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Great article today in the New York Times: U.S. Says It Fears Detainee Abuse in Repatriation.
A long-running effort by the Bush administration to send home many of the terror suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has been stymied in part because of concern among United States officials that the prisoners may not be treated humanely [...]

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Hiding and Seeking is a deeply moving independent documentary about one man’s attempt to help his adult sons gain respect for the “other”. Menachem Daum travels to Jerusalem to visit his sons and their families, and to talk about xenophobia, racism, and religious intolerance. It’s eye-opening. Eventually he, his wife, and the sons travel to [...]

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There’s a skirmish in the culture wars under way in Lexington, Massachusetts. Elementary school principal Joni Jay is holding her ground about a teacher’s decision to read King and King to a second-grade class. The newspaper account describes her as a real pro, as well as having a balanced and sensible attitude. She’s met with [...]

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The concluding sequel to Karen Traviss’s Crossing the Line, The World Before comes to an unsatisfying end. Traviss’s shallow character development finally becomes a fatal flaw, especially when coupled with her transparent plotting of relationships. The final fifty pages or so are painfully clunky, with the final denoument being drawn out until the final paragraphs. [...]

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Richard Reeves has written a profile of John Stuart Mill in the May 2006 Prospect Magazine.
I haven’t read much political philosophy, so it was interesting to learn about Mill. Some nuggets (each paragraph lifted separately):
Mill was a man who saw little value in ideas unless they were tethered to human improvement, and was brilliantly successful [...]

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by Karen Traviss
So I ran out and bought the second one. Crossing the Lineis just as much of a page turner as City of Pearl. I love the ambiguity and complexities of the title pun. And I’m eager to see how it turns out in the third volume. (This one is not satisfying in itself.)
All [...]

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The New York Times has an article on A Religious Push Against Gay Unions:
Organizers said the petition had brought together cardinals from both the left and right sides of the United States bishops’ conference, including the liberal Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and the conservative Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, as well as [...]

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by Karen Traviss.
I bought City of Pearl a while ago, but yesterday I needed a commuting book and finally picked it up. This morning at 2:00 I put it down. (Well, I did put it down while I was a work.) Yes, I wanted to see how it ended that badly. Some of the plot [...]

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Not a common experience. But last Monday I went to Norumbega Harmony’s monthly Sacred Harp sing, and we sang William Billings’s Easter Anthem, and pieces of it just keep going around in my head. I’ve found two versions online. (These links will take you directly to mp3 files hosted by Voices across America.)

Cleburne County, Alabama, [...]

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She learnt to drive in 1945 when she joined the army
Even the Guardian is noting Queen Elizabeth’s 80th birthday.

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