Right-wing dementor Kaye Grogan has this to say about US domestic politics:
It does not matter to terrorists like Osama bin Laden, who is president in America.
Blimey. That would certainly explain the administration’s ‘anti-terror’ policy, not to mention John Ashcroft’s role at the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue.
Via the Gentleman of Poverty. And not via Backword, who had the same thought independently.
I’ve always thought that Ashcroft would make a grand mohtaseb; but where did you hear this term (ie. Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and the Promotion of Virtue)? It’s not the sort of term I’d expect a non-Arabist to toss around.
I know it as the name of the Taliban’s "justice" ministry -it’s stuck in my head as an excellent 1984ish name ever since.