In the wake of a disastrous war aftermath, a few sex scandals, and widespread disillusionment, Ehud Olmert signed an agreement to bring Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party into the governing coalition. The right-wing party with a platform for Russian immigrant issues will help keep the government alive, but it will be, um, interesting to see how they’ll work with the main coalition partner, Labor.
As the Sudanese government does its best to boot the United Nations, the violence is getting worse.
Damian links to this Times article from last week in which a janjaweed defector explains, in horrifying detail, the atrocities that he helped commit against civilians.
So what if Harper’s timing on calling these by-elections is a little – er – strategic? He’s a politician, that’s what he does. And, need I remind anyone, that’s what any other party would do as well. No sense in acting like there are any politicians out there who aren’t interested in vying for, holding onto, or increasing their power.
But the more important question we should be asking is, why are all the Liberal leadership candidates so unimpressive and ineffectual that they need to whine about by-election timing to deflect attention away from their snoozer of a race?
The Times reports frightening details of the Dear Leader of Death Camps’ drive towards “racial purity” (via Damian Penny).
As I’ve said before, I don’t take Nazi comparisons lightly, but in some cases they truly are warranted. This is one of those cases, without a doubt.
And on the heels of last night’s exciting win, the Habs rack up their first regulation loss of the season… to Chicago.
It was possibly the worst-reffed game in recent hockey history, Downey ended up in the hospital with a concussion, and the guys couldn’t seem to stay out of the penalty box. Nonetheless, it was exciting being there to see our Habs pull off a 5-4 win against the Flames last night.
So says this Gazette editorial about the government’s case against Paul Bryan for posting election results from eastern Canada on the internet before the polls closed in western Canada:
It was almost 1,000 years ago when Canute, king of England, Denmark and Norway, led his courtiers down to the Sussex seashore. Weary of their flattery, he ordered them to watch as he loudly commanded the waves to recede – and as the waves did not. A king’s powers, he demonstrated, go only so far.
In a gesture almost as futile, but without any of Canute’s wise humility, the government of Canada is fighting in the Supreme Court to make sure Canadians on the West Coast can’t see federal election results from Atlantic Canada until after western polling stations close. As legal causes go, this one is pointless, wrong-headed, arrogant and utterly out of touch with reality.
[ . . . ]
Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees Canadians freedom of expression. There was nothing malicious or even inaccurate about what Paul Bryan did. No one can demonstrate that he did anyone any harm. And in any case, nobody could stop a foreigner from putting results on a website outside Canada.
Information wants to be free, and in this case, at least, the government should stop trying to reverse the tide.
In the last election, I decided to toe the line on this blog and I didn’t post any results until the last poll closed in B.C. But it was an exercise in nonsense, because those results were freely available to anyone with an internet connection and the brains to search for a US-based news or blog source. Not to mention anyone with a telephone and a friend or acquaintance out east.
This law, and the government’s efforts in enforcing it, are completely pointless. I agree with the Gazette: Allow the information to be broadcast, because everyone’s getting it anyway.
It’s a beautiful sunny crisp fall day here in Montreal, which makes this all the more surreal:
Buffalo lay all but paralyzed Friday after a record-breaking early snowstorm whited-out the brilliant colors of fall, buried pumpkins and apples and caught this city world-famous for its wintry weather flat-flooted. At least three deaths were blamed on the storm.
The heavy, wet snow snapped tree limbs all over western New York, leaving some 350,000 homes and businesses without power.
A state of emergency was in effect across the region, banning all nonessential travel. Branches and power lines lay draped across cars and houses, and normally busy downtown streets were still, blanketed by up to two feet of snow.
It’s really rare to get any snow at all in October, and when it happens, it hardly ever does more than dust the ground before melting quickly away. And that’s Montreal I’m talking about; for Buffalo, it’s even weirder. For a massive snowstorm of this scale to hit Buffalo at any time of winter is pretty extraordinary, but in mid-October?
I blame Friday the 13th. Hey, it’s as good an explanation as any.
Liberal leadership candidates are falling all over each other to deny Harper’s accusation that they’re anti-Israel:
Bob Rae, Ignatieff’s chief rival, likened Harper’s comment to being accused of a hate crime, while Gerard Kennedy said Harper had surrendered his ability to act as prime minister for partisan purposes.
“I think that the prime minister’s comments were shameful,” Rae said. “This goes beyond the usual give-and-take of partisan life. It’s an appalling statement.”
He noted his own wife and children are Jewish and he’s travelled often to the Middle East.
Yesterday, Ignatieff insisted he remains a supporter of Israel.
“It is disgraceful that the prime minister is playing crass politics with the issue of the Middle East,” he said.
“The Liberal Party has always been a friend of Israel, and I will always stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel and the Canadian Jewish community to defend
Israel’s right to respond when it is attacked by terrorists or when its neighbours wrongfully deny its right to exist.”
Kennedy echoed the concerns. “I think he (Harper) has given up his sworn responsibilities as prime minister to play for partisan advantage, and I think it is highly unfortunate,” he said.
Kennedy described himself as “resolutely a friend of Israel” but also “a friend of Lebanon.”
Stephane Dion said: “I feel insulted by my prime minister.”
Sure, the Libs are seeing this as a way to try to attack Harper. But personally, I find it refreshing that, regardless of their actual individual positions, all the Liberal candidates seem to feel that it’s politically expedient to come across as being supporters of Israel. In a time when being anti-Israel is more and more “in”, it’s nice to see that the potential next leaders of our country still recognize that it’s “out”. In other words, it’s a relief to see that being perceived as being “anti-Israel” in this country is still bad PR.
Even as they attack Harper for being too pro-Israel and try to spin this into a political point for the Liberals, the leadership candidates seem to understand that they have to prove – or at least claim – to be friends of Israel in order to win the race. Cynical as this may be, it could be a lot worse; they could be trying to prove that they’re the most anti-Israel. (Of course, we’re talking about the Liberals here, not the NDP…)
The latest Google takeover: YouTube.
At least it wasn’t Yahoo, which means that the content on YouTube will probably stay relatively open and free of pointless Yahooisms. (I don’t use Facebook personally, but I hope for the sake of those who do that the rumours aren’t true and that Yahoo keeps its paws off).
Meanwhile, YouTube owners Chad Hurley and Steven Chen are laughing all the way to the bank.
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