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"Tradition?? The only good traditions are food traditions. The rest are repressive."

"There are two ways to think. The first is to trust to your ancestors, your religious leaders, or your charismatic professors. The second is to question, to challenge, to explore history for meanings, and to analyze issues. This latter is called Critical Thinking, and it is this that is the mission of my web site. "

Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman  

June 2016

Letters to Editors: Primary Elections and Slavery Statistics

San Francisco Chronicle
June 2, 2016

Editor:

Slavery Statistics
The report that 18.35 million people in India alone comprise 40 percent of global slavery figures of 45.8 million (Walk Free Foundation) only counts unpaid or ill-paid labor as slavery. What about the status of wives in the 167 countries cited? If a wife is property of her husband, cannot leave the house without permission and a chaperone, may be beaten for "disobedience," cannot refuse se more...

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December 2015

Letter to the Editor: Ignoring the Obvious!

December 6, 2015
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Editors:

Ignoring the Obvious!

When a crime is committed and the authorities withhold the names of the perpetrators, you can be certain that it will be Muslims. When armed and trained killers murder people at a Christmas lunch, the motivation is clear: ISIS advice to go after "unbelievers."

After announcing the names of the murderers (American-born son of Pakistani immigrants and his Pakistani wife), more...

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September 2015

Another View of Pope Francis

Santa Cruz Sentinel
September 21, 2015l

Editor:

As much as we admire charming Pope Francis and as much as we usually dismiss columnist George Will as a conservative mouthpiece, his column (September 21) was brave and well worth reading! Will takes on Francis' attack on capitalism as wrongheaded and supports that view with solid facts.

Capitalism (and the scientific revolution) have been responsible for the tripling of life expectancy even in th more...

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April 2014

Disinvited

Would Brandeis University have disinvited a Holocaust survivor from receiving an honorary degree because his words would be insulting to the Nazis?

Yet they have disinvited a distinguished, brilliant survivor of Islam's persecution of women because her words might offend Muslims. They seem to be under the illusion that Islam and Muslims are underdogs who need protection from criticism. Shame on them. What kind of values are these?

Laina Farhat-Holzman
Aptos, more...

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Why We Can’t Make the World Safe for Democracy

When we believe that human beings are motivated most by economic self-interest, we are unfailingly wrong. The late 19th century was a time of incredible optimism. The economies of the world were increasingly linked, inventions were providing benefits only dreamed of in the past, and we enjoyed a half-century of peace that looked permanent. It seemed impossible for the sophisticated nation-states of Europe to ever go to war again.

How wrong they were. By 1914, almost all major Eur more...

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September 2013

Syria: International Norms Have No Teeth without the US


We are starting to learn from our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya that we can remove a bad leader but cannot replace him with good governance. We run into trouble when we do not temper our idealism with pragmatism, knowing when and how much to act in the face of evil. But perhaps we are beginning to be a bit more practical.

Because we love democracy and hate autocracy, we had hoped that the public clamor that got rid of autocrats in Egypt (and before that in Iran) wo more...

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Egypt's Democracy is Mission Impossible

Editor:
San Francisco Chronicle
August 16, 2013


President Obama has condemned the violence between the Egyptian military and the Muslim Brotherhood's supporters in the streets. He has said that America expects the Egyptians to:

o stop the violence;
o resolve their differences by being inclusive of all parties; and
o respect ethnic, religious, and gender human rights.

How can the Muslim Brotherhood respec more...

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Snowden No Hero

For anybody still naive enough to think that Edward Snowden is a classic whistle-blower, please note his choice of refuge: Russia.

He now seeks asylum in a country where scores of journalists have been murdered or jailed for practicing their trade. That country's leader, Vladimir Putin, has told Snowden that he will be weldome if he agrees to keep his mouth shut.

Rather than demonstrate his principles by facing prosecution for not only stealing but leaking his count more...

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