A new poll suggests that the stage is shifting in Canadian politics. The Liberals are far and away still the most popular party, and are even gaining support. The second-place Canadian Alliance has dropped to 4th place, the formerly marginal Conservatives have jumped to second, and the NDP is up in third place.
The good news is that the Bloc Quebecois is virtually disappearing from the scene in terms of popular support – although it is sure to keep winning several stronghold seats here in Quebec due to the riding system. But with the NDP and the Conservatives virtually neck-and-neck in second place, the prospect of a Liberal government and an NDP opposition are – needless to say – quite disconcerting. Not that I expect that to happen . . . but the trend is an unhappy one.
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Update on The National’s story on Concordia: Read the transcripts here.
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Finally, some sensible commentary about the anti-war protestors over on the Link’s website. This by reader Adam Barken:
Being against the war means being for the maintenance of the status quo. Which means being for the the Hussein regime to remain in power. Which means more brutality, more torture, more stealing of public money for private palaces, etc.
Or did I miss it when these same protesters from last weekend rallied to decry the Hussein regime? Did I miss some big march in the last decade where they protested Husseins’ actions since the Gulf War? It couldn’t be that the only care any of you have for the Iraqis is in direct proportion (and opposition) to what the US thinks and does, could it? You couldn’t possibly be so reactionary, could you?
Unless somebody shows me the anti-war plan to oust the Hussein regime, I will remain convinced that the protests are objectively (if unintentionally) pro-Saddam — pro-torture, pro-enslavement, pro-genocide. Because anything that keeps him in power assures the Iraqi people that what they will get is more torture, more slavery, more mass slaughter.
And I am well aware of the possibility of high casualties in the event of invasion, but I offset this with the knowledge of how many Iraqi, both inside and out, are praying for just such an intervention to save their country.
What do you anti-war folks use to offset the knowledge that you’re arguing in effect for the ongoing subjugation of the Iraqi people?
What he said.
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There have been demonstrations against war in Iraq in various cities around the world today, including Montreal.
Everyone has a right to their opinion, of course. But in too many cases, these demonstrations are simply an excuse for anti-American sentiment to crawl out of the woodwork. And in others, it’s a case of people not being able to tell the difference between Iraq and Vietnam. Even the slogans don’t seem to have changed much:
The point is, Iraq is not Vietnam. And Saddam Hussein is determined not to resolve anything peacefully. He’s not developing large-scale weapons to hold a science fair, you can bank on that.
War is always regrettable, but unfortunately sometimes it is necessary. Appeasement has been proven extremely dangerous again and again, and would be even more dangerous here. This isn’t Bush’s war, or Blair’s war, it’s Saddam’s war.
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This is a lousy year to graduate high school in Ontario.
The Ontario government, in its wisdom, is eliminating the Grade 13 “OAC” program this year. That means that there’s a whole year of students graduating from grade 13, and another whole year of them graduating from grade 12 . . . and they’re all applying to university at the same time.
With so many extra applicants, admissions cutoffs to Ontario universities are bound to be sky-high this year. So students who in a regular year would be borderline, this year are shit outta luck.
Then again, I suppose anyone rejected from university in Ontario could always go to Concordia . . .
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This just in: A counter-protest at Concordia is planned for Monday. Here are the details:
The CSU is unconditionally defending the people arrested in the Sept. 9th riot at Concordia. They didn’t condemn the rioters or stand up for the innocent students attacked by them.
On Monday they’ll be gathering in the Hall Building to reemphasize their opposition to free speech and civil discourse.
Enough already.
COUNTER-PROTEST
11:30 AM
Monday, January 20th
Corner Maisonneuve and Mackay
Should be interesting.
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The Habs fired head coach Michel Therrien yesterday, after losing a whole bunch of games in a row. The thing is, it’s doubtful his replacement – Claude Julien, head coach of Hamilton’s AHL team – will be able to do any better of a job. Struggling teams often fire their coaches and it usually makes very little difference in terms of performance. It must be so demoralizing for a coach.
Want to win more games? Get rid of Patrice Brisebois! That guy’s a total disaster on the ice, and is ridiculously overpaid.
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It seems to me that those people angry about the antisemitic remarks made by the Lebanese Ambassador to Canada, Raymond Baaklini, are missing the point.
Baaklini made widely-criticized remarks in a local Arabic newspaper about the media being “controlled by Zionists”, and blamed the “Zionist party” for being responsible for pressuring the Canadian government to outlaw Hezbollah. His remarks ended with a not-so-subtle threat that “Canadians travelling in the Arab world shouldn’t wear Canada T-shirts.”
He repeated his disgustingly racist and threatening comments several times before issuing a so-called “apology” that was really nothing even remotely apologetic.
I am disgusted by these comments – but I don’t understand why people are shocked. It’s a pretty common accusation of Israel’s enemies, and Izzy Asper, owner of CanWestGlobal, is a favourite target of these morons. Just open any edition of the Link to see that accusation made – in print – dozens of times.
If Baaklini’s remarks are unacceptable – which they are – then they should be equally unacceptable for all the other idiots who say the exact same thing, day in, day out.
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Following the news on the weapons inspections in Iraq is like watching someone mine for gold in a desert. First, the inspectors don’t find anything and it’s news. Now, the inspectors maybe find something and that’s news. In the meantime, none of the major players in this conflict, including the US and Iraq, seem to care too much about the inspections in the first place. The US knows Iraq is lying, and doesn’t need a United Nations report to confirm it. Iraq knows it’s hiding weapons, but finds it more effective to blame Americans for all its woes than to face the music.
It seems that everyone’s ignoring the obvious here. Saddam’s got a whole country in which to hide weapons, and he’s had nearly a decade in which to do it. He’s got a civilian population that’s so afraid of him, they’ll do whatever it takes to protect his secrets. He’s got an iron control on everything that goes on anywhere. His spies follow the inspectors around and anyone they talk to knows they’ll be facing a firing squad if they shoot their mouth off. He’s murdered thousands upon thousands of his own people, through terror tactics, shootings, bombings, and even chemical weapons. He’s even killed off his own family members.
And we’re supposed to feel better because the chemical warheads were empty???
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Sorry about the delay in blog posts . . . my ftp server went berzerk on me. Everything should be fixed now so blogging will resume as usual.
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