Thursday, September 19, 2002

Emphasis Added Turns 1000! Sometime last night, Emphasis Added picked up its 1000th hit since its August 29th launch. OK, so probably 500 of those were me hitting the "refresh" button... That still leaves a fair number of actual visitors, including a few that I may not even know personally. Whoever you are, thanks for reading. And keep checking back. I am only just finding my feet in Blog-land and am looking forward to providing better, fresher and more focused content as I figure out what the hell I'm doing here.  9:17:43 AM    Emphasize This! []

Houellebecq "Blasphemy" Trail Update Acerbic French author Michel Houellebecq, on trial in France for inciting racial hatred through his impolitic comments about Islam in his novel Plateforme and in interviews, told the court that he has no contempt for Muslims but "as much contempt as ever for Islam," and that to expect him to hold coherent political views was "absurd." Meanwhile, genuine right-wing racists tried to turn the proceedings into a circus, and commentators suggested that the real issue may be blasphemy, not libel. A petition is circulating soliciting support. 9:17:23 AM    Emphasize This! []

Duff Steps in My Dogma Some readers may notice a few distinctly contrarian comments tacked onto my recent rants. No, I don't have a right-wing stalker - those are from my old pal Brian Duffy (about whom, see "The Rob and Brian Show"), whose skewed perspective is not only welcome here but was actually invited. Thanks for holding your nose long enough to post, BD. Can't wait to see your page! In the meantime, responses to your comments are posted in RANTS. 8:45:09 AM    Emphasize This! []

Saddam's Next Move After out-maneuvering the Bush-leaguers by accepting inspectors, Saddam has another trick up his sleeve when the sabre-rattling starts getting bloody-minded again. See my prediction in RANTS. 8:18:53 AM    Emphasize This! []