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NEWS ABOUT: Christopher Hitchens

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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... More »

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... More »

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
... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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
... More »

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,... More »

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 "... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

Beck Rally the 'Waterworld of White Self-Pity'

Nativist demonstrators voice anxieties of the coming white 'minority'

(Newser) - What was it like to be at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally? Like visiting a political event in the not-so-distant future when white people are a minority in America, writes Christopher Hitchens for Slate . The prescriptions offered by speakers and attendees for restoring "honor"—and exactly what... More »

Mosque Foes: Stop Catering to Feelings of 9/11 Families

Cordoba House isn't wonderful, but opponents are unhinged

(Newser) - The dispute over the so-called “Ground Zero mosque”—which is actually several blocks away, mind you—“has now sunk to a level of stupidity that really does shame the memories” of the 9/11 victims, writes Christopher Hitchens in Slate . As an arch-atheist, Hitchens doesn’t much like... More »

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