“If men never disagreed about the ends of life, if our ancestors had remained undisturbed in the Garden of Eden, the studies to which the Chichele Chair of Social and Political Theory is dedicated could scarcely have been conceived,” Isaiah Berlin told his audience at Oxford when he assumed that position in 1958. Philosophy was at its best when it was being contentious, especially when it was being contentious about the meaning and purpose of our common existence. Too much agreement was an abdication of its ethical responsibility
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Buying Obama: How the UAW Got the Best Investment Returns in History - John Ransom - To... - 0 views
Muslim contributions to the world - 0 views
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The first word in the holy book of Islam is "Read". So Muslims pay an attention in the study according to Allah's decision. Contributions from the Muslims in world history has been quite remarkable. Particularly, in the field of architecture, Muslims made a great difference. Muslim architecture began with calligraphy during prophet Muhammad. They mainly started it to beautify texts. Later calligraphy decorated different objects such as mosques, houses and much more places. Decoration in Islamic architecture is a major unifying factor. Though Islamic architecture is based on two dimensions, with the use of variations in color and texture, it creates the illusion of different planes. The sense of Geometry helped Muslim architects to use the concept of symmetry and changing scale mirror to create light effects. The use of marble and mosaic is common in Islamic architectures. As Islam spread in the middle east in the early age, the geographical effect of hot climate is quite clear. Fountains and courtyard pools are one of the unique characteristics of Muslim architecture. The presence of water not only beautifies the architectures by creating a reflective effect, but it cools the atmosphere.
Shiite and Sunni Muslims Conflict - 0 views
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The division between Sunnis and Shiites is at the largest scale and oldest in the history of Islam. This article compares the differences between the two. There are number of reasons of conflict between them. We will discuss these conflicts in a general form. Initially the difference between Sunni and Shiites was merely a question of who should lead the Muslim community. Today there are significant differences in the structures and organisation of religious leadership in the Sunni and the Shiites communities. There is a hierarchy to the Shiites clergy and political and religious authority is vested in the most learned who emerge as spiritual leaders. These leaders are transnational and religious institutions are funded by religious taxes called Khums (20% of annual excess income) and Zakat (2.5%). Shiites institutions abroad are also funded this way.
West 86th - The Administration of Things: A Genealogy - 0 views
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The task of philosophy was not to settle disputes, but to unsettle them, to encourage them, to keep them going. For it was only through disputation that we could resist the rule of experts and machines, the bureaucratic-technocratic society foretold by Saint-Simon and championed by Marx and Engels, a society in which we replace the “government of persons by the administration of things.”
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Louis de Bonald pointed to the hard choices that the state would have to make. “In the modern state, we have perfected the administration of things at the expense of the administration of men, and we are far more preoccupied with the material than the moral,” he wrote. “Few governments nurture religion or morality with the same attention that they promote commerce, open communications, keep track of accounts, provide the people with pleasures, etc.” 12
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Top 10 Most Significant Events in US History Includes 911 - 0 views
Democrats' History of Racism - 0 views
Hurricane Katrina Vs. ObamaCare |The Political Pragmatic - 0 views
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Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive cyclone of the Atlantic hurricane season. Over 1,800 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion. Despite massive death and destruction, the Republicans are comparing the technical rollout of ObamaCare to the one of the gravest human disasters in the history of the country. I say the comparison is a bridge way too far.
Scott Walker's Long History of Dirty Tricks - The Daily Beast - 0 views
A cycle of stupidity - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - 0 views
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RNC Chairman Michael Steele today lashed out at President Obama by saying: "if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?" Of course it's absurd for Steele to voice that criticism without mentioning that it is his own Party which started that war and waged it for 8 years -- as well as the fact that virtually every Congressional member of his Party continues to support the war -- but Steele was right in the substance of what he said. In response, look at this truly repellent and classically Rovian statement issued by the DNC condemning Steele:
From the dr. who signed the Declaration of Independence to what's at the core of health... - 1 views
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The high cost of healthcare has been a subject that has confounded life in America and in various countries throughout the world throughout history. Why so high? Do higher costs in various countries determine the quality of care? Is health care supposed to be seen just like any other commodity? If a doctor notices that people cannot afford quality healthcare, what is their responsibility to the patient?
TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect - 0 views
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As one of the "sensible" conservatives on The New York Times' editorial page, Ross Douthat has a habit of using his column to provide a thin veneer of respectability to otherwise ugly ideas. Riffing off of the Cordoba House controversy, Douthat relies on the country's past experiences with unfamiliar immigrants to endorse nativism and xenophobia as a way of pushing immigrants toward greater assimilation. But this is bad history; the nativists of 19th-century America weren't much interested in having "new arrivals adapt to Anglo-Saxon culture," rather, the nativists of mid-19th-century America wanted to keep immigrants off of American shores. [Just like now]
Man Already Knows Everything He Needs To Know About Muslims | The Onion - America's Fin... - 0 views
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SALINA, KS-Local man Scott Gentries told reporters Wednesday that his deliberately limited grasp of Islamic history and culture was still more than sufficient to shape his views of the entire Muslim world.
The US Isn't Leaving Iraq, It's Rebranding the Occupation | CommonDreams.org - 0 views
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For most people in Britain and the US, Iraq is already history. Afghanistan has long since taken the lion's share of media attention, as the death toll of Nato troops rises inexorably. Controversy about Iraq is now almost entirely focused on the original decision to invade: what's happening there in 2010 barely registers.
We Are Cornered: There's No Way Out Without A Fight | Black Agenda Report - 0 views
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A corporate offensive is rolling down upon us, aimed at wholesale privatization of the public sector. If the Left has learned anything in the last year and a half, it should be that President Obama is Wall Street's guy, having "delivered the highest return on corporate campaign investment in the history of bourgeois democracy." In this struggle, the people will be left to their own devices.
The Unnecessary Fall | The New Republic - 0 views
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A counter-history of the Obama presidency.
t r u t h o u t | Fail and Grow Rich on Wall Street - 0 views
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Welcome to the brave new world of post-bailout capitalism. The Commerce Department announced Tuesday that corporate profits are at their highest level in U.S. history, and the Fed released minutes of an early November meeting in which officials predicted a stagnant economy and continued high unemployment.
Use of DNA evidence is not an open and shut case, professor says - 0 views
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In his new book, "The Double Helix and the Law of Evidence" (Harvard University Press), Kaye focuses on the intersection of science and law, and emphasizes that DNA evidence is merely information. "There's a popular perception that with DNA, you get results," Kaye said. "You're either guilty or innocent, and the DNA speaks the truth. That goes too far. DNA is a tool. Perhaps in many cases it's open and shut, in other cases it's not. There's ambiguity."
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One of the book's key themes is that using science in court is hard to do right. "It requires lawyers and judges to understand a lot about the science," Kaye noted. "They don't have to be scientists or technicians, but they do have to know enough to understand what's going on and whether the statements that experts are making are well-founded. The lawyers need to be able to translate that information into a form that a judge or a jury can understand." Kaye also believes that lawyers need to better understand statistics and probability, an area that has traditionally been neglected in law school curricula. His book attempts to close this gap in understanding with several sections on genetic science and probability. The book also contends that scientists, too, have contributed to the false sense of certainty, when they are so often led by either side of one particular case to take an extreme position. Scientists need to approach their role as experts less as partisans and more as defenders of truth. Aiming to be a definitive history of the use of DNA evidence, "The Double Helix and the Law of Evidence" chronicles precedent-setting criminal trials, battles among factions of the scientific community and a multitude of issues with the use of probability and statistics related to DNA. From the Simpson trial to the search for the last Russian Tsar, Kaye tells the story of how DNA science has impacted society. He delves into the history of the application of DNA science and probability within the legal system and depicts its advances and setbacks.
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Whether used to clinch a guilty verdict or predict the end of a "CSI" episode, DNA evidence has given millions of people a sense of certainty -- but the outcomes of using DNA evidence have often been far from certain, according to David Kaye, Distinguished Professor of Law at Penn State.
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