RCMP loses chief

And, the chief of the RCMP says, sure, I made a mistake and an innocent man was tortured based on my intel, but I’m not going to give up my job over it. Oh, wait, I am. Sorry, but I agree. A man was tortured over that testimony, and you just can’t repair that.

The Development Abstraction Layer

I was reading a little of Joel on Software, and I came across his posting on the Development Abstraction Layer. I’ve said for a long time that a manager’s first function is to allow his/her people to do their jobs. The best managers that I’ve had were like layers of insulation against corporate politics, ensuring [...]

The Dilbert Blog: Electronic Voting Machines

Ok, Scott Adams rules in his analysis of the current situation in the U.S. with respect to electronic voting machines. I think about the history of ATMs when I hear all the nervous Nellies wetting their pants over electronic voting machines. I believe those worries are totally misplaced. Now don’t get me wrong – there’s [...]

Living without fear in America

Not to mention in Canada. This pretty much says it all.

America loses its moral high-ground

Y’know, I really don’t like the way that China treats their own people. I think it’s disgusting, the lack of freedoms that the Chinese citizens have. I’d rather live in the U.S.A. any day of the week, than live in China. That said, it would seem that lately, the U.S. has lost the moral high-ground [...]

Lack of privacy, data mining, and the future

I saw this while scanning my RSS feeds today. An amazing flash presentation of what ordering a pizza in the future could be like, if governments continue to erode our personal right to privacy, and force national ID cards on us. I’d laugh, but it’s a little too accurate.

Voting someone out

I caught this article on the CBC about the Tories bitching about the latest Liberal campaign ads. Yeah, like they should talk. Or the NDP. They’re all doing the same shameful mudslinging, and calling it campaigning. I think that there was a time when Canadian politicians actually campaigned on their platform, telling Canadians why they [...]

Feeling safe is expensive

Bruce Schneier has linked to a very informative article on the Billions that the U.S. has wasted on security since 9/11. Specifically, it goes into detail on how much they’ve spent on solutions that didn’t work, or at least not as advertised. This shows how you can’t simply throw money at most problems and expect [...]

Start a petition, go to jail

Ok, so it’s alright for the U.S. to align themselves with Saudi Arabia, even when they treat their own people like this? Sure, they’re not simply being tortured and murdered, but Saudi Arabia hardly seems a human-rights paradise to live in. Using Western terminology, causing instability and collecting signatures for a petition reportedly were among [...]

Global poll slams Bush leadership

Well, this is no surprise, and hats off to the BBC for posting this poll result when it was unlikely to find its way to CNN, and possibly not even the CBC. It seems that the majority of our planet feels that “Dubya” makes the world a more dangerous place in which to live. Well…yeah. [...]