January 26th, 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from Jay Currie written on January 26th, 2006.
Palestine’s government has resigned after polls suggested that Hamas, the militant Islamist organisation committed to the destruction of Israel, has won a large majority in the state’s parliamentary elections.
the telegraph
While the Toronto Star headlines “Ballots triumph over bullets” the Palestinians have managed to elect a government which is committed to the destruction of Israel.
Not that Fatah was anything other than a terrorist organization; but they at least pretended that there was an alternative.
The one upside in the apparent Hamas victory is that now they will have to deal with the fact that Israel is not going anywhere soon. The reality of government may moderate their position. But I have to bet against it.
Of course the entire issue may be rendered moot with Iran simply nuking Israel and, because of the sheer proximity, most of the Palis as well.
It might occur to the new Palestinian government that it may be better to deal with a nation which simply wants to be left alone rather than risk the various forms of nuclear and other terror which seems to be on offer in the Middle East.
Written by jay on January 26th, 2006 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on International and Uncategorized.
While I would have no difficulty working with you or your government, it would be virtually impossible to establish the appearance of total confidence and support in a jurisdiction where political ambassadorial appointees traditionally resign immediately after an election.
Consequently, it is in the best interest of our nation that I submit to you my resignation as Canada’s ambassador to the United States. I would be pleased to continue to serve until such time as a replacement is named or, I could depart more expeditiously if it is your wish.
frank mckenna
Very classy. Frank McKenna is in the enviable position of being able to do the right thing and serve his personal interests at the same time.
The Liberal leadership race could be the proverbial donnybrook which the Liberal Party needs to have. A realistic field of at least half a dozen and, if you toss in wild cards like David Emerson, you might have a dozen contenders.
My early money is on Dion - but as I am still trying to gag down that last bit of pesto crow that is obviously the kiss of predictive death.
It will be interesting to see who Harper taps for the critical job of US Ambassador. I realize that it is likely to be an earnest grey hair…but, for fun, how about David Frum? There is no Canadian more intimately knowledgable about the Bush White House. He is well wired in Washington and in Canada. He can write his own op-eds. (I seem to recall that he retained his Canadian citizenship.)
And it would have the delightful effect of sending the left and much of the center in Canada into low orbit.
Written by jay on January 26th, 2006 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics and Uncategorized.
The Zerb posts quoting the Western Standard (which is fun in itself):
Reporters on the Martin campaign seemed to become almost consumed with Liberal bungling. They began filing stories speculating that there might be a mole in the Liberal war room deliberately leaking stories to hurt Martin.
the zerb
I’ve lost a couple of comments at Zerb’s blog - no fault of hers - they just vanished, and I thought this one was worth keeping,
I suspect what was happening on the Martin campaign was that even the most dedicated of the Liberal press began to realize, to misuse Ms. Stein, “there was no there there”. Last time out they were focused on the mystery which they were sure surrounded Harper, this time they looked deep into the bowels of the Liberal Prime Minister and party and discovered a hollow, empty, shell with a rather unpleasant stench of decay. This they reported. And as the Dumpling spouted increasingly out of touch with reality lies that no one in the home office was buying, they reported that as well.
It was not long before the entire Liberal campaign became a laughingstock. Then, of course, the press, even if they tried. could not miss the fact the “Stephen Harper - REALLY SCARY …. IN CANADA” routine was playing to a diminishing audience. Nor could they miss the fact that when Maude Barlow’s claque of the “Concerned Wymn and Guyly Guys of Canada (or at least the bits you can see from the roof of the Park Plaza where Peggy used to drink)” published their hissy fit no one actually gave a rat’s ass.
The Tories switched the narrative. This was smart. The Liberals couldn’t buy a clue and that was news and reported as such.
When the wheels fall off a campaign it is always news. When the staff slag the parents of Canada, not once, but twice, that’s news. When the RCMP announces and investigation into the possibility of criminal wrongdoing in the Department of Finance, that’s news. When the Prime Minister of the country, apparently off the cuff, announces he is going to trash a fairly critical element of the Constitution, that would be news.
Harper made news by making announcements and keeping those socons locked in the cage at the undisclosed location. The Dumpling had new happen to him. This goes some distance towards explaining who won and who lost.
Written by jay on January 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
Though it might distress some to see women still on the streets this morning, rest assured that it will not be long before they are back in their kitchens, fixing up recipes for fish and other foods associated with good breeding practises.
Those of the perverse homosexual persuation will be delighted to find themselves on an all-expense-paid vacation to Cuba to enjoy the lovely beaches and fine climate of an exotic bay tucked away on the southeast corner of the island. (With all the fun they will be having, we might not ever see them back 
)
bumfonline
OK, altogether now, with guns, in the cities, in Canada….
Naw.
Written by jay on January 26th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics.
From Jim Bennett,
the Prime Minister’s office is a pretty good bully pulpit, and he would be smart to use it to start deconstructing the Trudeavean deconstruction of the old Canada. He should make sure the Canadian troops in Afghanistan are decorated in a visible and public ceremony, exactly what has been denied to them to date. He should make a show of honoring the Canadian WWII veterans conspicuously and repeatedly, and having a substantial ceremony on every one of the big Canadian military anniversaries: Vimy, Dieppe, D-Day, etc. He might bring back the Red Ensign in a historical context — ordering it flown as a “veteran’s memorial flag” on select days like D-Day, and for Canadian ships to fly the Blue Ensign on a suitable day as well, maybe November 11th. It would be very hard for people to criticize him for remembering the veterans more conspicuously. And perhaps he might even consider a surprise visit to the forces in Afghanistan.
albions’ seedlings
As Bennett points out, the opportunity to change the story, change the Canadian narrative, is the one thing which Harper has and will retain for the next year to year and a half without a great deal of opposition.
For all of the Liberals’ nation building rhetoric, the systematic destruction of the symbols of the creation of the Canadian identity, and in particular the depreciation of the valor of the fast disappearing WWII vets, is one of the many reasons why Canada grip on nationhood is so fragile. Bennett’s suggestions would cost nothing but would mean a lot to a vanishing generation and the children of that generation who parents’ memories Harper would be honouring.
Written by jay on January 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Canadian Politics and culture.
Harper really can’t undo much of that. Maybe it will be a quiet few months at least as he organizes our new rural overlords and teaches them that a moral majority means a majority that is made up of 36.7% of something.
genx@40
The comments have been buzzing with the discussion of what Harper’s downtown free victory will mean. (And, yes, there is a downtown in Edmonton and Calgary but this is a fact unknown in the real downtowns of the nation. Places which include Annexes.)
I don’t think it means much. I think for the moment the Tories are going to stick with the very pragmatic, minimalist agenda which they enuciated during the campaign. Basically tick off the promises they made against the legislation they pass. (My friend Kevin Grace writing at VDARE (and my liberal friends are advised not to click there else they read things they really do not want to hear) suggests otherwise,
Stephen Harper remains an enigma. He has been bedevilled in two consecutive elections by charges he harbors a “hidden agenda.” It is easy enough to dismiss this as scaremongering, but I can say with all honesty (and I have studied the man extensively for a decade) that I have absolutely no idea of what his agenda really is. Harper is a man of many surprises. It would be foolish to suppose his trick bag is empty.
kmg at vdare
The CPC has a mandate to prove it is worthy of a real mandate. Rural overlordship or the triumph of the socons will pretty much ensure an election within 18 months in which the CPC will not win a majority. But a steady drive towards reducing the size and scope of the federal government with a return of money first to citizens and then to the provinces, could easily set Harper on the road to a couple of decades in office.
Yes, Flea, Harper will have to navigate betwixt the Scylla and Charybdis of the theocons and the libertarians; but if Grace and I can enjoy drinking beer and throwing thngs at his television set whenever Lloyd “I interviewed Sir John A.” Robertson said something extra fatuous, there is certainly hope for the CPC. Of course the navigation will not be without its cost, after all, Odysseus lost six crewmen as he sail between the monsters. For Harper it will come down to the question of which six and when.
Written by jay on January 26th, 2006 with 11 comments.
Read more articles on CPC and Canadian Politics.