Department of things I always harp on...

Today in the world of Issues Noahpinion Often Talks About:

1. Bin Laden must be a blogger. He must have read the news and realized that Sudan is one of those places where Chinese thirst for oil will cause China to block any UN or Western intervention. That's why he's shrewdly advocating al-Qaeda attacks in Sudan. Al Qaeda will increasingly try to use China as a shield, as it's the only big power both able to frustrate the US and amoral enough to support rogue states...Just one more reason why Chinese power is a bad thing...

2. Foreign Policy Magazine notes that the US is the only developed, globalized country with a massive prison population. Of course, over 44% of the US prison population is black, mostly as a result of the drug war. This just goes to show how disconnected black America is from white/asian/indian America, and increasingly from hispanic America. Black America sometimes reminds me of a small third-world country embedded in our rich first-world country - with worse health care, rampant poverty, drug problems, gang violence, and high incarceration. It is imperative that black America be somehow joined to the rest of America. We'd all be helped if black leaders could de-emphasize racial divisions...unlike, say, Ray Nagin.

3. The FDA has declared that marijuana has no medical use. I suspect the result was highly driven by politics. But in any case, alcohol isn't legal because of the health benefits of red wine, and marijuana should likewise be legal for adults for recreational use. Freedom and responsibility don't need medical benefits.

4. Tony Hendra, writing on Huffington Post, launches this disgusing broadside against Christian beliefs. I absolutely hate it when people write this sort of crap. First of all, HuffPo is supposed to be a liberal blog site, and insulting other people's religion and culture just for fun is the opposite of liberalism. Second, this kind of BS just gives credence to those who'd like to paint liberals as militant anti-religious secularists. Third, I bet Tony Hendra is too chickensh*t to launch a similar hate-spew against Islam...it's easy to insult people when they don't come after you with a knife and a fatwa, eh Tony? Who edits the Huffington Post anyway? Arianna, did you read this before it got posted?

5. Speaking of guys I intensely dislike...