A 50-year-old Saudi woman asked for divorce after her husband lifted her face veil while she was sleeping, local press reported.

For 30 years, the wife said she never showed her face to her husband in conformity with the tradition of her native village near the south western Saudi city of Khamis Mushayt.

“After all these years, he tries to commit such a big mistake,” the wife told Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh, after she left the house in total disbelief.

She said the husband apologized and promised never to do it again.

Boazo

5 1
Democracy and Education
John Dewey, 1916

On the list because: it convinced the world that education is not about facts

In Democracy and Education, Dewey disparages schooling that focuses on traditional character development and endowing children with hard knowledge, and encourages the teaching of thinking “skills” instead. His views have had great influence on the direction of American education–particularly in public schools. This book could be considered to be the anti-classical education manifesto. And the consequence? A generation of youths with an inferior education which lacks a founding in solid facts and knowledge. Dewey was one of the three founders of the philosophical school of Pragmatism - a school of thought which proposes that “truth” is made and can change.

Rising global temperatures could lead to an increase in kidney stones, according to research presented at the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). Dehydration has been linked to stone disease, particularly in warmer climates, and global warming will exacerbate this effect. As a result, the prevalence of stone disease may increase, along with the costs of treating the condition.

Using published data to determine the temperature-dependence of stone disease, researchers applied predictions of temperature increase to determine the impact of global warming on the incidence and cost of stone disease in the United States. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates a 1-20 C increase in temperature by 2050 for much of the United States. These findings place a greater significance on the harmful effects of global warming, an ongoing economic and political issue.

ChuckC

Can Somebody Explain to Me ... 

... how Obama sat in Wright’s church for 20 years and managed never to hear anything, but hears 20 seconds of a Bush speech that doesn’t mention him and perceives a shameful personal attack?

Sorry for the lack of posting and participation but it’s just been too nice out to be inside.

I’ll be posting some garden pictures in a bit..........

Consider this an open thread and fill me in on what I’ve been missing.

It is no wonder that some in the business world view the bear with trepidation.

The massive and powerful furry creature that lumbers across the Arctic ice may accomplish what 20 years of environmental activism has not done: force the issue that global warming already is having an effect and there is a price for both action and inaction.

This “puts a face on it, a polar bear face,” said Bob Corell, director of the global change program at the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment.

Scientists long have talked of the visible damage that global warming has done to sea coral, for example, but it has escaped the notice of the average person.

The polar bear is different.

“This animal is big, it’s charismatic and it’s powerful. It’s beautiful and it generates sympathy. If it blinks out, you’ll notice,” said Steven E. Sanderson, president of the Wildlife Conservation Society. It manages the Bronx Zoo and three other New York City zoos, the home for three polar bears.

“They are very popular personalities,” he said. One of them, Gus, is now more than 20 years old at the Central Park Zoo, and once was declared one of New York City’s most important personalities.

The face of a polar bear says so much. Especially the mouth piece of the polar bear.

A veterans’ peace group that was denied entry into the Armed Forces Day parade says it will fall in at the rear and walk anyway.

The Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce turned down an application from Vets for Peace for Saturday’s parade. The Armed Forces Festival chairman, Cris Larsen, says the group is trying to “hijack Armed Forces Day for a political statement.”

A member of the peace group, Jo Walter of Bremerton, says about a dozen Vets for Peace marched in last year’s parade without complaints. The chapter president, David Jenkins, says members and supporters will just follow Saturday’s parade.

With a high temperature of 84 degrees, today is the warmest day of 2008 in Olympia, according to the National Weather Service.
*

Activists from the animal rights’ group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) demonstrate in front of the British Embassy in Berlin.

Boazo

Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee drew cringes Friday when he made a joke at the National Rifle Association convention about Barack Obama getting shot at.

“We believe the government should get its hands off of us as much as possible, we don’t need that much of it, we’d like less of it and we darn sure would like for it to be less expensive but the reality is and I’m worried,” Huckabee said when he was interrupted by a loud thump from backstage.

The quick-witted [ ?? ] Southerner looked behind him and said to the Louisville, Ky., crowd: “That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair and someone pointed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

The audience fell silent and the charismatic former Arkansas governor seemed to immediately realize he had made a mistake with the offensive jab at the Democratic front-runner. (Watch video of the speech on YouTube.) An apology hasn’t been released.

Thanks.

This is a good time to mention my new plan....
I think we should be able to vote NO for a candidate instead of voting FOR a candide just to vote against one. I am done with these fuckwads.
Every. single. one. of. them.

JR finds a silver lining:
At least he’s not the nominee.

What Hitler was demanding was not unreasonable............

To run away from my Papa Murphy’s “chicken” garlic pizza.

Former presidential contender John Edwards said on Friday he would not be Democratic front-runner Barack Obama’s running mate...............

That’s too bad, Anne Heche really could have used the money.

I’m going to get them a puppy as a wedding gift. I just hope they don’t re-gift it.

Time to resurrect the ol’ “Freedom Fries” again…

Really, we’re able to enjoy nearly everything happening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival without even leaving our offices: There’s the eerie, 24/7 surveillance available from IFC. There are Hollywood Elsewhere’s billboard glimpses of gay Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor and Jesus Christ straddling a US fighter jet.

Oliver Stone’s W has nothing to worry about as Karl Zero and Michael Royer’s Being W apparently has yet to begin filming. (Posters of this sort are put up to attract pre-sales.) The poster art is somewhere between awful and amazing. Bush as a French clown, Jesus Christ on a fighter jet, the twin towers still standing, a billowing American flag, etc.

A nationwide survey conducted over the past month has revealed a troubling statistic concerning the well-being of the American public. The survey was crafted to focus on how individuals were coping with increasingly difficult times. When asked if there were any problems in their lives during the past year, a whopping 97% of respondents replied ‘yes’...........................................

One of the nine Afghans who won the right to live in Britain after hijacking a plane is now working at Heathrow airport as a cleaner, it emerged last night.

Nazamuddin Mohammidy was one of a group who took over an internal Afghan flight in 2000 and landed it in the UK, where they threatened to kill those on board unless they were granted asylum.

Now it has emerged Mohammidy, 34, was recently arrested while driving a car around the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport.

Police suspected he was an unlicensed cab driver but were stunned when checks revealed he was one of the hijackers. He even had a British Airways pass on him.

Mohammidy was among the gang, who claimed they were fleeing the Taliban, which took over an Ariana Airlines jet on an internal flight in Afghanistan in February 2000 armed with firearms and hand grenades.

The Boeing 727, with 160 passengers on board, was diverted to Stansted Airport in Essex. There, the hijackers kept police and SAS marksmen at bay for four days before giving themselves up.

All were jailed, but later had their convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal.

They have since been living in West London rent-free and on state benefits at an annual cost of £150,000 to the taxpayer.

“It’s conceivable that there are those in the Arab world who say to themselves, ‘This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he’s not going to be engaging in the same sort of cowboy diplomacy as George Bush.’"

Conceived

~ * ~

mojo

Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine calculated the obese consume 18% more calories than average.

They are also responsible for using more fuel, which has an environmental impact and drives up food prices as transport and agriculture both use oil........

Up to 300 elderly citizens crammed the steps in front of the Flinders St Railway Station and spilled onto the road at the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets to push their message to the Rudd Government.

The protesters remained clothed on the steps of Flinders Street Station until one of them, a retired former policeman known only as John from Bayswater, ran into the middle of the Flinders and Swanston Street intersection where he quickly stripped down to his jocks.

The Bayswater man said he felt compelled to protest to highlight the plight of Victoria’s pensioners.

“My wife will be cringing at home when she sees this.,’’ he said.

When police moved in to order him to get dressed, dozens of the protestors rushed to the intersection to join him, some of the women taking off their tops to reveal mostly lacy pink bras.
Grandmother Lillian Rosevear, 65, said she felt no shame getting her message across.
“If we don’t stick up for ourselves no-one else is going to do it for us,’’ she said.
Kevin Beresford said pensioners struggled to pay bills and put food on their tables while politicians retired on pensions fit for kings.

Pensioners are demanding the Government give them another $100-a-week extra payment.

If their demands are not met they have threatened further protests.

Courtesy of Curmudgeonly Skeptical...

John Spartan: Thanks a lot you shit-brained, fuck-faced, ball breaking, duck fucking pain in the ass.

Moral Statute Machine: John Spartan, you are fined five credits for repeated violations of the verbal morality statute.

John Spartan: So much for the seashells. See you in a few minutes.

DASCHLE:  I’m shocked and I’m actually very, very saddened by what the president has done.  This is an unprecedented political attack.  He doesn’t have to use names to know exactly what he’s trying to do.  We’ve never seen a president do that before.  The most important thing, however, is to underscore the extraordinary failure of this administration when it comes to Iraq.  They’re a lot more influential than they were eight years ago, their nuclear program has expanded

*

He said Iran’s nuclear program has been expanded.  Now, what’s interesting about that is that it was just, what, a year-and-a-half ago that Puff Daschle and these other guys were citing the national intelligence report that was entirely politicized, said that they weren’t doing anything with nukes, that we were all wrong about this...............

Let’s hear it for America

Then, just as swift and with equal predictability, those wedded to the Great Satan view of the US begin to carp, drawing on a potent mixture of cynicism and conspiracy theories to criticise the last remaining superpower. When the US keeps doing so much of the heavy lifting to alleviate suffering, you’d figure that the anti-Americans might eventually revise their view of the US. But they never do. And coming under constant attack even when helping others, you’d figure that Americans would eventually draw the curtains on world crises. But they haven’t. At least not yet...............
........ [ read. it. all. ]...........

Carol

It’s come to this…

Seven years after former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn killed a controversial plan to recycle sewage water into drinking water, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has resurrected the idea as one way L.A. could provide much-needed water to the city’s growing population.

The reclamation concept - at one time opposed by Villaraigosa - is among a dozen ideas that will be proposed by the mayor and the Department of Water and Power in a new water-supply action plan set to be announced today.

Los Angeles residents and politicians trounced a similar project in 2000 amid concerns about the palatability and safety of adding recycled water to the city’s drinking supply.

The proposed $55million East Valley Water Recycling Project would have moved 3.2billion gallons of treated water from the reclamation plant in Sepulveda Basin to the Hansen Dam spreading grounds in Sun Valley.

There, the treated wastewater would have filtered through the pebbly soil into the underground aquifer and become part of a supply pumped from wells, treated again, mixed with other water and piped into 70,000 households.

But after the project was dubbed “toilet to tap” by opponents, the DWP suspended it under pressure from city leaders. Villaraigosa, who was an assemblyman and candidate for mayor at the time, also opposed the effort to mix recycled water into drinking water.

Hahn formally stopped the project after he was elected mayor in 2001.

Meanwhile, in HypocriteLand…

boneless pork spare ribs with Hoisin sauce, pineapple and brown sugar
warm pickled beets with goat cheese and fresh roasted filberts
baked beans