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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.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Foggy Bottom and Iraq
George Tenet's new book about the CIA and the lead-up to the Iraq invasion, At the Center of the Storm, is out. According to reviews and reports, Tenet paints the picture everyone expected him to: he was told to politicize intelligence, Dick Cheney's office ignored his counsel, etc... This is the latest salvo in a public battle that has been going on for some time now, and will continue to go on for who knows how long, on who is to "blame" for what went wrong in Iraq.
But according to the Weekly Standard, Tenet is taking serious liberties with the truth:
According to Michiko Kakutani's review in Saturday's Times, On the day after 9/11, he [Tenet] adds, he ran into Richard Perle, a leading neoconservative and the head of the Defense Policy Board, coming out of the White House. He says Mr. Perle turned to him and said: "Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility." Here's the problem: Richard Perle was in France on that day, unable to fly back after September 11. In fact Perle did not return to the United State until September15. Did Tenet perhaps merely get the date of this encounter wrong? Well, the quote Tenet ascribes to Perle hinges on the encounter taking place September 12: "Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday." And Perle in any case categorically denies to THE WEEKLY STANDARD ever having said any such thing to Tenet, while coming out of the White House or anywhere else. Say what you will about the motives of Cheney's office and the Richard Perle gang, but at least they were honest: they wanted a war to liberate Iraq. The same can't be said of the CIA. Despite protestations to the contrary, they were squarely against any military action against Saddam Hussein from Day One and all of their work was tainted because it was assembled with the goal of hurting the case for invastion in mind. Tenet's likely argument that only one side of this battle pushed an agenda (the pro-war people) and that he was just doing his job is patently false.
I won't say anything more definitive about this book until I have read it, but so far, not so good.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:05 AM
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Acting unconservatively
The last edition of Ezra Levant's Western Standard asks (free registration required) the question that some conservatives are starting to mutter under their breath (except for Gerry Nicholls, who has done more than mutter): have Stephen Harper's Conservatives forgotten they are supposed to be conservative? To wit:
Program spending is set to increase by 5.7 per cent for the fiscal 2007-08 year. In the Tories' first budget, it rose 7.9 per cent. "Look, there are Martin budgets, when he was finance minister, that I would pocket before taking this one," says John Williamson, federal director of the Ottawa-based Canadian Taxpayers Federation advocacy group.
While it won't make those around Harper happy, this is the kind of journalism that the Standard, as an organ of the Canadian conservative movement, ought to be doing.
I admit to being concerned about the direction the government has taken since Christmas. The period from their election in January 2006 until the end of last year was nothing short of spectacular, in my view. But lately, there appears to be a new approach -- and I'm not sure it's going to work. The polls aren't really moving. More on this later.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:35 PM
Monday, April 23, 2007
We need to know more
More information is coming out about the Dion/May deal:
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has agreed to explore reforms to Canada's electoral system as part of his non-compete agreement with Green Leader Elizabeth May. However, it's unlikely Liberals, who've long benefited from the first-past-the-post system, will endorse the kind of proportional representation championed by many Greens as a means of finally gaining a toehold in Parliament. "Our party is open to discuss electoral reform. We're not sure where it will lead us, but we agree that the current system has some shortcomings," Dion said in an interview.
So, we now know the deal was about more than just a two-riding non-aggression pact. There has been surprisingly little media scrutiny of this deal and its contents.
What else was agreed to? Was it put on paper? Will it be released publicly?
These questions needs to be answered.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:15 AM
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Score one for Kim Basinger
Warning: This is not for the fainthearted.
I'm not one to follow Hollywood news closely. But kudos to Kim Basinger's people for leaking this very disturbing tape to the media -- even though they apparently violated a court order. If my ex-spouse had spoken to my daughter that way, I would have done the same thing.
Alec Baldwin makes me sick. What's wrong with him: is running the Creative Coalition becoming too stressful?
At least his visitation rights have been suspended.
(Via Drudge)
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:26 PM
Vote NO to wrecking our electoral system
It's official: Ontarians will vote in a referendum on October 10 of this year on whether to radically alter the Westminster-style, first-past-the-post electoral system to incorporate some measure of proportional representation.
This measure is bad for many reasons, all of them noted by the National Post here except for one: the proposed measure will increase the number of MPPs in the Ontario legislature by 25%. Ontario does not need 25% more MPPs. One of Mike Harris' first acts as Premier in 1995 was to reduce the number of MPPs from 125 to 103 so that provincial riding boundaries mirrored the federal ones. Things have worked just fine since then, as far as I can tell.
Despite Andrew Coyne's clamouring, PR would end the (basically) two party system, create endless minority and coalition government situations, destabilize the legislature, create gridlock and force more frequent elections. And whatever legislation does managed to get passed will almost always be watered down.
The system we have now isn't perfect, but it's the least bad of all the options.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:16 AM
Monday, April 16, 2007
Déjà-vu
Jason Cherniak on Liberals disgrunted with Stéphane Dion's troubled leadership:
Nincompoops like Ray Heard might as well leave the Liberal Party. We are better off without them.
I haven't heard talk like that since Joe Clark was leader of the PC Party.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:40 PM
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Facebook
By now you've probably all heard of Facebook, the social networking website that has been all the rage for weeks now. A whole bunch of politicians are joining including Rodney MacDonald, the Nova Scotia Premier, who added me to his friends list last week. See an article about it here. (I honestly do not know how he knew of me, but I am happy to be on his list!)
This is truly an amazing -- although highly addictive -- web program and I would encourage anyone who hasn't joined it yet to do so. Once you do, feel free to add me to your list.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:05 AM
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The count continues
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Daily Conrad
Peter Worthington:
Chicago lawyer Pat Tuite, who has been involved in trials for 35 years, gratuitously says that throughout his working life he's never seen prosecutors so inept as in this case. They have produced little of criminal intent or deed: "I'm not saying the prosecutors are incompetent, but they don't seem to have anything of substance to show criminal acts."
Steven Skurka:
Torys partner Darren Sukonick, (if only it had been Tory, Tory, Tory) continued his uncomfortable videotaped testimony today. In a heated cross-examination, he admitted that it was his idea that Hollinger International pay non-compete fees to company executives as a means of avoiding tax on corporate bonuses. As the author of the payment plan he added in his best Seinfeld voice that he did not think there was anything wrong with that. He further conceded that he had advised Hollinger’s lawyer, Mark Kipnis, that the company wasn’t required to publicly identify the non-compete fees received. In the blogosphere, this admission was accurrately described as a bombshell being dropped at the Conrad Black trial. There are a series of benefits that result to Conrad Black’s defence from the explosive testimony of Sukonick. The first is that he is clearly not a partisan or advocate for the defence and therefore his important concession will ring truer for the jury. Secondly, it severely undermines the upcoming testimony of the prosecution’s central witness, David Radler, who is anticipated to tell the jury that he and Conrad Black hatched a bogus scheme to pay themselves bonuses cloaked as non-compete payments. Thirdly, it provides the beginning of a safety net for Conrad Black in the event he chooses not to testify. It leaves the door ajar for Greenspan and Genson to argue to the jury at the end of the case that there was simply no case for their client to answer. And finally, it develops a credible claim that if the non-compete payments were not always spelled out in various corporate filings and reports, it was the result of Torys’ failure either to advise the company executives to disclose them or indeed urging them against it. Someone wake me up when David Radler takes the stand and again 5 minutes before the jury pronounces its verdict.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:30 PM
Canada's Ralph Nader
During the question and answer with reporters after today's big Elizabeth May/Stéphane Dion announcement, May cited that she didn't want to be known as "Canada's Ralph Nader" as one of the reasons for this move. She can't do anything that would possibly help elected another Stephen Harper government, she said.
I suspect she's telling the truth here, although I have no idea how this non-agression pact will help achieve that goal. She knows she won't beat Peter Mackay in Central Nova. Stéphane Dion will never lose in St. Laurent-Cartierville. I'm puzzled.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 4:29 PM
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Thursday evening musings
- Kurt Vonnegut, despite his political leanings, was one of my favourite writers. Harrison Bergeron, which we read in high school English, had a profound political impact on me. It is my favourite short story, ever. That wonderful first sentence: "The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal." RIP.
- On Elizabeth May and Stéphane Dion: Wow. As I wrote yesterday, it is hard to believe this is the party that was until two years ago the most impressive political machine in the free world. This is absolutely amazing. Any historians out there? If so, I'd like to know if this has ever happened in Canadian political history. I doubt it, which would make it unpredecented. What does this say about Dion? Actually, what does this say about May? Are Green Party supporters behind this? I'd be ticked, especially if I were a candidate, because she just endorsed the Liberals to form government.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:31 PM
Ho hum
Live from Chicago, the latest Steven Skurka update:
Today marked the first time that Greenspan rose and openly took issue with a prosecutor’s tactics. “The door just can’t open every time someone says something,” an animated Greenspan declared after the prosecution sought to expand their re-direct examination of Fred Creasey. The momentum continued with Greenspan’s questions of the witness. “Is there a book that lists where accountants can round up or down?”, Greenspan asked, eliciting laughter from some of the jurors. Creasey agreed that in 2003, the audit committee of Hollinger adopted a policy that Conrad Black was permitted to use the corporate jet for all of his travels, (even to Bora Bora) because of lingering security and terrorism concerns. He also agreed that the cost of the Bora Bora trip billed to Conrad Black for his half share far exceeded the actual cost to Hollinger International. Bora Bora was carefully chosen by the prosecution as the cornerstone of its lifestyle fraud allegation against Black and by the end of Eddie Greenspan’s probing questions, it had been eviscerated.
Getting pretty predictable, isn't it?
UPDATE: Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman business school at U of T:
So who should be on trial for fraud? Should it be the board that approved the non-compete agreements? The lawyers that vetted them? The accountants that blessed the disclosure of them? The regulators, like the SEC, in whose required filings the agreements were fully laid out? Nope. None of them. They may all have been fairly pathetic and useless, but they were hardly perpetrators of fraud. The real fraud artists are the governance theorists who have spent decades trying to convince gullible shareholders that, in combination, boards, lawyers, accountants and security regulators can and will protect them from badly behaved executives. This is, plain and simply, a myth.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:10 AM
A vote grab? Horrible idea? Desperation? All three?
It's official -- the Dion Liberals have lost it:
Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre is calling on the federal government to build a Canadian Forces base for native soldiers."I think that we have to show sensitivity since Canada is also composed of first nations," Mr. Coderre said yesterday. "The Canadian Forces have always reflected what Canada is," he said. The base, which would be a first in Canada, would be built in the Restigouche area of northern New Brunswick. Recall that until 2004, this was the most powerful political machine in the Western world, and their perceived invincibility led some people (like me) to leave the country. Glad I came back.
(Via Daimnation.)
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:08 AM
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Blogging for DemocraticSPACE
DemocraticSPACE is looking for people in every riding in Canada to blog the next federal election. Sounds like a great project. Visit here for more.
Les bloggeurs francophones peuvent visiter ici, ils cherchent des bénévoles pour toutes les circonscriptions au pays.
And on Belinda: nothing to add.
UPDATE: The Calgary Herald's Nigel Hannaford claims polling showed Stronach was in danger of losing the seat.
UPDATE II: Lisez Vincent Geloso.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:26 PM
Monday, April 09, 2007
Vimy @ 90
I'm sure there will be many articles in the papers tomorrow about the wonderful service today at Vimy Ridge. It was moving for many reasons, not the least of which was the amazing turnout of Canadian students who made the pilgrimage to mark this important historical event.
What was most special for me was seeing how much the war veterans present appreciated this day. You could see it in their faces. The speeches by the Prime Minister and Queen Elizabeth were terrific.
It was a great day for Canada and patriotism. My great-grandfather was a Vimy veteran, and rarely have I felt such a deep sense of pride.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:44 PM
Sunday, April 08, 2007
One last Québec election post
I think the tendency since last week's Quebec election has been to over-analyze. Take some of these pieces.
Here is a quick primer (not necessarily based on what's found in the above-linked articles) with info people outside Quebec ought to know and which tries to shed light on some of the misconceptions I've heard:
FALSE: The third place finish of the Parti Québécois means sovereignty is dying.
The dream of an independent French-speaking country will never totally die.
MAY BE TRUE: The third place finish of the Parti Québécois means that party is dying.
If it doesn't wake up and find a way to connect with francophones outside Montreal, it could perish. Its leadership is totally out-of-synch with the political views of rural francophone Québec -- the sovereignist heartland. So far the PQ appears to be in denial and is showing no signs of doing the full-scale soul-search it needs to do.
FALSE: Mario Dumont and the ADQ are a federalist party.
The ADQ wants Québec to be "autonomous" within Canada, borrowing a line used by Maurice Duplessis. Many of the party's key people -- including Mario Dumont himself -- don't care about the rest of Canada.
FALSE: People who voted ADQ don't want Québec to become an independent country.
Some don't, but many do. The ADQ has in recent years become a home for non-socialist separatist voters -- ie., those outside Montreal and in the regions outlying Québec City.
MAY BE TRUE: The rise of the ADQ means conservatism is making headway in Quebec.
One election result does not make a trend. It makes an abberation. If these results continue for two or more elections, then we're onto something. This time I believe the ADQ's strong finish was the result of a host of circumstances mixed together in a stew, including André Boisclair's personal issues (he's gay and snorted cocaine while a Cabinet minister), a strong dislike of Jean Charest, the broken promises of the last government and a backlash -- stirred up in no small part by Dumont -- against ethnic minorities.
FALSE: The ADQ is an ideologically conservative party.
The ADQ cannot be easily placed on the left-right spectrum. It is basically a populist party that pushes the hot buttons, as we saw in this election. The views of its members are all over the map, from strong fiscal conservative-libertarians (many can be found in the youth wing) to outright leftist-socialists. There are strong federalists and strong sovereignists. There are many hard-core environmentalists in the party. Some ADQers are totally unideological and just like the idea of a third party. In short, there is no coherence amongst its membership base. However, it is noteworthy that the ADQ ran on a platform of openly advocating two-tier healthcare and abolishing school boards.
FALSE: The strong ADQ result shows there is a "new" bloc of conservative-minded voters emerging in Québec.
As recently explained by Conrad Black, this base of voters was always there. It's the old bleu voters who traditionally supported the old Union Nationale and Social Credit. They have been at best taken for granted and at worst ignored for years by the PQ and Liberals and they are now biting back.
TRUE: These results are good for Stephen Harper.
The ridings picked up by the ADQ mirror the ridings being targted by the Conservatives federally, and they can count on a lot of ADQers to help them when the time comes. Anyone claiming that Harper is weaker because he so obviously tried to help Charest and Charest faltered is out to lunch.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:05 PM
Friday, April 06, 2007
The trial that didn't bark
Steven Skurka's latest from Chicago:
Speaking of people dedicated to their work, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald observed some of the court proceedeings this morning. He spent almost the entire time scribbling notes on an unrelated matter and seemed to be an uninterested spectator. During the break, he was chuckling with the lead prosecutor in the case, Eric Sussman. I doubt they were amused by the testimony in the courtroom. Despite some 35 hours and five separate meetings preparing their witness, Creasy was evasive and appeared selectively forgetful during cross-examination. I learned that the defence began to call him “Queezy”. On some of the SEC documents he was described as the principle accounting officer but Creasy’s better title would have been principle unaccountable officer. For someone who acknowledged his primary role at Hollinger was the co-ordination of financial reporting, he assumed very liittle responsibility when he testified. Today was a groundbreaking day at the Conrad Black trial. The jury was exposed to the incontrovertible fact that the non-compete payments to Conrad Black and certain executives were disclosed to lawyers from the leading law firm of Tory’s, a team of auditors from an international accounting firm KPMG, and an audit committe at Hollinger International that included Richard Burt, James Thompson (the chair), and Josee-Marie Kravis. The non-compete payments that were plainly disclosed in various public filings and financial statements included $80 million advanced in the CanWest sale and over $15 million in connection with the sales of American community newspapers in 2000. When Patrick Tuite, Jack Boultbee’s attorney, suggested that former governor Thompson was a very tall individual (and therefore less easily intimidated), the diminutive trial judge interrupted and jokingly said: “Don’t start talking about height.” In contrast to the conspiracy of silence surrounding the non-competes promised by the prosecution in its opening, the payments were disclosed and approved. Following a Hollinger Inc. audit committe meeting held on March 2, 2002, a KPMG Report noted that “all such [non-compete] payments had been approved by an independent committee of the Board of Hollinger International and the Auditors had reviewed the relevant Minutes of the independent committee and were satisfied.” Conrad Black appreciated that the defence was scoring points. At one point, he glanced back and smiled at his daughter who grinned broadly. Document after document was shown to the jury with the eleven magic words: “The company’s independent directors have approved the terms of these payments.” This is the heart of the defence of Conrad Black and next week the parade of outside professionals begins with the lawyers from Tory’s (Darren Sukonick and Beth DeMerchant) and the New York law firm of Cravath set to testify.
So far as I can tell, the only things the prosecution has been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt are that Conrad Black was a shrewd businessman who played by the rules and made shareholders a lot of money.
UPDATE: Mark Steyn has the straight facts on Black's much-discussed "vacation" to Bora Bora.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:44 PM
Thursday, April 05, 2007
A questionable termination
News spread quickly around conservative circles yesterday that Gerry Nicholls had been fired by the National Citizens' Coalition after 22 years of service:
Gerry's decided that he wants to move on to do different things," said Peter Coleman, the organization's president, who will take over many of Mr. Nicholls's communications tasks. But Mr. Nicholls, who was at the NCC for 22 years, takes a different view. "They fired me. I didn't decide to leave and go on to something else. If I did, I would have a job right now," he said. He would not divulge the reasons given for his termination, saying he was concerned about jeopardizing future legal claims he may have against his former employer. Curious gap in the two sides' stories here, isn't there? I have known Gerry since I was a student at Queen's and can say without a doubt that he would never leave the NCC on his volition and even if he did, he would not lie about it. I communicated with him yesterday and he was devastated.
So the question is: why was he fired? Was it because he criticized Harper? I don't know, and Gerry won't talk about it.
What I do know is that if it indeed was due to Gerry's recent comments, it would be a sad day for conservatism in Canada. It is imperative that the conservative movement and the Conservative party be two distinct entities. The movement's job is to hold the party to account and to pressure it to act conservatively. That's what Gerry did and should do.
As news of this story broke I was reminded of an article written by Tom Flanagan a couple of years ago about the need for Canadian conservative thinkers and the party to develop a more "mature relationship." I somehow don't think this is what he meant by that.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:16 AM
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Unjustifiable
Yesterday was a bad day for Canada's New Government:
Ottawa is investing $900 million in Canada's aerospace sector over the next five years, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier announced Monday. "Canada's new government has launched a new initiative for the defence and aerospace industry. It involves research and development and is intended to promote excellence and innovation in Canadian aerospace and defence industries," Bernier said in French. "Through this initiative, contributions will be made to fund research and development strategic projects undertaken by major players in those industries in Canada," he added. The Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative will be administered by Industry Canada's Industrial Technologies Office (ITO). The initiative is expected to invest nearly $900 million over the next five years, with funding to reach a maximum of $225 million per year, in support of Canada's aerospace, defence, security and space industries. This is not something a Conservative government ought to be doing, regardless of the potential electoral benefits. Because it's just wrong.
UPDATE: The disappointment file is growing.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:46 AM
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Tommy Thompson for President
I'm still trying to figure out if this is an April Fool's joke.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 4:24 PM
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