the blue revolution

New Year, New Blog

2005-01-01T04:36:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! To commerate the occasion, I'm moving: with the new year comes a new weblog, Plum Blossoms. It's still under construction, and I don't have all the affiliation links up yet, but I'm proud to be the owner of a domain name and looking forward to this new project, which will combine my political rants with my old personal web diary.

Webmasters: please either change your existing links to this site to the new blog, or just add a new one (the old content will probably remain here until the Earth spirals into the Sun). And if you don't have a link, now's a good time to start. ;)

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Don't Mix TV and Politics

2004-12-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, you've just got to park the politics at the door. Otherwise, you'd just be driven to be as mad as the other people.

Take television. I love television. I don't buy the so-con "corrupting our children" stuff too much (it might do that, but decent parenting should make this a ~~non-issue~~ lesser issue than it's made to be), and I buy even less the liberal "consumerist anti-people culture" bull. I watch TV and I watch it religiously.

But when you deal with either southern California or NYC, you're going to deal with liberals. Crazy liberals, the ones that believe the world revolve around them. Take my favourite shows, The O.C. and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Three of four of the young stars of The O.C. were visible Kerry supporters: Benjamin McKenzie, Adam Brody, and Rachel Bilson. I'm don't know about the (relatively) old actors like Peter Gallagher, Kelly Rowan and Tate Donovan, but the lack of information speaks higher for them than the more visible political affiliations of the aforementioned younger actors. And thankfully, it appears that Mischa Barton is much too glamourous to get politically active.

But The O.C. is nothing compared to L&O: CI, which is essentially the one-man show of Vincent D'Onofrio. This would be fine, if he wasn't (supposedly) losing it since Kerry lost the election. This sort of behaviour, of course, is the sort that really makes me shake my head. Look, I love CI, but there's no way that you can produce a show with an actual lunatic as the lead.

I suppose it could be worse: I could live in France, where most of the news media is shipping in bull by the truckload and tempting our minds with beautiful newscasters.

At least she works for LCI, which, while French, doesn't appear as ridiculous as, say, Le Monde. Think of it as MSNBC en français.

So yah, park the politics at the front door before sitting in front of the boob tube. If you want to be informed, go online.

No Cure for Stupidity

2004-12-30T14:01:00.000-08:00

Look, the idea of making drugs in America, shipping them to Canada, and then buying them back to America from Canada was pretty dumb in the first place. But some people are happy to sell snake oil, so we all waste time trying to convince the happily converted that Canada is not the world's biggest source of "cheap-o-rays".

Thankfully, if there's one thing Canada is good at, it's going bananas over Americans acting in their self-interest (even if the plan doesn't actually work). The most obvious result of Americans flocking to buy sold-in-Canada, made-in-America drugs is that Canada will run out of drugs. So Ujjal Dosahjh, the Health Minister, has flatly told the US to stay out of our medicine cabinet.

Yet I wonder if the long-term ramifications of this news is actually beneficial to anyone. Drug companies may be swimming in profits, but it's profits built upon an increasingly unsustainable and socially unbeneficial foundation: imitation drugs for non-deadly conditions. You know, the drugs that are featured in all that spam you get in your mailbox these days. Instead of developing new treatments for Parkinson's and ALS, drug companies are stifled by the FDA and patent process into developing ED drugs and marginally better cold tablets.

Most drug markets in the world are heavily government regulated in pricing or profit margins. And I'm not talking about Third World countries: this is Canada and the EU and other well-off places that have similar costs of living to the US and can actually afford more expensive drugs. The result, unsurprisingly, is that the largest burden of drug costs are on Americans. A US scheme to reimport Canadian drugs, and the corresponding failure to accomplish its objectives, might cause enough of a shock to do two things:

Other developed countries would consider loosening their drug price regulations, to avoid the more dire prospect of a full out price or quantity shock from US purchases.
The failure of the reimportation scheme would finally force the FDA to review and revise its clinical trial process

Instead, we have now probably only convinced a small proportion of the pro-reimportation ostriches into realizing the folly of their scheme, while the rest of the developed world continue to get away with paying pennies for drugs at Americans' expense.

Merry Christmas

2004-12-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

A slightly late but still not actually late wish for a merry Christmas to all.

Here's Johnny

2004-12-17T01:15:00.000-08:00

I'm back to blogging now, after my last exam today. Okay, maybe not really "back", since I've been so out of the loop I don't know what to think about anything in the news now. So I'll just complain about how pathetic was the finale of The Apprentice (damn that's three hours I'll never get back), and that the third season looks even worse.

Actually, I won't write about the crappiness of the finale, 'cuz someone else (from MSNBC, no less) already did. The opinions expressed in the article are pretty much the same as my own, although I preferred Kelly more, ever since Jen's credit-stealing stunt in the Levi's catalogue task.

Well, I will miss Raj. He's the only contestant I liked in this season. And you got to love that web site of his.

Speaking of web sites, I've registered a domain name and I'll be getting a hosting plan tomorrow. The new blog will merge my political and personal blogs into one, although it'll most likely be more political than anything else. Plus I'll have some personal photo galleries and other things. But everything's going to be hush-hush until I'm done.

In The ROC

2004-12-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

Events, past and present, under this flag:
December 11, 2004: Pan-Blue parties hold their majority in the election for the 6th Legislative Yuan.
December 13: 1937: Japanese troops enter Nanjing, initiating a three month orgy of murder, rape and pillage.

Moratorium

2004-12-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the much-belated notice, but I'm not going to be blogging for a while, not until Dec. 16 at the earliest. I have six final exams, of which I have finished one as of this time. Five days of exams from yesterday to the upcoming Saturday, plus next Thursday. Yah I don't think there's much time for anything else.

I'm contemplating getting my own server and domain name. Recommendations for hosts are welcome (e-mail me; I'm still checking).

On a different note, today is the anniversary of a Day of Infamy, which brought America into the world's struggle against tyranny. Her contribution was essential to victory, and I thank those who sacrificed so much for the sake of future generations.

Orange Oblasts, Blue Oblasts

2004-12-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

J.J. McCullough has quite possibly the best attempt to bring some humour into the Ukrainian situation:

(Apologies to the anonymous Jesusland cartographer.)

There's also a more detailed and serious look at the Ukraine election results with color shading. The percentages we're dealing with here are mind-boggling. I'm not a big fan of the "purple map" because it's pretty hard for anywhere to vote near 100% for one side, so it suggests a ridiculously extreme definition of partisanship (Philip Kennicott has a WaPo article against excessive cartographical punditry in general). But it appears that the 100% scale would actually be appropriate in this case.

And here is a map of the skyrocket in voter turnout in "Stalinland" between the two rounds of voting (via Insta), circumstantial evidence of some sort of electoral fraud.

Battle of Seattle, Five Years Later

2004-11-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

It was five years ago today that latte-sipping hippies and anarchists descended upon the Emerald City, wreaking havoc and disrupting the WTO meetings there. Property was destroyed, police authority undermined, and the protestors upheld the greatest of hypocrisies by violently attempting to block the WTO meeting, which was itself a peaceful gathering.

Such vile acts of self-proclaimed "civil disobedience" has done little, except to denigate peaceful activism and overshadow serious debate. These people have done more to discredit their own arguments and radicalize political discourse than their "Bushitler" bogeyman. As a lamenting libertarian non-violent activist observed:

Network news reports, which frequently stressed how well organized the "so-called anarchists" were, showed scenes of protesters breaking windows, looting several stores, smashing up a Nike store sign, occupying one under-renovation building, setting big nighttime bonfires in the middle of the street. Television network news video shows activists throwing a bottle at a police officer standing on top of an armored vehicle; he shoots back rubber bullets. Demonstrators block an entrance and exchange blows with an Asian delegate trying to get in. Other activists throw unidentified objects at police. Networks also repeatedly showed video of the June, 1999 Eugene riot where young people jumped on passenger cars and smashed at them with chains.

The ACME Collective, an anarchist group consisting of the most extreme violent protestors, would later brag of their challenge to civil authority and direct attack on democracy:

Those attacked by federal thugs [note: in reality Seattle Police] were un-arrested by quick-thinking and organized members of the black bloc.
(Emphasis mine.)

And hey, this was back in the Clinton presidency!

The Battle of Seattle was the beginning of a strange new age, when "the people" conspired to keep regular folks from going to their jobs in the city and their "message" was sent through vandalism and destruction. Their insanity peaked in the prologue to the Iraq War, when anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism became the only two forms of "politically correct" bigotry. The question is how long will the damage from 1999 last.

Young Guns Need Live Ammo

2004-11-30T03:17:00.000-08:00

Kevin Skrepnek would like to see a formal youth wing in the Conservative Party. Being at the age of 17, I don't blame him. But I wonder whether such a move would have undesired side-effects.

In a Calgary Herald article last year, Nigel Hannaford wrote about the Conservatives' impressive young caucus (the party has the most under-30 MPs). The experiences of Saskatchewan MP Jeremy Harrison explain why the young and right might be better served without official party recognition:

For one thing, the Conservatives don't believe in sandboxes, as young conservatives derisively speak of the Liberal and NDP youth organizations. For another, the Conservatives -- unlike the Liberals -- have an open nomination process in the ridings with little interference from the party leadership. (Compared to, say, Dhalla, to whom Martin handed a safe seat uncontested, as part of his parachute dream-team.)
Harrison: "Older people in other parties push you to the youth wing. Our people say, 'Go for it, run for any position you think you can handle.' Nobody has ever said, 'You can't do this, you're not old enough.' "
He would know. Turned on to politics in his second year at the University of Alberta by Matthew Johnston, one-time executive assistant to Edmonton Conservative MP Jaffer, he has held every position in his riding association, was president of the campus Alliance club, and sat on the Alliance National Council: "Two years ago, I met Stephen Harper and he encouraged me to go after the nomination. That was a huge boost to have him give me a nod."

Free Dominion has a thread on this issue, and the general consensus is that the best way to involve youth is to let them work with the real system and not a "sandbox", as they put it.

Recalling my own volunteering on the James Moore campaign in Election 2000 (when I, too, was 17 years old), I believe that a youth wing in the Alliance would not have been much of a plus in rallying the campaign or enhancing my own experience. I worked with the campaign because I was a part of a group of young students who believed in the CA's principles, but we didn't need any guidance from above. And being able to campaign with someone that we can relate to, being not that much older than we were (seven years), was what made the campaign truly interesting. If the CA had a youth wing then, it would be a lot less likely that James would've had the experience or confidence to run as MP; yet today James is the Tories' Public Works critic.

To be fair, it's totally possible that I would've agreed with Shrepnek back in the day, and I don't think that a party youth wing is necessarily a bad thing. After all, Conservative membership is open to anyone aged 14 years or above: I imagine that it'd be easier for someone in Grade 8 to have some sort of support structure when being introduced to the party. But I don't think that it should go anywhere past federal voting age (18). Then it just gets condescending.

UPDATE (Dec 01, 09:40 AM): Turns out that we're on the same page after all. Not clear if the YesToYouth.com guys feel the same.

Buy Nothing Day 2004

2004-11-29T17:10:00.000-08:00

Last Friday was "Buy Nothing Day" (via Insta). In the spirit, I purchased three books and declared the official start to the Xmas shopping season. And to really spite the Lefties, one book is John Lewis Gaddis' Surprise, Security and the American Experience, while another is Niall Ferguson's Colossus. The third, Without A Map, is an academic book on Russian economic reform that I bought for class.

Stupid's Bad Enough; Don't Be Biased About It

2004-11-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

Look, I really don't want to give much more weight to the "Arafat had AIDS" meme, simply because I think it distracts from all the vile things that he had done over the years, plus I don't really believe it. But Daniel Pipes raises a good point: if the media is going to report on crazy assassination conspiracy theories, it might as well cover another improbable cause of death.

Although I disagree that whether Yasir was HIV+ is "really on the minds of serious people", I would hope that those serious people aren't dwelling over whether this was another Mossad job or just an individual that died a much more peaceful death than he deserved.

November 29, 1947 - November 29, 2004

2004-11-29T01:09:00.000-08:00

This BlogBurst piece is cross-posted by participating websites, to commemorate a milestone in Israel's history. The list of the participating sites is appended at the end of this post.

November 29, 2004:
Anniversary of the UN vote on Resolution 181

Today is the anniversary of the UN vote on resolution 181, which approved the partition of the western part Palestine into a predominately Jewish state and a predominately Arab state. (It is vital to recall that the UN partition plan referred to western Palestine, to underscore that in 1921 the eastern part was ripped off the Jewish National Home by the British Government and handed over to the then Emir Abdullah.)

The partition plan was approved by 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions.

The 33 countries that cast the "Yes" vote were: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussia, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, Union of South Africa, USSR, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela. (Among other countries, the list includes the US, the three British Dominions, all the European countries except for Greece and the UK, but including all the Soviet-block countries.)

The 13 countries that chose the Hall of Shame and voted "No" were: Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen. (Ten of these are Moslem countries; Greece has the special distinction of being the only European country to have joined the Hall of Shame.)

The ten countries that abstained are: Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.

On November 30, 1947, the day following the vote, the Palestinian Arabs murdered six Jews in a bus making its way to Jerusalem, and proceeded to murder another Jew in the Tel-Aviv - Jaffa area. This was a prelude to a war that claimed the lives of 6,000 Jews, or 1% of the total Jewish population in 1948. This toll is the per capita equivalent of today's Canada losing 300,000 lives, or the US losing 3,000,000.

The object of the war, launched by the Arabs in the former Palestine and the armies of Egypt, Tansjordan, Syria and Lebanon (with help from other Arab countries), was to "throw the Jews into the sea". As the partition map indicates, however, rather than annihilate the Jewish population, the Arabs ended up with less territory than they would have gained by peaceful means.

In addition to the bloodshed in nascent Israel, immediately after the UN vote, Arabs attacks their Jewish neighbours in a number of Arab countries, the murders in Syria's Aleppo being the best known.

Bruised and bleeding, Israel prevailed nonetheless. May our sister-democracy thrive and flourish.

List of participating sites, in alphabetical order of site name

Anti Idiotarian Rottweiler
Arkansas Bushwacker
Armies Of Liberation
Bama Pachyderm
Biurchametz
Blimpish
Blithered
Blog Willy
Blue Rev
Canadian Comment
Cao's Blog
Catholic Friends of Israel
Christian Patriot
Christian Action for Israel
Clarity and Resolve
Crusader War College
Cuanas
Danegerus
Daniel Davis
Flig
God Pigeon
Harald Tribune
Hatshepsut

Heretics Almanac
Hidden Nook
History Nerd
IceVikings
I Love America
Instant Knowledge News
IsraPundit
Israel Commentary
JPundit
Jersusalem Posts
Leaning Right News
Letter from Israel
Lindasog
MCNS
Martinipundit
Mererhetoric
Motnews
Mugged By Reality
Mystery Achievement
Mystical Paths
Naebunny
NetWMD
Nice Jewish Boy

Peaktalk
Protect Our Heritage
Reaganesque
Red Tigress
Riteturnonly
Shimshon9
Solomonia
Spitball Defense
Supernatural
Tampa Bay Primer
Techie Vampire
Texasbug
Tex The Pontificator
The Autism homepage
The Conservative
The Homeland
The Seal Club
Wackingday
Who's Your Rabbi
Voxfelisi
Yoan Hermida
Weblog of a Wondering Jew

Wrong Message

2004-11-25T04:05:00.000-08:00

The Canadian government's timing on the return of its Ambassador to Iran is nothing short of brilliant. You can't make this stuff up.

"Operation Baghdad" Redux

2004-11-25T00:22:00.000-08:00

This might just be a local phenomenon, but the case of these two dead Mexican policemen sounds a bit too much like another case of the body-burning lynch mob.

The killings, filmed and broadcast on local television stations, were carried out by a crowd of people who cheered, chanted and shouted obscenities as they kicked and beat the agents. The mob then doused two officers with gasoline and set them ablaze.
(Mexico)
Jubilant residents dragged the charred corpses of four foreign contractors, one a woman, at least one an American through the streets Wednesday and hanged them from the bridge spanning the Euphrates River. Five American soldiers died in a roadside bombing nearby.
(Iraq)

It's not the first time that someone has noticed the "export" of Iraqi terrorist inhumanity (pro-Aristide thugs had launched a campaign of terror in Haiti called "Operation Baghdad"). But even if the police lynchings in Mexico were not directly inspired by Fallujah insurgents, the two incidents both illustrate the basic human need for legitimate authority to protect the rights of the people.

Not Really A Suspension

2004-11-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

I didn't expect diplomacy to work, but this must beat some sort of brevity record:

Iran is demanding that it be allowed to make an exception in its commitment to freeze all uranium enrichment activities so it can operate about about two dozen centrifuges, diplomats said Wednesday..
The Iranians have told the International Atomic Energy Agency — the U.N. nuclear watchdog — that they want to operate the centrifuges "for research purposes," the diplomats told The Associated Press.

The Iranians say they do it for commercial purposes, yet spend who knows how much cash on their nuclear programs when electricity-generating reactors are readily available on the market. Heck even those have been used for the wrong reasons for thirty years. Iran can get all the nuclear power it wants if the international community can see that it was an honest player, but it's not an honest player, and that induces a lot of very serious questions.

Don't Pee On My Leg And Tell Me It's Raining

2004-11-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

Oh not this again:

Though Wednesday's demonstrations went without major incident, the AMS executive and the Safety Committee will be issuing a letter to the UBC administration regarding GAP's presence on campus and the safety concerns involved in the displays, said AMS VP Administration Lyle McMahon. (italics mine)
(The article in Tuesday's Ubyssey is more detailed, and even more ridiculous. Unfortunately it's not online yet)

"Safety" is a ridiculous excuse to stifle free expression on campus. It is up to the university administration to ensure that people are not physically harmed for what they say, write or display on campus. Although this maneuver is an initiative of the student society, and not the university administration itself, it demonstrates that some students have no real sense of what the heck is university supposed to be for in the first place.

Of course, it's not the first time someone tried to restrict speech on campus under the pretense of "security." It failed then, and by Good Grace it'll fail again.

Note: I have previously been quite involved with Lifeline, but my participation has declined over the years as a general trend of disengaging from campus clubs-related activities (former ESA execs can attest to that ;D). But this isn't so much about me as about the moronic notion that some people in university should shut up for their own physical well-being.

UPDATE (Nov 25, 12:30 AM): I've read the newer article and it appears that the argument is the exact opposite: the AMS is arguing that GAP is the threat to student safety. I guess I was right when I wrote that it's more ridiculous.

While my involvement with the UBC Israel Advocacy Club (unfortunately also lower this year) has made me a front-line witness to the disapproving views of some on GAP tactics, I am disappointed that the AMS feels that it should perpetrate an already repressive atmosphere against GAP participants. I respect those who view the GAP displays as insensitive (even grossly so), but the displays are not inflammatory.

And as for the notion of restricting GAP displays to a "closed space", the proponents can take the idea and shove it.

Happy Corner

2004-11-22T18:09:00.000-08:00

As I try to ease myself back into blogging, after an unintended midterm-induced sabbatical, I'm going to start off with a light-hearted fare. This (via Simon World) is why even though it may suck to take tests, I'm still glad that I'm attending university in Canada, as opposed to Hong Kong:

Suddenly, three to four students rush over to you. They lift you up, they split your legs apart and then they slam your sexual organ right into a post or a wall corner. The name of the game is Happy Corner, and this perverted game is the method by which university students communicate and bond with each other.

Chinese readers can laugh even harder at the original campus newspaper article. Of course, the university administration isn't pleased. I don't blame them, for I dare not imagine the sort of damage this can cause.

Mainstream newspapers that have covered the phenomenon include The Sun, Ming Pao and Sing Tao (articles in Chinese).

The Iran Nuke Mess And The CIA

2004-11-16T02:11:00.000-08:00

I don't care what the Euro-troika and the mullahs have agreed to. I still don't trust the Iranian government to not go nuclear. In such a situation high on unknowns (or even "unknown unknowns," as Rummy would say), it is the job of the intelligence services to get behind what exactly is happening in Tehran. But because the CIA's such an incompetent mess in assessing the other three rogue state weapons program that's been in the spotlight in the past four years (Iraq, Libya, North Korea), we're not likely to know anything anytime soon (without, God forbid, a mushroom cloud appearing somewhere in North America). Which is why Goss' necessary reforms at the CIA is riling so many people in the agency, and why I take that as a positive sign of things there.

A Tragic End

2004-11-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

Iris Chang, author of the acclaimed Rape of Nanking, was found to had committed suicide. Her work helped bring the world's attention to Japanese wartime atrocites. May she rest in peace.

Lest We Forget

2004-11-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

A heartfelt thanks to those who served to keep us safe and free, in the past and present.

Too Much Irony Alert

2004-11-11T03:53:00.000-08:00

On CNN's Arafat special report, there is a quote at the top.

The battle for peace is the most difficult battle of our lives.

I suppose of all people, he should know.

A Public Service Announcement

2004-11-11T01:29:00.000-08:00

For Democrat partisans, the American Left, and anti-Americans in general: here is a picture of the voters that didn't go your way. One that's a lot more realistic than the portrayal by a certain British tabloid.

We start off with Michele from A Small Victory (via Belmont Club):

I voted for George Bush.
I am not a redneck.
I do not spend my days watching cars race around a track, drinking cheap beer and slapping my woman on the ass.
I am not a bible thumper. In fact, I am an atheist.
I am not a homophobe.
I am educated beyond the fifth grade. In fact, I am college educated.
I am not stupid. Not by any stretch of facts.
I do not bomb abortion clinics.
You will not be thrown in jail for the sole reason of being a liberal.
Your child's public school will not suddenly turn into a center for Christian brainwashing.
Your favorite bookstore will not turn into puritan central.
This is not Nazi Germany in any way.
You will not be forced into concentration camps.
You will not be burned in human-sized ovens because of your religion.
We will not be forced to wear uniforms and march in line every day.
You will not live in fear.
If you think this is a country in which you have to live in fear, I have some friends in Iran who would like to have a little talk with you.

Now we have the Economist's take (via Meat):

Yet there is counter-evidence. When asked directly about their attitudes to abortion, the responses this time were no different from 2000: 55% said it should be always or mostly legal. On gay marriage, 26% approved and 35% supported civil unions. So it is possible that “moral values” are not just a matter of social conservatism but also code for trust in the candidate, or respect for a man’s willingness to take a stand—where Mr Bush won easily. Mr Kerry never quite managed to persuade voters of his leadership qualities.

And I'm taking the following from the ever excellent Belmont Club, although you should also read this, this, this and this.

The recent Presidential election was neither a mandate for empire nor a signal to impose a set of values on an empirically diverse world. If it was revolutionary it was also defensive in character, but in the way of Midway and Stalindgrad; a kind of turning of the tide. The passage of the gay marriage ban in eleven states occurred in the same election that rejected the candidacy of Alan Keyes. It is not that most people wanted to thump a Bible, it was that they didn't want to be thumped at all -- least of all by a synthetic political correctness. The rejection of gay marriage cannot be understood except in relation to the social activism from the Left, any more than a Warsaw barricade can be explained by a sudden desire to pile domestic possessions in the middle of a roadway without glancing at the Panzerkampfwagen VI rattling down the street.

I feel compelled to do this because I'm starting to feel that I don't really exist in the minds of some people: I'm young, a college student, and an ethnic minority (geez all that's missing is the lesbianism). It means that it is inconceivable to some that I am calling voters to help President Bush instead of, um, moping and killing my brain cells to lament his victory.

It had seemed that some of those politically opposed to myself have, in their blind fury, abandoned all their cherished political principles. This wouldn't freak me out so much if the human shells that are left seem so unable to maintain sane dialogue, which is essential for the health of our society.

So, now that you hopefully learned something about that strange population called "Middle America" (and the 25 million Bush voters in the Blue states), there's a letter for you from Truth Laid Bear.

Ding Dong!

2004-11-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

The Witch is dead.

CNN reports that the likely US represenative to Arafat's funeral in Cairo will be Asst. Secretary of State William Burns. And even I thought it'd be Powell. Ouch.

Abandoning The Principles

2004-11-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

I think a lot of us have been staring at those red-blue maps, or purple maps (via Cosmic Log), or whatever for way too long. What I haven't noticed, though, is talk about the economic correlation between personal income and voter preference. From the exit polls (on which I still have my doubts), the numbers are pretty obvious (and standard): you're more likely to vote Bush if your income is high, and vice versa for Kerry. So it's sorta shocking that ultra-partisan Democrats are abandoning their own principles of economic equity for the sake of political gains that will probably never materialize:

Lawrence O'Donnell (I believe this is the Larry that talked on McLaughlin), said the "blue states" should over the next 20 years seriously consider seceding from the union, because the red states are welfare recipients without supporting the federal government.

And now the Democrats talk against redistributionism? I'm in awe. What's particularly interesting is that this sentiment comes from the fact that the states with higher per capita income voted Kerry, although the Bush voters are the ones with higher personal incomes. The following map shows exactly how "Kerrystan" would carve off the parts of the country with the highest per capita income (2001 data: reds and browns are rich, greens are poor).

What's more intriguing is that, when compared to the county-by-county map, the parts of the country within the red states that went for Kerry are amongst the lowest per capita income in the country, including along the Mississippi (south of Missouri and Kentucky), central New Mexico and the southern tip of Texas.

Now I'm not trying to teach Democrats how to do their job, but it would seem to me that the idea of Blue state secession is not only nutty and impossible, it represents a complete abandonment of their long-held beliefs on economic distribution in society. To borrow that overused term from the Left, it looks like economic apartheid. Now I'm not totally new to this idea of ill-thought-out calls for separation (by "blue provinces", incidentally) after electoral defeat. Thankfully, cooler heads seemed to have prevailed here in Canada as the talk died down and we bitch about health care as usual.

At least in Canada there's some history to this sort of talk. Amongst the American Left, separatist sentiments seem to have been spurred upon by nothing more than a personal hatred towards President Bush, and by inference, those who support him. While I am not terribly worried about the territorial integrity of the United States at this time, the extremely personal feelings motivating this discussion, which have overwhelmed all other sense of priorities in these people, is very unhealthy for the future of the nation. It is possible to have a rational discourse over the prevalent issues of the day. It isn't possible to debate whether the President is the spawn of Hitler and an ape.

Asking The Right Questions

2004-11-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

I think that most of those exit polled probably knew what the pollsters were getting at when they asked about "moral values." But the idea of lumping many diverse issues such as religious freedom, abortion and same-sex marriage together into some abstract category, while ignoring quite possibly the most pressing moral issue of our time, probably didn't impress them all that much. As Mark Steyn puts it:

All the above is unworthy of a serious political party. As for this exit-poll data that everyone's all excited about, what does it mean when 22 percent of the electorate say their main concern was "moral issues"? Gay marriage? Abortion? Or is it something broader? For many of us, the war is also a moral issue, and the Democrats are on the wrong side of it, standing not with the women voting proudly in Afghanistan's first election but with the amoral and corrupt U.N., the amoral and cynical Jacques Chirac, the amoral and revolting head-hackers whom Democratic Convention guest of honor Michael Moore described as Iraq's ''minutemen.''

Morality is an everyday part of our lives. It's not just a shorthand for certain hot-button issues.

Stop The Spin

2004-11-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

David Brooks (via Daimnation) and Paul Freedman (via Insta) add weight to the "It's not just moral values" meme.

The reality is that this was a broad victory for the president. Bush did better this year than he did in 2000 in 45 out of the 50 states. He did better in New York, Connecticut and, amazingly, Massachusetts. That's hardly the Bible Belt. Bush, on the other hand, did not gain significantly in the 11 states with gay marriage referendums.
(Brooks)

If the morality gap doesn't explain Bush's re-election, what does? A good part of the answer lies in the terrorism gap. Nationally, 49 percent of voters said they trusted Bush but not Kerry to handle terrorism; only 31 percent trusted Kerry but not Bush. This 18-point gap is particularly significant in that terrorism is strongly tied to vote choice: 99 percent of those who trusted only Kerry on the issue voted for him, and 97 percent of those who trusted only Bush voted for him. Terrorism was cited by 19 percent of voters as the most important issue, and these citizens gave their votes to the president by an even larger margin than morality voters: 86 percent for Bush, 14 percent for Kerry.
(Freedman)

And when even Andrew Sullivan agrees with it (via Daimnation), you know that there's a point here.

The BBC, though, still hasn't gotten the message. No surprise there. But at the end of the day, the numbers don't lie (unless, of course, the exit polls were way off, which is totally possible, but that doesn't hurt my argument):

Defining Issue	Issue share of total	Issue share to Bush	Bush's share from issue
Terrorism	19%	86%	16.34%
Moral Values	22%	80%	17.76%

One and a half measly percent, and the press is going ga-ga. Geez.

Way Too Forward-Looking

2004-11-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Perhaps it's because the Governator hasn't been in the political sphere as long, but I'm surprised at the low level of support that he has for a presidential bid in 2008. I had expected him to be the best competitor against Hillary Clinton (who I'm positive will win the Democratic nomination), but it appears that most people do not want him to run for president (yet).

As for the two who appear to be the biggest front-runners right now, I'm leaning towards Giuliani, although both are probably much more moderate than my own preferences. McCain, though, does have that annoying populist twitch about him.

But then this is way too early to be deciding on whom to support in four years. Things will probably be very different by then.

Post-Election Thoughts (US Edition)

2004-11-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

Now that the Election 2004 dust has settled, I can say some things to stir it up again.

This was not a close election.
When Bush wins Ohio by nearly 140000 votes and Florida by nearly four million, there really isn't much hope for a Kerry win. More importantly from the shut-up-Democrats point of view is the first popular vote majority since 1988 and an increase for Bush's share of the votes in 87% of all counties (from yesterday's NYTimes). Put in state terms, the result is even more staggering: here is a map, with the states where Bush's share of the popular vote increased in red (note that I didn't bother with a comparable blue map because Nader voters swinging to Kerry). With the exception of New England, most of the white states (where Bush's share fell) can probably be attributed to voter apathy in races where Bush is sure to win anyways. The electoral math wasn't working in Kerry's favour, and the popular vote total suggests a major mandate from the people.

The election was not won on the Religious Right.
Andrew Coyne has already done the numbers on this one in "Invasion of the theo-cons".

The exit polls are an inaccurate tool for predicting the winner.
Partially correct: exit polls are probably an inaccurate tool for gauging anything. The only reason why nobody disputes the other results from the exit polls is because nobody marks on their ballot sheets the reasons they vote and what ethnicity they are and so on. Which is why I actually take the "Religious Right won it" argument with a grain of salt.

And if you want to know why I haven't been as upbeat as I should be, read this Ubyssey article and you get an idea of the atmosphere here. I'm sure that I would enjoy it more but when you're physically tired and others are cranky and bitching, you're prone to get infected, but for different reasons ("Dammit, stop complaining," I said to myself.) But then again, actually reading how pathetic some of these people are has totally reversed my spirits. And what an appropriate way to start off the weekend!

Pretty Close

2004-11-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

In my prediction, I only missed Wisconsin, and that was only by a measly 11813 votes (0.4%). Not bad, I must say.

Details on my take on Election 2004 to come later (today?).

US Election Night Liveblogging

2004-11-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

23:53 PST: Gonna call it quits at Campaign HQ and watch the rest at the hotel.

22:46 PST: I took a couple of pictures of the venue a few hours ago, before the crowd built up.

22:35 PST: The WA governor's race is really tight. Here's the scene when Dino Rossi took the slimmest of leads.

22:17 PST: While I was away, Fox called AK for Bush (pretty easy call). This means that Fox has Bush at 269 electoral votes.

21:42 PST: Fox News calls Ohio for George W. Bush.

21:40 PST: 77% of all SD precincts reporting and Daschle is behind Thune by >3700 votes.

21:35 PST: In OH, Clark County is currently at Bush 51% Kerry 49%. The folks at the Guardian can officially begin kicking themselves.

21:22 PST: Fox belatedly calls FL. Still pretty tense over OH. Bush called in CO by ABC.

20:52 PST: Crowd goes wild that Daschle is lagging.

Here is Bush winning Florida:

20:39 PST: It's about time! FL goes red: Bush 237 Kerry 188 on ABC. Crowd goes berserk.

20:34 PST: Bush is ahead by 1% in WA. 6% of precincts reporting.

20:32 PST: By the way, there's no wi-fi here, but there is a table off to the side with tons of Internet connections and 8 laptops attached (including my own). Current count on Yahoo is Bush 210 Kerry 199.

20:10 PST: It's weird having the WA GOP chair talk up the crowd as "west coast blues" start coming in on the TVs behind him.

19:57 PST: Dammit Pennsylvania went blue.

19:51 PST: They just called NM AZ for Bush. =)

19:34 PST: A review of my day so far.

Left UBC with fellow Young Tories at about 10 AM.
Got to Bellevue at about 2 PM.
Reached the call centre soon after. Did last-minute get-out-the-vote calling for about two hours or so.
Left some time after 4 PM. Back to hotel room to watch some forbidden TV (in Canada).
Got to the Meydenbauer at about 10 to 7.

They just showed updated OH and FL counts and people are cheering.

I'm at the Meydenbauer Center right now, HQ for the Washington state GOP campaign night. Current count on Yahoo: Bush 192, Kerry 112.

Last Minute Wrap-Up

2004-11-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

Predictions using actual analytic means have been done so many times by so many people that I am not going to add myself to the mix. My prediction is purely based on copying an outline map into Microsoft Paint and starting to fill in the states blue and red, which essentially combines all my biases and intuitions into one fluid process.

My results: Bush/Cheney 296, Kerry/Edwards 242.

I'll be heading south of the border tomorrow to GOP HQ in WA with the UBC Young Conservatives. Speaking of the UBCYC, it appears that our site have been attracting some interesting visitors lately. My opinion is that Joel deserves to be president just to piss these guys off.

If they have Wi-Fi there (and they will, dammit!), there'll be some fun liveblogging action here tomorrow night!

Don't Know, Don't Care

2004-10-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

I really don't care if Osama is dead or alive. What matters to me is whether he is still a threat to the civilized world. Of course, he'd be less of a threat if he was splattered inside a crater or locked in a cell, but considering his major shift in objectives, I'd say we're getting closer to the ideal.

Read the transcript at the Belmont Club. Osama has borrowed all the soundbites used by the appeasing Left to justify "making peace" with these sorts of people. The bad thing is that you know that this will invigorate the moonbats, but considering Osama's past goals of being the next Caliph, this is practically humiliating. Makes you wonder why he'd talk like this.

And hey, didn't this guy get all jihadi because the Russians invaded Afghanistan, before Peace for Galilee?

Where Were You...

2004-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

When the Curse was broken?

STV Nightmare Scenario

2004-10-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

On the UBC Young Conservatives forum, I ponder how the NDP might gain big-time at the expense of the Greens under STV:

Erm... ...no, the second choice of many Liberal voters are the Greens, as reflected in Liberal-heavy ridings where the Greens beat the NDP for second place. Liberal vote surpluses should give some Greens a jump over the NDP in some cases, but I can see the possibility of this NDP-friendly scenario happening.
Let's assume, for the moment, that preferences will move between parties only after exhaustion (i.e. if my first pref is Liberal, I'll prefer Liberals before all other parties). And let's assume a relatively even distribution for the candidates within each party. In the STV count, the most likely scenario is that all the party candidates will be below quota, so the minor parties get killed off first. The key is to make sure that the Liberal-friendly minor parties move toward a concentrated single candidate, so that at least one Liberal goes over quota and you can start moving surpluses amongst the Liberals.

The most disadvantageous situation for the Greens (and Liberals) is a completely even distribution within candidates for the parties. The likely scenario then is that the minor parties get killed off and they spread evenly to the Liberals, but everyone's still below quota and you start killing Greens, which concentrate to probably their proportion of the vote (10% or so?) and they maybe get one person in if they're lucky. At that point, Green preferences start flowing, mostly toward the NDP.

The key is to make sure that Liberal surpluses get distributed before minor candidate eliminations. This suggests that a "star candidate" strategy. The NDP benefits most if Liberal support is spread thin and they wait for the Green preferences to come over.
Notes:
The term "kill" is figurative. ;-)
I think the NDPer in question isn't hoping to so much win the election outright, but merely hoping that the Greens don't steal too many votes this time.

The scenario is totally plausible, and it does give more strategic substance to Carr's objections of STV rather than just her personal wants (note: because it came out during the Carr initiative campaign that she had abolished PR in Green Party internal elections, my views on her love for MMP are still somewhat cynical). It might hurt the BC Liberals enough if they support is sufficiently weak, but this is really more of a question of fighting between the parties on the Left, and I'm not one to predict the political landscape five years from now anyways.

Road Trip!

2004-10-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

On November 2, I will be in the Emerald State with the UBC Young Conservatives and jamming it up with the Washington GOP for election night.

They better have Wi-Fi so I can liveblog the thing. Then it'd be damn sweet. Sweet, I tell ya!

Carr's Dilemma

2004-10-25T02:54:00.000-07:00

Rick Hiebert on the Shotgun is crossing his fingers that BC will not adopt the Citizens' Assembly's STV proposal. While I don't have quite the extent of mistrust for STV as Rick, I have qualms over the system's inherent complexity and slowness, which I have go into detail on my previous post.

But what I am thankful for is that the Citizens' Assembly did not support a Mixed-Member Proportional system, best described as tacking on proportionality onto the current system by giving extra seats to disadvantaged parties. The system usually gives party leaders and insiders even more control over who gets on the ballot, since voters essentially surrender their choice of whom in the party to be elected to the party itself. Local nominations give freedom to residents to choose who's best for them, while party-wide votes are likely to be dominated by internal politics and quota rules for women and racial minorities (for the Left, at least).

And so, with the weakening of central party control promised by STV, it is no surprised that Adriane Carr of the BC Greens has lashed out against the Citizens' Assembly's recommendation (via The Public Eye):

"STV is even more adversarial than the system we have now. It’s not truly proportional. It entrenches big vested parties. It’s rock bottom in terms of getting women elected. And it still leaves too many voters frustrated by their votes not counting," explains Carr. "It’s not much better than the system we have, taking us forward an inch when we need to go a mile," adds Carr.

Read again the complaints. The "adversarial" and "women" can be translated as: "you're not giving the parties enough power to control voter stupidity. They must be given enlightened, progressive choices!" Proportionality is overrated: why should a party that has a low first preference but is the second preference of a large population be denied a voice behind that of a party with a slightly larger first preference but weak later preferences? And the "big vested parties" line is a pure lie, as anyone in Australia can attest: Aussie Senators are elected by STV, and the upper chamber is the only one with minor parties, including (cough) the Greens.

My theory is that Carr is pissed because a system that practically guarantees her own place in the Legislature (MMP) has been shot down by a system that demands that she gets some sort of local support somewhere (STV, barring any machinations Hiebert had described). Carr received 27% of the vote in her riding in 2001, which may not be enough when diluted with neighbouring rural ridings into a single STV riding. And, of course, there's the bruise to her ego, coming after her failed attempt to bring in MMP.

So now Carr is left in the uneasy position of being forced to campaign against a PR system, while begging Gordon Campbell to let her cover her butt and say that a "No" vote does not endorse the status quo. Oh the joy.

Easy As 1, 2...Huh?

2004-10-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

The following are my (preliminary) thoughts on the Citizens' Assembly recommendation on BC's future electoral system, verbatim from my post on the AMS message board.

Well it's official: there will be a referendum in the next provincial election on a new electoral system. The proposed system is a Single Transferable Vote system (in use in Ireland and the Australian Senate).
I personally don't have any particular preferences within the different Proportional Representations systems out there (my view on PR in general is that it's overrated). But I have a feeling that STV is something that looks great on paper but tends to be a bit less impressive in practice.

STV works okay when all is said and done, but it is a bit confusing for people to understand. I didn't get how it worked until I had to do some extensive research for a POLI paper. I wonder how many people like the idea of an electoral system that they might not really actually get.

My biggest procedural unease with STV is the slow counting process. First you have to count how many ballots are out there, then you start a very slow distribution process. Even with computers, it takes a while to get it all done. The Australians are still figuring out their Senate results, two weeks after the vote (although their ridings are larger, having the entire state as a single Senate riding). If I recall correctly, the Irish results took a few days as well.

That being said, STV is a system that balances out proportionality with emphasis on candidates over parties, which takes the best of both worlds. So that's a big plus for the system right there.

Ireland and Australia haven't fallen into chaos because of vote counting complexity, so I'm sure BC will adapt. But it'll probably take one or two elections with many people going "huh?"

PS: I just heard Adriane Carr denouncing the Assembly as out of touch and that she's "disappointed" with the decision. Considering the failure of the GP's shameless attempt to sneak in a closed list MMP system whose democratic improvements are flawed at best (You want Green but not Carr? Or Liberal without Campbell? Can't do that because you can't control the lists), I think that the Assembly's decision is worthy just for the slight to Carr's ego.

Of course, this may all be for moot if the referendum fails.
Confused? See:
Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform
ACE Project on Electoral Systems

Public Eye Online has more on the backroom intricacies behind Adriane Carr's support for MMP over STV and consequent lashing out at the Assembly.

Weird

2004-10-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that it's weird to have a finance class on the anniversary of Black Monday?

A Warning From The Past

2004-10-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Reading this horrific account of the brutality of Fallujah "insurgents", I am reminded of these lines from Richard Pipes' Communism: A History:

Some Western intellectuals, unwilling to blame this unprecedented slaughter on the Communists, attributed it to the Americans, who in 1969-73 had bombed Cambodia in an attempt to destroy the Vietcong forces that had sought refuge there. It is difficult to see, however, why the Camodians' rage against the Americans would vent itself in the killing of 2 million of their own people.
(135)

Although a different ideology (Communism vs. radical Islam), it's the same mentality at work for the monsters in Fallujah. And once again, the "great minds" of the West is weakening the resolve to eradicate our enemy. What might change this time, however, is the will to finish the job, and that is my hope and prayer.

Sorry Baghdad, Our Forces Are Broke

2004-10-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Canada won't send troops to Iraq any time soon. Is it because of our superior moral position? No, it's because we've run out of troops and supplies to send.

"There's a limit to our resources," Martin said Thursday after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac during a European tour. "And that's why I'm putting the focus right now on Afghanistan, on Haiti. "Whatever it is that we do, I really want to see us do it in an area that makes a difference."
It's best to focus on countries where Canada's work is obviously helping than to spread efforts too thin, Martin said.

We have 1500 men and women deployed around the world. A country with two-thirds our population has 2000.

None of this is really news, but one still feels the impact of how little our men and women in uniform have to work with, especially when in the context of something like the unnecessary death of one of them.

Dressing Down The Cult Of Che

2004-10-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

I don't recall where I found this, but I thought that Che's wisdom is very important for our next generation. So I created a simple flyer, available in MS Word or PDF. Appropriate for dorm room decoration or general campus postering (modify as necessary for campus groups, etc.).

Paul Berman, meanwhile, has a more sober look at the hero of the severely misguided youth of our era.

UPDATE (Oct 13, 07:20 PM): the original link was from Tim Blair.

Remembering Bali 10/12

2004-10-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

October 12 is the anniversary of the Bali bombing. 202 people died, the largest number of dead in any terrorist attack since 9/11 until the Beslan siege.

Political Imbecile

2004-10-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

A note to all politicians: no matter how pissed off or frustrated you are with the ballot box, do not take out your anger on the voters.

"(Labor Leader Mark) Latham did his best to offer an alternative but too many Australians were not discerning or caring enough to vote (Prime Minister John) Howard out," Mr Hanna said.
"John Howard appealed to people's ignorance, greed and apathy.

"With his vote-buying strategy and tactics of fear, he relied on many Australians voting out of self-interest."

[...]

"This is what Howard stands for and this is what Australians have endorsed out of ignorance and apathy.
(Emphasis is mine)

I know you Greens are all high and mighty and we lowly mortals shouldn't even try to exercise our own judgment, but geez, at least keep it to yourselves. I repeat: do not take out your anger on the voters.

Aussies Are Cool

2004-10-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

Tim Blair seems relieved, and I don't blame him, because the John-John duo that I do like won the election down under.

Domestically, both the Coalition and Labor were pretty disgusting splurgers, but there was only one obvious choice for securing Australia and the Southeast Asian region.

Thank goodness Aussies don't vote on looks (although John Anderson can probably swoon some ladies).

The Currency Lad has a pretty detailed take on why the ALP lost (again) (via Poll Vault).

I suppose I'll stop paying attention (at least until Peter Costello takes over) once the Senate results come out.

On Duelfer

2004-10-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't any plans to read the 964 pages or so of the Duelfer Report, although I am going through the abridged summary. From what I've read so far, as well as articles from the NYT and USA Today, it appears that the following can be said:

If there was only one entity with a need to remove Saddam Hussein, the United Nations might be it and not the United States. The UN's credibility was being bashed more often than a Whack-A-Mole being played by a schizo on uppers.
Expanding on that point, sanctions and inspections appear to be nearly worthless in the long run. In the short run such policies may seriously handicap proliferation efforts, but time will eventually wear them down.
It was only a matter of time before Saddam began reconsituting a WMD program. The "time" might not have been March 2003, but it wasn't that far off. If Iran scares Saddam, then nuclear Iran will make him soil his pants and probably compel him to either to quick build a nuke or buy one on the black market. Not exactly very comforting scenarios.

At the end of the day, I'm willing to concede that the WMD issue alone would be insufficient in justifying an invasion of Iraq at the time of OIF; resource may have been better used in an invasion of North Korea or Iran instead. Nonetheless, Iraq was undeniably a state sponsor of terrorism with possible links to Al-Qaeda; a confrontation was only a matter of time.

I feel that I have to say this at some point: it doesn't seem so much that the war naysayers correctly assessed the situation, as it was that wishful thinking actually worked out for once. You can say I'm delusional, but that's my gut feeling on this.

Andrew Coyne says essentially the same thing, although he's more forceful than I am on the issue.

Rest In Peace

2004-10-07T00:35:00.000-07:00

Condolences to the loved ones of Lt. Chris Saunders. May his sacrifice bring the bravery of our men in arms to light, and spur on the reforms that are so necessary for them to do their jobs.

Belated Debate #1 Assessment

2004-10-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

I'm still going through some US election overload, so I watched the debate on Thursday night with some reluctance. My thoughts on it, therefore, are based from a rather cynical perspective. But watched (part of) it I did, so smart-aleck comments aside, I thought I'd share my two cents.

First off, my evaluation is based almost entirely on style, not substance, simply because I don't expect much of the latter in these things. And on that note, I have to say that Senator Kerry won the debate. He was more composed and had a steadier performance than President Bush. I understand that some in the conservative community find that the President's inarticulateness is sometimes "humanizing" and a strong point, but I'm not convinced that a debate on national security policy is the place to show that trait.

All that being said, I think that these things are still pretty much even in the long run. Kerry will get a 3%-4% bounce in the electorate, which should level off by the October 8 debate. Note that this will not numerically bear out in any actual poll you'll read, due to the inherent response lag in opinion polls. Those will probably show something more like a 2%-3% raise which will level off some time later than October 8, depending on the candidates' performance then.

And if you really want to soak in the cynicism over talking points (specifically Kerry's), read yesterday's Bleat (via Shotgun). It's what people write when nobody would pull the plug on that blasted skipping record player.

Let Others Do It, But It's Our Fault If They Fail

2004-10-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

If John Kerry goes through with building that "genuine coalition" and he's onboard with "training the Iraqi forces to defend themselves", wouldn't he be "outsourcing" the job like he was so angry about with the Afghan forces at Tora Bora?

Russia: Hot Air Nemesis Or Producer?

2004-09-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Russia has seen the light and it will ratify Kyoto to save the human race! Um, or something along the lines of that.

Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said after the Cabinet meeting that the Kyoto Protocol is likely have little effect on the economy. But Gref said he favors joining the treaty because the move "carries symbolic meaning that Russia is taking part in the global process of lowering greenhouse gas emissions," Interfax reported.
Illarionov said earlier this week that officials see no economic or scientific basis for ratifying Kyoto, but will support it as "a political gesture to Europe."

He did not say what Russia might hope to gain in return.

Observers have said that Moscow is trading its approval of Kyoto in return for EU support for the country's bid to join the World Trade Organization.

Kyoto is "not completely isolated" from other issues in Russian-EU relations, Wallstrom said. "Of course it will influence energy politics, of course it will influence trade -- sometimes in a subtle way, sometimes in a rather clear way."
"There is no formal link between Kyoto and the WTO," said Arancha Gonzalez, spokeswoman on trade issues for the European Commission, without elaborating. But many trade-related energy issues that were negotiated between Russia and the EU for Russia's accession to the WTO are "absolutely coherent with the Kyoto agenda," she said. "They are mutually supportive."

So what are the happy-go-lucky Lefties supposed to do now? Celebrate another step towards Kyoto implementation, or lament the strengthening of the evil evil WTO?

Imbalance In The Branches

2004-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

An observation: why is the line item veto unconstitutional, but courts can throw out specific provisions of a law?

(Not like I'm asking for the entire PATRIOT Act to be overturned, but I just thought I'd point out the inconsistency.)

Quantifying Campaign Promises

2004-09-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

Suffering from US election overload, I've devoted my attention to the Australian election campaign. Like the US campaign, it's a tight race as well, although John Howard's Liberal-National coalition seems to be building a slight lead over Labor in recent polls.

What struck me, though, was the occasional story about the Treasury jumping in to discuss the costs of one election promise or another. This seemed rather bizarre for a Canadian, so I did some digging and found the following:

The Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 outlines arrangements under which the Secretaries to the Departments of the Treasury and of Finance and Administration may be requested to cost Government and Opposition election commitments during the caretaker period for a general election. The Charter also provides that the responsible Secretaries may, jointly, issue written guidelines recommending approaches or methods to be used in the preparation of policy costings.

Suddenly the costs of campaign promises aren't just randomly generated numbers, but figures backed up by a non-partisan authority. The question is why doesn't anyone else do this? Is there something obviously wrong with this idea that I'm missing, or is it just the usual self-interests of the parties in power?

Note: Australia has one of the more convoluted electoral systems out there, which makes for a larger proportion of news stories that get technical and arcane with terms like "two-party preferred" and voting "above the line". It's not all that complicated in reality, but it's still good to have reference sites like australianpolitics.com and Antony Green's Election Guide.

Woohoo!

2004-09-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Carter is defending freedom and democracy!

(In all seriousness, there are some pretty common sense electoral reforms that various US states aren't doing. But hearing Jimmy Carter decry it all will always be a bit rich for my taste. Sorry.)

Much Needed Self-Reflection

2004-09-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

A refreshingly direct indictment by a Muslim on the rise of terrorism as a political tactic in parts of the Islamic world (via usemycomputer.com):

These images are grim, shameful and despicable for us when we gather them and lay them out together in one day [here in this article], however instead of ignoring and justifying them we must first recognize the validity [of this sad truth] and not compose articles and speeches declaring our innocence. It makes it easier for us to treat ourselves if we recognize the sickness.

Parts of it are still a bit wishy-washy, such as naming anonymous "political [radical] groups" as the culprit instead of directly pointing at Wahhabism. But it's still a start, and a lot better than this.

Belated Rathergate Entry

2004-09-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Ra^thergate occurred mostly during the duration of my post-TO/early UBC period, where a blogging hiatus meant I needed to be slowly eased back into the habit. Nonetheless, they say a picture is a thousand words, and who knows what a picture of words is worth, so I'm just gonna link to WaPo's memo comparisons, available in the detailed Ra^thergate for Dummies version or the spartan Find the Differences version.

What Not To Say In Front Of People

2004-09-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Laws on the Credibility of an Institution:

Credibility is inversely proportional to speaking time given to quasi-tyrannical nutjobs.
Crediblity is doubly inversely proportional to applause given to said nutjobs if they are given the opportunity to speak.

An example of something that, um, really hurt credibility, according to these Laws:

We are now being coerced to accept and believe that a new political-cum-religious doctrine has arisen, namely that there is but one political god, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair is his prophet.

Seriously, even if you're not one of them chickenhawk right-wing fanatics, doesn't this sound totally inappropriate for a major international conference?

Marching To Famine

2004-09-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe is looking at a major cereal shortage (via usemycomputer.com), with possible political reprecussions as the opposition MDC claims that the government will buy voter support using valuable food handouts. The country was once considered southern Africa's breadbasket.

International Law Sucks

2004-09-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

What irks me when I read stories like "Iran says ban on its uranium enrichment program 'illegal'" and "Annan: Iraq War 'Illegal' Without U.N. OK" isn't so much the political position of the speakers: it's the term "illegal" that's being tossed around like it actually means something.

News flash: it really doesn't mean jack squat.

There are two aspects to effective law: respecting it and enforcing it. Respect is about people (or states, I suppose, in the case of international law) finding the source and justification for laws to be legitimate and just. Enforcement is about making sure that those who violate laws receive punishment.

International law, by its very definition, will never be 100% effective, because it will never be wholly respected nor consistently enforced. I'm not going to respect a law that treats a country like Burma or North Korea as an equal to my own. They, meanwhile, wouldn't fear enforcement from a United Nations whose biggest role is a "Speaker's Corner" for people who really don't need these things.

It's actually rather disturbing and disappointing that we've returned to this sort of worship of such a flawed concept. I recognize a certain need for international law, such as the Geneva Conventions, as means to maintain a certain degree of humane behaviour in warfare, codifying a reciprocal agreement to decency in combat. But this sort of talk assumes that international law itself is an end, not a mean. The last time international law got to holy grail level was the League of Nations days, which Fareed Zakaria describes as follows:

Wilson's vision was of a universal, law-based system of collective security in which all countries -- or at least all the members of the League of Nations -- would act against aggression, wherever and whenever it took place. The crux of the debate was Article 10 of the Versailles Treaty, the triggering clause that guaranteed the integrity and security of all states. Almost all internationalist Republicans had serious reservations about the open-ended nature of this commitment. They also believed that such an elaborate and legalistic scheme was bound to be worthless in practice because nations would not respond equally to every act of aggression. And they worried that this would reduce America's flexibility to protect itself in its own hemisphere.
The Republicans had a more tangible goal than universal peace -- peace in Europe. For this, they believed, the U.S. should enter into a straightforward alliance with France and Britain. After making a specific commitment to its European allies, Washington could certainly enter the League of Nations, as long as this involved no further ongoing military commitments.

It's like we haven't learned anything in eighty years.

And now Kofi's worked up about the "'shameless disregard' for the rule of law." Well, considering what I just wrote, no surprise there.

Office Assistant For Forgers

2004-09-16T02:36:00.000-07:00

I'm no fan of Clippy, but I wouldn't mind having these functions in Microsoft Office. You gotta love usemycomputer.com.

Sanctions

2004-09-16T02:05:00.000-07:00

A People's Daily column says that "facts have long proved that more often than not sanctions cannot resolve problems." I agree with that statement, but certainly not in the sense the writer has intended. At least sanctions are a whole heck lot more than what the PRC government would go along with. And oh, admire the column for its extremely high euphemistic bullcrap factor.

It Feels Like 1935

2004-09-15T03:32:00.000-07:00

The UN Darfur resolution against Sudan's oil industry just got a lot less convincing, with the United States taking the "shall take" line and replacing it with "shall consider".

Huh? Aren't they "considering" oil sanctions now? Or are they blocking that thought from their collective minds or something? "Must not think about oil sanctions until another 100,000 people are dead... ..."

Just remember the last time the international community failed to implement meaningful sanctions against aggression in Africa.

And a note to Reuters: AP called it "eased off"; you guys called it "modified". Talk about getting euphemistic.

Still Standing

2004-09-10T02:04:00.000-07:00


World Trade Center, NYC, 2001-09-11.	Australian Embassy, Jakarta, 2004-09-09.

We will hunt you down and eliminate you, Islamist terrorist scum.

Bye Toronto!

2004-08-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

My co-op work term in Mississauga ended today. After a much-needed week-long vacation, I shall return to Vancouver and be surprised that some of the people in higher education are probably the dumbest. ;-)

Another WWII Whitewash Alert

2004-08-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

They're at it again in Japan: Board OKs nationalist-bent history text (via usemycomputer).

Among points of contention in the book is its reported claim that Japan's invasion of Asia resulted in the region's independence from European colonial powers, and its reference to the Nanjing "Incident," instead of Massacre, as the Rape of Nanking is otherwise known in historical references in other parts of the world.

Erm, yah, thanks a lot for that: I totally forgot. The Confederate secession from the Union brought about Emancipation in America: what's your point? Getting beneficial results from actions designed against those very results doesn't exactly make for good justification in my book.

And you had to do it a week before the anniversary of the signing of the surrender agreement, didn't you?

OS-tan

2004-08-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

On the ninth anniversary of the release of Windows 95 and the day I installed WinXP Service Pack 2, I encounter quite possibly the weirdest thing I've ever seen, something that appears to be an anime-loving computer geek's wet dream:

A small Internet phenomenon on Futaba Channel, the OS-tan (OS for Operating System, and -tan as an overly cute Japanese honorific for a person, specifically a child slurring '-chan') or simply OS Girls are the personification of several OSes, most famously Windows, by various amateur Japanese artists. A pure fan creation, the appearance of each character is generally consistent among artists. OSes are almost always portrayed as women, the Windows girls usually as sisters, despite sometimes seeming the same age.

Although I suppose something like this would make a much better addition to the user interface than that godawful paperclip.

A personal note: it's the last week of my co-op work term and things are just insane, with much frustration as I try to wrap things up. Futility factor is high and blogging enthusiasm is low. The next week will be spent with my parents on a much-needed break before the start of school. Blogging during this week will be intermittent at best, and probably nonexistent during the next week. Things should be up to speed again in a fortnight, as I return to UBC to battle collectivists and peaceniks in their breeding grounds.

From The Jewel Of Africa

2004-08-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's a couple of days late, but something worth noting about this year's Olympics.

Kirsty Coventry is Zimbabwe's first medal winner since 1980, taking a silver and a bronze in two swimming events. As a white representing a country mired in racial turmoil, she says that race isn't an issue to her, but I can't help but wonder what she would be doing if she hadn't gone to the United States for university.

Nonetheless, I'm sure many of her fellow Zimbabweans are proud, and perhaps Robert Mugabe's band of thugs should look at this and ask whether they or she have a better vision for their country.

Speaking of Olympic inspirations, don't forget this picture.

UPDATE (Aug 20, 07:20 PM): So one minute you're blogging about a two-medal winning Olympian, the next minute she goes off and wins another one, and a gold to boot. By now, even Mugabe himself is tripping over himself to congratulate her. No word, though, on whether she'll be "redistributed" a farm for her accomplishments.

Incidentally, Kirsty first splashed onto the scene at the 2002 Commonwealth Games: whether she'll be competing in those ever again is anyone's guess.

Regardless of the political nastiness, though, Kirsty's personal achievement is truly impressive. Congratulations.

Good News For Insomiacs

2004-08-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Craig Kilborn is quitting his job as host of CBS's Late Late Show.

I never liked Kilborn. I thought he was an ass. My sentiments are echoed nicely by the majority opinion in this discussion.

Some say that is "faux arrogance", but at 12:30 in the morning, I'm not in a mental capacity to find subtle hints of self-depreciation under a load of ego inflation. Of course, the fact that he's quitting to "try something new" is setting off mental alarms that his on-screen persona is authentic and he's just trying to pass it off as otherwise.

Plus, hey, Conan has the Walker, Texas Ranger Lever. How can you compete with technology like that?

Victory Over Japan Day

2004-08-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 59th anniversary of VJ-Day, when Japan accepted the surrender terms of the Allies. It marks the effective end of Second World War.

The editorial of Daily Yomiuri is a vile blanket whitewash of Japan's war crimes as it sheds crocodile tears over the execution of war criminals and equivocates the veneration of said criminals at the Yasukuni shrine. I'm not going to link to it, but those interested can search on Google News.

This is a day to remember the brave men who saved the world from the Fascists of the East and West. We thank you for your sacrifice.

A Glimpse Into Ideological War?

2004-08-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when Global National needed to talk to a reporter in Iraq, Kevin Newman found himself chatting with Fox News' Caroline Shively.

Today, I am (unfortunately) reminded once again that the National Post is printing columns by Sheila Copps.

I submit the above as evidence that Canwest Global is either schizophrenic or going through corporate adolescence as it figures out where it actually stands on the issues. Check out the comments on this Shotgun post for more theories on Copps' appearance in the NP today, which has been noted to be poorly edited.

Much Ado About Nothing

2004-08-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

Two news stories on homosexuality and politics crossing paths (again) in the United States: NJ governor James E. McGreevey resigns after admitting to a gay extramartial affair, and the CA Supreme Court voids the marriage licenses issued by San Francisco to same-sex couples.

First story: considering the sex scandals that pop up with relative regularity in American politics, it doesn't really have any impact on me. I see this not very differently than a scandal involving a heterosexual affair. What did strike me, though, was how fast McGreevey stepped down. As Mark Steyn recalled, Clinton set a new standard in sex scandal longevity (article title "Clinton in Clapham").

Anyway, when this radio station alerted me to the cabinet minister's difficulties, I didn't bother getting back to them immediately. What's the hurry? By now, I was sufficiently Americanized to assume I had maybe ten months of lucrative on-air punditry to look forward to. Davies would surely stay put, while subpoenas were issued to his secretary, and other cabinet secretaries protested his innocence, and he went on TV and wagged his finger and said, "I did not have sexual relations with that boyo!" and Welsh Office spin-doctors denounced the vast right-wing conspiracy, and members of the Rastafarian community said that he'd always stood up for their interests, and former sweethearts posed nude for Hot Stud Monthly, and DNA tests were run on the foliage of Clapham Common, and more young men turned up, and some of them had been offered high-profile jobs with the Welsh Language Unemployment Benefit Leaflet Translation Office in Llandudno, and Davies insisted that, according to his official Welsh dictionary, it didn't count as sex if no druids were involved, and a Royal Commission had to be appointed under a distinguished former Lord Chancellor, who was promptly reviled as an extreme right-wing sex-crazed religious whacko with links to the fascist National Front, and in the House of Commons Select Committee Labour Members of Parliament attacked the Commission for its unprecedented number of leeks. And through it all Davies would just sit at his desk, venturing out only for starry fundraisers with Welsh celebrities like Anthony Hopkins and, er, Tom Jones and, um, well--did I mention Anthony Hopkins?
But instead Ron Davies just...resigned. And, by the time I called back that radio station the following day, they didn't want to know. They'd moved on to Nick Brown, Tony Blair's minister for agriculture, who'd been outed by a fetching young man who'd sold his story to a tabloid. I was stunned. On the TV news, Bill Clinton was preparing to settle with Paula Jones, on the grounds that after four years, what with impeachment and all, he now had too many other scandals to give this one the attention it deserved. And Ron Davies couldn't even make his last a week.

Who said Bill didn't leave a legacy?

Second story: way too easy to call this one. With state law setting in writing the traditional definition of marriage, and this not being a constitutionality decision, there's no question on the illegality of the actions of the San Francisco city government. Indeed, it's so obvious that this will hardly be a blip in the long political war between traditionalists and radicals on the definition of marriage issue.

In summary: the biggest thing about gays on TV today was the double-header of Will & Grace, not the evening news.

Another Best Cities Ranking

2004-08-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

It's no surprise that Vancouver beat Toronto, but Ottawa as the best city to live in the world? Wow all credibility shot out the window.

Seoul-ed Out

2004-08-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

The South Korean government wants to move the capital from Seoul to the Gongju-Yongi area, closer of the geographical centre of the RoK. While I appreciate the security concerns of the possibility of North Korean artillery pounding Seoul and its vicinity at a rate of half a million rounds per hour, the stated economic purpose of the move sounds like a load of bull---- to me:

"The new capital site was found to be the best among the candidate locations in terms of potential contribution to the nation's balanced regional development, ease of access and living environment,'' Lee said.

That sounds a whole lot like something cooked up by an African megalomanical ruler or some former Soviet pseudo-democracy. It's not quite the sort of well thought-out process of a modern democratic state.

The newspapers in the RoK (well, at least the ones that have English web sites) mostly aren't pleased, but I can't tell how much of that displeasure comes from the fact that they're all based in Seoul:

Only the Choson Ilbo doesn't seem to have a critical editorial, instead aiming their sights on the opposition GNP for their lack of a definite position on this issue.

And that doesn't even cover the real meat of this one: the ludicrous idea that Seoul's overpopulation can be solved by moving the seat of government. The overwhelming majority of Seoul's residents work in the commercial sector (as in any major world metropolis) and companies don't really give a flying fack about where the government works.

The only nations with some justification for building a planned capital are federal countries where the constituent parts all agree that the capital should not be buried in the middle of one subdivision. Hence we have Canberra, Ottawa, and Washington, DC. Well, Ottawa was a geostrategic choice as well, but nobody expected it to overtake Toronto or Montreal in population, and indeed it didn't.

Seoul is the historic capital of the Korean nation, and moving the capital isn't going to alleviate the regional disproportions in development and population. There are considerably more cost-effective means of protecting the government from attack (insert "Undisclosed Location" jokes here). I guess we'll have to see just how far and how successful will be this expensive attempt by the RoK government to dramatically change the people's freely chosen lifestyle.

Excitement In Suburbia

2004-08-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

My home in Coquitlam is a couple of kilometres away from the route of this car chase. Oh the stuff I miss these days.

A New Space Race

2004-08-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

The Olympics are fine, but the space-obsessed kid in me is waiting for the race a month later.

SpaceShipOne's initial X-Prize launch is on September 29th.

Wild Fire's initial X-Prize launch is on October 2nd.

The first fully reusable private manned spacecraft to make two flights into space within two weeks wins the Ansari X Prize of $10 million.

Meanwhile, it looks like Armadillo Aerospace and Space Transport Corp. (PDF) are not so close to liftoff (via Kate).

Apologies

2004-08-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

My co-op work term comes to a close at the end of the month, so there's a lot of loose ends that require tying up on both the office and home fronts. Blogging may be intermittent: bear with me for a while. =)

(I know usually I post twice as much a day after I put up a notice like this, but I think I might actually slow down this time.)

Don't forget the Shotgun for daily fixes of some of Canada's best conservative commentary!

Robotic Kosher Fun

2004-08-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Shalom! A Gentile would like to ask all Jewish readers out there: is this (via Accordion Guy) an appropriate way to learn about Judaism? Not offensive, but maybe a bit silly for educational purposes.

But then, I've learned in less than 20 minutes more things not allowed during the Sabbath than I've ever imagined.

PS: I actually know the Commandments before this... ...well I know the jist of them, not verbatim what they are.

This Week's Best Economics Lesson

2004-08-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Colby Cosh summarises the virtues of free trade in last Friday's column. I didn't get to read it then, but it's a straightforward no-brainer explanation to why free trade works for everyone.

Here's another formulation of the theory of Colby's column: it's better for individuals, towns, cities, and provinces to trade with each other for goods and services they want (verus producing, or trying to produce, everything themselves), so why not nations? Turns out the dismal science isn't all that nonsensical, eh?

I particularly enjoy this paragraph that takes aim at adherents to Marx's labour theory of value:

Still, zero-sum logic is terribly compelling to some minds: Every leftist heresy from pre-Marxian socialism through environmentalism is arguably founded on it. I believe it to be based on a certain kind of narcissistic projection. Consider: This column I'm writing is not worth as much to me in cash as it is to the National Post, so the paper takes it and sends me a cheque. I spend the money; the Post uses the article. Everybody wins. But what if I were convinced that there was some very high intrinsic, or essential, cash value to my words -- that, say, every column I wrote was, perhaps in God's or Marx's or Gaia's eyes, "really" worth $10,000?

It's the simplicity of the essay that makes it so convincing. I can only wish that I can explain things half as well as this.

And speaking of making the case for market solutions, observe Trudeaupia's take on the comical health care "debate" between McGuinty and Romanow. Watching two people you disagree with arguing with each other can be very soothing.

Who'd Hire A Thief?

2004-08-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

If they weren't so made for each other, I would be angrier that someone would still hire Svend Robinson. But then, both Svend and the BCGEU seem to have little hesitation in ripping off taxpayer money.

I just hope that all that BCGEU case backlog doesn't cause Svend to "snap" again.

[Shotgun Cross-Posted]

The Hip-Hop Holy See

2004-08-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

The Vatican is setting up a sports desk (via Relapsed Catholic). While interesting, this pales in comparison to the Pope's audience with the break-dancing community.

Damned If You Do...

2004-08-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

Jutxaposed in Google News today:

Personally, I don't believe that upper echelon changes will be nearly as relevant as promoting free flow of information in the lower levels of the intelligence agency, where the raw intel is collected and before it gets distilled into bullet points. I think that some sort of higher-level coordination is a good thing, but I have doubts to its actual effectiveness if the agencies don't do more meshing in the lower ranks

But when you read something like that in Google news, you say to yourself "yah, we're screwed, aren't we?" But then, these are the times of penny-a-dozen pundits. Note that I'm well aware of the irony of my own punditry when I write this.

A Sure Solution To Broken Promises

2004-08-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Dalton McGuinty is the latest politician to realize that talk (AKA campaign promises) is a whole lot cheaper than action. This is the exact same problem as what Gordon Campbell did in BC when he made a whole bunch of promises when the election was all but won, even before the writ was dropped.

Personally, I hate it when politicians promise to do this or do that. The only promises that a politician should make is to not do things: don't slip your hands into my wallet, don't waste money in ridiculous spending programs, don't tell me that I want such-and-such because some special interest group has been nagging for it. Just make sure the streets are safe for me to roam at night (or let me protect myself if they're not). Mostly, this involves simply sitting on one's butt, so I wonder why it's so rarely done.

Ambition is a fine attribute, as long as your ambition in the PM's/Premier's/Mayor's office isn't stiffling the ambitions of the rest of us.

Economists Of The World, Unite!

2004-08-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

Today's Wikipedia featured article is Economics. A proud day for us students of the dismal science.

I'm in the mood to read something theoretical, either a classic like The Wealth of Nations, or a more introductory book like Naked Economics: Uncovering the Dismal Science, which would make explaining econ a bit easier to others. Any other suggestions?

Zits Beware!

2004-07-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

I hate to sound extremely callous or uncaring, but this is finally a medical advance that affects me personally. Well, at least my face isn't constantly volcanic active.

I Love Live TV

2004-07-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Proof that usage of certain profanities are truly bipartisan (via Nick Packwood on Shotgun). Also note the surprising agitative power of balloons.

Free Our Airwaves!

2004-07-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Seriously: if we can let Al-Jazeera air in Canada, I don't see why we can't let Fox News Channel do the same.

What's more puzzling is the CRTC's justification to not allow channels to air in Canada because of fear of "competition". It's a lame reason in any case, but Fox News is applying for a digital cable/satellite license, which means they would be competing with... ...other non-Canadian news channels. Even if I buy their pathetic "competition" excuse, why would the CRTC give a crap about foreign networks competing amongst themselves in Canada?

People who don't like FNC should seriously think about the logical conclusion of the CRTC's logic of not allowing more than one firm provide the same service... ....

So get off your butts and tell the CRTC to stop interfering with consumer choice and let FNC air in Canada! (via Kevin Libin)

Preparation Means Thinking Ahead

2004-07-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

When I first heard of the new British terrorism preparation booklet, the news coverage had a lot of punditry on how it's not good to scare the population when there's no specific threat of an attack and so forth.

My response is that I'm glad that the British government would print something informative before something happens, because initiative is something that doesn't come all that often in politics.

And oh, I love that the Brits still have a knack for coming up with simple and elegant graphic designs.

Kerry's Wardrobe Malfunction

2004-07-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

I don't care what the Kerry campaign says: when a NASA photographer takes a picture of you in a bunny suit, it's going to be public. Public employees are not paid to take pictures for private consumption.

And oh: I find this to be actually funnier than Dukakis in a tank.

Just Eat It!

2004-07-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

There's just something wrong about this diagram about Jason Giambi's parasitic infection.

Crazy Aussies Again

2004-07-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Continuing on the theme of Australian shoot-from-the-hip diplomacy, Aussie FM Alex Downer says it out loud: the withdrawal of Spain and the Philippines from Iraq gave the Iraqi insurgents and other international terrorists a big adrenaline boost.

Meanwhile, Downer's ALP shadow cabinet counterpart says some stuff about cooperation and not upsetting people and blah blah blah... ...

Kevin Rudd, Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, accused Mr Downer of upsetting two important allies with "megaphone diplomacy".
He said Australia needed the co-operation of the Philippines in the fight against regional terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiah and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
"We must be co-operative rather than part of an international blame game," he said.

Mr. Rudd: when a country give up its own southern portion to groups that the government's supposedly trying to put down, it's not going to do a whole lot more just because a foreign country would appreciate the help and asked really nicely.

Heresy Endorsement

2004-07-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how I missed this one when it was first written over a year ago (I found this linked to a more recent entry), but when someone like Steven Den Beste agrees with my idea of a Chinese occupation of North Korea, I feel a little more comfortable that it's not just my manic nationalist side trying to get out.

I must say that I think that SDB might even be a little bit more optimistic than me about the PRC's reliability (although he obviously has given this more thought than I have), but I agree with his assessment that such a solution would be a considerably more stable situation than the status quo. Personally, I think that the ideal situation would be:

The PLA establishes law and order.
The "West" (i.e. RoK, USA, Japan; ironically all east of the DPRK) provide the bulk of economic support.
An administration by a RoK-PRC-USA triumvirate with an explicit reunification mandate.

But the PRC might be able to do a half-decent job of administering the region iff they're freaked out enough about the refugee issue. I must say, though, that it is a big iff.

And now I await the stream of condemnations for supporting the next Great Satan.

We're Young And We're Right

2004-07-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Every time I read something like this or this (via Winds of Change), I don't feel so out of place. And this oldie is also an inspiring essay on the culture shift that this new generation is taking.

The Decline Of The Convention

2004-07-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

It seems that the elders of network television news are lamenting the twilight of party convention coverage. Personally, I am mostly positive about the decline of conventions as decision-making venues, since the party convention is a process that removes the vast majority of citizens from the decision-making process.

Nonetheless, the consequent transformation of the party convention into a ridiculously expensive and obtrusive advertising monster isn't exactly all that palatable. And with everyone sticking to the script, there is little purpose to closely following what's happening in Boston this week and in New York a month from now.

It's worth noting that Canada isn't immune to this phenomenon. Recall the Conservative "National Leadership Event" a few months back (they didn't even bother calling it a convention).

Ah well, it all works for me, since I'm not really in a pundit mood these days anyways.

Cancer Treatment Experiment

2004-07-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

I literally gasped with excitement when I read this story about an experimental cancer treatment (via Winds of Change). It can be summed up as microwaving (actually it's infrared EM) tumours out of existence with the assistance of really really tiny pieces of gold, or something like that.

Civilized Versus Barbaric

2004-07-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

In the Gaza Strip (from the UBC IAC mailing list):

An Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades cell killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in Beit Hanun on Friday after a row in which his family opposed the cell's attempt to launch Qassam rockets from their yard, Israeli security sources said.

In the United States:

Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

That pretty much sums it up.

Gimli Glider

2004-07-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

An unexpected treasure from daily visits to Wikipedia: today is the 21st anniversary of the Gimli Glider accident. Stories about metric/imperial conversion screw-ups don't come any more hilarious or frightening than this.

Beer Misconceptions

2004-07-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Meatriarch laments the decline of the Molson "I Am Canadian" ad campaign into an oblique "I Am Not American" one. He mentions the "Why don't I drink American beer?" ad, which reminds me of a hilarious segment last night on Global National.

The folks at CanWest Global did a totally unscientific blind taste test, asking people if they can tell between Molson Canadian and Coors Light. The result: 90% of people cannot tell the difference. I'm going to wager that a good chunk of those people did not just say that they can't tell, but actually picked the wrong beer (the few people they aired in the segment all picked the wrong beer).

Now since the common perception is that American beer is to Canadian beer as horse urine is to nectar, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that many Canadians found Molson Canadian to be a crappier beer than Coors Light.

Personally, I don't drink either, 'cuz they're both awful brews. I drink usually stuff from Sleeman or Granville Island Brewing, with the occasional Heineken. Big North American breweries, in my humble opinion, should be avoided like the plague.

Cameras Don't Let In Light

2004-07-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Call me a cynic, but I see the following as the two main motivations behind Martin's decision to televise the upcoming health care meeting with the premiers:

Free pre-election campaigning. What better time to grandstand and parade your love for our one-tier in name, two-tier in practice health care system?
Preventing anyone from mentioning anything heretical. Premiers will be constantly reminded of the perils of speaking against the sacrosanct.

And Andrew Coyne thinks it's a great excuse to call an early election before any more juicy details of Adscam emerge.

This is as much about transparency as Adscam was about flying the flag. And when it happens, it'll be about as transparent as that layer of smog that has just returned to Toronto.

No More Equivocations!

2004-07-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

WaPo has an excellent article on the current rudderless US policy towards Iran.

The dilemma is an inevitable result of the isolationist American discomfort with its own activities in the War on Terrorism: in the hopes of preventing interference from the ayatollahs in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States has turned a blind eye to the Tehran regime instead of consistently applying the Bush Doctrine.

Now that we realize we got bit in the ass, stubborn neocon moralism seems a whole lot more appealing, doesn't it?

The Trouble With Thespians

2004-07-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

This is what presidential scholar Doug Brinkley says about Hollywood's chronic Bush-bashing:

''Artists like to see themselves as anti-war,'' he says. ''Being a pacifist comes with the territory.''

I think that when an occupation comes attached with a totally unrelated political view (or ït seems that way), there is a real problem with the occupation in question.

Uptight Canadians

2004-07-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

Why are Canadian politicans so uptight, as opposed to the Aussies? I mean, the same thing happened with us, and no politican said anything half as colourful.

There was a time when Canadian politics were truly entertaining to witness. Oh where have those days gone?