Bush and Ahmadenijad

Matthew Yglesias notes that we should keep Islamist nuts in perspective, since our own president is pretty religious: [N]oting that millenarian Islam is an important strain in Iranian politics ought to be put in the context of a United States of America that features millenarian Christianity as an important political strain. I don’t see any reason to believe that George W. ...

Having Children And Other “Profoundly Immoral” Things

There's an interesting conversation going on over at VC about the ethics of having children, but one comment in particular caught my attention: I'm pretty skeptical of the "children are good for the future" argument. Erlich's "population bomb" may not have been wrong so much as delayed; the Green Revolution pulled a rabbit out of the hat when it comes to ...

6-6-06 Devil’s Date Creates Jitters

Today is the 6th day of the 6th month of the year ought-six. Is this the 666 of Revelations yore? Some seem to think so. THE calendar has clicked over to the sixth day of the sixth month, 2006 and hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia – the fear of the number 666 – is taking hold. Will the world end? Will someone ...

Iraq War Movies Coming Soon

It looks like movies about the Iraq War will be coming out before the shooting stops. Moviemakers aren't waiting for the Iraq war to finish before they put their Hollywood ending on it. Francis Ford Coppola made "Apocalypse Now" six years after the Vietnam War ended in 1973, and it wasn't until the '80s that Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" and ...

Explosion Destroys Dome of Iraq Shiite Shrine

Terrorists set off an explosion that destroyed the dome of the Askariya mosque, a major Iraqi Shiite shrine. A large explosion destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Shiite shrines Wednesday, sending protesters pouring into the streets. The third major attack against Shiites in as many days threatened to inflame sectarian passions at a time when talks ...