Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Selling empire: “The historian Niall Ferguson claims that the British Empire brought open markets and prosperity to large swaths of the globe. But some say his argument doesn’t add up.”
The Empire Slinks Back: “Iraq has fallen. Saddam’s statues are face down in the dust. His evil tyranny is at an end. So — can we, [...]
From “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order” [Chapter 8 - 'The West and the Rest:Intercivilisational issues' - pg. 196]
“The paradox of democracy weaken western will to promote democracy in the post Cold War world. During the Cold War the West and the United States in particular confronted the ìfriendly tyrantî problem: [...]
mondegreen (mon-dah-GREEN) n. a series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric.
“What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.” Robert F. Kennedy
1. CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.
2. NAME-CALLING AND LABELING.
3. IRRESPONSIBLE SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS.
4. INADEQUATE PROOF FOR ASSERTIONS.
5. ADVOCACY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS.
6. [...]
“A healthy appetite for righteousness, kept in due control by good manners, is an excellent thing; but to ‘hunger and thirst’ after it is often merely a symptom of spiritual diabetes.” Charlie D. Broad (Attributed)
“The most brutal, most brazen discrimination committed in Australia, by Australians against Australians in recent decades - discrimination that was sexual and racial and violent - was committed against scores of young women in Sydney over an extended period between 1998 and 2002.
The facts - which came to be summarised by the phrase “gang rapes” [...]
Cross bearers make for a local church…
Includes a lovely old idea - ‘a gratuitous grace’: “One not necessary to salvation but potentially helpful and to be accepted thankfully, if made available.” from The Searcher a review of ‘Aldous Huxley: An English Intellectual’ by Nicholas Murray.
also see: OUT OF SIGHT by CLIVE JAMES - The curious career of Aldous [...]
Maverick psychotherapist or revolutionary?
“Dr. Gabor MatÈ has lived several lives in one. He’s most decidedly a risk-taker: the bestselling author of a controversial book on attention-deficit disorder called Scattered Minds, MatÈ is a political activist known for his (even more controversial) views on the Middle East, and a physician/psychotherapist who gave up his family practice [...]
Badly drafted legislation that extends protection against discrimination at work risks becoming a charter for litigation, says barrister Marina Wheeler:”
Let’s pretend you need a job. And let’s imagine that you are white, male, heterosexual, in reasonably good shape for 45 and with a moderate attachment to the Church of England. You scan the appointments section [...]