there are no scarlet letters in iran

just stones that turn scarlet

Human rights activist tries to stop death by stoning for Iranian woman

By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) -- A veteran Iranian human rights activist has warned that Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two, could be stoned to death at any moment under the terms of a death sentence handed down by Iranian authorities.
Only an international campaign designed to pressure the regime in Tehran can save her life, according to Mina Ahadi, head of the International Committee Against Stoning and the Death Penalty.
"Legally it's all over," Ahadi said Sunday. "It's a done deal. Sakineh can be stoned at any minute."
"That is why we have decided to start a very broad, international public movement. Only that can help.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,

how did they get a copy of my album?

via

me in repose

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note: wholesome AND untamed (all at once!!!)

via twisted vintage (great great great site. DO stop by there)

quote of the day

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that's right! there really CAN BE .....

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hmmmmmmmmmm if one didn't know better

one would suspect bp is paying off the coast guard. this is just another nail in the coffin of the bp/coast guard relationship. it just keeps getting worser and worser n'est pas? and oh, bp and coast guard? do you think attempting to block reports and reporters  from the raping of our earth sites will STOP us knowing what's going on? hint: NO IT WON'T

Coast Guard bans reporters from oil cleanup sites

By Daniel Tencer

Anderson Cooper: 'We are not the enemy here'

Journalists who come too close to oil spill clean-up efforts without permission could find themselves facing a $40,000 fine and even one to five years in prison under a new rule instituted by the Coast Guard late last week.

It's a move that outraged observers have decried as an attack on First Amendment rights. And CNN's Anderson Cooper describes the new rules as making it "very easy to hide incompetence or failure."

The Coast Guard order states that "vessels must not come within 20 meters [65 feet] of booming operations, boom, or oil spill response operations under penalty of law."

But since "oil spill response operations" apparently covers much of the clean-up effort on the beaches, CNN's Anderson Cooper describes the rule as banning reporters from "anywhere we need to be."

........................... 

from dark roasted blend....

Vintage Construction Toys: Blasts From The Past 

 

by the way, there was only ONE picture with a grrrl in it. this is it:

language, language, language (nsfw)

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it's not necessarily MY point of view

but is IS the point of view of another american. ALL of our voices count



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i wanted to post this vid,

but the embedding is disabled. here's the link though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmhnb34XAcc

but you CAN watch this one right here:



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(whew, pic is taken now i can take this darn corset off!)

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sunday with the black keys

wonder if the new texas textbooks will contribute to even LOWER

and even MORE embarrassing results

happy independence day america!

land of the free, home of the brave stupid

More than one-quarter don’t know who US gained independence from

Every Fourth of July, Americans gather to celebrate the country's declaration of independence from ... um, what country was that again?

If you answered the above question with the word "England" or "Britain," you would be obviously correct. But a new Marist poll finds that more than a quarter -- 26 percent -- of Americans polled couldn't bring to mind the name of the country from whom the original 13 colonies gained independence.

Results were especially poor among the young: Of respondents aged 18 to 29, only 60 percent correctly identified Great Britain. A full one-third were unsure.

Maybe history class was too long ago. Or maybe, as the New York Daily News would have it, Americans are "pretty dumb.".............

forbidden LOVE

true love doesn't rust
Brian Barrett

hey kathleen parker

you are a GIANT


fucking asshole

i hope you're not one of those (and i quote YOU here) 'too sensitive' people who find offense at words one person uses to describe another

YOU TWAT

do you think it's too much for me to wear to church tomorrow?

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gosh oh gee, i wish i had this sage advice when i went to school

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this just happens to be my favorite los lobos song

americablog happened to have posted it

the dude is NO match pour le chat

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READ IT!!! Jesus' General: Brian Thomas, M.S.

Jesus' General: Brian Thomas, M.S.

i'm sort of tired of saying, 'no, this is NOT from the onion'

Courses at Glenn Beck's New U.

— By Adam Weinstein

Have you heard the exciting news? Apparently appalled at the paucity of solid learnin' in America (excepting, of course, Texas), media maestro and renowned art historian Glenn Beck has announced the opening of his own great patriotic hall of academe. The forthcoming institution o'learnin', appropriately titled Beck University, will "explore the concepts of Faith, Hope and Charity and show you how they influence America’s past, her present and most importantly her future." Its faculty features such luminaries as a free-market economist whose degree is in psychology and a Texas Republican Party bigwig who hates, hates, HATES church-state separation. It even has an Ivy-style crest—featuring a feather, a buffalo, and the disembodied head of George Washington—and a Latin motto, "Tyrannis Seditio, Obsequium Deo" (roughly translated: "Revolution against tyrants, submission to God")................

Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore / Flickr 

in all honesty i didn't watch this (not even one second of it)

but if i was in the right frame of mind (so to speak), i'd bet it would be hysterical 

mucho gracias to chuck norris for the saturday hummer humor

here at ravings

Chuck Norris: Obama Snubbed the Boy-Scouts Which Is Just Like the Crucifixion of Jesus

This was cross-posted from Whiskey Fire.

It appears Chuck Norris has said something stupid on the Internet. What are the odds I axe you.

Last week, I discussed a series of evidences regarding how President Barack Obama is leading the White House pack in distancing his administration from the Boy Scouts of America.

To paraphrase C. T. Robot, gah, this is a sequel to something.

I’d wondered why last week seemed so unusually placid and dumb-free and sunshine glad. Guess I should have hit the Chuck-a-Snooze one more damn time….

Oh well what the hell, we’re already in gear and suited up, so away we go.

Last week, I discussed a series of evidences regarding how President Barack Obama is leading the White House pack in distancing his administration from the Boy Scouts of America.

“Evidences” only passed Chuck’s spell check because he doesn’t know you can only put the “s” there if “evidence” is a verb. Here is an amusing Chuck Norris Fact: that Chuck Norris knows karate doesn’t mean he has a command of written English, and also, he has semi-literate editors. How comical..........................

are you now or have you ever been.....................

FBI Releases 947-Page
File on the Mattachine Society

(A poster from the 1960s.)

The good folks at GovernmentAttic.com, through a Freedom  of Information Act request, have obtained the 947-page Federal Bureau of Investigation file on the Mattachine Society, a gay lib org started in the 1950s by a handful of brave homosexuals, and the entire file is now available at the site for everyone to read.

Click here to download the large PDF. If you "right click, save" on the link, it is easier to download, instead of just clicking the link.

I'm looking forward to reading the full document, and right now want to share two highlights I found while skimming the file.

From the file's first page:

On May 29, 1953, Confidential Informant [redacted] of known reliability who is a sex deviate contacted [Special Agent] ROBERT KARL. The Informant made available a copy of the Publication entitled "ONE" [...]

Further review of the Publication indicates it is written for Sex Deviates [...]

The Bureau's attention is directed to Pages 9 and 10 of the publication. The article is entitled "Are You Now or have you ever been a Homosexual" [...]

I simply can't imagine the courage it took in those dark times, to come out of the closet, link up with other homosexuals, risk losing employment or housing or the love of family and friend, and also publish a newsletter demanding respect and tolerance...............

this dude is really a democratic plant, right?

to make the republicans look like they dropped way too much acid in 1969, right? that MUST be the case. how else could you explain this; steele saying afghanistan is a war of OBAMA'S CHOOSING??? 

 W T F????

 really. this should be it for this dude

G.O.P. Leader Draws Criticism Anew

By JEFF ZELENY

WASHINGTON — Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, drew fierce criticism and a call for his resignation on Friday after declaring at a party fund-raiser that the United States was on the wrong side of history with its conflict in Afghanistan, a military fight he called “a war of Obama’s choosing.”  .....................

and this 'splains a LOT. when he made the remarks, who was he hoping to help? why the QUEEN of connecticut (in her own mind that is). the woman who supported and PROMOTED violence against women. the woman whose organization (sure she's NOT an officer any more, but c'mon it's STILL hers and her pumped up husbands) is (i'm not sure that should be a WAS just yet) riddled with 'roids. a woman who claims she didn't know she was donating to democrats when tossing cash about in the past.

........
When Mr. Steele made the remarks, he was speaking to Republican contributors attending a fund-raising event for Linda McMahon, the party’s candidate for the United States Senate in Connecticut. The video appears to have been taken by a hidden camera at an event that was closed to the press. Republican officials did not dispute the authenticity of the video, but disputed its characterization...........

what's the big deal?

i can do this too!



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F A I L

Machine teaches men what it feels like to menstruate

Lisa Katayama

it's get chorazz up out da chair day here at ravings

i DARE you to keep sitting


and now the remix


janelle monae

via the awl

mac really is doing some sort of bang up job reporting on

the bp disaster.  oh and the continuing disaster of them raping the american public. how much longer are we going to allow them to control US?

she is one fine reporter

Uniformed Cops on BP Payroll? Enter the ACLU

By Mac McClelland

Some updates on the incident I reported on last week, in which an off-duty Louisiana sheriff's deputy working for BP's private security detail harassed an environmental activist who was neither on BP's property nor breaking any laws. (Watch the video at the end of this post.)

First, some gratifying news: The ACLU has put Louisiana law enforcement on notice. In a letter (PDF) released yesterday, Marjorie Esman, executive director of the group's Louisiana chapter, reminded the sheriffs of the coastal parishes that "members of the public have the right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to film, record, photograph, and document anything they observe in a public place. No one—neither law enforcement nor a private corporation—has the legal right to interfere with public access to public places or the recording of activities that occur there. Nor may law enforcement officials cooperate with private companies in denying such access to the public."............

pic from the article linked above

well, red really IS NOT their color

via asb

i guess it's math and science day here at ravings

because here is yet ANOTHER interesting story

Scientists Cite Fastest Case of Human Evolution

By NICHOLAS WADE

Tibetans live at altitudes of 13,000 feet, breathing air that has 40 percent less oxygen than is available at sea level, yet suffer very little mountain sickness. The reason, according to a team of biologists in China, is human evolution, in what may be the most recent and fastest instance detected so far. Comparing the genomes of Tibetans and Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, the biologists found that at least 30 genes had undergone evolutionary change in the Tibetans as they adapted to life on the high plateau. Tibetans and Han Chinese split apart as recently as 3,000 years ago, say the biologists, a group at the Beijing Genomics InstituteScience....... 

this is quite an interesting story

Russian mathematician wins $1 million prize, but he appears to be happy with $0

By Marc Kaufman

Washington Post Staff Writer 

Who would turn down a $1 million prize for solving a math problem?

Perhaps the smartest man in the world.

Three months ago, a famously impoverished Russian mathematician named Grigori Perelman was awarded the prestigious $1 million Clay Mathematics Institute Millennium Prize for his groundbreaking work -- having solved a problem of three-dimensional geometry that had resisted scores of brilliant mathematicians since 1904.

Thursday, the institute announced that Perelman, known equally for his brilliance and his eccentricities, formally and finally turned down the award and the money. He didn't deserve it, he told a Russian news service, because he was following a mathematical path set by another...........

pic: wickedmagazine.org

mel gibson, EVEN nicer than we here at ravings EVER imagined!

normally i wouldn't care or even post something like this. i'm posting it because mel is acting in so VERY a  catholic way on this. he spouts his love of god and the catholic church, yet doesn't treat people like he himself wishes to be treated. before spending one penny on ANY of his movies, i'd think twice if i were you. do YOU want to support someone like this? i don't. if you're jewish or black or yes, even a woman, you're shite in mr gibson's eyes it would appear.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Mel Gibson's Racist Rant Caught On Tape - Tells Oksana She Would Get 'Raped By N***ers'

 

In one of the most explosive, racist and vile outbursts by a celebrity ever caught on tape, Mel Gibson told the mother of his love child that the way she was dressed would get her "raped by a pack of n***ers," RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.

It's a shocking and blockbuster development in the couple's bitter legal battle, and Mel's disgusting words are on audio tape. His racist, misogynist statement is one of the secrets lurking in his war with his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

RadarOnline.com has heard the tape, which also includes Mel telling Oksana he will burn down her home.................

 

this too is NOT from the onion

Co-opting Abe Lincoln and the Fight Against Slavery

by gwen 

Talking Points Memo posted a campaign ad for Rick Barber, a Tea Party-aligned Republican running for Congress in Alabama. In the ad, Barber first speaks briefly to George Washington about taxes............

i love this!

via tywkiwdbi

what kind of bird is

big bird??? (an actual scientist explains)


Cory Doctorow

Mike sez, "When I was in the early stages of my PhD on the evolution of flightless birds, I was poking round in the storage cabinets of the Berlin Museum of Natural History one summer's day, and I had a revelation -- an original scientific insight. I realised what kind of bird Big Bird almost certainly is.............

talk amongst yourselves

fat suit barbie

suns of alyoisius

stop by HERE to see the others

i'm not commenting because i'm seething

Doctor testing drug to ‘prevent’ lesbianism, interest in ‘male careers’

By John Byrne

Dr. Maria New has a new strategy for treating unborn fetuses: the use of a potentially dangerous steroid aimed at preventing a rare congenital disorder that affects the adrenal gland, potentially consigning the future child to a lifetime regime of drugs...............

.............

And yes, it gets worse. As columnist Dan Savage points out, Dr. New is also exploring the use of dexmethasone's effects on future fetuses' desires to explore "male careers" or have disinterest in becoming mothers.

The majority of researchers and clinicians interested in the use of prenatal “dex” focus on preventing development of ambiguous genitalia in girls with CAH. CAH results in an excess of androgens prenatally, and this can lead to a “masculinizing” of a female fetus’s genitals. One group of researchers, however, seems to be suggesting that prenatal dex also might prevent affected girls from turning out to be homosexual or bisexual...............