Via Mark Kleiman, I came upon the story of the torture memo in the Wall Street Journal. Bush administration lawyers contended last year that the president wasn’t bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners at his direction couldn’t be prosecuted by the Justice Department. The advice was part of… Continue reading Torture, Emperor and Forgetfulness
Month: June 2004
Darfur, Sudan
Sudan has been in the news for quite some time. First there was the civil war between the North and the South. Finally, a peace agreement has been signed there. But now some militias backed by the Sudanese government are on a killing spree in the western region of Darfur. This has led to a… Continue reading Darfur, Sudan
Looking for Charity Recommendations
We are looking for charities for our regular annual charity-giving. Specifically we would like an organization working to help the poor in the underdeveloped world, preferably working with children (though not necessarily). Obviously, the charity organization should have a good repute, some transparency and shouldn’t be spending lots of money on its administrative expenses. We… Continue reading Looking for Charity Recommendations
Shrek, Global Warming and Wizards
Shrek 2 is definitely better than the first one. Lots of great laughs. We liked The Day After Tomorrow better than most other disaster movies. It is definitely overdone, but that is sort of a universal standard for disaster flicks. The special effects are pretty good. There is some interesting politics, like the reversal of… Continue reading Shrek, Global Warming and Wizards
Advertisements
I am thinking whether putting text-based ads on the weblog would be a bad idea. So here’s a poll for all of you to vote on it. UPDATE: I have put Google Ads up temporarily. We’ll see how it goes in terms of popularity or otherwise among readers and revenue. The poll is currently 10-9… Continue reading Advertisements
ڈھاکہ سے واپسی پر
بہت دنوں سے اردو میں کچھ نہیں لکھا کیونکہ کمپیوٹر پر اردو لکھنے کی مجھے بالکل عادت نہیں ہے۔ آصف، جلال، عمیر اور دانیال اس سلسلے میں بہت بہتر ہیں کہ اردو میں بلاگ کرتے ہیں۔ آج آپ کو فیض احمد فیض کی شاعری پر اکتفا کرنا پڑے گا۔ کسی اور دن میں خود سے کچھ لکھوں گا۔
Freedom at Midnight
Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre was recommended to me by zackq and KO (who has his own thoughts here). It is a highly readable book with a great writing style. The major fault of the book lies with the authors’ reliance on Mountbatten. One of their major sources is a personal… Continue reading Freedom at Midnight
New York New York
Taken from the Liberty Walk. About 15 minutes before sunset Almost an hour after sunset