So now a key figure in Iran’s Islamic hierarchy has said that the reason that the film Innocence of Muslims was even produced was because Ayatollah Khomeini’s order to execute novelist Salman Rushdie was never carried out, thus emboldening critics of Islam. Yes, he seems to feel that the fear of summary execution is a worthy threat to hold over anyone who even thinks of offending his sensibilities. [Read more…]
This year is the 50th anniversary of the launching of the James Bond film franchise with 1962’s Dr. No, so it is timely to take another look at the world’s most famous fictional spy. Besides which, I was in bed with the flu at the end of last week (hence the lighter blogging during that period) and I needed some low-effort entertainment and what could be more mindless fun than a Bond film? I went all the way back to Roger Moore’s debut in the role in 1973’s Live and Let Die, which I had not seen before. [Read more…]
He delivers a good rant on 9/11 commemorations, god, religion, money, and the war on terror. [Read more…]
It is becoming increasingly clear that in unscripted settings Mitt Romney is highly prone to looking awkward and saying the wrong things. Take for example, his statement that ‘middle income’ people are those earning around $250,000 per year. [Read more…]
So I decided that I owed it to myself to watch the infamous trailer of the film that has caused all this trouble around the world. From news reports, I expected it to be poorly done but I had no idea that it would be such absolute dreck. [Read more…]
There is mixed news on the birther front. On the one hand, an event that was heralded as being the largest birther gathering to date to be held on September 22 has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. [Read more…]
Jonathan Turley points to a disturbing sign that the Obama administration is softening its defense of free speech rights in the wake of the backlash over the Mohammed film. He quotes reports that say that the Justice Department has asked YouTube to ‘review’ the film. [Read more…]
There is a palpable sign of panic within the Republican party that Mitt Romney is heading for defeat in the election. The signs are everywhere as people start preemptively assigning blame as they jockey to take control of the direction of the party when it happens. [Read more…]
Sometimes those of us who live in the real world of ordinary people who have asense of what is rational and what is not tend to forget that there is another world out there of people whose fevered imaginations take them into regions of bizarre speculation.
