From Wired Magazine:

Where in the world is Osama bin Laden? Uh … try checking Google Earth. After Google recently updated its satellite images of parts of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, much of the region still looked blotchy — the kind of low resolution that persists in coverage of, say, upstate New York. But several small squares (they stand out as off-color patches from 680 miles up) suddenly became as detailed as the images of Manhattan. These sectors happen to be precisely where the US govern­ment has been hunting for bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Google doesn’t ask why resolution improves in particular locations. But the CIA believes bin Laden is holed up in the Hindu Kush mountain range-one of the most out-of-the-way places on Earth — and you can now see every house, school, and mosque in certain villages there. Keep your eyes peeled for a very tall guy with a long beard and an AK-47.

The image below is of the same village shown in the article, only larger. No, I didn’t just copy the image off Wired’s site, I actually went out and found the exact place in Google Earth.

This image is that of the village and the are directly to the east, which is not as high-res as the shot of the village itself. The difference in resolution is clear…

Now let’s see. Where in Pakistan/Afghanistan is Osama…?

With trembling longing

I contemplate the falling leaves

Of autumn

twirling gently to the sodden earth

in golden cascades of red yellow and orange

With trembling anticipation

I await the wondrous budding

Of spring

arising in pink rose petals

like hair atop a glorious head

breaking through the carpet bombing

of a chemo blasted baldness

Dancing wildly with thick entangled curls!

Curls caressing the warm lavender Spring!

CLICK READ MORE TO JUMP TO THE VIDEOS

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE CHALLENGE THAT LED TO THE GRUDGE MATCH OF THE CENTURY!

Greetings and salutations all…

By somewhat popular demand, I've enabled the posting of YouTube videos to the site. It started with Laury requesting the feature, and in trying to figure out just how to make that happen (Drupal has a very strict filter in place to prevent just that), I found something that will let us turn this filter off for registered users and contributors. 

Yes, you have to be registered in order to post a YouTube video, but hey, I have to keep this manageable somehow, no?

A couple of caveats:

1. You can only post YouTube videos. If someone has another site they want me to add to our filter list, shoot me an email. My contact info is on the "About Us" page.


2. You have to disable 'rich-text' posting. Sadly, I can't get the automatic HTML embedding editor to not filter the tags required by YouTube (I will, eventually), so you have to add your video to the site in plain old text/HTML. Sorry!

That's it! Enjoy.

Ordinarily, I'd leave posting on the front page to our other, more erudite contributors, but this just put a great big grin on my face.

BBC is reporting that everyone's favorite Iranian, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has challenged President Bush* to a live TV debate on world affairs. The White House is calling this a "diversion" from global concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

The following story is reprinted, with permission, from Counterpunch. For me this moving letter captures the spirit of non-violent resistance coming out of Lebanon and the hope of possibile alternatives, the hope of transcending mutually assured cultural degradation.

In solidarity with the spirit of the wedding,

Ginan.

"You can tell them that I’m not leaving.We love Lebanon.”

From ZENA EL-KHALIL

BEIRUT — I have started coughing, but I don’t know why. I am not sick. I don’t have a cold. I think it’s a reaction I’m having to stress. My body feels weak. My mouth is always dry, no matter how much water I drink. And I’m afraid to drink too much water because I don’t want it to run out!

I reflect upon our terrible century. Perhaps our greatest challenge is to survive while remaining civilized. The savaging of cities from New Orleans to Baghdad to Sarajevo quickens the impulse to live and live well. Like the Lebanese in exquisite dress we de-coulter the world. Ladies don’t trash widows and sing macabre songs of death and market good looks and become common bores cheering the global rubble.

We strain our bodies to hear the blues- the deep subterranean blues crossing the planet from New Orleans to Beirut against the grain of sonic bombs. The heart breaks out in song and clutches at the irreducible fragment of Fairuz’s lyrical voice to retrieve memories of Marcel Khalifa’s gentle presence on an American stage that is closer to the heart than the proverbial jugular vein as it heals the savaged collective skin of the diaspora, a heart grieving far and wide.

Hey guys, Ali Eteraz brought me here, and it doesn't seem right for me to remain now that he's gone. Something tells me the management will agree.

If you'd like to keep in touch, you can do so via Indiscretions. It's been a good couple of weeks. Thanks.

There were proposals in Pakistan to put a 'mohtasib' program in place who would regulate public morality (think Saudi religious police and Iranian morality police). The Supreme Court of Pakistan struck the legislation down.

Here are the most important passages from the opinion:

Para 24-A: We are quite in agreement with the contentions of learned Attorney general that private life, personal thoughts and the individual beliefs of citizens cannotbe allowed to be interefered with.

Para 36: Islamic jurists are unanimous on the point that except "Sallat" and "Zakat" no other religious obligation stipulated by Islam can be enforced by the State. There is also unanimity that the "Zakat" obligation was seriously enforced through State Coercion by Hazrat Abu Bakr and for "Sallat" the only way is through "Taleem, Tableegh, Talkeen and Targheeb.

That paragraph 36 is saying that even in an Islamic State the only two elements of religious ritual/public morality that the State can impose are prayer and charity. Then it adds, that prayer can only be enforced by way of education and persuasion. Legal reasoning at its best.

This week it happened again.

A Muslim buddy of mine called me a "Muslimah in the closet." Before that, I've been referred to as an "honorary Muslim," "Muslim-in-the-making" and even "Sister Natalia."

I used to respond to these kinds of statements with a mixture of bemusement and fear. I have spent a couple of years now making myself acquainted with Islam and its many representatives. I've bonded with some and argued 'till I frothed at the mouth with others. I've traveled to the Middle East, and wore Christian Orthodox-style hijab when I visited the Mount Nebo holy site (and still felt the eyes of horny men on me… as if hijab actually makes a difference, ha!), and then wrote an entire article about how much I wanted to ride public transportation in Amman, but couldn't, because every woman on the bus wore hijab and trying to pass myself off as Muslim to fit in seemed dishonest at the time.