In many different contexts, people have continued to identify the Other by reference to phenotypical features (especially skin colour) which therefore serve as indicative of a significant difference.  Moreover, they have continued to use the idea of “race” to label that difference.  As a result, certain sorts of social relations are defined as “race relations,” as social relations between people of different “races.” Indeed, states legislate to regulate “race relations,”

Reuters: The Catholic archbishop of the Iraqi city of Mosul was kidnapped Monday in what the Vatican called an “act of terrorism.” Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told Reuters the Holy See had received news of the kidnapping of Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa in Mosul. The spokesman demanded his immediate release but gave no details of the abduction. Because Abu Ghraib. And the Inquisition. And rosary beads. And the Crusades.  And

From the New York Daily News: U.S. commandos are hunting for secret nuclear and chemical weapons sites and other targets in Iran, and have a plan to turn the hard-line Islamic country into the next front in the war on terrorism. “It’s not if we’re going to do anything against Iran. They’re doing it,” an ex-intelligence official tells this week’s issue of The New Yorker. Since at least last summer,

For the record, I received nothing—unless you count that foot massage from Ed Gillespie during the Republican National Convention.* But I prefer to think of that as a thank you from a dear friend who recognized a pair of sore feet when he saw them.  Draped across his hairless lap.

The only thing separating the current incarnation of Prince from the post-1965 Judy Garland is a lethal cocktail of pills and alcohol.  And maybe a pencil-thin mustache—though that is a matter of some dispute.

Mark Moore tips me off to this fascinating account of Ukranian secret police (S.B.U.) commander Col. Gen. Ihor P. Smeshko’s heroic efforts to protect Ukranian protesters from anti-insurgent military forces during this past fall’s presidential election controversy: […] It was just after 10 p.m. on Nov. 28. More than 10,000 troops scrambled toward trucks. Most had helmets, shields and clubs. Three thousand carried guns. Many wore black masks. Within 45

The 1975-1979 Gabe Kaplan – Alan Sacks vehicle “Welcome Back, Kotter” was not originally titled simply “Kotter” (as an apocryphal story has it), but rather “So I See You’ve Finally Moved Out of Your Mother’s Basement and Gotten Yourself a Job Teaching Unfunny Retards, You Jew Loser.” The provocative title was changed, however, when former Lovin’ Spoonful lead singer John Sebastian, who had been commissioned to write the show’s theme