Haven't heard or read about ANYONE wanting a fall election in Canada. That's in a national newspaper and on the radio, and in conversation.
ThePM even says that there will be a minority government after a fall election, so WHY in the world should Canadian taxpayers pay close to $700 million dollars to run an election? And why would parties want to spend their donated money to get the same sort of government?
Until this government, it was said that minority governments in Canada produce some of the best legislation possible. That is because, until the Conservatives got into their current position, the previous PMs were willing, able and committed to governing. THIS PM does not know what "negotiate" or "compromise" mean.
He is a "my way or the highway" person; or "I'll take my ball and go home if you don't play my rules."
Most of us learn how to play on the schoolground, and we make an effort to get along with our peers.
This man refuses to be "nice," to try to work with the other parties. The word "leader" does not apply to him. He's a bossy, mean man.
So, here's a short (but getting longer) list of his disgraceful decisions.
1. Cutting arts funding and supposedly giving it to athletes. Now that's a move that the artistic community hates, and one that athletes can see through, so there will be no votes from athletes in this.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Michael Phelps is NOT the Greatest Olympian
BEIJING -- Could everyone please stop hyperventilating about Michael Phelps?Yes, he now has won more gold medals than anyone in Olympic history.
Your Vote
Who is the greatest athlete in the history of the Summer Olympics?
1.3 %
Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, Germany, kayak
2.2 %
Larisa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics
24.7 %
Carl Lewis, U.S., track and field
3.9 %
Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field
3.8 %
Steven Redgrave, United Kingdom, rowing
50.1 %
Michael Phelps, United States, swimming
14.2 %
An athlete not listed here
7238 total responses
Ahead of him?1. Carl Lewis, U.S., track and field.2. Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field.3. Larisa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics.4. Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, Germany, kayak.5. Steven Redgrave, United Kingdom, rowing.Why is Phelps sixth?It is easy to win multiple medals in swimming.The sport is far more forgiving on the body than track or gymnastics.And Phelps does not yet have the long-term record of the others.
Lewis won nine gold medals, four in the 1984 Olympics and four straight in one event, the long jump.Nurmi won nine gold medals at distances from 1,500 to 10,000 meters over three Olympics. He likely would have won more had he not been declared ineligible after 1928 under rules that demanded Olympians be amateurs.Latynina won nine gold medals and 18 total medals over three Olympics.Fischer-Schmidt won her first of eight gold medals in 1980 and her last 24 years later as a 42-year-old mother of two. She won three for the old East Germany and five for the unified Germany. She won in singles, doubles and fours. She also won four silvers.Redgrave won gold medals in five consecutive Olympics while rowing in three different boat types.I asked Phelps on Thursday if winning the most golds makes him the greatest of all time, and he sounded like a man wisely focused on the present."I have no idea," he said. "I just get in the water and swim. That's the only thing I think about."I asked Olympic historian David Wallechinsky the same question, and he ranked Nurmi and Lewis as co-leaders."I think Phelps needs one more Olympics to join them," Wallechinsky said.
Over 12 years, Lewis won two gold medals in the 100 meters, one in the 200, two on the sprint relay and an unprecedented four straight in the long jump, an event in which the impact on the body of the run-up and takeoff has been likened to falling off a truck at 25 mph."What Lewis did is extraordinary. He is No. 1," said France's Marie-Jose Perec, one of three runners to win the 200 and 400 meters in the same Olympics."You can't compare track and swimming. In swimming, you can recover. You can do five races in a day and get world records in all of them. That's impossible in our sport."Don't try to argue that Phelps has been part of world-record performances in his first five events.New pool and suit technology have made swimming's world records meaningless, with 18 record performances through Thursday in the Olympics alone.
Just four world records have fallen in track and field all year.Swimming allows an athlete to race two finals in 29 minutes, as U.S. Olympian Ryan Lochte planned Friday morning.Track and field is so much more physically demanding that neither Allyson Felix nor Sanya Richards dared a 200-400 double after the Olympic schedule put the second round of the 200 within three hours of the 400 final."Swimming is pressure off your body, where we are pounding on it," Felix said.Swimming offers three relays with the risk of a false start minimal. Some sprinters run both of track's longer relays, the 400 and 1,600, but the exchanges on the sprint relay are so dicey Lewis lost a certain medal in 1988 when other U.S. runners botched a baton pass in a preliminary round.If Olympic track had an 800-meter relay, an event in which Lewis was part of a world-record performance, he probably would have won at least two more gold medals.Three of swimming's four strokes -- everything but the breaststroke -- might as well be the same. Otherwise, how could backstroker Matt Grevers say he barely trained that stroke before winning an Olympic silver medal in the 100? Nearly every good freestyler can be a good butterflyer, and vice-versa.
You don't see any 100-meter runners in the mile, or any milers in the long jump.Don't get the wrong idea. Track athletes have great respect for what Phelps has accomplished."It's inspiring to watch in amazement at everything he's doing," Felix said.But he's not the most amazing Olympian ever.
Hersh covers the Olympics for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Your Vote
Who is the greatest athlete in the history of the Summer Olympics?
1.3 %
Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, Germany, kayak
2.2 %
Larisa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics
24.7 %
Carl Lewis, U.S., track and field
3.9 %
Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field
3.8 %
Steven Redgrave, United Kingdom, rowing
50.1 %
Michael Phelps, United States, swimming
14.2 %
An athlete not listed here
7238 total responses
Ahead of him?1. Carl Lewis, U.S., track and field.2. Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field.3. Larisa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics.4. Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, Germany, kayak.5. Steven Redgrave, United Kingdom, rowing.Why is Phelps sixth?It is easy to win multiple medals in swimming.The sport is far more forgiving on the body than track or gymnastics.And Phelps does not yet have the long-term record of the others.
Lewis won nine gold medals, four in the 1984 Olympics and four straight in one event, the long jump.Nurmi won nine gold medals at distances from 1,500 to 10,000 meters over three Olympics. He likely would have won more had he not been declared ineligible after 1928 under rules that demanded Olympians be amateurs.Latynina won nine gold medals and 18 total medals over three Olympics.Fischer-Schmidt won her first of eight gold medals in 1980 and her last 24 years later as a 42-year-old mother of two. She won three for the old East Germany and five for the unified Germany. She won in singles, doubles and fours. She also won four silvers.Redgrave won gold medals in five consecutive Olympics while rowing in three different boat types.I asked Phelps on Thursday if winning the most golds makes him the greatest of all time, and he sounded like a man wisely focused on the present."I have no idea," he said. "I just get in the water and swim. That's the only thing I think about."I asked Olympic historian David Wallechinsky the same question, and he ranked Nurmi and Lewis as co-leaders."I think Phelps needs one more Olympics to join them," Wallechinsky said.
Over 12 years, Lewis won two gold medals in the 100 meters, one in the 200, two on the sprint relay and an unprecedented four straight in the long jump, an event in which the impact on the body of the run-up and takeoff has been likened to falling off a truck at 25 mph."What Lewis did is extraordinary. He is No. 1," said France's Marie-Jose Perec, one of three runners to win the 200 and 400 meters in the same Olympics."You can't compare track and swimming. In swimming, you can recover. You can do five races in a day and get world records in all of them. That's impossible in our sport."Don't try to argue that Phelps has been part of world-record performances in his first five events.New pool and suit technology have made swimming's world records meaningless, with 18 record performances through Thursday in the Olympics alone.
Just four world records have fallen in track and field all year.Swimming allows an athlete to race two finals in 29 minutes, as U.S. Olympian Ryan Lochte planned Friday morning.Track and field is so much more physically demanding that neither Allyson Felix nor Sanya Richards dared a 200-400 double after the Olympic schedule put the second round of the 200 within three hours of the 400 final."Swimming is pressure off your body, where we are pounding on it," Felix said.Swimming offers three relays with the risk of a false start minimal. Some sprinters run both of track's longer relays, the 400 and 1,600, but the exchanges on the sprint relay are so dicey Lewis lost a certain medal in 1988 when other U.S. runners botched a baton pass in a preliminary round.If Olympic track had an 800-meter relay, an event in which Lewis was part of a world-record performance, he probably would have won at least two more gold medals.Three of swimming's four strokes -- everything but the breaststroke -- might as well be the same. Otherwise, how could backstroker Matt Grevers say he barely trained that stroke before winning an Olympic silver medal in the 100? Nearly every good freestyler can be a good butterflyer, and vice-versa.
You don't see any 100-meter runners in the mile, or any milers in the long jump.Don't get the wrong idea. Track athletes have great respect for what Phelps has accomplished."It's inspiring to watch in amazement at everything he's doing," Felix said.But he's not the most amazing Olympian ever.
Hersh covers the Olympics for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Friday, August 08, 2008
No Harper, and No Minister of Sport (We Don't Even HAVE One). Canada sure is a Loser
IOC President to meet with world leaders
On the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, IOC President Jacques Rogge is to meet with some of the world’s major leaders, who are visiting Beijing for the opening ceremony. Among the leaders Rogge will be meeting are Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Brazillian President Luiz Lula da Silva.
More world leaders – more than 100 sovereigns, heads of state and heads of government - will be attending the Beijing Olympic Games, as well as 170 Ministers of Sport.
As well as discussing the Beijing Games, Rogge will be using the meetings as an opportunity to raise issues of concern to the Olympic movement – the fight against doping, and the role of sport in education and in improving public health.
Sport’s role in improving health outcomes “It is essential that we promote the central role of sport in modern society,” said Rogge today. “Everyday sport can deliver substantial social, environmental and economic benefits by reducing obesity and cardiac disease and creating a healthy society. The IOC wants governments to support elite sport and the Olympic movement – that’s essential – but we also want them to invest in public sports facilities.”
Just as vital is that the IOC and governments collaborate in the fight against doping by providing consistent funding for WADA, enabling co-operation between law enforcement and doping authorities; and application of the World Anti-Doping Code. This may require legislative change.
Doping – a problem to be tackled together Doping, and particularly steroid abuse, is a public health issue – it is not simply a matter for elite sport – it reaches down into amateur sports clubs, universities and high schools and causes physical and psychological damage to the user. This trickle-down effect is what should worry everyone. Moreover, steroid use and crime are inextricably linked – many acts of violent crime in society are thought to be connected to steroid use.”
President Rogge will continue to promote these issues, through both the IOC and collaboration with other Olympic organisations, in his regular schedule of visits and consultations with world leaders regarding their national sport agenda.
[This is an IOC News Release, dated August 8, 2008]
On the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, IOC President Jacques Rogge is to meet with some of the world’s major leaders, who are visiting Beijing for the opening ceremony. Among the leaders Rogge will be meeting are Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Brazillian President Luiz Lula da Silva.
More world leaders – more than 100 sovereigns, heads of state and heads of government - will be attending the Beijing Olympic Games, as well as 170 Ministers of Sport.
As well as discussing the Beijing Games, Rogge will be using the meetings as an opportunity to raise issues of concern to the Olympic movement – the fight against doping, and the role of sport in education and in improving public health.
Sport’s role in improving health outcomes “It is essential that we promote the central role of sport in modern society,” said Rogge today. “Everyday sport can deliver substantial social, environmental and economic benefits by reducing obesity and cardiac disease and creating a healthy society. The IOC wants governments to support elite sport and the Olympic movement – that’s essential – but we also want them to invest in public sports facilities.”
Just as vital is that the IOC and governments collaborate in the fight against doping by providing consistent funding for WADA, enabling co-operation between law enforcement and doping authorities; and application of the World Anti-Doping Code. This may require legislative change.
Doping – a problem to be tackled together Doping, and particularly steroid abuse, is a public health issue – it is not simply a matter for elite sport – it reaches down into amateur sports clubs, universities and high schools and causes physical and psychological damage to the user. This trickle-down effect is what should worry everyone. Moreover, steroid use and crime are inextricably linked – many acts of violent crime in society are thought to be connected to steroid use.”
President Rogge will continue to promote these issues, through both the IOC and collaboration with other Olympic organisations, in his regular schedule of visits and consultations with world leaders regarding their national sport agenda.
[This is an IOC News Release, dated August 8, 2008]
"Last Minute Harper" and He's Still Staying Home. Probably a Good Thing.
Harper backing city's Pan Am bid
McGuinty off to China to lobby sports officials at Olympics to boost Toronto area's chances
Aug 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Be the first to comment on this article... Robert Benzie Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is backing Toronto's $1.77 billion bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Harper yesterday gave Ottawa's endorsement of efforts to host the international sports event in Toronto and a dozen other Golden Horseshoe municipalities.
"It's very positive. It's a boost for the entire region," federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told the Star last night.
"Toronto hasn't had a major sporting event in many, many years," said Flaherty, who is Harper's Greater Toronto Area minister.
He added that in difficult economic times, the Pan Am Games would "create jobs and construction activity" and leave behind an infrastructure legacy in the GTA and beyond.
Flaherty emphasized that Ottawa's funding commitment is still being finalized because security costs are being calculated with the OPP, the RCMP and other agencies.
Ottawa's move, which came months earlier than expected, led Premier Dalton McGuinty to start packing to fly to China to lobby sports officials at the Olympics.
"The premier will be taking the important next step of going to Beijing Aug. 13 to 15 to speak with key national Olympic committee chairs, to make sure Ontario has the best opportunity to make a winning case," said press secretary Jane Almeida.
"Moving forward, we will be working closely with the federal government and municipalities."
McGuinty had been gearing up for the lobbying trip. "I am ready and raring to go," the premier told reporters on July 23.
"To say I'm really, really, really keen on this is a gross understatement," Michael Chambers, the Canadian Olympic Committee president, told the Star's Jim Byers in Beijing. "I really believe we can do this and that it's not a shot in the dark. It's a bid we can win.
"We'll have tremendous games and it will be a building block for what we're seeing here in China."
Chambers said the southern Ontario bid will be officially presented to Pan American Sports Organization officials at Canada Olympic House in Beijing on Aug. 14.
The Pan Am Games, open to 42 nations in the Americas, are held every four years. They were held in Rio de Janeiro last year and will be in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2011.
Other cities expected to bid for the 2015 Games are Bogota, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; and Lima, Peru, but insiders say Toronto – one of the largest media markets in North or South America – has a great shot at hosting them. The winner will be chosen next year.
There had been concerns that Ottawa would not have completed its study of the bid before the Pan American Sports Organization's general meeting in October.
While the municipalities, the province and Ottawa will each be on the hook for about $620 million, Queen's Park has agreed to cover any overruns to the expected $1.77 billion tab.
McGuinty off to China to lobby sports officials at Olympics to boost Toronto area's chances
Aug 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Be the first to comment on this article... Robert Benzie Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is backing Toronto's $1.77 billion bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Harper yesterday gave Ottawa's endorsement of efforts to host the international sports event in Toronto and a dozen other Golden Horseshoe municipalities.
"It's very positive. It's a boost for the entire region," federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told the Star last night.
"Toronto hasn't had a major sporting event in many, many years," said Flaherty, who is Harper's Greater Toronto Area minister.
He added that in difficult economic times, the Pan Am Games would "create jobs and construction activity" and leave behind an infrastructure legacy in the GTA and beyond.
Flaherty emphasized that Ottawa's funding commitment is still being finalized because security costs are being calculated with the OPP, the RCMP and other agencies.
Ottawa's move, which came months earlier than expected, led Premier Dalton McGuinty to start packing to fly to China to lobby sports officials at the Olympics.
"The premier will be taking the important next step of going to Beijing Aug. 13 to 15 to speak with key national Olympic committee chairs, to make sure Ontario has the best opportunity to make a winning case," said press secretary Jane Almeida.
"Moving forward, we will be working closely with the federal government and municipalities."
McGuinty had been gearing up for the lobbying trip. "I am ready and raring to go," the premier told reporters on July 23.
"To say I'm really, really, really keen on this is a gross understatement," Michael Chambers, the Canadian Olympic Committee president, told the Star's Jim Byers in Beijing. "I really believe we can do this and that it's not a shot in the dark. It's a bid we can win.
"We'll have tremendous games and it will be a building block for what we're seeing here in China."
Chambers said the southern Ontario bid will be officially presented to Pan American Sports Organization officials at Canada Olympic House in Beijing on Aug. 14.
The Pan Am Games, open to 42 nations in the Americas, are held every four years. They were held in Rio de Janeiro last year and will be in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2011.
Other cities expected to bid for the 2015 Games are Bogota, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; and Lima, Peru, but insiders say Toronto – one of the largest media markets in North or South America – has a great shot at hosting them. The winner will be chosen next year.
There had been concerns that Ottawa would not have completed its study of the bid before the Pan American Sports Organization's general meeting in October.
While the municipalities, the province and Ottawa will each be on the hook for about $620 million, Queen's Park has agreed to cover any overruns to the expected $1.77 billion tab.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Beijing, Echos of Cuba
On Monday night, Pastor Mansbridge began his National News program from Beijing.
There he was, smog and all behind him, but no teleprompter.
He had a segment about security in China, noting the neighbourhood community watches that have been set up. These are citizens who have volunteered (and recieved a little red band for their left arm) to keep watch on their own neighbourhood, and report anyone or anything suspicious.
There was even a shot of two women fanning themselves, sitting on pots or something, "looking out" for their neighbourhood.
How it took me back. In 1990-1991 when we made trips to Cuba in preparation for the Pan American Games, we saw and knew that locals would "report" on their neighbours. We saw the grandmothers out for their morning exercises, calesthenics actually, then they would disperse, and go about their business. Part of that business was ratting on their neighbours.
This is the way Castro keeps the population in check: have spies who report up the ladder.
Castro reigns not through the love of his people, but by fear. Do something wrong, say something about the government or a "leader" and find yourself in the clink.
The Cuban people are an amazing lot to have survived with so little, without contact with the outside world, and living in constant fear. It becomes a way of life.
So little "freedom" in China and Cuba.
How fortunate Canadians are.
There he was, smog and all behind him, but no teleprompter.
He had a segment about security in China, noting the neighbourhood community watches that have been set up. These are citizens who have volunteered (and recieved a little red band for their left arm) to keep watch on their own neighbourhood, and report anyone or anything suspicious.
There was even a shot of two women fanning themselves, sitting on pots or something, "looking out" for their neighbourhood.
How it took me back. In 1990-1991 when we made trips to Cuba in preparation for the Pan American Games, we saw and knew that locals would "report" on their neighbours. We saw the grandmothers out for their morning exercises, calesthenics actually, then they would disperse, and go about their business. Part of that business was ratting on their neighbours.
This is the way Castro keeps the population in check: have spies who report up the ladder.
Castro reigns not through the love of his people, but by fear. Do something wrong, say something about the government or a "leader" and find yourself in the clink.
The Cuban people are an amazing lot to have survived with so little, without contact with the outside world, and living in constant fear. It becomes a way of life.
So little "freedom" in China and Cuba.
How fortunate Canadians are.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Trouble on the Horizon and Lying
Trouble on the China borders as well as protests in Beijing that are quelled by rounding up the people and herding them into a paddy-wagon, foreshadow a stressful Olympics and serious trouble during the Games.
If anyone in the world still thinks that China is a fair and honourable nation, they must have been snoozing while the media reports on the third athlete whose age is in doubt. I hope that reporters don't let this one go. These female gymnasts are under-age, as their earlier documents show. The docs they submitted to the Organizing Committee were "doctored" to have these young girls able to compete in Beijing. FIG instigated the age rule for a reason...to stop medal-hungry nations from overtraining girls and putting their lives in jeopardy.
The Chinese are lying. Getting those medals ahead of the USA is the most important thing, except of course spending $35 billion on these Games, China's "coming out party."
China shames the Olympic Movement, and countries let them get away with this stuff.
Shame, Mr Rogge.
If anyone in the world still thinks that China is a fair and honourable nation, they must have been snoozing while the media reports on the third athlete whose age is in doubt. I hope that reporters don't let this one go. These female gymnasts are under-age, as their earlier documents show. The docs they submitted to the Organizing Committee were "doctored" to have these young girls able to compete in Beijing. FIG instigated the age rule for a reason...to stop medal-hungry nations from overtraining girls and putting their lives in jeopardy.
The Chinese are lying. Getting those medals ahead of the USA is the most important thing, except of course spending $35 billion on these Games, China's "coming out party."
China shames the Olympic Movement, and countries let them get away with this stuff.
Shame, Mr Rogge.
Some Beijing Stuff
With the Olympics just 3+ days away, we hear that Mr Emerson will lead a delegation to Beijing. Not the Prime Minister.
When talk of an Olympic boycott started several months agao, the PM said he would not be going to Beijing. Supposedly boycotting, although he said that wasn't the reason.
So, when Mr Emerson gets to Beijing, and is asked why the Prime Minister didn't go, which of the following will he answer?
1. He is too busy.
2. He is boycotting China because of its human rights record.
3. He had a vacation planned.
4. He didn't feel like travelling all that way.
5. His medical shots aren't up-to-date.
6. He is worried about the food (one reporter noted "Donkey Pot Pie" on a menu in Beijing)
7. He just didn't think it was important.
8. He's not good at "small talk."
9. He didn't want to have to answer questions about the federal government's dallying about and not being able to make a decision about support for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
10. None of the above.
Canadians are embarassed that he is not going. Once again, he demonstrates his disregard for Canada's international reputation, his contempt for the Canadian people, and his arrogance.
Let's get to the polls in the fall, and get rid of this government and this Prime Minister.
When talk of an Olympic boycott started several months agao, the PM said he would not be going to Beijing. Supposedly boycotting, although he said that wasn't the reason.
So, when Mr Emerson gets to Beijing, and is asked why the Prime Minister didn't go, which of the following will he answer?
1. He is too busy.
2. He is boycotting China because of its human rights record.
3. He had a vacation planned.
4. He didn't feel like travelling all that way.
5. His medical shots aren't up-to-date.
6. He is worried about the food (one reporter noted "Donkey Pot Pie" on a menu in Beijing)
7. He just didn't think it was important.
8. He's not good at "small talk."
9. He didn't want to have to answer questions about the federal government's dallying about and not being able to make a decision about support for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
10. None of the above.
Canadians are embarassed that he is not going. Once again, he demonstrates his disregard for Canada's international reputation, his contempt for the Canadian people, and his arrogance.
Let's get to the polls in the fall, and get rid of this government and this Prime Minister.
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