Probably, the Best Dollar I’ve Ever Spent

So, over the weekend I was hanging out on 6th St. in Austin, TX.

Check out these Homeless Hippies on My flickr.

As we were walking from bar to bar, we saw these two homeless guys sitting on the corner. They literally just finished writing this sign and were laughing about it amongst themselves.

Once I read what the sign says, I knew I had to take a picture. I told the guy I would give him a dollar if he let me take a picture of him and put it on the internet so I could take him “Viral!” He gotta pretty excited! His friend got a little pissed!

I mean no disrespect to these two random homeless guys, but just from the looks of your sign…. I can see why you’re on the corner.

Long story short, I totally lost that bet. I read the sign. We all had a good laugh. My friend & I each gave them a buck .

Hajj and reading the Quran declared to be a 'crime' in China

Protest rally in front of Chinese Embassy by Uighurs living in Belgium

A court in China's far-western region of Xinjiang has sentenced five imams to seven years in Chinese concentration camps for "illegally" organizing Hajj pilgrimages to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the World Uighur Congress reported.

The clerics were also charged with illegally providing copies of the Koran at a recent sentencing rally in Xayar County, near Xinjiang's Aksu City, said the Munich-based spokesman of the Congress.
More than 300 people attended the rally organized by the County People's Court, said the spokesman.

In a separate report, the World Uighur Congress said authorities in Aksu's Kalpin County had demolished a mosque, which refused to hang slogans supporting the Beijing Olympics. It happened despite the worldwide response initiated by the report about this incident. Moreover, Muslims were officially not allowed to show up on the streets during the "Olympic torch-bearing ceremony" for "security purposes".

State media said that more than 100,000 Chinese people completed pilgrimages to Mecca from 1985 to 2006. An annual record of 10,000 Chinese Muslims were sent to Saudi Arabia from November 2006 to last January, reports said.

There are almost 21 million Muslims living in China. Half of them are from the Huai nation living in Northeastern region. The largest ethnic community of the Province of Xinjiang consists of Uighurs practicing Islam. Their number is about 7.4 million.

Chinese authorities persecute Muslims on a regular basis, and imams of the mosques are supposed to undergo special "political retraining".

Man flies 235 miles in lawn chair

Kent Couch leaves his gas station in Bend, Ore., riding a lawn chair rigged with more than 150 giant party balloons in an attempt to fly to Idaho. He is equipped with a BB gun and a blowgun for popping balloons if he gets too high and three 15-gallon barrels of cherry Kool-Aid for ballast to release if he gets too low.

War veteran Michael Cobb's PHD at 91

A 91-year-old war veteran who collected a PhD from Cambridge University said today: “I don’t know what all the fuss is about.”

Michael Cobb is believed to be the oldest recipient of such a qualification from the university.

Forty members of his family joined him at the ceremony yesterday.

Col Cobb, of Plymtree, Devon, earned his doctorate by creating an atlas which records and maps the railway stations built in Britain between 1807 and 1994.

His son Stephen, 60, who flew in from Canada, said: "We're all very proud of him. To get a PhD at 91 is incredible. No one else in the family has got one. There are a few masters degrees but that's about it. It was an incredible surprise and means an awful lot to us all."

Col Cobb, however, who was among the British troops evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, said: "I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's something I wanted to do and something I loved doing."

A university spokesman said The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas was Col Cobb's magnum opus and had involved 18 years of research.

Col Cobb gained his first degree 70 years ago, studying mechanical sciences at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and graduating in 1938 before his wartime service. He began work on the atlas at the age of 62.

"It is a remarkable piece of scholarship," said Dr Richard Smith, head of the university's geography department.

"I was deeply impressed by the systematic way the cartographic enterprise had been carried out." The academic distinction of doctor of philosophy is awarded for "original contributions to knowledge".

President George Bush: 'Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter'

George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.

George Bush shares a joke with Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda and Chinese President Hu Jintao at the G8 Summit in Toyako

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Mr Bush, whose second and final term as President ends at the end of the year, then left the meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido where the leaders of the world's richest nations had been discussing new targets to cut carbon emissions.

One official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: "Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America's record on pollution."

Mr Bush also faced criticism at the summit after Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, was described in the White House press pack given to journalists as one of the "most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice".

The White House apologised for what it called "sloppy work" and said an official had simply lifted the characterisation from the internet without reading it.

Concluding the three-day event, leaders from the G8 and developing countries proclaimed a "shared vision" on climate change. However, they failed to bridge differences between rich and emerging nations on curbing emissions.

Tom Selleck Cake

I said I was gonna make a cake, and make a cake, I did! A Tom Selleck cake. My friend, Emma, was having a birthday bash, and seeing as she can't have the real Tom Selleck for a present, I made her this...

Read Alicia Policia's blog

Bush And Father Do Golf Fundraiser For McCain

George W. Bush famously claimed to have given up golf out of respect for soldiers in Iraq:

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

But this great sacrifice has taken the backseat to a more urgent concern -- raising money for John McCain:

If you're a high-flying Republican, and you can afford to take next Monday off to fly to Maine, have we got a treat for you.

On that day, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush are hosting a high-dollar fundraiser for John McCain near their home in Kennebunkport.

According to a solicitation sent by the McCain camp, for the low, low price of $5,000, you can play a round of golf at Cape Arundel Golf Course, Bush's home course.

"Both President Bush and Governor Jeb Bush will be stopping by to greet the foursomes," the missive promises. "The course is reserved for this private group, and VIPs will be visiting during your round of golf. This event is a great way to end a weekend getaway, and we would be honored if you can attend."

Amba regretting an abortion: "if an embryo or fetus is regarded as disposable, then you are, too."

I wanted to break out this beautifully written comment that Annie Gottlieb wrote in the comments to yesterday's abortion post (the one that linked to a Bloggingheads episode featuring 2 diavloggers trying to grapple with the realization that the unborn entity isn't "a blob"):

The nonreligious conclusion I came to as the result of lasting (lifelong) regret of an abortion is that if an embryo or fetus is regarded as disposable, then you are, too. I guess it's a version of what Mother Theresa was saying. An individual either is unique and uniquely valuable or isn't. All are or none are. If your existence had happened at the wrong time (I won't use the demeaning word "inconvenient" because sometimes it's little more than that, but sometimes it's a lot worse), you could have been disposed of. Your existence is accidental and contingent.

(Of course if you believe human beings are nothing special, even a plague on the planet, then by all means let's declare open season on 'em and hasten their extinction. Oh, uh, "us" is "them.")

To consider abortion acceptable is to make a philosophical decision about the world without even knowing it.

It's a tricky thing to write into law. Nearly all traditions have recognized the primacy of the mother's life and circumstances (including economic) in the early stages of pregnancy. The irony is that they knew a lot less than we do about what's involved. They really did believe it was a "blob." We know better.

But they also believed pregnancy was something like an act of God. That's why sex was so severely policed. I can understand why Catholics believe that there's a connection between the casual attitude made possible by birth control and a casual attitude toward life itself.

But is that inevitable? If people choose, for a time or for all time, to use sex to "make self" -- to make their own lives and relationships richer, which I do believe is one of its lifegiving uses -- then they should use birth control religiously. One of the big pro-choice arguments is that "birth control fails." Certainly some percentage of that failure rate is due to wrong or careless use of it. The rest -- the true failures -- might be seen as successes of someone who is just hellbent on being here. And the unwitting invitation of such a person should be viewed at all times as one of the ineradicable risks of sex.

Annie has another comment, that links to an important post of hers from 2005:

You know there are pro-life people who would make it mandatory that a woman be shown an ultrasound of her fetus before she can have an abortion.

I was once at the hospital with a woman who was beginning to miscarry, and I watched the live ultrasound. She was, I forget, maybe 8 or 10 weeks pregnant. The embryo/fetus didn't look like a baby yet, but you could see its heart beating.

I wonder if I would have been able to go through with an abortion if I'd seen that.

Thanks for writing all that over here, Amba.

I'm very interested in this idea that sex has become, as you put it, a way to "make self." It reminds me of the way people used to talk about taking drugs — especially LSD — back in the 1960s. It was supposed to be a profound journey of self-actualization. I remember being surprised to see kids only a few years younger than me taking drugs just to have fun or because they had nothing else to do. When you first break from the old traditions, maybe you have to make up a big, weighty story about how you are proceeding onto some higher ground. I'm sure you can use sex for profound self-actualization. In fact, you can still use drugs that way if you set your mind to it. But how many people do?

Boeing, Northrop, EADS Await Tanker Decision

The U.S. Air Force is expected to announce whether it will reopen bidding on the troubled billion-dollar program

Will the U.S. Air Force reopen competition for one of the most lucrative military contracting prizes in history, giving Boeing (BA) another shot at building refueling aircraft? Or will it stay the course, giving the business to Northrop Grumman (NOC) and its European partner, European Aeronautic Defence & Space (EAD.PA), the parent of Airbus? A decision is expected to be announced July 9.

The $35 billion award, the first of three contracts to replace 600 aging tanker planes, has been mired in controversy and delay for years. The latest holdup came when the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a protest by Boeing of the Air Force's chosen supplier of the planes, a consortium of Northrop Grumman and EADS.

The Air Force has several options, but the public and investors won't learn which it has chosen until Defense Secretary Robert Gates makes his announcement. Then all eyes will turn to the House Armed Services Committee, to see if they'll go along with the verdict. Congress holds the purse strings, and some in the House have threatened to find ways of compelling the military to give its tanker business to Boeing. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill anticipate getting "courtesy calls" informing them of the decision at around 10 a.m. ET; an Air Force press conference is anticipated about two hours later.

Top acquisition officials from the Pentagon are set to testify on the award July 10 before the House Armed Services Air & Land Forces subcommittee.

A "Quick Fix" or "Starting Over?"

Lawmakers from Washington state and Kansas, where Boeing employs thousands of workers, have put considerable pressure on the Air Force to reopen the bidding process and cancel the contract with Northrop Grumman and EADS.

"The Air Force could try anything from a quick fix to starting over," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, an Arlington (Va.)-based think tank. But as a practical matter, Thompson said, any attempt that appears to ignore the GAO report would meet resistance in Congress, where lawmakers could move to block the Air Force from awarding the contract to Northrop Grumman.

Meanwhile, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced a Senate resolution on July 8, calling on the Pentagon to rebid the flawed tanker contract. "The GAO's decision was clear, and today we are reiterating that message so that the Pentagon knows there is no wiggle room," Murray said. "It's time to go back and hold a truly transparent competition that does our war fighters and taxpayers justice."

The resolution was co-sponsored by Senators Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Kit Bond (R-Mo.), and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)

Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, where the Northrop Grumman plane would be assembled, said he would support the bidders submitting revised proposals instead of a "full recompetition" to speed the process along. "It is important to remember that the GAO's concerns were with procedural flaws in the Air Force's process, not with Northrop Grumman's product," Shelby said.

Why McCain Fails My Mom's Test

by Robert L. Borosage

My feisty 94-year-old mother has no patience for John McCain. "He's too old," she says bluntly, and "his ideas are out to lunch." That probably is to be expected from a woman who hasn't voted for a Republican since Eisenhower. But her opposition to McCain isn't really based on his politics. She just thinks his candidacy is an open insult to her intelligence and the intelligence of every American voter.

At 94, she doesn't claim to be an expert. She'd rather watch Wimbledon than a political debate. Her subscriptions tend towards health care and investing newsletters rather than political magazines. Her reading features schlock novels rather than the latest Bush expose. She follows fashions and styles, but isn't exactly au courant. "Is it legal to show this stuff?" she asked in a stage whisper in the midst of Sex and the City, cracking up the folks around us. But daughter of an Italian immigrant, raised in Milwaukee living above the family's corner store, she has a growing concern about the country she loves and her four great grandchildren will inherit.

That's why she thinks McCain is just insulting. He says he'll balance the budget while promising to cut everyone's taxes. "That's just nonsense," she says. "We've heard these promises before. Does he think we can't remember what Bush did and what Reagan did?" Then he says he'll stay in Iraq, increase spending on the military, and take the cuts from domestic programs. "Doesn't he look around at what is happening here? It's time to take care of this country now." She thinks his support for privatizing Social Security will just hurt the most vulnerable seniors. And his health care plan just makes her mad. "He keeps talking about more choice, and having people deal directly with the insurance companies. He's been on government health care all his life. He has no idea how complicated this is." My mother earned her PhD after raising her children and prides herself on her independence, managing her own finances, balancing her own checkbooks. But even she had to give her medical bills to my sister to manage.

After nine decades, my mother doesn't expect much from any politician. She knows strong families are the foundation of this country, and she built one with love and wisdom. But she isn't a cynic. And she wants straight talk to be more than a slogan. After a severe stroke, she left us yesterday. Her spirit lives in the hearts of the loving family and friends she touched so deeply. McCain is lucky she won't be here to cast her vote in November, because he already had lost it.

Iran tests missiles, vows to hit back if attacked

Iran test-fired nine missiles on Wednesday and warned the United States and Israel it was ready to retaliate for any attack over its disputed nuclear projects.

Washington, which says Iran seeks atomic bombs, told Tehran to halt further tests. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, says its nuclear programme is only for electricity.

Iran's missile tests rattled oil markets, helping crude prices to rebound about $2 a barrel after recent falls.

Speculation that Israel could bomb Iran has mounted since a big Israeli air drill last month. U.S. leaders have not ruled out military options if diplomacy fails to end the nuclear row.

But the United States gave no hint to leaders of a group of eight rich nations meeting in Japan this week that it planned to attack Iran, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.

"No mention of a military option (was made) by the United States," he said in Toyako, Japan.

Revolutionary Guards air force commander Hossein Salami said in televised comments that thousands of missiles were ready to be fired at "pre-determined targets". Missiles were shown soaring from desert launchpads, leaving long vapour trails.

"We warn the enemies who intend to threaten us with military exercises and empty psychological operations that our hand will always be on the trigger and our missiles will always be ready to launch," he said, according to ISNA news agency.

The White House told Iran to "refrain from further missile tests if they truly seek to gain the trust of the world".

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called for harsher measures against Tehran after the tests. "Iran is a great threat. We have to make sure we are working with our allies to apply tightened pressure on Iran," he declared.

His Republican opponent John McCain voiced support for a U.S. missile shield as a defence against Iranian missiles.

The tests "demonstrate the need for effective missile defence now and in the future, and this includes missile defence in Europe as is planned with the Czech Republic and Poland," McCain said in a statement.

MISSILE SHIELD

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested the tests justified plans for such a system, which Russia firmly opposes.

"Those who say that there is no Iranian threat against which to be building missile defences perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about ... the range of the missiles that they test fired," Rice said in Bulgaria.

"These are very dangerous missiles -- that's why the international community and not just Israel has an interest in blocking this escalation in a definitive way," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

Iran's State Press TV said the "highly advanced" missiles tested by the Guards included a "new" Shahab 3 missile, which officials have said could reach targets 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away. Iran has said Israel and U.S. bases are in its range.

Some U.S. facilities across the Gulf are little more than 200 km from Iran's coast. The United States has air and naval bases in nearby Arab states, including Qatar and Bahrain.

Iran has said U.S. forces are vulnerable because of their presence in two of its neighbours, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Israel, believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, has vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb."Israel does not threaten Iran, but the Iranian nuclear programme, combined with their aggressive ballistic missile programme, is a matter of grave concern," Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said after the tests.

World powers have offered Iran incentives if it suspends uranium enrichment. Tehran has rejected the demand, but Fars news agency quoted an Iranian official as saying chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili would meet European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana within days to discuss the incentives offer.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for about 40 percent of globally traded oil, if it is attacked. The U.S. military says it will prevent any such action.The war of words heightens risks that a misunderstanding or a minor clash in the Gulf, for instance, could get out of hand.Tehran and Washington have not had diplomatic ties for almost 30 years and have few avenues for direct communications.

An aide to Iran's Supreme Leader was quoted as saying on Tuesday that his country would hit Tel Aviv, U.S. shipping in the Gulf and U.S. interests in reply to any military strike.

Analysts say Iran's military technology often involves improving weaponry originating in China and North Korea.

"They are some way away yet from threatening Israel or U.S. bases," said London-based independent military analyst Paul Beaver, adding guidance systems over longer ranges needed work. But he said the missile programme was still "pretty advanced." (Additional reporting by Hossein Jaseb, and Paolo Biondi in Tokayo, Japan; writing by Fredrik Dahl and Edmund Blair; editing by Alistair Lyon and Charles Dick)