Christopher Hitchens

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Mother Teresa 'Anything but a Saint,' Says Study


 Mother Teresa 
 'Anything but 
 a Saint,' 
 Says Study 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Mother Teresa 'Anything but a Saint,' Says Study

It says she glorified suffering instead of easing it

(Newser) - Was Mother Teresa overhyped? That's what a controversial Canadian study is alleging. The paper, published in the French-language religious journal Religieuses, argues that Teresa was "anything but a saint," and even found beauty in watching people suffer, the Times of India reports. Doctors who visited some of...

Hitchens' Last Words: 'Capitalism, Downfall'

Friends gather for memorial to controversial writer

(Newser) - Intellectuals and celebrities from Salman Rushdie to Sean Penn turned out yesterday for a memorial service in New York for notorious writer Christopher Hitchens, who died last December , reports the Guardian . "He was an auto-contrarian: he contradicted himself as if he felt the only person really worth arguing with...

Hitchens Slammed Vatican in Final Interview

'The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy,' he told Dawkins

(Newser) - With barely two months left to live, Christopher Hitchens gave one last interview, to fellow atheist Richard Dawkins, taking the opportunity to bash the Catholic Church and totalitarianism. In the New Statesman interview, Hitchens' harshest words were for the Catholic Church, saying that every fascist government in Europe in the...

Christopher Hitchens Claimed Alcohol Improved His Writing

 Booze and 
 Writing: the 
 Ideal Combo? 
analysis

Booze and Writing: the Ideal Combo?

Christopher Hitchens defended his notorious drinking habit to the end

(Newser) - Christopher Hitchens defended his prolific smoking and drinking habits even though they probably killed him. "Whatever enhances and prolongs and deepens and sometimes intensifies argument and conversation," he once wrote, "is worth it to me." But does boozing really aid the creative process? Slate takes a...

Critics of Christopher Hitchens Assail His 'Hagiography'

 Hitchens-Haters 
 Get Their Day 
 Online 
reality check?

Hitchens-Haters Get Their Day Online

Critics assail his atheism, pro-war stance, 'random bile'

(Newser) - Sure Christopher Hitchens was erudite, bold, and endowed with a stunning memory . But now that he's been dead for two days, the complaints are rolling in ... and they're none-too-pretty:
  • "His writing contained provocation aplenty, but far too much of it ... a few hundred words of dashed off
...

Final Hitchens Book to Hit Shelves Next Year

Morality is based on cancer struggle

(Newser) - For fans of Christopher Hitchens , one final book. A memoir entitled Mortality will be released in early 2012; it's based on a series of articles the journalist wrote for Vanity Fair describing his battle with esophageal cancer, reports the Guardian . A spokesman noted that the book had been in...

What I Learned While Sharing an Office With Christopher Hitchens
What I Learned While Sharing an Office With Hitchens
appreciation

What I Learned While Sharing an Office With Hitchens

David Corn reflects on their time together

(Newser) - There is no shortage of reflections on the life of Christopher Hitchens today, filled with memories and anecdotes that all seem to include the word "cocktail." Writing for Slate , David Corn recounts his "Hitchens tale," one that occurred some three decades ago while the two shared...

Christopher Hitchens Dead of Cancer at 62

 Christopher 
 Hitchens 
 Dead at 62 
OBITUARY

Christopher Hitchens Dead at 62

Cancer claims one-of-a-kind firebrand author

(Newser) - Author, intellectual, and firebrand atheist Christopher Hitchens has died at the age of 62 after a long fight with esophageal cancer. The British-born writer, who had lived in Washington DC since 1982, chronicled his illness with the same caustic insight he directed at targets including Bill Clinton, Mother Teresa, and...

2011's Top 10 Books


 2011's Top 10 Books 
new york times LIST

2011's Top 10 Books

Stephen King, Christopher Hitchens make the cut

(Newser) - If you need a book recommendation for holiday reading, look no further than the New York Times ' list of the 10 best books of the year. Five are fiction and five non-fiction:
  • 11/22/63 by Stephen King: A time portal sends an English teacher back to 1958 to try and
...

Pakistan Makes US Look Like Fools

 Pakistan Makes US 
 Look Like Chumps 
Christopher Hitchens

Pakistan Makes US Look Like Chumps

Christopher Hitchens thinks it's time to call Pakistan what it is: an enemy

(Newser) - Last week, Admiral Mike Mullen called out Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence agency “as the most adroit double-dealing profiteer from terrorism in the entire region,” Christopher Hitchens writes for Slate . Mullen accused Pakistan of orchestrating the attack on the US embassy in Kabul, and Hitchens believes him; after all,...

Christopher Hitchens Thinks Al-Qaeda Is Just Evil

 Quit Making Excuses: 
 al-Qaeda Is Evil 
Christopher Hitchens

Quit Making Excuses: al-Qaeda Is Evil

Intellectuals have tried too hard to overthink 9/11: Christopher Hitchens

(Newser) - Usually "public intellectuals" are supposed to add nuance to a discussion, but when it comes to al-Qaeda and 9/11, Christopher Hitchens has taken up a different motto: "Never, ever ignore the obvious," he writes for Slate . In this case, the obvious is this: Al-Qaeda is a "...

Christopher Hitchens: West's Delays in Confronting Him Prolonged Mladic's Slaughter
West's Stalling Made Mladic's Slaughter Worse
christopher Hitchens

West's Stalling Made Mladic's Slaughter Worse

US, NATO deserves part of the blame for this monster: Christopher Hitchens

(Newser) - Western nations are to blame for not sooner confronting alleged war criminal Ratko Mladic and Serbian forces in the Balkans, making the violence there much worse and last much longer than it should have, writes Christopher Hitchens in Slate . "The monstrous character of Mladic and his movement needed no...

Iraq Paved the Way for Libya


 Iraq Paved 
 the Way 
 for Libya 
Christopher Hitchens

Iraq Paved the Way for Libya

And we ought to just admit we're out to oust Gadhafi: Christopher Hitchens

(Newser) - The uprisings sweeping across the Arab world could never have happened if we hadn’t taken out Saddam Hussein—and we ought to admit we’re trying to give Moammar Gadhafi the same treatment, writes Christopher Hitchens of Slate . “Can anyone imagine how the Arab spring would have played...

Henry Kissinger Is a 'Vile Creature': Christopher Hitchens
Nixon Tapes: Kissinger
Is a 'Vile Creature'
Christopher HItchens

Nixon Tapes: Kissinger Is a 'Vile Creature'

When will people stop paying to listen to him speak?

(Newser) - Ever since Watergate, Henry Kissinger has deserved to be “shamed, ostracized, and excluded”—yet, for some reason, people still pay him to speak and have “dinners in his honor,” complains Christopher Hitchens on Slate . Well, the new Nixon tapes should finally change that: quotes reveal that...

Tony Blair Debates Religion With Atheist Hitchens

See why God is like a 'divine North Korea'

(Newser) - Famous atheist Christopher Hitchens took on famous Catholic convert Tony Blair in a debate on whether religion is a good or bad thing for the world yesterday. And while it's impossible to declare a winner on such a subjective ... oh wait, this is 2010, which means we had an audience...

Iraq's President Deserves Praise for Sparing This Man
Iraq's President Deserves Praise for Sparing This Man
Christopher Hitchens

Iraq's President Deserves Praise for Sparing This Man

Jalal Talabani wouldn't support death penalty for Tariq Aziz

(Newser) - Iraqi president Jalal Talabani did something incredibly brave last week: He announced that he would not sign the death warrant for Tariq Aziz, who is, in Christopher Hitchens’ opinion, “one of Iraq’s worst enemies.” In a column for Slate , Hitchens reveals some little-known “appalling facts” about...

You'd Have to Be Crazy to Want to Run for Office
You'd Have to Be Crazy
to Want to Run for Office
Christopher Hitchens

You'd Have to Be Crazy to Want to Run for Office

That's why we've got such dopey candidates

(Newser) - Here’s the state of politics today: In Connecticut, we have a guy who lied about serving in Vietnam running against a woman who used to run the WWE. America has, in short, a total dearth of “convincing or even plausible candidates,” and it’s easy to figure...

Hitchens: Rehire Rick Sanchez
 Hitchens: Rehire Rick Sanchez 
OPINION

Hitchens: Rehire Rick Sanchez

And what's so terrible about calling the Jewish lobby powerful?

(Newser) - Rick Sanchez is out of a job and apparently sorry about it, but exactly what is the problem with pointing out the obvious power of the Jewish lobby, asks Christopher Hitchens over at Slate. Washington's elite plainly swoon before pro-Israel group AIPAC, Hitchens writes, and the author's own "overlapping...

Christopher Hitchens Not Praying on 'Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day'
Hitchens Skipping His Prayer Day

Hitchens Skipping His Prayer Day

Still, it's a nice gesture—except those praying for him to go to hell

(Newser) - Today is “Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day,” but Christopher Hitchens himself “shall not be participating,” he tells the AP . The well-known atheist, diagnosed with esophageal cancer in June, has already eschewed the idea of a deathbed conversion, but the prayer idea went viral anyway. “I...

Hitchens: Don't Bother Praying For Me
Hitchens:
Don't Bother Praying For Me
OPINION

Hitchens: Don't Bother Praying For Me

Atheist says he's not into deathbed conversions

(Newser) - Ever since being diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, Christopher Hitchens has been hearing it from religious people—from those who are praying for his soul, to those who think the cancer is a punishment sent from God. He scoffs at the latter. “Why not a thunderbolt for yours...

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