Genital mutilation: Women fight Africa's taboo

The female journalist was snatched by members of a secret society, forcibly stripped and made to parade naked through the streets. It might sound like an atrocity from the time when Sierra Leone was ripped apart by a bloody civil war, but in fact the public humiliation was exacted in the diamond-rich eastern town of Kenema just this month...

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Scifi great Philip Jose Farmer dead at 91

I realize that I tend to glorify Science Fiction writers, but damn, we've lost another of the greats. Even if you've never read a Science Fiction story in your life, do yourself a favor and grab a hold of "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". It's the first novel in the "Riverworld" series. (Avoid the made for TV movie like the plague)

Sign me:

Depressed again in Dayton

Emoose out

Saudi women frustrated by male-staffed lingerie shops

Call it a tempest in a D-cup. "Girls feel uncomfortable when males are selling them lingerie, telling them what size they need... he's totally checking the girls out!"

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Legalize Pot and Save the Economy!

With the US economy crashing around us, new legislation introduced in California that would legalize pot could not only provide the government much needed tax revenue, but also save billions on enforcement.

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Galaxy may be full of Earths full of life

As NASA prepares to hunt for Earth-like planets in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy, there's new buzz that "Star Trek's" vision of a universe full of life may not be that far-fetched.

An artist's impression shows a planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits.

Pointy-eared aliens traveling at light speed are staying firmly in science fiction, but scientists are offering fresh insights into the possible existence of inhabited worlds and intelligent civilizations in space.

There may be 100 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way, or one for every sun-type star in the galaxy, said Alan Boss, an astronomer with the Carnegie Institution and author of the new book "The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets."

He made the prediction based on the number of "super-Earths" -- planets several times the mass of the Earth, but smaller than gas giants like Jupiter -- discovered so far circling stars outside the solar system.

Boss said that if any of the billions of Earth-like worlds he believes exist in the Milky Way have liquid water, they are likely to be home to some type of life.

"Now that's not saying that they're all going to be crawling with intelligent human beings or even dinosaurs," he said.

"But I would suspect that the great majority of them at least will have some sort of primitive life, like bacteria or some of the multicellular creatures that populated our Earth for the first 3 billion years of its existence."

What works

Message from Africa:Stop sending aid

People like Bono do more harm than good? "Bradgelina" and their ilk should mind their own business? Should Madonna stop kidnapping African children?

Republican Christian: What My Life Was Like Before Cannabis

He said the issue is often seen as a Democrat versus Republican debate. However, he labels himself as a Republican Christian.“I’m frustrated to death with the way the Christian community sees the word ‘marijuana’ and immediately turns away,” he said.

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Zogby Poll: US Weed Legalization Support Grows

Fifty-eight percent of respondents residing on the west coast agree that cannabis should be "taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes."...Nationally, support for taxing and regulating cannabis stands at 44 percent. Among likely voters on the east coast, 48 percent endorse legalizing marijuana.

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Brave Active-Duty Cop Calls for Drug Legalization

Looking a little nervous to be associating with a room full of believers in the healing properties of the herbal remedy, and taking pains to ensure that all present understood he was there on his own time and not representing the Victoria PD, the clean-cut cop offered up what his experience walking the beat has taught him about the war on drugs.

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These Cops Oppose the Drug Laws They Swore to Enforce

When he's working, Police Officer Bradley Jardis is just like any other cop. He's patrolling the streets to catch people with drugs because that's what he's supposed to do. But when he's off the clock, this 28-year-old officer is speaking publicly about why he believes existing drug policies have failed and why it's time for lawmakers to legalize.

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Obama Could Take Bold Leadership to Stop the Drug War

Our "prison-industrial complex" remains potent. And federal law prohibits the drug czar from recommending legalization of any banned drug, no matter the evidence. We have dug ourselves a deep hole. Only forthright and courageous leadership is likely to start us on a saner path. Can this be “the time?” Please, Mr. President.

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Religous Gestappo Alive and Well in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, religious police patrol the streets, looking for what they see as violations of Islamic law — the mingling of unrelated men and women, for example, or shops remaining open during prayer time. Formally known as the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, the religious police once enjoyed wide public support, but now are coming under harsh criticism — from Saudis themselves.

To see what Saudis are saying about the religious police, known around here as the Hey'a, all you have to do is load up a few videos on YouTube. In one video, a Hey'a member harasses a woman in a mall for leaving her face uncovered. The woman fights back.

Another one shows a group of women ululating at the Hey'a — and eventually running them out of a mall.

The videos are often narrated by angry citizens, saying things like "We'll show you by showing the world your bad deeds." The videos are just one part of the public outcry against the Hey'a these days. Newspapers routinely run critical news and opinion pieces. And it seems like every Saudi you talk to has a story.

"I was going out to Starbucks with one of my friends," tells a recent graduate who didn't want to give her name. "He's a doctor. And we were discussing something — it's a campaign that we wanted to do for the university. So it was very official."

Later that day she was confronted by the Hey'a for meeting with a member of the opposite sex.

"And then suddenly this guy — the Hey'a — he came and he knocked near the door," she says. "He said, 'How can you do this, this is not allowed,' and he started shouting." The officer took her to the Hey'a office.

At the office, she was interrogated about her meeting with the doctor and accused of lying.

They told her "He touched your breast. You showed him your body," the graduate says. "We were in public," she protested.

They asked if she was a virgin, then told her they were going to check.

"You know, I felt very humiliated," the student says. "I didn't do anything wrong, and now he's treating me like I'm a whore or something. I really felt very bad."

The woman was detained for several hours then forced to sign a document admitting her guilt. Her friend the doctor spent two days in jail.

A Growing Backlash

The Hey'a was formally established decades ago by the founder of the modern Saudi state, King Abdul Aziz al-Saud, who joined with conservative religious leaders to unite the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. Now the government employs thousands of Hey'a members in offices around the country.

In many regions, they're supported by the public. Some Saudi citizens consider it their duty to call the Hey'a to report violations. Saudis first ventured to criticize the Hey'a in 2002, when several members refused to allow girls to leave a burning school because they weren't properly covered. Fourteen girls died. In 2005, Hey'a members beat to death an alleged drug dealer in his home.

Journalist Iman al Qahtani says criticism intensified after the incident. "For the first time in Saudi history, people started to sue al Hey'a in courts."

The problem, Qahtani says, is that the courts — another bastion of the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia — were on the side of the Hey'a. " They win all thecases," he says.

That might change. Saudi King Abdullah recently sacked both the head of the Hey'a and the head of the country's powerful judiciary. Analysts say that sends a clear message both institutions need to reform.

New Hey'a chief Abdul Aziz al-Humain recently told Al Arabiya network the new commission will be "close to the heart of every citizen." Still, a change in leadership doesn't necessarily mean a change in mentality. The most recent cases involve confiscating a woman's laptop and not giving it back, and halting the performance of a play because it contained music.

Newspaper editor Jamal Khashoggi says the Hey'a does have a place in Saudi society, but it should be reactive, not proactive.

"If a young boy is harassing a girl in a mall, they should go after him," Khashoggi says. "I don't mind what they do with prostitution rings, to alcohol distributors. Just like with the Moral Majority in America, or independent brigades who are active to clean the streets in New York and Chicago — Guardian Angels, and stuff like that."

Even before the recent firing of the Hey'a chief, the commission was working to improve its image with training sessions and outreach programs. Some Saudis say the recent wave of criticism has put the Hey'a on better behavior. Others say it's made them worse.

Ron Paul: America's War on Drugs must end

Congressman Ron Paul is the most conservative, grandfatherly man to ever be admired by America's marijuana enthusiasts. On Friday night's episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, he reminded those who may have been suffering an impaired short-term memory at that late hour why, exactly, they should like him. -=W /VIDEO=-

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OMG! Did Google Earth find Atlantis?

Google is officially denying widespread Internet rumors that its Google Earth software located the mythical sunken city of Atlantis off the coast of Africa. Either that, or Google is totally trying to hide something. Since I always appreciate a nice juicy conspiracy theory, I'm going to go with the latter.

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Court saves Jehovah's Witness girl's life

A 12-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl has received a life-saving blood transfusion that she did not want after a Johannesburg High Court order gave doctors the go-ahead.

The girl, who suffers from leukaemia, was admitted to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital on Tuesday. Despite being told that a blood transfusion was needed to save her life, the girl and her parents refused to consent to the procedure.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it's against God's will to take other people's blood, or one's own blood that has been stored, into one's body.

The official website of Watchtower, a Jehovah's Witness organisation to which The Star was referred by the Jehovah's Witnesses of South Africa, says: "True Christians will not accept a blood transfusion. They want to live, but they will not try to save their life by breaking God's laws."

Another victory for sanity.

Anti-gay American cleric banned from UK for inciting hatred

A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith

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About Time

Marijuana vs. Anti-Depressants for PTSD: Marijuana Wins

I was asked by a healthcare professional at the Portland VA Hospital if I would help PTSD Veteran Victims to get permits to use legalized medical marijuana. I already had some Veteran patients from WW II, Korea and Vietnam. I heard from Veterans all over the U.S. and the world that marijuana was better than both morphine drugs and anti-depressants.

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New soft drink to be made from cow Piss

Moo juice, but not as wee know it

A hardline Hindu organisation, known for its opposition to "corrupting" Western food imports, is planning to launch a new soft drink made from cow's urine, often seen as sacred in parts of India.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, said the bovine beverage is undergoing laboratory tests for the next 2 to 3 months but did not give a specific date for its commercial release.