Eideard

A dog has appeared in court in the eastern Indian state of Bihar accused of breaching the peace.

Police demanded severe action against the dog for biting people. Its owner says it has only attacked burglars.

“The court was compelled to issue a summons to the dog since the police found that it was a threat to peace and feared that it might create a law and order problem,” district official Rajiv Ranjan said.

In court Chhotu appeared to have been on best behaviour. “Despite the presence of so many people in the courtroom the dog did not bite or bark at anyone,” the canine’s lawyer Dilip Kumar Deepak said in defence of his client.

“Chhotu is my sole protector and I’ve brought him up as if he was my own child,” says Rajkumari Devi who says the dog has only bitten those who have tried to break into her house.

My heart is with the widow and her dog. Screw her neighbors!

The iconic British pint is fast losing ground as the national drink, with a report out showing beer sales in pubs slumping to their lowest level since the Great Depression.

Squeezed by a nationwide smoking ban, rising costs, competition from supermarkets and the economic downturn, beer sales fell 4.5 percent between April and June this year, compared with the same quarter last year…

In Britain, the BBPA’s quarterly barometer also highlighted the growing trend for drinkers to enjoy a pint in the comfort of their own home instead of at the pub. While overall sales are down, sales in shops and supermarkets rose nearly 4 percent.

BBPA chief executive Rob Hayward urged the government to rethink the heavy taxes on alcohol, accounting for some 90 million pounds (around US$180 million) of revenue each year, which the industry blames in large part for its woes.

“We need a change of approach from the government,” Hayward said. “Brewing is a major industry, beer our national drink and pubs a treasured part of our national culture.”

Certainly, I see families both sides of the Pond taking advantage of the entertainment life of HDTV to stay in for an evening instead of going out. You needn’t worry about killing some other poor sod with your car on the way home either.

In recent years, caver explorers have discovered miles of new cave within the Fort Stanton Cave in Lincoln County, New Mexico. This new discovery is the biggest new American cave discovery in decades.

The bottom of Snowy River is covered with bright white coatings. Very slow moving ground water dissolved the grayish-brown limestone walls of the cave and recrystallized that limestone into a different white-colored mineral called calcite, creating a white cave formation in the bottom of the now dry cave passage. The passage has been subjected to numerous infilling of ground water saturated with calcite, which during periods of drying laid numerous coats of calcite as it evaporated or slowly drained from the cave. The cave formation lying on the bottom of Snowy River may well be the largest continuous cave formation in America.

It’s also one of the most beautiful. An ethical quandary trying to make sight of it available without damaging its pristine beauty.

Greg McKendry died defending his friends

A man accused of shooting dead two people in a Tennessee church was motivated by hatred of liberals and anger at being jobless. Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen said they had found a letter in Jim Adkisson’s car in which he described his feelings.

There were about 200 people in the church, which is known for its liberal stance, at the time of Sunday’s attack. Mr Adkisson, 58, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Children were putting on a play at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church when a gunman entered with a 12-gauge shotgun and opened fire on the congregation.

The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church describes itself on its website as working for social change since the 1950s, including desegregation, racial harmony, fair wages, women’s rights and gay rights.

A criminal act – by an illogical, superstitious and demented fool. One of the species of “hero” who sets out to kill those who disagree with his pitiful beliefs.

The ony hero on the day was Greg McKendry who deliberately stepped in front of Adkisson’s shotgun to protect his friends – and died.

Iowa doesn’t have any all-nude strip clubs — but it does have performing arts centers where women dance naked.

However, the loophole in the state’s public indecent exposure law that allows nude dancing at “art centers” is under attack in the small community of Hamburg, a town of 1,200 just across the Missouri River from Nebraska.

The case pending before a Fremont County judge effects only one business in Hamburg, but if he agrees with the prosecutor, it could eventually threaten the legal standing of nude dancing clubs across the state.

Murphy said the club owner bans anyone under 18 from entering the five-year-old business. The problem, he said, was “a group of girls snuck in a 17-year-old.”

“While she was there, she felt like dancing so she got up and danced on the stage and then she took her clothes off. Trouble with that is she’s the sheriff’s niece,” he said.

Is it worth discussing our nation’s prudery, reliance on 19th-Century morality to enforce conformity? The Nanny State is never used to expand knowledge or awareness of life, after all. Some dinky strip club just happens to be today’s focus for The Inquisition.

Ben Stein says he knows how Sen. John McCain can win in November: Karl Rove.

That’s right, that Karl Rove.

“I don’t discount the possibility that some really smart person at the McCain campaign might go over to Karl Rove, and say ‘We will offer you all the kingdoms of the world if you will come and guide our campaign,’ ” a hopeful-sounding Stein said in a recent interview.

Stein is an actor and an author, but he is also an economist, columnist and, yes, a lawyer. And he is a Republican, making him a minority in Tinseltown political circles. Did I mention that Stein also worked as a speech writer for President Richard Nixon and President Gerald Ford? Yes, that’s right, that Richard Nixon.

“Mr. McCain is running the absolute most pathetic campaign I have ever seen in my whole life,” Stein said in his unmistakable monotone delivery. “His campaign is just heartbreakingly pathetic. He is a very impressive guy. He is a brave guy, but he is running the most lackluster campaign I have ever seen in my entire life. I would have thought Bob Dole’s campaign would have set a record for poor campaigns, but this one is even worse.

I hope he’s right. I worry enough about the idgit vote being enough to carry McBush through to four more years of Imperial Amerika marching around the world on a holy crusade.

Autumn trends are already appearing on the pages of glossy magazines, but for some fashionistas an important question remains unanswered. What will be autumn’s key hijab look?

Muslim women anxious to keep their style cutting-edge are turning to an ever-expanding number of blogs, Facebook groups and YouTube videos to discover the hottest way to tie their headscarves.

Jana Kossaibati, whose blog, Hijab Style, claims to be the UK’s first style guide for Muslim women, says women are getting more experimental. “Muslim girls are very conscious of the way they dress. When you wear a headscarf you stand out as a Muslim, so what kind of message are you also sending out if you look drab or messy?” Kossaibati started her site because there wasn’t another like it in the UK, “but since it began 10 months ago a lot of others have appeared,” she says.

Must admit, some of these styles are attractive to these old Anglo eyes.

It’s one of my favorite wildflowers, here in New Mexico. The root systems are known to track up to 150 feet to find water – though that’s not a problem with these.

This is at the bottom of our back meadow, the water table is about 4 feet down, the Santa Fe River is about 50 feet away.

Mostly, I’m still settling in to my new camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ50. The ergonomics are the best ever.