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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, December 29, 2007
The Pakistani crisis
The state of affairs in Pakistan, related to me from a friend in Lahore in a private email:
The current situation in Pakistan is absolutely shocking. There is chaos everywhere. As a nation we have hit rock bottom, we do not value our youth, we do not value our political leaders and we do not value life. It seems to me that we have become absolutely feelingless.
My friend narrowly averted death as he was eating dinner with his wife in a restaurant when riots broke out. Luckily he escaped.
It seems to me that the murder of Benazir Bhutto could be a portent for much worse to come. Benazir was far from perfect, but she was much better than most of the other options.
As we should every year at this time, let us count our blessings and give thanks for where we live, for all we have, and that we are spared the pain and crises so many people in so many areas of the world deal with on a regular basis.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:59 PM
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Two solitudes
I wonder how long it will take for the English media to pick up on this story:
Stephen Harper souhaite que la résolution qui reconnaît les Québécois comme une nation soit incluse dans la Constitution canadienne dès que « le terrain sera fertile ». Dans une entrevue exclusive accordée à La Presse, le premier ministre invite donc à se raviser ceux qui croyaient que cette résolution serait sans lendemain.
Translation: Stephen Harper hopes the resolution recognizing Québecers form a nation will be incorporated in the Canadian constitution when "the timing is right."
In the past, I have noticed it can take up to a week for the other language's media to notice an exclusive story like.
Today will be three days later, as this story was published on Dec. 24. Expect something in the Saturday Globe.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:17 AM
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Taking stock of the primaries
It's been a while since we've seen something this exciting in politics. Both the Republicans and Democrats have no clear front-runner with just days to go before the Iowa caucuses. I've noted quite a few pundits are now refusing to make predictions. Good for them, because it's totally impossible.
I will not make any predictions either, but I will say one potential scenario that I thought next-to-impossible a few months ago is a John McCain victory on the Republican side. McCain, who most people sort of like and respect but don't really love, could become a compromise between Rudy/Mitt on one side and Mike Huckabee on the other, assuming Huckabee deflates à la Howard Dean in the next few weeks. I'm not so sure he will, but the possibility is always there.
On the Democrat side, Hillary Clinton's attempts to blunt the genuineness/sincerity issue (see the ad by her mom) are so far not working. People see her as an automaton, addicted to talking points and spin. Barack Obama is the clear alternative. There is probably still some room for John Edwards to grow into the void, but it might be too late.
So much of the primary process, and politics in general, is about momentum. Huckabee and Obama both have it right now.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:08 AM
Has the race to replace Stéphane Dion begun?
Looks like it:
"The real purpose of this is to give as many people as possible the chance to participate in the most important project the Liberal party has before it right now," said organizer Senator Jerry Grafstein. That's for the party to "renew itself and refresh itself," he said.
Trudeau, who turns 36 on Christmas Day, set off a jolt of national interest and widespread leadership speculation last spring when he won the nomination to run for the federal Liberals in the Montreal riding of Papineau.
His views on the future of Canada and the party take place against a backdrop of simmering unease with current Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.
While any leadership bid by Trudeau is likely years away, some Liberals are already looking to him as a possible champion of the idea of a strong national government capable of bringing Canadians together.
I can think of a few things that could be done to "bring Canadians together," but a stronger national government isn't one of them.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:57 AM
Friday, December 14, 2007
The decline of Hillary
According to US political analyst Howard Fineman, Hillary Clinton is in danger of losing the Iowa caucuses and the ensuing first three primaries to Barack Obama:
Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign is teetering on the brink, no matter what the meaningless national horserace numbers say. The notion that she has a post-Iowa “firewall” in New Hampshire is a fantasy, and she is in danger of losing all four early contests, including Nevada and South Carolina – probably to Sen. Barack Obama, who is now, in momentum terms, the Democratic frontrunner.
This is a stunning development that many thought impossible. This news may or may not help Hillary. Her decline could continue, yes, but this shock might also jolt her hardcores into fighting harder and saving her campaign.
I had never bought into the argument that she (and Rudy for the Republicans) were the inevitable picks. Hillary's challenge of maintaining front-runner status for that long was going to be pretty formidable under any circumstances. Obama is blatantly outshining her in the area where she happens to be weakest: genuineness. The power of momentum can never be underestimated.
As for Rudy, it's a bit of the same. Mike Huckabee is coming across as a real person and the others, including Romney, seem too phony and scripted. Voters are craving real people as politicians who will give you the straight, unvarnished goods.
UPDATE (2:30pm): Huckabee now in the lead in South Carolina! Guess why:
The survey suggested that Huckabee's personality was among his strengths. In particular, he tops the list when likely GOP voters are asked to name the candidate who is most believable. The South Carolina poll showed Huckabee rocketing ahead of his GOP rivals, including the former front-runner in the state, ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:40 AM
Thursday, December 13, 2007
An article I wish I'd written
In yesterday's Ottawa Citizen, Dan Gardner makes a point I have privately been making for some time now:
I think Mr. Black's defenders are -- largely -- correct. Politics certainly had a hand in his prosecution. The tactics used against him were abusive. The punishment he will endure is grotesque. And for all this, Mr. Black can thank conservative justice policies -- the very policies promoted by his admirers and defenders, including some of his former newspapers. In that sense, Mr. Black has been -- to use an appropriately medieval phrase -- hoist by his own petard. Nothing good has come out of the Black trial. Period. A man's life has been ruined (for now), a newspaper empire destroyed, and the companies he built are now worth pennies.
But Gardner's point rings true, and count me amongst those who will think twice before advocating "tough on crime" policies in the future, especially with regard to non-violent offenses. The US justice system is dangerously out of control, and I'm not sure what -- if anything -- can be done to fix it.
As the trial showed, the prosecution failed to demonstrate Black had criminal intent. Prosecutors tried to explain this away by claiming it was a "sophisticated scheme" -- so sophisticated, it seems, it was beyond what any normal person could comprehend. What's more, there was ample reasonable doubt raised pertaining to each charge, not just the 9 of the 13 for which the jury acquitted him.
I digress.
Watching this entire tragedy has been very difficult for all who know and/or admire Conrad Black. As those who have followed the story will have observed, just about everyone who has worked for Black -- from the journalists at his newspapers to his house staff and even the receptionist at his office -- have a deep respect and admiration for and loyalty toward him. That came out in numerous TV interviews (I think of Joan Crockatt on CTVNewsnet the day of the sentencing) and in many articles published during this ordeal.
The gulf between the public perception of Conrad Black and what he is truly like in person is so great, I doubt it can ever be reconciled.
What a shame.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:39 AM
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Could Oprah sink Hillary?
Don't discount the possibility:
"The only other universally adored person coming to Iowa this December is Santa," Obama's Iowa press secretary Tommy Vietor told The Associated Press. Field assistant Prianka Sharma, 22, spent the week distributing blue priority tickets and white general admission tickets. "Everyone who comes in will get a ticket -- the number will just depend on their involvement with the campaign," she said. "Even if they are supporting other campaigns, we'll give them one." The media mogul will also lend her star power to events in Columbia, S.C. and Manchester, N.H. on Sunday. The South Carolina event was moved to an 80,000-seat university stadium after the original 18,000 tickets offered were snatched up quickly. Obama adviser Steve Hildebrand said two-thirds of the first-batch tickets went to voters who had never been identified by the campaign before. Hillary Clinton still leads the national polls by a good margin. But if Obama can pull off wins in both Iowa and New Hampshire ... you never know. Don't ever underestimate the power of momentum.
It would go down as one of modern politics' great ironies if Oprah Winfrey were to be responsible for dashing the chances of having the first U.S. woman president.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:37 PM
Thursday, December 06, 2007
I'm sorry, so sorry
More trouble for the NDP:
For the second time in less than 24 hours, the NDP has been forced to issue an abject apology for falsely smearing a political opponent. NDP House leader Libby Davies formally apologized Thursday on behalf of her party for spreading allegations that a Liberal candidate in the last federal election tried to bribe his NDP rival to drop out of the race. "The New Democratic Party admits we seriously erred in making the allegations public and in putting a young and inexperienced candidate in a position where he felt justified in making those allegations and to repeat them on some 40 occasions to media across Canada,'' Davies told the Commons.
Parliament Hill truly is a circus right now, in every respect imaginable.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 5:18 PM
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Not right-wing
I don't want to get into the liberal bias stuff right now, but this is at best a very dubious use of the term "right-wing":
VIENNA — A right-wing Austrian writer who fled to Spain after being convicted on Holocaust denial charges 15 years ago must serve his 18-month sentence, Vienna's highest court said Monday. Gerd Honsik, 67, must serve out the sentence handed down in 1992, the court said, rejecting his plea for leniency because of his age and a kidney ailment. However, the court also turned down a prosecution request to make the former fugitive serve even more time. Vienna's public prosecutor's office said Honsik still faced possible charges for alleged neo-Nazi activities carried out during his exile in Spain, which could boost his time behind bars. Honsik's views cannot be placed anywhere on the left-right political spectrum. He is an uninformed bigot.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:16 PM
Cooling it
My former boss Jonathan Kay, who has been on a tear of late, is back again with more great stuff -- this time debunking the anti-Harper/pro-Kyoto tirades of Michael Byers, a UBC academic who is barely worthy of that appellation. To debunk Byers' hysteria, Kay invokes points brought up by Bjorn Lomborg in his hot new book (no pun intended), Cool It.
I saw Lomborg give a presentation about the book on Friday in Montreal. Here's the Coles Notes version: global warming is real and it is man made. That argument is over. Yes, we should try to stop it, but Kyoto sucks as a means of doing so.
He backs up his arguments with studies and facts, noting that, for example, many fewer people will die from the cold as a result of global warming than will die from the heat, resulting in fewer net human deaths each year. Lomborg tries to ween us off the greenhouse gas-reduction obsession and offers common sense prescriptions that would do much more for humanity and the planet such as investing more in malaria nets in Africa and making solar power cheaper. As Kay notes:
Reading Byers, I shudder to imagine that this is the level of analysis that informs our nation. One hopes that the people who actually make decisions about climate change in this country — Mr. Harper and his environment minister, John Baird, spring to mind — are also finding the time to read authors like Lomborg, who actually care enough about what they’re writing about to crunch the numbers. They are the real humanitarians.
Read the whole thing.
(Via Joanne's Journey.)
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:15 AM
Monday, December 03, 2007
Loving Dragon's Den
Tonight was the season finale of Dragon's Den, the new CBC show that has would-be entrepreneurs pitching ideas to a group of millionaires, who then decide whether or not to invest in the idea. Is anyone else out there infatuated with this show other than me? I tried to catch every episode. I think it's the best program the CBC has made in a while, or maybe ever. I can't recall a CBC show that was so interesting and informative, not to mention educational. I hope it has high ratings and that it returns next year.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:06 PM
Total non-scandal
The Sun chain of newspapers, true to type, is trying to stir up outrage with a story that Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn is wasting taxpayer $ on travel. To wit:
Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn used private jets to travel between Ottawa and his riding and sent the bill to the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, which is under his responsibility, documents show. Blackburn spent almost $68,000 for 14 aircraft rentals between April and August this year, records obtained under the Access to Information Act show. Half of those flights were between the Gatineau airport and Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, Que., near the minister's riding of Jonquiere-Alma, 200 km northeast of Quebec City. Flight records indicate that Blackburn was the lone passenger on most of the flights. On three occasions, he was accompanied by his press secretary for at least part of the journey. While the House of Commons was sitting last spring, the minister flew three times to Bagotville from Gatineau on a Friday and returned by the same route the following Monday.
This is otherwise known as weekly trips from Ottawa to your home riding to serve constituent needs from Friday-Monday, which is something MPs are supposed to do. The job is rendered even more difficult for cabinet ministers like Blackburn, who have a lot of additional responsibilities.
I acknowledge that at first glance, this might seem scandalous. But sorry, there aren't many convenient or inexpensive ways to get to Alma from Ottawa. (Or Nunavut -- ask MP Nancy Keratak-Lindell, who regularly tops the annual list of most taxpayer dollars spent on travel.) I have never met Blackburn and have no particular reason to defend him, but I have developed a better understanding of and appreciation for the price of travel to remote Canadian regions in the last few years.
Get over it, folks, it's a huge country and travel isn't easy.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:42 AM
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