Since South Africans enjoy (true) Democracy, the political climate has, mostly, been one of unity, or better said consensus: as the NYT puts it “essentially a one-party system”; the only part of true relevance is the African National Congress. The party delivered first Nelson Mandela and after that current SA President Thabo Mbeki -> again, (mostly) in a spirit of true unity. All the controversy surrounding Jacob Zuma, however, seems to be causing the first true ideological, or perhaps...

Liberty and Justice co-blogger Muslihoon, published a passionate post at his own blog in which he describes L&J’s other co-blogger Isaac Schrödinger’s situation, explains why he needs help and how people can help him. On an extremely positive note, Isaac found a great and experienced lawyer (for obvious reasons, the identity of the lawyer cannot be made public), many thanks to John van Laer from Old War Dogs for helping Isaac out with that. Also: very generous and compassionate...

It’s a sad, sad day for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Lee Bollinger has withdrawn Columbia’s invitation to Ahmadinejad. By doing so he overruled a prominent dean, Lisa Anderson. The dean of Columbia’s school of international and public affairs, Lisa Anderson, had independently invited Mr. Ahmadinejad to speak at the World Leader’s Forum, a year-long program that aims to unite “renowned intellectuals and cultural icons from many nations to examine global challenges and explore...

My grandmother’s condition is getting worse and worse for quite a long while already. That is why she was moved into what we call a verzorgingshuis – I do not know the correct English word for it, it literally means ‘taking care off home’ – last Wednesday morning. She has to stay there for a while, before they will move her into a verplegingshuis (nursinghome). The Dutch government has refused to invest in homes like it. For a while now stories were getting out that...

The New York Sun reports that “tens of thousands of Israel supporters”, for the second day in a row, “gathered across the street from United Nations headquarters to protest President Ahmadinejad of Iran and to call for the unconditional release of the Israeli soldiers kidnapped on July 12.” (Some of) the speakers (the Sun sums up) were, Tzipi Livni (Israel’s foreign minister), Elie Wiesel, Professor Alan Dershowitz, US Ambassador to the UN Bolton and Governor Pataki....

Turkey is one of the countries that are trying desperately to join the EU. Of course, if Turkey does not want to be left behind (economically), it has to become a member of the European Union. [...] Best selling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak was accused of breaking article 301 of Turkey’s penal code: which envisages up to three years in jail for “denigrating Turkish national identity”.”. Today a court acquitted her. Continue reading

The world championships cycling (on the road) are taking place in Germany this year. Yesterday were the time trials for women and for young men (U-23). FYI: an American, funny enough, Armstrong won the time trial for women yesterday. Today, the men had a somewhat surprising winner in Swiss Fabian Cancellara. There was nobody able to even come close: the number 2, American David Zabriskie, lost 1.31 minutes. 3rd was Alexandr Vinokourov, winner of this year’s Vuelta (Tour of Spain). Not only...

The Dutch “onderzoeksraad”, literally translated as “investigation council”, has investigated a fire now known as the “Schipholfire”: in a jailhouse (for very short stays only – people who will be put out of the country; for instance / mostly illegals who are waiting to be, umh, returned to their own country) at Schiphol, a fire killed 11 people and wounded 15 others. The results of this investigation are disastrous for two ministers: both Minister of Justice...

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the oil companies have quite some difficulty exploiting natural gas resources in Alaska, despite the deal Governor Frank Murkowski struck with BP, Exxon Mobil, and ConocoPhillips last year. Continue reading

Andrew Sullivan has a very interesting, albeit little too, umh, passionate for my taste, post up about Barry Goldwater and the documentary that aired two days ago on HBO made by his granddaughter C.C. Filter out the over-the-top anti-Bush stuff: if you do, it provides, in principle, for a good read: his main point is that George W. Bush is not a (Goldwater) conservative. That is, in my opinion, correct. George Bush’s administration is for an important part inspired / influenced by Christian...

The former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton has publicly supported the Pope (calling Pope Benedict’s speech “extraordinarily effective and lucid”) and – more – used much stronger words to describe the current situation in the world and more specifically what he considers to be the state in which Islam finds itself these days. Whereas the Pope only spent a short amount of time on Islam/Mohammed (since his lecture simply was about, as the Times of London...

H/t to C.Prez Dr. Joe Duarte explores the “oil top” and wonders: Is this the big one? After a 16% decline in the price of crude oil and a 14% decline in overall commodity prices, as measured by the CRB Index, questions are rising about the status of the secular bull market in commodities. The fact is that although no one wants to say it, it is possible that we may have seen a long-term top in the price of crude oil. The problem with making any such claims, is that it’s nearly impossible...

Chris Bowers writes at MyDD that ‘registered voters’ will, quite overwhelmingly, vote Democrat. That is, if they will actually use their vote. Continue reading at Liberty and Justice

Just a short reminder: The documentary about Barry Goldwater, made by his granddaughter CC Goldwater, will be aired today, at 9 p.m., ET, on HBO. Don’t miss it…

There seems to be quite some debate about the state of the US economy. Some, like President Bush, believe that the US economy is “strong and vibrant”. Others, like the citizens quoted in this AP article, say that they are struggling, like never before, to make ends meet. Nancy Pelosi (perhaps naturally) agrees with those citizens: Times are “very good for the rich and very, very bad for the poor” who “can’t afford to live,” laments Larry Mitchell, 43, a...

The ‘Mujahideen Shura Council – an umbrella group led by Iraq’s branch of al Qaida’ – joined in on the fun:, it vowed ‘a war against the “worshippers of the cross”‘. No surprise there of course. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Sydney, rightfully, said that the reaction to the lecture of the Pope, proved the Pope right. Continue reading at Liberty and Justice

So wait… what kind of compromise could possibly be the result of this? How can there be a compromise regarding the Geneva Convention? There is no freaking compromise possible: treat prisoners, no matter what kind of disgusting creatures they are, according to ‘natural law’ c.q. ‘human rights’. There are only two options: treating prisoners in a humane manner, or not. A compromise will automatically result in the latter.