BEIJING: Chinese hackers have gotten pretty good the past few years at disrupting things. I'm generally not in favor of encouraging hacker mayhem, but this case it a bit different. Let's see if they can shut down Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. And if...

BEIJING: It's only five months into the year and it has been a pretty difficult one already for the Chinese. Massive snowstorms caused havoc earlier this year, then there was the turmoil in Tibet and the aftermath following the Olympic torch relay around the world, lately this EV71 virus...

BEIJING - Boycotts and mini-boycotts. While the Chinese government may have its Tibet problems, its issues supporting the regimes in Sudan and Myanmar, its positions regarding Taiwan and a whole host of other things ... put all those aside for a minute. Boycotting the Olympics is no way...

This is a continuation of a posting started yesterday on the situation in T***t and surrounding provinces in China.

Updates posted below

BEIJING: News out of T****t trickled to a halt today. Well, at least independent news of any credibility. The official word is pouring out...

China's Olympic hopes could hinge on how authorities react as the midnight deadline for Tibetan rioters to turn themselves in expires ...

Live updates on arrests at end of post.

BEIJING - It's nearly 2,000 miles from where I sit in Beijing to Lhasa, roughly the same distance as...

It seems some Christian groups from across the ideological spectrum are finally getting a bit worried that the Left Behind machine is giving them a bad rap. At least when it comes to the video game version of that machine, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, set to...

I got an e-mail yesterday from someone that pointed me to this web-exclusive front-page story for Newsweek featuring an interview by Brian Braiker with Tim LaHaye.

Overall I thought Braiker conducted a good interview, but for the sake of balance you'd think Newsweek would possibly talk to people...

*For those coming in here from the Newsweek story, please see my response here.

If there is anything that makes my brain hurt, cramp up, squirm wildly and otherwise want to fly out of my head to seek refuge under the nearest cool and heavy rock, it is...

Earlier today, in an interview with NBC's Today Show host Matt Lauer, the president of Russia Vladimir Putin, took a verbal jab at Vice President Cheney's statements that the Russian government "has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of the [Russian] people" and that "other actions by the Russian government...

Message to Hollywood: Faith Community Wants Wholesome Films

Listen up all you Godless, secularized Hollywood types. You're missing out on the big show. You're missing the milk and honeyed jackpot here. You're out of lockstep with the proverbial manna from heaven that's right before your fingertips. If you'd only...

Picture this: You're walking down the street in New York City and around you people start vanishing out of their clothes in a 'twinkling of an eye.' You find out a little later that the Rapture has occurred. You're pretty freaked out, you know, since this type of thing doesn't...

So I was looking at the map (*Update 5.18.06: FP editors have corrected the mistake and put Taiwan back on the map, though blacked out) that goes along with the

Sorry if anyone else out there has already blogged about this story. I didn't see anything, so thought it would be safe. This has to be one of my favorite news items of the past week:

The next challenge Harry Potter will face has nothing to do...

Now here's a story I haven't seen in the mainstream English language press on either side of the Atlantic. Belgian author Paul Verhaeghen, who resides in the U.S., has rejected 12,500 Euros in prize money due to the taxable portion he doesn't want going into U.S. war coffers. Verhaeghen...

This is a notice that the next Carnival of German-American Relations will take place at the Atlantic Review and Statler & Waldorf blogs on March 11, 2006. Submission deadline is March 7.

Just what is the Carnival?

The Blog Carnival of German-American Relations takes place quarterly....

First a hypothetical:

Say the husband of the National Organization for Woman head wrote a series of 12 books (and three prequels later) that portrays anyone who doesn't agree with their stand on pro-choice, woman's rights, and a variety of other liberal causes - Christian fundamentalists, conservatives,...

Is it me, or was it starting to smell like a bunch of lemmings circle-jerking in here? Seems like that has started to change, but I'll post this anyway.

Not in any particular order ....

1. New More Sadistic Abu Ghraib Photos Revealed

2.

There are a number of items which critics of President Bush's "Faith Based and Community Initiatives" program usually bring up, namely the heady Church v. State dilemma inherent to the program itself. Second is the perception that taxpayers could be funding proselytizing, religious discrimination, and in this day when...

Let me start with a note that I sent to Andrew Sullivan today [Friday, February 10th, 2006]. It sets up some of what I'll go into below. I don't know Andrew and he doesn't know me. I don't have anything against him, and generally agree with much of what he...