Blog about politics (mideast and pro-Israel, Canadian and local Montreal), world events, and random thoughts.

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The World I Know is updated on a semi-regular basis by segacs.

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1:35 PM
The Concordia election results made headlines in the Gazette and president-elect Natalie Pomerleau was interviewed on CJAD yesterday afternoon.

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1:23 PM
Censorship in the music biz:

Initial reports that CHUM radio had pulled 20 anti-war songs off the playlists of one of its radio stations are false, much to my relief. When I first read the story, I couldn't believe it . . . and apparently, neither could the station:

The original report claimed the banned songs included Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon, Soldier Boy by The Shirelles (a love song), Revolution by The Beatles and One Tin Soldier by The Original Caste.

"No songs have been banned on 1050 CHUM -- none," Brad Jones, the station's program director, said yesterday. The station yesterday even played at least two of the purported banned songs, including Give Peace A Chance.

Rob Farina, program director of 104.5 CHUM-FM, said his station also has not banned any war- or peace-themed songs.

Jones said pulse24.com's story was the result of a breakdown in communication during an interview between a pulse24.com reporter and CHUM-FM music director Barry Stewart. The reporter asked Stewart which war-themed songs were being pulled. Stewart thought the reporter meant pulled off the shelf for broadcast, whereas the reporter meant pulled from the playlist.

I'm certainly glad that the rumours turned out to be false. But the fact that the media was so willing to believe and publish the story in the first place raises an interesting question: where does the line get crossed? Being sensitive to controversy is one thing, but I could never condone all-out censorship, and neither could most people.

But while this report was false, reports that MTV Europe is practicing censorship unfortunately seem to be true:

MTV has banned music videos with war-related titles, lyrics or images, including Paul Hardcastle's 19 and Outkast's Bombs over Baghdad, for the duration of the conflict in Iraq.

The leading music channel will not show pop promos that feature "war, soldiers, war planes, bombs, missiles, riots and social unrest, executions and other obviously sensitive material", according to an internal memo seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk.

[ . . . ]

"MTV, like many other broadcasters, feels content should reflect audience sensitivities at this time of war," an MTV spokeswoman said.

"Any changes to playlists are only a temporary measure," she added.

I sincerely hope that this policy is reconsidered. After all, isn't freedom of expression one of the things we're fighting for?

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1:12 PM
Suicide bombing in Iraq:

Iraq hailed a suicide bomber who killed four American soldiers on Saturday and promised more such "blessed" attacks as the United States kept up withering air strikes on Baghdad.

[ . . . ]

"This is the blessed beginning on the road of sacrifice and martyrdom to inflict on them what they did not expect," the television announcer said.

It appears at least someone has been heeding the call from Palestinian terror groups such as Hamas to export suicide bombings to other countries.

Holy indeed. All this means is that suicide bombing is gaining popularity outside Israel, due to its perceived effectiveness as a tactic. And that's disturbing news for the rest of the world, because how to stop terrorism once it becomes widespread? Granted, there's a difference between attacking military troups and attacking innocent civilians, but let us be very clear here: suicide bombings are used as tactics of terrorism, not military offense.

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2:27 AM
So which is it?

On the one hand, there are people like this guy who claim that the liberation of the Iraqi people is the main argument for the necessity of this war: (via LGF)

So if people want to talk about containing [Saddam Hussein] and don't want to go in forcefully and remove him, how do they propose doing something about the horrors he is inflicting on his people who live in such fear of him?"

I did not cite "weapons of mass destruction." Nor do I believe Saddam Hussein is a direct threat to this country, any more than the creators of the mass graves in the Balkans were, or the Taliban. And as has been evident for a long time, I am no admirer of George W. Bush.

The United Nations? Did the inspectors go into the prisons and the torture chambers? Would they have, if given more time? Did they interview the Mukhabarat, Saddam's dreaded secret police?

An Iraqi in Detroit wanted to send a message to the anti-war protesters: "If you want to protest that it's not OK to send your kids to fight, that's OK. But please don't claim to speak for the Iraqis."

And on the other side, I was watching Bill Maher on HBO earlier, and guest Michael Graham said during discussion that (and forgive me for paraphrasing) for him it has nothing to do with the Iraqi people, it's about protecting the interests of Americans and defending the US against the terrorism that Saddam supports. (To which Janeane Garofalo made some typical comment about our "world view" being wrong because how dare we tell Saddam that he has no right to torture his people anyway? But I digress.)

The point is, from a political standpoint every country does tend to act in self-interest. But I think the moral case for outsting Saddam Hussein is very strong, and it hasn't been made clearly enough.

On the surface, I'd tend to agree with Graham more. There are many people in the world living in deplorable conditions. And while it's altruistic to want to "liberate" them, I can understand a dose of skepticism about war based on those grounds. In general, countries go to war to defend themselves against a threat to their security.

Critics argue that the case has not been made that Saddam Hussein poses a threat to the security of the United States - or other UN members, for that matter.

That is just plain false. Every UN resolution that he ignored was a threat, because it weakened the power of the UN to take action against a rogue state. Every cheque provided to the family of a Palestinian suicide bomber was a threat, because it funded and encouraged terrorism which, left unchecked, can only spread. Every time Saddam Hussein juggled Western countries like little balls in the air, driving wedges between them, only served to up the threat.

Nobody in the world - not even France or Russia - actually believed Saddam when he claimed to have disarmed. They all know he has weapons of mass destruction, and they all know he'll use them. The only people who are Saddam's cheerleaders are the anti-war protestor crowd, and even some of them are beginning to wise up.

Bush knows a war for altruistic purposes is easier to sell, so he dresses it up as being about the freedom of the Iraqi people. And I certainly won't downplay their oppression. The horrors they have faced in the 33 years of Saddam's regime are very real.

But if that in itself isn't a prima facie case for war, self-defense can no longer be denied as an imminent one. So that's why I say to the Americans, the British, and their allies: go kick butt! And to the Canadian government, shame on us for not being there with them.

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6:56 AM
Evolution by a landslide!

Concordia students turned out in record numbers to give the moderate "Evolution" a resounding victory by more than double the number of votes over the radical leftist "Clean Slate" in this year's CSU election. The tally was 2,260 votes for Evolution, compared to 1,097 for Clean Slate and less than 300 for each of the remaining slates.

More than half of council's seats went to moderate candidates as well (although note that this year's president, Sabine Freisinger, was elected to council, as well as a few of her buddies.)

All in all, this is a very clear message from Concordia students aboout what sort of union they want running their school next year. And it can only mean good things for the future and reputation of Concordia.

Update: It seems that the actual numbers will be slightly different, due to what the Link referrs to as "misplaced tally sheets". Updated numbers will be announced Monday, but the CEO says they will not affect the results.

Also, the first threats from the sore-loser leftists are starting to crawl out of the woodwork, for example, this comment on the Link's site. They can't be happy about losing the election, but I would have hoped they'd at least be more graceful about it.

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11:39 PM
Great e-mail forward (via Adina):

American flag: $25
Gasoline: $2
Cigarette lighter: $2.50
Catching yourself on fire because you are a terrorist asshole: PRICELESS

If this guy died he'd be on my list for a Darwin award.

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5:26 PM
A group calling itself "Friends of America" is holding a rally to show Canadian support for America in Toronto on April 4th. Visit the link for more details.

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8:19 PM
Here's more about the disgusting antisemitism in Paris among the anti-war movement and the far Left: (via Jonny)

Il aura fallu trois jours aux organisateurs des manifestations parisiennes contre la guerre pour condamner les agressions antisémites commises samedi dernier, en marge du cortège. Un retard qui vient s'ajouter au malaise ressenti par certains devant la tournure prise par le dernier rassemblement, à la tonalité plus pro-palestienne que pacifiste.

The article goes on to talk about a few specific incidents, including the Jewish student who was shoved and roughed up by ten or so protestors who were waving an American flag with a swastika in the colours of Israel in the place of the stars.

And the group of protestors holding Palestinian flags who went off in search of Jews wearing kippas at the association offices of Hashomer Hatzair, a Zionist youth group. They beat one of them up, while shouting "Allah akbar". Security personnel nearby refused to intervene. Not only that, but the whole thing was captured on film.

The reaction from France's leftist political parties is summed up in this quote by Arielle Denis, co-president of the "Movement de la Paix":

Elle reconnaît "une très forte sensibilité vis-à-vis de la Palestine et d'Israël" au sein du mouvement, mais estime que les positions anti-sionistes restent un phénomène "marginal".

Marginal? Yeah, right.

Update: The Canadian Jewish News has more on this story, including further evidence on the habit of these groups to completely fabricate "fact" out of thin air:

CAPJCO, however, denied its activists were involved in the attack. Its president, Olivia Zemor, said her members had, once again, been attacked by Jewish extremists from Betar.

"We are going to be speaking to the police and asking for protection." Asked to specify the number of injured from her own organization, Zemor said she did not know the "exact figure" before admitting that there had been no CAPJPO injuries.

Hmmm . . . sounds to me a lot like the fictitious claims that the "Zionists instigated the violence" in the case of the September 9th Concordia riots. It fits the same pattern of inventing the truth for propaganda purposes without a shred of evidence. Disguating, all of it.

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3:00 PM
Lenny Kravitz recorded a song to express his anti-war views. And Damian Penny has the lyrics - or a version thereof. Hysterical!

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2:17 PM
Looks like Concordia students are heeding the call to get out and vote.

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2:04 PM
No Belgian chocolates? I'm sad now.

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1:11 PM
What are the hottest names for Palestinian babies these days? A Jerusalem Post report says that hundreds of parents are naming their new babies after Saddam Hussein:

According to the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi, the favorite name for Palestinian families in the city these days is Saddam. The paper said male infants born in local hospitals in the last few days have been named Saddam in honor of the Iraqi president.

"Many Palestinians are proud of this name," the paper's correspondent, Ala Badarneh, reports from Nablus. "Many families are also keen on keeping posters of Saddam Hussein in their homes. Usually you would find pictures of Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat together at previous meetings between the two. Many people are buying these pictures in the market and keeping them at home."

Nearly as disturbing was the big picture in today's Gazette (sorry, no link) of a Palestinian mom holding her newborn daughter, named "Rachel Corrie". I guess her mom has great hopes for her future, that she'll run in front of a bulldozer like her namesake.

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11:35 PM
It's about time someone did this: Jay Currie has started a website entitled Canadian Friends of America. Notice the banner link on the lefthand side of the page.

To our friends south of the border, we're not all the flag-burning, hockey-game-booing people depicted by our media. Plenty of us are grateful to you and supportive of you, and we want to extend our hands in friendship.

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3:21 PM
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later: Canada was chewed out by the American ambassador to Canada for our refusal to participate in the war against Iraq, and for our anti-Americanism:

Cellucci told an audience of business executives in Toronto that had Canada found itself under threat, Washington would have come to its aid immediately.

"There is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with. There would be no debate, there would be no hesitation. We would be there for Canada -- part of our family," he thundered.

"And that is why so many in the United States are so disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now," he said. In the speech, and in comments to reporters afterward, he mentioned U.S. disappointment 12 times.

How long before they start pouring Molson down the drain like French wine?

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10:13 PM
Concordia's CSU elections are being held tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Those of you who have been following my blog know all about the problems that the CSU has been causing at Concordia these past few years. I can only hope that this year is the one where enough students turn out to toss the professional shit-disturbers out on their butts where they belong, and elect some real leadership.

The two main slates in contention are Evolution, supported by a broad base of students opposed to the current CSU, and the ironically-named Clean Slate, made up entirely of buddies of the current and past few CSUs. A few other slates, Renaissance Concordia and New Vision among them, are also on the ballot, which may threaten to split the opposition, thus handing yet another victory to Clean Slate.

Will enough students turn out to vote in order to overcome the Left's committed support from the pro-Palestinian and anti-capitalism crowd? Or will this same group get right back into power? Right now, it's up to the undergraduate students at Concordia. So if you're reading this, and you're a Concordia student, make sure to vote!

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7:12 PM
A whole different ball game . . .

Thanks to Tom for sending me the link to his article in the London Times about Iraq's national football team (that's soccer to us North Americans). Tom interviewed Sharar Haydar, who played professional football for Iraq's national teams for 12 years, and says he was tortured by Uday Saddam Hussein, Saddam Hussein's son:

"He didn't just torture us when we lost," Haydar said when we met last Wednesday in a London coffee shop. "Even when we won. He started by shaving hair — I know in Britain it's a fashion now but in Iraq it's a big embarrassment. After that he started to put players in prison. He used to come to watch us, sometimes we won three or four-nil but still he (ordered his guards to) take three or four players, put them in prison and torture them because he didn't like their form. Then he started to beat the coach, referees . . . "

Food for thought the next time a high school basketball coach gets chewed out for making his team run laps.

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9:48 AM
Apparently, the rantings of first-class idiotarian Michael Moore were too much even for the anti-war Hollywood crowd:

"We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president," Moore said. "We live in a time where we have a man who's sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts.

Applause gave way to some boos, as the orchestra began playing to cue the filmmaker to leave the stage.

"We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you," Moore shouted.

At least some had the courage to boo. I wonder about those who applauded and gave Moore a standing ovation, though. "Fictitious" code orange? "Fictitious" duct tape? I wonder if he thinks September 11th was fictitious too. I wonder what the families and friends of those who died on September 11th would think about that?

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9:17 PM
U.S. Forces have found a chemical arms factory in Iraq:

The huge 100-acre complex, which is surrounded by a electrical fence, is perhaps the first illegal chemical plant to be uncovered by US troops in their current mission in Iraq. The surrounding barracks resemble an abandoned slum.

It wasn't immediately clear exactly which chemicals were being produced here, but clearly the Iraqis tried to camouflage the facility so it could not be photographed aerially, by swathing it in sand-cast walls to make it look like the surrounding desert.

Prediction: this is just the first of the long list of weapons that Saddam claims not to have that the Allies will discover.

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