The Morning Blog

The Saudi government is taking steps to modernize Mecca. The steps taken may or may not be gaudy or jarring to religious sensibilities. I say 'may or may not' because the reporter for this article can't really speak from his own experiences. Which raises a very, very interesting point: For an article about architecture in Islams holiest city, what exactly was the New York Times thinking when they selected a non-Muslim, who cannot enter the city, to write about it? The whole article has to be viewed as hearsay. Sloppy work New York Times, sloppy work! Do you not know of any Muslim reporters near Mecca? I'm really stunned by this to be honest.

Hmm... good news. I talked about this several weeks ago: An American aid worker has imprisoned in Haiti on kidnapping charges. The evidence looked extremely questionable at best and really seemed like a shakedown by the cops. Anyways, it appears that he's been freed. Understandably, he's not particularly interested in being personally involved in Haitian relief work from now on in.

Well, this makes our politicians look like beacons of probity: Israel's former president has been convicted of rape.

The Mexican drug war continues to turn the country into the wild west.

The Washington Post falls down a bit in this column opposing the restart of ROTC programs at Ivy League schools. One can certainly be opposed to the military as the author clearly is. However, it's logically inconsistent to me to be anti-military but pro-soldier as the author claims to be. It's unclear what precisely he expects the soldiers to do. Furthermore, one of his chief objections to the ROTC program (specifically the program at Notre Dame), is that it isn't sufficiently academically strenuous. A fine point. So what precisely is the problem with starting more rigorous programs at the Ivy Leagues? Would he prefer poorer educated officers or ones with a broader grasp and understanding of the world?

Remember that crazy lady, Christine O'Donnell? You know, the loony one that ran for the Senate seat in Delaware? Well, she's in trouble. Hopefully, we'll never hear from her again.

Here's some good news but I can't help but be a bit cynical about it. Gov. Haley Barbour will allow the early release of two sisters who were sentenced to life in prison after participating in the armed robbery of $11. That's a good thing. To me it seems like an outlandishly long prison term considering the crime. However...It's important to note that this has been a cause celebre for the NAACP who have argued that the women were given a disproportionate sentence because of their race. It's also important to note that Gov. Barbour has taken quite a bit of flack of late for not being particularly sensitive about race issues. The man probably is positioning himself for a Presidential run in 2012...Just being cynical here...

Well, we don't want to talk to you either! So there!

I have no idea how the knowledge of doing this will ever improve your life unless you're planning to cut someone's head off and want to make it look like a drunken accident.

Pretty slow day so I guess this is as good a place to end things as any other: baby beavers.