i go pogo...

Frank. Rich disagrees with Rex Murphy that the Inaugural Speech was a dud. He admits that the oratorical heights Obama reached during the campaign were nothing short of sublime and this speech didn’t approach them. Rather than playing to the crowd (there were no emotional outpourings after every flourish). he called a spade a spade, Obama noted that not only should Wall Street be held accountable but individual citizens also bear the blame. The word citizen was carefully chosen. Rather than “...my fellow Americans” the term citizen implies every one must be involved in the political and economic processes. Too blame CEOs and there golden parachutes only shifts the blame. Pogo’s words ring true, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Rich uses the example of cable station like HGTV and says they are an “…orgiastic genre that might be called Subprime Pornography. Some of the series — “Flip This House,” “Flip That House,” “Sell This House,” “My House Is Worth What?” — still play on even as more and more house owners are being flipped into destitute homelessness.”

photo from Lynn(Gracies mom)-...

'aint no ford but it still 'aint not lincon...

Rex Murphy admits Barrack Obama is a great orator, one who could read the phonebook and still inspire, but calls the Inaugural Address a dud. He writes “It was Vladimir Horowitz playing Chopsticks.” 

photo from born1945

which picture won the most nominations. None did...

It is no wonder the Oscars receive such low television ratings. Last year Juno was the only movie nominated for Best Picture that cracked the top 50. This year the Dark Night which grossed over $500 million may have given a bit of a bump to viewership if it had been nominated. All of the nominees for Best Picture only grossed around $200 million.

A member of the language police pointed out a classic misuse of the language that pertains to the Oscars. You don’t win a nomination. Only one nominee actually wins anything.

photo from saviorbravo

zaun gone...

Greg Zaun is gone. My favourite Toronto Blue Jay signed a free agent deal with Baltimore, the team that drafted him eons ago.  Last season he lost his job to Rod Barajas and was therefore xpendable. I first heard about Zaun in an article about players who sit on the bench full time and yet collect a salary and share the glory of being champions. Zaun was cast as the epitome for a third string catcher has nothing to do. He sure proved them wrong. With  the Jays he averaged a mediocre 255 but he is a good defensive catcher which makes the number better than average and more importantly he is a switch hitter and often comes through in the clutch.  Add his experience handling catchers (he is 37) and Zaun has proved the author wrong.

photo from  Trent Woods

the next big thing...

An expert taking questions about trends in technology in the Globe and Mail is asked about voice recognition which was supposed to be the next big thing in 2000 but has never lived up to the hype. The expert comes up with a pertinent joke. He writes voice recognition is “…the technology of the future…and always will be!"

photo from misterbisson

it's essential we fight global warming but we have to make money too...

Paul Kedrosky in the Globe and Mail looks at the increasing number of Americans who are saving money. According to Kedrosky, “Your savings, in some sense, represent my lost income.” and then looks at the negative consequences of saving on the global economy. Is not thrift a core value and how can it be a bad thing? Things seemed so good when the voters elected a President who was devoted sustainability and Green alternatives, but as long as the American economy is based on growth and values like thrift are an anathema then all the talk of sustainability will be nothing but hot air.

photo from greatcreation

two styles of combat collide...

According to CBC, “The Israeli military has said Hamas fighters are wearing civilian clothes and endangering civilians by operating out of heavily populated residential areas.” Duh! Are they expected to wear fatigues and dig foxholes out in the open? Granted the rockets are still falling and Israel has a right to protect itself but accusing Hamas of “playing dirty” by employing these tactics is absurd. What it is is a justification for “collateral damage” which is code for the death of innocents.

photo from  Alvaro Herraiz

sometimes you have to hold your nose...

Normally I am not a fan of the pharmaceutical companies but nor am I a fan of government agencies who rail against the lack of warnings about potential grave side effects based on a limited number of reported cases and definitive scientific study. Pfizer has an anti-smoking drug on the market and Health Canada claims there is growing evidence that there may me a relationship between the drug and psychiatric problems. They claim 800 cases have been reported. All well and good, but given the difficulty of attributing environmental circumstances to the development of psychiatric symptoms, other than the usual stresses we all face of which the mentally ill are less able to cope with, to infer simple cause and effect at this point may be a little premature. In terms of cost benefit analysis if a warning dissuades a significant number of potential users one has to wonder if the health benefits accrued from quitting smoking don’t far outweigh the slight chance of potential dangerous, debilitating or even life threatening behaviours.

photo from  Dr. Jaus

war on the recession?

Obama is calling for immediate action by Congress on the economic crisis to emphasis its importance he said, if action this doesn’t happen immediately, "Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." Legislation may not go through until after the February recess, although both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say they won’t take a break until something has been passed. He also said, the House and the Senate must "…trade old habits for a new responsibility…”. He is waving a red shirt, remember he is not yet in the White House and his estimation of the crisis may be a little hyperbolic and what worries me is that this kind of talk may demonize the Republicans in the Senate who may resist hasty legislation. They are being bought off by the promise of tax cuts, but they will only go so far when it comes to a stimulus package Will the fight to put America on its feet be Obama’s War on Terror? More and more it looks like the Carte Blanche given to Paulson was probably a mistake for it seems America isn’t getting an adequate return on their investment although the initial hysteria seems to have calmed down, only time will tell. Immediate action may be imperative but wrongheaded legislation will only make things worse.

photo from  Reverend Andy

it really doesn't come down to how much he can bench press or his jump shot...

My it not be forgotten that George Bush gained similar adulation, although from a different sector as Obama has, and look where that got America with all the talk of “Bushisms” and other aspersions to his character and given his presidency reached an all time low in terms of popularity he remains an attractive and personable man, granted cast from a different mold than Obama, but attractive nevertheless. Much is made of Obama’s level of fitness and his exercise regime. Sights of him with his shirt off made women swoon but he will be hard pressed to devote as much time to staying in shape as Bush did and the pundits did not see this as an asset. He was here in Vancouver and spent most of his time on an exercise bike. I’m not saying Obama will be the next Bush but be careful to push aside the obvious appeal and look for substance. I’m sure it’s there but the level of adulation in a country obsessed with the “beautiful people” could get in the way of sober assessment.

photo from  Serena McClain

we do not need a bunch of pollyannas...

Gregory Simpson in the Globe and Mail makes a point out that in light of the current financial crisis something has been forgotten, for all the talk of our banking and financial sector being strong, we are in serious trouble. Exports to the US are the backbone of our economy and so we will go down with them to a large extent and what is being ignored is our economies fundamental weakness, for as Simpson points out, “For much of that time, we covered weak productivity and competitiveness with a low dollar. But its rise, courtesy of oil and other commodities, exposed all the things we had not done.” 

photo from Gallery Theatre

gm and chrysler weren't the only big losers...

In case anyone has missed the irony it is interesting that with two of the US major carmakers needing bailouts to survive the Detroit Lions of the National Football league broke a record by losing all 16 of its regular season games.

photo from  BarGal

what's next? bypass surgery...

I wrote earlier about the efforts of some steadfast diggers to rescue two horses that were stranded in the back country. I felt the story put too much emphasis on the fate of domesticated animals. Some dogs and cats receive cancer treatment and other regular shots of insulin. Now I am upset however, because there is an outcry because the owner wants his horses back. The naïve urban animal rights people think that would be an outrage. That’s bullshit. The hunter made several attempts to get the horses out; the old line about “making them drink” sounds like it was more than applicable here. I wonder how many horses suffer the same fate with no fault to their owner. I lived on a farm for awhile in the 1980s and we had two draft horses that spent the winter out on the range. By spring they would be skin and bones but would then rebound back. There are wild horses who survive some of the most adverse conditions across Canada. Cattle are also left out on the range and have little to eat during the winter but by the end of summer have been fattened up. I believe even if the horses were dying putting weeks of effort into saving them was absurd and denying the owner the right to have his animals back would be a travesty.

photo from zuzupetal 

the pump may be primed after all...

I have written that stimulus packages may not be a good idea as the design and zoning processes may only lead to employment for architects and designers before the recession ends, but there are two kinds of projects which can be fast tracked. The first are projects that are on the books but for whatever reason have been put on the back burner and the other the construction of wood frame buildings for social housing.

photo from VLPG Too

coming from stout yeoman stock need not lead to shame...

There may be an epidemic of obesity in the West and every effort to cure it seems noble, but sometimes the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The word “stout” seems to have disappeared from the lexicon. “Super sizing” will kill many but what about the suffering by those who are stout who are now just seen as being fat and therefore as irresponsible?

photo from Joe_13

nobody's right if everybody's wrong...

According to Rick Salutin in The Globe and Mail, since 2005 in the current struggle the “… ratios between Palestinian and Israeli dead run between 100 and 150 to one.” Israel is barbaric in it's indiscrimate killing of innocents in their attempt at wiping out Hamas and Hamas is operating under a self-destructive logic that is beyond me. The Arab world may supply some relief but otherwise has hung Hamas out to dry. Hamas’ rockets like the suicide bombers from the West bank who blew themselves up in Israel deify all logic. What possible way can either tactic aid in the goal of driving the Zionists into the sea and how can Israel’s scatter shot approach to root out Hamas in the Gaza not destroy even the slightest vestige of chance of peace in the region?

photo from ajopringue