December 22, 2005
Christmas blogging break
I'm heading back to St. John's for Christmas this evening, and then I'm going to Halifax for New Year's. I figure it's time to take a much-needed break from blogging for a while, so I'm shutting it down until January 4.
Some people who've guest-blogged for me in the past may do so while I'm away, and I'll come back if something important (such as the Asian tsunami last Christmas) happens. Until then, have a wonderful Christmas (or Hannakah...how do you spell that, anyway?) and a Happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2006.
Weeks 16-17
I'm taking a break from blogging over the Christmas holiday, so I'm going to put up my picks for the last two weeks of the NFL season today. If any major injuries or anything occur in the meantime, I guess that's my tough luck. Last week I went 12-4, bringing my season record to 128-97.
Week 16:
Atlanta at Tampa Bay - I don't know what to make of either of these teams.
Dallas at Carolina
Buffalo at Cincinnati - Carson Palmer is the next great marquee quarterback in the NFL.
Detroit at New Orleans - Saddam is right: the Americans are torturing people.
Jacksonville at Houston - upset special. I know it's Houston, but I just can't bring myself to pick a team that had trouble with the 49ers.
NY Giants at Washington
Pittsburgh at Cleveland
San Diego at Kansas City - hard to believe a team this good may not make the playoffs.
San Francisco at St. Louis
Tennessee at Miami - the Dolphins have very quietly turned it around this year. All they need is a reliable, solid QB.
Philadelphia at Arizona - people expecting McNabb vs. Warner are going to get McMahon vs. Navarre.
Indianapolis at Seattle - Super Bowl preview?
Oakland at Denver
Chicago at Green Bay - Da Bears can clinch the division with a win.
Minnesota at Baltimore - the Vikings ain't the 2005 Packers, Mr. Boller.
New England at NY Jets
Week 17:
Denver at San Diego
NY Giants at Oakland
Arizona at Indianapolis
Buffalo at NY Jets
Chicago at Minnesota
Detroit at Pittsburgh
New Orleans at Tampa Bay
Baltimore at Cleveland
Carolina at Atlanta
Cincinnati at Kansas City
Miami at New England
Seattle at Green Bay
Houston at San Francisco
Tennessee at Jacksonville - upset special.
Washington at Philadelphia
St. Louis at Dallas
December 21, 2005
... AND FOUR ON ONE. OR MORE!
Via Michelle Malkin by way of Engadget:
HEZBOLLAH'S CANADIAN PHONE SCAM
If I had a gig at Echelon, or CSIS, I'd be all over those phone bills...
THREE ON ONE
Via Drudge by way of Reuters... "Canadians can have group sex in clubs: top court"
Only in Canada you say? Well, why not. Group blogging is legal, and almost as much fun. (But then again, one has to deal with trolls. It's the STD of the pajamas medium.)
Abandon ship!
The election is still a month away, but Liberals are quietly organizing the race to succeed Paul Martin.
Chris Martin fights global warming
Yeah, his BMW X5 SUV gets 12 mpg in the city, but he could have purchased a Lamborghini Murcielago, which only gets 9 mpg in the city. We all have to make sacrifices. Plus, he's married to Gwynneth Paltrow and you're not, so sod off, poor man.
One on One
Gilles Duceppe challenged Paul Martin to a one-on-one French-language debate on Quebec sovereignty. Martin refused. Now Stephen Harper has offered to take Martin's place:
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is willing to debate one-on-one in French with Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe on a Quebec television network.
Liberal Leader Paul Martin has already rejected a similar suggestion from Duceppe.
"If Paul Martin refuses to stand up for Canada, Stephen Harper will," a Conservative strategist told the Canadian Press late on Tuesday.
Martin told reporters on Wednesday that he is willing to debate Duceppe on the sovereignty issue, but would do so in the debates already scheduled for January.
"I am certainly prepared to do it in the two debates to come," he said.
Sources say Harper's campaign team will contact the TQS TV network in Quebec on Wednesday to make the offer. [emphasis added]
Aside from the possibility that the Liberals may try to spin this as giving Gilles Duceppe a legitimacy he does not deserve - even though they agreed to let Duceppe take part in the main leaders' debates, in French and English - I think this is an absolutely brilliant move by Harper. And once again, Martin dropped it right in his lap.
Many Quebec federalists are sick of the Liberals, but feel like they have no other choice if they want to keep the separatists under control. (Sari Stein has made this point more than once, although she has other problems with Harper and the Tories.) The Conservatives have to change that, and this would be an excellent step forward. We should be using that "stand up for Canada" line as often as we can.
An olde Victorian Christmas
Oh for the old days, when a man could walk down the snow-choked alleys on Christmas Eve, taking care not to make eye contact with his betters, pushing aside the ragged beggars with their oozing carbuncles and the haggard gin-blasted pox-ridden doxies who chew your unholstered parts for a farthing. Oh for the honest Christmases, when you’d buy a goose and take it home and spend your week’s salary getting the stove hot enough to cook the thing. Remember the year little Tim pitched in his crutch so we could have enough heat to crisp the duck? Merry times, merry times. Now let us sing a carol and thank our stars we do not have to drive self-propelled machines - complete with auto-heat and magical devices that pluck music and voices from the very either - to great broad sheds filled with goods unimaginable. It seems like a wonderland, children, but every Eden has its snake; there are other people there, and they oft do not comport themselves as we would wish. And the songs from unseen minstrels, while short and endlessly variable, are often contrary to our aesthetic preferences. No, be happy we are here together in our perfect Victorian times. Now throw another volume of Dickens on the fire; it grows cold, and Father cannot lose but two more toes.
Some of my best friends are bloodsucking Jews
The New York Sun's Eli Lake interviews Egyptian newspaper columnist Hisham Abd al-Rauf, who insists that "greedy" Jews control the world's governments and faked the Holocaust. And he just can't understand why people would think he's anti-Semitic:
Hisham Abd al-Rauf, the foreign editor of Egypt's largest-circulation afternoon paper, would like the readers of The New York Sun to know that he does not hate all Jewish people. But that nonetheless, he is entitled to his opinions that the Holocaust never happened, that the Romans did not destroy the Second Temple in Jerusalem because it was never built, and that Jews ordered President Bush to unseat Saddam Hussein.
But as for the Jews, Mr. al-Rauf grew up with many in his Cairo neighborhood before the Six-Day War. His father's jeweler was Jewish. In 1993, he met many more Jews, whom he claims to genuinely like, on an American government program to train foreign journalists in Boston. "I have even met some rabbis. I liked them," he said in an interview yesterday where he defended a recent column praising the Iranian president's recent remarks questioning the historical truth of the Holocaust.
[...]
He says that his column is supported by a British historian, David Irving, the author of "Hitler's War." That book, which has drawn severe criticism from reliable historians, argues that Hitler never ordered the Holocaust. "I cite David Irving," he said. "These are facts."
When asked however, if he ever read the Nuremburg Laws, for example, or the transcripts from Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem, he admitted he did not. "I do know the Mossad kidnapped Eichmann from Argentina," he said however. When pressed for more sources for his assertions, he got testy. "I am not the only one writing this. There are researchers in Europe and the USA who say this. This is my own opinion. You cannot be a journalist if you don't have an opinion."
Throughout the hour-long interview, Mr. al-Rauf asserted, among other things, that Jews secretly control the governments of Britain, France, and America; that there was never a Second Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and that as a general rule Jewish people are "greedy." In the interest of fairness, however, he did concede that Jews were persecuted by the Spanish during the Inquisition, and that it's likely Russian tsars ordered pogroms against Jewish villages in the 19th century.
The journalist exchange program in which Mr. al-Rauf participated in 1993 was funded by American taxpayers. He says he treasures the trip to America, arranged by the U.S. Agency for International Development. During the visit he remembers meeting colleagues at the Boston Globe and the Christian Science Monitor. When asked if he could recall a particular lesson from the exchange program, he recalled the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. "There are times when you have to be responsible. The American reporters did not write that some of the hostages were CIA until after they arrived home safely," he said.
This is what Big Pharaoh has to put up with every day.
December 20, 2005
The Alghabra controversy
Kathy Shaidle is looking into this incident, about which I posted yesterday. Omar Alghabra, needless to say, vehmently denies making the "victory for Islam" comments.
People say the meeting was videotaped by Rogers Cable, which should decide the matter. Shaidle says she'll apologize to Alghabra if the story isn't true, and so will I.
The most-talked about blog post of the day...
...is here. It's all over Blogging Tories, and one blogger even calls it the Canadian equivalent of Rathergate.
For now, call me intrigued but skeptical - I don't think the Liberals needed to orchestrate a "spat" with the Americans to run ads touting Paul Martin's alleged ability to stand up to the Yanks.
The city sleeps after all
Transit workers in NYC are on strike. I don't have to tell you how thrilled New York bloggers are about it.
Here's some free advice: if you're going to paralyze a major city just before Christmas, you might want to refrain from putting a comments section on your blog.
An audience with Pharaoh
Michael Totten, blogging from Cairo, met with liberal Egyptian blogger Big Pharaoh the other day. A must-read.
Totten and Pharaoh both subscribe to the interesting, though depressing, theory that most of the Arab world may have to live under Islamic theocracy for a while, because it's the only way they'll realize what a disastrous mistake it would be:
“I’ve had this theory for a while now,” I said. “It looks like some, if not most, Middle East countries are going to have to live under an Islamic state for a while and get it out of their system.”
Big Pharaoh laughed grimly.
“Sorry,” I said. “That’s just how it looks.”
He buried his head on his arms.
“Take Iranians,” I said. “They used to think Islamism was a fantastic idea. Now they hate it. Same goes in Afghanistan. Algerians don’t think too much of Islamism either after 150,000 people were killed in the civil war. I hate to say this, but it looks like Egypt will have to learn this the hard way.”
“You are right,” he said. “You are right. I went to an Egyptian chat room on the Internet and asked 15 people if they fasted during Ramadan. All of them said they fasted during at least most of it. I went to an Iranian chat room and asked the same question. 14 out of 15 said they did not fast for even one single day.”
Many Arabs resent America for its support of repressive, unpopular rulers like Mubarak and the House of Saud. By contrast, the Iranians can point to American support for the Shah, but they have no one to blame but themselves for what replaced him. There's a lesson there, and if the Bush Administration is serious about promoting democracy in places like Egypt, it may have to accept that the Egyptians may very well want something like the Muslim Brotherhood in charge. They'll regret it soon enough, but at least they won't be able to say it's all the fault of the evil Americans.
Big Pharaoh is considering emigrating to Canada. If he comes here, I'd be honoured to buy him a beer.
Tucker who?
Why is everyone in Canada so upset about the rantings of some obscure late-night TV host? (Seriously, is The Situation with Tucker Carlson still on the air? The Chevy Chase Show had a greater cultural impact.)
Actually, I think he had a point with the "stalker" line. But "retarded cousin"? That's a low blow, especially coming from a grown man who wears a friggin' bowtie.
It's not hypocrisy if you're a Liberal
Opposing same-sex marriage may make you unfit to be Prime Minister, says Paul Martin, but not to be a Liberal MP.
Nollywood
After the United States and India, the world's most lucrative film industry is based in Nigeria.
I doubt even Roger Corman could make a movie in two weeks for $40,000.00. Not in 2005, anyway.
Freedom is winning
The latest report from Freedom House says freedom and democracy are spreading, especially in the Middle East. (I wonder why?)
In spite of ongoing war, terrorist attacks and natural disasters, there is reason for optimism about the past year, says Freedom House, a non-partisan American-based organization dedicated to promoting democratic values across the globe.
"On the whole the state of freedom showed substantial improvement worldwide," said its annual survey, Freedom in the World. "The global picture suggests that the past year was one of the most successful for freedom since (we) began measuring world freedom in 1972."
Part of the upward trend was a "measurable improvement" in several Arab countries and the Palestinian authority, it said.
Although Middle Eastern countries lag behind other regions in many areas of human rights, it added, the past year witnessed some positive trends, including Lebanon's "major improvements in both political rights and civil liberties following the withdrawal of Syrian occupation forces."
In Iraq, Egypt and the Palestinian territories, meanwhile, there was "increased competition" in elections, and women's suffrage was introduced in Kuwait. Saudi Arabia's media environment also improved.
In another key finding, the number of countries Freedom House rated "not free" declined from 49 to 45 in the past year, the lowest number identified in a decade of such surveys.
The bad news: Russia is getting worse, and while the situation in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgystan has improved, it still has some way to go before these countries can be considered truly democratic. The 2005 report can be viewed here.
QB changed
Not surprisingly, the Bears have named Rex Grossman their starter for the rest of the season - assuming he stays healthy, that is.
Personally, I don't care if we have Saddam Hussein as our starting quarterback, as long as we keep winning. And after Orton's last few games, I can't really argue with this move. But Grossman seems to get hurt every five minutes, and I still think Kyle Orton - who showed remarkable poise and maturity for a rookie, despite his mistakes - is the Bears' QB of the future.
December 19, 2005
"Victory for Islam" in Mississauga-Erindale
Imagine if the recently-nominated Conservative candidate in Canada's most multicultural city deemed his nomination a "victory for Christianity", and if his supporters proclaimed the start of a "crusade to return Canada to its roots". Oh, and if Stephen Harper ignored questions about the nomination from outraged party members. We'd never hear the end of it. It would be proof that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives were nothing but a bunch of intolerant bigots who have a "hidden agenda" to destroy the cherished ideals of tolerance and multiculturalism.
Well, that didn't happen. According to the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, this did:
On December 2, the Liberal candidate for Mississauga-Erindale, Omar Alghabra, made his victory speech after winning the nomination. In that speech, he reportedly exhorted his audience, "This is a victory for Islam! Islam won! Islam Won! ... Islamic power is extending into Canadian politics".
Alghabra's victory speech was delivered to an audience of several hundred in the Coptic Christian Centre of the Church of the Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius in Mississauga.
David Ragheb, a member of the congregation, reported that following Alghabra's victory speech, Markham Councillor Khalid Osman took to the stage and declared, "We have the east, we have the west, and now we have Mississauga!" to cheers and applause from the audience. Ragheb also reported that Rogers Cable was present throughout and may have filmed the event. "A member of parliament is supposed to represent my concerns about taxes and roads in Mississauga, not promote an Islamic agenda," said Ragheb.
Victor Fouad, a Coptic Christian, was disturbed to hear of such Islamist rhetoric from a Liberal who could easily become a Canadian parliamentarian. Mr. Fouad assumed that Paul Martin would likewise disapprove of such incitement by a Liberal candidate, and so wrote to the Prime Minister detailing what had happened. That message was ignored. The event took place over 2 weeks ago, and Paul Martin's silence since that time can only be interpreted as approval of Mr. Alghabra's rhetoric.
Mississauga-Erindale, incidentially, is currently represented by rabid "anti-Zionist" Carolyn Parrish.
"The Christmas wars are fake, but the culture war is real"
Ross Douthat, guest-blogging for Andrew Sullivan, has the best post I've read about the "War on Christmas".
When I was in St. John's this past weekend, I heard a radio DJ saying the station had recieved nine new major-label Christmas CDs that week alone, so I don't think Christmas is going anywhere soon. Likewise, I don't think calling a Christmas tree a "Christmas tree" heralds the dawn of a new fascist Amerikkkan theocracy. All I want for Christmas is for the control freaks on both sides of this stupid "debate" to leave me alone.
If you think Christmas is endangered in the United States, Canada or Britain, this should put things in perspective:
Eight years after Communist Cuba restored December 25 as a national holiday in a gesture to Pope John Paul II, there is not much Christmas spirit to show for it.
Christmas decorations are mostly to be found in the more expensive shops and tourist spots, and there is no Santa Claus waving at children on the street corner.
Santa, viewed as a symbol of capitalist consumer society, is banned from storefront displays and can only be seen in private homes.
Cubans have not taken to saying "Merry Christmas," which is not surprising since the atheist state had the holiday crossed off the calendar from 1969 to 1997.
[...]
Cuba did away with the Christmas holiday in 1969, when Castro's government was trying to bring in a record sugar harvest of 10 million tonnes and needed Cubans to work the extra day cutting cane.
DUmmies on parade
It's that time of year again, when John Hawkins compiles his annual list of the worst quotes from Democratic Underground. (I agree with many of Hawkins' readers: #3 is the best.)
To their credit, although these guys think George H.W. Bush masterminded the Kennedy assassination, they aren't convinced he was the triggerman. I mean, that would be just plain nutty.
Hope comes to Congo
Over the past 50 years or so, probably no country on earth has suffered like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which veered from brutal colonial occupation to the despotic rule of Mobutu Sese Seko (who renamed the country "Zaire") to a civil war that claimed the lives of over three million people. But yesterday, the people did something they haven't done in four decades: they voted.
The Democratic Republic of Congo held its first national democratic poll in 40 years yesterday but pockets of violence marred the vote on a new constitution aimed at ending decades of dictatorship, war and chaos.
From schools in the sprawling capital Kinshasa to huts in the jungle and tents in the lawless east of the vast African nation, voters queued from morning for a ballot many regard as crucial to their future - even though most have never seen the text.
It provides for a decentralised political system with provincial administrations responsible for local decision-making and controlling 40 per cent of public funds. It also limits the president to two five-year terms and requires the president to nominate a prime minister from the parliamentary majority.
[...]
Polling stations will stay open today to give more people the chance to vote.
The referendum is the first step towards polls planned for next year and meant to draw a line under Congo's last conflict, which officially ended in 2003 and killed nearly four million people since 1998, mostly from hunger and disease.
The Middle East gets all the attention, but those of us who want democracy to spread and prosper should keep a close eye on Africa, too.
Tolerate our intolerance, or else
The Iranians have studied Western discourse well, whining about how we should be more "tolerant" of their President's opinion that the Holocaust didn't happen:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust is a matter for academic discussion and the West should be more tolerant of his views, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
Ahmadinejad last week called the Holocaust a myth and suggested Israel be moved to Germany or Alaska, remarks that sparked international uproar and threaten diplomatic talks with Europe over Iran's nuclear programme.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi defended the president's remarks, which also drew a rebuke from the U.N. Security Council.
"What the president said is an academic issue. The West's reaction shows their continued support for Zionists," Asefi told a weekly news conference.
"Westerners are used to leading a monologue but they should learn to listen to different views," he added. (via LGF)
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Nobody's Perfect
The Colts finally lost, 26-17 to San Diego.
Too bad they couldn't go 16-0, but at least now the pressure's off, and they can concentrate on winning the Super Bowl. The smart money says they'll win it all, but don't forget that the Vikings went 15-1 a few years ago, only to collapse in the NFC title game. All you need is one bad day, and you're out.
December 18, 2005
Back again
The wedding went extremely well, I'm pleased to say. David and my new sister-in-law, Lee (I'll have to get used to saying that), asked wedding guests to donate to Beagle Paws, a dog-rescue charity in St. John's, from which they obtained their beagle, Stella. It's a great cause.
December 16, 2005
A democratic triumph
The overwhelming turnout in yesterday's election will not end the insurgency. A few years from now, we still don't know what Iraq will look like, or whether it will still exist in its present form. Many of those who voted, especially the Sunnis, will never forgive the Americans and their allies for invading their country. And it says a lot about today's Iraq that "only" eight people were killed.
But I just can't help smiling today.
Hey little brother, what have you done
My younger brother David is getting married tomorrow. I'm honoured to serve as his best man (though I have to say, if I'm the best he could get, that's kinda sad).
Right now I'm blogging from a McDonald's with wireless internet access (mmmm...McGriddles) but posting will be light until Sunday night. Have a great weekend.
December 15, 2005
To Paul, From Santa
Canadians never hesitate to tell the Yanks to butt out when they criticize our drug policies or border security, and I don't see how U.S. ambassador David Wilkins' "controversial" speech was any worse. But Wilkins has given Paul Martin and the Liberals the chance to do what they do best: play the aggrieved, outraged!!! anti-American martyr:
Paul Martin enthusiastically tore into an election-time spat with the United States yesterday, firing nationalist rhetoric from a B.C. softwood-lumber mill only one day after U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins warned Canadian politicians against campaign chest-thumping.
[...]
Mr. Martin, however, made tough talk against the United States his theme of the day. At a softwood-lumber mill in Richmond, he fired shots over the continuing trade dispute around U.S. tariffs and then, misnaming the U.S. ambassador, made no apologies.
"Ambassador Williams is a man for whom I have the greatest respect," Mr. Martin said. "All I will simply say is I am going to deal with issues that are important to the Canadian people. . . . I will deal with them as they arise and I will call it as I see it."
He said Canadians expect him to stand up for Canada.
"I am not going to be dictated to as to the subjects that I should raise," he said. "I will make sure that Canada speaks with an independent voice now, tomorrow and always, and you should demand nothing less from your Prime Minister."
The Liberal Leader, who promised when he came to office two years ago to improve relations with the United States, said it is time to move toward a more "sophisticated relationship."
"A sophisticated relationship does not mean that when there are differences of opinion between your two countries, that you do not raise those issues and that you do not insist that they be dealt with in a fair and reasonable way," he said.
The nationalist tactic of visiting a lumber mill to fire shots over the long-running softwood dispute appeared aimed at squeezing out the NDP vote to widen Liberal support.
If the Bush White House isn't already on Martin's Christmas card list, it should be now. You can be sure the Liberals will try to milk this for all it's worth, too.
PJM's finest hour
The much-maligned Pajamas Media is all over the Iraqi elections, complete with candid reports directly from the scene. When I signed up with PJM, this is exactly what I had in mind.
Week 15
Last week I stumbled and finished a mediocre 9-7, leaving me 116-93 on the year.
Tampa Bay at New England - the Patriots are coming on strong just at the right time.
Kansas City at NY Giants
Denver at Buffalo
Arizona at Houston - what have we done to deserve this?
Carolina at New Orleans - upset special. The Panthers are inconsistent, and the Saints might be on a bit of a high these days, with a hardship bonus for each player and the news that the Superdome will be repaired after all.
NY Jets at Miami - noted on PTI last night: the Dolphins are 3-0 since coach Nick Saban publicly wrote off the season.
Pittsburgh at Minnesota
San Diego at Indianapolis - had the Chargers not lost to Miami last week, I might have picked them to end the Colts' perfect season.
Seattle at Tennessee
San Francisco at Jacksonville - at least the Texans usually manage to keep it close. This version of the 49ers is probably the worst NFL team I've ever seen.
Philadelphia at St. Louis
Cincinnati at Detroit - the NFL should bring in a rule forcing owners to sell their teams, at fair market value, if they've only won one playoff game since 1957. Who's with me?
Cleveland at Oakland
Dallas at Washington
Atlanta at Chicago
Green Bay at Baltimore
Trabant tours
If I ever visit Berlin, I have to do this:
A sobering thought crossed my mind as I steered a clunking, sputtering Trabant into a steady flow of afternoon Berlin traffic: This lowly vehicle doesn't exactly measure up to its more roadworthy competitors — Mercedes and BMWs — that roar along Germany's no-speed-limit autobahns.
I'm at the wheel of a 1985 P-601, a car that makes up in character what it lacks in sex appeal. The Trabi, as it's affectionately known, lacks a few other things as well — valves, camshaft, timing belt, radiator, oil pump, water pump and anything made from steel. Yet, this was how East Germans got around under communism.
Today, this vehicular relic of the Soviet regime is a tourist attraction in Germany's capital city. A Trabi Safari around town puts you behind the wheel of one of these toy-like cars for a guided tour into the past.
Our motorcade today consists of three Trabants, two driven by tourists with passengers who prefer not to tackle Berlin's traffic, and a lead car from which a guide will communicate essential information, like directions, via walkie-talkie to a tiny speaker that dangles from a dashboard otherwise unencumbered by bothersome dials and gauges.
Election Day in Iraq
For all that has gone wrong in Iraq, it's impossible not to be heartened by stories like this:
...today, if predictions are correct, more than 70 per cent of Iraq’s 15.5 million eligible voters will cast their ballots, selecting 275 representatives in Parliament from more than 7,000 candidates. That would far exceed the turnout in most Western democracies, including Britain and America.
Sunnis, who now realise they played into Shia hands by boycotting January’s election of a transitional Government, are expected to turn out in force. The insurgents have declared that they will not interfere in the voting. Some have even offered to protect polling stations against attack.
“We made a mistake last time,” one Sunni insurgent said in Baghdad. “Now the only hope for our community is to vote in strength.”
The conversion is stunning. This time last year the only way to report on the election campaign in the northern city of Mosul was by travelling in the relative safety of a US armoured column. Insurgents were launching dozens of attacks a day. To vote was an act of great courage.
The contrast now could not be greater. Yesterday there was a party atmosphere in Baghdad. A ban on motor vehicles, to prevent the threat of car bombs, meant that normally busy thoroughfares were colonised by young men playing football. Elderly couples strolled in the warm winter sunshine. The sounds of gunfire and low-flying helicopters were replaced by birdsong and children’s laughter.
[...]
Despite the killing of one candidate and a few campaign workers, today’s election will set a new standard in the Arab world — and the sight of millions of Iraqis freely exercising their democratic rights will be broadcast live from Libya to Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The vote will be more democratic than this year’s presidential and parliamentary races in Egypt, where the ruling party never fully loosened its grip on power. It will be fairer than the Palestinian parliamentary race, postponed after fears that the Islamic parties would do well. It should reflect more accurately the will of Iraq’s various ethnic and sectarian groups, unlike the confused result in this year’s Lebanese election.
The diversity of opinion in Iraq is extraordinary in a society where only three years ago Iraqis “voted” by 90 per cent to extend Saddam Hussein’s rule. Back then any Iraqi questioned by a foreign journalist would dutifully parrot support for the dictator.
Good luck, guys. I can't wait to read of scenes like this in Damascus, Tehran and Riyadh, too.
You can't keep a good show down
The Showtime cable network is in talks to pick up Arrested Development. Keep your fingers crossed. (Or, if your hand was eaten by a seal, keep your hook crossed.)
December 14, 2005
Time for Change
Tomorrow a new poll might come out saying the Liberals are 15 points ahead, so I guess I shouldn't place too much faith in the latest CTV/Globe and Mail/Strategic Counsel survey. But no one can deny that Canadians - even in Ontario, for crying out loud - want an alternative to the Liberals, and they want it now:
Recently respondents were asked the following: "Some people have been saying it's time for a change and that a new government should be voted in. Other people have said that now would be the wrong time to make a change and we should return the Liberals to power. Which one of these two views best represents your own?"
The national numbers from polling conducted between Dec. 10 and 12 found (change from Nov. 28 pre-election poll in brackets):
* Change now: 58 per cent (+4)
* Now's not the time: 33 per cent (-6)
* DK/NA/NR: 9 per cent (+2)
Woolstencroft said he was surprised by some of the regional differences (change from the Nov. 28 pre-election poll in brackets):
* Quebec: 64-30 in favour of change (+5)
* Rest of Canada: 56-34 in favour of change (+4)
* Ontario: 51-38 in favour of change (+2)
* Prairies: 70-20 in favour of change (+4)
* B.C.: 55-37 in favour of change (+4)
Governments are considered to be in serious trouble when at least 60 per cent of the electorate decides it's time for a change -- although it sometimes depends on their choice of alternatives.
Nationally, it's 33-31 for the Liberals - and outside of Quebec, this poll puts the Conservatives ahead 38-36, though the Liberals still have a sizable lead in Ontario.
What does it all mean? It means Canadians are ready to abandon the Liberals as soon as a viable alternative comes along. So far, the Tories are doing a fine job - certainly, a lot better than I was expecting - showing voters what they stand for, not what they're against.
If only they could both lose
If you think English football fans can be a little obnoxious, check this out:
Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio's outstretched arm and open hand salute to his team's fans during a Serie A game on Sunday, a gesture reminiscent of the Fascist salute, has prompted an Italian Jewish community leader to consider legal action against the player.
[...]
Sunday's away game pitted Lazio against Tuscan team Livorno, traditionally one of the most politically charged clashes in the Serie A calendar. Many Livorno supporters, known for their leftist sympathies, waved hammer-and-sickle flags and portraits of Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara, while scores Lazio fans, who include a hard core of extreme right wing followers, brandished flags with celtic crosses and other fascist symbols.
When Di Canio was susbstituted in the second half he acknowledged his fans by applauding in their direction and with outstretched arm in the salute adopted during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. Livorno eventually won the game 2-1. [emphasis added]
(via Clive Davis)
Europe's American obsession
Europe's chattering classes, whose hatred of America makes Maude Barlow look like Hugh Hewitt, are up in arms about the execution of "Tookie" Williams. And Glenn Greenwald - a left-leaning blogger whose attitude toward the death penalty is ambivalent at best - has had enough. Read it all.
Just how great is opposition to the death penalty over there, anyway? Greater than in America, to be sure, but not nearly as much as you'd think. (For the record, I oppose the death penalty - not because mass-murdering gang leaders don't deserve to die for their crimes, but because of the near-certainty that innocent men will be executed by the state.)
The case for relegation
The Houston Texans are 1-12, and they've blown chances to win their last three games. Last week's botched field goal against Tennessee has people wondering whether they deliberately threw the game to ensure they'll get the first pick in next year's NFL draft (all but guaranteed to go to USC's Reggie Bush):
The Colts now face a knotty dilemma. Strive for perfection, or prudent rest for the starters before a run at the Super Bowl?
Houston has its own catch-22. A win or two would momentarily ease the pain. But might cost the Texas the No. 1 draft choice. Also known as Reggie Bush.
It could come down to the final Sunday of the regular season. The Colts going for 16-0 against Arizona. Houston at the
San Francisco 49ers.
That's 2-11 San Francisco, by the way. Could be a collision course, so to speak, to decide the No. 1 draft choice on the field, loser-take-all. Who says fate has no sense of humor?
The Texans are not laughing much at the moment, and no wonder.
The past three weeks have been a gothic horror story. The Tennessee game the worst of all. After the Titans went ahead on a field goal with 10 seconds left, the Texans got a 50-yard kickoff return, plus a facemask penalty that took them all the way to the Tennessee 13 and gave them one last chance. Remarkably good luck.
Then Kris Brown missed the field goal.
[...]
The Texans have nothing left to play for this regular season, either. Except the right to be 2-14 or 3-13 instead of 1-15. Common sense suggests they'd be better off in the end by backing into Bush. They vow they won't listen.
"It is unbelievable that someone would go out as a professional and even think about something happening like that," quarterback David Carr said to the media after Sunday's game.
I'm willing to give the Texans the benefit of the doubt as to whether they're sandbagging to get Reggie Bush. They really are that bad. (Allow me to add that I don't think it's the fault of David Carr, who's been sacked over 60 times this season. You could genetically engineer a quarterback from the combined DNA of Joe Montana, John Elway, Peyton Manning and Superman, and he'd still get sacked 60 times a year behind that offensive line.) But the mere fact that they can be rewarded for last place is putting the team in a position it shouldn't be in at all.
In the English Premier League, as in most European soccer leagues, the worst three teams are relegated to the less prestigious Championship at the end of the year, while three Championship clubs (the top two and a playoff winner) are promoted to the Premiership. This makes a difference of millions of pounds in television and sponsorship money, and the difference in prestige is almost incalculable. That means hopeless Sunderland, on a course to break their own record for EPL futility this year, still has something to play for. If they were ensured a top draft pick and a permanent spot in the top division, what would be the point?
I'd love to see an NFL in which the likes of Houston and San Francisco (for my money, an even worse team despite its marginally better record) risk demotion to a lower league, so they won't be tempted to throw any games at all, while CFL and Arena Football teams could be promoted to the top. Of course, that would probably put the Detroit Lions in AF2 by now.
We have a candidate
Cyril Pelley, a businessman from Springdale, will be running for the Conservatives here in Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte. Liberal MP Gerry Byrne has been allowed a head start in campaigning, but Pelley seems like a fine candidate, and so far it seems like people are paying minimal attention to the campaign until after Christmas. This riding was represented by Tory MP Jack Marshall for many years, and there's no reason we can't take it again.
That leaves two ridings in this province, Burin-St. George's and Labrador, where the Conservatives have yet to nominate candidates. I hear someone is set to be named for the former, but Labrador - which the Liberals have won in every election but one since we joined Canada - won't be easy.
Update: in Labrador, the Green Party candidate has withdrawn in protest over her party's opposition to the seal hunt, leaving Liberal MP Todd Russell unopposed for now. (via Mark Peters)
Denier-in-Chief
The President of Iran is denying the Holocaust again. You know, I'm starting to sense a theme here:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday the Holocaust is a "myth" that Europeans have used to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.
"Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets," Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands in the southeastern city of Zahedan.
Six million Jews were killed in Europe during the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
