Rahim's Magic BlackBerry

On the lighter side, our friend Rahim Jaffer was on the radio today defending his government's decision to ban cell phones and BlackBerries in cabinet meetings. Cynics could be forgiven for taking this as a sign that the Conservative government does not trust its ministers, or that they want to further clamp-down on ministers' abilities to communicate with the media.

Not so, explained Jaffer. The ban is for security reasons. You see, according to Jaffer, even if your BlackBerry or cell is turned off, a hacker could remotely turn it on and cause it to start transmitting audio from your location to theirs without your knowledge.

Seriously. He said that. I am not making this up.

Tell ya what -- I'm offering a cash prize to anyone who can do that with my phone. I'll even give you a head start: I'm leaving it turned on.