June 24, 2002

(Presdient George W.) Bush was invited to speak at the Ohio State commencement by representatives of the graduating class. But immediately before class members filed into the giant football stadium, an announcer instructed the crowd that all the university's speakers deserve to be treated with respect and that anyone demonstrating or heckling would be subject to expulsion and arrest. The announcer urged that Bush be greeted with a "thunderous" ovation.  [ WashingtonPost ] Is this a case of stifling independent thought and political involvement on a university campus?  Maybe heckling any speaker is just plain rude.  However I am sure that arrest is overkill. 4:15:08 PM

Christians for Mass Murder "Father Dr Attallah Hanna, official spokesman of the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, said . . . he supported martyrdom by Palestinian men and women to fight for their just rights," the Gulf News reports. Hanna was speaking at a conference in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. "Some freedom fighters adopt martyrdom or suicide bombing, while others opt for other measures," Hanna said. "But all these struggles serve the continued intifada for freedom. Therefore, we support all these causes." The National Catholic Reporter, meanwhile, reports on Stanley Hauerwas, a professor at the Duke Divinity School whose "feisty faith challenges [the] status quo." Hauerwas describes himself as a pacifist, saying that "as faithful followers of Jesus, we cannot imagine being anything other than nonviolent in a world of war." But he has high praise for the men who murdered more than 3,000 Americans: "On Sept. 11, Americans were confronted by people ready to die as an expression of their profound moral commitments," Hauerwas said in his Silk Hope talk earlier this year. "Their willingness to die stands in stark contrast to a politics that asks of its members in response to Sept. 11 to shop." Americans are, for the most part, good, decent and hardworking people, Hauerwas says, but "so were the people that supported the Nazis." Feisty indeed. Hauerwas also complains that American Christians are "more American than . . . Christian," adding that "the God of 'God and country' is not the God of Jesus Christ." [ Opinion Journal ] 3:47:52 PM

Anti-Semitism is back, taking the place of intelligent criticism of Israel and its policies. And if that wasn't bad enough, students are spreading the gibberish. [ Mother Jones Online ] 2:54:30 PM

End Times Terror fears and a best-selling fiction series fuel new interest in a real Doomsday and makes the cover of TIME. I am not sure, but if I believed the end of the world was coming, I probably would not be renewing my subscription.... 12:24:34 PM

Internet surfers who have high-speed "broadband" connections do more than just point, click and consume content — they also contribute to cyberspace by becoming creators. Nearly six of 10 broadband users have created online content such as their own Web sites, or shared photos or other media with others, according to a report out today from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. 12:11:40 PM

The Catholic Church in New Zealand said on Saturday it had confirmed 38 cases of sexual abuse in its ranks going back over several decades. "There are offences going over a period of 50 years...right back to the '50s and it's not 38 individual offenders because there are, in some cases, two or three complaints about one person," Lyndsay Freer, spokeswoman for the Catholic Church in New Zealand, said. 11:12:16 AM

Osama bin Laden and his No. 2 man are both alive and well and their al-Qaida network is ready to attack new U.S. targets, bin Laden’s spokesman said in audiotaped remarks aired Sunday. The message also claimed responsibility for a deadly April fire at a synagogue in Tunisia. [ MSNBC ] Also:   West awaits return of Bin Laden - BBC Bin Laden feared alive, plotting - Baltimore Sun 11:01:51 AM

CNN Cites Error in Israel Coverage. (AP Entertainment) CNN erred in giving more programming time to the family of a Palestinian suicide bomber than to his Israeli victims and tried to rectify the mistake, the network's top news executive said Sunday during a damage-control visit to Israel. [Palestine & Israel News] 10:35:39 AM

Your PC's enemy within. Controversies over "spyware" and "adware" say all there is to say about why some people want new laws for the Internet. [CNET News.com] 10:34:14 AM

eBay offers insurance to power sellers. In a bid to increase the number of people who sell items full time on eBay, the online auction company will offer them group health insurance. [CNET News.com] Will "eBay seller" become a job you can tell your friends you do?  10:32:21 AM

Tanks Surround Arafat's Compound. (AP World News) Israeli tanks encircled Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's badly damaged headquarters Monday, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his party Israel was preparing a large operation in the Gaza Strip against the militant Hamas movement. [Palestine & Israel News] 10:26:09 AM