xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
In March, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, trying to persuade traditionalist men to let women register to vote, said in a speech, “Please, my dear brothers, let your wives and sisters go to the voter registration process. Later, you can control who she votes for, but please, let her go.”
According to an April New York Times dispatch, the quiz show “The Mission,” on the satellite TV channel of Lebanese militants Hezbollah, challenges contestants in categories such as naming Arab suicide bombers, with the winner receiving points toward the game’s ultimate destination, “Jerusalem” (the retaking of which is a unifying theme of all the channel’s programs).
In April, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of part of the Patriot Act (a public document) but couldn’t publicly reveal what its lawsuit claimed because such disclosure without Justice Department permission is forbidden by the Patriot Act. (The Department OK’d a heavily censored press release 22 days later.)
Craig Gross, 28, and Mike Foster, 32, run the Christian Internet site “XXXChurch,” designed to help the faithful overcome pornography and masturbation, according to a May Wired magazine report. (Recent advice: “Remain calm and tell yourself, ‘You don’t own me, masturbation!'” Recently, several online “parishioners” commenced a 40-day abstinence, to match the time Satan tempted Jesus in the desert.)
Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or [email protected]
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
