Thank you, Sadie! Girls, Get Ready to Propose!

It's a leap year, and for women itching to get on bended knee (hey! be good!), February 29th is your chance! It's Sadie Hawkins Day, and according to tradition, women can propose to the man of their choice.

Of course, in modern times, women can propose to the man they love any time they want. I just happen to think Sadie Hawkins Day is a cute way to bring up the subject of getting hitched. And, who knows, maybe single women everywhere may be struck by the impulse to propose to the next cute guy they come across.

About.com reports:

The first documentation of this practice dates back to 1288, when Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year. They also made it law that any man who declined a proposal in a leap year must pay a fine. The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves.

How cute ... the fine of a kiss for a refusal. That's worth breaking out the Tic Tacs right there, isn't it? Go for it, girls. Start proposing! Heck, start early!

And if you need a little help, there's always the prayer to St. Ann:

Dear St. Anne, send me a man, as quick as you can.

Stumble It!

Thank you, Sadie! Girls, Get Ready to Propose!

Secret Service Makes Not-So-Secret Security Lapse at Obama Rally

JFK in Dallas redux? Maybe ... if the Secret Service has its way. In what I would call at the very best a serious lapse in judgement (and at the very worst, the endangerment of a presidential candidate's life), the Secret Service decided to stop screening people for weapons at the front gates of an Obama rally in Dallas.

The Dallas Star-Telegram reports that the Secret Service told local police officers to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags. This came as a shock to the local coppers who saw the huge security risk.

The Secret Service later said there was no lapse in security and that there was a "comprehensive and layered security plan." Odd how the secret service views not checking weapons at a mass rally as comprehensive or layered, especially when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated there four decades ago.

"There were no security lapses at that venue," said Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington. He added there was "no deviation" from the "comprehensive and layered" security plan, implemented in "very close cooperation with our law enforcement partners."

One person who attended a rally in Boston said the same thing happened there. Good job, guys. Good job.

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Secret Service Makes Not-So-Secret Security Lapse at Obama Rally

Commemorating the Deaths of Iraqi Civilians

"Who is remembered? Who is mourned? Who is responsible? How do we, as artists, choose to respond?" This is one of the most interesting series of questions I've seen in a long time in reference to the war in Iraq. Iraqimemorial.org asks those questions and is calling for a response from the global community of artists.

Iraqimemorial.org invites artists from all over the world to propose memorials to the victims of a war who will likely never be recognized through official processes. The submitted proposals may never be realized - the intent is to facilitate a process that allows for the expression of concepts as a collective, networked, creative act of remembrance that takes place in the present tense.

I think we can all think of the innocent victims of the war in Iraq on both sides — even if we are at a loss for a creative response.

Peace.

Stumble It!

Commemorating the Deaths of Iraqi Civilians