Top Items:
Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:
Identity Politics, Free Speech, and the Future of worldwide Liberalism, 2: a follow-up — From Islam Online: … [all emphases mine] — Note the bolded text, because it draws clear (if to be expected) lines of demarcation between the actions of the rival "protest" groups:
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Albert Aji / Associated Press:
Syrians Torch Embassies Over Caricatures — DAMASCUS, Syria - Thousands of Syrians enraged by caricatures of Islam's revered prophet torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday — the most violent in days of furious protests by Muslims in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta:
Marx, Communism, Totalitarianism; Muhammed, Islam, Terrorism — I'm glad that the U.S. State Department condemned cartoons which offended many Muslims. That's their job. They are the official face of the American government to the world. And kudos to President Bush for condemning them.
Boston Globe:
Forms of intolerance — FREEDOM OF expression is not the only value at issue in the conflict provoked by a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons satirizing Islam's founding prophet, Mohammed. The billowing controversy is being swept along by intolerance, ignorance, and parochialism.
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
Cartoon Debate — The case for mocking religion. — As well as being a small masterpiece of inarticulacy and self-abnegation, the statement from the State Department about this week's international Muslim pogrom against the free press was also accidentally accurate.
Charles Moore / Telegraph:
If you get rid of the Danes, you'll have to keep paying the Danegeld — It's some time since I visited Palestine, so I may be out of date, but I don't remember seeing many Danish flags on sale there. Not much demand, I suppose. I raise the question because, as soon as the row about the cartoons …
Guardian:
Cartoon controversy spreads throughout Muslim world — Cartoon row spreads — Governments across Europe, the Middle East and Asia were reluctantly sucked into the Danish cartoon row yesterday as hundreds of thousands of Muslims took to the streets to protest. — The dispute spread to London for the first time.
Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
The Contrived Cartoon Network — It appears that the controversy over the Prophet cartoons has been somewhat artificially enhanced by Muslim imams in Denmark, according to the London Telegraph. Numerous readers and commenters have pointed towards this article by Charles Moore …
Christopher Caldwell / Financial Times:The reality of cartoon violence
Discussion:
THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, The Counterterrorism Blog, Peaktalk, One Hand Clapping and History News Network
Michelle Malkin:VIDEO: AND THEN THEY CAME FOR THE EMBASSIES...
Discussion:
The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta
Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:THE BOSTON GLOBE ON SPEECH OFFENSIVE TO DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS GROUPS …
Discussion:
The Mahablog
Washington Post:
Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects — NSA's Hunt for Terrorists Scrutinizes Thousands of Americans, but Most Are Later Cleared — Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, The Left Coaster, The Strata-Sphere, The Washington Monthly and The Road To Surfdom
Reuters:
Merkel likens Iran threat to Nazi era — MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened Iran's nuclear plans on Saturday to the threat posed by the Nazis in their early days, as top U.S. officials urged a tough line to stop Tehran from making an atomic bomb.
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Andrew C. Revkin / New York Times:
NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness — A week after NASA's top climate scientist complained that the space agency's public-affairs office was trying to silence his statements on global warming, the agency's administrator, Michael D. Griffin, issued a sharply worded statement yesterday calling for …
Discussion:
World O'Crap, Hullabaloo, TBogg, Balloon Juice, The Majority Report, Dynamics of Cats and Amygdala
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Mike Allen / Time:
How Gonzales Plans to Defend Eavesdropping — TIME Exclusive: Attorney General will tell Senators that wiretaps target suspects, not innocents … Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales plans to use a Congressional hearing on Monday to lash out at "misinformed, confused" …
New York Times:
Oil Graft Fuels the Insurgency, Iraq and U.S. Say — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 4 — Iraqi and American officials say they are seeing a troubling pattern of government corruption enabling the flow of oil money and other funds to the insurgency and threatening to undermine Iraq's struggling economy.
David Rising / Associated Press:
Senators McCain and Lieberman cozy up at Munich conference — MUNICH, Germany — It was no surprise when U.S. senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman pulled chairs up next to one another Saturday to hear what German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to say at a prestigious defense conference.
Discussion:
CorrenteWire
Saul Hansell / New York Times:
Postage Is Due for Companies Sending E-Mail — Soon companies will have to buy the electronic equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail will be delivered to many of their customers. — America Online and Yahoo, two of the world's largest providers of e-mail accounts …
