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Tuesday, January 04, 2005
NORMAN'S SPECTATOR
From today's edition of NORMAN'S SPECTATOR, where the articles are hotlinked.
The airport at Banda Aceh has been closed most of Tuesday, after a plane struck a cow.
The Independent asks whether the earthquake/tsunami disaster could be a turning point for the world. However, most UK papers focus today on the British death toll.
Tony Blair is back in town from the Red Sea. Credit card companies are profiting from donations.
Kofi Annan has selected a Briton as his right-hand. The Financial Times reports that China is about to privatize a bank. What will those godless Commies think of next?
At home, Prime Minister Martin spent the day in Toronto, meeting with ethnic groups.
He deflected criticism of his and his government’s performance by defending Canada and Canadians which, near as I can tell, are not in need of any defense.
In today’s Le Devoir, Chantal Hébert is particularly pitiless about Pierre Pettigrew’s performance; he’ll survive, she predicts, but only because Martin is bereft of talented Quebecers.
On the editorial page, Josée Boileau notes that Pettigrew previously was the Prince who approved Judy Sgro’s strippers program, which she views as a thinly-veiled scheme to traffic in women.
Eight days out and still counting, DART is preparing to dart to Asia aboard Russian transport planes. Canadian Juniors will restore our national pride tonight. Guaranteed.
In France, economists are predicting gloom and doom for 2005. The President is showcas ing his reform agenda. Der Untergang opens in Paris tomorrow.
In the US, the Washington Post leads with disaster relief, off-leads a Republican back-down on House ethics rules and stuffs Canadian beef.
The New York Times leads with the ethics story and off-leads Colin Powell’s tour of the region. (Here’s a review of Douglas Coupland’s latest, which I missed on Sunday.)
The Los Angeles Times leads with George Bush putting his Dad and Bill Clinton to work. Tijuana is trying to clean up its act.
The New York Times’ editorial board weighs in on disaster relief, and praises the Chief Justice’s message on judicial independence.
Paul Krugman is sceptical about social security reform. David Brooks compares US and European demographics.
The Washington Post’s editorial board looks at border security, and disaster relief.
David Ignatius says the relief effort can serve US foreign policy goals. Felix Rohatyn says George Bush should talk to European investors. Haviland Smith explains and decries the purge at the CIA.
The Los Angeles Times’ editorial board wades in against delaying Iraq ’s election, and says something smells at the US Supreme Court.
Patrick Moore writes about the lack of candour in Susan Sontag’s obit. Robert Scheer poops on Gonzales as Attorney-General.
In The Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady reports that the US is no longer one of the ten freest national economies. Brendan Miniter looks at the foreign policy opportunity in disaster relief.
The Journal fronts a story on the tension between the wars for democracy and against terrorism in the Mideast . The editorial board weighs in on the military’s role in disaster relief:
“The Lincoln is part of one of the largest military relief operations in history. At least a dozen more U.S. warships are on their way to the region, and Australia, Singapore , France and Russia have sent military planes or vessels. The U.S. is leading a humanitarian coalition of the willing to get aid to the victims more quickly than the slow-moving United Nations is able.
If this terrible tragedy carries any useful lesson, one is that bans on military ties are usually counterproductive. We'll never know how many more lives might have been saved had the U.S. military had a better working relationship already in place with the Indonesian military.”
The Toronto Star editorial board says Canadian cities need a “truly” new deal.
The paper fronts Toronto trash, Paul Martin’s meetings (two Tamil groups were not at the table), and the situation in Sri Lanka, and stuffs Tim Harper’s report on the appointment of Bush 41 and Clinton to boost private aid.
The Globe and Mail fronts aid distribution problems in Sri Lanka and tourists in Thailand showing up to see the devastation.
The paper also chases yesterday’s Guardian story on promised international aid not showing up after the Bam earthquake.
Malcolm Bricklin is back, but he’s China ’s problem now. And, behind the firewall, Margaret Wente wades in with a fine column on Canadians’ generosity:
“We gave because we saw it on TV and couldn't look away. We gave because the suffering was so overwhelming and the victims so entirely blameless. We gave because we have new iPods and computer games, cashmere sweaters and way too much to eat. They had almost nothing, and then they lost that.
Call it guilt money if you like, but it was more than that. We really are good people. We tried to imagine what it would be like to lose our children, parents, house, village, livelihood, and everything we ever loved or owned. Of course it was impossible. So we sent off a bit of money that most of us will never miss and hoped that somehow it might do some good.
But we're not all that special. The rest of the world has responded, too…. But let's not congratulate ourselves just yet. We've got short attention spans. What happens after the dead are buried and the tsunami of grief and suffering recedes from the headlines? What happens when the camera crews go home?”
Inside, the Globe chases a Financial Times story on the impending vacancy at the World Bank. Matthew Kalman reports on Canadian election observers in Ramallah.
From Washington, Alan Freeman reports the UN is being criticized for aiding a discriminatory election in Saudi Arabia. From New York, Shawn McCarthy reports Edgar Bronfman Jr. is eager for redemption.
The editorial board poops on a Saskatchewan policy that gives “native bands a veto over the adoption of children who are band members.”
Another editorialist finds a couple of ingenious ways to deflect criticism of the PM and his government:
“Canada and other wealthy countries have come under fire for a slow initial response to the crisis, but the criticism by those demanding faster action is largely unfair. Once the true extent of the devastation became clear and government officials and aid experts in the region spelled out their immediate needs, Canada and other donor governments stepped up to the plate admirably. They have boosted their contributions exponentially and committed an extraordinary array of resources, including ships, planes, soldiers, equipment and emergency food and water supplies.”
The National Post, too, chases the Guardian story but, unlike the Globe, has not done the legwork on Canada’s record.
Ottawa is looking at new immigration rules for orphans from the devastated areas, a story the Ottawa Citizen also fronts.
The Citizen also fronts distrust of DND in Ottawa , and Nortel employees’ generosity. The editorial board says the City of Ottawa, too, can help.
In Victoria, international junior hockey is front-page news. In Windsor, they’re proud to be leading Ontario in generosity.
The Vancouver Sun leads with Buddhist monks selling a temple to support disaster relief. The Calgary Herald fronts a report from Banda Aceh. Local charities are pleased.
The editorial board reflects on the disaster. Their counterparts in Edmonton are onto dangerous dogs. The Montréal Gazette editorial board is heartened by the disaster relief effort.
The Gaz fronts the Peqs criticizing the Charest government for being stingy on disaster aid, and East Sri Lankans waiting for the not-so-dashing Darters.
Inside the Post, David Frum says money is not the issue in disaster relief:
“The dispute over allegations of "stinginess" is not a dispute over how much should be given. It is a dispute over who will control what is given.
This dispute has a special urgency for the UN bureaucracy and its supporters. Just before the tsunami, the UN was struggling to contain and deny the worst financial scandal in its history: oil for food. …
Conscientious, taxpayer-minded governments understandably flinch from trusting such people to manage the money they give. For that reason, the Bush administration has chosen to work directly with the other major democracies in the Asia-Pacific area to distribute disaster relief and -- when the time comes -- reconstruction aid.
It is fear that the UN bureaucracy might be circumvented that has UN bureaucrats up in arms. In this time of horror and grief, their first thought was -- as usual -- for themselves.”
The editorial board poops on Phil Fontaine:
“By law, a family's offspring loses Indian status after two generations of marriage with non-status spouses. That means a child whose closest Indian forebear couple are his great-grandparents is not considered a status Indian, and so becomes ineligible for the various financial benefits that native Canadians enjoy. Reasonable people can argue whether this is the appropriate cutoff. But certainly, no one can plausibly claim that such a generous standard amounts to a systematic program of "legislated extinction."
Terence Corcoran serves up an idiotic piece quoting a publication of the Ayn Rand Institute; you have to wonder which of the suffering Asian victims he agrees are guilty.
John Ivison does a fine job lampooning INAC education bureaucrats with their own words:
“Its "secret advice to the minister" is so comical it could have been culled from the script of Yes Minister. Under "Decision Required," it states: "In order to move forward with the priority to modernize and fundamentally transform the ... education system, school of choice requires further assessment and discussion with key stakeholders."
In the Toronto Sun, Peter Worthington says the US is # 1. John Downing says the Martin government specializes in photo-ops and excuses.
From London, Rory Leishman reviews charitable organizations. In Edmonton , Neil Waugh has a beef. In Calgary, Paul Jackson wades in on the Martin/Danny Williams fight.
Posted by Norman Spector on January 4, 2005 | Permalink
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