Bertrand Russell In attempting to understand the elements out of which mental phenomena are compounded, it is of the greatest importance to remember that from the protozoa to man there is nowhere a very wide gap either in structure or in behaviour. From this fact it is a highly probable inference that there is also nowhere a very wide mental gap. It is, of course, possible that there may be, at certain stages in evolution, elements which are entirely new from the standpoint of analysis, though in their nascent form they have little influence on behaviour and no very marked … Continue reading Instinct and habit

The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting Wednesday, January 06, 2010 Anjum Niaz Uncle Scrooge likes to gloat over the dollars he gets from the toil and sweat of Pakistanis living abroad. The greenbacks are the finance minister’s mainstay. They fatten up the nation’s foreign exchange reserves. Shaukat Tareen takes credit for the inflow as if he was the manufacturer. Sadly the people sending back the dollars don’t matter to our policy-makers. They never have. To the rulers, they are a mere dollar-making machine. Just a number that does not … Continue reading A mere $-making machine

Wednesday, January 06, 2010 Maleeha Lodhi and Anatole Lieven The key question to ask about President Obama’s military surge in Afghanistan is, “Where is Plan B?” In other words, if the extra troops do not reverse the Taliban momentum and the Afghan governance structure and army cannot take over from the United States in the next few years, what then? Equally importantly, how does Obama hope to prevent increased U.S. pressure on Pakistan from further destabilizing that country and risking a much greater disaster for the region and the world? The record of the past suggests that the surge is … Continue reading Obama needs a ‘Plan B’

Posted by Sana Saleem  Transgender rights represent a relatively new frontier in civil liberties activism. In Pakistan, eunuchs have historically been disregarded and marginalised by mainstream issue advocates. The discriminations against eunuchs reveal our petty-bourgeois mentality that is mostly reluctant to recognise gender deviance. Over the years, the complete isolation of eunuchs from the very fabric of our society has denied them access to education, employment and health care – a direct violation of fundamental rights. Instead, they are forced to beg, dance, and enter prostitution as the only means of livelihood. Forms of discrimination impacting them include housing discrimination, … Continue reading A new frontier in civil liberties

By Iftikhar A. Khan Tuesday, 05 Jan, 2010 // // The then ambassador, Kamran Niaz.—File photo ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s embassy building in Tokyo was sold out at a throwaway price in 2007 after a huge spending on its renovation, ostensibly on a pretext that later proved to be false. An investigation carried out by Dawn revealed that the deal, which had been kept a “guarded secret”, was made on a false pretext that under metropolitan rules and regulations there was a bar on construction beyond three storeys. The construction of a seven-storey building on the same land makes the deal all … Continue reading Embassy building in Tokyo sold at half the price

By Rafia Zakaria Wednesday, 06 Jan, 2010 // // US Transportation Security Administration officer Robert Howard signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, in SeaTac, Wash. – Photo by AP. In the frenetic aftermath of the thwarted bombing attempt on a Northwest Airlines flight, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued a new set of screening guidelines. In effect from Jan 4, 2010 the new guidelines will be applied to all passengers on flights to the US and will subject those from “countries of interest” to special scrutiny. Included … Continue reading Patting down Pakistanis

by SAMERA KHATOON A BURTON man is ʻconfidentʼ he can recruit thousands of people to join him on an Islamist march through an English town which has become world famous for remembering Britainʼs war dead. Zakeel Abbas, of Sydney Street, Horninglow, has defended his decision to take part in the procession through Wootton Bassett – the Wiltshire market town which holds silent vigils in honour of the service personnel as their bodies are driven through its streets after being flown home from Afghanistan to nearby RAF Lyneham. The march will turn this traditional form of commemoration on its head by … Continue reading WHY I’M HOLDING ISLAMIST MARCH

Is Flying While Brown the New Driving While Black? Posted on 03 January 2010 by Danios The paranoid calls to profile Muslims on airplanes have become louder in recent days.  Here’s a story from 2008 that ought to make us think twice about such an un-American response (hat tip: KevinMD.com): Doctor Flying Southwest Tries To Go To Bathroom, Ends Up In Jail By Chris Walters on September 24, 2008 A 65-year-old urologist, born in India but living in the United States for 38 years now, was flying from his home in Missouri to a medical convention in Las Vegas on … Continue reading LOONWATCH: – Is Flying While Brown the New Driving While Black?

Posted on 04 January 2010 by Garibaldi I am a little apprehensive in writing this piece because I don’t want to give more credence or traffic to some back water unknown Islamophobe then he deserves. However, I do think it is instructional considering the persistent affection and repetition with which they hold one particularly morbid fantasy: bombing Mecca. I could go into a historical analysis of what we call the Nuclear Card, charting how various belligerents starting from the Crusader Raynald of Chatillon all the way to Tom Trancredo in the present day have employed the threat of destroying Mecca … Continue reading LOONWATCH – Bob Beers: How about we Bomb Mecca?