Saudi Arabia: A beacon of hope

Have you ever read a headline that made you chuckle? Ever read an article and feel really good afterwords? Like the world really isn't a giant crater of shit and stupidity and the faster its immune system flushes all of mankind out the better?

This is not one of those stories.

A Lebanese man who hosted a popular TV show where he gave callers advice and sometimes predicted the future was sentenced to death by a court in Saudi Arabia last month. His charge? Sorcery.
...
Sibat confessed to Saudi authorities that he consulted spirits to predict the future. But the authorities didn't release him. Instead, they brought him to a TV studio and told him to confess again. The conversation was broadcast on a Saudi program about religion.

"How do you rate yourself among magicians?" an interviewer asked Sibat. "What?" said Sibat, clearly nervous. "I have failed. I confess in front of God."

Sibat was then tried in court, and the confession was used against him. He was sentenced to death on Nov. 9. Saudi justice officials would not respond to several requests for comment about his case.

Well that is just fucking marvelous. Not only is it frowned upon to practice sorcery or witchcraft in Saudi Arabia, easily a topper on the "top countries with the highest concentration of crazy irrational religious people per square mile" charts, but now you can get your ass killed by doing such harmful, Satanic things like predicting the future.

But then again, if you told me this kind of stuff was going down in a small town in Utah somewhere, I would believe you. So I guess we should tip our hats to the Saudi government for being that crazy that they'll at least own their shit on this issue. Now if only they could figure out what to do with all of those goddamn Twihards...

See I got some real problems...

Like what to do tomorrow and the day after that.

Enter Patterson Hood, lead singer of Drive By Truckers. If you've heard the Truckers before we strongly endorse picking up Murdering Oscar (and other love songs). If you've never before heard this southern rock glory, go out and grab Decoration Day and Southern Rock Opera, both are clutch albums.

Hood's work on Murdering Oscar is far less intense than the songs written for Truckers. There is a intimacy in this work that is not found on the full band's albums. The album puts forth a very close setting, acoustic driven feel with dark, almost heart wrenching lyrics. Filled with steel guitar and Hood's raspy southern drawl even the country music haters (count this author among them) will enjoy this.

Find a nice preview of his work and an interview on NPR's World Cafe.

I Sense a Conspiracy...

You see it everywhere... CNN is all over it.
You hear it everywhere... in between calls for donations NPR cannot stop talking about it.

Swine Flu.

Is this the latest in a long line of flu strains that will dominate our news cycle for a month or two until Octo-Mom goes ape shit on one of her kids? Or is this something more...

Could this possibly be the first signs? Could this really spell the end of mankind as we know it? Could I possibly continue making each and EVERY sentence a goddamn question?!?

Sorry... lost my head for a moment. For those of us familiar with these signs, the truth is all but clear. This isn't some form of flu that hopped from pig to human... this isn't any type of flu at all... this is the beginning of the end

Zombies...

Scoff if you may, but while you are sitting around collecting your surgical masks, the authors of this blog will be out preparing for the approaching zombie hordes. Tell your loved ones, leave all major cities and begin stockpiling weapons and other necessities right now.

The end is extremely fucking nigh...