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Blog of Adam Daifallah -- author, journalist, law student. Lover of politics, writing, golf, curling, fitness, fashion, bacon and maple products -- not necessarily (but probably) in that order. Partisan of the Anglosphere. Contact me via email at adam@daifallah.com. This summer I am joined by Keir Wilmut and Omar Soliman.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Up early
It has been many years, I think, since I've forced myself to wake up at 6am on a Sunday. I used to do it regularly when I was younger to make a 7am tee time. But tomorrow, I am getting up to watch the British Open at the crack of dawn because I don't want to miss a minute of what could be a serious historical event.
53-year old Greg Norman, who was at the top of his game when I was growing up playing golf in the 90s, is primed to win his 3rd open (each in a different decade).
Norman used to be known as the game's most prolific choker, having given up countless leads at major championships throughout the 1980s and 90s. But this time, something feels distinctly different -- one reason being he just doesn't care because he isn't expecting anything. He hardly plays or practices anymore (too busy running an international business empire) and hadn't even entered a major championship for two years before this. His expectations are so low that there doesn't seem to be any pressure.
Go Greg!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:47 PM
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
McCain on Afghanistan
Via David Mader comes news of a major speech by John McCain on the importance of winning in Afghanistan:
McCain calls for, among other things, a new unity of command in Afghanistan, not only within the American forces operating there but among all NATO countries. So here's my question: What's Canada's take on an Afghanistan surge? Do we have the troops to contribute to a boots-on-the-ground increase? If not, are we prepared to work with American forces in other respects, such as unity-of-command, in furtherance of a surge strategy? Do Canadian military commanders believe that a surge is possible? Promising? Useful? Necessary? And what do the parties think about the idea - would the Grits support a surge strategy if it offered the promise of an early (or earlier) withdrawal? Would the Tories support a surge notwithstanding the relative unpopularity of the Afghanistan war?
Excellent questions from David, and an excellent speech by McCain (not to mention a very important one for Canada, but which is apparently being ignored.) I like how he is tying Iraq and Afghanistan together. He obviously realizes how intertwined these two fronts in the larger battle are, and how crucial it is to win both. My enthusiasm for McCain increases with this kind of rhetoric.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:46 PM
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Tony Snow
I was saddened to learn of the death of Tony Snow, the former conservative pundit and Bush spokesman. Tony Snow was an articulate, intelligent and loyal conservative who seemed impossible to dislike. The saddest part of this story, of course, is that he has three relatively young children. Apparently his own mother died from cancer when he was just 17. RIP.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:45 AM
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Hitchens gets waterboarded
Christopher Hitchens, likely one of the most talented polemicists of this era (calling him "the finest English-language opinion writer in the world right now" might be a bit much) has a piece in the new edition of Vanity Fair on waterboarding.
As part of his research, Hitchens underwent waterboarding himself -- see the video here. That is commendable journalism, regardless of what you think of waterboarding:
You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The “board” is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited for a while until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose. Determined to resist if only for the honor of my navy ancestors who had so often been in peril on the sea, I held my breath for a while and then had to exhale and—as you might expect—inhale in turn. The inhalation brought the damp cloths tight against my nostrils, as if a huge, wet paw had been suddenly and annihilatingly clamped over my face. Unable to determine whether I was breathing in or out, and flooded more with sheer panic than with mere water, I triggered the pre-arranged signal and felt the unbelievable relief of being pulled upright and having the soaking and stifling layers pulled off me. I find I don’t want to tell you how little time I lasted.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:05 PM
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Vindication remains elusive
There has been surprisingly little media attention paid to last week's decision in the Conrad Black appeal. As you undoubtedly know, the Seventh District Court of Appeals affirmed the first instance decision, virtually guaranteeing Lord Black a five year stay in prison.
The decision was rendered by Judge Richard Posner -- one of America's top public intellectuals, who once wrote a book attacking public intellectuals. Judge Posner is known as something of a Renaissance man, teaching courses, giving lectures, writing articles and books and penning an astounding number of decisions on annual basis. He is clearly a brilliant man, and likely one of the most able jurists alive today.
I guess that's why I expected a better and more soundly reasoned judgement from him, not something that appears to have been written on the back of a napkin.
This is an unusually-written opinion at best, and a travesty at worst. It barely deals with the substance of the appellants' arguments and dismisses others out of hand, preferring to ignore them. There are also a number of factual errors in the text (one example: Ravelston is not a "defunct" company.) This is not what one expects of an Appeals Court.
My feelings were best summed up in this excellent commentary by Father Raymond de Souza:
Many readers have written over the past year inquiring as to why I – and others at the Post – defend him. It is because we believe him to have been grossly mistreated by a flawed process, and that he is entitled to a measure of loyalty from a country – and the journalistic profession – for which he did so much, even as the birds of prey were taking wing.
Despite this newest setback, Lord Black will plough ahead, make the best of a bad situation and prepare to begin anew once he reclaims his freedom in a few years.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:24 PM
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The "shift"
A commenter asked for my take on Stephane Dion's Green Shift gambit, also known as the Liberal Tax on Everything. (I like the caucus clapping video on their website.) The answer is not much. I do, however, think it could pose a problem for the Conservatives. The idea of a carbon tax is very popular with people -- until they actually have to pay the tax, that is. Just look at the unpopularity of the B.C carbon tax, which isn't even in place yet.
Most people are NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) environmentalists. Cut carbon emissions? Yes, as long as I keep my SUV. Reduce home energy use? OK, but don't make me turn down the heat one iota in the winter. People want pie-the-sky solutions that won't inflict any pain on them or their families.
But the world doesn't work that way. So the Dion Green Shift is problematic in that I think people could be convinced to vote for it. If it continues to be packaged in the way the Liberals are now trying to sell it -- ie. it won't hurt YOU, we put back in your right pocket what we take out of the left, etc. -- it could be a vote winner. It will play on the altruistic sensibilities of many middle-class families. (That is unless the economy tanks, in which case the environment will no longer be a priority for anyone, as has happened in the past during times of economic turmoil.)
Canadians will be in for a rude awakening if this policy is ever actually implemented.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 3:04 PM
Friday, June 20, 2008
Gotlieb nails it
On why Canada should seek a seat on the U.N. Security Council:
Why should Canada seek a seat on the Security Council? Asking this question is like asking "Why should Canada have a foreign policy?" For most states, the only way to achieve their foreign policy goals is through trying to influence other states to accept their point of view. The UN Security Council is a uniquely influential body in the structure of the international order. The product of the victors of war, it has the power, if a breach of international peace is found, to compel states, by force if necessary, to act in accordance with its resolutions. Unlike any other body before or since, it alone has the authority to impose legal obligations on states, regardless of their agreement or will. In terms of peace and security, it is the supreme legislature. It can even authorize the invasion of a state. Or, as in the case of Iraq, fail to do so. It can stop genocide. Or, as in the case of Rwanda, fail to do so.For most of its history, decision-making in the Security Council has been profoundly frustrated by the veto power of the five permanent members. But the past failures of the council do not derogate from the fact that every major issue of our times has been debated in that body as will every major issue in the years ahead. Its decisions (e. g., Korea) or inactions (e. g., Serbia) change the course of history. This is the body where the stakes are the highest, the opportunities the greatest, the consequences of success and failure the most far-reaching. Many states conduct more or less permanent campaigns to win a seat. The reason is simple. If you want to enhance your influence in world affairs, you want to be at the table in the Security Council chamber. This may seem like a bit of a simplistic solution, but I can't think of any better ideas. We may want to wish the U.N. away, but it's not going to die. Better to engage and increase our clout.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:19 PM
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Coren nails it
Every once in a while, you pick up the morning paper and read a piece and say "Oh, ya!" More often than not it's because the article reminded you of something important you had forgotten.
Such was the case for me today with Michael Coren's excellent piece on the left and eugenics:
An exhibition of the history of those scientific ideas that gave a grimy intellectual veneer to the Nazi genocide opened recently at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. The collection centres on eugenics, the notion that humanity can be improved and perfected by selective breeding and the elimination of individuals and groups considered to be undesirable. Entitled Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, it reveals how it was not thoughtless right-wing thugs as much as writers and scientists, the intellectual elite, who led the movement. The exhibit is important, accurate but, regrettably, long overdue. It also fails to stress just how much the socialist left initiated and supported the eugenics campaign, not only in Germany but in Britain, the U. S. and the rest of Europe. Playwright George Bernard Shaw, English social democrat leader Sydney Webb and, in Canada, Tommy Douglas were just three influential socialists who called, for example, for the mass sterilization of the handicapped. In his Master's thesis The Problems of the Subnormal Family, the now revered Douglas argued that the mentally and even physically disabled should be sterilized and sent to camps so as not to "infect" the rest of the population. It is deeply significant that few if any of Douglas's left-wing comrades in this country or internationally were surprised or offended by his proposals. Indeed the early fascism of 1920s Italy, while unsavoury and dictatorial, had little connection with social engineering and eugenics. The latter German version of fascism was influenced not by ultra conservatism in southern Europe but, as is made clear in the writings of the Nazi ideologues, by the Marxist left. It is vital that Canadians be reminded of these shameful historical facts once in a while.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:17 PM
Monday, June 16, 2008
Russert tributes
I was going to respond to Paul Tuns' rebuke of my post on Tim Russert, in which he cast doubt on my assertion that Russert's questions were "terrifying", but I see he's apologized. That wasn't necessary, but what I was going to say in response is that the reason people went on the show anyway was because there wasn't a choice. Meet the Press is the highest-rated Sunday show and everyone expected the week's top news makers to undergo Russert's relentless grilling. It was a given in Washington that if you were involved in the top story that week, you had to go on Russert's show.
I must say the tributes on the NBC networks have been quite moving, especially from people like Matt Lauer and Tom Brokaw. It just confirms that the person you saw on TV was exactly the same way in private. He was a universally loved person.
(Someone emailed to ask if I had ever met Russert. No, I had not. But I have spoken to his wife, the journalist Maureen Orth.)
UPDATE: Great obituary here by Thomas Sowell.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:15 PM
My heart bleeds for Rocco Mediate
This year's U.S. Open will likely go down as one of best in memory. Tiger Woods, playing in what appeared to be acute pain in his left knee and clearly not playing his best, managed to keep himself in contention for 72 holes and win an 18-hole playoff, in sudden death no less. He is now just four wins short of Jack Nicklaus' record 18-major championships, a number he will surely attain in the next few years.
Woods' performance on Saturday was legendary and will go down as a case study on triumph over adversity in golf. His mental toughness is superhuman, as is his ability to come up with the right shot at the right time.
One cannot help but feel for Rocco Mediate. At 45 years old, he would have been the oldest U.S. Open champion ever, and the oldest ever first-time winner of one of golf's majors. He will likely never have another crack at a major championship again. He can look back on so many missed opportunities that he had to make up that one shot. But isn't that always the case?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:42 PM
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Francis flubs it
From her weird alliance with the Canadian left in attacking Conrad Black (from whom she was glad to accept pay cheques for several years) to her cheering of the Quebec Court of Appeal's decision in the BCE case, Diane Francis has shown some odd inclinations of late.
Now, however, we have confirmation that she has truly lost it:
Forget Hillary and the others who have made Obama's short-list of running mate possibilities. If he decides a female will help enhance his electoral hopes then Arianna Huffington should be high on the list, if not at the top.
The key to understanding why she would be promoting Huffington is unveiled about halfway down:
Her online publication, estimated to be worth US$200 million in just a handful of years, has more readers than do all of America's major newspapers combined. It's unique because the site carries news but also blogs written by A-listers that she invites to contribute who are drawn from Hollywood, politics and journalism. I blog for HP. (My emphasis.)
That last bit really says it all.
UPDATE: Must give credit here, though. She's bang on about North American auto unions.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:22 AM
Friday, June 13, 2008
The needler in chief
News organizations normally write obituaries for prominent figures far in advance so that they are ready to go live the minute they pass on. I doubt many had one ready for Tim Russert. As I clicked on Drudge this afternoon to learn of Russert's death, my eyes welled up with tears. It was such a shock.
For political junkies, Tim Russert was an indispensable part of life. Watching Meet the Press was and is a positively uplifting experience. For me, it was the only reason to wake up before 10am on a Sunday. As a journalist, I also felt a connection to Russert and his incessant drive to get to the truth and hold public officials to account. When you work as a journalist in Washington, you must watch Meet the Press and report on what happened on the show for Monday's paper. So when I worked at the New York Sun, I never missed an episode.
Seeing him interview his guests was like the political Superbowl, because he was the best and got the best guests. That is indisputable -- no one else was even close (Steve Paikin might be considered a Canadian equivalent). Russert knew how to put people on the spot and needle them with terrifying questions. I always loved how he would make a guest defend something they said 10 years ago by reading the quote back to them. It was thrilling.
Despite his Democratic party past, Russert was the toughest yet fairest interviewer in the business. I often marvel at the quality of the questions on Meet the Press and wonder how long and hard his research staff must work all week long to prepare those questions. Russert was also known as one of the hardest-working people in town. His passion for politics came through in his questions; you could just tell he was loving every minute of it. You could feel it coming right out of the TV screen. On a few occasions I have thought about going into broadcast journalism in no small part because of him. But I always realize I would be so inferior to him that I would inevitably embarrass myself.
There are so many facets to this sadness; not only his youth but also the timing -- at the beginning of what is likely going to be one of the most exciting presidential elections in decades. His primary coverage was phenomenal.
We are somewhat prepared for the death of many great public personalities -- William F. Buckley, Arthur Schlesinger, etc. -- but not for Tim Russert. No one has ever thought about what political coverage will be like without him, because such a thought never crossed anyone's mind. Shocking.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:45 PM
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
In case you missed it
Must read George Jonas:
The prosecutors who set out to railroad Conrad and his co-defendants didn’t lack zeal and energy. What they lacked was evidence. From their initial allegation that my friend and his colleagues stole some US$80-million from the stockholders of Hollinger International — itself a vast reduction from a pre-trial smear campaign about the theft of hundreds of millions — District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s chastened team withdrew another US$20-million as the trial progressed. What the jurors took with them into the jury room at the end involved the alleged misappropriation of some US$60-million.
What they came out with, after many days of deliberation, was US$6.1-million — in monetary terms, about 10% of the prosecution’s case. They acquitted on 90%. Of course, a 10% victory for the prosecution is still a 100% defeat for the defense. All defendants were sentenced to varying terms (and types) of incarceration, which led to last week’s appeal.
It was no great surprise that the jurors had thrown out nine of 13 charges against Conrad. Lead prosecutor Eric Sussman (now in private practice) had a vivid imagination but no hand. He couldn’t sell the jurors on Conrad having spent some US$60-million of the stockholders’ money through racketeering schemes, phony non-compete agreements, birthday parties, or holidays in the South Seas for a simple reason: The evidence went the other way. The surprise was that Sussman and his team somehow managed to juggle the cards in their non-existent hand into making twelve citizens believe that there was 1) evidence on which they could find that Conrad obstructed justice, and 2) evidence that Conrad and his co-accused dipped their hands in the till to the tune of US$5.5-million in one transaction and about US$600,000 in another.
But there was no such evidence. If anything, there was evidence to the contrary.
Jonas has been one of the lone voices of sanity in the national press throughout this saga.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:42 PM
Monday, June 09, 2008
Three cheers for Peter Munk
Tonight in Toronto a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Peter Munk's Barrick Gold Corp. was held:
Barrick Gold Corp.' s head office is adorned with some of the most spectacular art one is likely to find in a downtown Toronto office.But these pieces were not picked up at any ordinary auction or gallery. Most of them once belonged to rival gold companies like Homestake Mining Co. and Lac Minerals Ltd. Those ancient miners proved to be no competitive match for Barrick, which bought them up at a frenzied pace over the past 25 years. As Barrick swallowed rival after rival on Bay Street, it acquired their art as well. Today, the pieces serve in part as souvenirs from past conquests that turned Barrick from an unknown penny stock into Canada's only global mining champion in a very short time. Peter Munk is one of the best, if not the best, of Canada's corporate titans, not to mention a committed philanthropist and promoter of freedom. Congratulations.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:46 PM
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Seeking Suha Arafat
I looked for her on my recent trip to France. I thought I might find her in the chic suburb of Neuilly, where she apparently used to live. I wanted to beg her to stop sending emails, but she's apparently now found her way to Malta after her Tunisian citizenship was apparently revoked.
I understand that many people, and no doubt a large number of people reading this, have already travelled in France. I went for two weeks with three goals: to explore and get to know Paris, to visit Normandy (in particular the D-Day beaches) and to better understand French culture and politics.
I don't have anything to say about Paris that you haven't already heard. It was everything I expected, if a bit faster-paced than I imagined. The signs of greatness are still there, particularly the architecture. The fashion is impressive. The people are proud. The food is incredible -- eating is a meal is an entire production.
Normandy was wonderful. It reminded me a lot of rural Quebec, except with less distance between the villages, older houses and slightly warmer weather! Walking on the beach in Courseulles-sur-Mer is an emotional experience (particularly when you see the war remains in the harbour at Arromanches) although those who've visited the Canadian Juno Beach Centre might concur that it is a bit underwhelming.
As for the politics, it was an interesting time to be there because it was the first anniversary of Sarkozy's election, and the 40-year anniversary of the famed general strike of May 1968. The French left was twisting itself into knots to try and re-enact their two-scores ago glory by calling for a redo of the strike to protest Sarkozy. It didn't work.
That said, Sarkozy is wildly unpopular and appearing a bit rudderless. The French right believes his lack of coherence is a problem (the sense is he goes around saying "I'm the reform guy, I'm just not sure what I'm reforming.) Even the most minimal attempts to drag France into the 21st century -- such as forcing schools to accept children for the day during teachers' strikes so parents don't have to fork over for babysitting -- are being met with a staggering amount of hostility. In some cases, early unpopularity for a reform-style leader isn't a problem -- as long as the leader is sticking to their guns (read: Harris, Thatcher.) But the fact is Sarkozy has re-drawn, re-formulated and re-jigged so many things so many times, I'm not sure the French people will reward him, even if he does realize some successes. We'll have to wait five more years to find out.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:37 AM
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