August 2012
Who is attacking Science?
The world we now live in is largely the product of science. Thanks to science we have doubled our life spans over just one century: the result of clean water, antibiotics, birth control, and the medical care that keeps women in childbirth (and their babies) alive. We have become so accustomed to this that many people do not even think about such a wonder.
Instead, far too many people are ignorant of how science works, convinced that science is in competition with religion. Thes more...
Instead, far too many people are ignorant of how science works, convinced that science is in competition with religion. Thes more...
Egypt Has Post-Election Blues.
A few weeks ago, I attended a lecture on Egypt’s “Arab Spring” and their recent round of elections. The speaker was optimistic about this process, and noted a number of “accomplishments” that Egyptians should regard with pride:
• A tyrannical dictator removed
• A relatively free and fair election held
• A member of the Muslim Brotherhood elected (Accomplishment?)
• The military promise to yield to civilian rule
• Treaty more...
Laina with August Movies
Spiderman
It is summer in America, and we movie buffs either see the films made for mass (young) audiences or have little but some very depressing art movies. I watch these films with a different eye than the thrill-seeking young. I am interested in the recurring themes that the American public relish: primarily a paranoia that society is sick, and the theme that has dogged us for two centuries now: the dangers of science, including the theme of the mad scientist. more...
Can There Be A World Without History? Militant Islamists Think So.
Since the end of World War II, we have not seen deliberate assaults on historic landmarks that we see today. Both sides wantonly destroyed cities with their great historic architecture, but history was not their real target.
History is the target today. The Afghan's Taliban government deliberately blew up statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan because “they weren't Muslim.” In the Middle East, Africa, and Pakistan, Islamists are targeting churches for destruction, something more...
Why Do We Give a Pass to Evil?
I recently wrote an editorial about Genocide, with its long trek through history—but one of my colleagues noted that I had not mentioned the USSR, one of the worst human rights offenders ever. My friend, Swedish human rights attorney Bertil Haggman, compiled the violent death statistics of the USSR from 1917 to 1982: The Communist Genocide (in Swedish), ten years before the demise of the Soviet Union. Haggman estimated about 104 million dead in his 1982 book; now the numbers are known to be cl more...