Right Truth

Man Builds Robot Girlfriend

The word desperate comes to mind.  It's too bad Le Trung couldn't find the perfect girl, but if he's such a smart man he should know that the perfect girl does not exist ... nor does the perfect man, or the perfect robot.  Oh my.  (Fox,  via ATS)

A Canadian man, apparently unable to find the perfect woman, has done the next best thing — he's built himself one.

Le Trung, a 33-year-old software engineer who lives with his parents in Brampton, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, says he's spent about $20,000 so far on Aiko, a 5-foot-tall female android with clear skin, a slim if shapely figure and a wonderful disposition. • Click here for more photos. 

"She can recognize faces, she can identify medication, she can even butter your toast," Le Trung tells the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Not only that, but Aiko speaks — in both English and, for some reason, Japanese. (Le Trung has a Vietnamese name.) She can also read.

Perhaps if Le Trung lives in Australia he could sent Aiko to this school:

Victorian state primary school students will soon be able to take religious education classes which teach there is no evidence God exists.

The Humanist Society of Victoria has developed a curriculum for primary pupils that the state government accreditation body says it intends to approve, The Sunday Age newspaper reported.

Looks like John E. Carey is correct, "Sex, Pop Culture, Drugs, Computers, Toys Are New ‘Opiate of the People’"

Testing internet searches with this article and the words SEX, Hollywood, Drugs, Toys, Opiate, Robot Girlfriend, Perfect Woman, .... heh

FARC and International Support

BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- Email messages linking the Colombian Marxist guerilla insurgency (known by its Spanish acronym, FARC) to politicians, union activists and left-wing parties overseas have revealed a network of supporters spanning several continents, and have kept tensions high between Colombia and some of its neighbors.

Most of the information comes from laptop computers, external hard drives and flash drives reportedly recovered from a FARC campground located in Ecuador that the Colombians bombed and then searched in March. The attack killed Raul Reyes, the guerrillas' second in command, who acted as the group's foreign minister.

Initially, the release of email messages documenting friendly relationships between the guerrillas and the leftist governments of Ecuador and Venezuela strained relations between Colombia and its neighbors. Since then, other emails made public have linked FARC leaders to government officials, academics, far-left political parties and union activists in Spain, Italy, Germany, Canada, Brazil and the United States.   (continue reading at World Politics Review)

From Douglas Farah, The FARC’s World of Terror Is Shrinking

The concerted effort by the United States and most of the European Union, along with a few countries in Latin America, are gradually cutting off the operational areas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Tuesday's OFAC designation of eight members of the FARC's international delegation is another step in that direction. The FARC is a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU.

These International Commission members represent the FARC in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, and Canada.

As I wrote in this paper for the NEFA Foundation, the FARC's international structure has been one of the most underestimated elements of support for the terrorist organization.  (continue reading)

Other reading:

Gulf States' Aid for Cambodia's Cham Muslims Raises U.S. Concerns,

Syria: The Return Address on a Car Bomb

War is Boring: Somalia Shows Danger of U.S. Prioritizing Ideology Over Security

Is Russia Preparing for an Arms Race with the West?

Canadian Judge Gets it Right

Canadian guilty in terror trial

A Canadian man has been found guilty of participating in a terrorist group that allegedly planned to storm parliament and behead the prime minister.

The 20-year-old was arrested in 2006 along with 17 others in a massive anti-terrorism operation in Toronto.

Delivering the verdict, the judge said there was "overwhelming" evidence that a terrorist group existed and that the accused "knew what it was about".

The trials of 10 others, including the alleged ringleaders, are still pending.

Charges against the remaining suspects have since been dropped.

Undercover operation

The man, a convert to Islam, cannot be identified under Canadian law as he was a minor at the time his arrest in 2006.

He had denied all terrorism-related charges, and his lawyer argued that the bomb plot was a "jihadi fantasy" that the accused knew nothing about.

Working toward ultimate goals that appear unattainable or even unrealistic does not militate against a finding that this was a terrorist group Judge John Sproat

However, Superior Court Justice John Sproat found him guilty of attending terrorist training camps and described him as an eager "acolyte" of the ringleader.

"He clearly understood the camp was for terrorist purposes," the judge told a court in Ontario.

"Planning and working toward ultimate goals that appear unattainable or even unrealistic does not militate against a finding that this was a terrorist group," he said.

He found the defendant guilty of participating in a terrorist organisation rather than the more serious crime of plotting bomb attacks - a charge faced by some of the group.(BBC)

Other reading:

\Time's Joe Klein on McCain's Return to Washington: A Despicable New Low for Political Commentary

Sarah Palin: “They Will Take the Phrase ‘Under God’ Away From Me When My Cold, Dead Lips Can No Longer Utter Those Words,”

Virginia Troopers Quit Over Rules Restricting Free Expression

Freedom Doesn't Apply to Anti-Obama Speech?