"Google Trends, which monitors searches from around the world, shows that of the seven countries that most frequently search the word "sex" on Google, five are Muslim and one (India) has a large Muslim minority. (The word "sexy" is even more popular among Arabs.) Google Insights, another trend spotter, shows that the most rapidly rising search term for Iranians so far in 2012 has been "Golshifteh Farahani," a popular exiled actress who in January posed topless for the French magazine Madame Figaro."
Taken together, the increasing production and declining consumption have unexpectedly brought the United States markedly closer to a goal that has tantalized presidents since Richard Nixon: independence from foreign energy sources, a milestone that could reconfigure American foreign policy, the economy and more. In 2011, the country imported just 45 percent of the liquid fuels it used, down from a record high of 60 percent in 2005.
"Bin Laden's biggest concern was al-Qaeda's media image among Muslims. He worried that it was so tarnished that, in a draft letter probably intended for Atiyah, he argued that the organization should find a new name.
The al-Qaeda brand had become a problem, bin Laden explained, because Obama administration officials "have largely stopped using the phrase 'the war on terror' in the context of not wanting to provoke Muslims," and instead promoted a war against al-Qaeda." - David Ignatius
"At a variety of points in the Obama era, even after the president prioritized bin Laden's demise and ordered the strike in Abbottabad, conservative critics of the administration's national security policies have complained bitterly about the president's choice of words. Rudy Giuliani, the Cheneys, Joe Lieberman, and others insisted counter-terrorism successes were nice, but what really mattered was Obama using the phrases they wanted to hear...According to none other than Osama bin Laden, the president's choice of words hurt al Qaeda. I don't expect Giuliani to admit he was wrong, but I hope someone sends him a copy of Ignatius' column." - The Maddow Blog
An Ethiopian housemaid in Lebanon committed suicide on Wednesday, Ethiopia's consul general said, a week after video footage of her being dragged along the streets by a man and forced into a car sparked national outrage.
"I went to the hospital today and they said that she hanged herself at 6 o'clock this morning," Asaminew Debelie Bonssa told Reuters, adding that the maid, Alem Dechasa, had been taken to hospital in order to recover from her forcible abduction.
"I am deeply shocked. I went to see her yesterday and I was told that she was ok," said Bonssa.
Last week, Lebanese television channel LBCI sparked nationwide indignation after broadcasting footage of a man violently dragging Dechasa along a street in Beirut and screaming at her to "get into the car."
Another man was then seen helping to force Dechasa into the back of the car while she squirmed and screamed "no, no, no."
On Friday, the Lebanese Cabinet condemned the violent incident and asked for an investigation into the matter.
After the video was aired, LBCI used the car's number plate number to identify one of the men.
Outraged by the video, activists in Lebanon posted the man's contact information on internet social media sites and called for action against him.
Reports of domestic worker abuse are rife in this small Mediterranean state.
The hospital was not immediately available for comment.
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
Oh oh, the Dutch are not happy about filthy Santorum since he is accusing them of mass killing of their elderly. Because according to him:
"In the Netherlands, people wear different bracelets if they are elderly," Santorum said. "And the bracelet is: 'Do not euthanize me.' Because they have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands but half of the people who are euthanized -- 10% of all deaths in the Netherlands -- half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are older and sick. And so elderly people in the Netherlands don't go to the hospital. They go to another country, because they are afraid, because of budget purposes, they will not come out of that hospital if they go in there with sickness."
"Women find it difficult to compete with men in general reporting jobs, so girls who want to be successful in journalism should prepare for work in the special women's departments," our helpful guide intones. These include things like "meal planning suggestions" and "beauty care." It's not explained why exactly women have such a hard time competing with the gentlemen, but we'll assume it's just because of their flighty nature and not because of inequality or anything crazy like that.
"It seems to me that people come to acknowledge that heterosexuality can have a history in much the same way that they come to acknowledge that food can have a history. People have always, obviously, eaten food. But they haven't always eaten the same things in the same ways, or prepared them identically, or ascribed the same meanings to the food they eat. Heterosexuality -- or at least relationships between men and women, which is not entirely the same thing -- is not so different."
"The fact of the matter is that as much as we might want to believe that we ought not lend our attention to the enormous sociocultural juggernaut that is heterosexuality on the grounds that paying attention to it only gives it more energy with which to thrive, none of us live our lives outside of the heterosexual matrix. Even if we despise the heteronormative hegemony, even if we fight the heterosexism of the patriarchy we live in with every waking thought, the fact remains that the less we know about it, the less effective our resistance can be. As much as I dislike thinking of heterosexuality as "the enemy" -- it's not, it's just an idea we use to think with -- we still need to know our enemies. Just as we need to know our friends. Just as we need, quite frankly, to know ourselves." - Hanne Blank
"In the name of 9/11 and Terrorism — [The United States] has dropped bombs on at least six Muslim countries whose governments had no connection whatsoever to 9/11 (often aimed at groups that did not even exist at the time of that attack). And now Washington is abuzz with exciting debates about the mechanics of how yet another country that had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 — Iran — should be aggressively attacked. As Jonathan Schwarz put it when the U.S. and the Saudis collaborated to depict the “Quds Forces plot” on U.S. soil as the latest proof of Persian aggression: “The funny thing is I’d bet the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. has closer ‘ties’ to Al Qaeda than 90% of the people we’ve killed with drones.” In sum, 9/11 has absolutely nothing to do with virtually all of the policies the U.S. has since undertaken in the name of Terrorism: except that it is exploited to justify them all." - Glenn Greenwald
"We believe in democracy and we also believe in freedom, but we do not believe in liberal democracy."
"The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness."
"Although the literal meaning of socialism is equitable distribution of wealth, it is associated with other concepts which we hate. Over time, socialism has come to be associated with certain things in society that are unacceptable to us."
"Go back and read what the sirens did once you arrived on that island.… They devour you. They destroy you. They consume you."
This picture was taken in Somalia, where an adulterer was lapidated. I dare you to take a good look at this poor man. He was born in poverty and grew up probably not much richer. It is a forsaken part of the world where godlessness manifest itself in warlords, wars, disorder and regular famines.
They tortured him to death for having sex with a female adult out of wedlock. He was killed for accessing the only source of pleasure his skinny body could deliver. And their blindness to his misery shows the origin of their belief. Their motivation is not divine love but satanic hatred.
And that is why I tend to hate organized religions.
"All we have to do is replace Obama. ... We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don't need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.
Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared."
Russia came close to nuclear disaster in late December when a blaze engulfed a nuclear-powered submarine carrying atomic weapons, a leading Russian magazine reported, contradicting official assurances that it was not armed.
Russian officials said at the time that all nuclear weapons aboard the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine had been unloaded well before a fire engulfed the 167-metre (550 feet) vessel and there had been no risk of a radiation leak.
But the respected Vlast weekly magazine quoted several sources in the Russian navy as saying that throughout the fire on Dec. 29 the submarine was carrying 16 R-29 intercontinental ballistic missiles, each armed with four nuclear warheads.
"Russia, for a day, was on the brink of the biggest catastrophe since the time of Chernobyl," Vlast reported. The 1986 disaster in modern-day Ukraine is regarded as the world's worst nuclear accident.
Neither the Russian Defence Ministry nor the office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who has responsibility for military matters, would immediately comment on the report. A spokesman for the navy could not be contacted.
