Getting My Groove Back

First, I want to apologize for my lack of posting. When I started blogging, I made a pledge that I would be focused and disciplined. Like the some of the blogging greats, I wanted to post everyday. Unfortunately, I’ve been lacking discipline. Craziness at work, craziness in my personal life, alas, just overall difficulty in getting my blogging groove back. It’s funny cause, blogging, just like practicing the piano, if you don’t play every day, you can get rusty pretty quickly. I have even more respect now for those bloggers that are able to post daily.

All that to say, that I will try my utmost to regain my blogging composure. It might be a little tricky cause I’m scheduled to do quite a bit of work related international travel, but I will do my best…

So brief update on what’s going on here South of the border: there’s been a lot of news lately on the effectiveness of foreign aid. See NY Review of Books for an interesting and thought-provoking, though perhaps slightly over-simplistic review of William Easterly’s new book on international development, compared to some of the classics: Jeffrey Sachs and others…(NY Books also has a stellar article by Timothy Garton Ash on Islam in Europe.)

As for Canadian politics… let’s just say that so far, Steve’s speech has received zero press here – while Chavez’s exorcism at the UN podium and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad new found love for all people - is getting a lot of copy.

It's been a hard day's night

Have just finished an absolutely crazy week and a half work wise and could barely drag myself home at the end of the day, let alone find enough energy to get myself to the computer to post. I did manage, however, to get my delegate form in. Stay tuned for who I am supporting and why...

Classic Political Ad: Daisy Girl (1964)

DC's primary takes place on Sept. 12th. As a result, every time I turn on the t.v. I am bombarded by tons of campaign ads. Have been thinking a lot about political advertising and wanted to share this controversial Lyndon Johnson campaign add. The quality is not great, but I think that it offers a lot of food for thought...

Clinton Speaks...

And today in the Post, Clinton weights in on "the Path"...
...One thing is for sure, I wasn't planning on watching...but now with all this media and blogging hype, I've added it to my selective list of must see tv...

The Path to 9/11

This upcoming documentary, or "mockumentary" (as Democratic bloggers are calling it) on 9/11, premiering Sept 10th on ABC, has Dems all in a tizzy for misrepresenting and politicizing events that lead to the national tragedy. Check out the letter from Democratic Senators to ABC on Daily Kos. Some highlights include:

* "Richard Clarke, the former counter-terrorism czar, and a national security advisor to ABC has described the program as "deeply flawed" and said of the program's depiction of a Clinton official hanging up on an intelligence agent, "It's 180 degrees from what happened." ["9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased," New York Times, September 6, 2006]

* Reports suggest that an FBI agent who worked on 9/11 and served as a consultant to ABC on this program quit halfway through because, "he thought they were making things up." [MSNBC, September 7, 2006]

* Even Thomas Kean, who serves as a paid consultant to the miniseries, has admitted that scenes in the film are fictionalized. ["9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased," New York Times, September 6, 2006]

The News Behind the News

I thought that this quote was particularly interesting and revealing: "One of the hardest parts of my job is to try to connect Iraq to the war on terror." -- Pres. Bush, CBS Evening News, 9/6.

The Origins of Paul Martin

Another party, another anecdote...was having a few drinks with pals from Ontario (Libs too no less) down by the lake last weekend, and naturally conversation turned to leadership. The voices from Ontario were saying, "You know, if Stephane Dion wins the leadership then it will really ruin the chances for the Liberal Party in the next election." I expressed surprise at this strong remark and asked for clarity (ha ha). They elaborated: "It's really time for a leader from Ontario, I mean if Dion were to win then it would be 3 in a row from Quebec."

As a Quebecer, I find this statement surprising. Cause as far as I am concerned, Paul Martin is no Quebecer. He's a Windsor, Ontario boy. I think that it is fair to say that a majority of Quebecers would agree with me on this. And I'm an anglo, so I can just imagine what my francophone sisters and brothers would say.

Mr. Martin's French performances during the electoral debates left much to be desired. And I also think that it is fair to say that during his tenure as Prime Minister his Quebec strategy was lacking...And the result of this void were felt... as a result we lost seats in Quebec and we lost the election. In fact, the only slightly positive spin that you could give the last election, that if Quebecers could vote for the Western Alliance/Reform Party, then perhaps this bodes well for national unity... ha ha...

An interesting aside, Mr. Chrétien, cognizant of this sentiment that the origins of the Liberal party leader must alternate between Ontario and Quebec, suggested to Mr. Martin, if he had leadership ambitions, he should run in Windsor. As we all know, Mr. Martin declined (if anyone has any insights as to why Mr. Martin chose LaSalle – Emard, instead of say Windsor – West, I’d be grateful.)

No seriously, though, like it or not, Quebec votes count next election. I think that in picking the leader we should consider Jeffrey Simpson's magic “vote getting” equation he prescribed to the Conservative Party this week: "It's about keeping Quebec happy, and Ontario not too unhappy." Though I’d tweak it slightly for the Liberal Party: “It’s about making Quebec happy, and Ontario not too unhappy.”