooks of the Internet where discussion of this has been bouncing ...

  • How Baghdad Fuels Iraqs Sectarian Fire

    The Iraqi government has hurled the country to the brink of a new civil war. In under a month, Baghdad launched a vicious assault on a Sunni protest camp, resulting in 44 deaths; executed 21 alleged Sunni terrorists in one day, and suspended the licenses of 10 satellite channels, 9 of them deemed pro-Sunni. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s message to his country’s extremely ...

  • If all options are open why not prosecute Abu Qatada in the UK

    Listening to Theresa May’s statement to Parliament today, it seems the British government is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan to face terrorism charges. A new treaty with Jordan aims to address the risk that Abu Qatada, who has already been convicted in his absence there, would be tried again using torture-tainted evidence. The main problem in Jordan, ...

  • Russia The Day the Inspectors Came

    This is how it is in today's Russia, one year since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency. Over the last twelve months, the authorities have introduced a sweeping set of restrictive new laws. In addition to raids on nongovernmental groups, they are harassing, intimidating and imprisoning political activists. Government critics and even charities that can in no way be thought of as ...

  • The Dark Side of Irans Drug Policy

    How Iran Won the War on Drugs ," Amir Afkhami argues that the Iranian government has been successful in addressing the country’s drug problem by treating dependency and reducing the harm drugs cause, rather than by cracking down on supply. Afkhami further suggests that Iran is a model for the region, and that nearby countries such as Afghanistan have much to learn from its ...

Movie Review

Vacancy [DVD]

Vacancy [DVD]

Vacancy is a nastily effective, rough-edged gem of a horror-thriller. Like the sputtering neon sign evoked in its advertising campaign, you keep expecting that it will peter out, but somehow it stays burning right up until the unexpectedly abrupt, yet entirely appropriate ending ... ...

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  • Is American democracy in trouble

    We know American politics are dysfunctional. But after a week of scandal obsession during which the nation's capital and the media virtually ignored the problems most voters care about -- jobs, incomes, growth, opportunity, education -- it's worth asking if there is something especially flawed about our democracy. Our circumstances certainly have their own particular disabilities: a ...

  • Saving the White House from faux scandals

    Here’s the White House view of the current trilogy of so-called scandals: Republicans are trying to destroy President Barack Obama’s second term by magnifying bureaucratic miscues and distorting policy realities. This isn’t without some merit. On none of these issues - the deadly debacle at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya, the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of ...

  • The death of private education

    Atalanic. Even if dying is a bit hyperbolic, ';At the very least, it's headed for dramatic shrinkage, save for a handful of places and circumstances, to be replaced by a very different set of institutional, governance, financing and education-delivery mechanisms.'; Finn breaks the truth about private schools with statisctics. ';Private K-12 enrollments are shrinking — ...

  • Top scandals and controversies of each US president

    Three major scandals have surfaced over the past few weeks in Washington, escalating into a perfect storm that involves money, media and security. With the IRS targeting tea party tax-exempt groups, the Department of Justice seizing Associated Press records and the resurfacing of concerns about the handling of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, many are wondering what the ...

  • What can be called real progress

    All human progress is through the experience of these feelings. Wherever there is progress, one or more or all of the expressions of these feelings are present. In the realm of physical progress, we find only two of these experiences, and they are primarily physico-psychic. The experience of pleasure in the physical body means relaxation of nerves. Relaxed nerves emanate the peculiar mental ...

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