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GAZA—Something didn't quite look right about the zebra, but it was hard to say exactly what. Of the several ramshackle zoos in Gaza, Marah, located not far from the Bureij refugee camp, is by far the cheeriest: The animals are lively, the enclosures clean, and children gather around the cage of a resting lion.

Gaza – Ma’an – Gaza’s Hospitals are the source of the latest dead as yesterday’s wounded head to overcrowded morgues and medical supplies dwindle. Medical sources put the number of dead at 398. Among those who succumbed to their wounds on Wednesday were: *Mahmoud Abu Nahl, who died in an Egyptian hospital *Ismail Hamdan, a 10-year-old boy who was hit with a missile Tuesday along with his two sisters *Paramedics Eyhab Al-Madhoun and Mahmoud Abu Hasira who were hit while rescuing civilians Fresh airstrikes bring more dead After a several-hour noontime lull Israel resumed airstrikes in the Gaza Strip Wednesday...

I read where Sarah Palin's dad said that Sarah would be field dressing a donkey tonight. So, I looked up donkey recipes and found this. Seems you can buy pre-stewed donkey in a can in Italy. I wish I had found this earlier for the party tonight!

Several left-wing blogs are all atwitter about a picture of Sarah Palin from a rally in Reno, Nev., Oct. 21 which shows her wearing a red, white and blue scarf with what appears to be donkeys on it. Anyone know the story behind this? I did a Google search and gave up after 5 pages of left-wing sites commenting on it. Linked is one example from a site called Jezebel at http://jezebel.com/5067233/is-sarah-palin-making-an-ass-of-herself

Donkey jailed for theft19/09/2008 10:37 - (SA) Cairo - An Egyptian donkey has been jailed for stealing corn on the cob from a field belonging to an agricultural research institute in the Nile Delta, local media reported on Thursday. The ass and its owner were apprehended at a police checkpoint that had been set up after the institute's director complained that someone was stealing his crops, the state-owned Al-Ahram daily said. The unnamed ungulate was found in possession of the institute's corn and a local judge sentenced him to 24 hours in prison. The man who had his ass thrown...

A New York Roman Catholic church said it is attempting to solve its over-heating problems with a product bearing a name unusual for a church -- a Big Ass Fan. Members of Our Lady of Refuge Church in Brooklyn said they raised money to purchase the product from Big Ass Fans regardless of its name, the Daily News, a New York newspaper, reported Wednesday. The name of the company isn't something that you'd want to put in print, but I had to laugh - it is a big-ass fan, said Ronald Holder, a parishioner for more than 20 years who...

So, just as I got done with the other donkey story I find yet another one. Consider this a special Two for Tuesday burro special. So what is it that makes donkeys the target of a litigious society? If it’s in Dallas, Tx, then it’s all about the noise. (The star witness paced outside the courthouse Wednesday, breathing hard, his head down, an American flag bandanna around his neck. Buddy the donkey, led by Etienne Grimmett, walked ahead of owner Gregory Shamoun on the way to court Wednesday. He said nothing to the media swarming around him. He just twitched...

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico - A donkey is doing time in southern Mexico for assault and battery. The animal was locked up at a local jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances after it bit and kicked two men near a ranch in Chiapas state, police said Monday. Officer Sinar Gomez said the donkey will remain behind bars until its owner agrees to pay the men's medical bills. "Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed," Gomez said — "no matter who they are." The owner, Mauro Gutierrez, told The Associated Press he would try...

Domestication Of The Donkey May Have Taken A Long TimeAn international group of researchers has found evidence for the earliest transport use of the donkey and the early phases of donkey domestication, suggesting the process of domestication may have been slower and less linear than previously thought. (Credit: iStockphoto/Andrea Laurita) ScienceDaily (Mar. 13, 2008) — An international group of researchers has found evidence for the earliest transport use of the donkey and the early phases of donkey domestication, suggesting the process of domestication may have been slower and less linear than previously thought. Based on a study of 10 donkey...

(BEIJING) - A mangy donkey tied to a post all day in a Beijing street wearing an advertisement for a donkey meat shop run by his owner has sparked debate in the Chinese capital, a local newspaper said on Saturday. The donkey is periodically moved around wearing its green and white coat advertising the store, but left on its own, given a few cobs of corn to eat, and surrounded by its own manure, the Beijing News said. "It has caused controversy," the newspaper added. "Some people think that using the donkey is very interesting. Yet others worry it's not...

Caption this "representative" of American views being honored by American Atheists Kalifornia director Dave Kong.

Jackie and Dunlap give out some health tips for Nascar-curious Democrats-- both of 'em

Underwood, Minn. (AP) -- Firefighters in the western Minnesota town of Underwood weren't quite sure what to expect when they got the call: A donkey had fallen down an abandoned well and was trapped. Firefighters quickly realized that the donkey, who belonged to farmer Warren Gundberg who lived about a mile away, couldn't just be pulled from the abandoned well on Bryan Nelson's land. So they started pulling away earth with a Bobcat tractor and dismantling the well block by block on Thursday. Once the west wall of the well had been taken apart, firefighters put a harness around the...

A children's advocacy group wants the Department of Health and Human Services to oust Shrek, the animated ogre, from his role as spokesman for an anti-obesity drive. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood says the soon-to-open "Shrek the Third" has too many promotional ties with unhealthy foods to justify using Shrek as a health advocate. "There is an inherent conflict of interest between marketing junk food and promoting public health," Susan Linn, the group's director, wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt. "Surely Health and Human Services can find a better spokesperson for healthy living than...

If the American occupation of Iraq is a quagmire, consider the Democrats expert distributors of quicksand. After five months of doing nothing but blabbering and patting themselves on the back, the Democrats went ahead and did precisely what they promised they wouldn't do - they rubber-stamped the Bush administration's stupefying and increasingly brutal bloodbath in Iraq, using the mirage of a phony "deadline" next year to bait the war-weary constituents who elected them last November. To the surprise of no one conceived before the Macarena, the Democratic-controlled Congress passed bills in both the House and the Senate authorizing over $120...

A man who was found dressed in latex and handcuffs brought a donkey to his room in a Galway city centre hotel, because he was advised “to get out and meet people,” the local court heard last week. Thomas Aloysius McCarney with an address in south Galway was charged with cruelty to animals, lewd and obscene behaviour, and with being a danger to himself when he appeared before the court on Friday. He was also charged with damage to a mini-bar in the room, but this charge was later dropped when the defendant said that it was the donkey who...

Iraqi forces have seized a donkey laden with land mines on the border with Iran, police in the border province of Diyala said Wednesday. "Smugglers were bringing 52 mines from Iran on a donkey. When we intercepted them, the smugglers managed to escape back across the border but we got the donkey," an officer told AFP on condition of anonymity. Iraq is in the throes of a violent sectarian conflict and US commanders accuse Iranian agents of supplying weapons to Shiite militia groups linked to Iraq's ruling parties.

Domestication event: Why the donkey and not the zebra? By Eric Hand St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT) ST. LOUIS - A few years ago, Egyptologists found a new Pharaonic burial site more than 5,000 years old. They opened up a tomb. "They're expecting to find nobles, the highest courtiers," said Washington University archaeologist Fiona Marshall. "And what do they find? Ten donkey skeletons." "The ancient Egyptian burial shows how highly valued (donkeys) were for the world's first nation state. After the horse came, they became lower status. Of course, they're the butt of jokes and all the rest of it. That...

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran closed down two opposition newspapers on Monday, one of which had recently poked fun at hard-line President and the way his government has handled nuclear talks with the West. It was a fresh show of determination by Iran's ruling clerical establishment to silence dissent over its handling of nuclear talks with the West and deny reformers a chance to air their views ahead of elections scheduled for Dec. 15. The rights group Reporters Without Borders voiced concern last week about harassment of Iranian journalists, including prison sentences and interrogations. Ahmadinejad has purged dozens of journalists, university...