In honor of the most surreal fatwa ever...

I was hanging out on the boards at airamerica.com and there was a video of Cenk Uygur talking about how in Iran, homosexuality is a capital offense the first time you're caught (lesbians have more leeway). The odd thing is that evidently the Ayatollah Khomeini (the guy from the '70s) in his wisdom, issued a fatwa that condones gender reassignment.

Interestingly, there are about 150,000 transgender people in Iran, making them the second-largest intersexed community in the world behind Thailand. Essentially, what seems to be happening is that a lot of gay folks, who have no choice if they want to survive, become transgendered, or possibly try to hook up with someone transgendered.

So anyway, in the comments for the entry, someone who posts as Uffdaguy said he was afraid of what he would find if he googled "Persian Transsexual". Well, being a helpful guy, I did a google image search and came up with this.



This is a pastry called a "persian" and it was the top hit when I googled.

That Special Time of Year

Avast, mateys. Here we be again, arrr. Crack open that barrel o' rum, and commence emptyin' it down yer gullet, 'coz it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Yer parrrrticipation is greatly apreciated, and will likely save ya a few puncture wounds, I'm guessin'.

Shiver me timbers!

Kerry says and does nothing, nor does anyone else

I've seen a bit of press on this in the mainstream media, but most everyhting I've seen makes this guy look like a troublemaker and a malcontent. But you know what? He had every right to ask his questions, and the police acted illegally and in the most ugly fascistic way possible.

And John Kerry, that unforgiveable wimp, as well as that whole crowd of 100 or so supposedly politically aware people, sat by and did nothing.

How shameful.

Branch Reflection

branch reflection, originally uploaded by mattduanegriffin.

I live in Watertown, a few miles north and west of Boston. It's pretty well settled around here, but one of the amenities of my current living situation is that there's some nice parkland along the Charles River, which I can reach by walking a block from my house. This picture was taken yesterday morning as I walked back towards my house from Watertown Square.