Such are the contradictions that are welling up as the Arab world deals with "The Passion," even as the film draws large audiences in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and other Arab countries that have approved it for screening.
In the Arab world, openly voiced anti-Semitism -- and by extension the warm reception for "The Passion" -- is bound up in the Arab conflict with Israel. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, after watching the film at his compound in the West Bank, was quoted by an aide as likening Jesus' suffering to the Palestinians'.
While this highlights the obvious anti-Semitic potential of the movie, there is a bigger and much more important point: the story is a denunciation of humanity itself.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Rabies spread by vampire bats has claimed 13 lives on an Amazon river island, local media reported Saturday.]]>The deaths occurred over the past 21 days on Portel Island, according to the O Liberal newspaper. The island is about 1,500 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro.
(Just kidding – I don’t believe in silly notions of heaven or hell. Glory be to the Supreme God Thor, who welcomes brave various to the glorious hall of Valhalla in Asgard.)
]]>McCain refuses to understand that the whole cable package is more than the sum of its parts: the more successful cable channels subsidize the less popular ones in order to provide a well rounded package that provides a better value that the individual channels – just as the Microsoft Office Suite provides a better value that the individual applications that compose it. If politicians were really concerned about cable prices, then they would remove the government monopolies, price controls, preferential treatment, and the legion of regulations imposed and granted to cable companies. Till then, their approach to industry can only be described as a see-saw between government-enforced “competition” and government-enforced regulations – when one fails, they resort to other – never considering that freedom from government might be the answer.
]]>The F Scale, is "an instrument that would yield an estimate of fascist receptivity at the personality level."
I disagree with a number of questions, but I still find the test a much better indicator of Fascist tendencies than today’s leftist rants. (I scored 2.3, mostly because of Q’s 2-4. 1950 avg was 3.84.)
(Link found here.)
An experimental pilotless plane has broken the world speed record for an atmospheric engine, briefly flying at 7,700 kilometres per hour - seven times the speed of sound, NASA says.
Investigators are trying to determine if the victim, Ashley Nicole Wilson, 19, was pregnant when she died in January. If so, Leach could face a capital murder charge in the slaying of two people during the same act. Capital murder is punishable by death, while murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.]]>
USC will get the funds over the next couple years, said business school dean Joel Smith III, and will use the money to create a capitalism ethics class, a capitalism-focused professorship, a lecture series and a room in the business library dedicated to the works of authors that support free enterprise such as Ayn Rand.
John Allison, chairman and CEO of BB&T, said USC and the bank jointly developed the focus of the endowment.
"If you look at a lot of business education programs, they do a good job of teaching people the technical part of business," Allison said. "But they don't often explain the philosophical foundations for capitalism, and anybody can make better decisions if they understand the context."
I saw John Allison speak at last summer’s Objectivist Conference, and I think its wonderful (and rare) to see a successful CEO defend capitalism. You can see how he applies Objectivism to the corporate philosophy of BB&T at their philosophy page.
]]>