With few exceptions, it's now possible to say that most everybody everywhere is an environmentalist, especially politicians running for higher office. Even the major oil companies and oil rich Gulf state are sponsoring environmental initiatives and research into alternative energy sources.

Of course, we all want to wean the world,...

About a month ago, I walked into my local Guitar Center to buy some equipment and noticed banners all over the store which read, simply, "Make Rock History." There was no other information indicating what the banners meant, but one of the salesman filled me in on the secret: On...

Among its many goals, Barack Obama's historic July 24 speech in Berlin sought to demonstrate the Senator's command of the world stage, particularly with regard to creating a united front with Europe against global terrorism. Given the largely positive reception it has received, the presumptive Democratic nominee likely achieved this...

The following is an excerpt from chapter six of my book, Heavy Metal Islam: Rock Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, just published by Random House's Three Rivers Press imprint. Full information about the book is available at heavymetalislam.net.

Driving into Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP),...

On a flight home from a lecture at the University of Arizona on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, I happened to sit next to an elderly woman whose accent, along with the Hebrew prayer card in her hand, suggested she was Israeli.

Our conversation during the flight...

As reported by Jason Linkins in the Huffington Post last week, the release of the full text of the so-called "Torture Memo" written by UC Berkeley Law professor -- and at the time, Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, has fired up even conservative commentators such as Andrew Sullivan. On...

w/ special guest blogger Salman Ahmed

By almost any measure, the December 10th reunion of Led Zeppelin is among the most anticipated in rock history. And with good reason. Led Zeppelin was the most powerful, mesmerizing rock group of all time.

But beyond unforgettable songs and legendary...

As Israel and the Palestinians prepare for their upcoming "meeting" in Annapolis, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been busy spinning Israel's positions on the far reaching concessions it will likely be asked to make as part of the "final peace deal" that Olmert and Abbas are pledging to negotiate within...

I still remember that sunny June morning when I sat transfixed in front of a television in the lobby of my hotel in Denver, Colorado. It was my cousin's wedding, but I could not get very excited about it, because on the hotel's giant projection television screen, was a young...

Ever since the London Review of Books published the controversial findings of Universities of Chicago and Harvard professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's research into the power of the Jewish, or Israel lobby, the two men have been demonized as anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic. Now the full product of their...

Tomorrow the world will once again be blessed with a world wide concert featuring the leading concerned citizens of the rock 'n roll world playing for free (although all the free publicity certainly makes it worth while) to help educate the rest of the world about the dangers of...

Bono is apparently in a fighting mood. At least according to the photo of him above an article in today's Guardian describing his anger that the G-8 countries, and particularly Italy and Russia have not come close to meeting the pledges for increased aid to Africa made at the...

Driving into Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, there is a sign on the road that welcomes you to "the land of hospitality." This is not what you'd expect to find on your way to Peshawar, gateway to the Taliban and al-Qa'eda controlled region of the country, where Osama bin Laden is...

Ever since 9/11 President Bush has peppered his State of the Union speeches, and most other foreign policy discussions, with references to his goal of spreading democracy to the Middle East, and Iraq in particular. Well, we now know that the Iraq Democracy Project has proven a bit harder than...

If there was ever any doubt that President George W. Bush is a psychopath, his speech to the nation last night announcing an increase of over 20,000 American troops in Iraq should have quelled them.

According to the current psychiactric and psychoanalytic theory (and to my late mother, a psychotherapist...

It was a cool and rainy early spring evening in 1985 at the legendary Lone Star Cafe on NYC's 5th Avenue, where the slogan was, if I remember correctly, "too much is never enough." I was still a kid, just starting out as a guitar player, and had worked the...

In the wake of the latest political assassination to rock Lebanon--this week's shooting of Pierre Gemayel, a scion of one of Lebanon's foremost Maronite political families--suspicion was fallen on the Syrians, and perhaps Hezbollah as the most likely culprits.

There is some logic to this view, given Syria's likely involvement...

If history is any guide, British comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen, creator of the faux-Kazakhstani reporter Borat, is well on his way to becoming the next Madonna. No, he doesn't sing--apart from a brilliant live rendition of "Throw the Jew Down the Well" recorded before an enthusiastic audience in Tuscon, Arizona. But...

When I was in Iraq in 2004 it was clear that the official number of deaths being reported to the American media of Iraqis was utter nonsense. In fact, one doctor at Qhadamiyya hospital in Baghdad told me about a directive from the CPA, then still in charge, prohibiting him...