The other day I saw this bumper sticker, which is a prime example of the orientalism that informs and feeds U.S. foreign policy ( Read more... )

I highly recommend these two articles from "The Nation" (from the past couple of years), on the U.S. gay marriage movement. Lisa Duggan, the author of one and the co-author of the other, has been in Tucson this week talking to various academic and activist groups about this issue, and that has inspired me to send these links ( Read more... )

Thanks to hammercock for posting this ( Read more... )

It's unclear right now whether Ariel Sharon will survive his medical difficulties, though most people are pretty sure that his political career is over. That says something about how physical weakness and/or disability is seen in Israeli politics, I think. Anyway, I've been pretty appalled at how much praise has been heaped on Sharon in the past ( Read more... )