The political insane asylum that is Quebec

I grew up in Montreal, but I haven't lived in the city--or the Province of Quebec--since 1991.  Still, I have family and friends there, so I maintain an interest in the place.  For the life of me, I truly don't understand the linguistic insecurity of the French-speaking majority, the result of which has been oppressive, anti-democratic measures employed by even the so-called "federalist" (i.e., they don't want to dismember the Canadian Confederation) political party (The Liberals, for those keeping track).  The overtly separatist party, the Parti Quebecois ("PQ"), doesn't hide what it is, and as a result of that, we have the bizarre spectacle of so-called language police running around the city of Montreal citing people working in retail outlets for the horrific crime of saying "Bonjour/Hi!" to store customers.  Worse yet, the PQ has promised much more in terms of restrictive legislation if it wins the provincial election scheduled for April 7.

I must be weird this way, but it seems to me that if you want to call yourself a truly democratic society, everyone should have the same rights.  In other words, a person should be able to speak the language that they want, when they want, and where they want.  If they want to put up an English-language business sign, that should be fine, too.  It may not generate much (if any) business from the French-speaking majority in the province, but that's the problem of the business-owner.  It should not involve the government.  I really don't understand why so many non-French speakers accept being treated like second-class citizens in a place where many of them have lived for (in some cases) hundreds of years.  It boggles the mind.......................

It's January

I hate January, which is by far my least favourite month of the year. The days are short and cold, it seems to go FOREVER, etc., etc. That said, at least it's one step closer to summer. With that complaint out of the way, here are some random thoughts for a cold Saturday morning:

1) Israel is continuing its military operations in Gaza, the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) demand for an immediate halt to the attack notwithstanding. There are a couple of things worth mentioning here. First, the feckless behaviour of the United States in failing to veto the UNSC resolution was pathetic, but not entirely surprising. We have seen the State Department's Arabist influence over the Bush 43 Administration's foreign policy grow by the day, and now, as we approach the last 10 days of its life, President Bush appears to have finally capitulated entirely to the wishes of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to be more "balanced" (in other words, more pro-Arab). So, Israel is now truly alone. Second, Israel can't afford to stop right now. After the debacle in Lebanon in 2006, Israel MUST be seen in the Arab world as being the unquestioned winner of this conflict. The bigger question is, how does it achieve that? Obviously, zero missile/rocket/mortar launches out of Gaza would be the best case scenario, but I don't know if that's doable. The thing is, if it doesn't you will eventually see a situation where there are similar attacks out of the West Bank. That's not a question of "if", but "when". The bottom line? I don't know how Israel wins....................

2) On a similar theme, the reverberations from the Israeli operations in Gaza have been felt all over the world, whether it's protesters in Fort Lauderdale screaming "Jews to the ovens" (isn't THAT a nice sentiment?) or an Italian trade union calling for the boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses to the desecration of cemeteries across the continent and attacks on Jews in Denmark, France, the U.K., Holland, etc. (nothing like a Middle East war to get the Europeans to show their true, anti-Semitic selves). We here in the U.S. and Canada are fortunate in that we have been largely insulated from the more violent elements of the anti-Israel movement, but it's only a matter of time before similar events occur here.

3) So the University of Florida Gators are the "undisputed" national champions in NCAA Division I football after their methodical 24-14 win over Oklahoma in the BCS title game. Can we just permanently ban Oklahoma and Ohio State from the national championship game (unless they play each other)? You KNOW that if one of these two teams shows up, the team they are playing is guaranteed to win. And here's another thought: I would not have voted UF number one. My vote, if I had one, would have gone to Utah, the only undefeated team in major college football. Utah soundly beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl, in a stadium that was about 70-75% pro-Alabama. In fact, it never trailed in the game. As you will all recall, Florida was losing to Alabama going into the fourth quarter of the SEC title game before coming back to win 31-20. And, I don't know if Florida would have beaten USC. After watching the Rose Bowl, I don't think that there is a more skilled, faster team out there than the Men of Troy.

4) Round One of the NFL playoffs is done, and here comes Round Two. Without further ado, here is how I see the games shaking out:
i) Arizona at Carolina: The Cardinals are trying to play the "we get no respect" card, but there's a reason why they get so little respect--they don't deserve any. The Panthers will punch them in the mouth, and while the Cardinals will score their points, it won't be anywhere near enough. Carolina 38, Arizona 21.
ii) Philadelphia at NY Giants: I think that the final score of this game will be 23-17. I'm just not sure who will have the 23 and who will have the 17. I'm leaning toward the G-men, who I think want to make a statement after Philadelphia beat them in Week 13.
iii) Baltimore at Tennessee: The will be an old-fashioned slugfest. I see the Ravens playing just a little bit better than the Titans and escaping with a 17-16 win.
iv) San Diego at Pittsburgh: Arguably the most intriguing game of the weekend. The Chargers barely scraped into the playoffs at 8-8 (but they were red hot down the stretch, winning their final four games of the regular season and then edging Indianapolis in Round One of the playoffs) while Pittsburgh comes into the playoffs a bit banged up, though it did have the bye week last week. The Chargers don't have a great history in cold weather games, and it will be very cold in Steeltown this weekend. Steelers 23, Chargers 13.

5) We are almost at the All-Star break in Hockey, and here are my thoughts on the season so far:

i) San Jose is the best team in the west, for now. I'm still not sold on the Sharks in the playoffs, and Detroit is just as good as it was last year. That would be one heck of a playoff series.
ii) The Winter Classic at Wrigley Field was great. Seeing the players skate around with the famous Wrigley Field scoreboard in the background was just amazing, and viewers agreed. The NHL actually got measurable ratings on NBC for the game.
iii) The Boston Bruins are for real. I read an article that compared them to the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes team that won the Stanley Cup, and it was a very good analogy. Everybody kept waiting for those Hurricanes to fall on their faces, and they didn't. Similar predictions are being made about this year's Boston team. I don't know if the Bruins will have enough to beat either Detroit or San Jose in the Stanley Cup Finals, but I do think that Boston will get there, barring injuries.
iv) Is it possible for a team as hyped as the Montreal Canadiens to fly under the radar? Montreal is in the midst of its 100th anniversary celebration (word of advice to all hockey fans: go out and buy the DVD collection of the 10 best games in Canadiens' history: It's well worth the investment), and it has amassed an impressive point total, but because of the stellar play by Boston, it has been largely ignored. If Boston does cool off, it could be in for a dogfight atop the division.
v) Sidney Crosby is incredibly talented, but I don't know of a bigger crybaby in the sport. It is very easy to cheer against him, given his petulance and whining every time a call is not made in his favour. I wish that Mario Lemieux would sit him down and tell him how to behave properly.

Just Checking In!

No, I haven't forgotten about the blog. I have been distracted by the impending move of my firm and the many activities of the little BHG's. So.......here are some thoughts on various issues in the world:

1) A strange way to start this, but I read in this week's Sports Illustrated that former UConn Huskies women's basketball star Sue Bird (who, to be honest, I've always thought was very cute--let's just get that on the table right now!) was Jewish. Curious, I googled her name and the term "Jewish". Several inane entries popped up, including a Wikipedia entry on her (apparently, her dad is Jewish). However, the fifth entry that popped up on the Google search page was a posting on the Stormfront webpage (no, I'm NOT going to link to it). For those of you who don't know, Stormfront is a neo-Nazi/White Supremacist website. It asked if she was really Jewish, made some comments about how Jewish women are unattractive, etc. I felt sick just reading it. The thing is, there are people out there who really believe this crap............

2) We are now two weeks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Here's a note to Agence France Presse, the BBC, Associated Press, New York Times, etc.: The subhumans who did this were not GUNMEN. They were not MILITANTS. They were not ACTIVISTS. THEY WERE TERRORISTS. And, as an aside to the New York Times, you can stop speculating about how the Chabad House may have been "an unintended target". It's already come out that in the city of almost 20 million people, this one, tiny oasis of Jewish life was specifically targeted over a year before the terrorist attack. This was no coincidence, you morons at the Times.........

3) What's $243.5 million between friends? That's the price tag on the New York Yankees spending spree on two pitchers so far this off-season ($161 million over seven years for CC Sabathia, $82.5 over five for A.J. Burnett), and there is no sign that the Yankees are done. After, Derek Lowe, Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez are still out there, as is Ben Sheets. It's pretty clear that the Bronx Bombers will spend whatever it takes to return to the playoffs next year, and even if they stopped now, they're a virtual lock in my mind to get there. Apparently, missing the playoffs once ever fifteen years is unacceptable. I just don't see how other teams can compete with them from a financial standpoint. Right now, it's very depressing to be a fan of any other team in Baseball.

4) The on-again, off-again bailout of the Motown Three (GM, Chrysler and Ford) is off again, for now anyway. I have little doubt that it will be revived again in the very near future. The fact of the matter is that there are hundreds of thousands of jobs (not just those employed by the Big Three, but all of the various businesses who service the auto industry) depending on the viability of the Detroit automakers. If they go under, much of the country's economy will go down with them. That said, I have opposed a bailout, if for no other reason than the exorbitant wages being paid those affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW). What's the point in pouring money into any automaker when it's simply going to end up in union hands, leaving GM, Chrysler or Ford to come begging for more money in a year, or two, or three, or whatever. Until union wages are scaled back, no bailout as far as I'm concerned.

5) The stench emanating out of the Governor's Mansion in Illinois just grows more powerful by the day. I know that Chicago politics have an unsavory reputation around the country, and there's a reason for that--the city is rife with corruption. But, even by Chicago standards, what Governor Rod Blagojevich tried to do (allegedly, I know), which was sell off the soon-to-be vacated Senate seat of President-Elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder while daring the FBI to catch him doing it, was obscene. The man had and has no shame; if he did, he would have resigned already. The question now, will this become somehow tied to Mr. Obama? I personally doubt it, because A) I truly don't think that Obama knew what Blagojevich was doing (the same may not be said for certain members of his transition team, however), and B) Even if he did, NOTHING sticks to the guy. He's going to the first teflon President.

6) Has anyone else watched the pandemonium in the Canadian government. First, we had the three opposition parties, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, try to stage an informal coup by banding together to form a coalition which would oust the governing Conservative Party. That was followed by the leader of the Conservatives, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, tracking down the Governor General and getting her to suspend Parliament until January. Not to be outdone, the Liberals, who form the largest opposition party, promptly turfed out their only occasionally coherent leader, Stephane Dion, and are replacing him with Michael Ignatieff. Once Parliament is back in session, it is anticipated that the coalition maneuvering will resume. What fun! Who said that Canada is boring?

Moonbat electioneering, Canadian-style

A Liberal Candidate runing for Parliament in a Winnipeg riding is catching justified flack after a column she wrote as a freelance journalist came to light. In the column, she claimed that the Mossad and CIA knew in advance about the 9/11 terrorist atacks, and that Jewish-owned businesses had gotten out of the Twin Towers before they were attacked: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/09/25/hughes-liberal.html.

I don't know what motivates these conspiracy theorist wackos, but there are far too many of them and they are far too prominent.

And they talk about AMERICAN arrogance?

Growing up in Canada, one of the constant themes that was beaten into my head was that "Americans are arrogant". There was a perception on the part of just about everyone in my homeland that all Americans had a superiority complex. A funny thing happened after I relocated south of the 49th parallel: I realized that the exact opposite was true. If you want a Canadian to show his or her true stripes, get them to talk about Canada vs. the United States. What you will get (in many--NOT ALL--cases) is a stream of generalizations about how much better Canada is than the U.S., about how stupid and ill-informed Americans are, about how wasteful they are, etc., etc., etc. Here's a case in point, the column on September 5 (sorry that I'm late to this party) from one Heather Mallick on the CBC (note, the CBC is the official, government-funded radio and television outlet) heaping abuse on Americans in general and Republicans in particular: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/09/05/f-vp-mallick.html. Here are some of her pearls of wisdom:

1) "She [Sarah Palin] added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote........"
2) "It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman."
3) "Palin was not a sure choice, not even for the stolidly Republican ladies branch of Citizens for a Tackier America. No, she isn't even female really. She's a type, and she comes in male form too."
4) "John Doyle, the cleverest critic in Canada, comes right out and calls Palin an Alaska hillbilly. Damn his eyes, I wish I'd had the wit to come up with it first. It's safer than "white trash" but I'll pluck safety out of the nettle danger. Or something."
5) "White trash — not trailer trash, that's something different — is rural, loud, proudly unlettered (like Bush himself), suspicious of the urban, frankly disbelieving of the foreign, and a fan of the American cliché of authenticity."
6) "Palin has a toned-down version of the porn actress look favoured by this decade's woman, the overtreated hair, puffy lips and permanently alarmed expression. Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the "pramface." Husband Todd looks like a roughneck; Track, heading off to Iraq, appears terrified. They claim to be family obsessed while being studiously terrible at parenting. What normal father would want Levi "I'm a fuckin' redneck" Johnson prodding his daughter?"
7) "The conventioneers are nothing like the rich men who run the party, and that's the mystery of the hick vote. They'd be much better served by the Democrats. I know Thomas Frank answered this in What's the Matter with Kansas?; I know that red states vote Republican on social issues to give themselves the only self-esteem available to their broken, economically abused existence."

It goes on and on. Read it only if you have the stomach. And if that's not enough, she spewed her venom overseas as well, in an article in the Guardian (a case of preaching to the anti-American choir, I guess): http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/05/usa.sarahpalin. After reading this puerile drivel, I don't want to hear from any Canadian about how "condescending and arrogant" Americans are, because I don't know of any creature on the planet who fits that definition more than a Canadian elite.

Praise for the CBC?

I suppose that this could be classified under the "Pigs may fly" category, but regardless, credit is clearly due to the CBC for its series of reports on the threats facing Israel. Instead of the usual, meal-mouthed series of morally equivalent cliches that generally fill most reports (except for those which are overt in their anti-Israel bias), these reports actually try to outline the threats which Israel is facing. They can be found here:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/27/f-rfa-milewski.html

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/01/rfa-milewski.html

Given that I have excoriated the CBC again and again for its persistent anti-Israel bias, I thought it only fair to note when it does a good job.

Their arrogance knows no ends

Quebec Separatists, if nothing else, are blessed with an abundance of hubris. Thus we have Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, demanding that the Canadian Government recognize Quebec as a "nation": http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/09/12/duceppe-constitution.html. Translation: "We want you to accept our independence without our having to do anything to obtain it".

I sincerely hope that the Harper government has the good sense to tell Duceppe to go pound sand.

It affects us

With all of the focus on OUR election, another very important campaign is taking place north of the 49th Parallel. Canada is holding its own general election in October, and the results there will have a significant impact on the United States: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/canadian_consensus.html. For one thing, the current Conservative government has been a strong supporter of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. The opposition Liberals (along with the smaller NDP and the Quebec separatist party, the Bloc Quebecois) are in favour of an immediate end to the Canadian participation in the mission, despite the fact that the Liberals are the party which committed to it in the first place. As well, the Liberals have a long history of having thorny relations with the United States.

The bottom line is that for those of us who like to see relations between the two countries go smoothly, we had best hope for a Conservative win.

Durban II is a-coming.......

Peparations for the Durban II oxymoronically-named "Anti-Racism Conference" are proceeding full steam ahead, despite more and more indications that it (at best) will be a repeat of the 2001 Durban Conference in which Israel was villified to a degree not seen since Jews were targeted by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s: http://www.nysun.com/foreign/planned-conference-on-racism-raises-concerns/85251/?print=6640360221.

Good on Israel for not attending. Ditto Canada. Why hasn't the "rest of the West" followed suit and told the U.N. to go pound sand?

Good on Canada!

There are reports out of Afghanistan that Canadian forces in that country have dealt a major blow to the Taliban's bomb-making ability: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080825/vehicle_bomb_080825/20080825?hub=TopStories. This is obviously great news to everyone except for the Ted Ralls of the world. Good for the Canadian forces, who have served with great distinction in Afghanistan.

How can we miss you if you won't go away?

Jean Chretien, the disgraced, corrupt former Primer Minister of Canada, seems intent on traveling down the same road as President Peanut Farmer. Just as there WAS a tradition in the U.S. for ex-Presidents not to criticize the actions of sitting Presidents, until President Peanut Farmer breached that tradition, there was a similar policy in Canada for retired Prime Ministers to keep a low profile after they left office. So much for that policy. Chretien has trashed sitting Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the latter's refusal to attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games, as well as for Canada's refusal to repatriate terrorist wannabe Omar Khadr: http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/beijing-games/story.html?id=732142#email. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. Chretien has never met a communist he didn't like, and he has always been very sympathetic to the actions of terrorists.

Likely a Pyrrhic victory

A Quebec court has imposed a collective bargaining pact on a Walmart in Gatineau, Quebec: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/08/15/ot-walmart-080815.html. I'm not a big fan of Walmart--I think that the stuff it sells is largely crap, and that it puts too many local, smaller businesses OUT of business. That said, it clearly serves a purpose--selling goods at affordable prices. So, the practical effect of imposing a collective bargaining agreement on it will serve one of two purposes. The first would be that it will drive up those prices. The second is the more likely outcome--Walmart may elect to pull out of Quebec. If it does so, those workers crowing about their "victory" will instead end up unemployed. Assuming that that does happen, what has the union accomplished?

Can anyone explain this to me?

A parole board in Alberta, Canada, has granted parole to a convicted sexual predator less than a year into his nine-year sentence just a month after it rejected his previous parole application: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/07/18/predator-released.html. I'll try to leave aside for the moment my personal opinion that sexual predators, particularly those who prey on children, should NEVER be allowed out of jail once convicted, and that the original nine-year sentence was pathetically inadequate. HOW can they justify letting out this creep less than a year into his sentence, and after parole was just denied to him last month, and at which time it was determined that he was likely to re-offend? HOW??????

Some Canadian-American amity

Canadian soldiers at the NATO base in Kandahar held a Calgary Stampede party the other day, but the guests of honour were a couple of American helicopter pilots: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/columnists/story.html?id=a749dfcb-ca0e-4658-8d90-2e67d2362545. The Canadians were thanking the pilots for spotting an aspiring homicide bomber and warning them in sufficient time to avoid any injuries. In a rare bit of justice, only the bomber died in the attack.

I wish that there were more stories like this, all the way around.

More separatist idiocy out of Quebec

The 400th anniversary of the city of Quebec is approaching next month, and as part of the festivities the city has secured a commitment from Paul McCartney (yes, THAT Paul McCartney) to perform a free concert on the Plains of Abraham, near the city. This has apparently ruffled the feathers of a few separatists, who are whining that McCartney's presence means that the event is being "Canadianized": http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/07/16/qc-paulmccartneyquebec4000716.html. Here's a news flash for these morons. As of today, Quebec is a part of Canada. And, the city celebration is just that, a celebration of the founding of the city, not some misguided attemtp at creating a separatist holiday. These idiots really need to get a clue and grow up.

The Middle East conflict comes to Canada

More litigation jihad, and given that it was filed in Quebec, I have a hunch that it will work. A West Bank village has filed suit in a Quebec court seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief against two Canadian companies involved in the construction of an Israeli village in the West Bank: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/07/10/qc-settlementlawsuit0710.html. Of all the places in North America, Quebec is almost certainly the most anti-Israel. Watch out, because it would not surprise me at all if the lawsuit succeeds, though I would note as an aside that I don't how any Quebec Court would have jurisdiction over what occurs in a foreign country.

The law of unintended consequences

While most Canadians were and still are celebrating the sharp rise of the Loonie against the Greenback, there is a segment of the population that is none too happy about what has happened, and that is the tourism industry: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080707/wl_csm/oloonie. Many Canadian cities such as Montreal thrive on the influx of American tourists who traditionally visit the city in the summer. This year, those tourists aren't there.

I hate to break to Canadians, but unless OUR government and the Federal Reserve get their collective acts together, that situation is is not going to change anytime soon..........

Canada, heaven for U.S. deserters

Thanks to an asinine ruling from a Canadian judge, Canada will in essence become a "sanctuary" for any U.S. military deserter who feels as though American military policies are causing him/her to "insult human dignity": http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/07/04/jonathan-kay-on-joshua-key-canada-just-became-a-utopia-for-u-s-military-deserters.aspx.

Basically, what this does is open up Canada to a flood of military deserters who signed up to serve and then found that, well, serving is not all its cracked up to be.

Good bye and good riddance

Louise Arbour is stepping down from her job as a United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, ostensibly to spend more time with her family: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/06/30/arbour-steps-down.html. She won't be missed by any supporter of either the United States or Israel. In fact, she harboured a particular dislike for the Jewish state, as became evident during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah when she specifically stated that there was no difference in her mind between Israel and Hezbollah. Talk about being morally bankrupt, or morally blind.

Mark Steyn "freed"

The kangaroo court otherwise known as the Canadian Human Rights Commission, has decided that there really was no case against Mark Steyn after all, and it has therefore dismissed the case against him: http://www.macleans.ca/multimedia/pdf/CHRC.pdf. Of course, still pending is the British Columbia human rights case against Steyn and Macleans Magazine, but hopefully this will set a good precedent. Of course, not everyone is happy with this decision: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2008/27/c8703.html.

This isn't over, not by a long shot.