Passports

From the DNC, my take away message: Kerry fought in a war 30 years ago. America is a great country full of hope and promise. Because Kerry fought in the war, he values the greatness of America and will fight to keep it great. From the RNC, my take away message: 9/11 was great. Without it you’d never know that Bush was chosen by God. And by God, we’re more than happy to have another 9/11 to prove how great we are. Overall big disappointments for me: John McCain and Bob Dole. They’ve become tools. Rudy Giuliani did not disappoint…

The International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World [ISIM] conducts and promotes interdisciplinary research on social, political, cultural, and intellectual trends and movements in contemporary Muslim societies and communities. The ISIM was inaugurated in 1998 and is based in Leiden, The Netherlands. ISIM has just published its June 2004 Newsletter 14 in print format and online. As usual, it is full of interesting articles, commentary, and reviews. Issue 14 includes: [download newsletter 14, 1.9MB] Martyrdom * A Culture of Righteousness and Martyrdom / Elliot Colla * Suicide Attacks: Life as a Weapon / Riaz Hassan * Martyrdom and…

The Boston Globe is running an editorial about the recent Khatami visit to Boston.  They were there when he met with members of the MIT Faculty members.  Some choice quotations: As the people around his table at the MIT Faculty Club laughed, Khatami added: “And Bush and Ahmadinejad are cut from the same cloth. …… Demonstrating his reputed interest in the Western Enlightenment, Khatami at one point cited the British philosopher John Locke, observing that Locke’s reason for separating religion from the state was to protect religion. He invoked Locke to make the point that many Iranians who favor more…