Copyright (c) 2007 First Things (March 2007). When thousands of furious Muslims rallied in the streets of the West Bank, Pakistan, and Indonesia to protest Benedict XVIs Regensburg address, many commentators spoke with pessimistic alarm about the clash of civilizations that had now become increasingly manifest. The reason for this peril, it was claimed, was religion of any kind. Thus, Read More ›
Original Article DOHA, Qatar. Is there something inherent in Islam that has resulted in most Muslims living in poor countries, with the exception of the relatively few who live in the oil rich states? This was just one of the questions a group of American and Islamic scholars and experts were trying to answer in Doha, Qatar, last week. Qatar Read More ›
Original Article Michael Polanyi: The Art of Knowing, by Mark T. Mitchell (ISI, 215 pp., $15) The boulevard leading into Dachau from Munich is now called the Max Born Strasse. It is named after one of the greatest theoretical physicists of the 20th century, Max Born (18821970), a German Jew who taught in Frankfurt and Göttingen (191932) and then in Read More ›
Original Article I was born in Chicago, and lived there until I was 11 years old. I went back there to go to college. I love Chicago, and I love the Chicago Bears. I have been an avid Bears fan for as long as I can remember. When the Bears used to play at Wrigley Field, I went to a Read More ›
Original Article Forty years ago this month, The Seattle Times published a series of stories about Pioneer Square tavern operators who complained that they were being shaken down by the police. Local cops entrusted with preventing crime were instead engaged in it, taking payoffs in return for tolerating illegal gambling, after-hours drinking, or people simply doing business. The city was Read More ›
Original Article There is strong public support for taking immediate action to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Our addiction to oil undermines national security and jeopardizes our economy and the environment. Because our oil payments often wind up in the hands of hostile interests in Middle Eastern countries and Venezuela, experts surmise that we are in effect paying for Read More ›
Original Article Ever since Russia briefly interrupted natural gas deliveries to Ukraine on New Year’s Day 2006, Moscow has been harshly criticized in the West for allegedly using energy as a tool to blackmail its neighbors. The recent spat between Russia and Belarus over Moscow’s price hike on oil and gas deliveries to Minsk once again prompted charges from Western Read More ›
Original Article Koshin Mohamed, 28, who came to Seattle 10 years ago, says Somalia’s transitional government has asked him to be its envoy to the U.S. Koshin Mohamed, a 28-year-old Somali refugee who came to Seattle 10 years ago, says he’s been asked by the transitional government of Somalia to be its ambassador to the U.S. if and when Read More ›
Original Article Mississippi consumers got some good news over the New Year weekend. Ten months after AT&T first proposed the buyout of BellSouth, the state’s primary wire-line carrier, the merger received final regulatory approval. An old and proud brand but a new and improved company, the “2007” AT&T is a combination of baby bells (Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Telesis, Southern Read More ›