Intercepted note from Obama to ice cream shop

Guys, loved the ice cream last night. Just one suggestion: could you rename your vanilla frozen custard "Neda"? It will always remind me of the great time the girls and I had at your shop.

Hope to see you soon.

Your President, bringing the hope and change to the world -- except for Iran, Barrack

Obama's message to Iran is failing

Yes, I know Obama wants to send a measured and -- dare I say it -- nuanced message to Iran's leadership in the hopes of eventually getting Iran to foreswear their nuclear ambitions. On its face this shows how naive the administration is. Iran has no intentions of giving up it's dream of being a regional hegemon, and no matter how Obama tries to put a friend-to-the Muslim-world face on his administration, he'll get little from his efforts.

Perhaps Arab nations will appreciate his not taking Iran out to the verbal woodshed, but it is unlikely any nation will see their national interests altered by Obama's not stepping in with harsh words for Iran's terroristic government.

Other than offer to hold Iran's coat while it puts the boot into its own citizens, Obama has done little in this affair. Being a global realist is one thing, but refusing to speak out forcefully against a theocratic regime is quite another. Obama and his advisors miscalulated on a grand scale.

America is a Muslim nation (as least compared to Muslim nations)

If Muhammad came back to Earth, which countries would he think are doing a better job of upholding the pillars of Islam? Sure wouldn't be any Arab country. They are so corrupt and do so little for their poor that Muhammad would weep to think that nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt claim a special prestige among the faithful. Arab nations also do very little about cleanliness -- something quite important to the prophet; streets are filthy, government buildings even more so.

Same for non-Arab Muslim nations. Iran and Indonesia? Corrupt and venal to the bone.

Certainly individuals struggle to keep behave as Muhammad would want, but the governments, many of which claim to act in accordance with Islamic values, would be viewed as abominations.

No, Muhammad would look around and pick out Japan, North America and Western Europe as doing the best job of putting his principles into action. People are clean, respectful (well, in Japan, at least), and take good care of the poor. Compared to Muslim nations, which tend to be dirty, corrupt and whose Islamic observances are fixated on the performance of public acts of faith (prayer five times a day) and are obsessed with alcohol and sex, the West is far more in tune with what we understand Muslim values to be.

You can help me win this bike!

I'd really like to win this bike. You can help by clicking this photo. Thanks.

Followed the link from the Podium Cafe, a really good place to follow road bike racing.