A couple of links and commentary

Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson calls for the U.S. military to overthrow Iran's regime. It's apparently not the first time he's done so, but renewing his call after three years is noteworthy. Ayatollah Khomeini, for those who don't know, lead the revolution and overthrow of the Shah, along with the capturing and holding of American hostages from our embassy, in 1979. He, along with Iranian rulers since him, called the U.S. the "Great Satan," so that his grandson should support a U.S.-led invasion and overthrow of the regime is noteworthy. Not that he's a great supporter of the U.S., but, as he says, "If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison [doors open]." He further says that the regime has abused its power, and one of his first actions if he were to assume power would be to make wearing the hijab optional. It's a case of "my enemy's enemy is my friend." As for the feasibility of an invasion, the Iranians are very nationalistic/patriotic, so the thinking in many circles states that an invasion would unify them against the invaders, but, of course, the chattering classes have been wrong before ...

This story is bothersome, but the link headline from the FOX News main page, "Cops: Web Con Forced Coeds To Give Up Nudie Pics," seems a tad strongly worded. This guy got over fifty women to send him nude pics or videos, most from his fellow students at Hunter College, but many from an assortment of other colleges as well. While I do not in the least bit approve of his actions, what really gets to me is how naive these girls were. He posed as a female who needed the pictures for an art class project to avoid a failing grade, but, really, is that all it takes for these women to give up nude pictures of themselves? Whatever happened to common sense? Same deal with the girl who met a guy on MySpace and went to the Middle East in an effort to meet him. I'm not using this to knock either Facebook or MySpace, but I am shocked at the complete lack of common sense kids have these days. Although, I guess it's part of a more general dumbing down of our culture, with food companies being compelled to create warning labels saying "Caution: Item will be hot after microwaving," along with many other such examples.

UPDATE: Now there's this, a 14-year-old girl is suing MySpace for $30 million after she was dumb enough to give out her phone number to a 19-year-old who had claimed to be a senior on the football team in his profile. He then apparently sexually assaulted her, in which case fie on him. However, a little common sense could go a long way in preventing these occurances. Yes, the scumbag males (predominantly; some females) should be punished. However, crime prevention starts with common sense. Want to keep potential burglars out of your house? Close and lock your doors and windows. If you're an underage girl who wants to keep adult perverts away from her, try not giving out your contact info over the web to strangers. These aren't foolproof methods, but most criminals like an easy target.