US Charitable Donations - $1000/capita

Interesting - americans donated the equivalent of 1.7% of GDP to charity last year. 30% to religious groups, 15% to educational institutions.

Phew.

Every year its a relief when the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem concludes without serious incidents. This editorial sums up how I feel. There was some excitement though:

Two dozen haredi and modern Orthodox protesters were arrested in the course of the evening. Several had planned to throw eggs at parade participants, and one had dressed up as a homosexual with the intention of infiltrating the parade, police said.

It is my most earnest hope that the police release pictures of this haredi individual who no doubt donned revealing undergarments and a pink wig for the occasion.

"News" Media Bias

Surprise - journalists are left-leaning. You could argue that a really honest reporter wouldn't allow their personal party affiliations to color their reporting. But when a huge majority of the news media leans left, its hard to really believe that this doesn't somehow introduce a smidgeon of bias into the news.

If its too much to ask that journalists try to refrain from having an opinion on current affairs, then news media needs to either:
(1) Explicitly declare the political position of the culture of its staff, or
(2) Ensure that staff composition reflects social structure. Just as its good to have ethnic diversity on staff, its essential to have a diversity of opinions.

I know its outrageous to ask that the NYT is 10% black, 10% hispanic and 50% republican. It's unreasonable for NPR to be 50% male. But until then, lets not pretend that the news media isn't broken. Frankly I'm surprised that journalists make donations to either party. For the skewed coverage they offer on almost any political topic their services to the Democrats are immeasurable - in a fair world, reporters would be on DNC staff.

Sidenote: BBC would have written this headline better: "Journalists" give campaign cash.

Update: Hilariously, one of the 'public-spirited' donors was Randy Cohen, who covers ethics for the NYT and NPR.

Gaza Fatah Gaza Hamas Harass Harass Gaza Hamas

People often say to me, "Tofuhawk, what do you think of what's going on in Gaza?"

I can only reply Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo..

Don't Call Me Sir

The Pakistani religious affairs minister responded with aplomb to the knighting of Salman Rushdie:

This is an occasion for the world's 1.5billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision.

Right on! Lets respond with dignity and proportion!

The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism

Ignorant racists that they are...

If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so, unless the British government apologises and withdraws the 'sir' title.'

Err... Perhaps we could call him 'Madam' instead?

Columbia President - Boycott US

The President of Columbia University has issued a surprisingly strong statement against the UCU Boycott. Surprising because this is the same guy who rigged an investigative committee to ensure that Columbia Professors would be exonerated on charges of anti-semitism.

Any statement against the boycott is a good thing but in Bollinger's case its impossible not to be cynical as to his motives. It's transparent posturing - he isn't actually proposing any concrete steps in support of his stance. Given the antipathy in US academic circles toward boycotting Israel, it doesn't take much bravery to issue a toothless press release.

Lets see Columbia deal with its problems in the department of Middle East and Asian Language and Cultures where supporters of Israel have been intimidated and threatened. Then we might believe that Bollinger is serious about "fostering scholarly and cultural exchanges that lead to enlightenment, empathy, and a much-needed international marketplace of ideas".

Ashrawi See a Veil in her Future

Edward Said's protege Hanan Ashrawihas been a 'leader' of the Palestinians for 30 years. Now she can gaze in pride at her achievements

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said the Palestinians 'are entering a slippery slope of a civil war.'

At issue, she said, is the shape a future Palestinian state will take -- 'whether we're going to have a Palestinian state that is a national secular state; or is this going to become an Islamic state with a more closed ideological society.'

But she said the battle is currently over 'minuscule spoils.'

Odd. Is she suggesting that this violence is due to Islamic fundamentalism? Isn't it Israel's fault?

No NIH Money for British Boycotters

It's heartening to read that the UCU Boycott of Israel is not going to be without negative consequences for those promoting it:

Prof Dershowitz said he had started work on legal moves to fight any boycott.

He told the Times Higher Educational Supplement that these would include using a US law - banning discrimination on the basis of nationality - against UK universities with research ties to US colleges. US academics might also be urged to accept honorary posts at Israeli colleges in order to become boycott targets.

The NIH alone spends around $30 million giving research grants to investigators in the UK. Clearly these researchers should declare their non-participation in the boycott.