Maybe I have just lived too long, I don’t know, but really what is happening in our world today, is sad & frightening. Not the Terrorism that is going on, Not the natural diseasters either, and not even the slumping economy is what I am talking about.

IT IS THE CHANGE IN VALUES, IN ETHICS, IN HUMANITY.

Thanks to the type of leadership the world is now enjoying, from Bill Clinton, George Bush, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Brian Mulroney, and Stephen Harper, we have seen the complete erosion of our values. The Religious Right may spout all they want about ‘old time values’ but when it comes to actually doing what they say, it is a far cry from the old time values I grew up with.

VOTERS today don’t vote FOR a party, but instead have been convinced to VOTE AGAINST A PARTY.

That simply makes no sense to me, because it is what a party stands for, what it’s policies are, that should matter. It should not be about what the other guy may be like. YET that is exactly how WE are choosing our Governments today. 

I dislike Stephen Harper and his Conservatives, BASED ON THEIR PERFORMANCE, ON THEIR POLICIES.

AND that is how it should be. I cannot support any political party that is ignoring the needs of ALL CITIZENS, THAT PLACES CORPORATE INTERESTS OVER THOSE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE.   Yet, to me, that is exactly what Stephen Harper is doing, and it has trickled down to even civic levels.

It is fine to have PRIDE in your country, but not at the expense of what BEING CANADIAN IS. Yet we have seen it in how the Media & Government have pushed that envelope, with the recent Winter Olympics.  And worse, we seem to have ignored the other areas of our National Pride, such as our Health Care.

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I am sorry, but honestly, I’ve heard some pretty damn awful speeches in my life, but the one made by Furlong, in closing the Games has to rank right up there, as being a total pile of craptrap. It is nice that Canada won so many Gold Medals, good for those athletes that did win, and all that, but please, don’t insult me by making me think that it was the greatest event, that suddenly unified a nation.

No wonder Stephen Harper looked so pained, so constipated, because he has done more to try and divide this nation, than anyone since Brian Mulroney. Yes, the games have brought us joy, pride in our Nation, our varied multi culturalism, that Stephen Harper has tried to use to devide us with, but there is a lot more to being a Canadian, than any game or sporting event can ever do.

I think if we could just sit back, cut out the opening & closing ceremonies, cut out the inane droning of the sports announcers from CTV, these games would have been a super hit. It would have been a huge hit, without the guessing games of what events were being shown, and if they had kept to their schedule.

Instead of telling us how good we are, why not simply let us see? Would it have hurt CTV to have simply shown the events, and not tried to impart their warped idea of what we wanted to know, like talking about how courageous this one was, that one is, or how they overcame terrible pasts, to get here?  Nice for an interview or wrap up piece, but not while they are out there performing.

And let’s talk about the commercials, that could do our National Anthem better than who they hired for the ceremonies. Makes you wonder what Furlong was thinking when he hired them, or Campbell for putting Furlong in charge. Like just how much did his campaign get?

Hey, lets not forget Stevie Boy who cancelled Parliament so he could attend the games, to say ‘Go Canada Go’ instead of concentrating on unemployment insurance, on how we are going to afford the 60 Billion Dollar deficit he created for his corporate buddies. Least he got a nice new Canada Jacket out of the deal, while we get billions in debts.

Used to be huge fans of figure skating, but then I grew up with the likes of Kurt Browning, Scott Hamilton, Jeff Buttle, Elvis Stoyko, and now we have Patrick Chan & Vaun Chiphaur. And let me say, they may be nice guys, but they are no Browning, no Stoyko. Then too, neither is the Olympics what it once was.

With professional athletes being allowed to compete in many of the events, just how pure is the Olympics to the ideal of amateur sports?

Also, I wonder at the scoring. Not saying it is rigged, but when things are hidden, convoluted, just how much harder is it to determine if it is rigged? Think about it, because you know what, if it could happen when the system was more clear, it can easily happen today.

Right now, no idea who will win the Free Skate, but have to say, that I am unimpressed by the show being put on, and by the endless chatter by the announcers. I mean our Pro Hockey Team just barely managed to pull out a win, and now our Skating Hopeful screwed up, but still got a personal best score? Like how does that work?

Maybe it is time to rethink about the Olympics, and amateur sports. Time perhaps to go back to the basics, to what they once were, instead of what they are today…  A GLORIFIED ADVERTISEMENT FOR COMPANIES.

Last night’s world champions, for Pairs, in figure skating, came out of retirement to compete in this year’s olympics. Now the Russian Men’s Champion is here, also just out of retirement, to compete in the Olympics.

Are these people coming out of retirement, because the NEW FOLKS are that bad, that incapable of winning a Gold Medal?

I wonder, does anyone remember Thorpe, the American who won a few Gold Medals, then had them stripped from him because he played Baseball in some farm system, and got a few bucks for it. None of the events he ran in, had a damn thing to do with baseball, but the Olympic Committee stripped him, because one had to be a TRUE AMATEUR.

Today’s Hockey Teams are filled not with amateurs, but with PROFESSIONAL NHL HOCKEY PLAYERS.  SO MUCH FOR BEING TRUE AMATEURS.

Now the Pair’s Champions worked on the Professional Circuit, but came out of retirement for the games, so I have to wonder, just what is the purpose of the Olympics these days?

Think about it, because you know these games cost a ton of money to put on, and they cost a ton of money to train all these so called amateur athletes, to perform.  And all for what? For Stephen Harper to pound his chest and claim some sort of credit for it all? For Gordon Campbell to help finance a lot of his real estate buddies, by giving them a chance to build a ton of unneeded buildings, that will be sold for high price condos?

The whole idea of the Olympics, was to showcase the amateurs, to highlight the programs in countries, that were about the spirit of amateur sports. About sportsmanship, not about how much money they can make, or how many lucrative endorsements they can snag. And yet now, it seems there really is no clear line between what is a professional, what is an amateur.

And this is what we are watching, Professional Athletes competing, not for Gold Medals, but for Lucrative Endorsement Contracts with Big Business.

I guess I am old school. I mean, all you hear on the radio, television is how much it is desired, that Canada go for the Gold. This is our time, the commercial say, and the hype is unreal, at how much pressure is being applied to each of these athletes.  All for the goal of getting Gold, of making Canada an Olympic Power for the Winter Games.

So uh, how come it is wrong to do the same when it comes to protecting Canadian Business & Manufacturing?

Seriously, if you listened to Harper, when he told us to yell louder, show our support more for our Athletes, so they can skate, ski, and whatever, GO FOR THE GOLD. Yet when it comes to protecting Canadian Manufacturing, like Stelco, like our Agriculture or Forestry Industry, we are told it is bad, that we are being protectionists.

Free Trade is the buzz word, along with GO For Gold, and yet, the two are opposites. I mean come on, the olympics are every four years, our industry is what PAYS FOR THOSE ATHLETES TO TRAIN.  So how come we can’t be just as staunch supporters of BUYING CANADIAN?

How come it is wrong to demand goods entering our country, meet or exceed our standards, yet we insist on athletes doing jus that? WHY THE DOUBLE STANDARDS HERE? Why does Stephen Harper insist on downgrading BUY CANADIAN, yet insists we PUSH FOR GOLD IN THE GAMES?