Random News & Views Roundup

- And some people railed in hysterics when I suggested the alleged airplane bombing plot would affect American politics. Well:

In a Newsweek poll after British authorities foiled a plot last week to blow up U.S.-bound planes, 55 percent of Americans voiced approval of Bush's handling of terrorism and homeland security, a jump of 11 percentage points from May.

Cheney, at a fundraiser in Arizona, had this to say, 'ruhhh ruh ruh Dean Democrats grrrrr growl Lieberman rrrrr...drool.' He then unleashed his laser sabre rattler and almost blinded everybody in the audience.

- Space terror! (because you just don't have enough to worry about on earth). Coming soon, CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting live from a satellite. No, not via satellite but actually standing on a satellite.

- A USA Today headline tells its readers 'Wal-Mart posts solid earnings despite economy woes' and when you click on the full story link, the headline changes to, 'Solid Wal-Mart earnings show resilience of consumers' so you'd think Wal-Mart was doing fairly well. But, if you visited the Washington Post on the same day you'd find this headline, 'Wal-Mart Quarterly Profits Drop' leading to this : 'Sale of German Unit Cuts Wal-Mart Profit; Quarterly Loss Is First in a Decade'. Both newspapers mention that Wal-Mart's profits dropped 26%. Now, if you are one of those shareholder types, I'd highly suggest that you go beyond the headlines to read the actual story before you decide to trust a newspaper's headlines.

- Jutsice Minister Vic Toews needs to start thinking outside of the courtroom box. Of course, we all know the disdain Conservatives have for librul social programs, but one would think that early intervention would be a more effective way to handle troubled children than getting the courts involved with 10 year olds. Or is that just too mampy pamby for you, Toews?

Toews said on Monday it's often too late to rehabilitate troubled children who cannot be charged until age 12.

And charging them when they're 10 is going to make a tremendous difference, right? Get a grip.

- 98 percent of children in the Gaza Strip have experienced or witnessed war trauma and the effects are severe. As someone who has PTSD, I can certainly imagine the hell these children are living with. At least I, as an adult, know what's going on. They don't. And they continue to be re-traumatized ad infinitum. Imagine how terrifying that must be.