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DEMONIZING IRAN: THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

by acanuck 2/6/2012 - 1:18 am

In 2006, I witnessed close-up one of the most shameful events in Canadian journalism. The conservative National Post had received a column by Iranian-born writer Amir Taheri stating that Iran’s parliament had passed a law requiring distinctive clothing (possibly colored badges or stripes) for each of the country’s religious minorities. The Post ran the story, along with its own incendiary commentary, atop Page 1. And illustrated it with photos of Jews wearing stars of David in Nazi death camps.

The story went viral; other right-wing rags and blogs elaborated on it. The next day, the Post retracted and apologized, after receiving a point-by-point rebuttal from Iran’s lone Jewish legislator (the community has been guaranteed one constitutionally for more than a century). No such law had been proposed, much less passed. And it turned out one of the sources Taheri cited didn’t exist. He claimed his words had been taken out of context. They hadn’t. Taheri’s credibility was ruined, or so I assumed. [Read more]

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Weighing whether to wait a second, scientists put off decision for three years

by acanuck 1/21/2012 - 3:02 pm

I’m sure you are all as relieved as I am that Thursday’s meeting of the International Telecommunications Union postponed its scheduled vote on whether to drop the leap second:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16625614

The next planned one-second adjustment to Universal Time, at the end of June, will go ahead. And delegates will return home for consultations before the issue arises again at the World Radio Conference in 2015.

The Americans, French and Japanese are reportedly leading the charge for abolition, while China, the U.K. and Canada are among those opposed. Me too, although I don’t get to vote. [Read more]

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Egypt’s Islamists in driver’s seat

by acanuck 12/6/2011 - 2:04 am

It will be more than a month before we get final, official results of elections to Egypt’s lower house. But even partial results from the first round (runoff voting is still taking place) tell the story: Islamists have won a stunning mandate.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s coalition collected 37 per cent or so of votes, close to what many had predicted. The shocker is that the next-biggest bloc, with a quarter of the votes so far, is that of the Salafists – religious fundamentalists who back a rigid application of sharia. [Read more]

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HOME, HOME ON LAGRANGE: EARTH FINDS ITS TRUE COMPANION?

by acanuck 7/27/2011 - 5:51 pm

Meanwhile, in non-debtpocalypse news, I read today that a Canadian-led team of astronomers has discovered Earth's "First Asteroid Companion," the as-yet-unnamed 2010 TK7.

Fascinating -- except that the headline is totally wrong. None of the articles I scanned today mention it, but we've known about another "asteroid companion" for nearly a quarter-century. It's called Cruithne (pronounced KROOeee-nyuh), and it orbits the sun in a somewhat more elliptical version of Earth's path. [Read more]

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MAN BITES DOG, SCANDAL-PLAGUED SCANDAL SHEET BITES DUST

by acanuck 7/7/2011 - 10:31 pm

Wow! If you care about the media, and specifically the dangers of media concentration, today's news that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is shutting down its News of the World is huge news. The fact I had to use the word "news" four times in a single sentence tells you just how huge. [Read more]

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Canada's Conservatives craft a cabinet

by acanuck 5/18/2011 - 5:32 pm

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, newly re-elected and with his party finally holding a majority of seats in Parliament, announced his new cabinet today. Underlying message: “What were all you voters so scared of?” [Read more]

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CANADA VOTES 2011: DECISION DAY

by acanuck 5/2/2011 - 9:00 pm

Fresh thread. Polls have closed across Canada, and it's finally legal to post election results nationwide. Counting has just begun in the western provinces, and voting in Quebec and Ontario ended only about half an hour ago. Too fragmentary to report for now.

So we're left to look at results from the Atlantic Provinces, and extrapolate (if we can) from that.
I know quinn hates poll aggregator ThreeHundredEight.com, But I'm going to use its predictions as an arbitrary baseline, and try to weigh how real-time results vary from them. [Read more]

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CANADA'S ORANGE REVOLUTION: FINAL WEEKEND

by acanuck 4/29/2011 - 4:03 pm

Quinn's Tuesday post has almost slipped off the page, so consider this a new open thread.

The New Democratic tsunami rolls on, picking up almost one percentage point of support over the past 24 hours, and finally ThreeHundredEight.com is showing that translating into seats. Six new ones added overnight to the party's projected total, which now stands at 53.

That's still 17 behind the second-place Liberals, but even the pollster concedes it's his rolling average that is underrepresenting the party's likely seat gains. And frustratingly, because of vote-splitting on the left, the Conservatives are projected to actually gain a seat over where they stood in the last Parliament.

So it all comes down to the final three days. [Read more]

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Playa Girón: the demi-centennial

by acanuck 4/18/2011 - 1:33 am

We've been commemorating failed rebellions lately, so it's worth noting this is the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Or, as the sign at the entrance to the Playa Girón beach resort puts it (in Spanish): "First Defeat of Yanqui Imperialism in the Americas." [Read more]

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A CANADIAN ELECTION PRIMER

by acanuck 4/11/2011 - 1:10 am

We Canadians take our politics very seriously. Also our hockey. Hard to say which we care more about. Oh no, wait. It's not:
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/04/10/french-debate-rescheduled-to-avoid-habs-playoff-game/

It sounds preposterous, but the switch makes perfect sense. The whole point of a televised debate between the prime minister and the three other main party leaders is to be watched – which virtually no one in Quebec would do if it coincided with the Canadiens-Bruins matchup. New Democratic leader Jack Layton said he'd probably opt for the game too, if he weren't taking part in the debate.

On to the election campaign itself. [Read more]

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