Monday, March 04, 2002

Six die in Israeli tank attack. Israel follows an apparent assassination attempt against a Hamas militant which killed six with F-16 warplane attacks on Bethlehem. [BBC News: world] A Hamas leader's car was blown up, but he wasn't in it--his family died instead. With their record of killing terrorists with few or no innocent casualties, it's easy to forget that the Israelis are fallible. Still, even with this mistake, the CIA would still do well to learn from the Mossad how to find and kill terrorists. comment () trackback ()  2:24:10 PM     Adobe Hackers: We're Immune. The company that offered software to break Adobe's copyright protection code did not do anything illegal in the U.S. because it's a Russian company, its defenders say in court. Farhad Manjoo reports from San Jose, California. [Wired News] Although this is perfectly true, it won't necessarily help. The US government has already demonstrated a willingness to apply American laws to anyone, anywhere in the world, regardless of whether the "offender" has ever set foot in America. comment () trackback ()  2:11:21 PM     The stock price for Symantec briefly went over $40/share! This is theoretically good news, since my options are at $35.72/share. That's a ridiculously high price, and as a result my options have generally been worthless. Now, though, I wish I could use them. I can't, though, because my requests to our HR department for information on how to exercise my options have gone unanswered. Well, I guess that's one way to avoid having to pay for benefits--don't tell the employees how to use them! comment () trackback ()  10:42:57 AM     Ridge says arming pilots 'doesn't make a lot of sense'. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says pilots should not be allowed to keep guns in cockpits to thwart hijackings. ''I don't think we want to equip our pilots with firearms,'' Ridge said in an interview. ''That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.'' [FirearmNews.com] Of course it doesn't make sense to him. If pilots were armed, it would be very difficult or impossible to hijack a plane. The government wants hijacking to be easier, not harder, because if people aren't afraid of hijacking the government won't be able to scare them into throwing away their freedom. Ridge knows that any hijacked plane that flies in his direction will be shot down. Why should the government allow people to defend themselves from hijackers when the government can just let them be hijacked, then kill them and express "regret" after the fact? As far as the government is concerned, it's better for people to die than to take responsibility for their own lives. comment () trackback ()  9:51:08 AM     EU one step from Kyoto ratification. Europe's environment ministers agree that all member states should implement the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. [BBC News: sci/tech] If the EU wants to commit economic suicide, I don't mind. I hope the US will loosen imigration restrictions so that all those soon-to-be-unemployed Europeans who still care about political and economic freedom can move here. comment () trackback ()  9:12:59 AM

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