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RATHER PATHETIC, REALLY Yesterday's IDF

RATHER PATHETIC, REALLY

Yesterday's IDF raid on Ramallah was both disproportionate and pointless. It is not possible for any rational observer to draw a connection between a bus bombing by Islamic Jihad, and an attack on what is left of the Palestinian Authority. If anything, further damaging the Authority's ability to operate only improves the environment in which IJ can operate unfettered. It is the Israeli equivalent of the Clinton bombing of a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant in response to the African embassy bombings, and deserves to be held in as much contempt as the former.

While the world waits for the American or Israeli governments to grasp the nettle on this one, Steven Den Beste seems this close to an aneurysm over it. Switch to a better brand of decaf, Cap'n... the world needs its engineers.

OH, COME ON Joe Clark's

OH, COME ON

Joe Clark's Conservative party and the Toronto Star oppose the revived Canadian anti-terrorism bill because it... may limit the air travel possibilities of non-terrorist suspected felons.

!!

As Bart Simpson said when he caught Skinner and Edna, "That's the best you can do?" If that was the worst thing one anyone could say about a new law I'd personally have passed it before I finished my low-fat yogurt this morning.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has yet to explain why a cattle-rustling computer geek who decorates the rec room with purloined driftwood should be snagged by an anti-terror net.

Translation: why should someone accused of three felonies (stealing cattle, stealing drift timber, and unauthorized use of a computer) not be free to board a plane without fear of being arrested? Oh, I can think of a few reasons. What if it was three car thefts? Or three rapes?

The best line:

Terrorists, meanwhile, will take the bus.

And DRIVE it into a skyscraper? Hey, Joe, call me brave, but that's a risk I'm willing to live with.

(It should be added this bill has a lot of very sensible provisions, such as making sure reservists don't lose their jobs if the government calls them out to serve in a national emergency. It's already been held up over six months, however, by this kind of nitpicking crap.)

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Lileks expresses his frustration at other anti-terrorism measures being thwarted across the border. It's good he can take comfort in his civil-liberties-over-public-safety adversaries being so stupid, I guess. Maybe it takes a little edge off the annoying fact that they're winning now, and winning consistently.