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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.
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Colleen Jones' record
I've never commented on my winter sporting passion, curling, on this blog. (Check out the archives of my weekly National Post curling column here, though.)
But today an incredible curling record was set that is worthy of mention here. Colleen Jones (non-curling Canadians may recognize her from her job as CBC Newsworld's morning sports and weather person) has won an unprecedented sixth Canadian women's championship -- her fifth in the last six years. She's now the most decorated curler, male or female, in the game's history. Congratulations to Colleen Jones and her team, and good luck at the world's in Sweden.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:49 PM
John Laschinger
You've gotta give John Laschinger -- the man currently managing Belinda Stranach's Conservative Party leadership campaign -- a ton of credit. Lasch is a legend, not only because he's acknowledged as being Canada's first "full-time" political campaign manager, but also for the consistency of his various shewd, proven campaign tactics. Take this "memorandum," released yesterday to members of the "Belinda Campaign Team." This move, like when he releases a poll mid-way through a campaign showing his candidate is the voters' "preferred choice," is a classic Lasch move. Quoting from from the "memorandum" to the "campaign team":
Some time ago, the media reported that all was not well for Stephen Harper in his own riding of Calgary Southwest. His board of directors refused to endorse his leadership bid. This is not for public consumption, but you might be interested to know that by this afternoon, we will have added 500 new members in his riding.
"Not for public consumption" my ass! LOL!!! The thing was leaked to every bloody reporter in the country. And of course they lapped it up, as they have every time in the past. (I suppose that's why Lasch keeps doing it. It works!) Great tactic, and I give him full marks for it. Look for more clever stuff like this from the master in the coming weeks.
Note: Apparently a lot of Laschinger's methods and strategies are laid out plainly in his book, Leaders and Lesser Mortals, which I have not read but intend to soon.
UPDATE: A Conservative Party source says the Harper folks are actually glad about this stuff coming from Belinda's campaign, and look forward to more of it. They apparently want to get their supporters worried, making them more likely to turn out and vote on March 20.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:05 AM
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
That scary Pentagon report on climate change
I've hit the snooze button too many times before posting this, so this post is sorta stale, but here it is anyway:
Normally brilliant friends like Lanny Cardow have lapped up the leftist spin after an alarmist -- actually, apocalyptic -- news report in Britain's leftwing newspaper, the Observer (Sunday Guardian) claimed that a report said climate change would lead to catastrophe and anarchy and nuclear war in the future. Lanny went so far as to call it "A bad day for those (like JBro) who have dismissed global warming as an imaginary threat envisioned by leftist scientists. Now even The Pentagon has recognised the threat of climate change."
Some clips from the article: "A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world," the report says.
Later on: 'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'
And especially, uh, interesting: "The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority."
While this report made for a great story, it might be accused of being, to coin a term, "sexed-up."
First, it is universally acknowleged that the Sunday newspapers in London are somewhat unreliable. The burden of proof is lower for stories, and they tend to be a tad sensationalist. (Even reporters who work for them will admit this privately.)
Second, it must be made clear is that this report does not represent the official view of the Pentagon. The report was commissioned by a Pentagon official, Andy Marshall, who runs the Office of Special Plans, an outfit dedicated to conceptualizing and planning for a wide range of future scenarios.
Third, one must go a ways down to find the most important paragraph, which makes it easy to miss:
Climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern', say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.
A little research shows that these are two very curious individuals. They are FUTURISTS. It is their job to think up wacky -- even unlikely -- future scenarios. The company where they work, the Global Business Network, is an entity that is dedicated to thinking up these "scenarios."
Mr. Randall is obviously brilliant (Wharton MBA) but no mention of any experience on the global warming file. Check out his bio here. Some highlights: "Doug has published articles, book chapters, and white papers on scenario-based planning, the Internet...Doug served as a Vice President at Snapfish, a photo-processing company with a strong Internet presence. While there, he was responsible for customer acquisition, signing over 50 strategic partnerships...He works on a variety of projects often related to information technology, consumer electronics, financial services, and global sustainability."
The other co-author, Peter Schwartz, listed as a "CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell group," is a co-founder of this so-called futurist company, GBN. (Note: Another of GBN's founders, Stewart Brand, is also a founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, which says the catalogue "found immediate success with the youth movement, selling millions of copies and quickly becoming the unofficial handbook of the counter-culture." That publication eventually morphed into Whole Earth Magazine, but only after a short stint as Co-Evolution Quarterly, which "furthered social change and new movements by introducing ideas such as the gaia hypothesis, watershed consciousness, whole system thinking, and voluntary simplicity to readers." And get this, again from the mags own site: "An early issue was edited by the Black Panther Party, another by beat poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Michael McClure.")
Anyway, the point is that this report represents nothing concrete or scientific at all, and the authors are a little out there. It's like playing craps. It is unlikely it will ever happen. But unfortunately, Lanny took the bait. Others falling into the trap include AFP, the Sydney Morning Herald, and, of course, Greenpeace.
The whole "secret" report is online here.)
Thanks to Tim Blair (who notes that this story wasn't even a "scoop" at all for the Observer, Fortune magazine had it last month) and Lorne Gunter, one of Canada's smartest and hard-working columnists, for all the help with this.
UPDATE: Lorne has in fact done his Edmonton Journal column on this subject, but it doesn't appear to be online.
UPDATE II: No!!!! AH took the bait too!!
UPDATE III: Check out Iain Murray's excellent NRO piece about the report here.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:54 AM
Monday, February 23, 2004
Oped in The New York Sun today
Check out the piece I wrote on America's lack of support for Arab democrats here.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:19 AM
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Thoughts on the Conservative leadership debate
In general it was good, and entertaining to watch. Some general observations that stick out in my mind:
1. No knockout punch: All three candidates performed well, but no one was head-and-shoulders better than the rest. They all made good points; one was clearly aggressive and passionate (Clement), another more tentative (Stronach) and one constantly on the defensive but cool (Harper). But because Harper held his own and, by virtue of his front-running status had the most to lose, if anyone did win, it was him. He was calm, composed and looked leader-like.
2. Belinda Stronach sharper, but still too scripted: Belinda has improved a great deal since her launch a few weeks ago -- she looks comfortable on stage, and for her first debate ever it was a decent performance. But she has to get off using these bland, generatic, platitudinal terms like "innovation." She is still looking too wooden, too much like she's just regurgitating talking points. She should just be herself.
3. Clement's use of French: Harper and Stronach's lack of French was really showing (especially so for Stronach) and Clement's use of it was impressive, even tossing in some French answering questions not asked by the French reporter.
4. Harper's arrogance: Clement took Harper to task for his appearance of arrogance throughout this race. It's a valid concern. While I like Harper, he has appeared smug and condescending at times. Just one example: in his press release welcoming Tony Clement to the race, Harper said: "I knew that there would be risks to my leadership when I formed this new party, but I put this merger together to encourage people like Tony to get involved in the party again after a long absence." I, I, I. Sounds like he thinks he's entitled to this by some kind of Divine right. Clement ripped into Harper on this and scored a point for it. I should add that Clement was almost too aggressive and over-the-top.
5. Great questioning: The journalists asking the questions were very good, especially CPAC's Peter Van Dusen -- some real toughies. These questioners demonstrated the way journalists are supposed to scrutinize and hold politicians to account. There were few softballs.
6. Crowds have gotta go: The constant interruptions by supporters of each candidate in the audience were such a waste of time, and served no useful purpose. Debates should not be done in front of partisan crowds like this again.
Candidate performance marks:
Harper: B+
Clement: B-
Stronach: C-
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:28 PM
Great idea
I'm just watching the Conservative leadership debate, and will post thoughts later. But in the meantime, check out Belinda Stronach's "Debate Watch" on her leadership site. Very innovate online idea.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:59 PM
Friday, February 20, 2004
Adscam sighting
National Post editorial here makes use of the term Adscam. (Sorry, subsription required.)
Coyne will be pleased.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:51 AM
Jan Miner, RIP
Today I glanced at the National Post's obituary in the sports section for the first time and I learned of some sad news: Jan Miner, the woman who for all those years played Madge in the Palmolive commercial, has died.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:25 AM
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Ed Broadbent is blogging
I say good for him. Check it out here. Broadbent is going to have a helluva fight on his hands in Ottawa Centre in the federal election with Martin hack Richard Mahoney running for the Grits and possibly radio gabber Lowell Green running for the Conservatives.
[Hat tip: the indispensable Sobering Thoughts]
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:10 PM
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
What not to say to a reporter, Part II
From a story today by National Post investigative reporter Andrew McIntosh on convicted stock manipulater/document fasifyer Harry Bloomfield hosting a fundraiser tonight for Belinda Stronach:
When a Post reporter called him at his Montreal office yesterday to ask about his association with the Stronach campaign in Quebec, Mr. Bloomfield said: "Is there a problem? Why are you calling me?" and later urged "it would be really nice if you went easy on me."
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:25 AM
What not to say to a reporter
From a little-noticed story yesterday by National Post investigative reporter Andrew McIntosh on Belinda Stronach's picking up support from two ex-Quebec MPs who've had legal problems:
Mr. Renauld said he did not think Ms. Stronach, who has campaigned on improving political ethics, knew about the two Quebec City businessmens' political pasts.
"I didn't tell her. We didn't do any screening of the people who endorsed her," Mr. Renauld added. "Frankly, I don't know what to say."
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:18 AM
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Sort of an unfortunate picture, isn't it?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:39 PM
Duking it out in Newmarket-Aurora
Belinda Stronach's Conservative Party leadership campaign has taken the somewhat unusual step of releasing an open letter to opponent Stephen Harper, criticizing him for endorsing Lois Brown, Stronach's opponent in the nomination for the riding of Newmarket-Aurora. (The letter is signed by MP John Cummins, one of Stronach's caucus supporters.)
While the letter is correct in saying that it is unusual for leadership candidates to get involved in local nomination battles, this is only going to draw more attention to Harper's endorsement. It's a sign that Stronach is worried. Keep your eye on that nomination meeting, which takes place March 9.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:20 PM
Cool!
Many thanks to David Janes for including me in the latest Carnival of Canucks.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:41 PM
Monday, February 16, 2004
The outrage is sticking...
Latest poll:
Lib -- 35%
Cons -- 27%
NDP -- 17%
Hard to believe, but if these numbers actually hold in an election, we're looking at a minority government situation.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:38 PM
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Patrick Moore: someone who saw the light
Interesting feature piece in the latest Queen's Journal, the student newspaper of my alma mater, on environmentalist-turned-sane-person Patrick Moore. Moore, as those who know of him will recall, was a co-founder of Greenpeace who know advocates a kind of conciliatory approach to solving environmental problems, where all stakeholders -- including the forestry industry -- are involved.
I heard Moore speak a couple of years ago at a conference and was really impressed with the man. His ideas make perfect sense, and I really identified with what he was saying. I admire his courage in speaking out against enviro fanatics -- he has always opposed the kind of "direct action" campaigns espoused by loons like Paul Watson of the lunatic-fringe Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is still advocating ramming oil rigs and seal hunters. Check out Moore's worthwhile organization, Greenspirit.
UPDATE: For more info on Moore and his interesting journey, check out this recent article of his.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:22 PM
Saturday, February 14, 2004
There's outrage
And for the first time in, well, 10 years, it looks like a Liberal scandal is sticking.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:32 PM
Friday, February 13, 2004
Who's minding the store in Ottawa?
The revelations out about our federal government this week are, well, disgusting. I don't think I've ever been as outraged at my own government as I am now. In the last 72 hours, we've learned of a triad of stupefying outrages:
1) USING OUR MONEY TO BUY VOTES AND REWARD FRIENDS IN QUEBEC: The Liberal government's vote-buying scheme in Quebec, where contracts totalling $100 million in federal funds for essentially doing nothing were doled out, as revealed in the scathing Auditor-General's report Tuesday. Paul Martin is continuing to deny he knew what was going on.
2) USING OUR MONEY TO PUNISH INNOCENT GUN OWNERS: The Liberal boondoggle gun registry has now cost taxpayers $2-billion so far, double the last government estimate, according to a CBC report. This is a program that was originally supposed to cost $2-million. Yes, that really does equal 1,000 times over-budget. How can anyone get away with this?
3) USING OUR MONEY FOR ADRIENNE CLARKSON AND FRIENDS' JUNKETS: There was a big outcry after it was revelead that a "circumpolar tour" for the Governor General and her friends would cost $1-million. It turns out that the bill is actually $5.3-million. That's right, $4-million more than expected for the vice-regal and 59 of her closest friends to tour the Arctic circle. (This apparently doesn't even include the cost of the air travel!)
TOTAL AMOUNT WASTED ON THESE THREE ITEMS: AT MINIMUM, $2.5 BILLION
That is not just embarassing, it is a total disgrace. They've done it before, but never to this scale and never so much at once. The question is, this time, will there be outrage?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:52 PM
Now that's a funny line...
From the opening lines of the Irving Kristol lecture, given by columnist Charles Krauthammer at the annual dinner of the American Enterprise Institute this week:
Hearing my checkered past recalled, I’m struck by how many places I have fled: Canada, the Democratic Party, and psychiatry. A trifecta of sorts. The reason I'm here, ladies and gentlemen, is that I have nowhere left to go.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:08 AM
Thursday, February 12, 2004
The Producers
I've just returned from seeing Mel Brooks' hit musical The Producers at the Canon Theatre in Toronto.
Wow. What a performance. Now I know why this won 12 Tony Awards.
I don't want to give anything away, because I'd encourage anyone who can to see it. I'll just say that 1) it is chockfull of underhanded jokes and ironies that political and history junkies will love; 2) it is wildly politically incorrect, sometimes almost pushing over the limit; and 3) hard to put this into words, but I hope you know what I mean: It is the most successful attempt I have ever seen at making fun of and making us laugh at some very serious and normally unfunny issues.
Brilliant lyrics. Hilarious characters. Brooks holds nothing back. He's a true genius. Go buy a ticket.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:52 PM
Sometimes pictures speak much, much louder than words
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:52 AM
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
I've been "TAPPED"
Thanks to my pal and former NY Sun Washington bureau co-conspirator Tim for this tip: The leftwing magazine The American Prospect has a blog called "Tapped" and writer Matthew Yglesias has bashed my review of Frum and Perle's An End To Evil . (Kudos to the good folks at AEI for posting it on their website, too.)
Yglesias makes an interesting point, but he misunderstood mine. I wrote in my book review that "The CIA's intelligence gathering was, as we now know since this book's publication, way off-base on Iraq's weapons capabilities." He interprets that as meaning that I thought the CIA overblew the Iraq threat. I can see why he thought that, but it wasn't really my intention.
In fact, I agree with Frum and Perle's position that over the years the CIA has massively underballed the Iraq threat. I should have pointed out that while their weapons estimates may have been "off-base," their intel gathering in other areas -- especially Saddam's links to organized terrorism and his own acts of terrorism -- was willfully ignorant. Also recall that, as former weapons inspector David Kay has noted, the CIA massively underestimated the advanced state of Libya and Iran's nuke programs.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:53 PM
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Grits 'n Tories
I think it would be cool if Canadians would revitalize the use of the terms "Grit" to describe a Liberal and "Tory" to describe a Conservative Party member. While the word Tory is still frequently used to describe British Conservatives and provincial PCs in Canada, there's some doubt as to whether or not the term will be adopted in the new merged federal Conservative Party. (John Ibbitson's column in the Globe and Mail was about this yesterday, I think.) Grit, on the other hand, has been MIA from the modern political lexicon for quite some time. I wonder why? (Warning: shameless self-promotion ahead) The title of the book I co-wrote in 2001 was Gritlock: Are the Liberals in Forever? and I remember a bunch of people, young ones especially, asking me what Grit meant. Just a thought. These are fun words.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:16 PM
Monday, February 09, 2004
Keep your eye on this book. Or, buy it.
Andrew Breitbart, who five years ago now (wow, I'm getting old) hired me as a summer intern in Arianna Huffington's office in Los Angeles, is set to release his first book: Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon — The Case Against Celebrity. Andrew, who for the past few years has had the enviable job of being the second set of eyes and ears for Matt Drudge, is really going to make some waves with this.
I knew Andrew had been hard at work on this book, but wasn't sure of its contents. But it's a safe bet that any book with an endorsement from Ann Coulter saying "Rosemary's baby has grown up and is running Hollywood ... Hollywood, Interrupted describes the misogynist, pill-popping degenerates who now define American culture" is going to be an interesting read.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:15 AM
I just can't let it go
At last weekend's Avonlea Curling Club "Funspiel" our team (see picture below) was cheated out of second prize by these sorry clowns. We ended up tied 6-6 after regulation play, so a draw to the button contest was held to determine the winner.
Well, the other skip threw first, putting her rock barely over the hogline. I threw mine inches through the rings. They claimed (totally erroneously) that because their rock was in play and mine wasn't, they won. In fact, when no one hits the rings in a draw to the button contest the throwers must start again and re-throw. Despite this, the "winners" just walked off the ice and wouldn't re-throw. Oh well. They will be judged by Him!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:29 AM
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Chris Green on Conrad
Queen's Commerce/conservative policy whiz kid Chris Green has posted his take on the Conrad Black media frenzy. Check it out here -- as usual, he's right on the money.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:56 PM
Friday, February 06, 2004
Article today
Check out a signed article I wrote today for the Financial Post comment page here (subscription required.) If you don't have a subscription, you can see it here.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:01 PM
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Everybody loves curling!
This picture is from the Avonlea Curling Club funspiel last weekend.
From L to R -- Jennifer Huneault, me, Jon Kay, his wife Jen.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:42 AM
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
All I'll say on the Throne Speech
I'll leave the parsing and dissecting of what the Governor General said to this morning's papers. My only thought is that my long-held view (shared by several others) that Paul Martin will be one of Canada's most left-wing prime ministers is so far looking on the money. Billions in planned spending for cities, the environment and natives -- and he's only been PM for a matter of months.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:25 AM
Monday, February 02, 2004
Not cheezy: just really dumb
On the topic of press releases, this one, from last fall's municipal elections, ranks as the worst opening line I think I've ever seen:
TORONTO – Kiley Thompson, Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Trustee candidate in Ward 9-Davenport, today condemned the increasingly political nature of the election campaign.
An election campaign getting.....political???????????? Say it ain't so.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:39 PM
Cheezy!!!
The vice president of the National Citizen's Coalition, Gerry Nicholls, is a good friend. So I hestitate to do this, but I can't resist...Gerry put out the cheeziest press release today -- a response to the Throne Speech. The two opening lines:
The National Citizens Coalition says it’s appropriate that today’s Throne Speech took place on Groundhog Day.
“Today’s Throne Speech cast a shadow that even the groundhog couldn’t miss; the shadow of bigger government,” says NCC vice president Gerry Nicholls.
Gerry, too much buddy!!!!!!!!!!!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:33 PM
Comments
Thanks to all who've been posting comments lately. It's great to see, and now I know there are at least a couple of people who are actually reading this!
One request though: could you please fill in the fields on the comment window? Just putting your initials, or "Mike" or "Bob" is really annoying because I can't contact you and continue the discussion. Please fill in at least the email field.
Thanks.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:56 PM
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