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POPSThe QuiverFull movement: having babies -- lots of babies -- for God Newsweek on the "QuiverFull" movement ("Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." Psalm 127.4f.), which campaigns against birth control, espouses a relatively fundamentalist version of evangelical Christianity, and advocates having at least six children per family.
13
POPSPeggy Noonan on Obama: "bulletproof" Reagan's speechwriter points out that Obama's charisma and personality will make negative campaigning and dirty tricks by Republicans look even lower than they are. Clinton will be "easier for Republicans" to go after in the nastiest way possible.
12
POPSAnother Saddam? A coup may be brewing in Iraq The Asia Times Online on the possiblity that a tacitly US-backed coup d'etat may be the next step in a devastated Iraq, and that control of the country may be returned to a Saddam-like Sunni strongman -- though this is unlikely to provide much stability either.
10
POPSAtheists, have a little respect, please Okay, this isn't exactly subtle, but I couldn't help finding it funny anyhow. Especially after Bill Maher, after once again laughing at the strangeness of Christian doctrine, is accused by Bill Donohue of not "respect the right of most Americans to believe in God" (http://snipr.com/1z044).
9
POPSMilitary opposition to possible war on Iran UK intelligence sources report in the Times (London) that there will likely be a wave of resignations among high-level staff officers should the Bush administration decide to launch a military operation against Iran.
9
POPSHarvard's decision on financial aid puts other colleges in a tough spot
Harvard has pledged that no family making under about $180K will have to pay more than 10% of its income in tuition. This makes other college administrators very nervous, since they can't come close to duplicating that deal, especially without raising tuition for other students. One tuition-payer's advocate says it's a step in the right direction because it "puts pressure" on other institutions to start cutting costs, such as in areas of faculty salaries and "internet services," and adds that schools should operate more like businesses. Sorry for the rant, but that's a crock of shit. Only in America, where everything is supposed to be a saleable commodity, and where education is treated as a consumer product, do people go around saying this kind of crap. Why on earth is "operating like a business" a sensible ideal for a college to aspire to? It's not a fucking business, it's an institution of learning. It's not like a Wal-Mart or a travel agency, okay?
9
POPSA first-person account of CIA imprisonment This is perhaps the most stomach-turning report I've read since the news about Dilawar broke (in case you've forgotten, that was the taxi driver who was gradually beaten to death in U.S. custody in Afghanistan, even though interrogators believed he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time). A man is taken into custody in Jordan, tortured until he confesses something, handed over to the CIA, and disappears for almost two years. For 19 months he's held in complete isolation, subjected to debilitating psychological torture and physical mistreatment, without any knowledge of his location or what he's accused of. Finally he's sent back home to Yemen without explanation. Someone explain to me again how it is that we're supposed to be defending "freedom" and "democracy" around the world? And how this kind of thing is supposed to make Americans safer?
9
POPSDid you know: half of all U.S. teachers quit within five years? I didn't know this, but it doesn't surprise me. Citing salaries too low to repay student loans (needed to get the master's degrees now required in many jurisdictions), as well as hostile working conditions, the average teacher quits 2 1/2 years after starting the job. From May 2006.
8
POPSUK educator decries domination of education by management-oriented language An Oxford professor examines the gradual takeover of all policy writing on education by the language of business management: "efficiency," "providers," "audits," "performance indicators," etc. This kind of thinking, he says, has gradually obscured any legitimate answer to the question of what education is really supposed to accomplish.
8
POPSSo, how evil is Facebook, really? I use Facebook every day now. I'm pretty well hooked. But this article, which talks about the intellectual pedigree (Girard), political sympathies ("Thatcherite") and financial connections (the CIA) of its board, gives me the creeps in a big way.
7
POPS"Can the world afford a middle class?" This is an interesting, straightforward, clear-eyed article, if not as subtle as the title makes it sound. (It doesn't really mean "middle class," it means "people who aren't living at a subsistence level.")
7
POPSAkbar Ahmed: "Where Have the Gentle Voices of Islam Gone?" An editorial from 2004 by an American Muslim critiquing the current state of affairs across the Muslim world. His basic call is for a return to Islamic traditions of scholarship and open-mindedness, which he says have been squelched in contemporary Muslim societies.
7
POPSCheap gas is not coming back The Saudi Ghawar oilfield is likely to be in steep decline now, which means there is no longer a global "swing producer" of oil. Prepare yourself for sharp market shocks and price volatility. Energy bills and gas are going to take us on a roller-coaster ride ... forever.
6
POPSDarfur and oil A hard-left-leaning website analyzes the Bush administration's stance on Darfur. Their conclusion: recent, underreported discoveries of oil in Sudan are pushing Bush to be more conciliatory towards Khartoum.
6
POPSIslamic Society of North America elects its first female president An interesting story. The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has elected Ingrid Mattson, a white Western convert, as president. Mattson is the first woman and the first convert to head the organization. Her election was virtually unopposed. ISNA is the largest umbrella group of Muslims in North America. Her political views seem quite open and basically liberal, judging from the article.
6
POPSWhat exactly does Ron Paul stand for? Ron Paul has published regular newsletters since the late 70s. They espouse some very bitter and virulently bigoted positions on race, among other issues and portray him as a real conspiracy-mongering lunatic. Whether Paul himself actually wrote the articles isn't clear, but certainly they appeared under his name.
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