Flaws & Laws

Even the Three Little Pigs chose 'better'. Equal won't cut it; equal is a sucker's bet, hoping that the coming season won't generate a whopper like Katrina.

Mr. Bush said the engineers were correcting design and construction deficiencies, despite the Army Corps of Engineers disputing claims that those deficiencies even exist.

Fully engaged, eh?

Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) has the perfect answer to concerns over the covert spying program.

Draft a law that makes it legal to ignore the law.

That's right. Forget FISA. Forget USA-PATRIOT, the very law that the Bush Administration insisted was indispensible.

DeWine's proposal would allow the government to monitor suspected terrorists for up to 45 days without approval by the FISA Court.

The bill would also allow President Bush to name new terror organizations to be monitored, but does not require that such groups be foreign. Nor does it use the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

It's all about flexibility, says DeWine. "You might have a terrorist group come up in six months that would be equally bad as al-Qaeda."

Let me try this one more time: we need to design security that is not dependent on a communications intercept in order to be effective. Senator DeWine's worried about groups that might pop up? Gee, do you think they'll give us advance warning so we can start tapping their phones?

I don't.

And the FBI has reported over 100 possible violations pertaining to the USA PATRIOT Act, including cases where agents tapped the wrong phone, intercepted the wrong e-mails, or exceeded the duration of a warrant.

The ever-popular Westboro Baptist Church won't be protesting outside funerals in several states.

Their latest trick is to show up with signs reading, "God Made IED's" - the roadside bombs that have killed numerous soldiers in Iraq. The congregation contends that soldiers are being struck down because America is a nation that tolerates homosexuality. (Westboro and its founder, Rev. Fred Phelps, are known for showing up at events - including funerals - with signs reading, "God Hates Fags.")

Finally, a string of arsons targeting Baptist churches in rural Alabama turned out to be a "joke" according to a witness.

After first setting fire to five churches in the county just south of Birmingham, two students started fires at four additional churches in more remote areas, hoping to divert investigators.

But it's clear the boys aren't fans of CSI. Federal agents located them based on tire prints left at the scene of several of the churches. The tracks were traced to a car belonging to one student's mother.

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