Sami Habbas is an American army veteran who lives in California. He’s a native of the West Bank but has been living in the US for the past 51 years, since he was three years old. Apparently, someone thought it would be entertaining to edit his name in the credit bureau databases:

The address was his, but the name on the credit-card offer took Sami Habbas by surprise: “Palestinian Bomber.” “I thought it was a joke or something,” said Habbas, 54, a Palestinian American who served in the U.S. Army.

Habbas opened the letter, and the salutation read “Dear Palestinian Bomber.”

When he called the company, JPMorgan Chase & Co., provided his ZIP code and invitation number, two operators said to him: “Yes, Mr. Bomber, what can we do for you?”

“It’s very upsetting,” Habbas said. “I’m not what they are saying, a Palestinian bomber. That’s uncalled for. I have a name. My name is Sami Habbas.”

From this article in the Washington Post.

I started a new link section for stories, articles, blog posts, pictures and whatever else catches my attention online. The section is called “Ade Just Read” and can be found on the right below the “Guest Authors” section.

I promise to only link to things actually worth clicking on, but hover over the link to get a brief description of what’s there just in case.

If anyone has a better name for the section let me know:

Ade’s Recent Reads
Ade Spends Too Much Time on the Net
Can’t It Not Have “Ade” In It? (Yes)
The Melancholy Summer Evening Reader
No, I Don’t Have Work To Do

There is currently a debate raging in the US between scientists and proponents of “intelligent design” or ID – a different word for creationism. I came across an article today that I found interesting – interesting enough to reply to it.

After a short stint off the headlines, Karla’s back and she’s bigger than ever, baby. A quick recap: she got hired by a guy named Richer LaPointe to work in his hardware store. He claims to be a citizen with a strong sense of public duty who wanted to help Karla integrate with society. This apparently entailed secretly taping conversations with Karla and then going to the media, exposing her whereabouts and accusing her of violating her release conditions. This “half-wit opportunist” (thanks alevo) is currently facing charges of his own (unrelated to Karla) that include sexual assault and breaking and entering, which you would think would diminish his credibility somewhat. But not enough, apparently, to put a damper on the latest spasm of Homolkamania: it’s everywhere. Canada & Karla: Season 2 of our favourite reality show is back and in prime-time.

In the United States, criminals like Karla stay firmly behind bars, often for sentences so long they are ludicrous (like 175 years, for example). Here in Canada, where “life in prison” actually means “15-25 years in prison”, we seem intent on seeing what happens when we have to learn to live with them. It’s like a version of Growing Up Gotti where they let John Gotti out of prison just so they can film the show. “Honey, I’m going out to whack somebody, back later.” “Okay dear, don’t be late for dinner!” [Cue laugh track.]

Canada’s justice system, adept at catching your more run-of-the-mill offenders, just doesn’t seem to know what to do with the really big cases. Liana White is found dead and her husband Michael is swiftly charged with her murder. Twenty, thirty, forty sex trade workers go missing in Vancouver and police are like, “huh? what serial killer?”. Or take the Air India case, where terrorists blew up a flight from Canada in 1985, killing 329 people. Twenty years later, still no successful prosecution of anybody.

Live in an American red state and if someone murders your loved one, you get to watch them fry. Live in Canada, your best bet for revenge are prank calls:

Two popular Quebec radio hosts have interviewed Karla Homolka and her lawyer Sylvie Bordelais in a remarkable prank phone call to be aired today.

CKOI hosts Sebastien Trudel, 24, and Marc-Antoine Audet, 25 — known to their listeners as the “Masked Avengers” — called Bordelais yesterday posing as Quebec’s justice minister and his assistant.

What a gas!

Even our friends over at whereiskarla.com seem a little bewildered:

Karla is in the Montreal general area. Please contact your local authorities for more detailed information. We did not post our updates during the media frenzy. We do not wish to participate in a media style of glamorizing Karla.

“INFORMING THE PUBLIC” claims their website in big bold letters. “Karla is in the Montreal general area.” Fantastic job, guys. Thanks to you, there’s an easy way for us all to stay safe: avoid Montreal. And its general area.

Apparently, anyway:

Canada flexes its muscles in dispute over Arctic wastes

Gunboat diplomacy say what?

At least our wastes are safe.