Serving your Country....again

In these times of (relative) peace, serving your country often means playing a sport for your national team.  Players often talk about the honour of "playing for their country" in tones that would make it appear that they were sacrificing life and limb to do so.

It is rare that a sporting federation (with a vested interest in promoting the commercial appeal of the game) would be the one giving us some perspective.

http://www.iihf.com/nc/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/article/saying-no-to-your-country.html

Szymon Szemberg has drawn criticism for naming and shaming players who declined the call to represent their country at the Hockey World Championships and the lame excuses they give.  He is right to do so.

Among his best observations:

"How can a player who is 22 or 25 or 27, and who was just eliminated from the playoffs be tired? Tired is a miner who works in a damp pit in Miktivka, in the Donetz Plateau in Ukraine, who never sees daylight and who provides living for a family of five in a modest two-room apartment. That is tired."



"Tired is a divorced mother with two young kids who double shifts as a nurse assistant and cleaning lady to make ends meet."



"Why is a 22-year-old Sidney Crosby tired when a 34-year-old Ryan Smyth is answering the bell for his country despite having represented Canada at the Worlds already on eight occasions?"


Professional athletes live a privileged life.  They should remember that when they make such lame excuses. 

Honouring those who served

Two news items have struck a chord with me today.

In Afghanistan, Colonel Geoff Parker of the Royal Canadian Regiment (my old Regiment) became the highest ranking casualty amongst Canadians who have served in Afghanistan.

In Conneticut, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is in the news over revelations that he had spoken of his time serving in Vietnam and of how painful it was to be spat at upon his return.  Only problem is that he never served in Vietnam.  He received 5 deferments and then joined the Marine reserves to avoid combat.

AG Blumenthal's spoken words are powerful and right on their merits.  It was inexcusable that young boys who were conscripted into a war received such treatment upon their return.  America has spent a long time coming to terms with how wrong that was.

Richard Blumenthal's pathetic atttempts to curry favour while campaigning in front of Veterans groups only serve to aggravate that injustice.  Before this he was the overwhelming favourite to replace Senator Chris Dodd as United States Senator from Conneticut.

His military history is not that different from mine.  I served as a reservist and never served in combat.  The idea of falsely claiming to have served in combat dishonours those who did serve and is so offensive that Blumenthal would be lucky not to get a punch in the jaw from a veteran who did serve. 

For those who see this story in partisan tones, I would ask how they would feel if it had come to light that Governor George W Bush had claimed to have served in Vietnam while campaigning for higher office.  How much would your blood boil?

Col Parker attended basic training in Gagetown at the same time i did but i did not know him.  A close friend of mine reported directly to him when he started his service in the Regular Forces.

These two news stories from either side of the border highlight the best and worst of our society.  There are those who serve nobly and make the ultimate sacrifice and there are those who lay claim to an honour they did not earn.  I will be attending Col Parker's memorial service.  Richard Blumenthal will drop out of the race if he has any honour at all. 

He is unfit for the office he seeks.

Prayers for Col Parker's family and his young children.

Times Square Bomber

The story is still unfolding but here is what we know so far.....based on news reports.

Faisal Shahzad drove an SUV that was filled with propane canisters, solid fertilizer and some firecrackers to Times Square.  It appears that he meant for this to create a large explosion.

Upon being arrested he has been forthcoming (according to reports) and he has claimed that he trained in camps in West Pakistan.

It is not often that there is mirth to be found in attempted terrorist actions but some rather humourous thoughts come to mind.

1) How is it that the terror camps of Pakistan can turn out fighters that have become so adept at creating IED's that disable tanks and kill coalition soldiers can also turn out a guy who thinks that any fertilizer can be made to explode?  Really a box of manure won't blow up?

2) Propane canisters could be very deadly if they exploded throwing shrapnel in all directions.  However it would require more heat than some firecrackers and burning fertilizer.

3) If he really trained at a camp in Pakistan, did he flunk out?

One wonders if this person is really someone who is mentally disturbed with some visions of grandeur.  If this is the quality of terrorists being churned out of Pakistan, then there wouldn't be very much to worry about.

Wither Journalism

On August 10, 2009 the Globe and Mail published an article by Jane Taber that carried the headline "Can a busy female politician give reliable evidence?  A judge says no."

The article goes on to reprint comments from many individuals slamming the judge's sexist comments.  There is only one problem with this article....the judge didn't say that.

MPP Lisa McLeod was giving evidence in the influence peddling trial of Ottawa mayor Larry O'brien.  In her evidence SHE claimed that she could not remember some details accurately due to her busy schedule.  She impugned her own testimony and the judge properly rejected her evidence.

The Ontario Press Council upheld a ruling against the Globe for publishing an opinion piece without labelling it as an editorial piece.  They were right to do so since it was clearly an expression of opinion.  However they should have gone further because this article did not report the facts, it reported falsehoods and then fashioned an opinion based on untruths.  It failed basic standards of decency let alone journalism.

The Globe reported the Press Council's ruling in the middle of page 8.  They should have put it on the front page.  This kind of shoddy reporting/editorializing will only accelerate the decline of print media.  They should be ashamed of themselves.

General Motors

CEO Ed Whitacre can be seen on commercials on both sides of the border proudly declaring that he GM has paid back government loans with interest 5 years ahead of schedule.

A reality check is in order.  GM paid back $8 billion worth of loans.  This is true enough.  However this is nothing more than a whopper of a lie by omission.  GM was bailed out with a combination of loans and equity.  The equity portion was $50 billion.  GM no longer has any public shareholders....it is entirely owned by the taxpayers and unions.

The commercial gives the impression that the taxpayers have been paid back and that GM is on the rebound.  Time will tell whether GM will recover or not.  The truth is that GM is not worth anywhere close to $50 billion and the taxpayers are sitting on a huge loss on their equity investment.

Spending money to advertise a lie of omission just shows, once again, that GM is clueless.  This was not a good deal for taxpayers and some truth in advertising would be a welcome change.

Public Transit Bee in my Bonnet

Those who live on the Lakeshore GO line have been enduring months of construction and upgrades to the tracks and platforms.

In my case, Clarkson has seen the addition of an extra track (now 3 tracks) and the installation of elevators on the platform.

Most people say that they can't wait for the improvements to be completed so that there will be more express trains and there is hope that off peak trains might run more than hourly.

This makes sense.  More trains during the rush hours and more frequent off peak trains will surely motivate more people to take the train rather than drive.  

There is only one small problem with this:  They haven't added any more parking to the GO stations.

I have had the experience of taking off peak trains.  When i used to drive to the station, I couldn't park once the morning crowd had arrived.  Every day i see dozens of cars parked illegally at my station as every legal spot is filled.  GO officers dutifully ticket those cars. 

GO transit states that the lakeshore line carries an average of 80 people on off peak trains.....which is just slightly below the capacity of 1200 per train.

I wonder how many more people would eschew the drive into the city in favour of the near empty GO trains if only they could find parking?

Tiger Woods

The entire world knows that Tiger Woods had a sex scandal.  Many people who've never watched golf and wouldn't know which end of a 9 iron to use when putting off the tee know all about Eldrick Woods's marriage.


He has earned close to a billion dollars in endorsements by pushing his image as the best golfer in the world with a stunning wife, beautiful children and multi-racial background.  He has invented his own ethnic designation by calling himself "Cablinasian" which incorporates his caucausian, black, indian and asian backgrounds.


In short, Tiger Woods sold his image to the core.  


In the aftermath of the scandal, he entered a treatment program and then held a press conference where he apologized to those he had disappointed but asked for privacy and that his family be left alone.


Then the day before he returns to play at the Masters (the most prestigious golf tournament in the world), we see this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FjYMwPirrI


A new ad by Nike with Tiger staring blankly into the camera while the voice of his late father asks "what have you learned."


I'm not sure what his father thinks of this voice over.  Obviously its impractical to ask him.  


Here is some advice for Tiger:  If you want to guard your family's privacy, stop using them for publicity stunts like this.  Shut up and play golf, that's what you are good at and if that is all you did, then people would leave you alone.  

Graham James

The pardon system in Canada is something of an unknown to me.  Frankly i probably know more about the American system of Presidential pardons than i do about the Canadian system.

Today's news that convicted pedophile Graham James was pardoned three years ago is illuminating.

According to the Canadian Press

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ex-coach-graham-james-pardoned-for-sex-abuse-that-rocked-nhl/article1522464/

the parole board "does not generally take into account the nature of the crime"


This is surprising to say the least.  Why doesn't the seriousness of a crime matter when seeking a pardon?


Apparently the 2006-7 year saw 14,581 applications for pardon.  (7672 were for lesser offences and the other 7076 were for indictable offences) of which only 103 were declined.  Even assuming that all of the denied applications were for serious offences, this implies a 98.5% success rate amongst those seeking a pardon.

The mind boggles.  Sheldon Kennedy and Theo Fleury are two of Graham James's victims.  They need to live with their pain for the rest of their lives.

How is it that the criminal who betrayed their trust, and abused his position of authority to sexually abuse them as kids, is able to effectively clean his record of these crimes?  How is it that convicted criminals can have such a high success rate at obtaining a whitewash of their records?

It is bad enough that he was sentenced to only 3 and a half years for his crimes.  That he is now walking free with a pardon behind him is offensive to the core.  What am i missing here?

Closing the barn door after the SUV is gone

The American love affair with big cars is well known.  Less well known is the fact that SUV's (with their appalling mileage) were not subject to the same emission standards and mileage regulations as other passenger vehicles because they were classified as trucks.

So now the Obama administration has finally ended this absurdity....as of 2016!!!   As of that model year SUV's will be subject to much more stringent regulations.  The minimum mileage requirement of 29 MPG is three times that of the Hummer.

This move is a welcome change and is long overdue.  However it is so long overdue that it is practically unnecessary.  High oil prices have sent SUV sales figures plunging.  People who drive these monstrous vehicles are met with dirty looks and open scorn.  People aren't buying them anymore.

The point has been made that the government funded bailouts of GM and Chrysler gave them the leverage needed to force through these regulations.  I wonder if it is lost on many that had these regulations been in place 10 years ago, GM might have been producing smaller cars sooner and may not have needed the bailouts when their profitable SUV divisions began bleeding red??

The SUV classification as light trucks survived the administration of a Texas oil President as well as that of a Bubba from Arkansas.  A cynic might suggest that the Obama administration made this "courageous" decision at a time when the SUV voters are fewer than ever.

Don't get me wrong.....i'm glad the classification was changed.  However any economic and environmental benefits have already largely been accrued by higher oil prices.  This change will have minimal effect.  The Feds have closed the barn door long after the horse is gone.

Ann Coulter

I find many of Ann Coulter's writings offensive.  Despite my Conservative leanings I don't like many of the things that she says.  She is a little too "way out there."  I find Michael Moore offensive for similar reasons.  I think that they are flip sides of the same coin in that most Conservatives and Liberals will agree that both of these individuals are offensive and play fast and loose with the truth too often.

That being said, the cancellation of Ann Coulter's speech at the U of Ottawa has inspired editorials denouncing the intimidation tactics used against her.  She has received more publicity than her hostile rantings deserve.  The milquetoast Globe and Mail wrote a strongly worded opinion piece in support of her right to speak.

Usually i cringe at her writings.  Have a look at her latest post titled "O'Canada":

http://www.anncoulter.com/

I cringed at this one because i agreed with so much of what she said (for a change).

She gained more notoriety and a greater platform for her views.  That is the ultimate result of the University of Ottawa's attempts to silence her.  They should be ashamed of themselves.