Crazy News - Strange Stuff - Rants and Raves

I guess it is sorta in bad taste but I don’t really see a big deal with it.  I am guessing Obama himself will just brush it off.

An Iranian court has ordered a man to buy his wife 124,000 roses after she filed a complaint against her “stingy” husband to claim her dowry, a press report said on Monday. “After 10 years of marriage Hengameh had decided to claim her dowry of 124,000 red roses to punish her very stingy husband,” the Etemad newspaper said. “Shortly after marriage I realised that Shahin was very cheap. He even refused to pay for my coffee if we went to a cafe or restaurant,” said the woman, identified only by her first name Hengameh. But Shahin told the court he could only afford five roses a day and complained that it was “her billionaire friends who had put such ideas in her head.”

The court has seized his apartment worth 600 million rials (64,000 dollars) until he has bought her the entire 124,000 roses. A long stemmed red rose costs 20,000 rials (about two dollars) in Tehran. Under Iranian law, a woman can claim her dowry or mahr, which is a gift pledged by the man at the time of marriage, at any time during married life or when getting a divorce.

It is common in Iran to offer gold coins, or property as mahr and the number of gold coins (worth about 260 dollars) could vary from 14 to even hundreds or thousands. An Iranian man can end up in jail over dowry debts and there has been a judicial debate whether it should be adjusted according to the man’s financial status. This story is yet another reason to fear the ‘logic’ of Iran.

This guy is really impressive, as he plays down the ‘racial card’ that has seemed to get folks all riled up after Hillary Clinton makes remarks concerning Dr. King.  Many African Americans were offended when Hillary Clinton told an interviewer in New Hampshire, “Martin Luther King’s dream became a reality when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” 

Some say she seemed to suggest that it took a white politician to fulfill a black man’s dream. “I don’t think it was in any way a racial comment,” Obama told ABC News.  “That’s something that has played out in the press.  That’s not my view.”

But, he said, the comment was revealing about her political character.  “I do think it was indicative of the perspective that she brings, which is that what happens in Washington is more important than what happens outside of Washington,” he said.  My personal view it that Obama could not really capitalize on this issue because he would turn off too many undecided white voters but he definately scores points for staying level-headed.

So let’s take a peek at what folks are searching for today, the first day of September.

-BioShock, is this some sort of world wide disease?  NO it is the hottest new XBox360 game and is a unique game that mixes a spine-chilling setting illustrated with art deco art and architecture, sci-fi themes of bio-genetic mutation and self-modification, a deep storyline with open-choice freedom to interact with the world as you choose, and first-person action that requires you to think every time you pull the trigger.

-Giant spider web, no this is not a trailer for Spiderman 4, it is the real think.  Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park.

-the Cullinan Diamond, or Star of Africa is a pear shaped diamond weighing 530.20 carats!  Holy crapy that must be worth a fortune, well it is valued at a mere 400 million pounds!

A quick check on what the buzz is all about today on the web:

Drew Carey - The big man Drew Carey is set to take over where Bob Barker left off the Price is Right, wonder if he will be sexually abusing the sexy models?

Grease on Broadway - Grease is still pretty cool after all these years, kudos and I just hope John Travolta does not participate in a Grease remake.

CNN YouTube Debate - You can not buy the type of promotional exposure youtube has recieved from this debate.

So word out in the news is that Iran and North Korea want to make nice to each other.  Not a big surprise there.  Both leaders are pretty nutz and are on major power trips.  At the same time I don’t think George Bush’s attitude makes it any easier for the West to have any type of contructive relationship with these countries.  Maybe when there is fresh-blood (excuse the pun) in the White House things will go along a little more smoothly?