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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5:45 PM
Liberals fish in NDP waters

The Liberals' post-convention surge in support is coming largely from the left, according to a new EKOS poll:

The EKOS poll, which surveyed 1,022 voters on Tuesday and Wednesday and is considered accurate to 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20, showed the Liberals picking up support mainly at the expense of the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

The New Democrats were at 10.2 percent in the poll, well below the 17.5 percent they picked up in the January election.

The Conservatives have dropped 3 percentage points since January's election, but the NDP has dropped over 7, demonstrating that the Liberals are primarily making inroads on the left, not in the middle.

Needless to say, this is not a happy development. With the Liberals moving leftward, there's nobody left fighting for a centrist vision for the country. How long can it be, I wonder, before we start hearing calls to "unite the left" and move to a two-party system like in the United States?

Interestingly enough, support for the Green Party is actually up, indicating that the attention being called to environmental issues is actually outweighing any support that the Liberals under Dion's leadership (and that of his dog, Kyoto) might be shaving from that camp.

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6:06 PM
Well, if it convinced Paris Hilton...

Quote of the day, on the issue of Madonna's chinchilla-fur coat:

A spokeswoman for PETA said: "We encourage anyone who wears fur to watch videos of these animals being electrocuted, caught in traps, and skinned alive. Thousands of people, including Paris Hilton, have said that the videos changed their minds about wearing fur.

Sometimes, PETA makes itself such an easy target, that actually telling the joke is almost unfair...

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6:31 PM
Now can we finally put this issue to rest?

Parliament voted to uphold legalized gay marriage today, defeating a motion introduced by the Harper government to appease their right-wing base:

"We made a promise to hold a free vote and we kept that promise. The result was decisive and we'll accept the democratic result," Harper told reporters.

Legislators voted 175 to 123 to reject a motion by the right-leaning Conservatives to re-examine the law, which some religious groups and critics say undermines society.

This motion was defeated by an even wider margin than that by which the initial law was passed last year (158-133), indicating that most of the country believes that this has already been decided, and it's pointless to keep drumming it up. Same-sex couples have had the threat of the law being reversed hanging over their head ever since Harper took office, so hopefully this means that everyone can now get over the issue and move on to things that actually matter.

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6:01 PM
Stephane Dion: Where does he stand on Israel?

Here's the Canadian Jewish News's take on the subject.

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11:42 PM
Red Rabbit in Africa

Andrea is blogging from Malawi this month. If you're not already reading her, now would be an excellent time to start.

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9:50 PM
We wuz robbed

That should've been a penalty on Stuart on the hit on Ryder, no question. Robbery, I tell ya!

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9:20 PM
Dion under scrutiny

After Stephane Dion's "surprise" win, the media and the opposition have been scrambling to make up for lost time by putting him immediately under a microscope.

They're questioning his loyalty to Canada given his dual French citizenship, his commitment to centrist politics given his left-leaning tendencies, his ability to win support in Quebec given his long history of defending federalism and attacking sovereignty. (If you noticed that the first and third points seem a bit contradictory, you're not alone).

We're in that brief wide-open period in politics, when critics try on all sorts of different avenues of attack on a new leader, in attempt to find the ones that will stick the most. But this phase won't last long. It can't. The message is too diluted. Sooner or later, they'll need to come up with a catchphrase, a means of attacking Dion that is equivalent to the Harper-is-Bush attacks heading in the other direction.

I give it about a week.

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9:16 PM
Coup in Fiji (?)

At least that's what appears to be happening:

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Fiji's president had dissolved parliament and sanctioned the removal of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Tuesday.

"I have been advised this morning that the president of Fiji has acted outside his constitutional powers and supported the removal of the democratic prime minister by the military," Clark said in a statement to the New Zealand parliament.

I only spent about 3 hours in Nadi's airport, so I didn't really get to see anything. But Fiji is full of tourists year-round; it's one of the most popular vacation spots for Kiwis and even Aussies. It seemed like such a sleepy place; it's bizarre to think of what it must look like with military roadblocks.

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9:54 PM
SNOW!!!

Woohoo, first major snowfall of the season! Winter's here!

I get giddily happy when it snows, so I was dancing around like a little kid most of the day enjoying the weather.

Here are a couple of snapshots:





Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

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