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A geek with cheek

What right has Bill Gates to dress down Italy and its prime minister?


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Citizens United and the problem of modern judicial activism

Why the concept of “strict scrutiny” is alien to the Constitution and why it poses a threat to a constitutionally defensible judicial review.


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Super Bowl battle:  abortion, a pro, and a choice

Controversy over an ad for the big event makes you wonder what some folks mean by 'choice'.


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Muslim face veils: religious right, or security risk?

In an opening article on this issue an Australian journalist says veils are a security risk in the West and should be banned in public.


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Guttmacher’s spin on ‘teen pregnancy’

If you count adolescents old enough to vote and enlist, sure the pregnancy rate went up.


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Avatar blues

The film depresses by placing hope in a blind life force, not in human agency.


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Give me a little respect, baby, ooo…

The Australian state of Victoria has appointed a Minister for Respect. He might as well sing for it.


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Monaco to Mongolia: population density and prosperity

The next big population bogeyman could well be 'overcrowding'. Should we worry?


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Read-only: iPad as a consumer device

The iPad could have played a major part in the shift towards a more democratised, read-write culture. But it hasn’t happened: why not?


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J D Salinger’s American Dream

A quest for authenticity that turned prolonged immaturity into an ideal.


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Saving the lives of women and children

The G8 appears set to take on the issues of child and maternal mortality. Can they do it while saving lives, not destroying them?


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The Obama Spell Is Broken One of the Wall Street Journal's most controversial articles, by Fouad Ajami. | WSJ

Here There Be Monsters Bullying can scar people for life | Truthout

In the World of Facebook Is a news feed a substitute for a conversation? | New York Review of Books

A time for introspection Increasing scrutiny of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, in particular, its chairman, should lead to reforms | The Economist

Gay rights: Don’t ask, don’t think A fatal flaw in the gay-rights argument. | One News Now

Through a glass darkly The Conservatives—and apparently plenty of voters—think that Britain has a “broken society”. Does the claim stand up? | The Economist

The IPCC: a Vatican for the twenty-first century? The problem with the IPCC is not that some of its science is dodgy, but the fact that it elevates science per se above politics and democracy. | Spiked

The Culture of Narcissism In praise of Christopher Lasch's grim jeremiad on American culture. | New York Times

Moving the Deck Chairs Renowned economist Joseph Stiglitz is not happy with US economic policy | New York Times

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