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Blog of Adam Daifallah -- author, journalist, law student. Lover of politics, writing, golf, curling, fitness, fashion, bacon and maple products -- not necessarily (but probably) in that order. Partisan of the Anglosphere. Contact me via email at adam@daifallah.com. This summer I am joined by Keir Wilmut and Omar Soliman.
Friday, November 28, 2003
Krispy Kreme sighting
There appears to be at least one other new Krispy Kreme Doughnut store in Toronto. Last night I saw one in the Downsview area. That makes at least three new stores in the last couple of weeks.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:26 PM
Thursday, November 27, 2003
NYT on FDR
Even the liberal New York Times loves Conrad Black's book on FDR. Columbia University professor Alan Brinkley writes that "this enormous book is ... one of the best one-volume biographies of Roosevelt yet" and closes by calling it "a worthy and important addition to the vast literature on the most important modern American leader." There are mild criticisms in between but that's to be expected.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:04 AM
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
That Amiel speech
A few weeks ago I said I would try to get a copy of Barbara Amiel's speech from the Maccabi Canada dinner honouring Robert Lantos. I have not been able to get one, but I found an article online in Canadian Jewish News that offers some choice quotes. Some snippets:
--The UN resolution [equating Zionism with racism], though later rescinded, was “the official coming out in the postwar world of the vibrant anti-Semitism we’re experiencing today,” Amiel said.
“It has been reinstated in all but name by many resolutions passed by that odious body [the United Nations],” and at [the 2001 UN World Conference Against racism in Durban, South Africa], it was taken up by NGOs,” she said.
-- A form of “pragmatic anti-Semitism” can be found in Canada’s foreign policy, which sees Canada vote for or abstain on UN votes critical of Israel while hoping to mitigate its actions “by saying things would have been much, much worse if Canada was not around,” Amiel said.
The UN, she continued, is a collection of failed states and opportunists, but “Ottawa mandarins love it and can strut around the world stage.”
--“Being even-handed between the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Israel Defense Force is a foul joke. It is like being even-handed between heaven and hell."
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:20 PM
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Are the WMD underground somewhere?
If Iraq could bury a Russian jet like this, I think its entirely plausible.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:22 PM
Magna As Prime Minister Awards
Magna International Inc. has announced the national winners of this year's As Prime Minister Awards contest. This is an annual competition run by the giant autoparts manufacturer where university students are asked to write an essay about what they would do to improve Canada if they were Prime Minister (I was fortunate enough to have been chosen as a finalist in 2001.) The Top 10 each win $10,000 in cash and a great, highly-paid summer internship at Magna.
This year, several friends and acquaintances made the Top 10 including Patrick Brown, Reynolds Mastin and Karl Baldauf. Reynolds, it appears, has been chosen the co-national winner (meaning more money and a one year internship.) Way to go! This is a great contest and I hope anyone reading this who is in school and hasn't yet applied does so next year.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:45 PM
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Krispy Kreme Komes to Kanada
In the last week or so, at least two new Krispy Kreme doughnut stores have opened in Toronto; one at the Scarborough Town Centre and another at the corner of Eglinton and Don Mills Rd. And it's about time!
These delectable delicacies have been available in the US for years -- I first fell in love with them as a teenager when I had one in Roanoke, Va. Noboby -- and I mean NOBODY -- makes a doughnut like these guys. When I lived in Washington last year I would get as much as a half dozen a week from the local grocery store, which carried them in-house.
There's just no way to accurately describe these things. Just get out and try them if you can. Now. The taste is very unique. I'm looking forward to eating many, at least as much as I can take without getting too fat!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:56 PM
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Okay, okay
I'll stop posting on Conrad Black for a bit. But like a phoenix he will rise again!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:42 PM
Lord Black's book on FDR
As I blogged earlier, I have been able to get to know Lord Black through helping him with some fact-checking/research work at the FDR Library last summer. I predict the book will be a best-seller.
Number one, these elephantine tomes on dead white men seem to sell like hotcakes -- presidential biographers like Robert Caro, Michael Beschloss, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Edmund Morris are but a few examples of authors whos books have been blockbusters.
Two, the reviewers are fawning over the book. (A very great feat given the great number of Black detractors that make up the cultural literati in Canada and the USA; and also given that snobby reviewers tend to look down on books like this not written by stuffy PhDs.) Publishers Weekly is calling it "the best life of the 32nd president in one volume - or of any length." Even the review in Saturday's Globe and Mail -- not exactly pro-Conrad journalistic real estate -- was overwhelmingly positive.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:36 PM
About Conrad M. Black
As I expected, the media had a field day with Black's announcement that he's resigning as Hollinger CEO yesterday. The leftwing Toronto Star had a giant front page headline "BLACK OUT" with scores of accompanying articles and analyses; the Post and Globe also had it as the headline story with the Post, not surprisingly, offering the most fair coverage.
The frenzy continues this morning after Black's appearance at a Toronto bookstore (I was present) where he was promoting his new biography of FDR. There was close to as much media as there were autograph seekers at this event. He nonetheless seemed to handle the situation with his usual calmness and threw in a few great quotes for the reporters.
I've decided not to feel sorry for Conrad Black. He wouldn't want anyone to. Even with this so-called "flame out" he's still got more accomplishments under his belt than most could dream of and he's still chairman fo the company. With his resolve, somehow, some way he will claw his way back. He's too clever not to. He will either buy more newspapers or reinvent himself in another sector and succeed there. As I said the other day: He will be back. It's just a question of time, really.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:38 AM
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Thank God....
THE LAPTOP IS BACK!!!!!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:53 PM
Monday, November 17, 2003
Conrad Black
Today it was announced that Lord (Conrad) Black of Crossharbour is stepping down as CEO of Hollinger International Inc., the international arm of the media company he founded many years ago with Peter White and David Radler (Radler also is quitting as president.)
This news devastated me and I'll try to write something substantive later. I have had the honour and privilege of working with two of these men closely in the last few years (I've never met Radler) and consider them mentors.
All I would say for now is that those who would write off Black now are making a big mistake. Mark my words, he will be back.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:04 PM
Saturday, November 15, 2003
By the way
I still don't have my laptop back. Thanks to roomate Dan for letting me borrow his while he's away at a hockey tournament.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:28 PM
CBS' cancellation of The Reagans
Read the National Post's take on it.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:27 PM
Fell out of my chair laughing...
...while reading Andrew Coyne in today's National Post. He is so talented. Unfortunately it's not online yet so I can't link to it, but speaking of the Martin leadership win, he said something like "change in the Liberal party means going from one elderly millionnaire lawyer from Quebec with close ties to the Desmarais family to an elderly millionnaire lawyer from Quebec with close ties to the Desmarais family. Before that, we had PM Brian Mulroney, a youthful millionnaire lawyer from Quebec with close ties to the Desmarais family."
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:27 PM
Over-the-top PR stunts by politicians
It's been interesting watching and reading the post-mortem on the stunt pulled by John Kerry the other night on the Jay Leno show, where he drove onto the stage on a Harley Davidson. From what I can see, the press has been overwhelmingly negative about the stunt. This reminded me of a similar move by the former Canadian Alliance leader, Stockwell Day, when he pulled up to a press conference in a seadoo dressed in spandex. That conventional wisdom is that that media disaster was the beginning of the end for Day. (He was, of course, dumped by the Alliance in 2001 in favour of Stephen Harper).
I'm not sure what the lesson to be drawn here is. The obvious is that these stunts are ill-conceived and more often than not, they backfire. But Bill Clinton parlayed his saxophone gig on the Arsenio Hall show into a trip to the White House. In Canada, Pierre Trudeau's many stunts -- the most famous of which is probably his mocking pirouette behind the Queen's back -- made him immortal. So what to conclude? I just don't know.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:23 PM
Martin's coronation
Last night I attended the Liberal leadership convention in Toronto. I saw Paul Martin's acceptance speech at the Air Canada Centre. (Read it here). To me it seemed rather flat. He is long on puffy platitudes and short on detail. As a fellow journalist told me, "he has to put some meat on the bones." Martin evoked images of his father and his commitment to public life; praised the Liberal record; exclaimed that he would not be beholden to the left or right wings of his party; said he would create a new relationship with Canada's cities, etc... . Nothing we hadn't already heard before. The afterparty was fun, Sloan gave a live concert. I'm not imnpressed though at the cheapness of the Liberals -- it was a cash bar! Didn't Martin raise something like $12 million for his leadership?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:49 PM
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Sorry I have not posted lately. My laptop is currently in the computer hospital. I should get it back in the next few days.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 4:46 PM
Thursday, November 06, 2003
National Review Debate
Yesterday, today and tomorrow I'm debating fellow Canuck Michael Taube on National Review Online about the federal conservative merger. Check out the debate here.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:48 AM
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
CBS has annnounced it is cancelling the miniseries "The Reagans." (It will still be shown on the cable station Showtime.) The miniseries, starring Hollywood liberal James Brolin (hubby of Babs Streisand) as Reagan, gained the ire of conservatives everywhere because of its attempt to portray Reagan as an out-of-touch, bigoted baffoon. Nancy Reagan was reported to be furious. Well, with the help of the Drudge Report and a grassroots website at http://www.boycottcbs.org, CBS management ditched the show. Just goes to show how true the old chliche about "making a difference" is. This victory shows that, well, we can make a difference.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:54 PM
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Very unfortunate news
Mike Harris has announced he will NOT seek the leadership of a new merged Conservative Party. I was hoping he would do it, because I think he had the best shot at uniting former Tory and Alliance party members. Harris would give the new Conservative party instant legitimacy and have the best chance at winning seats in Ontario, in my view. But who knows, maybe this isn't a final nail in the coffin. Maybe a draft movement will have to be started, and then he'll change his mind.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:49 PM
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Amiel's brilliance
The always awesome Barbara Amiel (aka Lady Black) has a very thought-provoking article in Maclean's on uniting the right. She is a such a clear thinker, I only wish I could write even 10% as well as she does. The cental thesis of the piece is that issues like gay marriage and marijuana legalization should not preoccupy the new Conservative Party -- rather, it should focus on the bigger picture. Agree with her or not, she makes valid points:
In so far as they are active in creating an alternative agenda to the left, the enthusiasm of Canada's new right is reserved for the grotty issues of social conservatism. These include objections to same sex marriages and a determination to retain criminalization of simple possession of marijuana. Issues like this have no resonance with a majority of Canadians and, more importantly, whichever way they are decided, have nothing to do with making Canada a better or more prosperous country.
In a society where a printer can be ordered by the state's "human rights" institutions to provide a product that goes against his conscience at the risk of curtailment of his livelihood, battling changes in social mores or opposing some types of popular entertainment, as today's social conservatives do, is wanton blindness. Far more important is the resurrection of respect for individual sovereignty (such as the right to bring up one's children the way you choose), and the liberty to contract, run your business or dispose of your property the way you want. The recent B.C. Supreme Court decision overturning a will of deceased parents that favoured one child over the other (the court simply voided the will and divided the estate 50-50 between the two children) is a flagrant example of the statist corruption of family law.
For the past 30 years, dirigistes and statism have had a stranglehold on the Grits. Were I young, I'd consider that recapturing the Liberal party for liberalism is more important than forging a New Right. But that's because my instincts are small-L liberal and not conservative. Meanwhile, a split right is the worst of all worlds. The exit of Joe Clark & Co., together with all their bell-bottomed, magic mushroom folderol about "inclusiveness" and "diversity" that actually excluded anything but threadbare ideas of the soft left, may make the daunting task of rebuilding conservatism for Conservatives possible -- even in the current folderol that is Canada.
I love that word, folderol.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:03 PM
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