randoms

AGNES TAKEA is the saint of the day. One of many Japanese martyred at a time of great persecution [c. 1620]. A consequence of this maltreatment was the persistence of the faith in highly unusual forms, such as the Kakure Kirishtan.

THE LEITER REPORT is temporarily in the very capable hands of Bejamin Hellie and Jessica Wilson, whose other blog is always a pleasure to read, if only for its quite unblog-like meatiness. They've already put together three substantial posts, and more will follow. I'm especially pleased that they picked up on this [emphasis mine]:

In Africa, Bush did best in Nigeria where 33 percent of respondents said they preferred him versus 27 percent who opted for Kerry. But in five other African countries, Kerry emerged as the clear favourite, including Kenya (58-25 percent), Ghana (48-24 percent), Tanzania (44-30 percent), South Africa (43-29 percent), and Zimbabwe (28-6 percent)

QUASSIM CASSAM, newly hired Professor of Philosophy at University College London, author of Self and World, and Self-Knowledge [both OUP] is Kenyan!- well, OK, Kenyan-born, but who's counting?

NO WMD, none whatsoever, nyet, nada, nothing, zip, zilch. Just in case anyone still cares. The Iraq Survey Group which was authorised by both the American and British governments to assess the state of Saddam Hussein's weaponry is due to report next week, after an exhaustive scouring of various sites in Iraq. The Guardian claims that the report will conclude that Saddam Hussein did not have stockpiles of WMD. One can only hope that this is not being leaked now to deflate the shock of the Group's findings when finally published.

THE PHILOSOPHERS' CARNIVAL is not quite up-and-running yet [as far as I can tell, anyway], but promises to be awesome once it is. Have a look. More philosophical weblogs here [a whole bunch of them, in fact], courtesy of Prof. Chalmers.

UPDATE

COLIN POWELL finally uses the G-word of events in Sudan, in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following a report by investigators from the State Department . President Bush has also characterised the events as such in a statement issued yesterday.
The Independent gives over its entire front page to the story [though this is not evident from the online version], CBS News has a reasonable take, the NYT, the Times, the Guardian and even the Telegraph, all have reports.
The Sudanese government's response according to the Telegraph's report: "Sudan's foreign minister, Ahmed Hassan al-Zubeir, denounced the US move. He said the crisis was a "an internal tribal problem".

[Beer voucher to Passion of the Present, which continues to be the most useful source of news for this unfortunate business]

ARCHBISHOP OSCAR ROMERO's assassination was one of San Salvador's and the Latin American Church's direst moments in recent history. However, it seems a retired Salvadoran Air Force captain has been found liable as an "aider, abettor and co-conspirator" in the murder of the Archbishop by a Fresno [California] federal court Judge. As is customary, very large amounts of money have been awarded in damages.

[Beer voucher to ExLaodicea, always sharp, always fun.]