Fri Mar 25/05
Okay Friday

Still no word from Licia Corbella on the subject of the rather serious factual error in her March 23 column. (She opined that Michael Schiavo should be charged with bigamy or forced to divorce Terri on account of he's married to her and also to his common-law wife, but Florida doesn't recognize common-law marriages). I've been the impetus for corrections in the past and not been aware of it, so on the off chance that someone has access to the print version of Calgary's "other newspaper," I'd appreciate it if he or she could flip over to the corrections section (assuming one exists) and have a gander for me.

[UPDATE Sun Mar 27/05: In her column today, Corbella refers to Schiavo's "defacto [sic] wife". That's a really strange thing to call her (I think "girlfriend" works just fine) unless she's trying to avoid using "not in any way, shape or form his wife," so I'm going to go ahead take credit for making her back down from "common-law." If that's not what happened, well, I guess she can respond to my e-mail.]

In other news, Fenwick of Lethbridge declares Ms Corbella's self-plagiarism bush-league, claiming it would run up a tree at the sight of Bob MacDonald's:

…I swear he has a macro for this paragraph: "And of course there is Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian born man from Montreal, who was caught by U.S. border guards with a trunk full of explosives, on his way to blow up LAX."

He inserted that in a column at least a dozen times in 2002 alone, and it didn't much matter the topic (9/11, border security, immigration, Pope's visit)…

He's definitely on to something (links are to some very strange places — it's particularly odd that this treasure trove of Bob MacDonald's columns resides on World Cup skier Melanie Turgeon's website):

September 13, 2001

…Ressam, who was caught by U.S. officials trying to enter their country from Canada with a carload of explosives in a plot to blow up Los Angeles airport.

September 14, 2001

Ressam was caught by U.S. border police in 1999 when he tried to bring a car trunk-full of explosives into Port Angeles, Wash., on a mission to blow up a Los Angeles airport terminal.

September 17, 2001

Ressam was on trial — and later convicted — for trying to bring a car trunkload of explosives and timing devices into the U.S. from Canada in 1999. His objective was to blow up three terminal buildings at Los Angeles airport.

September 18, 2001

…Ressam, who was caught by U.S. police crossing the border from Canada with a car trunk loaded with high explosives, fuses and timers. He was on his way in 1999 to blow up Los Angeles airport.

October 7, 2001

…Ressam, 34, who was arrested in December 1999 as he tried to cross into Washington state from B.C. in a rented car laden with nitroglycerine and other chemicals, electronic detonators, timing devices and a Casio watch — a hallmark of bin Laden's men.

October 26, 2001

Ressam, trained in Afghanistan, was caught in late 1999 by U.S. border guards when he tried to drive across the border with a carload of explosives on his way to blow up Los Angeles airport.

December 18, 2002

Ressam was only caught by the Americans in late 1999 when he tried to cross from Canada into the U.S. with a carload of explosives and fuses. His target was to blow up Los Angeles airport terminals and as many innocent people as possible.

May 1, 2002

He was trained in Afghanistan and was finally caught in late 1999 by U.S. border guards while trying to cross into the U.S. with a carload of explosives on his way to blow up Los Angeles airport.

September 7, 2003

Ressam was only caught on Dec. 14, 1999 when U.S. border police nabbed him trying to enter from British Columbia with a car loaded with explosives. He was on his way to blow up the passenger terminal at Los Angeles airport.

March 26, 2004

[Ressam]… was finally apprehended in late 1999 by an alert American border police officer when he attempted to cross into the U.S. with a car trunk loaded with explosives and detonating equipment. He later admitted he was on his way to Los Angeles airport to blow up the passenger terminals and as many innocent people as possible.

[UPDATE Thu Apr 7/05: He's done it again!

Ressam was carrying a valid Canadian passport fraudulently obtained using another name when he was caught by U.S. border police crossing from Canada in late 1999.

He was driving a car loaded with explosives on his way to blow up a Los Angeles airport terminal and thousands of innocent people.]

Matt, thanks for the tip, and Bob — keep up the work.

(An aside: My attempts at a more thorough search of the Bob MacDonald archives was thwarted by the fact that Sun Media does not publish to any of the online news indexes to which I (surreptitiously) have access. I am positive that little old me can't afford it, but I would dearly love to have access to Lexis Nexis or Infomart. Curious to see just how much too expensive it is, I clicked on over to their websites and was met with an awe-inspiring onslaught of obfuscation and jargon. The upshot is this: neither of these two services will tell you how much it costs to subscribe — not even a ballpark figure — without sicking a "sales agent" on you. I know, I know: if you have to ask you can't afford it, but what an annoying e-business strategy.)