News To Sleep On (probably not)

Oh my, this world is a strange place. I mean we have a guy that beheaded someone on a bus, claiming self-defense/schizophrenia caused him to do it, and the judge agreed...


Vince Li has been found not criminally responsible for the unprovoked killing and beheading of fellow passenger Timothy McLean on a Greyhound bus last summer.

Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Judge John Scurfield said Thursday that Li, 40, could not be found guilty of murder and is not criminally responsible for the crime because he was mentally ill at the time of the killing.

"These grotesque acts are appalling... but are suggestive of a mental disorder," the judge said.
"He did not appreciate the act he committed was wrong."

Li had pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. Psychiatric evidence at his trial suggested he is a schizophrenic who suffered a major psychotic episode last July 30 when he fatally stabbed McLean, 22, ate some of the body parts, and cut off McLean's head.

WOW! What will Canada do next?

President Obama's 'tracking poll' has taken another hit...

Investors retreated from Wall Street again, driven by worries about the nation's big banks and General Motors Corp.

Stocks slid to their lowest levels in more than 12 years Thursday, more than wiping out the previous session's rally. Investors wrestled with relentless uncertainty about the financial system and fresh concerns about GM. Short selling -- bets that stocks will fall -- ahead of the government's Friday employment report exacerbated the losses, slashing 281 points from the Dow Jones industrial and sending all the major indexes down more than 4 percent.

Stocks fell in every industry, with beleaguered banks posting some of the steepest drops. Citigroup Inc., still shaky despite receiving billions in government aid, at times sank below $1 and finished down 9.7 percent at $1.02. GM, meanwhile, ended with a loss of 15 percent at $1.86 as it warned of possible bankruptcy.

"Citigroup going below a buck today was a little scary," said Mark LeStrange, director of sales at Source Trading.

"To say that we're cheap here and it's a good value, it sounds right, but in all reality we could go 50 percent lower," he said. "Nobody has any idea how low we can go."

The Standard & Poor's 500 index is now down 56.4 percent from its peak in October 2007, making it the second worst slide for the index since its plunge of 86.2 percent from 1929-32.

Oy! Good thing I have at least twenty more years to retire. On the bright side, there be some bargains out there.

Now For Something Completely Different

Benjy is mad at their new baseball game for the Wii. Apparently his runner didn't run when he told him to run, and the runner then proceeded to get caught in a pickle and now he's mad because his outfielders can't catch easy fly balls.

A question for those that have made it this far. What is the best way for me to respond to your comments? In the comment box, or via email? I never know, plus I forget that when I am responding via email, to put your actual email address in. I think I'm going to lean more towards what Jeff does, over at his blog View from the Cloud, and start responding via the comment box. If that's okay. It seems to work well for him.

Finally, please keep Bill K, Mike D, and Bob P in your prayers - they all had their positions eliminated today.

God Bless and good night!