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.

Think I'm the greatest thing since chocolate-covered strawberries? Think I'm certifiably insane? E-mail me at segacs2.at.yahoo.ca.

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Comments are open and unmoderated, although obscene or abusive remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of segacs's world i know.

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11:59 PM
Too . . . much . . . food . . .

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3:17 PM
You know the world is different when . . . the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the 3 most powerful men in America are named Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.

(Via Shawna).

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2:25 PM
I received an e-mail from Arieh Lebowitz regarding an online petition about CDMA that is outdated and is going so far as to be causing problems for the organization.

The petition, started by Concordia Hillel's own Steven Rosenshein, has garnered over 150,000 signatures so far and spotlighted international attention on a conflict that CDMA was having last year with the Canadian Customs and Revenue agency. But since then, the organization resolved the problem by cutting a deal with CCRA. Except, thanks to the nature of the Internet and mass e-mails, people are still protesting and voicing complaints:

There is no truth to an Internet petition that claims the Canadian government is planning to shut down the offices of Canadian Magen David Adom (CMDA), the organization's national president said last week.

A petition hosted at www.PetitionOnline.com is badly out of date and misleading, said Joseph Bitton, the CMDA's Montreal-based leader.

Nevertheless, CMDA is "getting a lot of problems" because of the petition, Bitton said, and even the U.S. branch of Magen David Adom is seeing its supporters question whether they should be giving money to an organization they fear may be violating the law.

"It's created some confusion and people wonder if something is wrong," Bitton said. "It's not good for our organization or Israel."

[ . . . ]

CMDA has contacted the petition's sponsor, but was told he could not get the petition removed. Bitton said CMDA is trying to contact PetitionOnline.com, but so far has had no luck.

In other words, if you receive a mass e-mail urging you to sign this petition, send back a reply with this update. There are enough real problems that our community needs to mobilize to address, without wasting energy on one that no longer exists.

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10:04 AM
It's about that time again . . .

Allow me to take this opportunity to wish a Happy Passover to all of you out there celebrating tonight, tomorrow night, and this week.

I hope everyone has a nice, crazy, family-filled seder. Enjoy your cardboard - er - matzah. And go easy on that Manichewitz wine. The stuff is awful, I'm telling you! Tastes like syrup! (Update: Wendy agrees with me).

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12:12 AM


With most of the polls reporting, the fairly final election results are as follows:

• Liberals - 76 seats - 45.84% of popular vote
  
• Parti Québécois - 45 seats - 33.25% of popular vote
  
• Action Démocratique - 4 seats - 18.28% of popular vote

The race in this election was pretty close all along, with Charest and the Liberals really only gaining momentum after the debate, and pulling away in the past 3-4 days. Tonight, however, the biggest race was between the networks, to see who would predict the outcome the soonest after polls closed.

And all the candidates for Premier have really bad hair. Dumont's isn't all that bad, if a little stiff. But Charest's still got the chia-pet thing going on, and Landry, oh that combover is painful!

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11:52 PM
And of course in more important news, Mike Weir won the Masters yesterday, becoming the first Canadian golfer to win a major PGA tournament ever.

Personally I am not particularly interested in golf. But living with a father whose motto is "golf is life", I've picked up a thing or two about the game. And I suppose that with the Habs practicing their own swings while other, better teams compete in the playoffs, a little pride can't hurt. So, uh, yay Weir!

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10:58 PM
Big win for the Liberals!



Charest and company have reason to celebrate tonight, as the Liberals take a projected 75 of 125 seats in the National Assembly. The PQ is down to only 46 seats, with the remaining 4 going to the ADQ.

Hopefully now sovereignty can take a back burner and the government can actually focus on governing for the next five years. It ought to be refreshing.

As I'd predicted, my vote wasn't really that important in my home riding of Robert-Baldwin, where Pierre Marsan, the Liberal candidate, took 86% of the vote. Somewhat surprisingly the PQ finished second, and the "why did they bother" Equality party was fourth with only 347 votes at the time I write this. I would have thought the ADQ might do better here, because it's such a safe Liberal stronghold that some people might have felt like they could get away with voting for them, but the ADQ candidate only managed to get 5% of the vote for a third-place finish.

The swing ridings are much more interesting to watch. Jean Charest managed to win his home riding of Sherbrooke in what promised to be a squeaker. Landry and Dumont also won their home ridings.

This is a new era for Quebec. Let's see if the Liberals can deliver on their promises to improve healthcare and cut taxes. A pipe dream, perhaps, but a nice one.

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11:45 AM
Well, I exercised my democratic right to vote this morning. It took all of 15 minutes: wait in line, present ID, check the ballot, and go. Simple, straightforward . . . and yet for some reason I voted with a new appreciation for the process this morning. Maybe it was a reflection that it's a minority of the world that has this basic right.

And while I know that, thanks to our relatively undemocratic ridings system, my vote probably won't matter in the least, it still felt good to be able to participate in - well, maybe not exactly democracy, but at least our version of it. Sure, the system is corrupt and the government forces through unpopular legislation despite the objections of the citizens. But it's a far cry between that and what people in most of the world have to contend with, under oppressive dictatorships with no rights whatsoever.

So make sure to vote. It's not only your obligation, it's your most precious right!

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11:32 PM
Just got through watching the Dennis Miller special on HBO. And I just have three words for you: Dennis for President!

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9:24 PM
Quote of the day: This comes from Mazin Fahmawi, a regular poster on the Link's board and an SPHR member:

SPHR would love to see the link unbiased towards anybody because that will only show the true faces of what SPHR represents, making the public aware of the Palestinian Human Rights abuses, and what Hillel represent, a blind nationalist zionist ideology.

I could comment, but that pretty much speaks for itself.

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8:37 PM
I hope everyone had a nice weekend, spending time outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

In case you're looking for some entertainment, check out the Link's board for more on the story below, and a very indignant Adam Slater initiating a pissing contest. Reading the interaction I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the sheer idiocy of politics at Concordia.

Ah yes, and don't forget to vote tomorrow!

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