Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security outfit, is believed to benefit from a network of Palestinian informants. It has now been revealed that one of these informants, Mosab Hassan Yousef, is the son of one of the founders of Hamas. There is not a single sentence in the article describing Yousef’s work for the Israelis that is less than fascinating. In this man’s opinion, “the Israelis care about the Palestinians far more than the Hamas or Fatah leadership does.” His reasons for this pronouncement make the article required reading for those who make a facile equivalence between the Israelis and the terrorists. Naturally, the story is being denounced as false “Zionist propoganda” by Hamas and its friends.

Karadzic lives and acts very much in a tradition expressed in Serbian epic poetry, that quite unambiguously celebrates genocide. ☞ more

“Marcel C. LaFollette, an independent scholar, historian and Smithsonian volunteer uncovered rare, unpublished photographs of the 1925 Tennessee vs. John Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ in the Smithsonian Institution Archives.” ☞ more

An insightful review of a pseudo-textbook from the charlatans at the Discovery Institute, exposing their latest attempt to sneak their superstitions in to our childrens’ science classes. ☞ more

Having achieved independence from foreign oil, Brazil is now exploring independence from foreign condoms. ☞ more

Rhonda Hackett, a Canadian clinical psychologist living in the US, writes a lucid article in the Denver Post:

“The U.S. has the most bureaucratic health care system in the world. More than 31 percent of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, profits, etc. The provincial single-payer system in Canada operates with just a 1 percent overhead. Think about it. It is not necessary to spend a huge amount of money to decide who gets care and who doesn't when everybody is covered.”

A great resource to counterbalance the confused information sometimes offered by journalism, written by actual climate scientists.

Story in the Washington Post about the only political prisoner known to have escaped from a North Korean slave labor camp, in which he was born, automatically guilty because of his father, who was automatically guilty because of his brothers, who were accused of collaborating with the South Koreans. ☞ more

This beautiful chart compares the world’s territories by income and infant mortality.

Anita Hill has replied to Justice Clarence Thomas' recent book in an op-ed the New York Times. Reading it leaves me with some odd impressions. ☞ more