I often enjoy Nick Cohen’s writing, not least when he upsets his readers at the Guardian and Observer. Which he does again today:

For once, the postmodern theories so many [Democrats] were taught at university are a help to the rest of us. As a Christian, conservative anti-abortionist who proved her support for the Iraq War by sending her son to fight in it, Sarah Palin was ‘the other’ – the threatening alien presence they defined themselves against…

Hatred is the most powerful emotion in politics. At present, American liberals are not fighting for an Obama presidency. I suspect that most have only the haziest idea of what it would mean for their country. The slogans that move their hearts and stir their souls are directed against their enemies: Bush, the neo-cons, the religious right…

Naturally, umbrage ensues.

Eco-hippies weep for fallen trees. “I want you to know, trees, that we care.”

Emotional Hippies – Crying Over Dead Trees – Watch more free videos

Hand me the gun. No, the bigger one.

(h/t, Clazy.)

When the parachute doesn’t open. (h/t, Dr Westerhaus.) // Your very own dinosaur suit. Frighten children, impress women. More. // Idhi oka idi le. Bollywood psychedelia. // Bicycles with enormous speakers. It’s a thing, apparently. // Stop-motion fireworks. // Stop-motion chalk. (h/t, 1+1=3.) // Water sculpture. // Bruce Mozertom’s underwater photography. (1938) (h/t, DRB.) // Japanese goblin shark. Does anything about it look… familiar? // Guinness and light. // Sun spots and climate change. // Sunglasses of the Sixties and Seventies. (h/t, Anna.) // Nigerian man to divorce 82 of his 86 wives. // The size of Africa. (h/t, Norm.) // Michael Jackson at 50. // Tube clocks. // Buildings of note. // A short history of anatomical maps. // Architectural jelly. // Geothermal energy projects. // Deodorising snowflake gun brings joy to consumers. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Ms Valaida Snow. 

Arabella Weir, whose leftist credentials have previously been noted, today shares her wisdom on parenting and education:

Weir’s definition of a “good, responsible citizen” will become apparent in due course.

Some might think of that as where ideology collides with actual parenting.

Actually, Ms Weir attended the hardly-rough-and-tumble Camden School for Girls, a voluntary aided school, whose alumnae include Emma Thompson and Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor. Arabella is, lest we forget, the daughter of former British ambassador Sir Michael Weir and not short of a bob.

State schooling is, one might suppose, entirely free of disabling and alienating effects, being as it is so ideologically sound.

Here, the “right thing to do” has a sacrificial air and seems to mean trading educational opportunity – say, in terms of motivation, class size and a culture of learning – for an approved and “representative” social mix, i.e. one which involves mingling conspicuously with those deemed “disadvantaged”. Thus one’s leftist credentials can be seen by passers-by. Is this really about doing the right thing? Or is it just a matter of admiring one’s own socialist credibility?

For shame. Parents must make sacrifices, you hear? Not for their own children, of course, or for their peace of mind, but for the Greater Good.

Norman Geras spots some cultural cringing at The Observer:

“America and Britain talk about human rights and democracy as if their benefits are self-evident and universal. But when it suits their strategic aims, in Latin America, Central Asia or the Middle East, they collaborate with brutal dictatorships.”

OK, so you should practise what you preach. But can’t you also preach what you practise if you do practise it? America and Britain do have a certain record they can point to as democracies. And the benefits of human rights and democracy are universal, aren’t they? Or did The Observer change its spots and retreat from its attachment to liberalism?

“American and European interests will not be served by military grandstanding and asserting the moral superiority of their political systems.”

Hmmm… I thought democratic political systems were superior. I thought The Observer might think this too.

Indeed. The rest.

Tonight sees the return of Channel 4’s extraordinary Undercover Mosque investigation. Sara Hassan, whose covert filming is featured in tonight’s programme, reports on what she found in one of Britain’s “most respected centres for moderate Islam.” 

In a large balcony above the beautiful main hall at Regent’s Park Mosque in London – widely considered the most important mosque in Britain – I am filming undercover as the woman preacher gives her talk. What should be done to a Muslim who converts to another faith? “We kill him,” she says, “kill him, kill, kill… You have to kill him, you understand?”

It’s heartening to see the wisdom of Muhammad still shining upon the world.

Adulterers, she says, are to be stoned to death – and as for homosexuals, and women who “make themselves like a man, a woman like a man… the punishment is kill, kill them, throw them from the highest place.”

I’ve remarked before on how the enthusiasm for sacralised murder never quite fails to jar. And despite repeated exposure to such impressive piety, I still can’t help noting that the quoted sermons feature the word “kill” no fewer than nine times. However, the news isn’t all bad:

These punishments, the preacher says, are to be implemented in a future Islamic state. “This is not to tell you to start killing people,” she continues. “There must be a Muslim leader, when the Muslim army becomes stronger, when Islam has grown enough.”

Naturally, as with most things Islamic, inconsistencies abound.

Regent’s Park Mosque has a major interfaith department, which arranges visits from the Government, the civil service, representatives of other religions and thousands of British school children a year. I watched as an interfaith group was brought in to meet the mosque’s women’s circle for a civilised exchange. But when the interfaith group wasn’t there, the preacher attacked other faiths, and the very concept of interfaith dialogue. One preacher said of Christians praying in a church: “What are these people doing in there, these things are so vile, what they say with their tongues is so vile and disgusting, it’s an abomination.” As for the concept of interfaith live-and-let-live: “This is false. It does not work. This concept is a lie, it is fake, and it is a farce.”

Doubtless these inconsistencies will be resolved “when the Muslim army becomes stronger.” Allah willing, of course.

Please, read the whole thing.

Undercover Mosque: the Return is broadcast tonight at 8pm. The original Undercover Mosque documentary can be viewed in full here.

Update: Via The Thin Man, here it is.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

The phrase that comes to mind is “business as usual”. Unfortunately, it’s also business as usual with regard to airbrushing Islam’s founder and his “exemplary” exhortations to hatred, supremacism and violence. The reporter, Sara Hassan, is implausibly naïve and appears to believe that what she finds is somehow unrelated to Muhammad and his teachings. Perhaps registering this connection – and what it implies – would make a moderate Muslim’s faith seem somewhat misplaced, perhaps grotesque. And so it isn’t registered.

Related: Act Casual, Say Nothing, Dialogue, A Fear of Ideas, Naming the Devil. 

8-metre section of wall rotates for art, causes terrible draught. A snip at £450,000. // Repairing brickwork with Lego. // Jeff Koons’ topiary puppy. // Robot wildlife. I like the owl. // Robotic legs help paralysed walk. // Wrapping asteroids in space. (h/t, The Thin Man.) // How to get rid of things. Stains, smells, mental problems. // Market research for panhandlers. (h/t, Clazy.) // Signs from the Tokyo metro. (h/t, Coudal.) // Sixties’ Batman, rendered in typography. // Build your own Batmobile. // Al Dente. A short film about eating children. // Augmenting video with photographs. // The Touch of Evil opening. (h/t, Anna.) // Bathing suits of the 1900s. // What the Olympic diver saw. // Turntime. // Steve Reich: Sextet, 5th movement. // User interfaces of note. (h/t, Things.) // More musical toys. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Ms Julie London.

Oliver Kamm casts an eye over diarist and anti-war campaigner Tony Benn.

According to Benn, there are “five questions we should ask any powerful person: ‘What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you use it? To whom are you accountable? How do we get rid of you?’”

This is what he in fact asked Saddam Hussein, a powerful person whom he interviewed shortly before the Iraq War:

“I have 10 grandchildren and in my family there is English, Scottish, American, French, Irish, Jewish, Indian, Muslim blood, and for me politics is about their future, their survival. And I wonder whether you could say something yourself directly through this interview to the peace movement of the world that might help to advance the cause they have in mind?”

The five questions didn’t come up. Presumably Saddam was too powerful to be troubled with them.

More. 

Busy today, but two items caught my eye:

You’d think the media would delve into this relationship a little. If John McCain kicked off his political career at the house of, say, a bomber of abortion clinics, you probably would have heard about it by now.

And, 

What fascinates me is how light the baggage is when one travels from violent radicalism to liberalism. Chicago activist Sam Ackerman told Politico’s reporter that Ayers “is one of my heroes in life.” Cass Sunstein, a first-rank liberal intellectual, said, “I feel very uncomfortable with their past, but neither of them is thought of as horrible types now – so far as most of us know, they are legitimate members of the community.” Why, exactly, can Ayers and Dohrn be seen as “legitimate members of the community”? How is it that they get prestigious university jobs when even the whisper of neocon tendencies is toxic in academia?

Related: The youthful indiscretions of Peter Tatchell.

Update and video at Hot Air.

The Royal College of Art recently unveiled some eye-catching car designs. The concept below, by Paul Howse, is rather fetching, if perhaps a tad impractical. I mean, for one thing, where does the shopping go?

More. Related: Vintage Wheels, Smart Car Monster Truck.