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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4:47 PM
New Dehli terrorist attacks

What can be said about this?

Three powerful bombs tore through New Delhi markets packed with families and shoppers on Saturday ahead of the biggest Hindu and Muslim festivals of the year, killing more than 50 people and wounding scores.

Charred bodies, blood, glass and smoking debris littered the blast scenes as rescuers frantically pulled out the dead and wounded while thousands of shocked survivors milled around trying to find out what had happened to missing relatives.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared the coordinated blasts, set off within minutes of each other, an act of terrorism. He said it was too early to speculate who was to blame.

I'm not sure what's worse - the attacks themselves, or the likelihood that they'll get quickly shrugged off as merely the latest in a long list of terrorist attacks. There's very little that can shock the world anymore, sadly.

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1:26 AM
Return of the blogger

Paul's back. And blogging up a storm. Get thee over to his place, quick.

Update: Paul also wins my prize for quote of the day, with this insightful analysis about the Tremblay-versus-Bourque municipal election race:

Do any of you remember that episode of South Park where they're selecting a new school mascot and are reduced to choosing either a giant douche or a turd sandwich? Life really does imitate art sometimes...

We missed ya, Paul! Sure good to have you back.

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1:05 AM
Sens edge Habs in OT

Ouch.

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12:53 AM
What would you do with $54.2 million?

That's a question that 17 lucky coworkers in Alberta get to answer today, after winning last night's record Lotto 6/49 draw.

I've never played the lottery and I probably never will. I've had it drilled into me since I was a kid that "lotteries are a voluntary tax on people who aren't too good at math". And I tend to subscribe to that notion.

But, as they say, you can't win if you don't play. And it has got to suck to be one of the employees of that oil and gas company in Alberta who didn't participate. As they say, what if?

Here's a fun exercise: List all the things you would do if you suddenly won, say, $54.2 million. Then look at that list. Minus the requisite "give to charity" and "invest" and "pay off bills" items, take a look at the big stuff. Supposedly, it's an indication of your true life goals... of what would make you truly happy.

If your list consists mostly of stuff you're doing anyway, then it means you're happy with your life. If it's full of goals you haven't fulfilled, then you're supposed to look for ways to do them anyway. And if it's a long list of fancy cars and flashy private jets, then supposedly that means you should re-evaluate the priority you put on material things in your life, and focus on the important stuff. (That, or try out for a job with Donald Trump on The Apprentice).

What would I do? Probably a lot of this.

(Oh, but don't forget to always be nice to people who play the 6/49... some parking attendant who flipped off one of the winners last week is kicking himself right now for ignoring that advice).

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12:50 AM
You thought he was an ideological antisemite, but it turns out he's just another greedy political hack

Such disillusionmnent about George Galloway:

Some 2,200 companies, including major concerns like DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and Volvo, made illicit payments totaling $1.8 billion to Saddam Hussein's government under the U.N. oil-for food program, a report said on Thursday.

[ . . . ]

Among those named in the report as receiving oil vouchers that could be sold for a commission were British lawmaker George Galloway, former French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee, former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

All those people who had been counting on Galloway to be motivated by genuine hatred instead of garden-variety greed should be weeping right now.

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12:43 AM
More fawning over Castro

Love Castro. Hate Bush. Be popular. At least that seems to be the general idea for one soccer star:

Argentine soccer hero Diego Maradona promised Cuban President Fidel Castro on Thursday he would be at the front of an anti-Bush march in Argentina next week.

[ . . . ]

"I think Bush is a murderer. ... I'm going to head the march against him stepping foot on Argentine soil," Maradona said, appearing on Cuban television with Castro.

"I promised the 'Comandante' that I would do it and I will," the 44-year-old football legend said, referring to Castro.

"For me he is a god," Maradona said of the 79-year-old left-wing Cuban leader, whom he considers a friend and a father figure who helped him kick drugs.

Oh, get a room, you two!

Somehow I think these guys would tend to disagree with Maradona's assessment of the 'Commandante':

The 40-member National Chorus of Cuba, which specializes in patriotic songs about the glories of the Revolution, is touring Canada. Twenty members just defected en masse in Toronto.

But of course, what would they know? Unlike Maradona, they're actually Cuban.

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3:34 PM
We'd believe it more if you stopped funding the terrorists

The European Union condemned Iran's call to wipe Israel off the map:

European Union leaders and Russia joined the United States and Canada in condemning the comments attributed to Ahmadinejad and Iranian envoys in capitals across Europe, including Russia, were summoned to explain the remarks.

"Calls for violence, and for the destruction of any state, are manifestly inconsistent with any claim to be a mature and responsible member of the international community," EU leaders said in a statement issued at a one-day summit outside London.

"Such comments will cause concern about Iran's role in the region, and its future intentions," they said.

Does that mean that Russia will stop selling uranium to Iran? Or that the EU will stop legitimatizing Hamas and stop funding the Palestinian Authority's terrorism slush fund?

No? Well, until then, this condemnation is nothing but empty rhetoric.

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11:04 AM
Meanwhile in Iran...

In a chorus of "same old, same old", Iran's President has called for Israel's destruction:

"Israel must be wiped off the map," Ahmadinejad told a conference called "The World without Zionism," attended by some 3,000 conservative students who chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."

[ . . . ]

"The Islamic world will not let its historic enemy live in its heartland," he said.

Ahmadinejad, who took office in August, said Israel would be destroyed by a new wave of Palestinian attacks.

"Surely the new wave of (attacks) in Palestine ... will erase this stigma from the Islamic world," he said.

Tehran denies accusations it trains and arms Palestinian militant groups, saying it only offers moral support.

"Moral" support. Sure. What exactly is "moral" about advocating the murder and slaughter of over 6 million Jews? Maybe we ought to ask Hitler about that one.

What I wonder is what exactly people thought would be going on at a conference entitled "The World Without Zionism"? Chants of Kumbaya around the campfire?

Damian figures that Iran's nuclear ambitions have a specific purpose. I wonder if Iran would call launching nukes at Tel Aviv "moral support" as well?

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10:27 AM
And again

The murderous bastards attacked more innocent Israelis today. A suicide bomber in Hadera blew himself up in a market and killed at least four people:

The explosion occurred in front of a felafel stand at the market in downtown Hadera, a frequent target of attacks during the past five years of violence.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack soon after the blast, saying the bombing was revenge for the death of its military leader Luay Sa'adi in an Israel Defense Forces raid in the West Bank several days ago.

The world will accept the excuse of "revenge", implicitly saying that the terrorists can't be expected to control themselves or to take any responsibility for their actions. They will whitewash these murders as being somehow morally equivalent to Israel's targeted attacks on terrorists... as though killing Wednesday morning shoppers is the same as killing masterminds of dozens of suicide attacks. Everyone will urge "restraint" on Israel's part to preserve the "truce" and avoid jeopardizing the "peace process".

Reading these articles sometimes makes me think we're living in a 1984-like universe, where words are meaningless and actions even more so.

Sick. Disgusting. All of it.

Update: Ma'ariv reports that the toll is up to 5 killed and 26 wounded, including 5 in critical condition.

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2:48 PM
Got another one

Israel has taken out another terrorist leader, this time a senior Islamic Jihad commander responsible for hundreds of innocent Israeli deaths. (Leave it to Reuters to refer to him as a "militant"):

Israeli troops killed a top militant in the Bank on Monday, while Gaza gunmen fired several rockets toward Israel in a flare-up of violence that threatened to unravel an eight-month ceasefire.

Israeli troops shot dead Islamic Jihad commander Loai Assadi during a raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. He was the most senior Palestinian militant to be killed since the start of the truce in March.

Islamic Jihad gunmen in northern Gaza said they fired 25 rockets into Israel in retaliation. There were no casualties. The army said several landed in open fields in Israel and that they responded with artillery fire into Gaza.

Militant groups in Gaza, including Islamic Jihad and Hamas, stopped firing rockets last month after a similar flare-up in violence in which Israel killed several gunmen in retaliation for rocket and mortar bomb salvoes.

Islamic Jihad vowed to avenge the killing of Assadi, 26, who Israel had accused of masterminding suicide bombings that killed 10 Israelis since the truce was declared in February.

That's one... two... three references to the nonexistent truce. And anyone notice how it's five paragraphs into the article before anyone mentions that the Islamic Jihad killed Israeli citizens - and even then, it's a whitewashed mention? Then again, why would I expect differently from Reuters?

And as we brace ourselves for the inevitable criticism of Israel for "threatening the truce-that-isn't", the reasons behind these targeted attacks will surely get lost in the shuffle:

Israeli officials say Assadi was behind two suicide bombings this year, one that killed five people at an Israeli shopping mall in the coastal city of Netanya in July and another that killed five Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub in February.

Army Colonel Aharon Haliva, commander of the force that entered Tulkarm, said troops had surrounded a house where Assadi, long at the top of Israel's wanted list, was hiding and killed him when he fired on them as he tried to escape. A soldier was lightly hurt.

The army said Assadi had planned to send a suicide bomber into Israel in coming days.

But of course, it's Israel threatening the peace. Riiiiiight.

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11:25 PM
Simpsons in Arabic

With all the attention the Arab-language version of the Simpsons is getting, the point that seems to get lost in the shuffle is that it's just not funny:

But there's no guarantee of success. Many Arab blogs and Internet chat sessions have become consumed with how unfunny "Al Shamshoon" is. "They've ruined it! Oh yes they have, sob. ... Why? Why, why oh why?!!!!" wrote a blogger, "Noors," from Oman.

Some longtime "Simpson" fans who are Arabs are incensed over the Arabized version. "This is just beyond the pale," wrote As'ad AbuKhalil, a professor at California State University, Stanislaus, whose blog, angryarab blogspot, often touches on politics and the media. After viewing a promotional segment of "Al Shamshoon," Prof. AbuKhalil wrote, "It was just painful. ... The guy who played Homer Simpson was one of the most unfunny people I ever watched. Just drop the project, and air reruns of Tony Danza's show instead."

Few shows have more obsessed fans than "The Simpsons," and their vast online community is worried about whether classic Simpsons dialogue can even be translated. One blogger wrote, "'Hi-diddly-ho, neighbors!' How the h -- are they going to translate that? Or this great quote: Mr Burns: Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she's losing. Well I say, hard cheese."

I honestly don't know how the satire, cultural references, guest stars, or much of anything in the Simpsons could ever be translated. Never mind the beer-is-now-soda thing... without the laughs, what's the point?

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7:51 PM
Onions

Cooking with onions makes my eyes hurt.

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