Last night’s game was fun to watch. It’s not over yet for the Habs.
But perhaps almost more notable than the game itself was how the Boston crowd reacted to the Canadian national anthem. In light of the recent booing of the US anthem at the two Bell Centre games, a notice was posted in Boston asking people to refrain from booing in retaliation. So what did they do? They cheered. Loudly. Now that’s class.
The Gazette thinks that Svend Robinson, by admitting his error, was “dignified” and “courageous”.
Here’s what Terry and Ted have to say about that: bullshit. And I agree.
Robinson didn’t own up to the theft because he’s such a great person. He did it because it was most likely caught on security camera. The guy has been a politician for 25 years – you don’t think he knows a thing or two about spin?
His emotional, over-the-top news conference was self-serving claptrap – a way to control the story before it hit the media in a less-than-favourable way.
As for his medical problems, I would never belittle that, and I do hope he gets help working through it. But a lot of people go through worse every day, and by trying to make excuses, Svend is belittling the true courage of many of them. If you want to talk about “dignity” or “courage”, one needn’t travel far to find true examples of it. Michele is acting with enormous amounts dignity and courage. What she’s going through ain’t easy, and I wish her nothing but the best.
But Svend? Desipte what Damian or Burnside thinks, I’m sticking with my opinion: The way he acted wasn’t about dignity, or courage. It was just about knowledge that the shit was about to hit the fan, and that he’d better do something to redirect it.
CP is now reporting that Svend has offered a whole host of excuses for his departure – which seems to have been downgraded to a “leave” – ranging from medical to legal reasons. The “medical” reason seems to be “severe emotional stress”… apparently having something to do with an incident in which he stole an expensive ring at an auction:
Describing his past few months as a time in which he has experienced “severe stress,” the seven-term MP for Burnaby-Douglas said “something just snapped” last Friday when he pocketed a ring during a public sale at an auction house.
“For some time now, I have been suffering from severe stress and emotional pain ,” Mr. Robinson said during prepared comments. “…I have experienced great inner turmoil. The reasons for this are intensely personal and I’m not prepared to discuss them.”
Yeah, I’d say theft is a “legal” problem. His comments really give an insight into how unstable the man is.
In the meantime, NDP Leader Jack Layton seems to think Svend deserves some kind of medal:
“Svend spoke about how he made a mistake and how he’s taking responsibility for it,” Mr. Layton said. “He did the right thing by going to the police. If everybody who made mistakes were willing to take responsibility for it the way Svend Robinson has just done today I think we would be living in a better world.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for taking responsibility. But let’s not pretend that owning up to a mistake erases it.
Everyone’s talking about the latest so-called Osama tape, on which he supposedly offers Europe (but not the US of course) a “truce” if they comply with Al Qa’eda’s demands.
The only question is which European country *ahem France ahem* will be the first in line to surrender. After all, appeasement worked with Hitler oh-so-well, didn’t it?
In the meantime, Bin Laden is apparently ranting and raving in usual fashion about Israel and the Palestinians and swearing “revenge” for Ahmed Yassin’s assassination:
“Our actions come in response to your actions of destroying and killing our people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. It is enough to witness the event that shocked the world, the killing of the elderly, wheelchair-bound Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, God have mercy on him, and we pledge to God to take revenge on America,” the man on the tape said.
Something makes me wonder just how much Arafat appreciates the sentiment, though. Anyone remember this?
“I’m telling him (bin Laden) directly not to hide behind the Palestinian cause,” Arafat said in an interview published in London’s Sunday Times newspaper.
Bin Laden “never helped us, he was working in another completely different area and against our interests,” Arafat said.
That was December of 2002, when Arafat – in English anyway – felt it wasn’t savvy to be seen as being too cozy with Al Qa’eda. Now it’s April 2004, and perhaps Arafat has learned that the world doesn’t care. They’ll surrender to terrorism… just as long as they get to trash Bush in the process.
We’ve come a long way.
NDP member and Canadian MP (and general all-around pain in the ass) Svend Robinson is quitting politics:
The reason for the popular MP’s departure from political life was not immediately known. Robinson, an outspoken figure on Parliament Hill, became Canada’s first openly homosexual MP when he publicly declared his sexual orientation in 1988.
His aggressive stands on same-sex marriage, charter protection of gay rights and Palestinian autonomy – among other issues – have made Robinson a lightning rod for critics.
This is indeed big news. All the NDP members bother me, but Robinson is particularly annoying.
For the record, it’s not the “openly gay” or “protection of gay rights” issues that bother me about Robinson. Far from it. On those points, I actually agree with him.
No, it’s more due to things like this:
He was demoted from his international affairs critic’s role two years ago after travelling to the West Bank, staging his own detention at an Israeli checkpoint and then accusing the Israeli military of murder and torture.
“I plead guilty. Yes, I am taking sides,” Robinson said at the time.
“I am taking the side of peace over war. I am taking the side of the oppressed over the oppressor.”
Oh, and let’s not forget the time he nominated the ISM for a Nobel Peace Prize. Hey, I suppose they deserve it just as much as Arafat does…
Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out, Svend.
It’s been the subject of books, TV movies, and has become the stuff of legends. The fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto have gone down in history as the most identifiable group of Jews in the Holocaust (besides the Partisans) who didn’t go to their deaths quietly, but who rose up against Nazi tyranny and fought back.
Symbolism, of course, was all that the uprising created. There are next to no survivors from those who fought. It took years of starvation rations, slave labour, and ghetto “liquidations” before a handful got together the spirit to even launch a fight. And they knew at the time that they were signing their death warrants. But it didn’t matter, because they knew they were dead anyway.
But it would be wrong to assume that there is anything less heroic about those who did not participate… those who lived in other ghettos, or were rounded up and shipped to death camps… those whose small acts of heroism sometimes allowed them or their loved ones to survive – even if only for one more day.
The Jewish Virtual Library chronicles the amazing story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which has gone down in history as a symbol of resistance to tyranny despite insurmountable odds.
In a historic departure from US policy, President George W. Bush on Wednesday said Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a future Palestinian state, rather than return to Israel.
He also gave a nod to Israel’s intention to retain control of West Bank settlement blocs by saying it would be “unrealistic” to expect a complete return to the Green Line as part of a final peace deal given “new realities on the ground.”
Seems like Bush is actually willing to give Sharon’s plan a chance, which ought to prop Sharon up politically for a while – if not Bush.
Of course, that’s today’s US statement. Tomorrow’s could be totally different. If there’s one thing Israel has learned the hard way, it’s that its friends can sometimes hurt it even more than its enemies. At least with the states at war with Israel, there are no ambiguities about their stance on the issues.
The Israeli government is going to put the unilateral withdrawal plan up to a referendum vote… on my birthday no less. Personally, I think the plan is seriously flawed – if only because it grants concessions to the Palestinians that will have no effect on stemming the terrorism. It’s a little naive to think that if Israel pulls back and builds a big wall, that the people on the other side of the wall will suddenly drop their bombs and guns and hatred and decide to declare statehood and implement infrastructure and industry and trade and all those great things that it takes to have a state. No, corruption breeds corruption.
But at the same time, most Israelis are so sick and tired of the status quo that they realize it can’t go on indefinitely. Since every single attempt at a negotiated solution has failed, a lot of them have got to be thinking that maybe it’s time for Plan B.
Bush’s approval means nothing elsewhere in the world, mind you. Just another example of the Great Satan backing the Little Satan.
Meryl’s singing bread’s praises. I don’t blame her. There’s nothing quite like a hot-out-of-the-oven Montreal bagel to end the long bread-free nine days of Passover.
The Gazette is going to start charging to access stories online.
Sure, it’s not wonderful journalism… but the Gazette is still the main English-language daily in Montreal. As such, it’s my primary news source.
The content will remain free only to people who subscribe 7 days a week. And no, I don’t subscribe. Not only is it insanely expensive and a waste of paper, but it would also mean I’d have to go down to the lobby each morning to fetch the paper and bring it back upstairs to read it. Considering how my morning routine usually consists of rolling out of bed and rushing to work, the chances of me doing this are slim-to-none.
And now I won’t even be able to read it online! If this keeps up, sooner or later I’ll have no more free news sources to go to.
I wrote the Gazette a long angry e-mail to their posted address, feedback@thegazette.canwest.com – which I assume is an alias for “trashbin@dontcareaboutreaders.com”.
Dammit. I was already mad enough about the hockey game. I’m not having a good night here.
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