Young Terrorists Execute Plan for Slaughter - Almost...

Last week's horrible slaughter of innocents in Mumbai at the hands of a band of well-armed & trained youths is yet another wake-up call to the security chiefs of the world's democracies.

The characteristics of the assault are eerily echoed in a story Canadians heard earlier this year: 10-20 young men, all teens & early twenties, burning with a religious zeal learned in the terrorist camps of Afghanistan, training with weapons & tactics in a remote outdoor setting, focused on mass murder and destruction in the name of jihad, targeting the seat of government and other high-profile etablishments, capping their actions with the particularly gruesome objective of decapitating a prime minister.

This is an analogue of the story of the erstwhile Brampton 17 - described by Canadian authorities as dangerous terrorists-in-training and brought to trial on related charges. Interestingly, their defence is largely founded on the premise that they are just boys, goofing around, pretending to be bigger than they could possibly achieve, harmless in a kind of mis-guided boy scout troop way. Their juvenile conversations were pointed out as examples of just how innocent the boys were. My guess is, if we had taped 'down-time' conversations of the Mumbai attackers they'd be just the same - a smattering of boy-talk, boasting of prowess, complaining about food, joking about another's girlfriend, scraps of religious fundamentalist leanings and even confessions of self-doubt and backsliding. These are, after all young men in their teens & twenties - what would we expect them to talk about?

Whatever the fate of the Brampton 17, in the context of the slaughter at Mumbai, it may be a big mistake for peace-loving, complacent, forgiving Canadians to gently chide the judiciary into giving the Brampton boys an easy out. Besides, just because the Crown cannot always get a conviction or even get charges to stick, does not mean there is no cause for alarm and continued vigilance in this country, indeed around the world.

Never Let Truth or Common-Sense Get in the Way of a Good Story

I'm no medical expert but common-sense tells you the stories about re-use of syringes in western Canadian healthcare institutions are very overblown and in all the press I've seen, only one complete explanation was made about what is really at (non-)issue:

1. The syringes are re-used ONLY injecting into IV tubes - NEVER into patients directly.

2. The NEEDLES are NEVER re-used - only the syringe bodies.

It would be a rare and huge malfunction of the whole IV setup that would propel a patient's blood backwards up the IV tube to the injection point, creating the potental for spreading of any blood-borne disease or infection, that would also have to travel up a (NEVER re-used) needle point, into a syringe, and be ignored by an idiot attendant. Possible? - yes. Likelihood? - miniscule, like never.

Anyone with common sense can see this practice would likely never cause a problem - there are no reports of this practice causing any problem - ANYWHERE.This is a tempest in a teapot and needs to simply go away. Perhaps a provincial or federal minister of health will have the good sense to speak to the people, give all the details, tell the whole truth and dispose of this non-scandalous non-story before it gets any larger.

Furthermore, it would be very interesting to learn the source of this story - who decided to make a name for themselves or who wanted a 'scoop' by breaking a big healthcare scandal story.

Healthcare has enough problems without having to fight its way through stupid media coverage like this.

Experts Blame 'Lack of Confidence' for Market Turmoils: "No Shit, Sherlock..."

My point today is about confidence - so many folks will take all the financial pros' statements bemoaning a lack of confidence everywhere as righteous chastisement for liquidating their meager assets in an effort to save something! However, given what we know, and worse - what no one knows about where is the real bottom - isn't a lack of confidence perfectly correct and even smart? What else is recommended by these highly-placed touts? Where is their own money? If they're getting laid as low as many citizens, they have no right to be on their soapboxes at all. In the end,

Mark-to-Market will have its inevitable day, and sooner is better.

It's Hard to Blame Handguns for Problems People Create

The Handgun Problem. Lots of folks talk about ways to reduce or eliminate gun-crime. I agree - control of Handguns is important - after all, Handguns are made specifically to kill people. That's it, that's all - kill people.

So, Step One - let's make sure Handguns are all registered, stored safely, owners rigorously licensed, old ones in the basement are turned in and so on.

Now for Step Two - let's control the people who can't control their use of Handguns. Specifically, with hard & fast irrevocable jail terms - hard time, no parole - for people who have 'em and/or use 'em, just like this:

i) unlawful possession of any Handgun, loaded or unloaded, registered or unregistered - 5 Years;
ii) discharge of any Handgun anywhere except a licensed range - 10 years;
iii) use of a Handgun in commission of any crime - 15 Years;
iv) discharge of a Handgun during commission of any crime - 20 Years;
v) any wounding or killing with a Handgun - 25 Years.

Surely after a few thugs go away for what amounts to a lifetime, even their most cretinous buddies will understand that use of Handguns does not intersect with their own best interests.

That's my 5-25 Plan.