Blog about politics (mideast and pro-Israel, Canadian and local Montreal), world events, and random thoughts.

""

The World I Know is updated on a semi-regular basis by segacs.

Think I'm the greatest thing since chocolate-covered strawberries? Think I'm certifiably insane? E-mail me at segacs2.at.yahoo.ca.

Buy me a present! Visit my Amazon Wish List.

Frequently asked questions about me and this blog.

Atom site feed

Comments are open and unmoderated, although obscene or abusive remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of segacs's world i know.

---

<< List
Jewish Bloggers
Join >>

 
12:59 PM
Want my vote? Dissolve the CRTC

Here's yet another reason:

For 25 months now, cell-phone users in the United States have been able to change service providers and take their numbers with them. This spares you the laborious process of notifying everyone who has your number that you have a new one now.

[ . . . ]

This week the CRTC has announced, oracularly, that Bell Mobility Inc., Rogers Wireless, and Telus Corp. will have to offer number portability by March 2007 - more than three years after U.S. consumers received this service. This will apply for Quebec, Ontario, B.C. and Alberta; the requirement doesn't kick in for smaller provinces until six months later.

It's all part, says the CRTC, of balancing the interests of consumers with the interests of the carriers.

Isn't it strange how consumers so often come out on the short end of the CRTC's balancing acts?

All of the cell phone companies in Canada offer overpriced products and horrible customer service. Since Rogers bought out Fido I've heard nothing but horror stories from subscribers of both. Telus isn't any better. Bell Mobility — my phone company — is perhaps the worst offender of all. But because our phones are already locked to our companies, and getting a decent deal on a new phone means locking into another contract, switching is already enough of a hassle. Having the phone number locked into the company is all that much worse.

Local numbers are already portable for landlines; I kept my phone number when I switched my home phone service from Bell to Videotron earlier this year. There's no doubt the consumer wins when competition is fostered. If the cell phone companies actually had to fight for our loyalty, they might not treat us quite so callously.

The CRTC does little other than "protect the interests" of companies that feed us overpriced crap and prohibit us from getting the stuff we truly want. Any party that promises to immediately scrap it can have my vote in the upcoming election.

The offer's on the table. Any takers?

|

 
12:59 PM
Isn't it a little early for desperation tactics?

Jean Charest is invoking the r-word threat to try to bolster his fledging numbers, even though a provincial election is at least a year away and more likely to be two years off:

The possibility of another referendum on independence will help persuade Quebecers to re-elect the provincial Liberals, says Premier Jean Charest.

"In proposing to deeply divide Quebec society, to plunge us back into a referendum fight that will profoundly divide us and create conflicts, it's an invitation that Quebecers will refuse," Charest told The Canadian Press in a year-end interview.

Charest is also already using the cocaine card against Boisclair... something usually reserved for a campaign dogfight. The thing is, Charest's government is about as unpopular as it is possible to be, and these are Charest's only cards. With the Bloc set to virtually sweep Quebec on the federal scene and support for soveriengty on the rise, is Charest conceding the game before it even begins?

|

 
4:59 PM
Harper accepts Duceppe's challenge

Gilles Duceppe challenged Paul Martin to a one-on-one debate. Martin declined. So Stephen Harper offered Duceppe take him up on it instead.

Some believe that Harper is going to score points in Quebec thanks to this move:

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. [. . . ] 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.

I disagree. Harper has practically zero chance of making gains in Quebec no matter how many times he claims otherwise. He simply doesn't have his pulse of the political nature of the province. He's running a campaign marketing his party as the "anti-Liberals", but we already have the "anti-Liberals" in Quebec in the form of the Bloc.

Even soft nationalists or Quebecois federalists will be willing to vote Bloc if they're mad at the Liberals, realizing that it's a far cry from an actual vote for sovereignty. (Hell, 40% of Quebeckers think that even a vote for sovereignty still means that they want Quebec to stay in Canada. Our electorate ain't always the brightest).

So Harper can't score too many points in the province by saying "the Liberals are corrupt, don't vote for them". Because Quebeckers will simply counter with "we know the Liberals are corrupt, thanks" and turn around and vote for the Bloc.

However, Harper's move isn't all idiocy. He has nowhere to really climb in Quebec, but he probably will pick up support based on this challenge, where it counts: in the rest of Canada. He can use this to make Martin look soft on sovereignty and himself look like the guy willing to stand up for Canada. And with that, he may pick up some support in Ontario, a critical battleground.

|

 
11:01 PM
How do you spell Canadiens?

K-O-V-A-L-E-V.

We may only have exactly one player on our team... but he's back, baby! Tonight's shootout win over the Sens snaps a long losing streak for the Habs and puts us right back in the game.

The Senators are a powerhouse team and most everyone thought it was mission impossible tonight (myself included, admittedly). I love being wrong.

WOOHOO!!!

|

 
7:18 PM
NYC transit strike

The Montreal transit strike two years ago was horribly unpopular, but at least I have a car so it wasn't so bad.

I've been to London during an Underground strike, to Barcelona during a public bus strike, and to Venice during a public boat strike. All of those were, er, interesting experiences, to say the least.

But nothing can compare to the havoc being wreaked in New York City thanks to a massive MTA strike:

During the morning rush hour, police set up checkpoints at bridge and tunnel entrances, turning away cars carrying fewer than four people to avoid gridlock in Manhattan.

Drivers desperate to fill their cars invited strangers to get in, while cyclists streamed over bridges into the city.

Vehicles were backed up to get into Manhattan, where morning traffic moved relatively freely because so many cars were refused entry. People packed onto commuter buses as well as the suburban trains and ferries that were still running.

The strike is illegal and the union is being fined a million dollars each day it goes on. There's simply no way any settlement they hope to get out of this will compensate for that. And so, the union workers lose, the city loses, and the commuters lose. Nobody wins. That's the idiocy of a mass transit strike.

Instapundit has more, including comments left by irate commuters on the unofficial transit union's blog (via Damian Penny).

|

 
2:51 PM
Beliefs versus facts

Something Damian Penny wrote the other day came back to me just now: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

Damian was, of course, referring to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial. However, I think the quote is a good one, and it popped into my head when I read about today's ruling against teaching creationism in schools:

A federal judge on Tuesday banned the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution by Pennsylvania's Dover Area School District, saying the practice violated the constitutional ban on teaching religion in public schools.

[ . . . ]

The school district was sued by a group of 11 parents who claimed teaching intelligent design was unconstitutional and unscientific and had no place in high school biology classrooms.

Before you jump down my throat, I'm in no way implying that Holocaust denial is comparable to creationism. What I am saying, however, is that there's a clear difference between fact and invention - as in the case of Holocaust denial - which I think we all recognize fairly easily. What many people fail to recognize, however, is that we must also make a clear distinction between fact and belief.

Evolution is a scientific fact. Creationism (repackaged as "intelligent design" or whatever you rename it) is a belief. It is based on faith, not evidence, and cannot be proven for the simple reason that it cannot be disproven.

Today's ruling banned the teaching of creationism because it violates the separation of church and state. I think the real reason it ought to be banned from science curricula is because it isn't science. After all, there is no constitutional ban on teaching Holocaust denial in history class, and yet I'm sure we would all call for the dismissal of any teacher who tried, simply on the grounds that it's wrong.

I have no objection to the teaching of creationist theory in a course about religion, humanities, or cultural studies. But high school biology teachers who teach creationism as scientific fact are muddling fact and belief. People are entitled to hold a belief, but when teaching science, they need to stick to facts.

And so, to restate Damian's point, everyone is entitled to his own beliefs, but not his own facts.

|

 
6:37 PM
It's Bibi

Benjamin Netanyahu has won the Likud primary with 47% of the vote, beating out rival Silvan Shalom for the leadership of a party that suddenly finds itself in third place.

When Netanyahu visualized the circumstances under which he'd regain leadership of Likud, somehow I don't think that's quite what he had in mind.

Still, he will lead a party that is the voice of Israelis who felt betrayed by Sharon's disengagement plan or who believe that Sharon led Israel down the wrong path. Unfortunately for Netanyahu, they aren't in the majority. And come March, in all likelihood, he will find himself in a situation that is nominally different but factually familiar: the opposition. Only this time, it will be from without instead of from within.

|

 
4:22 PM
War on Israel Kenny G.

After all his other spewings, Holocaust denials, and promises to murder millions of Jews, this seems almost droll in comparison:

Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned Western music from Iran's radio and TV stations, reviving one of the harshest cultural decrees from the early days of 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Songs such as George Michael's "Careless Whisper," Eric Clapton's "Rush" and the Eagles' "Hotel California" have regularly accompanied Iranian broadcasts, as do tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.

But the official IRAN Persian daily reported Monday that Ahmadinejad, as head of Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, ordered the enactment of an October ruling by the council to ban Western music.

Cause after all, everyone knows that the saxophone stylings of Kenny G. contain hidden Zionist brainwashing propaganda.

Though we may scoff, cultural restrictions are key components of Ahmadinejad's renewed fanatical war on the West and against any kind of freedom or reform for his people. One only wonders how far he can push before the forces for change in Iran push back.

|

 
1:44 PM
Sharon loses consciousness

Israeli TV is reporting that Ariel Sharon was taken to hospital after suffering what might have been a minor stroke. There don't seem to be many more details available right now. Updates to follow.

Update: Allison writes:

And Israelis being Israelis, the kidding started. I was at a meeting for my son's class just after it hit the news and got to bring the news to the room. One of the fathers said, "He was probably unconscious and all they had to do to revive him was stand in front of him and say "Bibi.""

It's true -- the prospect of how happy Bibi Netanyahu is going to be about Sharon's stroke is the best medicine possible for the Prime Minister.

And Ynet has reports of the initial Palestinian reaction to the news (via Israellycool):

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired celebration shots upon hearing the news of Sharon being taken to hospital for feeling unwell.

A member of the Popular Resistance Committees told Ynet that Sharon fell ill because of the stressed caused by the latest wage of Qassam rockets over the last few days. "God answered our prayers and didn't disappoint us," the official said.

Well, it looks like Sharon's going to be fine, so the terrorists will just have to live with the disappointment.

|