Saudi Judge: If You’re Raped, You Should Be Executed

Hmm, I thought the original story couldn’t get worse–a Saudi woman raped by 7 men was sentenced to being lashed and jail, then her sentence was increased after criticism of the sentence (I looked at this here). In today’s NY Times though we get this:
During the Annapolis summit meeting, Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, [...]

Republicans: Mean and Stingy?

I know that most Republicans are good people, it’s just government ‘interference’ they don’t like (they give to charity, but don’t want to be ‘forced’ by the government by taxes for example). It’s hard to remember that when you see something like this (where a focus group is rating statements and the scale is from 0-100–with [...]

Random 10 and a Muffin

Hmm, I seem to be back to doing a random 10.  I just must be very unimaginative, anyways here it is:
 The Hour Grows Late Yo La Tengo
Just One Word Jonatha Brooke (here’s Just One Word)
Are You Experienced? The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Nietzsche’s Eyes Paula Cole (here’s Where Have All the Cowboys Gone)
You Were Meant For Me Jewel
Panic The Smiths
Mama´s Boy The Ramones
Things Have [...]

Rulings on Endangered Species

I would think this would get a bit more play:
The Fish and Wildlife Service reversed seven rulings that denied increased protection for endangered species, after an inquiry found that the actions had been tainted by political pressure from a former Interior Department official. In a letter to Representative Nick J. Rahall II, Democrat of West Virginia, [...]

John=Yahweh is Gracious

Well, here’s another chapter in craziness inspired by religion:
A Sudanese court convicted a British teacher Thursday of insulting Islam for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced her to 15 days in prison, avoiding a heavier punishment of 40 lashes. The teacher wept in court, insisting she never meant to offend.
What’s sad [...]

Is My Family Dead?

Via Majikthise, this person must be either crazy or without scruple or both:

Reporters Without Borders is astounded and angry to discover that a journalist’s claim that 11 of his close relatives were murdered last weekend is false. Amman-based Iraqi journalist Dia al-Kawwaz had claimed on 26 November that 11 members of his immediate family were [...]

Not a Penny More

Via Kevin Drum, this is lovely:
In 2005, Florida tomato pickers gained their first significant pay raise since the late 1970s when Taco Bell ended a consumer boycott by agreeing to pay an extra penny per pound for its tomatoes, with the extra cent going directly to the farm workers. Last April, McDonald’s agreed to a [...]

Renewable Energy and Profit

Google has said that it wants to develop cheap alternative energy:
Google, the owner of the most-used Internet search engine, said yesterday it’s hiring engineers and energy experts to lead a process that may cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
The project, called Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, is meant first to help Google cut its energy [...]

Could They Break Into My Place?

Via Kieran at Crooked Timber, this is very interesting:
Four members of an underground “cultural guerrilla” movement known as the Untergunther, whose purpose is to restore France’s cultural heritage, were cleared on Friday of breaking into the 18th-century monument in a plot worthy of Dan Brown or Umberto Eco.
For a year from September 2005, under the nose [...]

Support the Writers

Just a quick post to link to unitedhollywood, a blog writing about the writer’s strike. We should show our support for the union.
Update: I like most of their news, but this post at womensensenews  doesn’t get it:
But the pink-collar crowd lacks the solidarity of a union or a $12 million strike fund, as members of [...]

Arbitrary Arbitration

Via Kevin Drum, Mother Jones has a story about mandatory arbitration. The author, Stephanie Mencimer, noticed when she went to buy a car that there was a clause saying that she couldn’t sue for any reason, but would have to go through mandatory binding arbitration for any problems. This doesn’t sound too bad, but since the [...]

A Bit of Good News in the Middle East

Almost none of the main problems have been addressed, but even getting many of these countries together is a step forward. We’ll see how this works and see if Bush really will push to get things done.
Update: Of course there are a few problems that will have to be solved, including:
Palestinians insist on the right [...]

Polling and Clinton

The latest Zogby poll shows Senator Clinton behind all the major Republican candidates in a general election. Since this contrasts with most of the other polls, there are questions about the methodology (and for more of a discussion, here). Let me look at the difference in the way Zogby internet polls compare to other polls:
Most polls [...]

Iraq and Afghanistan

Via Kevin Drum, none of the candidates for president are talking about Afghanistan, but it seems to be getting worse:
In last year’s Operation Medusa, Jones said, Canadian combat troops fought hard for control of the Panjwai district, south of Kandahar. “Four weeks ago,” he said, “the levels of Taliban in Panjwai . . . were [...]

Chinese Photos

China has now released the first photos taken by its lunar probe. Nothing that interesting, but who took them is.
2/20/09 Update: Yahoo doesn’t seem to keep their files for long periods so the link is gone. Here’s a link to the picture with a comment about a possible controversy of the time.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Bob Harris has a post at This Modern World about DR Congo with a bunch of links about the country–the main point is that it probably had the most lethal conflict since WWII (the second Congo war from 1998-2003 had a death toll estimated at 3.8 million) and it’s still a mess (1000 people dieing a day [...]

Atheists Take Over

Via Pam Spaulding at Pandagon, I found the latest craziness over at WorldNetDaily by Janet Folger:
Nov. 20, 2010
To the Resistance:
I’m writing this letter from prison, where I’ve been since the beginning of 2010. Since Hillary was elected in ‘08, Christian persecution in America has gotten even worse than we predicted.
When the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” was [...]

Zakaria and Pakistan

I like many of Fareed Zakaria’s articles, but I don’t quite understand what he’s doing in this one. He’s arguing that Musharraf hasn’t been that bad for Pakistan. That might be defensible, but he throws in a few whoppers:
Many observers are frightened by what is happening in Pakistan. The country is seen as a collapsed [...]

A Story

Ok, this is a lazy weekend so I’m going to put up a story. It’s a story that runs the gamut of emotion, from happy to yellow to fire truck green. Here it is:
I was walking along tomorrow when I noticed a crack in the firmament of the universe and since that sometimes means that [...]

No Warrants for Cell Phones Either

Via Spencer Ackerman, it seems that:
Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.
In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there [...]