Rabbi Disagrees with Catholic Doctrine

Water is wet.  Film at 11:00.

Old Video of Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Our intrepid researchers have unearthed this previously unseen video of Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D - Fla.), Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, railing about the patriarchy.

The Suicide Bomber Game: Viral Video

First the video, then British press reports, followed by some worthless comments.

The YouTube poster says he found the video posted on Facebook by this guy, but the link now says the video is unavailable.

The London Daily Telegraph says:

A video believed to feature Pashtun school children in south-east Afghanistan recreating a terrorist attack has been posted on social networking sites.

The 84-second clip appears to show a veiled boy bid farewell to his friends before approaching a group of children nearby and blowing himself up.

Sand is tossed in the air to simulate the detonation as children fall to the ground. As the dust settles, their playmates gather round and pretend to identify the dead.

The amateur video has been circulated on the internet in Pakistan in recent days and has drawn mixed reactions in the region.

"It's horrifying and alarming. These children have become fascinated by bombers rather than condemning them," Salma Jafar of Save the Children UK in Pakistan told The Guardian.

Pakistani media commentator Fasi Zaka called the suicide bomber clip "the most amazing amateur video I've ever seen".

"It's disturbing but also sophisticated and creative – a one-camera shot that captures it all," he said. "They are reproducing what they see in their lives around them," he added.

While the spontaneity of the production has been questioned by some viewers, who observed that the height of the camera indicates it was filmed by an older member of the group, the video highlights the disturbing psychological impact of Taliban violence on the youth of the region.

The article in The Guardian says:

The suicide bomber, his faced cloaked in black, solemnly approaches a line of comrades, hugging each one in turn. Wailing jihadi chants fill the air. The bomber turns and makes for his target. A sentry tries to stop him but he tugs the cord.

Boom! Smoke fills the air and bodies go flying. As the dust settles a crowd rushes forward to examine the dead – some of whom seem to be struggling not to giggle.

This amateur video of Pashtun children enacting a suicide bombing has circulated on the internet in Pakistan in recent days, highlighting the disturbing psychological impact of Taliban violence on a generation.

The unsettling 84-second clip has divided opinions, with some amused by the smiling child actors and fake explosions; others appalled by evidence that suicide bombers have become playground heroes of sorts.

"It's horrifying and alarming. These children have become fascinated by bombers rather than condemning them," said Salma Jafar of Save the Children UK in Pakistan.

"If they glamorise violence now, they can become part of it later in life."

The origins of the homemade video, which first surfaced about a week ago, are unknown.

Ahsan Masood, a Pashtun from Waziristan who posted it on Facebook, said he believed it had been filmed in Khost, Afghanistan.

Masood, who works as a truck driver in the UAE, said he received the video from a friend's mobile phone. "I thought it was funny," he said.

The video is obviously staged. It's not simply random footage of children at play: the video quality is too great, and the children's movements are too limited and purposeful. What comes through to us is the happy and enthusiastic participation of the children.

The American equivalent would be a group of kids playing out a gangland drive-by shooting: half the kids (wearing blue do-rags) ride their bikes past a group of kids (wearing red do-rags) hanging out on the corner, and pretend to gun them down.  The kids who get shot clearly have the best parts, what with gruesome facial expressions and much flopping around.

We don't think this is "chilling" or "gruesome" or any particular indication that South Asia and the Middle East are producing a generation of sociopathic suicide bombers.  We are aware of no study suggesting that those of us who grew up playing Cops & Robbers or Cowboys & Indians have produced a disproportionate number of adult burglars.

Reactionaries in SF Seek Return to Days of Microwaved Kittehs

The Chronicle reports that San Francisco -- the city that gave leather chaps a bad name -- is considering casting pet stores into the outer darkness:

Sell a guinea pig, go to jail.

That's the law under consideration by San Francisco's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. If the commission approves the ordinance at its meeting tonight, San Francisco could soon have what is believed to be the country's first ban on the sale of all pets except fish.

That includes dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, birds, snakes, lizards and nearly every other critter, or, as the commission calls them, companion animals.

"People buy small animals all the time as an impulse buy, don't know what they're getting into, and the animals end up at the shelter and often are euthanized," said commission Chairwoman Sally Stephens. "That's what we'd like to stop."

But San Fran's city fathers mothers parents care-givers seem to have forgotten the bad old days, when guinea pigs died from botched back-alley euthanizations performed with dirty coat-hangers; when kittehs and peeps died horrible deaths in under-powered microwave ovens. Euthanasia for our non-human fellow beings should be safe, legal, and paid for by British Petroleum.

Sex Lives of Supreme Court Justices

Cute:

Speculation is already rampant about why Scalia chose nine children over a more conventional lifestyle. Is he a sex maniac? That suspicion naturally arises. But perhaps once he started, he just never got around to stopping. Or maybe he just likes children. In recent days, Scalia’s friends have rushed to his defense, going out of their way to portray him as a model of sexual restraint. "Every Friday a bunch of us used to go down to this bar to pick up women," one of his college roommates recalls. "We’d always ask Nino if he wanted to join us, but he always said he was too busy studying. Frankly, we thought he was gay."

Can Your Kid's Teacher Speak English?

What kind of question is THAT you racist bastard. Just kill me now.

Gumbo, Oreos, Jambalaya

Say what? Careful, they're all racist.

We Are Amused

Professional illegal aliens? Not so much.

International Olympic Committee Racist!!

¿Está quemando Portland?

Today in Total Bullshit

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said that the worst of the credit crunch may have passed.