Unemployed Ngurah Alit, 18, was seen in a Bali paddy field standing naked behind the animal.

He claimed he believed the cow was a young and beautiful woman, and it had seduced him with flattering compliments.

He was then forced to marry the cow to cleanse the coastal village of Yeh Embang of the bestiality.

Alit quickly then became a widower when his new bride was drowned in the sea as part of the Pecaruan ritual. Alit was only symbolically drowned and bathed on the beach.

Chief Ida Bagus Legawa declared that the village had then been `cleansed' from the `defilement from the incident.'

I didn't weigh in yesterday, but I did find the PayPal policy he quotes. It is right there in the user agreement.

[The issue isn't that people's expectations of you were too high. No one expected you to be Superman. We did however expect you to at least try to do your job, and attempt to keep your promises. It often doesn't feel like you attempt either one. It sometimes even feels that you don't fully realize that you're President.]

and... :(

[But there's a larger problem here, Mr. President. Your staff and supporters would have us rest assured that your subdued leadership style, while not very flashy or paternalistic, is quietly and consistently getting the job done behind the scenes, even if it doesn't look that way to the public. The problem is, I don't think people believe you're actually working diligently behind the scenes. That isn't your style, as we've seen on issue after issue since you've taken office.]

As an older person, no matter what Glenn Greenwald says, I just can't see these young men as victims in a tussle with a solitary man more than 3 times their age. (The congressman, for instance, clearly and quickly lets go of the young man who he has faced toward the camera when he is asked to.) To me, the clear and obvious intention of every action Etheridge takes is to control their actions against him and interrupt their filming, not to cause them physical harm.

It's very likely that the fact that he was much older and outnumbered caused him to over-react -- and, because its obvious from the video that his intention wasn't to harm but merely to stop their filming, I think it is likely that he had no idea how forceful his actions actually appeared until he saw the video. Hence the apology.

WASHINGTON -- Ronald Kempfert was a young boy in 1975 when his father was sent to prison for murder, and they had no contact for 28 years.

Then, in 2003, Mr. Kempfert heard from a lawyer who had been looking into the case. "Your father is innocent," said the lawyer, Larry A. Hammond. "And we're pretty sure your mother framed him."

That would seem a lot to digest, but Mr. Kempfert, 42, said he felt no hesitation. "My reaction was that it didn't surprise me," he said. "She's my mother, and I love her. But I think she's capable of anything."

Mr. Kempfert is now certain that his father, William Macumber, is innocent. Arizona's clemency board, citing Mr. Kempfert's "very moving testimony" and saying there had been "a miscarriage of justice," unanimously recommended last year that Mr. Macumber be freed.

But Mr. Macumber remains in prison, and Gov. Jan Brewer has refused to explain why.

Bidding for the rights to explore the reserves could begin in as little as six months, said Jawad Omar, the spokesman for the Mines Ministry. The minister is expected to give a detailed news conference on the report later in the week....

..... It is a potential income source so vast that if it were tapped and the wealth handled in a way to benefit the whole population, the country could be transformed. It would also turn Afghanistan into a mining center.

That would, however, require a substantial change in the country's circumstances, since many of the reserves were found in politically unstable areas, said Mr. Omar, the Mines Ministry spokesman.....

"Mining needs studies, infrastructure and security in order to attract the investments," Mr. Omar said.

NYT

BP willfully ignored numerous warnings in an attempt to save $10 million here and there, and several days of time. And as a result, precisely what they were warned against happened, causing tens of billions of monetary damage and permanent environmental damage to the Gulf.

emptywheel

From the company's uncommon well design to its fatal decision not to circulate drilling mud, which could have cleared out pockets of gas, and the lack of critical testing, which could have pinpointed problems with its cementing, the company had many points at which it could have prevented an explosion, investigators with the House Energy and Commerce Committee have found.

Instead, the company violated industry guidelines and proceeded "despite warnings from BP's own personnel and its contractors," said the chairman of the committee, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and the chairman of the investigative subcommittee that handled the probe, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

Former Vice President Al Gore's surprise split with wife Tipper came as he was having an affair with Laurie David, his fellow environmentalist and ex-wife of Larry David, Star magazine reported Tuesday.

China's Military Threatens America: `We Will Hurt You'

In February, Colonel Meng Xianging promised a "hand-to-hand fight with the U.S." sometime within the next 10 years "when we're strong enough." "We must make them hurt," said Major-General Yang Yi this year, referring to the United States.

Rent a White Guy
Confessions of a fake businessman from Beijing

And so I became a fake businessman in China, an often lucrative gig for underworked expatriates here. One friend, an American who works in film, was paid to represent a Canadian company and give a speech espousing a low-carbon future. Another was flown to Shanghai to act as a seasonal-gifts buyer. Recruiting fake businessmen is one way to create the image--particularly, the image of connection--that Chinese companies crave. My Chinese-language tutor, at first aghast about how much we were getting paid, put it this way: "Having foreigners in nice suits gives the company face."