HIS WIFE IS JUST GRATEFUL THAT HE'S STOPPED WEARING HIS LUCKY "DEATH TO ZARQAWI" UNDERWEAR EVERY DAY

AP points us to this story from Monday's Wenatchee World in Wenatchee, Washington:

Teacher still keeps vow not to shave until Osama bin Laden is captured

Ephrata Middle School teacher Gary Weddle has vowed not to shave until Osama bin Laden is caught. The beard is now about a foot long, with some hairs about 15 inches.

It's a daily reminder and has been since shortly after the fateful day when terrorists commandeered commercial airliners full of people and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Five years ago, when that was happening, Gary Weddle, then a substitute teacher in Wenatchee, got so caught up in the news that he neglected to shave. A week or so later, he vowed not to shave until the chief of the terrorists, Osama bin Laden, was captured or proven dead.

...He did it figuring it would be only a month or two before bin Laden was caught.

Now it's been five years, but to Weddle, 46, a vow is a vow. He still has the beard and despite frequent suggestions that he at least trim it, he's never done so.

It's beginning to gray now and it's still about a foot long, which it was the first year. A few hairs of it stretch out to 15 inches, he says.



They also serve who groom themselves with a rake.

Well, at least Weddle knows who the real enemy is. Oh, wait -- he doesn't:

..."As harsh as it is for the U.S. to take the losses, I'm glad someone is standing up to terrorists and thugs like (Saddam) Hussein," he says.

Gosh, Gary, you don't suppose that little Bush sideshow has anything to do with the fact that you still have that crumb-catcher? Naaaah....

...His wife, Donita, still hates the beard. Their twin daughters and third daughter, students at Eastmont High School, are OK with it and "mostly their boyfriends think it's cool," Weddle says.

Kids!

...So is he really going to stick with it?

"No doubt," he replies. "Even if I get buried with it."

Well, actuarially, Weddle is likely to live past January 20, 2009, so he might not have to worry about that.