Dawnsinger

Sex with 72 virgins

"Blowing myself up is the only chance I've got to have sex with 72 virgins in the Garden of Eden."

- Husam Abdu, 14

It's like Penthouse Letters From Hell

The 'little bomber' stopped by Israelis commandos puts a pathetically human face on the suicide bombings in the Middle East. At 14, most teens are desperate for sex with anyone. I guess the "72 virgins" carrot just drove him over the edge.

For what it's worth, Husam, sex with 72 virgins - make it 73, counting yourself, might be closer to Hell than Heaven. Stay alive, grow up, find a nice soul-mate and I think you'll discover that true intimacy with one woman will be as close to Heaven as you're likely to get here on Earth.

Read the story . . .

Execution by Toyota

>> music << . . . you asked, for it, you got it, Toyota . . .

I'll never look at my Tercel the same way after reading about China's "Toyota of Death" mobile execution chamber. Appears to be quite an improvement over the Nazi's experiments with running exhaust hoses into the back of trucks scooting around scenic Bavaria.

Which may be why you have to read this in Die Zeit . . .

Not only Jesus & the Virgin Mary

Sorry, dude . . . all I could think was cabrito . . .

. . . but there's plenty of leftovers.

Read the miracle . . .

How then should we pledge?

First, an unlikely link to an article by Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Salon.com, covering today's Supreme Court arguments about the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Cutting through the snide subvocalizations of the article, Dahlia Lithwick (I love the name . . . almost New Orleans-esque) paints a disturbing picture of a court befuddled . . . knowing the ruling it is expected to deliver, flailing about for a bit of solid reasoning to deliver it.

I'm curious to know what Christians really think of this debate. Not the knee-jerk urge to counter the ruthless anti-Christian tide sweeping society . . . but what thoughtful Christians REALLY think.

In fact, I think we should put the Pledge of Allegiance itself on the wtness stand.

Five tests for statistics

For those bewildered by the dizzying barrage of statistics, Fox News writer Wendy McElroy has compiled a good checklist of five layman's tests to apply to stats. A little critical thinking can go a long way to clearing the fog.

Read the checklist . . .

Liturgical trade wars

Now we're outsourcing Mass to Asian markets. Up with which we shall not put!

Shame on you, Mr. Bush, for allowing precious American jobs to head overseas. This happened on YOUR watch, and we shall not forget. Nie Wieder! Mr. Kerry shall - with the backing of the International Brotherhood of Mass Merchandisers - levy tariffs that will discourage this lunacy . . .

Read the tale of woe . . .

Quotable . . .

At the end of all things, when the sun rises here, and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say: "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven," and the Lost will say: "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.

- CS Lewis, The Great Divorce

Calling of the loons

Thanks to Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine for digging up this priceless account of Lt. Smash - a Gulf War veteran enjoying an outing with the loons of the new anti-war movement. You can't make up stuff this crazy.

Read the story . . . (and don't miss the interview with Rebecca the Socialist Airhead

Hypocritic lectures

The International Herald Tribune has a good reader on Israel's whacking of Hammas leader Yassin, whose stated goal and active hobby, fyi, was Jewish genocide.

"I wouldn't take any lectures from hypocritical Europeans on how to deal with terror. Especially not from the French, who, when faced with the Algerian terror in the 1950s, resorted to wide-spread torture, or from the British, who tried to calm down the Middle East by bombing villages and by hanging people right and left."

Read the article . . .

Take that, Crusader dogs!

Michael Nevin Jr. writes an interesting essay putting recent Spanish announcements about pulling out of Iraq in context of Spain's 512-year-old confrontation with Islam. And I love the quote by Winston Churchill:

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

Read the essay . . .