ExpatPundit

2005-06-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

And I always thought I was an ordinary American One final question from the Pew Global Research Survey:Q.42: "I will now read a list of groups. Which one do you think has the most influence on American policy toward other countries?"The list:News MediaBusiness CorporationsJewsChristian ConservativesMilitaryLiberalsOrdinary AmericansSadly, in only two countries did a majority of respondents peg

2005-06-24T21:05:00.000-04:00

Other tidbits from that Pew global survey. By now you've seen themedia overviews of the results of the Pew Global Attitudes Survey. (Horrors, the U.S. is disliked by Europeans and others.) Here are some of the details you may not have seen:Q10: "Did the January elections in Iraq lead you to have a more favorable or less favorable opinion of the U.S.?Canada: 44% more favorable, 38% less

2005-06-24T15:48:00.000-04:00

Must...stay...calm... Pay no attention to that Canadian smugness... Cool blue ocean! Cool blue ocean! Cool blue ocean!

2005-06-24T11:42:00.000-04:00

Getting very angry... Scandal after scandal by the Federal government here, yet Canadians continue to crow about the superiority of their government to that of the infernal U.S.

2005-06-24T11:41:00.000-04:00

Getting angry... Many stupid and annoying Canadianisms going on these days...

2004-01-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

Experience authentique. For authentic travel in France.

2004-01-16T15:30:00.000-05:00

Want a tascot tie? Here is the tascot site!

2003-12-01T16:20:00.000-05:00

Tascots! Get your tascots here!

2003-11-29T19:24:00.000-05:00

Tascot is the brand of tie that is worth buying.

2003-11-27T22:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2003-11-25T17:06:00.000-05:00

Great for the holidays.

2003-05-16T16:56:00.000-04:00

ascot-tay ies-tay -- buy 'em!

2002-07-24T12:58:00.000-04:00

All good things... Work, family, and other interests beckon, and I can't do justice to this site for the near future. Too bad, because there are a lot of things I'd love to post about: the Pope's current visit to Toronto; more leaks found in the used submarines that Canada bought from Britain; additional twists in the Chretien-Martin power struggle; further weaseling Canadian behavior regarding

2002-07-15T10:53:00.000-04:00

ArabNews jumps on the anti-Arafat bandwagon. Remember all the complaints about Bush's speech four weeks ago? How dare he publicly denounce Arafat? How could he call for a new Palestinian leadership? Why, that would just get the Arab world to rally around Arafat! Mark Steyn picked apart such whimperings last week, noting the remarkable voicing of criticism against Arafat's rule from within the

2002-07-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

No blogging until tomorrow a.m. Not that it matters anyway, since Blogger doesn't manage to actually publish most of my posts these days.

2002-07-13T07:57:00.000-04:00

Another blow to Chretien. I still don't really understand Canadian politics, but it looks as though things are getting more uncertain for Prime Minister Chretien. Last night, "one of Jean Chrétien's key Toronto organizers from the last Liberal leadership race has turned down the Prime Minister's personal request for help and is now publicly calling for Mr. Chrétien to resign." Certainly, most

2002-07-12T17:02:00.000-04:00

Oh, so that's investigative journalism. John Pilger has an article in the New Statesman today in which he decries the lack of independence in the U.S. press. The primary motivating example: On 4 July, the front page of the Daily Mirror was as powerful as any I have known, a tabloid at its best. George W Bush was flanked by a row of Stars and Stripes, chin up, eyes misted. "Mourn on the Fourth

2002-07-12T16:33:00.000-04:00

Parenthood. It’s not for the weak. The incomparable Lileks speaks the truth again.

2002-07-12T14:14:00.000-04:00

Jim Giles is a complex fellow. I would have expected Giles to be reflexively anti-flag-burning. And I would be wrong. Giles will be speaking in front of the American Legion on July 13 to explain why he thinks they are wrong to be promoting an anti-flag-burning constitutional amendment and why the American Legion "is a money making gimmick for the bureaucrats who run it." Plus, he crashed a

2002-07-12T14:04:00.000-04:00

A Congressional candidate that Arab News can love. Fresh from printing submissions by everyone's favorite Klansman, David Duke, Arab News has found a Mississippi candidate for U.S. Congress whose views fit nicely with its own. Jim Giles, renaissance man, has the following as his primary campaign platform: End the Jewish media’s control of our government by contributing to Independent candidate

2002-07-12T12:13:00.000-04:00

Is this for real? I don't usually turn to Arab News to find breaking new stories. But today the site includes a press release of a candidate for Congress in Mississippi, Jim Giles (and a link to his Web site), which includes: Rankin County, MS – Jim Giles issued the following statement today: Amazingly, America amid the perils of the new century is flying blind. If a suitcase bomb should kill

2002-07-12T09:43:00.000-04:00

More required reading from Mark Steyn. Okay, okay, I'm a day late on this, but Steyn's column, "Arafat is toast; Bush knows it," in yesterday's National Post is well worth reading twice. After concisely and entertainingly tearing down the negative Canadian-European response to Bush's speech of three weeks ago, Steyn argues: For Bush, it's a win-win situation. If the Palestinians elect the Hamas

2002-07-12T09:37:00.000-04:00

The strike is over. The provincial government passed back-to-work legislation yesterday, and services should begin again today or Monday. Naturally, this occurred less than eight hours after I loaded up my car with oodles of foul-smelling garbage and drove it to the dump. Now it's up to arbitrators to work out a compromise between the unions and the city government. The only issue on which

2002-07-12T09:26:00.000-04:00

I really don't know what to make of this. Sesame Street is about to introduce its first HIV-positive muppet.

2002-07-11T13:42:00.000-04:00

Beautiful day. Yesterday was absolutely beautiful in Toronto. I played hooky for the afternoon and spent time at home with family. The fox came back to our backyard yesterday afternoon! Still no sign of a return visit from the duck, though.

2002-07-11T11:05:00.000-04:00

Smooth move, Federal Court. Raim Shalhoub, came to Canada on a student visa two years ago. He then filed two refugee applications using fake names and subsequently used the aliases to defraud instant banking machines. Having been convicted of fraud and forgery, he served 30 days and was scheduled to be evicted from Canada. But he fought the deportation on the grounds that "he fears the

2002-07-11T10:52:00.000-04:00

Strike continues. I transported my garbage to the "temporary collection area" off of Keele Street this morning around 9am. No wait. No picketers (although I think I saw some signs leaning against a nearby fence, perhaps for use during the busier hours). Very polite people helped me unload the cans from my car. All in all, a low-stress event. In the meantime, the provincial government was

2002-07-10T11:01:00.000-04:00

Like a rocket! Canadian dollar = 66.13 cents at end of trading yesterday, up 0.47 cents.

2002-07-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

Wish me luck and safety! Tomorrow morning I am going to try to brave the picket lines to drop my garbageb at the garbage dump. A neighbor says that the people at the Keele Street dump were extremely hostile when he delivered his yesterday, so that's naturally the dump I want to go to as well. In the meantime, it looks as though the province is about to reconvene to order the strikers back to

2002-07-08T16:35:00.000-04:00

Just practicing. Just getting those vocal chords ready for the big day: Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye. Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye. Listen to me now He's never near you to comfort and cheer you When all those sad tears are fallin' baby from your eyes He might be thrillin' baby but a-my love (my love, my love) So dog-gone willin' So kiss him (I wanna see

2002-07-08T10:02:00.000-04:00

This is very depressing. This is one of the most depressing articles I have read in a long time. Apparently, today's fruits and vegetables have only a fraction of the vitamins of those of fifty years ago, at least in Canada. Remember how you should eat broccoli because it's a great source of calcium? Not any more. Broccoli has lost almost two-thirds of its calcium. The potato has lost 100%

2002-07-08T09:51:00.000-04:00

Walk like an Egyptian. Normally, I wouldn't make much of someone's nationality. But since Professor Mona Baker of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology has chosen to attack other academics based solely on their nationality, I believe that hers becomes an issue as well. Professor Mona Baker of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology apparently

2002-07-06T22:15:00.000-04:00

Those damn Jews stiffed him. Arab News reports that money problems sparked Hesham Mohamed Hadayet's shooting spree at LAX two days ago. Specifically, that El Al was late in paying for two limousine rentals from Hadayet's company. [Add your own subtext about Jews and money here.] Incidentally, I have had payments for consulting and exec ed work delayed numerous times. And somehow I have

2002-07-06T22:09:00.000-04:00

More support for the Ledeen Doctrine. Arab News has an interesting article explaining that "Bin Laden no longer exists." Not that Bin Laden is definitely physically dead, but that he is definitely dead as a "political operator": Bin Laden is the known face of a particular brand of politics that committed suicide in New York and Washington on Sept.11, 2001, killing thousands of innocent people in

2002-07-05T23:43:00.000-04:00

Whoa, let's not jump to any conclusions. RE: the LAX shooting, in which Hesham Mohamed Hadayet carried two pistols, extra ammunition, and a six-inch knife. FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard Garcia has gone out on a limb, telling reporters: "It appears that he went there with the intention of killing people," said Garcia.

2002-07-05T23:37:00.000-04:00

Chips too smart for their own good?Today is Berkeley econ professor day, what with Carl Shapiro mentioned in the open letter below and with this op-ed piece by Hal Varian in yesterday's NYT. Varian provides an acute and accessible analysis of several concerns associated with the latest attempts to control after-purchase use of products through smart chips. The most likely downside? A stifling

2002-07-05T21:38:00.000-04:00

When economists get mad. Many thanks to Jane Galt for linking to this open letter from Kenneth Rogoff to Joe Stiglitz, responding to Stiglitz's new book criticizing the World Bank and the IMF. It turns out that not only is Rogoff an awesome economist, he's also a master of elegant insult. [Memo to self: ask Carl Shapiro sometime about the purported three-way conversation cited in the letter.]

2002-07-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

David Suzuki, meet your nemesis. If Pejman Yousefzadeh aspires to be the anti-Chomsky, then David Janes must be the anti-Suzuki. He has a marvelous deconstruction of the excitable environmentalist's most recent highly agitated article. One quibble: David (Janes, that is) writes that corporations "do advance the public good (cf. Adam Smith)." Actually, Smith was pretty critical of large

2002-07-05T20:15:00.000-04:00

Just how fragile is Blogger? I've been trying to post today's posts since 9 this morning. What gives, Blogger?

2002-07-05T09:31:00.000-04:00

Religion of peace update. Another bomb killed 30 civilians in an Algiers marketplace, bringing the number killed in Algeria since 1992 up to more than 120,000.

2002-07-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

Maybe they can keep him? Bon vivant and gentleman about town Louis Farrakhan is in Lebanon as part of his "fight the Zionist lobby" campaign tour through the Middle East. He has recently met with Syrian President Bashir Assad. Wouldn't it be nice if he just stayed there; I'm sure he has a lot more in common with Assad than with 99.5% of Americans. [UPDATE: Now he's in Iraq, hoping to meet

2002-07-05T09:21:00.000-04:00

LAX. So the LAX shooter is an Egyptian immigrant. If history is any guide, our allies the Egyptians will soon reject the U.S. report that he is to blame, and will instead blame "mechanical failures."

2002-07-04T22:50:00.000-04:00

Stinking garbage, smelly strikers. Toronto, "the city that works," is in the midst of the largest municipal strike in its history. I'd say it's a crippling strike, but frankly it doesn't affect me all that much. Garbage is piling up, the grass isn't being mown in the parks, city parking lots lay idle because the workers aren't there to take money and stick those little cardboard tags under the

2002-07-04T22:29:00.000-04:00

Losing ground on another dimension. "Canada Losing to U.S. in Baby Race."

2002-07-04T22:18:00.000-04:00

Professors professing, take 2. (via Andrew Sullivan) Dana Cloud, associate professor of communication studies at the University of Texas, no doubt had a lot of important things to do yesterday. But he/she made sure to set aside time to pen a rewrite of the Pledge of Allegiance and submit it to the UT newspaper. An excerpt: I pledge allegiance to all the ordinary people around the world...the

2002-07-04T22:11:00.000-04:00

Professors professing, take 1. Of course, not all occupants of Canada are as excited about the U.S. or its birthday as I am. In a letter to the editor that reminds us that it is better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to speak and confirm it, Donald Grayston opines: Your editorial about American resistance to the ICC's jurisdiction is compelling as far as it goes, but it doesn't go

2002-07-04T21:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, America! Belated birthday wishes for what is obviously the greatest nation on Earth. I've lived all over the world -- specifically, in the U.S. and in Canada -- and based on my vast experience I can conclusively state that this is an objective fact.

2002-07-04T21:57:00.000-04:00

And so we wait... I was all set to gloat about a terrorism-free July 4th, but earlier today a man shot and killed two people at the El Al ticket counter at LAX before he was himself killed. I've been checking the news Web sites repeatedly, but no info yet on the name of the attacker or the possible motive. It's hard to imagine that something like this occurring on July 4th, involving El Al,

2002-06-28T10:17:00.000-04:00

Light blogging today! A paper deadline looms. I may post a bit very late tonight. In the meantime, check out those links to the left!

2002-06-27T10:32:00.000-04:00

Where's Amnesty International? Expat in Japan John Monasch forwards this article on Japan's attempt to execute Tomomitsu Niimi, a "key player" in the Aum Shinrikyo cult. He asks, "for the people that are against [capital punishment], where are they now and why aren't they protesting and condemning Japan for it's 'barbarism'? Haven't seen anything on Amnesty International's site yet, just stuff

2002-06-26T10:28:00.000-04:00

Do as Spain says, not as it does. Buried in this article about the general chorus of sclerotic EUrocracy naysaying re: Bush's giving up on Arafat, I noted the remarks of Spain's Javier Solana: Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign-policy chief who will be at the G8 summit, said, "you know that for us, the elected leaders are the elected leaders." Particularly ironic, given this other

2002-06-26T10:24:00.000-04:00

Pamela Wallin to be consul-general. Prime Minister Chretien yesterday named Pamela Wallin, "one of Canada's most prominent television journalists," to be consul-general in New York. [Wallin] was co-host of CTV's Canada AM, and briefly, CBC's ill-fated Prime Time News, and she was host of the Canadian edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Currently, she is host of Pamela Wallin's Talk TV,

2002-06-26T10:21:00.000-04:00

Breaking News: Protesters shoot selves in foot! Demonstrating a never-ending capacity for presenting themselves in as unflattering a light as possible, leaders of several protest groups at the G8 summit have announced that vandalism is an appropriate tactic of protest: Representatives speaking for an umbrella group of individuals protesting against the meeting of Group of Eight leaders in

2002-06-26T10:11:00.000-04:00

Ibbitson hits the trifecta! John Ibbitson extends his obtuse reporting streak to three straight days with his article today, "Bush's speech well received by crucial U.S. audience": Whatever the implications of Mr. Bush's speech for peace in the Middle East, it was a triumph of domestic politics. Broadly supported by the American public, the speech thrilled the pro-Israeli Christian right, a

2002-06-25T22:06:00.000-04:00

Another proportionate answer! After a mere 9 weeks, I have heard back from Bill Graham's office! Much like the response from the Council of Europe, his response is polite, calm, and totally unresponsive to my question. And it took him six weeks longer to respond. Just to recap, I wrote to several people who criticized Israel's March/April military campaign as a "disproportionate response," and

2002-06-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

Asked and answered. Two stories from the Globe and Mail today, both about the G-8 summit: p.1: "Will the Mideast ruin Chretien's African agenda?" p.5: "Mideast plan not expected to derail agenda."

2002-06-25T21:49:00.000-04:00

Amazon.ca is here! Let's see the Canadian retail booksellers fight this. Chapters and Indigo Books, two huge chains in Canada, successfully prevented U.S. firms from coming over the border in recent years, successfully persuading politicos such as Sheila Copps that having U.S.-headquartered chains enter the market would somehow restrict the availability of books by Canadian authors. Now

2002-06-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

Free Trade, but not for milk or airplanes. Not much news today about those U.S. hypocrites who are blocking free trade of Canadian lumber. Oh, but there is this article: "WTO to hear Brazil dispute": The World Trade Organization decided yesterday to set up an arbitration panel to handle Brazil's request that it impose retaliatory sanctions against Canada in the latest round of a long and

2002-06-25T21:37:00.000-04:00

And exactly how did they stall? Another gem from Reuters, in an article ostensibly about a new, improved Israeli tank: Israel's crushing military response to the Palestinian revolt, which erupted in September 2000 after peace talks stalled, have drawn international condemnation and talk of possible sanctions by European suppliers of arms components. [emphasis added] So Barak offers practically

2002-06-25T21:32:00.000-04:00

Quick and dirty roundup. Too much going on outside of the blogosphere today, so I'll just do some quick posts with little commentary. Besides, I'm pretty ticked off that nobody has bothered to link to my timely "Bush speech" anagram from yesterday. 1. John Ibbitson goes two-for-two. One day after his lame whinging about the U.S. and capital punishment, Ibbitson writes a front-page story

2002-06-24T23:07:00.000-04:00

Anagram of the day. MONDAY: BUSH'S SPEECH TO OUR YASIR ARAFAT = USA SAYS: “PROUD HABIT OF TREACHERY? NO MAS.”

2002-06-24T22:47:00.000-04:00

Sign of the apocalypse? I am living in a bizzaro world where Heather Mallick speaks pearls of wisdom and John Ibbitson foams at the mouth. What gives? Both Mallick and Ibbotson write about the recent Supreme Court decision that deems the execution of mentally retarded criminals as unconstitutional. in her Saturday column, Mallick assembles 800 thoughtful words without even calling any of the

2002-06-24T21:49:00.000-04:00

CNN atoning for its sins? From an article posted today (thanks to Matthew Sheren): If you go to a baseball or soccer game tonight and look around, and say, half the stadium is filled, you'll see about 25,000 other fans. If you were living in Israel, it is likely that one of you would be killed in a terrorist attack in the next six months.... One of every 26,392 Israelis has been killed in a

2002-06-24T21:39:00.000-04:00

Match the newspaper to the headline. Here are the on-line headlines as of 9:30pm regarding Bush's speech today. 1. "Bush calls for new Palestinian leadership" 2. "Bush Demands Arafat's Ouster Before U.S. Backs a New State" 3. "Bush says Arafat must go" 4. "Bush Urges Palestinians To Elect New Leadership" 5. "Call For New Leaders" 6. "Bush speech disappoints Arab world" 7. "Bush fails to give

2002-06-23T22:08:00.000-04:00

Weekend at Bernie's III? (Alternate heading: What a weekend to be away, take 2) Al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith today claimed that Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders are still alive, and boy are they mad: Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network -- which broadcast the message -- said it received the tape from Abu Ghaith, who said bin Laden soon will appear on television.

2002-06-23T21:59:00.000-04:00

Let me sleep on it...for about two years. (Alternate heading: What a weekend to be away, take 1.) After 18 months of deliberation, Chairman/General/Gentleman-and-Scholar Yasir Arafat has decided that he is willing to graciously accept the Clinton/Barak plan of late 2000. Ah, late 2000.... That hot new tune, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" by the Baja Men was number 5 on the charts. And we sang

2002-06-21T06:53:00.000-04:00

Shuffling off to Buffalo. Back on Sunday night. Enjoy the weekend!

2002-06-20T08:55:00.000-04:00

Who writes these headlines? Do the Globe and Mail foreign correspondents write their own headlines, or is there some boneheaded editor in Toronto who writes gems like this: "Israeli Stand May Hinder Peace." Apparently, those suicide bombs are a bit of a curveball, but it's the Israeli response that really makes peace impossible. I noted about a month ago that Paul Korning's usually excellent

2002-06-20T08:49:00.000-04:00

??? It would be good to know how credible this statement is: The Palestinian Authority has retreated from the language calling for the right of return for refugees -- one of the most contentious issues holding up a Middle East peace deal -- and is making other major concessions on peace with Israel in a two-page document sent to the United States, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. It would

2002-06-20T08:04:00.000-04:00

Another suicide bombing yesterday. The same day, as Damian Penny points out, that the EU voted to reinstate funding of the PA. There's no evidence that any of the EU's money goes to fund proscribed activities, you see. After Arafat issued another call to stop these attacks, primarily because they would provide a pretext for "full Israeli occupation of our lands": The Islamic militant group

2002-06-19T10:55:00.000-04:00

What a tool. Tim Cooper is a Canadian expat living in Texas. Today he has a piece in the Globe and Mail on life near San Antonio. For Tim, the U.S. divides everything into "Us" and "Them," be it poor vs. rich (pre-September 11) or jingoistic chauvinists vs. open-minded people such as Tim Cooper (post-September 11): Since Sept. 11, security -- or, at least, the illusion of security -- has

2002-06-19T07:30:00.000-04:00

Why the heck is this "Five Axiomatic Propositions" thing now so big? <---- For no apparent reason, this one bit of my site has nearly doubled in font size. I have no idea how to fix it. Please email me if you do. Thanks! [UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive! Kyle McCrindle emailed me the code that I inadvertently erased (or that Blogger.com lost). Thanks Kyle!]

2002-06-19T07:11:00.000-04:00

Laurence Simon writes about the most recent horrific terror attack on Israeli civilians far better than I could. It's impossible for me to imagine what the Palestinian extremists expect to gain from this. You'd think that they would notice that Israel has a consistent 54-year history of fighting back -- and winning decisively -- when provoked beyond endurance. Israel will not sit idly by while

2002-06-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

Who next -- Jenna? Peter Ross emailed me to point out that our weaselly President is now sending out his wife to make policy statements: U.S. first lady Laura Bush, who rarely comments on foreign policies, told American Urban Radio Networks, "I don't know that a fence will be some long-lasting sign of peace." Perhaps I can explain to Mrs. Bush. 1) The Arab world misinterpreted Israel's

2002-06-17T23:50:00.000-04:00

He almost makes Jane Fonda seem reasonable. Ted Turner gave an interview to the Guardian today in which he accuses Israel of engaging in torrorism against the Palestinians: "The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists?

2002-06-17T07:53:00.000-04:00

The myth of legitimacy. Isaac Meyers has pointed me toward an excellent, if depressing, article on "Yasser Arafat and the Myth of Legitimacy." Since the Palestinian Authority launched a war of terror against Israel nearly two years ago, many observers have grown increasingly skeptical of the ability of its chairman, Yasser Arafat, to lead Palestinian Arabs to a peaceful resolution of their

2002-06-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

Secrets of the DoDo. Since Oxblog is on a brief hiatus, allow me to ask "what's with Maureen Dowd's column today?" Titled "Secrets of the Yo-Yos," it seems to be an attempt to slam Karl Rove for...well, for something, but it's hard to figure out what. First, there are the largely incomprehensible bits of name-calling: But now, tragically, we discover you're just another PowerPoint pinhead

2002-06-16T09:33:00.000-04:00

More info on al Queda from Morocco authorities. The three al Qaeda operatives arrested in Morocco appear to be providing additional insight into al Qaeda's post-Afghanistan strategy: Besieged by U.S. and allied forces in December in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden commanded his fighters to disperse across the globe to attack "American and Jewish interests," according to

2002-06-15T22:20:00.000-04:00

CLC -- Cabal of Lunatic Complainers? For the Canadian Labour Congress, Gaza + West Bank = South African Apartheid: The Canadian Labour Congress endorsed a prescription for peace in the Middle East yesterday, backed up by a controversial statement that compares Gaza and the West Bank to South Africa under apartheid. After about 30 minutes of passionate speeches, delegates attending the CLC

2002-06-15T22:10:00.000-04:00

There's a different name for this in the decadent West. An intriguing article today: She was young and divorced, and caught Hussein's eye, so he married her -- again and again, sometimes for just a few hours, over the space of several years. The majority of Islam's Sunni sect consider it illicit sex, but Hussein, who asked not to be identified by his real name, regards the temporary marriages

2002-06-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

A step forward? General Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, the new Palestinian security chief wants to put an end to militias involved in shooting and bombing attacks on Israelis: Gen. Abdel Razak Yehiyeh...said he would first engage in dialogue with the armed groups. Yehiyeh did not say how he would proceed if his appeals go unheeded. I wish him luck. But I can't help thinking of the "Cape Feare" episode

2002-06-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

Suicide bomber in Karachi. In front of the U.S. embassy. Apparently, no Americans were killed. An attacker crashed a bomb-laden vehicle into a guard post outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, on Friday, killing himself and at least six other people and injuring 45. The massive blast incinerated a dozen cars, blew a three-metre-wide hole in the compound wall, and sent debris flying

2002-06-13T23:11:00.000-04:00

Western pollution and African drought? A soon-to-be-published study claims to have found evidence that "pollution from North America and Europe may have sparked severe droughts that crippled countries south of the Sahara desert in the 1980s." This study will no doubt be put to immediate use by the Greenpeaces of the world, but that doesn't mean that it isn't correct. It will be interesting to

2002-06-13T23:01:00.000-04:00

Wow, that was fast. Bush has decided to offer a plan for a Palestinian state, according to the NYT: President Bush indicated today in a meeting with the Saudi foreign minister that he had made up his mind to announce a plan to support the creation of a Palestinian state in order to give some immediate hope to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, officials familiar with the talks said..

2002-06-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

10K! 10K! 10K! Sometime today this site will reach a milestone. It will receive its 10,000th hit! Granted, this is piddlingly, pathetically, low compared to most of the sites that I visit (I think Pejman was crowing about 100,000 hits a couple of days ago, and Damian reached that number a while ago.) But here are my explanations: 1. Canadian exchange rate: Just as the U.S. dollar = 1.6

2002-06-12T09:07:00.000-04:00

I think Sybil is writing the Globe and Mail editorials. Less than a week ago, this newspaper opined that Arafat "is largely a spent force....Even if he wanted to halt all Palestinian violence (a large if), he has neither the moral authority nor the military muscle to do so." Today it condemns Bush for giving up "any semblance of evenhandedness by Mr. Bush in the Israel-Palestinian conflict."

2002-06-12T08:52:00.000-04:00

Fingerprint me now! Canada's Immigration Minister Denis Coderre unveiled new immigration rules yesterday. Some critics argued that these rules would make it more difficult for people to immigrate to Canada, "shutting down immigration entirely." Maybe so. But near the end of the article was this information: Also yesterday, Mr. Coderre said he personally favours placing biometric identifiers -

2002-06-12T00:23:00.000-04:00

More from the charming Kenneth Georgetti. Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, was offended by some "insinuations" in Margaret Wente's column this week. (See three postings down.) Here he is during his speech at the CLC meetings in Vancouver today, expressing himself in the sort of kind, inoffensive manner that he wishes would pervade political discourse in Canada today: [

2002-06-11T12:57:00.000-04:00

Oh my. And another visitor was Googling for "Montreal streetwalkers." Hmmm.

2002-06-11T12:56:00.000-04:00

Just use baking soda and a stiff toothbrush. This site just received a hit from someone using the following Google search: "teeth whitening vancouver prices."

2002-06-11T12:53:00.000-04:00

The CLC responds. Here is a letter from Kenneth Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, responding to Margaret Wente's column (which I first noted here). The letter starts off in classic non-sequitur debating style: "As president of the Canadian Labour Congress, I am offended by Margaret Wente's insinuations that the CLC is anti-Semitic." Of course, one must read way between the

2002-06-11T11:08:00.000-04:00

Free money for everyone! Canada has a larger-than-expected budget surplus again. Guess how it will be used: The Prime Minister's Office is gearing up to spend a large portion of this year's ballooning surplus on agriculture, cities, children and the environment — initiatives that will be spelled out in detail this fall, possibly in a Throne Speech, Ottawa sources say.... Last winter's budget

2002-06-11T10:59:00.000-04:00

Randall Morck on U.S. protectionism. Here is a very nice article by Randall Morck, one of the pre-eminent economists in Canada. (Hey, why hasn't he moved down to a U.S. university yet?): George W. Bush just handed American agribusinesses a gigantic subsidy to help it undercut farmers from other countries. A few weeks ago, he slapped a 30-per-cent tax on steel imports. Before that, he erected a

2002-06-11T10:55:00.000-04:00

Then it's time for him to go. The Globe and Mail has had two editorials in the last two weeks noting that Arafat can not deliver on anything even if he were to suddenly decide he wanted to. The first mention of this is no longer on the Web (as it is more than 7 days old), but it ridiculed the Israelis and the U.S. for holding Arafat responsible for the current terror campaign. And from a Globe

2002-06-10T16:07:00.000-04:00

Andrei Sakharov, Vaclav Havel, Osama bin Laden. Which of these names doesn't belong? If you guessed "Osama bin Laden," you're wrong! At least, according to Reuters, which today refers to him as a "Saudi dissident." [thanks to Charles Johnson]

2002-06-10T14:53:00.000-04:00

Well said. From Donald Kennedy's editorial in the current issue of Science magazine: Occasionally though, scientists drag politics into science by the heels, rather than the other way around. That's what's happening now, as a largely European movement urges a scientific boycott to punish Israel for its recent military actions against Palestinian cities in the West Bank. Academic boycotts, of

2002-06-10T14:39:00.000-04:00

Here's a really, really bad decision. Imagine if a government committee were to decide that people who bought one software license should be allowed to make as many copies of that software as they wanted, even if the software were protected by copyright. We would all stand up and proclaim this as damned stupid. Yet that is just what the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee has done: "

2002-06-10T14:08:00.000-04:00

More fun from the CLC. In case you were thinking that the CLC's current Israel-bashing was an anomaly, here's a blast from the past -- "A Report by the CLC Delegation to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance." Participating in the 3rd UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related

2002-06-10T13:37:00.000-04:00

CLC, the LO of Canada. Remember how we all made fun of the Norwegian Union, LO, when it condemned Israel and tried to launch a boycott of Israeli products? Margaret Wente writes about how the CLC, or Canadian Labour Congress, is rapidly trying to catch up to the Norwegians: This week, 3,000 dedicated unionists are gathering at a Canadian Labour Congress convention in Vancouver. So what's

2002-06-10T12:26:00.000-04:00

What kind of parties does Mallick go to? One other item of note from Mallick's weekly whinge: People often confide in me at parties. After one glass of merlot, they're telling me the most appalling things, including their secret racial dislikes. In fact, back in mid-January [no longer posted on the Web] Mallick regaled us with a story of a party she went to where one or more guests started