Last night I watched Cloud Atlas for the first time. As with any great story, there were lines of dialog that stood out and resonated with me. I just wasn’t aware how prophetic one of those lines would be- which in hindsight is fitting when one considers the central...
Aside from the complete lack of due process and blatant disregard for religious liberty, human rights and amnesty groups continue to be baffled by the random and apparently arbitrary reasoning behind what publications are and are not allowed to be read by detainees within the walls of the United...
Love them or hate them, Apple Inc. has received some heavy criticism in recent years for some pretty controversial issues including the alleged use of sweatshop labor, environmental destruction, and unethical business practices. It has been criticized by legal and business analysts for its hot-tempered legal policy of suing its...
Published in 1862 amid a massive advertising campaign and at a time when Hugo was adored as one of France’s foremost poets the release of the novel was a highly anticipated event. Critical reactions were often negative, though, as some critics found the subject matter immoral and others complained...
It is perhaps the most provocative foreign policy issue of our time- the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, the man responsible for the largest foreign attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor. Like Pearl Harbor, which resulted in the United States officially entering World War II, the events of...
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, also referred to as The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion, is an anti-Semitic hoax first published in Russia in 1903 claiming to document the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting of Jewish leaders discussing their goal of...
Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, in summary judgment for Texas vs. Johnson, said, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” Anyone is free...
Literature dealing with hot-button topics such as AIDS and child abuse are okay for classroom use- so long as those works have happy endings, at least according to the administrative board of the Fremont Unified School District in California. The board has approved other books with sensitive topics in...
Over these many months this column has shed light on some very real current events around the world in which the freedom to read has been challenged by individuals, or groups, armed with torches lit by the flames of ignorance. This week offers updates on some of those stories....
Lawrence Hill wrote one of the bestselling and most-popular Canadian novels of all time; but what does he do for an encore? Hill, who will be in Edmonton this coming Tuesday (4/17/12) to deliver the University of Alberta’s annual Henry Kreisel lecture, knows how to follow up a smash...