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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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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12:31 PM
Shana Tova!

Just wanted to extend my best wishes to all my Jewish readers for a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Incidentally, I haven't been blogging much this week because I've been sick. There's been a lot going on, but frankly, I haven't been able to keep up. Blogging will get back to normal as soon as I am.

In the meantime, enjoy the holiday.

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10:13 AM
Sorkin's swan song: the West Wing picked up the Emmy for Best Drama for the fourth year in a row.

It's one of my favourite shows, but even I have to acknowledge that it went downhill this season. And I'm nervous about what the new, Sorkin-less season will bring. Lately, it seems the show has been ducking certain political issues in favour of standard prime-time melodrama, and I hope that the show doesn't continue down that path.

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10:10 AM
There's been another suicide bombing targeting the UN in Iraq:

"This incident today once again underlines that Iraq remains a war zone and a high risk environment, particularly for those working to improve the lives of the Iraqi people," Kevin Kennedy, the senior U.N. official in Baghdad, said in a statement read out by Paradela at the scene.

Paradela said U.N. staff did not know why they were being targeted. "It's not really for lack of security that this happens," she said. "If people are willing to kill themselves there's not a lot we can do."

After the last attack, the general consensus was that the UN was targeted because it was a "softer" target than the American military bases. But now, the bombings almost seem calculated to deter the UN from getting drawn into an expanded role in Iraq, as the US has been encouraging it to do. Even if that wasn't the intention, it may very well be the result.

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4:20 PM
Well, the Expos will be back next season . . . but it's unclear how many of them will still be on the team after the inevitable fire sale.

Such a shame.

Well, enough with baseball. Time to pin the great white hope on hockey - which isn't looking good either.

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1:18 PM
Tomorrow, Montreal will be one of 954 cities around the world participating in car-free day. During off-peak hours, a core area of downtown will be closed to cars.

This is one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard.

Okay, so the objective is to point out how dependant we are on our cars. We already know that . . . and most of us hate it!

You want us to get rid of our cars? Fine. Give us a real alternative.

In Montreal's climate, walking or cycling is really only viable a few months a year. The metro doesn't go west or north, and the buses only circulate locally and come every half-hour or hour.

City planners constantly complain about "urban sprawl". In the meantime, people are forced to spread out from downtown cause - in case nobody's noticed - there's nowhere to live in the downtown core! Montreal is facing one of the most severe housing shortages in years, with prices for tiny one-bedroom apartments spiralling out of control.

The city's growing, but the infrastructure hasn't kept up. West-islanders don't get a metro or decent buses because there's no political incentive for any provincial government to make us promises. The communter trains only run at rush hour and only straight downtown - they're of no use for those of us who don't work in that area. And have you ever tried to go out on a Saturday night and get home after midnight without a car?

Give us decent and convenient public transportation, and I - like many others - would be more than happy to get rid of my car and use it.

But no such decent public transit exists - at least not where I live. So I'm stuck taking the car, like it or not.

In the meantime, tomorrow's road closures will only aggravate people trying to get where they need to be, and create traffic and parking nightmares that will augment, not reduce, pollution.

People who drive aren't all greedy fat cats with SUVs trying to take over the road. We don't all have love affairs with our cars. High gasoline prices, parking nightmares, and insurance and maintenance costs are certainly not our best friends.

But until there's a real alternative, we're gonna keep driving. And no token "car-free day" is going to have any effect other then pissing off a whole lotta people.

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