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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11:36 PM
More North Korea horror stories

The Times reports frightening details of the Dear Leader of Death Camps' drive towards "racial purity" (via Damian Penny).

As I've said before, I don't take Nazi comparisons lightly, but in some cases they truly are warranted. This is one of those cases, without a doubt.

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11:35 PM
Ouch

And on the heels of last night's exciting win, the Habs rack up their first regulation loss of the season... to Chicago.

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12:48 PM
Habs 5, Flames 4, refs 0

It was possibly the worst-reffed game in recent hockey history, Downey ended up in the hospital with a concussion, and the guys couldn't seem to stay out of the penalty box. Nonetheless, it was exciting being there to see our Habs pull off a 5-4 win against the Flames last night.

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12:42 PM
"Information wants to be free"

So says this Gazette editorial about the government's case against Paul Bryan for posting election results from eastern Canada on the internet before the polls closed in western Canada:

It was almost 1,000 years ago when Canute, king of England, Denmark and Norway, led his courtiers down to the Sussex seashore. Weary of their flattery, he ordered them to watch as he loudly commanded the waves to recede - and as the waves did not. A king's powers, he demonstrated, go only so far.

In a gesture almost as futile, but without any of Canute's wise humility, the government of Canada is fighting in the Supreme Court to make sure Canadians on the West Coast can't see federal election results from Atlantic Canada until after western polling stations close. As legal causes go, this one is pointless, wrong-headed, arrogant and utterly out of touch with reality.

[ . . . ]

Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees Canadians freedom of expression. There was nothing malicious or even inaccurate about what Paul Bryan did. No one can demonstrate that he did anyone any harm. And in any case, nobody could stop a foreigner from putting results on a website outside Canada.

Information wants to be free, and in this case, at least, the government should stop trying to reverse the tide.

In the last election, I decided to toe the line on this blog and I didn't post any results until the last poll closed in B.C. But it was an exercise in nonsense, because those results were freely available to anyone with an internet connection and the brains to search for a US-based news or blog source. Not to mention anyone with a telephone and a friend or acquaintance out east.

This law, and the government's efforts in enforcing it, are completely pointless. I agree with the Gazette: allow the information to be broadcast, because everyone's getting it anyway.

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