Segacs’s World I Know

We may not have exactly shone at the Summer Olympics, but us Canadians proved that hockey is still our game.

Canada 2. United States 1. Glory ours. ‘Nuff said.

Back in January, I had made a promise on this blog not to talk about the American election until September, in effort not to bore everyone ad nauseum.

I hope you all found the breather refreshing. But it’s now September, so the election is fair game. And while I don’t plan on turning this into an American politics blog, the occasional mention will probably creep in from time to time in the next couple of months.

Here’s a summary of some of my thoughts to date:

Either-or

First off, I’m really really glad not to be American right now.

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t dislike Americans. I don’t hate the United States. But I’m grateful not to have to figure out who to vote for in this election.

The problem with the two-party system – and I’ve ranted about this before – is that they are two-party systems. Either-or. Left or right. One extreme or another.

I’ve always more or less assumed I’d vote Democrat if I were American… but could I really bring myself to vote for the party who is in denial that a war is being fought? Whose idea of Mideast policymaking is to draw moral equivalences between the Palestinians and Israel? Who believes that being politically-correct beats being truly correct? Who blames everything on the catchall culprits of the white and the wealthy, while simultaneously nominating candidates who are – you guessed it – white and wealthy? Who is better at making excuses for terror than at fighting it? A party that associates itself with the far-left wingnuts and makes no apologies for that?

But then, while Bush’s Mideast policies have been sounder, most of the rest of his policies have been disasters. Could I ever really vote for a party who believes that the “right to bear arms” supersedes the rights of people not to get shot? Who pushes for Christian prayer in schools, wants to limit a woman’s right to choose, and thinks that gay people don’t really deserve all the same rights as the rest of us? A party who has made an utter mess of the economy and used foreign policy to distract people from the fact that they don’t have jobs? A party who invaded Iraq under false pretences, because no matter how much I might think that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do, there’s no denying that Bush didn’t exactly go about it in the best way. A party who associates itself with the far right wingnuts and makes no apologies for that?

No, the either-or choice is really no choice at all. I honestly think I might be tempted, if I were American, to shirk my right to vote and waste it on someone like Mickey Mouse.

Mud-slinging

Second, like most elections, including our last Canadian one, this has devolved from a debate of ideas into an attack of characters. The Bush team has been merrily attacking Kerry’s Vietnam record, and then dissociating itself from the attacks. The Kerry team has been adopting some of the Bush-is-Hitler crowd to do its dirty work. The personal smears, low blows, and mudslinging are turning off the average American from politics, and it just gets worse every election.

People bemoan the fact that nobody votes, but they never stop to wonder why. I think a lot more people would get involved in politics if it was truly about platforms and ideas. But people are sick of unflattering photos of candidates’ wives, attacks on personal history, or flinging of insults. They’re tired of corruption. And they’re annoyed because candidates keep asking for their votes on the basis that they’re “not as bad” as the other guy. I’m sorry, but I just don’t think that’s good enough anymore. And neither should most people. If it’s true that populations get the government that they deserve, then it’s time for Americans to demand better from their politicians.

Annoying celebrities

From Arnie to Dixie, and from the Boss to Britney, celebrities seem to be increasingly speaking out – or spewing – their political views to anyone who is willing to listen. Arnold Schwarzenegger is, at least, an actual politician, and has the votes and the office to prove it.

But most celebrities are not politicians, nor should they be. Many form their political views in the same way that they get their fashion sense. I’m starting to think that Alice Cooper has a good point:

If you’re listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you’re a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we’re morons.

Cooper, incidentally, is a Republican.

Polarization

Finally, as I’ve noticed on recent trips to the US, the population seems more polarized than ever at the moment. Whoever wins in November is going to piss off half the population, and it will probably be even tougher to reunite the country than it was in 2000. People on the left blame Bush for everything that’s wrong in their lives, and people on the right think that Kerry will make everything go wrong in theirs. It’s easy to get caught up in partisanship; it will be much tougher to build bridges across that divide and remind people that, left or right, they’re all Americans.

In a way, the polarization reminds me of 1995 in Quebec. Federalists and separatists alike maligned, smeared, and hated each other so much that most of us wondered if the province would ever recover. We did, of course. Eventually we realized that we could all just agree to disagree and that the other side didn’t have horns growing out of their heads. But the next referendum will probably divide us all over again. And that’s some of what I see happening in the States.

That’s the saddest part of all. Because in such a bitterly divided election, no matter who wins, everyone loses.

A suicide bombing in Moscow killed 10 and injured 51:

Russian investigators were under pressure on Wednesday to establish quickly who was behind a suicide bomb attack on a busy Moscow street that killed 10 people and injured 51.

Russian officials have made no public accusations, but the attack by a female bomber bore some hallmarks of past actions by Chechen rebels seeking independence for their Caucasus mountain region. It came a week after 90 people were killed in two simultaneous air crashes officials blame on suicide bombers.

Still waiting for the media to grant Israel the same rights to defend itself against extremist Islamist terrorism as it grants Russia.

In a deceptive period of quiet in Israel, it was easy to get lulled into a false sense of security. Simple to believe that no attacks meant that the attackers weren’t trying. Which, of course, is nonsense: the security fence and the IDF raids was merely doing their jobs at prevention.

Today, there was a breach. And a double bus bombing in Be’ersheva that has left 12 innocent people dead and at least 100 more wounded:

Two suicide bombers exploded almost simultaneously on two buses in central Be’er Sheva on Tuesday, Southern Command Police commander Dudi Cohen said.

The explosions took place on buses numbers 12 and 63, traveling opposite the municipality building on Yitzhak Riger Street at 2:55 p.m.

Magen David Adom said 12 people were killed in the attacks, all of whom died at the scene. 100 people were wounded and taken to Soroka Hospital not far from the site of the attack. Seven are listed as critical; 12 are listed as serious, and the rest of the wounded are listed in light-to moderate condition. One of those fighting for his life in Soroka’s operating theatre is a three-year-old child, Channel 1 TV reported.

Be’er Sheva is a sleepy town in the Negev, known for its college campus life, and growing due to cheaper housing than can be found in Tel Aviv. When I drove past in July, I looked out the window and saw a few soldiers sitting at a bus stop, melting in their uniforms under the hot sun. I wonder now if any of them were on bus 12 or bus 63.

Life goes on in Israel. The Israelis will mourn and move on. The Palestinians will cheer and use the “success” to recruit dozens of new terrorists willing to strap on explosives and kill more Jews. The American candidates for election will try to spin this as a political issue. The U.N., the E.U., and most of the world will stay silent.

It makes me sick. All of it. When will it end?

Update: They’re now reporting at least 15 people dead in the attacks. Israel has acted decisively, raiding the home of the Hamas terrorist who was responsible for this cowardly act of murder.

Also, I had completely forgot that Be’ersheva is Montreal’s twin city in Israel.

So I finally borrowed and read The Da Vinci Code the other day, just to see what all the hype was about. And I was fairly disappointed. Being very unfamiliar with Catholic mythology or history, I’m not qualified to spot many of what I’ve heard were historical errors, inaccuracies, or just plain fabrications. But to be honest, I found it was just bad storytelling. The writing was stilted, the plot twists implausible and forced, and some of the clues were very obvious. If I wanted to read about conspiracy theories, I could check out Indymedia or Al Jazeera.

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I’ve also been introduced to the world’s most addictive card game. Play it at your own risk.

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I hate washing dishes. I think we need to invent self-cleaning dishes. Like the self-cleaning oven. Same concept. They’d sell like hotcakes. (What exactly is a hotcake? And if they sell so many of them, how come I’ve never seen one for sale?)

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At a trip to the library today, I experienced my usual frustration at finding all the books I wanted to read checked out, with 15 people on their waiting lists and no chance of getting my hands on them until 2007. Unless, of course, nice people buy me presents from my Amazon wishlist (hint, hint). But then I stopped to think about what would happen if everyone suddenly decided to return their books at once. No way would there be enough space in the stacks for even a quarter of all the books that the library must own.

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Being a night owl is really tough when you have a day job. No wonder I hate mornings so much. Goodnight.

Michael Moore gets more cynical by the day:

When Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told the [Republican National Convention] delegates about “a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam’s Iraq was an oasis of peace,” they knew he was referring to the maker of “Fahrenheit 9-11.”

Asked about McCain’s remarks, Moore said, “I can’t believe they’re dumb enough to bring up the film and help its box office.”

But Mikey, I thought profit motive was a bad thing according to your ideology. Oh right, profits made by you are good. Profits made by any other rich white guys are bad. Oops, sorry, so hard to keep it all straight.

Spent the weekend in Ottawa and just got home. Regular posting to resume tomorrow.

Investigators found explosives in the wreakage from the Russian planes that crashed, and an Islamist terror group has claimed responsibility (ABC so obligingly uses the non-offensive term “militant”).

Now the real question is, faced with their version of 9/11, how will Russia react? If Putin’s record against Chechen rebels is any indication, he won’t let this slide. But I’m willing to bet he’ll continue to oppose the US at every turn in the United Nations.

Read this. Then read this:

A federal judge on Thursday ruled against the government’s ban on so-called partial birth abortions, saying the measure was unconstitutional because it failed to provide an exception to protect a mother’s health.

I wonder if I can use the novel’s ending to predict what will happen next in reality.