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Current Affairs

A collection of 493 issues

Capping the Copts

> The State Department has launched an investigation into whether hard-line Islamic employees at the U.S Embassy in Egypt are working behind the scenes to deny visas to Coptic Christians, The Post has learned. NY Post Link [http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/59511.htm]. I guess the first

Two Faces of Islam

> Paradoxically, Muslims in the US and Great Britain are, today, far more dominated by Islamist extremism than their counterparts in various Muslim countries. In many lands where the majority follows Islam, a struggle is underway between mainstream moderates and radicals inspired by the ultra-Wahhabi preachers of Saudi Arabia, the

The Naked Public Square

From a Washington Post editorial [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122102055.html] , endorsing Judge Jones' opinion in the I.D. case: > If a school district adopts a policy of promoting a religious cosmology, however couched, in an effort to undermine science and thereby

The ID Judge

If you didn't hear, things didn't go well for the Intelligent Design folks in the Pennsylvania case. Judge John Jones (a Bush appointee) wrote a scathing opinion. Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/

Stop the Neanderthals!

The Western Isles of Scotland have voted to outlaw gay unions, notwithstanding the Eltonizing of England that started this week. The Western Isles are deeply traditional and Christian. They want to resist the secularizing forces of the 21st century. Is that okay with the gays, that there is one small

Discrimination?

A prison in Minnesota that houses 496 criminals--including 79 killers, 5 kidnappers and 17 burglars--doesn't have a fence around it, and the neighbors don't mind and, in fact, oppose plans to fence it in. Excerpt: > Residents of this suburb southwest of Minneapolis apparently did not

Real Life Brokebacks

The New York Times has gone out and found a few real, live gay cowboys in Wyoming and has painted the same old story: these are real men, normal men, rodeo men. There might be lots of them. But, of course, the rough-and-tumble homophobes in Wyoming repress such natural and

More Cuban Flight

A handful of writers I respect--and many that I don't--say Cuba is a fine place. Poor, but happy. And then I remember the waves of refugees that have repeatedly peaked during the past thirty years, and I just don't get it. The place must be as

Odd Coverage

I've been seeing a lot of news stories about the "radical right's" boycott of pro-gay, pro-feminist, pro-abortion companies. The stories don't usually mention that there's been a similar effort among the "radical right's" opponents. Check out

Latvia Dissin' the EU?

> MPs in the Baltic state of Latvia have passed a constitutional amendment ensuring that gay couples cannot marry. . . . > Members of Parliament said they were concerned that since Latvia has joined the European Union, EU laws will enable gay people to gain rights including the right to marry. But