Gunman kills 2 students at Monash

Israeli ‘traitor’ released from jail. Based on the doctrine of pre-emption, which the Bush administration used to justify the invasion of Iraq, should the US now do likewise to Israel for the suspected possession of weapons of mass destruction? Or will the doctrine of pre-emption be non-retroactive, since the secrets were leaked in 1986? 🙂

Planes in towers. Bombs in Bali. Sniper(s) in Washington. Gunman in Melbourne. Human bombs in Palestine. War pending against Iraq, and a nuclear weapon pileup. Not to mention the usual famines, natural disasters, global warming and diseases. Is this the Start of the Breakdown? [Sorry, I couldn’t resist using a couple of TFF song titles,…

In the same fashion as Apple’s Switch ads (to the uninitiated, a series of testimonials from ex-PC/Windows users who’ve left the Blue Screen of Death behind), someone’s come up with a Switch ad for registered Republicans who want to vote for Kerry. Wired has a comprehensive article about this radical political movement. A sample quote…

I find it funny that US troops are now reportedly ‘indignant’ that Iraq is firing back at them – especially after firing a missile intending to kill Saddam himself. I knew the war was going to be fairly one-sided, but this is ridiculous. I find it funny that Blair’s speech touched on September 11, but…

I knew McCain was a dashing Navy officer, heavily decorated for his service including his time as a Prisoner of War (POW). I learnt from [this Arizona news website](http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/mccain/articles/2007/03/01/20070301mccainbio-chapter5.html) that: He was married to his first wife Carol for 14 years, but they grew apart. He admitted to extramarital affairs. Finally he met his future…

In class yesterday, our professor was using the example of the presence of mafias in certain countries to indicate a weak rule of law. So we covered the usual suspects – Italy, Russia, China and some Eastern European countries. Then the professor asked, “Does the US have a mafia?” Some people said yes, in the…