Weak On Terrorism!

When it comes to sacrificing civil liberties in the war on terror, how much is too much?

The Liberals are weak on terrorism. A win for the Liberals is a win for Bin Laden. Sounds like typical talk show noise, or an election campaign in the U.S., but it's politics in Canada. Taking a page from the Republican play book, Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (George Bush Jr. Lite) is accusing the Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, of being soft on terrorism for his opposition to preventive detentions and compelled testimony. This after Canada's Supreme Court ruled that security-certificate laws are a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and gave parliamentarians one year to rewrite them.

The Conservatives have done well in the propaganda department as well painting their opponents as weak and by reiterating the partisan catchphrase - Canada's new government - they use as a marketing slogan for their administration.

"Opposition parties are being soft on security and soft on terrorism," Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said in a statement.

"Canada's new government remains unwavering in its determination to safeguard national security."

The charge of opposition "softness" was repeated in the House of Commons by Tory House leader Peter Van Loan.

More here

Teen "Sport Killing"

I can't understand how one human being can do something like this to another human.

"They hurled anything they could find -- rocks, bricks, even Baum's barbecue grill -- and pounded the 49-year-old with a pipe and with the baseball bat he kept at his campsite for protection.

Ihrcke smeared his own feces on Baum's face before cutting him with a knife "to see if he was alive," Moore said."

Forty-nine-year-old Rex Baum, seen in 2003, was an alcoholic and homeless but worked at a gas station and did odd jobs around Milwaukee.

After destroying Baum's camp, the boys left the homeless man -- head wedged in his own grill -- under a piece of plastic where they hoped the "animals would eat" him.

Then, Moore says, they took off to grab a bite at McDonald's.

Let the blame game begin. It was the parents' fault for not paying enough attention to their kids, violent video games desensitized the teens to real world violence, they were underprivileged, undereducated, overly protected.

"It's disturbing to know that young people would literally kick someone when they're already down on their luck," said Michael Stoops, the executive director of the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless. "We recognize that this isn't every teenager, but for some this passes as amusement."

It's common to label people who kill others as animals, but "other than humans" might be a more appropriate term, since calling these wretched life forms animals is unfair to the animal world.

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Mummified body found in front of blaring TV

Via CNN

Police called to a Long Island man's house discovered the mummified remains of the resident, dead for more than a year, sitting in front of a blaring television set.

The 70-year-old Hampton Bays, New York, resident, identified as Vincenzo Ricardo, appeared to have died of natural causes. Police said on Saturday his body was discovered on Thursday when they went to the house to investigate a report of a burst water pipe.

Where do I get an electric company like that? My bills are $500 a month and if you miss a payment and they don't hear from you, you're in the dark.

Homeland Security

Is it my imagination or does the name Homeland Security have a Nazi-like ring to it? Like The Fatherland or The Motherland? Wouldn't Domestic Security or National Security sound better? In either case, here's a good example of your tax dollars at work.

(Please click the comic strip to view it full size)

Republican calls for email and IM monitoring

Republican calls for email and IM monitoring - vnunet.com:

A bill introduced to the US House of Representatives would require ISPs to record all users' surfing activity, IM conversations and email traffic indefinitely.

The bill, dubbed the Safety Act by sponsor Lamar Smith, a republican congressman from Texas, would impose fines and a prison term of one year on ISPs which failed to keep full records.

Read more.

Avis Offers Free Wireless Internet in Cars

According to an Avis press release, you'll soon be able to rent a car from Avis with it's own wireless hot spot. Now you can not only talk on your cell phone while driving, but you can check your email, stock quotes and surf the web. The service will be available at select Avis locations in the following cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (metro area), San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. I don't know about some of the other cities, but drivers in
Dallas get distracted and rubberneck by a flat tire. This tech breakthrough should be very interesting. In all fairness to Avis, they do issue the following caution:

Avis customers will be reminded at the time of rental that the service is not to be used by the driver while operating the vehicle. The service is intended to be used by passengers or when the vehicle is parked.

But how many of their customers will be tempted to write an email while stuck in traffic? Probably the same ones who drive while eating, shaving, reading the newspaper and putting on makeup.

Honor and Integrity