As IF Times

link ‘Not Guilty’ Plea Entered for Christmas Day Bombing Suspect – WSJ.com

The morphing of the idea of due process in law from a means by which innocent people would not be unduly incriminated to one that is essentially absurd theatre for the legal community is on grotesque display with today’s plea by the undie bomber.

We have become accustomed by now to use the neutral words, ‘the suspect’ or the ‘alleged’ crime in reference to perp deeds. We have been brainwashed to go along with the idea of presumed innocence in reference to the status of crooks. Our hero, the most recent would be human fuse has been accorded all the legal help necessary in order to protect his rights. Naturally, the plea today in the court appearance was, not guilty. What a shock.

I’m certain no one is more bemused than the perp. Imagine his one legal phone call back to the gang back at the fuse factory:

Umar, “Mohammed? Hey, what up, it’s me Umar. Not bad, not bad. Hey I’m here in the U.S. now, kinda unexpected”

Other side, “Bwanh bwanh bwanh?”

Umar, “Yep, a bit of snow, that Al Gore guy’s full of, well never mind, but they got me in a jail here in DE-troit.”

Other side, “Bwanh?”

Umar, “Uh huh, yeah, I kinda screwed up the assignment, stupid lighter wouldn’t light, musta been made in China or something. Anyways, I was a bit nervous and a bit nauseous, the guy beside me had some bean burritos. So I got a bit of the stuff to light, but it didn’t blow, all it did was burn my hair down there. Man that smarts. We should wax before we do this in the future.

Other side, “Bwanh bwanh bwanh!!”

Umar, “Hey, I tried man, but some guys jumped me and tied me to a stretcher. I thought I was a goner. When we landed, they doctored me up and put me here in this jail cell. It’s actually not bad, food’s better than at home, running water, basketball with the brothers and TV. Hey, by the way, American Idol’s on next week..”

Other side, “Bwanh bwanh!!!”

Umar, “Hey, I’m just sayin! Anyway, the lawyer said I don’t have to say a thing and I can plead not guilty!”

Other side, “HAHAHAHA!!”

Umar, “I know! So apparently, I’m only the suspect in the alleged bombing. They must be trying to pin this on someone else, I mean, there were 300 other people on the plane! Maybe I was just holding the explosives for someone else. I do recall my father beating me once, I can claim bad childhood. I went to school in the UK? Well I can say I was unloved. And, don’t forget, we can always play the race card!”

Other side, “Bwanh, bwanh”

Umar, “Yeah, it’s better than we thought, if we fail, they treat us pretty good, no awkward questions, no fingernails pulled, pretty lame. Actually, the worse that can happen to me is I sit around in a nice facility for a few years. Although, frankly, Guantanamo is better than Illinois, that does suck. Hey, gotta go, they want me, apparently I might get on Larry King or MSNBC, so keep an eye out. Say hi to the gang, call later.”

link Publishers dumbfounded by airplane book ban – The Globe and Mail

It was just a matter of time. Canadians have been peripheral to the knee jerk reaction to the undie bomber thus far, but now our geniuses at Transport Canada have apparently thrown their submission into the idiot contest. There is little point in adding to the deafening chorus of those pointing out the uselessness of this new measure to try keep us ‘safe’. They are many, they are right and we don’t need to parrot them. Keeping books and magazines off flights? As if.

This is baldfaced competitiveness by our government on the eve of the Olympics to show that we can be as inane as the U.S. when it comes to inflicting senseless policies. We can be proud that although our budgets are smaller than the Americans’, we too can come up with world class performances on the world’s stupid stage. But it’s really not a fair playing field. In the U.S., you have strong voices condemning and bringing to task those that try to inflict misguided policies on the public. They have a long tradition of personal freedom and thus are less inclined to acquiesce to government edicts as is the case in Canada.

In Canada, where the sheep complex is deeply ingrained from generations of leftist politics, it’s much easier to impose all manner of ill conceived edicts spawned from the minds of petty bureaucrats and misguided politicos. The reputation of Canadians’ respect for law and order makes us particularly vulnerable to the whims of anyone able to get into a position of authority. It’s like having a Tim Hortons next to a police station.

But I could be wrong and this recent travel edict may not just be one upmanship in the 1000 meter giant stupid, but a sincere belief on the part of the 4 person braintrust that is probably the quorum at Transport Canada that this measure will outsmart the human fuses. Someone should slip them a note that in practice anything brought on board a plane can be dangerous. I’d feel safer sitting next to a guy with a book than if he carried on 4 bean burritos which is apparently allowed. Even if we are compelled to board with nothing on but the radio, some bright Abdul can still have explosives hidden in his toupee.

The people who somehow wind up in charge of such things,(and it’s a minor mystery how they got into such positions) are behaving as you would expect, they are unimaginative, they make wrong decisions and they inflict policy on the pretext of doing something useful. The true mystery is why the public stands for it. Why isn’t there a clamor to demand to know who these people are and then make them take the consequences for their incompetence. Fire them. Oh that’s right, they’re bureaucrats, they can’t be fired. They can only be transmogrified into another department. I suggest we contract them out to Al Qaeda or whomever is in the terror racket. They have done more to inconvenience the public and endanger lives than any of the human fuses.

The public should demand more of the people we elect to office and of the people we allow to live, yes live, in the bureaucracy of the country. A handful of incompetents should not be allowed to inflict stupidity on the rest of us. Sadly, this is definitely not a majority opinion. In the comments section to the above article, you have evidence of a segment of the population that just doesn’t get it. Someone named Northat62 opines,

“…Targeting all young Muslim men as terrorists would certainly breed more young Muslim men that have been terrorized by irrational government actions into terrorist acts. Sorry, that just doesn’t work…”

As long as this mentality exists in the public, it will exist in our politicians and in our bureaucrats. Because of this mindset, we’re definitely in the final 3 for the stupid medal.