Monthly Archives: April 2009

Human Rights Maps (53): Death Penalty, Number of Executions in the U.S.

Posted on April 30, 2009 by

(source, click on the images to enlarge) A more theoretical discussion of capital punishment is here.

Posted in capital punishment, human rights maps | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Limiting Free Speech (25): Does Freedom of Religion Require Limits on Freedom of Speech?

Posted on April 29, 2009 by

(source) The UN Human Rights Council recently passed a Resolution on Religious Defamation. The main concern of the drafters of this resolution is islamophobia, defamation of Muslims, negative stereotyping of Muslims and Islam, and intolerance and discrimination against Muslims. The … Continue reading →

Posted in discrimination and hate, limiting free speech, religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Human Rights Ads (10): Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

Posted on April 28, 2009 by

(source, an Amnesty International ad) More on this topic.

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Political Graffiti (37): War for Peace

Posted on April 28, 2009 by

(source) More on war and peace.

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The Causes of Poverty (20): Education

Posted on April 28, 2009 by

In this and this post, I showed some data indicating that poverty or relatively low income has a negative effect on education levels. This may be obvious, but it’s good to have some data marking the extent of the effect … Continue reading →

Posted in causes of poverty, education, poverty | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Religion and Human Rights (14): Anti-Semitism in Arab Media

Posted on April 27, 2009 by

Find the similarities between this cartoon in an Arab newspaper, and the front page of the nazi Der Stürmer newspaper: (source) (source) Anti-semitism is quite common in Arab media. See here and here. This Pew survey clearly indicates that Jews are … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, discrimination and hate, religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Political Jokes & Funny Quotes (24): Peace

Posted on April 26, 2009 by

(source) If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. More on peace.

Posted in comedy, political jokes and funny quotes | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Global Poverty Estimates by the World Bank

Posted on April 24, 2009 by

Via The Economist: Just over a quarter of the world’s population, or 1.4 billion people, lived in extreme poverty in 2005, according to a report released this week from the World Bank. This has fallen from 42% in 1990, when … Continue reading →

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Religion and Human Rights (13): Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty, How Much Can We Discriminate?

Posted on April 24, 2009 by

(source) I already stated my position on gay marriage rights here and here. I’m opposed to all forms of discrimination and I’m a staunch defender of equal rights, so same-sex marriage to me is a no-brainer. Although international human rights law … Continue reading →

Posted in discrimination and hate, equality, religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

What is Democracy? (41): Democracy is Peace, Continued

Posted on April 24, 2009 by

The so-called “democratic peace theory” – democracy promotes peace (a theory originating in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant) – has been mentioned a few times before on this blog (here, here and here). One of the points that were made … Continue reading →

Posted in comedy, democracy, war, what is democracy? | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment