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Here's what happens when uninformed actors open their mouths:
Thais Evacuate Cambodia After Rioting
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Thailand sealed its border with Cambodia, recalled its ambassador and sent military planes to evacuate hundreds of terrified Thais Thursday after rioters looted and torched its embassy in the Cambodian capital.
At least one Thai man is believed to have died when a hotel was set on fire Wednesday during the riots. The unrest was ignited by a TV star's alleged comments that Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple should belong to Thailand.
The riots broke out after a Thai actress, Suwanan Kongying, was quoted as saying Cambodia illegally annexed Thai territory that includes the Angkor temple complex.
[I guess maybe the Cambodians are a LITTLE sensitive about this.]
The saying is really accurate: The truth is stranger than fiction.
(CBS) To prosecutors, Richard Reid is a terrorist who shows no remorse for trying to blow up a jetliner with 197 people aboard. Defense lawyers contend he is a troubled man who was trying to defend his religion.
A religion which apparently says that it's OK - in fact, it is encouraged - to blow up a plane full of innocent people because you *feel* that your religion is "targeted by US Government policies."
U.S. District Judge William Young was expected to determine Reid's sentence and rule on a motion filed Wednesday by defense lawyers asking the judge to postpone sentencing on seven of the eight charges until Reid is given access to classified information they say could help him.
Neither prosecutors nor Reid's lawyers would reveal details about the classified documents. But defense attorney Owen Walker has argued the documents could help explain Reid's motivation and give his family some peace of mind.
Walker asked that Reid be allowed to present the documents publicly at his sentencing hearing.
"The world hears the bad information … but they don't hear the other side," Walker said.
Right. All we've heard is the "bad information" about him, and we aren't looking at . . . excuse me? What is the other side in this? What sort of "good information" could possibly be brought forward to counter the admission that he did indeed try to blow up the plane? Ah, I have it. It's all our fault. If we had tried to be more understanding, less arrogant, less, er, American, then he wouldn't have had to retaliate like that. Darn it all, if we didn't learn our lesson on 9/11 about how it is all our fault, well this poor guy certainly shouldn't have to suffer for it.
[The mind boggles.]
It's still cold and miserable here, so I tried to lighten the day by getting The Trollops to decide on a time and place for "Trollopfest 2003". We did Napa Valley in 2000, Sonoma in 2001 and Philly in 2002. It's looking like the last weekend in May will work, and I think we'll go back to Napa, although there is a grass-roots movement to go to Idaho for some of their excellent potato wines like Chateau du Frites and Clos Spud. The good news (and bad news) about it is that I have to go to Vancouver, BC that Sunday evening for a business meeting. I am not sure what sort of shape I'll be in by the time I arrive!
Trollopfest always makes me think of Archie McPhee, for reasons that can be summed up with a single phrase: rubber wigs. Their catalog offers a variety of *interesting* items, like these:
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