Headlines: What is this World Coming To?

"Blast destroys dome of Shiite shrine in Iraq", says the headline from MSNBC. Revenge, thy name is apparently Muslim, as many protesters shout "Rise up Shiites! Shiites take revenge!" I guess they don't want to listen to clerics who are asking their Shiite and Sunni followers NOT to follow up with violent attacks and protests. But this hit a raw nerve in the Muslim world. How raw? Just look at raw backwards... Civil war come to mind? (Speaking of civil war, isn't that an oxymoron? What's so civil about any war, anyway?)

"3 Charged with Planning to Attack Troups," declares Forbes. But read on, and find out that these suspects are just ordinary U.S./Jordanian citizens. One man was attending college to learn how to be a computer guru, another was a car salesman, and the third liked to play with his children in his yard. But the headline says they allegedly were planning an attack on our troups. I know, a paradox of sorts, and so is the article, too. Because after the first paragraph, there's no mention of attacking troups. The list of charges are a bit interesting, and could possibly be innocently explained away. Let me try. 1) They went to a shooting range together regularly and tried to get government funding for their training. Easy, they have had several incidents with car/deer accidents on the road and know the dangers posed by deer overpopulation, so they wanted to get people to train and be able to hunt deer better. 2) They were apparently distributing information on how to make a bomb out of household items. Uh, well, not really a bomb, per se... do you know what Meth is? 3) Suicide bomb vest? Oh, no, that was his Simplicity pattern he was converting to make a computer techie vest out of. 4) One man is accused of wanting to kill President Bush... I can't explain away that one. Another surprising tidbit from the article is that after police officials ransacked their places, they found money, two pieces of paper and a paintball gun. That's hard evidence for ya. The only piece of evidence that I think might convict them (not necessarily of the current charges): "Whenever he goes out at night, he always calls my mom to let her know where he's at and what he's doing," a 14-year-old sister of one of the accused said. Sounds like someone paranoid about getting taken out.

"Brosnan sympathy for new Bond", says RTE Entertainment. When I first read this, I thought the new Bond, Daniel Craig, died. Maybe Brosnan will come back?? But, nopers. The new James Bond got banged up pretty bad in a stunt scene, loosing a few teeth in the process. Hey, what's wrong with the new Bond looking like a hockey player? In actuality, the article was more a plug for what the old Bond is up to nowadays. A bit of a distasteful publicity stunt. Shame on Brosnan's PR people. By the way, Pierce Brosnan, are you looking for a better PR staff?

"Make your own Mardi Gras", encourages Mercury News. Yes, Lent is just around the corner and we are less than a week from Fat Tuesday, the Super Bowl of overindulgence. Who's going to win this year's overindulgence feast? Probably not New Orleans. Hey, that means your community could step up and take over for New Orleans. Just rename your town Newer Orleans and ham it up!