Unacceptable, Amazon

UPDATE (LATER THAT DAY): Amazon claims it was a “glitch.” Dubiousness abounds. See the comments section of this post for more.
ORIGINAL POST: Twitter is aflame today, where it’s still Easter Day over in North America. For my part, I ran across the news on Tobias Buckell’s feed.
Right, Amazon, do you want to know why everyone [...]

Sh*tbag Attacks Constitution (Again)

So, Kenneth Starr is once again doing his bit to hold a rifle to the groin of American democracy. Yeah, the same guy who wasted millions trying to find out whether President Clinton did the same sorts of things we all know Republican Presidents have done in the past, because the real scandal he was [...]

Define “Muslim” (UPDATED)

UPDATE: See the comments section, particularly Liadnan’s comment and my reply to it. Maybe the news report was even less competent than I thought!

Richard Dawkins has been taken to task at times for his assertion that raising a child in one or another religious tradition is a form of child abuse, as it constitutes an [...]

You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Fight For Your Right To…

Readers at LJ: click here to check out this post which has been gobbled up by the horrible Moloch that lives somewhere in Livejournal’s API.

Yeah, I gotta say, after having been around some Tibetans in Northern India, and hearing their stories first hand… I am so not into the Tibetan Buddhist theocracy, and think they [...]

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens

I rarely inhale books, but today was one of those days. I whipped through this book, disillusioned — who’d have thought I could be more disillusioned than I had been? — yet not really surprised.

A revealing expose. But I know I’m late to the table.
Doubtless, some interpreted this text as an attack on Mother Teresa, [...]

Stuff From This Week

UPDATE: This post has finally been reconstructed. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Somewhere from a third to half of this post disappeared. I’ll rewrite that soon. But not today, as I’m (dramatic flourish) feeling ill!
It’s been a busy lazy week. Since there’s nothing new in Gordland, I thought I’d just dump some links. I don’t do this often, but [...]

The Past Week, and Praise for Pat Condell

It’s been a whirlwind week, meeting people from the textbook gig I had this year for a dinner party (complete with karaoke and a stop at a wine bar), frantic syllabus-drafting and a meeting with fellow teachers to discuss the new Listening & Speaking Course guidelines, followed by Indian food and beer, an end-of-semester lunch [...]

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