No pressure boss.

America saw the light and elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. I am in a state of disbelief that somehow the appropriate choice was made and we didn't see a repeat of the 2004 debacle. Now comes the interesting part.
There was not a person outside of the Republican party in the U.S that was unhappy about the result of the U.S elections. Furthermore people across the world are convinced that an Obama presidency will lead to their issues being resolved and their lives getting better. Obama faces incredible tasks and expectations. Palestinians in Ramalah expect a resolution to the Middle East crisis. Kenyans believe he will bring Africa ito the 21st century. Europeans believe that an Obama presidency will lead to an immediae reversal in U.S unilatertarianism and a more peaceful world. People living in impoverished areas of the U.S believe they will be brought to the middle class while minorities believe that they will be treated as equals to the majority starting in January.
All of this despite the fact that America and the world are in the midst of an economic crisis unseen in decades. They are mired in two wars which are costing billions and show no sign of a near resolution. Add to this the fact that the threat of terrorism has not gone away and that Russia seems on the brink of reasserting superpower status. All of these factors combined lead to me speculating that Obama will not be able to placate everyone and everyones needs. I'm hoping the American people give him the time he needs to make a meaningful change. As he said in his acceptance speech, it may not happen in 1 year or even in one term but he will make America a fairer more inclusive country. A country which will be the envy of the free world.



-Son

A sigh of relief from the Republicans

Well, she didn't win. But she got enough talking points and clichés out that "Joe Six Pack" probably thought she won, which was the real goal. I swear though, if I would have heard "maverick," or "say it ain't so, Joe" one more time, I would have gone through the screen at her.

She did just enough to confirm to me she has no business being in charge of the most powerful nation on earth.

Father

Sarah Palin can't lose

"What!?" you say, "are you nuts? Did you see how she imploded in the interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric? This is going to be a huge train wreck!"

Well, maybe. But even if she loses the debate with Joe Biden, I maintain she will come out smelling like a rose, and here's why:

If she mangles all her answers and spouts nonsensical gibberish again, the Republicans and many American hockey moms will take pity on her and she'll receive a huge outpouring of support. They'll feel sorry for her. If Biden scores all the points and makes her look silly, they'll take him to task for treating a woman poorly. The expectations for her performance are now so low that even if she doesn't say a word, a majority of people will look upon that as being a vast improvement from what she's done up to now. And finally, her attractiveness will win over many male viewers who may be staring at the screen, but won't hear a word she says.

Nope, I don't think she can lose. While she may leave the stage tonight looking like a deer (or a moose) in the headlights, her support and poll numbers will rise like the Phoenix. And while I hope I'm wrong (the thought of a political neophyte from Pavement Narrows, Alaska, who just got her first passport last year, leading the USA absolutely terrifies me), I don't think the American public has the ability to see either beyond the Joe Six-pack, pitbull with lipstick facade or down the road to when she may be called upon to assume the Presidency.

Time will tell. I'll be back tomorrow with either doom and gloom or relief.

Father

Following my Farve-rite Quarterback

I risk writing that which has been written a million times. I risk beating a dead horse to death long after rigor has already set in. I risk inciting groans from my parents and wife who have heard me espouse the greatness of Brett Favre far too many times.

But it must be done. This summer I purchased and donned a New York Football Jets hat for the first time. Yes it looked weird at first. Heck it even felt strange. When you live and die by the results of the Green and Gold of Wisconsin it's bound to feel weird and strange. What bugs me the most is that people look at you and figure that your supporting the team because of one player as if there is shame in it. Some will even call you a bandwagon jumper as if the Jets are going to the Superbowl this year and the Packers are going to fall apart.

For all that care there are reasons for my sometimes blind loyalty. You see I won't forget watching Football at the age of 13 for the first time shortly after moving to Canada from Germany. In Germany football is played, well, with your feet. It took a heated argument with the young boys across the street to understand that what I thought was football is actually called soccer here.
I'm not sure if Brett played in the first football game I ever watched, but I'd like to think so. At the time he was a young 24 slinging the ball all over the place with the youthful, reckless abandon that he still plays with today. I was 13 and sports heroes were still heroes. They could do no wrong, lived perfect lives, had good marriages and weren't addicted to pain-killers. It didn't hurt that the Packers won a lot of games and eventually the Superbowl (beating the Patriots I might add). The NFL was the greatest show on earth. It is pomp and extravagance mixed with strategy and violence. It's cockiness, wealth and money mixed with blue collar, lunch-box-carrying work ethic. It has its glory and boy can it have its problems. And Brett was the poster boy. Now he changes teams after all these years after a summer of playing he said they said and they love me, they love me not. Fact is he may have 1 or 2 years left with the Jets.

So you can call me a bandwagon jumper if you want. Call me disloyal to the Packers. Think less of me because I changed who I support. Brett made me love the game of Football. I figure I owe him 1 or 2 years.




-Son

One of Harper's "ordinary people?" Not me.

Now I'm worried.

All this time, I considered myself an average, run-of-the-mill Canadian. I earn my money, enjoy spending time with my family and my friends, own a couple of cars and a house in the suburbs (all with the banks' help), and spend some of my leisure time reading, watching some television and every so often, attending live theatre or concerts. Now Stephen Harper tells me I'm extraordinary for paying attention to and supporting the arts in Canada. "Ordinary people," as far as He of the Blue Vest is concerned, would rather turn on the TV after a hard day's work and watch "Are you Smarter than a Fifth-Grader" or Fox News, not a bunch of wealthy writers or actors at a grand "gala" somewhere, whining about their grants. This is another one of those comments from our Prime Minister which makes me think that if we ever give this party a majority, this country will go straight to hell in a handbasket.

While these statements no doubt appeal to the Tim Horton's/plaid shirt/baseball-cap masses which make up a good proportion of Steve's "base," I don't for one minute believe it reflects the thoughts of most Canadians, especially if they really reflect about how much the arts in this country means to our selves, our culture and our national identity. But rather than read me rant about it, spend a few minutes with Canadian author Margaret Atwood:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080924.wcoarts25/BNStory/politics/home

It behooves all of us extraordinary Canadians to show this clown (who gets a big grant from us every year) the door on Oct. 14.

Father

Why I wear black on Fridays

Here in Ottawa, in a city inhabited by a great number of federal public servants and which has National Defence Headquarters as one of the most predominant structures of its downtown core, traditional Friday casual days take on a special meaning. The “Red Fridays” campaign, which began in the USA and was quickly adopted here in Canada once we recorded our first casualties, has a strong and obviously visible following here in the nation’s capital. Many employees of companies who also have space in our building are cloaked in red every Friday, and they no doubt have the “Support our Troops” ribbons on the backs of their cars and SUVs as well. MacDonald Cartier International Airport has a huge “We Support our Troops” banner over the arrivals lounge. We’ve been infected with American-style jingoism, which has reached the point where if you don’t wear red, or have a ribbon on your car, you’re seen as being not only unsupportive of the troops, but unpatriotic as well. The government is overjoyed. This rampant militarism not only gave Rick Hillier much of the basis for his popularity during his stint as Chief of the Defence Staff (witness his reference, to great admiration and acclaim, of the Taliban as “detestable murderers and scumbags”), but also to the notion that we have to fight on, at all costs, because if we quit now, all the lives lost will have been lost in vain. Wearing red and displaying ribbons now demonstrates support for the war as much as support for our soldiers.

This is a zero-sum game. The security situation in Afghanistan has been steadily deteriorating over the past three years, and our casualties have continued to rise. There is no positive outcome to this conflict, at least from a Western perspective. How arrogant of us to believe we can be successful in a country where so many before us have failed, and failed miserably. Did we learn nothing from the British or the Russians? Do we feel we can do better because of our resolve or because of our better weapons? Is it even right of us to think our way of life is better and therefore everyone else wants to live like us? We will never beat the ideology of terrorism by fighting it with guns, bombs and rockets in Afghanistan. For every Talib we kill, there are a half-dozen more ready to take his place. For every civilian we kill, we turn an entire family against us. Hearts and minds, indeed.

Now, before you think I don’t support our soldiers, it may help to know I used to be one. I spent 21 years in uniform, with stints in Cyprus (under the “blue beret” of the UN peacekeeping forces), NATO forces in West Germany, and more recently as a civilian contractor in both Bosnia and Afghanistan, working to support Canadian and NATO forces. I support my comrades in arms with every fibre of my being, and that’s why it pains me so much to see so many of them lose their lives for no tangible gains to the country of Afghanistan or to international security. Why not help the situation in Darfur, or help maintain security on the West Bank, or help people in Cuba and Texas rebuild their lives after devastating natural disasters? Because there’s no constant, shock-inducing news like what comes from Afghanistan when we lose another soldier, and with every loss, our government gains credibility in the eyes of many of its allies, not least of which is our neighbour to the south. To add insult to injury, they can’t even lower the flag on the Peace Tower to half-mast to respect the dead. Is this too much of a reminder to the public, and therefore not a politically-sound idea?

But, I digress. 98 of the nation’s sons, daughters, husbands, and fiancées have been lost so far fighting the “war on terror” in Afghanistan, a war without end, a sinkhole of valuable, irreplaceable lives and hard-earned treasure. Regardless of what our politicians and senior military leaders tell us, 98 lives are 98 too many to pay for the amount of progress we’ve made in Afghanistan, and every further loss puts us deeper into the red and dishonours the memory and boundless sense of duty of those soldiers who have gone before.

It’s not necessary for me to show my support for our soldiers by wearing garish colours, waving flags or sticking magnetic ribbons on my car. Red is a joyous colour, and there is no joy in pointless Canadian deaths in a desert half a world away. I support our soldiers through my daily thoughts and reflections, and remember their needless sacrifice by wearing black on Fridays.

Father

Are our Conservatives fiscally conservative?

The crux of Stephen Harper's re-election campaign is that his party alone can lead Canada through the economic turmoil of falling commodity prices and a loss of demand for our manufactured products.
He points out that the Liberals with their new tax (albeit a carbon tax) are a risk to the pocketbooks of Canadians. He states that the NDP and its past provincial governments, especially that of Bob Rae in Ontario, are not known for their balanced budgets. He tells us that his party has a strong record when it comes to running our economy. Is this fact or yet another piece of fiction that he is hoping the "beer and popcorn crowd" will believe.
The Harper government is actually larger than the previous Liberal government. Like their philosophical allies to the south they are also the largest spending government in our countries history. All this while our country is suffering an economic downturn. Our GDP growth currently sits below that of most of our fellow G8 countries. The Conservatives have cut the GST by two percentage points and made huge cuts to corporate taxes. The average Canadian does not see a large benefit from these measures (A GST cut benefits those whom have income to purchase big-ticket items) but it has served to shrink the tax base which the government can draw on for its funding. A 1% cut in the GST equals roughly 2 billion dollars in lost tax revenue. Not surprisingly the federal government racked up a half billion dollar deficit during the first two months of this fiscal year. That's versus a 2.6 billion dollar surplus from the year before.
Let Harper campaign on his record as a financial steward all he wants. This Canadian will be looking at the facts, while ignoring the fiction.



-Son

Lawsuit Lance rides again!

So, the cycling world is all a-flutter with the news over the past couple of days that Lance Armstrong, the seemingly-retired seven-time Tour de France winner, is making a return to the professional peloton next year.

My question is, why? Does he really want to promote cancer awareness (as is his claim), or does he need a return to glory? With an ego as big as his home state of Texas, it seems to be the latter. Does he want to win the Tour again or just intimidate and control the riders around him? While many other riders are publicly welcoming the news (even those from Astana, the team he is most likely to join), there has to be a sense of disappointment from those riders who have a legitimate shot at a Tour title, but may be denied it if Lance shows up. Astana itself has the 2007 Tour winner (Alberto Contador), and two other riders who have finished on the podium (Armstrong’s compatriot Levi Leipheimer, and the German ace Andreas Klöden) who will all be relegated to super-domestique status if Armstrong signs up with Johan Bruyneel’s team again. This isn’t to mention the other, young, up-and-coming riders (future superstars such as Andy Schleck come to mind) who may be denied a place on a team and a shot at victory if the Texan swings a leg over a Trek crossbar again. And you can bet it will be more of the same in the Tour – get Armstrong the lead in the first individual time trial or mountain stage, and then control the pace for the rest of the race so no other rider has the chance to make up any time. It worked for seven boring years; there’s no reason to think it won’t work for an eighth. Ho hum.

While he’s never tested positive, rumours of doping continue to swirl about Lance. That’s all they are, of course, because anyone who declares of having proof or further evidence is hit with the threat of a lawsuit before anything else can be brought forward. Both Armstrong and his past and future team manager Bruyneel maintain that neither of them have ever tested positive for a banned substance (Bruyneel used to be a professional cyclist as well), which isn’t the same as saying they did not take anything. We never hear any flat-out denials, which may or may not be indicative of something.

This is bad news for the sport of professional cycling. Lance should stay retired and spend his time running marathons, riding mountain bike races, holding his charity rides for cancer research and looking for a replacement for Sheryl Crow (if there is such a thing). Perhaps the worst thing about this news is that now, after a three-year hiatus, we’ll have to suffer through Al Trautwig and “Bobke” Roll mentioning Lance every other sentence during the annual coverage on Versus, or OLN, or whatever network the Tour shows up on. Jesus wept.

Father

Let's hear it for democracy in action!

Isn't it amazing what normal people can do when they've had enough and decide the old way shouldn't be the new way?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/09/10/elxn-may-debates.html?ref=rss

Thanks to everyone who wrote their MPs, the broadcast consortium, the PM, and the leaders of the federal parties. We all made a difference. Let's do it again on Oct. 14!

Father

I'm voting for Danny!!!

Once again Danny Williams shows that he cannot only be counted on to represent the fine people of Newfoundland and Labrador, he is also good for a few laughs along the way. It's well known in this part of Canada that there is no love lost between "Steve Harper" (as Danny likes to refer to our Prime Minister) and the Premier. It all stems from yet another broken promise from our current government. While running for office in 2006 Stephen Harper and his Conservatives vowed to uphold Newfoundland and Nova Scotia's Atlantic Accords which allowed the two provinces to keep their share of equalization payments along with the royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling. However in the 2008 budget the Conservatives broke this promise saying that it was impossible to maintain these side deals and fix equalization at the same time. Our Conservative premier in Nova Scotia, after waffling about whether he should do anything at all, eventually bargained a side deal which may or may not be as beneficial as the original accord. Not so with Danny Williams. His province has far more at stake, having larger offshore oil and gas reserves, and he has vowed to accept nothing less than the original accord. At the time he promised that should the issue not be resolved he would campaign against the federal Conservatives during the next election. Now unfortunately all this didn't exactly have Mr Harper shaking in his cowboy boots. I mean, Danny Williams is just a premier and surely couldn't leverage the amount of PR as the Conservative election team. Last Sunday our Prime Minster broke another promise and a law that he brought into the house and plunged our country into an election. Before this election call which will send Canadians to the polls on October 14th, Danny Williams participated in the popular Canadian satire "This Hour has 22 Minutes" where he compared "the treasonous Steve Harper" with Judas and other notorious villains of the past. Today he made his first speech during the federal campaign proclaiming that for Canadians this election should be as easy as "ABC". "Anybody But the Conservatives. He also mentioned that he was not very happy that the Conservatives showed a Puffin (the official bird of Newfoundland) defecating on a picture of Liberal Leader Stephane Dion in a campaign add. To me Danny Williams is what you want a politician to be. He stands up for his constituents and when he has been wronged he won't let go. Danny, I like the idea of ABC, but better yet why not put your name on the ballot. Now that would have "Steve Harper" shaking in his Cowboy boots.




-Son

Let Elizabeth May join the debate!

Shame on all the other party leaders for not demanding that Elizabeth May be allowed to join the party leaders' televised debates. She is arguably the most articulate, logical, and sensible politician in the country, and yet we won't get to see her take on Harper and the rest on live TV. Harper is obviously scared of her, in that he knows she will call him on every bit of twist and spin.

I can only hope the networks either come to their senses in the 11th hour, or that this mess backfires in the face of the other party leaders and results in more votes (and more MPs) for the Greens. Go get 'em Elizabeth - I'm behind your quest and I'm sure many others will be after this latest control exercise of the Conservatives.

Father