And of course now that the news is out, clerics are talking disgusting nonsense about Kambaksh and what he did.

Maulavi Hanif Shah Hosseini, a prominent mullah, declared: “Kambaksh committed a crime against the Koran and the people who conspired so that he escaped the law have also committed a crime. All the decisions to help this man who disrespected Islam are coming from the foreigners…We are going to call for a gathering of the ulama to decide what to do…[A]ny trouble will be the fault of people who helped Kambaksh.”

A crime against the Koran – that’s an interesting notion of a possible crime, right there. It presumably means something like ‘disagreeing with some tenet of Islam as … Read the rest

Well at least Sayed Pervez Kambaksh is free and safely out of Afghanistan. It’s too bad the women of Afghanistan have to stay behind, but it’s good that Kambaksh is out, all the same.

Mr Kambaksh was moved from his cell in Kabul’s main prison a fortnight ago and kept at a secure location for a few days before being flown out of the country. Prior to his departure, he spoke of how his relief was mixed with deep regret at knowing he was unlikely to see his family or country again…Hardline Islamists, including a number of political figures close to the government of President Karzai, have repeatedly called for Mr Kambaksh’s execution and were fiercely critical when an appeal

A reader asked me earlier today why religions so adamantly resist assisted suicide legislation, is it just the idea that God is supposed to decide when we die or what. I said that as far as I knew it was all rather ad hoc (not to say lame) and that what justifications were offered tended to be quite disgusting. I offered the example of Richard Swinburne saying suffering is good because it gives people the opportunity to show compassion, and Jonathan Sacks saying he was glad his father hadn’t had the ability to escape the final stages of his death because that mean he, Jonathan, had the chance to take care of his father. Having brought them up, I wanted … Read the rest

The ‘oh sweet jesus Obama is going to talk to little school children and tell them to sniff cocaine and spread their legs and rob banks help help it’s all such a nightmare’ fuss is too much even for some conservatives. Which is good, I suppose, but it ought to be too much for anyone. It ought to be too stupid and too vicious and too evil for anyone.

Blue Indiana knows why.

Let me proffer the following: there is absolutely nothing that could possibly be planned for students next Tuesday that can even begin to approach the pedagogical and personal benefit of hearing the President of the United States tell you that he believes you can change