So, here I am, reading A Respectable Trade, my second Philippa Gregory book (I skipped the Boleyn books and went for some re-issued non-Royalty-based historical fiction from the ‘90s), and I came across the following passage, spoken by a plantation owner in the 1780s:

“When I hear men preaching that the trade in slaves should stop I wonder how they would have me run my plantation? How else can sugar be grown?

Josiah nodded and signed to Brown to pour more wine. “It’s ignorance,” He said. “And fashion. It’ll pass. It’s a few young clergymen and a couple members of parliament trying to make their career. Methodists and radicals! It will blow over. It’s nothing more than a few grubby radicals stirring up bad feelings and signing petitions. The leaders of the country know the profits the Trade brings, and the like to take sugar in their tea. They won’t be driven by the mob.

“ . . . I don’t think that a handful of clergymen and some ignorant working men can stand against them. There’s not one member of the House of Parliament that does not have an investment to protect. They will hardly vote themselves out of business.”

When I read that, I couldn’t help but think of the dire warning the Conservative government handed down last month about the folly of trying to adhere to the Kyoto Accord. The thought gave me some hope, even as the ramifications sank in: the slave trade and subsequent colonization of Africa devastated an entire continent, which to this day still suffers from the brutality of those actions; but at the same time, they stopped the trade, something that must have cost the conspirators dearly.

So maybe, eventually, public outrage will force the government into action and we will get serious about the environment. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take more than 300 years to heal the scars left by this one.

I am very tired this morning.

Yesterday, Canada held its second federal election in less than two years, and, just as I predicted the day the government fell, the Conservative Party won by a small minority.

I watched the CBC coverage, which featured one of my favourite politicians, former NDP leader Ed Broadbent. I love Ed. He's who made me interested in politics. I either met him or saw him when I was a young lass on my first trip to the Parlaiment Buildings, and he was leading the NDP to 43 seats in the House. The impression stuck, and I've been a loyal supporter ever since.

I watched until about 12:30 last ngiht (the new hours at polling stations mean that the coverage doesn't start until after 9:30 p.m. in Ontario), and watched until the last riding was in. I watched Paul Martin's speech, and listened as the interpreter told us how Martin's wife has dealt with the campaign.

And then, somehow, I missed the part where he resigned as leader of the Liberals.

I have to say I'm quite satisfied with the way this has turned out, with one exception.

We needed to shake up the Liberal stronghold on the country and get rid of Paul Martin (sorry, babe, but somebody's gotta be the fall-guy!). If the Liberals stayed in power, that would never happen. Since the Bloc Quebecois can't win and neither can the NDP (I still loves you, though, Jack!), it had to be the Conservatives. Most of the people who voted Conservative in Ontario (and I would wager the vast majority who voted that way in Quebec) cast their vote to punish the Liberals, not to reward the Conservatives, who—not that we really need reminding—ran on a platform of "The world was created 6,000 years ago" and "let's have millions of referrendums, starting with abortion and gay rights!" as the Canadian Alliance party not six years ago.

So fine, we get a Bush-lovin', good ol' country boy from the West for a couple of years or so, and the Liberals get their shit together, elect a new leader who isn't 80, and remember why Canada loved them in the first place.

My only wish is that either the Conservatives or the NDP would have taken two more seats. You need 155 seats to form a majority, and together they only got 153. Had they hit 155, the right would have been forced to work with the left in order to get things pushed through Parlaiment. And that would have been really cool to see.

I went to see Munich last night. It was really fantastic. I don’t know where Eric Bana’s been all my life, but he’s a great actor! (I never watched The Hulk or Troy, because I have standards, so I think this was my first look at him. He’s yummy.) And Daniel Craig’s quite lovely in a rugged way. He should make a great Bond.

Spielberg is getting a little enamoured with his own skills these days. There was no real reason this movie couldn’t have been shorter. There were a lot of lingering shots, and the suspense of the would-he-authorize-the-hit-or-would-he-puss-out, when we knew he was never going to puss out and leave a half-activated bomb in some hotel room. The carnage was awesome and very effective, and even though the movie was extremely violent, I never felt it was excessive. This is why I find shoot-em-up action films so stupid; there are so many real-life reasons to blow up a building or shoot up a helicopter full of athletes; does it have to be because Vin Diesel’s feelings are hurt? Munich’s violence was all about man’s inhumanity to man, not some special effects team’s inhumanity to a film budget.

I knew nothing about the Munich Massacre before I watched this movie, and doing some research on the movie this morning, I’ve found out that the book the movie is based on, Canadian journalist George Jonas’ Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, has been largely discredited. Even still, the men targeted for assassination in this film were killed, at the time and in the manner depicted in the movie. If it wasn’t Jonas’ source that pulled the trigger, someone else sure did.

But it wasn’t the facts that I took away from this movie, it was the feeling of hopelessness over what is happening in Israel and Palestine. The Palestinians attacked Israel in Munich, Israeli operatives killed prominent Palestinian leaders, the Palestinians letter-bombed Israeli embassies, and so on and so forth for more than 35 years. Was Israel right to fight murder with murder? Was the United States paying Black September to keep their own agents safe? Did Israel's response to Black September help create even more radical terrorists?

I really don’t know much about the creation of Israel and its significance in the history of the Middle East (as an atheist, it doesn’t hold the significance it does for my religious contemporaries, plus, I never went to university, so I didn’t get much of a world history education), but it seems to me that if another government treated a segment of its population the way Israel treats the Palestinians, the UN would be livid. I don’t know how accurate that perception is, but Munich doesn’t do much to dispel me of that opinion.

Wikipedia’s entry on the Munich Massacre

Haaretz, a Tel-Aviv daily newspaper, questions Spielberg’s use of George Jonas’s book for his movie.

The Nation's David Corn reviews the movie and its themes.

This morning, apparently quite out of the blue, Conservative MP Belinda Stronach defected to the Liberal party. Dreamy! The move means that the Liberal minority government that has been in power since June 2004 may actually have a chance of surviving the summer.

This is what I've been waiting for since the Liberals won the election. Finally, finally, the NDP will have a chance to affect national policy. This is great news for those of us who have no money, and those of us who make our livings in the not-for-profit arts world (explaining why we have no money). The government has to care what we think, and has to think before they act.

The Conservative party's leader, Stephen Harper, is livid, of course. He claims she's just doing it for the power, and that she's screwed her career. Well, like any good strategist, she's taking advantage of a very good opportunity. I mean, hello! Has he never watched even one episode of Survivor? I hope the budget passes this Thursday and her ballsy move pays off.

I knew she was good people when she appeared on Monday Report all those times. Mmmm . . . Rick Mercer. . . .

Monday Report on CBC
Belinda's one-page website