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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.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Vernon Robinson for Congress
I doubt America has ever seen or will ever again see the likes of this candidate for the US House of Representatives. He's being called the second coming of Jesse Helms -- except he's black!
For an idea of what Robinson's message is all about, check out this radio ad. You could call it "hard-hitting" I suppose.
All I have to say is WOW.
Hat tip: Rightwing.ca
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:37 AM
Friday, July 30, 2004
Getting serious about the Saudis
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Bush/Dukakis '88 redux
Yup. It's happening...
UPDATE: Apparently the Democrats are shafting Dukakis at this convention, in his very own state no less! (Hat tip: Paul at The Shotgun.)
UPDATE II: Seems poor Mr. Dukakis is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Democratic Party. He's nowhere to be seen. In my scattered viewing of the convention on CNN tonight, I saw Senator Walter Mondale -- the Dems' 1984 presidential candidate who won one (yes, 1) state against Reagan -- on TV twice! But no Dukakis.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:48 AM
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Drudge's anti-Kerry jihad
I am a frequent (dare I say obsessive?) reader of the Drudge Report. He's been particularly entertaining of late, especially pertaining to the Democratic National Convention taking place in Boston this week. He is bringing very interesting stories to light, which add some flavour to the otherwise boring event. The stories have been, well, slightly negative and embarassing for the Democrats.
I love this one. Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of the presumptive Democratic nominee, seems to come frequently unhinged. The media has in my view been relatively easy on her so far. I think that's over now.
Meanwhile, most media and even some of my conservative friends are gushing over last night's speech by Bill Clinton. I watched and didn't find it particularly impressive. Yes, he is an oratorical genius. But it's the same old liberal Democratic message: class warfare, the government should do more, Bush is mean, etc... I don't think it's going to work this time.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:33 AM
Monday, July 26, 2004
Share the wealth, Michael
Michael Moore held a conference call yesterday with reporters to brag about how his "documentary" Fahrenheit 9/11 has eclipsed the $100-million mark at the box office. It is apparently going to be one of the highest (if the not the highest) grossing movies of 2004.
I look forward to hearing from Millionnaire Michael how much of this fortune he plans on donating to charity, especially the poor and downtrodden of auto-plant-layoffs-ravaged Flint, Michigan -- his beloved hometown.
After all, keeping all these millions would be contrary to Moore's deeply-held personal and political values, would it not?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:31 AM
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Happy trails Edwina!
We're continuing to trudge along in summer hours mode here at Daifallah's Musings. Lots of weekends away make for light blogging. Apologies.
In other news, my buddy Edwina, who is a top notch golfer and all-around great person, is flying to London today where she will assume her new job as a bigwig investment banker. We sent her off in style on Thursday (see below.) Good luck Edwina, we are all proud! Sad to see you become part of the brain drain, though. England's gain is definitely Canada's loss. We'll miss you!
Me & Edwina
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:51 PM
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Test
I think the site is fixed now...
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:46 PM
Monday, July 19, 2004
What's currently wrong with Canadian conservatism
This subject is fast becoming my sole pre-occupation! In short, three things: 1. Lack of institutional infrastructure/support for conservatism (see the article.)
2. Conservative people are ghettoized and not part of the cultural mainstream; conservative ideas are considered extreme and sometimes even "un-Canadian" as a result.
3. Absolutely no succession planning in Canada's "conservative movement." Funny enough, all three of these problems existed in the U.S.A before 1964. William F. Buckley, Jr.* did more than probably anyone to change that. A great article came out in Saturday's New York Times which reinforced why point #3 is so crucial. It touches on Buckley, current debates within the movement, and other topics. I would encourage everyone to read this excellent piece. A snippet: Rearing new conservatives has long been a subject of keen interest to their [young conservatives'] elders. To counter what they considered the liberal dominance of the major universities and news organizations, a handful of conservative foundations has helped build a network of organizations to train young members of the movement, most prominently the 51-year-old Intercollegiate Studies Institute. It publishes journals and books, sponsors fellowships and administers a network of 80 conservative college newspapers. "I think one of the principal, even signal, features of the conservative movement is its overriding concern for nurturing young people," said Jeff Nelson, 39, the institute's vice president for publications. Mr. Nelson is dead right, and it's exactly what's dead wrong with the conservative movement here. Nothing of this sort occurs in Canada. There is absolutely no planning going on for the future whatsoever. This must -- and hopefully will -- change. *I am thinking fondly of Mr. Buckley today: when I arrived at the office there was a nice letter in my mailbox from him thanking me for the article I wrote about his recent retirement. What a classy, classy gentleman he is.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:47 PM
On building a conservative Canada
I really want to thank everyone who has either emailed me, blogged or commented here on my oped from last week. Some really interesting and thoughtful observations. Much to reflect on.
This article produced by far the largest response of anything I've ever written. Most people agree with my analysis of the problem, but there are differences pertaining to how it should be addressed. As has been debated here (see Jay Currie and Russil Wvong's comments), some are less keen on "taking the long view," while others see it as an imperative.
I'm still for the long view, although depending on how much money can be raised and how quickly it can be put to use, I see no reason why we couldn't start seeing results by the end of this decade. That isn't that far away, really.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:06 PM
Can a leopard change its spots?
Saturday, July 17, 2004
More egg on the face of The New York Times
For those who follow the goings-on in Iraq, you will know that one Iraqi political group, the pro-democracy, Western-friendly Iraqi National Congress (INC), has been enthusiastically rounded on by the press and various branches of the U.S. government for the past few months.
Basically anything that goes wrong in post-war Iraq, someone, somewhere (often the U.S. State Department of the CIA) finds a way to blame the INC. A few weeks ago, the INC was accused of leaking sensitive information about the U.S.'s Iraqi spy program to Iran. (We've heard nothing about it since the oringial accusations.) Most recently, the INC was being assailed for having supplied an Iraqi defector named "Curveball" to the CIA in its pre-war reporting. "Curveball" has become infamous since war's end because he is the alleged source of claims that Saddam Hussein had a network of mobile bioweapons labs. An example of the anti-INC spin, from last Sunday's Meet the Press:
MR. RUSSERT: And you talked about Curveball. Curveball was the son of Ahmad Chalabi, the former Iraqi exile's friend who came forward and said, "I'm a high-school--number one in my class. I know all about this." He was a fraud. And in the report, this is what the e-mail from the deputy chief of the CIA's Iraqi task force had to say. "Let's keep in mind the fact that this war's going to happen regardless of what Curveball said or didn't say, and that the Powers That Be probably aren't terribly interested in whether Curveball knows what he's talking about."
Tim Russert had absolutely no basis for this slanderous and erroneous claim. Now, check out the corrections in today's New York Times, which has of late been on a corrections fury:
An article on Monday about the Senate intelligence committee report on prewar intelligence about Iraq misstated the relationship between a defector known as Curveball and the Iraqi National Congress. There is no information that Curveball, who worked with German intelligence, was introduced to that service by the I.N.C., which is led by Ahmad Chalabi. (Articles on June 2 and June 4 also described such a connection, attributing that account to American intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Those officials now say there was no such established relationship.) The Iraqi National Congress has denied any connection whatsoever to Curveball, and the Senate intelligence committee report issued on July 9 did not describe such a relationship.
The INC has consistently maintained that it has absolutely no idea who Curveball is or where he came from. It is not the son of INC leader Ahmad Chalabi.
This episode is a great example of:
1. How gullible the Washington press corps can be;
2. How effective the CIA's spin machine is;
3. How badly the CIA and various other parties want to find scapegoats for Iraq.
(Cross-posted at The Shotgun)
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:45 AM
Friday, July 16, 2004
The future of conservatism
Thanks to everyone who sent positive feedback about yesterday's National Post piece. I've posted it here in case you want to read it.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:23 PM
Summer curling news
I'm not writing a curling column for the Post right now because it's summer, but there is big news in the curling world: the sport's governing body, the Canadian Curling Association (CCA), is set to hand over nearly all broadcasting rights to the CBC, thereby shutting out TSN.
Curling fans are outraged at the CCA and rightly so.
Quite simply, CBC's curling coverage doesn't compare to TSN's. Curling fans have for years dreaded the old system where the entire round-robin of the men's and women's Canadian championships would be covered (wonderfully) by TSN, and then we would have to flip over to CBC for the semi finals and finals. CBC has improved a bit by dumping their geriatric old analyst, Don Duguid, in favour of former Sandra Schmirler team member Joan McCusker and Olympic silver medallist Mike Harris. But TSN is still far superior with the inseparable duo of Linda Moore and Ray Turnbull as commentators. CBC is also apparently likely to broadcast fewer games of the round-robin than TSN did.
This is really bad news for curling.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:49 AM
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Building a conservative Canada from the ground up
I've been getting some really good feedback on my article in today's National Post about building a conservative movement in Canada. (It's accessible online to subscribers only, but I'll post it here later.)
People seem to agree: the media/intellectual infrastructure to back up the Conservative Party and conservative ideas simply does not exist in this country. The question remains: who - if anyone - will do something about it?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:36 PM
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Remembering Kazemi
Here's why it is important not to forget about the case of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian journalist murdered by Tehran's terrorist mullahs last year.
Canada's strategy for dealing with Iran since this incident blew up has been simple: put on the kid gloves and don't ruffle feathers. Your typical Lloyd Axworthian-Bill Grahamsonian diplomacy. But now that Iran is refusing to allow Canadian observers at the "trial" of the poor souls chosen as scapegoats for the murder, at least we're pulling our ambassador.
I say at least because so much more could be done. It is really embarassing that it took this long to take the drastic, harsh action of pulling our ambassador. Why don't we kick the Iranian ambassador out of Canada? Could we not pursue this issue (perhaps hopelessly) at the U.N.? Could we not even impose sanctions?
Oh no. We wouldn't want to ruffle Iran's feathers too much. Chretien has to drive home a good deal for Petrokaz, right?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:20 PM
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Brand new feature - only on www.daifallah.com
Most good blog seems to have a diversion. For Warren Kinsella, it's commenting on rock and roll. For me it has been curling, and sometimes golf. But because these are seasonsal in nature, I decided to start something that could consistently divert attention all year round! So welcome to a new feature of my blog, mini-reviews of nightclubs, bars, and various other social establishments.
The first club to be reviewed is This is London, which I went to on Saturday. Located in Toronto's theatre district, (Richmond and Peter Sts.) this is the best club I have yet to see in Toronto.
Being on the guest list, which we were, helps -- we only had to wait in line for about 5 minutes. Once in, you have to fork over $20 for a cover charge; a bit steep, but worth it. You get what you pay for. A free beer when you walked in, complimentary finger foods upstairs, and girls were sitting on pedestals on the dance floor blowing bubbles (go-go dancers would be better, but alas...). Drinks were expensive too, I think $7 or $8. Oh well.
The music was a mix of techno, dance, hip-hop and 80s. Touch of everything. The crowd seemed to really like it.
The scene was very much remiscent of Las Vegas. Really high energy, with various levels and cordoned-off areas along the edges of the club for chatting. There was even an alleyway that was technically part of the club for smokers. Upper-crusty crowd, 25-35 age range. Really nice decor, and just the right amount of light - big plus. I highly recommend This is London.
Rating: 9.5/10
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:44 PM
Canada's Goldwater moment?
Interesting and well-argued piece on the Canadian election in National Review Online today by Dan Dunsky of TVOntario, likening the results of June 28th to the Goldwater watershed election of 1964, which essentially launched the modern conservative movement in the U.S.
I've thought hard about this myself, and -- while I desperately want to -- I cannot come to the same hopeful conclusions. The Canadian conservative "movement" (we could have a serious debate as to whether such a thing actually exists) is nowhere near the institutional sophistication of 1964 America.
I don't want to say anything more for now; I'm going to write something more formal about this and hopefully have it published this week.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:42 AM
Monday, July 12, 2004
Another review of Fahrenheit 9/11
Guess who wrote the following about Moore's flick? (It's sort of similar to the language I used):
"But now a pause for a moment of conscience. Let intellect have its due. Moore cuts plenty of corners, so how good can that be? Compelling? Useful? Moore specializes in hodgepodge. He jokes his way past the rough edges. He’s neither journalist nor documentarian, for he doesn’t set out to discover what he doesn’t already know. To patronize Michael Moore by calling him useful is to give him a pass for shoddy work, sloppy insinuations, emotional blackmail and all–around demagoguery."
Not some crazy right-winger. It was Professor Todd Gitlin, an icon of the ultra-left.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:59 PM
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Fahrenheit 9/11, again
Some friends criticized my below comments on Michael Moore's "documentary," Fahrenheit 9/11. These friends said my review was too one-sided, making it look as though I had gone into the film with these remarks already written out. Even if I had just noted one thing I liked about the film, they said, they would take my view much more seriously.
So I will.
I agree with Michael Moore that the Bush family's ties to the Saudi royal family are a problem. I think they are a potential liability in his re-election campaign. I think they are negatively colouring the President's judgement on the Middle East. And I think it is time the Saudis be cut loose.
There, happy?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:38 PM
Friday, July 09, 2004
Why Bush will win
The answer's pretty simple: Americans don't like John Kerry. After all that has transpired in Iraq and elsewhere for the past year, and just days after the much-ballyhooed Edwards VP announcement, for their still to be a statistical tie (48-46 Kerry/Edwards) is absolutely, positively mind boggling.
UPDATE: A brand new AP-Ipsos Reid poll has Bush/Cheney at 49 and Kerry/Edwards at 45. Amazing.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:02 AM
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Great news for political ad junkies
After being hobbled by technical difficulties for the better part of the last two years, the American Museum of the Moving Image has completely revamped and re-launched its online Living Room Candidate exhibition. This is the single greatest resource of campaign commercials ever assembled on the web. Check it out, but be prepared to stay a couple of hours.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:51 PM
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Chalabi comeback #5,429
True to form, The New York Sun's Eli Lake is ahead of the competition on the Iraqi politics beat -- and he's reporting from Washington!
Mr. Lake today reports that Ahmad Chalabi, recently sidelined by his former allies in Washington, has formed a Shiite political group called the Shiite Political Council.
This is a hugely important development.
Shiite Muslims, which represent about 2/3 of the population in Iraq, are increasingly feeling politically alienated. They are concerned about the resurgence of a Sunni-dominated business class, and the threat from the establishment order in the Arab world, which doesn't want to see Shiites in any positions of authority. These people want power, and rightly so -- they are the majority faction in the country.
If - and it's a big if at this point - this new group can establish itself as the most credible and legitimate political voice of Iraqi Shiism, look out. Especially if Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is brought onside, this group could become an alternative government.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:36 PM
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Waiting for Reagan
Last week, I published an article in The New York Sun about the federal election. You can read it here. It contains some pretty basic background stuff for the American audience, but also some observations about why the Conservatives lost which may be of interest to Canadian readers. Here's a list of four main reasons:
•Failure to sustain momentum: The Tories started out with a bang,but fizzled toward the end of the campaign. A series of verbal gaffs by Conservative candidates put the party leader, Mr. Harper, on the defensive. He was kept off his script for much of the last 10 days of campaigning, and in the end, undecided voters chose the Liberals.
•Fighting with kid gloves: The Conservatives never adequately responded to the litany of smears launched their way by the Liberals. Negative television ads misleadingly suggested the Conservatives would gut Canada’s Soviet-style healthcare system and ban abortion. The Conservatives had no hard-hitting attack ads of their own.
•Being defined before defining themselves: Through careful manipulation of friendly press outlets and full-blown distortions, the Liberals were able to paint a picture of the Conservatives as something to be feared. Worse, the Conservatives did not adequately and quickly respond to such attacks. That scared away crucial last-minute votes and allowed the Liberals to control the dialogue.
•Poor messaging: A week and a half before the vote, Harper publicly mused about the Conservatives winning a majority government. That seemed to turn off centrist voters who were only going to vote Conservative to punish the Liberals. Some accused the Tories of being arrogant. They seemed to lack discipline and a central, coordinated theme.
I conclude by saying that Stephen Harper must still be given credit for what he was able to accomplish.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:06 AM
Finito
Fahrenheit 9/11 sucks
Tonight I saw Michael Moore's new documentary. I wish I hadn't. I had low hopes, but it was far worse than I had expected. I tried to go in with a somewhat open mind, but Fahrenheit 9/11 is agitprop at its very worst. Michael Moore is not a film-maker. He is a unethical polemicist and a socialist propagandist. It would be impossible to deconstruct every lie, every exaggeration, every quote taken wildly out of context, every factual error (Moore at one point actually states that "Iraq has never murdered a single American") or every grossly dishonest assertion.
I actually came out of the theatre thinking that I liked the Bush administration and its decision to go to war in Iraq more after sitting through this bunk.
Do not waste your money to go and see this film. It is intellectually vapid and an insult to any semi-intelligent person.
What a farce.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:49 AM
Check out....
...this map from Elections Canada showing how the country voted and then try telling me we don't have regional division problems.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:15 AM
Monday, July 05, 2004
Break
Sorry for lack of new stuff here. I'm on summer holidays, but will be posting sporadically over the next two weeks. I'll also update the site with new articles, etc...
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:03 PM
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