Links With Your Coffee - Thursday
- The Satirical Political Report - An Offbeat Look at the Hot-Button Issues of the Day » Lobbyist ‘Bares’ All on Mr. Straight Talk Express
- American Street » Blog Archive » McCain attacks Obama for being willing to take out terror leaders
- BBC NEWS | Middle East | Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'(tip to Stephen)
Human Rights Watch has appealed to Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a woman convicted of witchcraft.
In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice.The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read
- BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israeli MP blames quakes on gays
An Israeli MP has blamed parliament's tolerance of gays for earthquakes that have rocked the Holy Land recently.
Shlomo Benizri, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the tremors had been caused by lawmaking that gave "legitimacy to sodomy".Israel decriminalised homosexuality in 1988 and has since passed several laws recognising gay rights.
Two earthquakes shook the region last week and a further four struck in November and December.
- AlterNet: Blogs: PEEK: Evolution to Be Taught as Scientific 'Theory' in Florida Because of Right-Wing Campaign
Today, Florida's Board of Education voted 4-3 to change standards for teaching science in Florida's public schools. The Miami Herald reports:
For the first time ever, evolution is to be taught clearly and explicitly in Florida classrooms now that the Florida Board of Education Tuesday approved a batch of new science standards that says the "E" word.
But there's a catch: Evolution will be taught as "the Scientific Theory of Evolution." - Their Deepest, Darkest Discovery - washingtonpost.com (tip to Adam)
Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black
. - Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location
“Please put it in a trash can,” riders are reminded. After which Neil Neches, an erudite writer in the transit agency’s marketing and service information department, inserted a semicolon. The rest of the sentence reads, “that’s good news for everyone.”
- Ben Macintyre on the art of a good book title - Times Online
Comments
Kurt Vonnegut said to avoid semicolons; they only prove you went to college.
Posted by: teacherninja
| February 21, 2008 5:39 AM | Reply to this comment
So now they're going to refer to evolutionary theory as "the Scientific Theory of Evolution." What am I missing here?
Posted by: tg | February 21, 2008 6:41 AM | Reply to this comment
Saudi 'witch'
A description of saudi public executions from the Arab News here :
http://tinyurl.com/yst6sv
or here you have a description by a western observer
http://tinyurl.com/25bo7a
Posted by: pedantsareus
| February 21, 2008 7:43 AM | Reply to this comment
Anyone else loathe headlines like
I mean, we all know, even those of us who don't trust McCain, that he wouldn't say that, or mean that. I grok the concept of irony, but I don't think that's what the author of this headline, or the authors of many of the headlines at, for example, Huffington Post or Drudge Report, are doing. I think what they're saying is "our opponents are soooo stoopid they can't figure out this basic stuff that's soooo simple."
For my money, it shows that such articles are simply not taking people or issues seriously, and are operating from a fundamentalist ideological perspective that doesn't treat an issue or person as capable of having more than one valid perspective. In other words, it tells me that the article under the headline is not worth reading: the author simply wants to preach to the choir.
Posted by: Phidippides
| February 21, 2008 8:08 AM | Reply to this comment
Obama said we should pursue Terrorist leaders hiding in Pakistan.
McCain said that he wanted to bomb Pakistan, attack our important ally, and this was evidence of his inability to be commander in chief.
CIA pursued and killed a terrorist leader in Pakistan a week later.
How is that headline not accurate? Furthermore, how did the "experienced" national security Senator, not know that the CIA was already doing what he was suggesting was stupid?
Posted by: RedSeven
| February 21, 2008 9:29 AM | Reply to this comment
Red7, the headline says "McCain attacks Obama for being willing to take out terror leaders". Do you really think McCain would criticize anyone for "being willing to take out terror leaders?" Do you really think the story you related states precisely that, or do you think it could be put more accurately? Can you really imagine McCain arguing that "Obama should NOT be willing to take out terror leaders?" It is tempting to think that only those stories that have spin we agree with are objective. They're no more objective than spun stories - or headlines - from the other side.
Posted by: Phidippides
| February 21, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply to this comment
I think he said he would not go into Pakistan without the consent of Pakistan.
He would never say those words, but that is the direct implication of what he said.
The headline is hype, no doubt, but there is truth behind it. I think the hype isn't about one side or the other, it's about a 'gotcha' and making the story.
Posted by: RedSeven
| February 21, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply to this comment
Note the protest sign by the ultraorthodox jews in Isreal is in English.
I wonder who their real audience is...
Posted by: andy
| February 21, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply to this comment
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