Jordan's King Abdullah dissolves parliament

Jordan has a reputation for being, well, boring. One of my Egyptian friends once described it as "that place you move when you want to have a family," which makes it sound like an Arab version of New Jersey, minus Bayonne.

But today, for the first time that I can recall, there's some unexpected news out of Jordan: King Abdullah issued a decree dissolving parliament and calling for general elections two years ahead of schedule.

The outgoing parliament has been criticized in recent months for not really doing anything -- most MPs are loyal to Abdullah. The decision to dissolve parliament seems to have come as a surprise, though.

I'm sure dozens of reporters in Amman, having written nothing for years except silly travel pieces (Amman has restaurants! Nice ones!), are now scrambling to locate the phone number for parliament.