Speaking of Inquisitions

A busy last few days, including a couple of longish postings over the weekend.

• The dead and wounded of the Iraq war are being largely ignored. Chalked up to an abstraction indistinguishable from the kind of dead Americans see on their nightly television shows and in Shwartzenegger movies. The indifference is intentional--and a favor to the government. See "Casualties of War: Dead, Buried and Discarded"
  

• "Flags of Outr Fathers," the Clint Eastwood movie based on the book of the same name, about the men of that famous Iwo Jima flag-raising, is the talk of the nation. It's also worth revisiting the facts and myths of that Iwo Jima moment, and how they inform war myths to this day. See "From Iwo Jima to Baghdad"
  

• On Sunday, Pierre delivered a lecture at the Unitarian Universalist Society of the Daytona Beach Area: "Speaking of Inquisitions: From Dostoevsky to GWB." The full text is available here...
  

• Who is Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury? A Bangladeshi journalist who happens to think that Islamic militants are out of control, and talking with Israel shouldn't be a heresy. For that, he's on trial, facing the death penalty in Bangladesh. See "The Case of Salah Choudhury, “Seditious” Journalist"

As always, thanks for reading--and keep spreading the word.pt