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An acquaintance of my wife had a bit of an emergency recently ... he had to move out of his home in a hurry. He had to leave by Dec. 31 st , taking everything that belonged to him and find himself a new home. Normally, this would be a problem for the best of us -- short notice, fire in the hole, scramble like hell. This situation was not so normal. Imagine your worldly possessions consisting of just your clothes, your computer and personal documents. Imagine having nothing else to your name. Imagine surviving on a limited wage amounting to less than $1,000 per month. Now imagine having no sight whatsoever. Yes, visual impairment. No sight. I can't imagine what I would do. I also suspect I have limited imagination, because I never imagined what would happen next. I never imagined the kindness of complete strangers -- and friends and family of ours. It was mostly my wife's doing -- she regularly restores my faith -- my faith in human altruism. Sharing the story of a

BlingH 2 O -- just when it couldn't get worse, it does. BlingH 2 O goes and takes what is (and should be) a fundamental human right, and perverts to hell. What the hell is BlingH 2 O? It's water. Just bottled water -- although its makers would rather you think it otherwise, cause BlingH 2 O comes in a corked, 750mL, frosted bottle, that has been handcrafted with Swarovski crystals. Bling! According to the BlingH 2 O website, we owe this little bit of depravity to Kevin G. Boyd , a most un-notable "Hollywood writer-producer", who noticed that "you could tell a lot about a person by the bottled water they carried." So he set out to create a market for water for the super-luxury consumer market -- ie. not for you worthless drivels, "just those that Bling." If you Bling, you must really be stupid, because water, is, well, water, and this BlingH 2 O comes from Dandridge, Tennessee -- a place that certainly doesn't Bling -- but apparently k

The Beast has published its top 50 list of the Most Loathsome People in America in 2007, chronicled with charges (the reason they're on the list); evidence; and some quite viscous and deserving sentences (if only). Not surprisingly, topping the list are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The list contains the usual suspects, but in a surprise move, the number nine position is occupied by you -- Americans that is. And here's what the Beast had to say about Americans: Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism -- it's nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. Yo

In the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, a grinning Al-Qaeda has stepped forward to take responsibility. Regardless of whether Al-Qaeda had any hand in the murder or not, the chaos that has resulted can only serve to bolster the reigning poster child of terrorism -- and likewise, give those cloaked in the anti-terrorism flag , firmer ground to stand on. Could Bhutto's death have been prevented? She attracted enemies from all sides, and all had much to gain from her demise. Pervez Musharraf can now do away with the planned elections in two weeks, and crack down with martial law as Pakistan is torched by mobs. Al-Qaeda can claim another victory, further destabilize the region and recruit more supporters. Extremism has won yet again.

It's happened again -- in one deadly act of violence, the radicals have won yet another battle. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was murdered in the run up to the country's farce of an election. The motivation of the murderer can only be inferred at this point -- but I think I can safely say that it wasn't an act of an individual. There were many that wanted Bhutto dead. She was a woman twice elected to lead a muslim state -- and twice deposed on trumped up corruption charges. She was the only real challenger to President Musharraf in the upcoming election, in which Musharraf is attempting to retain control of the country. I'm sure Bhutto had her faults -- she was after all a politician -- but she represented a refreshing choice in a country that desperately needs a choice. She would not have been the choice of the United States, as her credentials in dealing with terrorism is lacking -- but her committment to democracy is without question. And th

It's extraordinary how absolute power corrupts. In the case of America, the only superpower left in the world -- that power is rotting the core of America -- its justice system. The Bush Administration made it legal in their adventures against terrorism, to kidnap foreign nationals, on foreign soil, and drag them off to the Guantanamo purgatory. Now it appears that law can be leveraged against any foreign national, suspected of running afoul of American law, to be kidnapped and brought back to America to face American justice. The Times Online reports on a senior lawyer in the American government, who recently told a British judge in a British court, that American law allows America to kidnap British citizens and bring them to justice in America. In this stance, there is no respect international law, or the laws of other nations. This is a case of might equaling right. I wonder what the American response would be if other nations started doing likewise. I believe George W.