"When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane." - Hermann Hesse

***

'Dismayed' by Thai, Malaysian problems - "In Thailand, they say corruption. So to stop the corruption, they have a coup. Then they have another election. But the election does not solve the problem of getting (former) prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's influence removed. So they have all kinds of new rules and laws to disqualify his party or the new party...So as a consequence, you look at the stock markets, it's gone down. The economy is sound, the politics is a problem."
Interference in other countries' internal affairs!

James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785 - "Experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution. Enquire of the teachers of Christianity for the ages in which it appeared in its greatest luster; those of every sect, point to the ages prior to its incorporation with civil policy. Propose a
restoration of this primitive State in which its teachers depended on the voluntary rewards of their flocks, many of them predict its downfall. On which Side ought their testimony to have greatest weight, when for or when against their interest?"
James Madison on separation of Church and State

What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy - "These fears and the religious responses to them have been a key to the political success of the religious right in recent decades. Randall Balmer, a leading scholar of evangelical Christianity, points out that it's offered not so much "issues" to mobilize around as "an unambiguous morality in an age of moral and ethical uncertainty."... When religious language enters the political arena in this way, as an end in itself, it always sends the same symbolic message: Yes, Virginia (or Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina) there are absolute values, universal truths that can never change. You are not adrift in a sea of moral chaos. Elect me and you're sure to have a fixed mooring to hold you and your community fast forever."

Strictly No Photography - "Strictly no photography is a photo-sharing site for photographs taken where you are not allowed to take them. From the inside of the Kremlin to Kensington palace, from art galleries to war zones. Here you can see everything you've ever wanted to see that you're not supposed to. There are pictures that range from the ordinary to the profound. Whatever the content or the quality though we think that each one stands as a little piece of art in itself, as a little expression of personal liberty."
Hee hee

Flickr: You can't take pictures here! - "Places, situations where you have been told not to take pictures, after of course, you already have a few in your camera. Examples are military, government or scientific establishments of any kind, hospitals, churches, you name it. Or situations you find yourself in when suddenly someone asks you to stop. Of course you do stop, but you have the pictures already, right?"
hoho

Beijing Olympics - shirtless men, fake products, and Potemkin facades - "The clip begins with footage of what looks like a normal building. However, closer inspection reveals that it is in fact a painted facade attached to the exterior of an incomplete building. The building was supposed to have been a hotel, but its construction was delayed and it failed to open in time for the Olympics. Authorities have added the fake exterior to improve Beijing’s image to foreign visitors... Japanese reporters go to one of these neighborhoods and witness many men walking around without shirts. The government has told Beijing residents that they must not go around half-naked when the Olympics start, and the men say they will put shirts on when the time comes."

Font Conference - CollegeHumor video - "This video wasn't long enough, so we made it double-spaced."

Naturally Busty Model Search - m4w - "Thank you to all ladies you replied to the earlier posting. I have found 8 of the 10 models required, but still need 2 more. If you are naturally busty and looking for a big payday, then please respond quickly. Must be naturally busty, at least a DD or larger. Please see picture below as an example of models recently chosen. Models chosen could make as much as $1,000 a day. Don't miss out. Please note that positions available are adult in nature."
Uhh..... And why is almost everyone advertising in that category a tranny?! Someone commented he didn't know anyone both DD and openminded - so maybe there's a negative correlation between size and openmindedness here.

Someone else: i KNEW U wld ask [if I qualified]
I am not telling :P
go away

1st HK case: Muslim sues over ham in seafood pizza - "IN THE first case of its kind in this Chinese city, a Muslim has sued Pizza Hut after he ate a seafood pizza that contained ham, a newspaper reported yesterday."
Are people going to sue KFC for putting chicken fat in mashed potato gravy, or Chinese pastry shops for putting lard in pastry?

YouTube - Japan's 73-year-old Porn Star ! (CNN) - "With 200 porn movies under his belt, Takuda - that's his porn name - is Japan's leading man in the genre of elderly porn... Tokuda says he's healthier now than he's been in years... Ruby pioneered the elderly porn field by accident. It started producing adult movies with middle-aged stars. Then older and older actors and saw better and better sales. Ruby now specializes in elderly porn and is looking into selling his DVDs in retirement homes and -- the porn industry in Los Angeles just called. They want to get in on this, too. Director Gaichi Kono says senior citizens are encouraged by Tokuda and other elderly actors. In his generation, Takuda is a superstar says Kono. He encourages older people to think, I can do this because that old man can do this... Takuda's wife and daughter support his second career, but they don't want to know the details."

YouTube - The Singapore Song By Rony Tan - "In deep gratitude to our protective and caring government all these 43 years, The Singapore Song was written in their honor. It is also specially dedicated to Mr & Mrs Lee Kuan Yew.
Lyrics:
Oh it was hard
to endure pain and tyranny
Beneath the load how we
yearned to be free"
My comment: "I am grateful to China for exporting cheap goods and keeping the rate of inflation down worldwide." Those who criticise China are thus ungrateful brats.