Let us not put El Al passengers at risk
Something which looks like a letter to the National Post (via Smuggy) has been making the rounds of a few weblogs. It concerns David Collenette’s plans to investigate the feasibility of future El Al flights to Toronto should a terror threat remain:
That wannabe terrorists in Toronto could be planning to shoot down a civilian aircraft is disturbing news indeed. But just as disturbing was Mr. Collenette’s weak-kneed response — a case study of exactly how not to respond to threats of terrorism. Instead of questioning the future of El Al’s presence in Toronto, the Minister should have expressed his resolve to eradicate any threat.
Certainly, if the threat is real then all leads should be followed and investigated. However, until the threat disappears it would be irresponsible to allow subsequent flights to land at the Toronto airport. Doing so would be placing the passengers of El Al flights, not to mention people on the ground, in jeopardy. In a perfect world, we could eradicate this threat in an instant. Unfortunately, investigations take time.
The threat to El Al flights is not like the Los Angeles airport incident which the letter mentions — that could have been avoided through better airport security. This threat may not even come from within the airport itself; it could come from anywhere along the landing or takeoff path of an El Al flight.
Despite what some people may believe, acting with temporary precaution does not mean that the terrorists have won. The terrorists win when they successfully kill people or cause damage, thereby increasing fear. Rest assured that if El Al flights are temporarily diverted from Toronto, terrorists will not be jumping up and down and cheering. They will, however, be jubilant if they successfully down an El Al flight over Toronto simply because we did not take precautions.
- none
Posted on November 5th, 2003 in canada, politics - No Comments »
RSS for some
I grow weary of constantly reloading sites which lack RSS feeds to determine whether they contain new content. If I was still using Syndirella as my news reader I would be able configure those sites as web feeds. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I switched to SharpReader as it allows for grouping of feeds and contains a number of other neat features which Syndirella does not have. To solve my problems, I am now hosting RSS feeds for a few external sites until they are able to get their own.
I have chosen to start with two weblogs which are focussing on the Toronto election. They are:
The feeds are updated every three hours, are not guaranteed to validate (they almost certainly do not) and are created by a script based on one written by Sam Ruby. These feeds are only temporary, available until the content authors create their own. They may disappear at any time, so if you use them be sure to nag the content authors into creating their own feeds.
More feeds to come.
- none
Posted on November 3rd, 2003 in computers, internet - No Comments »
Ontario Tories just can’t admit they were wrong
If the $5.6 billion Tory deficit wasn’t troubling enough, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario is now attempting to spin it in their favour and, I kid you not, use it to smear the Liberals.
In a Friday news release entitled Promise Breakers: Promises Made, Promises Broken by the McGuinty Liberals, the Ontario Tories list six campaign promises that they claim the Liberals have already broken. Three of those six “broken promises” deal with the consequences of the Tory deficit, and all of them are evidence of the seething occurring within the Ontario PC Party.
One of the deficit-related broken promise claims deals with the decision to lift the artificial hydro cap which was imposed by the Tories and was costing Ontario $2-million a day. Naturally, if the deficit didn’t exist there wouldn’t be a need to quickly reduce expenditures. It is unfortunate that this promise had to be broken, but it is a necessary step considering the extenuating circumstances. Such a large deficit was completely unanticipated. The Fraser Institute pegged the deficit at $4.5 billion back in September, over a billion dollars less than the actual figure.
The second and third broken promise claims have been lumped into one item entitled (and I couldn’t even make this up if I tried) “Running a Deficit and Increasing the Debt”. The Tories, who again are responsible for our $5.6 billion deficit, are accusing the Liberals of breaking their promise to balance the provincial budget and not add to the provincial debt. Evidently an elected Tory government, faced with such an unforeseen deficit, would have quickly called for their legions of pixies and leprechauns to both eliminate that deficit and fund debt payments. In the absence of pixies and leprechauns, the Tories would have carried through with their plans to simultaneously cut taxes and increase government spending, all the while putting their fingers firmly in their ears when the mighty deficit came a-calling.
The Tories’ recent Promise Breakers news release demonstrates, to me at least, that they show no remorse for the burden they have placed on the province, and will attempt to use their own failings to point fingers at the Liberals. Ontarians are smart enough to see through this misrepresentation and, hopefully, will recall this release once the next election comes around in four years time.
- none
Posted on November 2nd, 2003 in ontario, politics - No Comments »