Segacs’s World I Know

Syria has supposedly withdrawn from Lebanon. Except that the Syrians are still very busy there:

An anti-Syrian politician was killed in Lebanon on Tuesday when a bomb ripped through his car, two days after parliamentary elections brought victory for an alliance opposed to Damascus’ role in the country.

George Hawi, a former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party, died instantly in the blast in the Wata Musaitbi neighborhood of Beirut, witnesses and security sources.

[ . . . ]

It was the second killing of an anti-Syrian figure in Beirut this month. Newspaper columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2 when a similar explosion destroyed his car outside his home.

The United States said after Kassir’s killing it had information about a Syrian hit-list targeting Lebanese leaders. Damascus has denied the claim and denounced Hawi’s killing.

And yet, Syria is still claiming to have had nothing to do with the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri. Riiiiight.

A business trip this week to New York just so happens to coincide with a Collective Soul NYC tour date.

Sometimes, Murphy takes a nap.

That’s the greater implication of this proposed blackmail by the Conservatives:

The Opposition Conservatives are willing to support the NDP’s $4.6-billion budget amendment, but only if the Liberals agree to delay same-sex marriage legislation.

The Liberals have the numbers to pass the budget even without Conservative support. So did the Liberals grow a backbone and tell the Tories to stuff it? Hah! Not exactly:

Reacting to word of the opposition offer, Prime Minister Paul Martin’s spokesperson Scott Reid said no deal had been struck.

“The government committed to make every effort without summarily cutting off debate and others’ views to get C-38 passed this session,” Reid said.

But, Reid added, actually getting the same-sex marriage legislation passed before Parliament rises may be out of the government’s hands.

“That remains our hope, but the fact of the matter is that if the Conservatives are determined to obstruct and filibuster, it may be difficult.”

In other words, they’re committed to the bill as long as it doesn’t make life too difficult for them. Oh yeah, that’s a strong stand.

Damian Penny thinks that the Tories have failed because they haven’t told Canadians in any clear terms what they stand for. I have to disagree. The Conservatives are making it blazingly obvious what they stand for: they have a single-minded obsession with gay rights that is trumping everything else on the agenda. Kate McMillan thinks the Tories need a three-syllable platform to win support. Well, how’s this for a three-syllable platform: “homophobes”.

Sadly, the Conservatives seem unable to get past being a single-issue party, and the Liberals seem unable to stand up to their blackmail. And of course, when auctioning off civil rights, minorities like Canada’s gay population are the first losers. Who will it be next?

Looks like Canada will have a chance to defend our gold in Turin next year, as it’s rumoured that the NHL will be going to the Olympics after all.

Let’s hope so.

Well, the weather finally broke with overnight rain that closed the 40 at the new L’Acadie interchange due to flooding:

The Metropolitain Expressway has been closed in both directions near the l’Acadie circle. Several vehicles had to be abandoned because of sudden accumulations of water. Some drivers sought refuge on the roofs of their cars.

The construction at L’Acadie that took millions of tax dollars and several years was finally completed this year. But now it seems like the road and the drainage system can’t handle a little summer rain.

The spokeswoman from Transport Quebec on the radio this morning was trying to compare today’s rain to the flood of ’87, when over 100mm fell within 2 hours. But moments earlier, an Environment Canada meteorologist said that the amount of rain that fell was fairly typical for a summer shower, and certainly nothing approaching the ’87 flood level. Transport Quebec doesn’t seem to want to admit that they bungled the road work, nor do they seem inclined to do anything to fix it.

Ain’t it great being a taxpayer, knowing our money is so well spent?

After a week of deliberation, the jurors on the Michael Jackson molestation case found him not guilty on all counts.

This isn’t exactly a shock. Everyone knows Wacko Jacko is guilty, but knowing it and proving it are two different things. And the evidence in this case has been a mess.

We can expect his millions of fans to equate legally not guilty with factually innocent. But I still maintain that any parent who exposes their child to Michael Jackson ought to be sued for child abuse. If an adult wants to be a fool, fine, but what kind of twisted parent would allow a child to sleep in the same bed with him?

Now the real question: will Michael Jackson swear to track down the “real molester”?

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations was voted a vice president of the U.N. General Assembly today:

The appointment of Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman as vice president to the upcoming UN General Assembly was approved on Monday.

[ . . . ]

Gillerman’s appointment is considered a diplomatic success, as Israel is more often than not condemned in the General Assembly, as well as in the UN Security Council.This isn’t exactly an exclusive post; there are lots of vice-presidents. But the last and only other Israeli to hold the position was Abba Eban, who was elected to the job in 1952.

And in related news, a temperature of minus five degrees was reported today in Hell.

Wow, I’m amazed… Gilles Duceppe is opting not to seek the PQ leadership and instead, to keep his job as leader of the Bloc Quebecois in Ottawa:

Le chef du Bloc québécois, Gilles Duceppe, a annoncé ce matin à Ottawa qu’il renonçait à se lancer dans la course à la direction du Parti québécois. M. Duceppe ignore donc les appels de ceux qui le voyaient succéder à Bernard Landry.

M. Duceppe croit que c’est à Ottawa qu’il servira le mieux la cause indépendantiste. “La prochaine étape dans la longue marche du mouvement souverainiste, ce sont les élections fédérales. Deux courses au leadership en même temps et une élection, c’est ça qui m’a convaincu de rester ici.”

I must say, I’m astounded. Duceppe would have been a shoo-in for PQ leadership and almost a dead certainty as Quebec’s next premier. He also would have given the sovereignty push a shot in the arm, leading to an increased likelihood of a “yes” win in the next referendum.

Duceppe’s decision may backfire on his popularity among sovereigntists, who saw him as the next Bouchard, the great white hope for nationalism. Now that he’s essentially chosen federal politics over provincial ones, will it be interpreted as sending a message of Canada over Quebec to his supporters?

More to the point, who will be the next PQ leader now? Pauline Marois? The PQ has plenty of hard-liners but very few charismatic or popular leadership candidates that can bridge the gap and bring in the “soft nationalists” needed to win a referendum. And while it’s true that they came within a hair’s breath in 1995 with the buffoonic Parizeau at the helm of the party and Bouchard calling the shots from Ottawa, a repeat seems unlikely. I hope and suspect that Duceppe’s decision will deliver a real blow to sovereignty.

By the way, for those of you who care, it was Grand Prix weekend here in Montreal.

The race was won by Raikonnen of MacLaren-Mercedes, and Quebecois hero Jacques Villeneuve came in ninth.

But the real “grand prix” went to the city of Montreal and its businesses, who took in an estimated $75 million in tourist dollars this week alone.