History How to fix Iraq, and not invade Iran 28 Sep 200718 Sep 2017 There’s been a lot of media spin and unthinking objections to the visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the US. He was called the “modern Hitler”, for example. This strikes me as both unthinking and dangerous. Ahmadinejad is his own kind of threat and problem, and comparisons to past dangerous… Continue Reading
Politics Haneef again 31 Jul 2007 Sorry to bother you all with internal Australian politics, but this has to be discussed. Now the minister for immigration is saying that the Australian Federal Police intercepted a chat room conversation in which Haneef was told to leave Australia by (they say) his cousins before his knowledge of the… Continue Reading
Politics Haneef cleared 27 Jul 2007 A short note – it looks like Haneef has been cleared of all charges and the political pressure on his arrest and detention has been criticised by civil rights lawyers. Good news, but I really hope further action is taken against the AFP and the politicians. Keep an eye open… Continue Reading
Politics Indian terror suspect not really suspicious 20 Jul 2007 In yet further evidence that due process is a bulwark against the arrogance and incompetence, not to say potential police statery, of intelligence agencies, it turns out that the core piece of evidence against Dr Haneef, the Indian doctor being detained by the Australian government against the law, is wrong…. Continue Reading
Politics Australia goes Gitmo 18 Jul 2007 An Indian doctor working in Queensland, where I live, whose cousin was involved in the failed bombing plot in the UK, was detained apparently because he lent his prepaid SIM card to the cousin. He was held without charge or bail for 13 days, under a magistrate’s orders, which is… Continue Reading
Evolution Lewes on Heredity, in 1856 22 Jun 2007 I’m putting this up because I will use it to discuss the history of species definitions in a forthcoming talk. It’s very interesting for a number of reasons, one of which is the species nominalism, and another that Lewes argues from evidence for biparental inheritance some years before Mendel, and… Continue Reading
History Greewald on Bush on Evil 20 Jun 2007 A very thoughtful and interesting, dare I say almost philosophical, discussion of the Manichaean nature of the Bush Administration is in the present Salon here. A quote: The power to order people detained and imprisoned based solely on accusation is one of the most extraordinary and tyrannical powers any political… Continue Reading