Kavanna returns

I've been "off the air" for two weeks of vacation, attending to life, and fixing some technical problems with the blog.

As a follow-on to my posting on the clash of civilizations (Islam versus everyone else), read this perceptive essay by Martin Amis from the Guardian. It is based, in part, on the Paul Berman's fine book, Terror and Liberalism. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity" (Yeats).

More soon.

UPDATE: Don't miss these postings on Khatami's appearance at Harvard and the protests it inspired, from PubliusPundit (with help from HamsaWeb), Teresa of Technicalities (who got lost in Cambridge, but who doesn't?), and Miss Kelly.

What IS wrong with Harvard these days? The decline and fall of American academia: that deserves a few postings all by itself ....