Saturday digest

- If you find yourself about to take a flight, and you see six imams are praying, shouting "Allah!" upon hearing the boarding call, angrily discussing US foreign policy as it relates to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, followed by not taking their assigned seats upon entering the cabin, sitting in a pattern reminiscent of the 9/11 hijackers and asking for unecessary seatbelt extensions, know this: raising a red flag and notifying the authorities will get the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) right on your ass with a lawsuit.

More on that here.

- Meanwhile, Rosie O'Donnell, never one to disappoint, is coming to the defense of the guy who conceived of the 9/11 attacks - independently confirmed by Lawrence Wright, author of "The Looming Tower", reviewed below - implying that he's just another victim in the Bush-led war on terror because he was "robbed of his humanity" at Guantanamo Bay.

- At least common sense has won the day in England, where do-gooders at a children's music festival decided to change "The Three Little Pigs" to "The Three Little Puppies" for fear it might offend Muslims. Thankfully, saner heads have prevailed, but the effort to water down innocuous Western cultural traditions continues. We can expect similar episodes if this article is any indication of the accepted world view of influential media elites in the UK.

- Leaving unserious persons like the aforementioned Rosie aside, shouldn't human rights activists worry more about heavy-handedness like this instead of whether or not al-Qaeda operatives get roughed up a bit at Guantanamo Bay?

- Looks like you can take the Soviet out of the KGB, but you can't take the KGB out of the Soviet.

- It's so easy to pile on Al Gore and friends that I almost feel guilty taking advantage of such a blatant target.

- By all accounts, if you like more and bigger government, bribing people with their own money, and having politicians pick winners and losers, it sounds like this Monday's so-called Conservative budget is going to be right up your alley.

Liberal, Tory, same old story.

- Quiz time: Which politician recently said that he joined his party because of both his "own religious upbringing and trying to find a way of being political in the world in a way I thought was most consistent with biblical tradition"?

A) Mitt Romney
B) Pat Robertson
C) Stockwell Day
D) Bill Blaikie

Answer here.

No doubt civil libertarians from Vancouver and Toronto are celebrating the retirement of this regular violator of the principle of separation of church and state.

- Insult of the year heard at Thurday night's Ottawa Senators-New York Islanders game: Alexei "Yash-hole" Yashin.

- DVD release of the year: "The Life and Times of Mr. Perfect".