Thursday, May 06, 2004
Fahrenheit 9/11
Some U of A students (and me) discuss the latest contretemps surrounding Michael Moore and the continuing controversy around Bowling For Columbine.
(Speaking of bowling, I think this would be fun!)
Parachute candidates suck.
Seriously, the federal Liberals have got to stop meddling in riding nomination races. It really pisses me off. Let the riding decide who will fly the flag, not the national party.
This is the kind of thing that will drive Liberal-leaners like me to either consider the options or just sit on my hands during the next election.
What the hell was Klein’s problem?
Ralph Klein, man of the people.
I don’t know what to make of this. To be frank, I saw the clip, and at first I wondered if he was drunk. He was belligerent and really seemed a little off his rocker, like some people get after a few. I was taken aback by his behaviour, and it reminded me of the stories from a few years ago about the homeless shelter.
(I’d post a link to the video, but I couldn’t find a free feed. But you’ve really got to see the tape to see what an ass Klein was being.)
Klein’s a bully. And he seems to be getting more so. I’ve seen some other press conferences he’s had lately, and he came across as arrogant and thin-skinned. I used to like the guy. Now I think he’s just a jerk.
This is a guy who has a HUGE and unassailable majority in the Legislature, and free rein as the province’s chief executive. Whatever happened to grace?
Whatever happened to Global National?
Is it just me, or do they seem to have it in for the Liberals? They seem to start every newscast lately with a somewhat sneering and cynical bit about what Martin or the Liberals did. It’s not strictly what they’re saying that seems off or wrong, but rather that the manner in which they are presenting it - there’s a lot of cynicism and subtextual implication.
I recall one recent bit where they mocked Martin for using some goofy business buzzwords in a speech. The clip they showed was a bit goofy and vacuous, but it also wasn’t a top-of-the-newscast-worthy thing, and there wasn’t a lot of context presented (he did seem to be speaking to a business audience; what else did he say?). So I don’t really know what the story behind the speech is, I just know that Martin used some trendy bizspeak (which, btw, I hate) in a speech...to a business group?
It would be more defensible if they gave the same kind of sneer treatment to the Conservatives or the NDs, but I haven’t seen any of that. I used to like Global National, but they seem to be drifting more and more rightward and more and more sensationalistic.
The Howler has the goods…
Via The Poor Man, an excerpt from the Daily Howler that has the goods.
It isn’t just the wacky ideology, it’s the sheer incompetence.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Abu Ghraib
It looks like the Abu Ghraib situation may be even worse than what is currently known. This comes from Seymour Hersh, whose New Yorker article has been moving the story forward over the last few days.
Anyone who knows me can attest to how I’ve grown much more rabidly anti-Bush Administration over the past year. From their delusional rationales for war to Plamegate to the black comedy of Bush’s last press conference, ideology and politics trump competence and reason. (Not to mention science!)
I have no doubt Bush is sincere in what he says. The problem is that what he says is either vacuous rhetoric or demonstrably poor policy. And it often betrays a troubling lack of awareness and knowledge. But I digress.
Events in Abu Ghraib prison completely fly in the face of the values that the Americans are claiming to advance (and that I’ve always identified with them). The problem is, the reports also seem completely plausible given the Bush administration’s behaviour (Gitmo, the Afghan camp, shipping Maher Arar off to Syria to be tortured) and the rhetoric surrounding the ‘war on terror’. This cognitive dissonance is what’s gonna kill them in the war to win hearts and minds in the Arab world. You need to give people a cause, an idealistic vision, a reason to work with you, and it has to be credible. Abu Ghraib breaks the back of all of that effort.
Billmon has more about what’s up with Abu Ghraib and some info on the Geneva Conventions.
One more thing. Some commentators on the right end of the spectrum have pointed at the hypocrisy of Iraqis celebrating the Fallujah mutilations of four contractor/mercenaries and griping about the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. This cartoon illustrates the point.
It’s not a very sharp point, however. Wrong is wrong. The mutilations were abhorrent, and the activities in Abu Ghraib were abhorrent. Playing the game of pointing out the hypocrisy of Iraqis seems a little disingenous, because it’s not really relevant to the inherent moral issues at hand. Just because John mugs you doesn’t make it right for you to pick Mike’s pocket. There’s no clear line from Fallujah to Abu Ghraib, particularly given that the events of Abu Ghraib predate the Fallujah incident.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Vacation’s over.
Tomorrow (edit - today!), I go back to work after taking a week (mostly) off. (I only did about a dozen hours of work.) Other than that, I did pretty much nothing. Played some games, watched some movies, tried out my long-neglected rollerblades. The blades mostly worked. I, alas, did not.
