I don't like calling athletes heroes. It demeans the word. But we do have some heroic athletes on the Canadian Olympic team. Like Kyle Shewfelt whose Olympic dream ended the other night quickly and sadly. But what an inspiring story. Imagine how brave you have to be to fly through the air and land on both feet....just a year after breaking them. Badly. And how classy you have to be to react like this. I woke up this morning smiling. I did what I wanted to do. I've done a lot that I'm proud of in my gymnastics career. I came back from two broken legs. How amazing is that?
Awesomely amazing.
So tonight I'm pulling for the two guys still left in the competition. Nathan Gafuik who has his own challenges. Gafuik suffers from a rare condition called Addison's disease, which prohibits the body from producing adrenaline. As a result, he tires easily. He struggles to recover from injuries... Travel is tough, because his energy levels drop. And a minor gash can turn into a major medical emergency. But has never let that stop him...
And Adam Wong who missed most of last year with a ripped achilles tendon.
But fought his way back to become the reigning Canadian champion. And then, of course, there is the pool god Alexandre Despatie. Who had to struggle in the last few months to recover from a broken foot...that really screwed up his training. He's a BIG favourite in this place. We thought he was cute when he was a little kid. But now we REALLY like him...
And this is a bonus. "We are here as the Canadian team..... I'm French Canadian but we're all here as the Canadian team. We're representing Canada. We may be a crazy bunch of Québécois left-wing gay separatist sympathizers and anarchists. But we're also proud Canadians. The bourgeois prig Pauline Marois can go jump in the pool. We're proud of Team Canada.
And we don't care how many medals they bring back either. I know they are all doing their best. All they have to do is be as dedicated, as brave, and as classy as Kyle, Nathan, Adam and Alexandre.
As the Georgian army retreats from South Ossetia like Napoleon retreated from Moscow. Just faster. Stunned Georgians accuse their friends of betraying them. As Russian forces massed Sunday on two fronts, Georgians were heading south with whatever they could carry. When they met Western journalists, they all said the same thing: Where is the United States? When is NATO coming? “Write exactly what I say,” he said. “Over the past few years, I lived in a democratic society. I was happy. And now America and the European Union are spitting on us.” But where did they ever get the idea that they could charge in to South Ossetia guns blazing, then expect that the United States and NATO would send troops to back them up? Risk triggering a confrontation with a resurgent, resentful, belligerent nuclear power...over a place like South Ossetia. Whose only claim to fame as far as I can see is that it prints half the fake dollar bills found along the east coast of the United States. Did their friend George Bush....the guy they named a street after in their capital city....the guy they love so much they sent troops to Iraq....give them the green light? Mr Saakashvilli may also have banked on support from his closest ally, US president George W Bush, whose administration is said to have given tacit support for a Georgian assault on South Ossetia in the believe that the territory could be recaptured within 48 hours. If he did , it reminds me of how I once read that the Argentine Generals who invaded the Falklands thought that the U.S. had given them the green light. Or would look the other way as long as it was quick. And you all know what happened. If he did it could be a monumental miscalculation...the idiot Chimp's last gaffe. Because whatever happens two other things are certain. After this nobody is going to invest money expanding that pipeline bringing oil and gas to Europe. Especially if the unrest continues. And even if the Georgians don't shut it down or blow it up to teach the Europeans a lesson. So if the Europeans want more oil the pipeline is going to have to go through Russia. And two, after this, whatever John McCain says. “NATO’s decision to withhold a membership action plan for Georgia might have been viewed as a green light by Russia for its attacks on Georgia,” Mr. McCain told reporters on Monday in Erie, Pa., “and I urge the NATO allies to revisit the decision.” Showing once again why this dangerous idiot must NEVER be the President of the United States. NATO isn't going to want to touch Georgia with a 200-mile pole. Game, set, match, Putin. Idiocy is its own reward...
I've got some good news and bad news on the Abyss/Apocalypse front tonight. The bad news is that I have no idea when the Third World War is going to break out. Because anything could happen in this black hole. The US has strongly criticised Russian military action against Georgia, in the bitter conflict over South Ossetia.
In a telephone call to Georgia's leader Mikhail Saakashvili, the US Vice President, Dick Cheney, said Russian aggression "must not go unanswered". But now that the Dark Lord Dick Cheney is involved it could happen ANYTIME. The good news is that if by some miracle we dodge that missile we could get whacked by an even bigger black hole courtesy of this monster. But at least we know now when that could happen. September 10. So we can be ready. Oh sure. They say it's impossible. But who knows?
They've been wrong before. Which makes me wonder what would be the better Apocalypse....the better way to go. Watching the sky burn and muttering as I fry "South fucking Ossetia???? Who knew???AAARGH!!! " Or falling into a black hole shouting "We discovered the final secret of the Universe !!! WHOOPEE!!!" I'm leaning towards the latter. Even though the first one has a better video....
And you thought I was going to play Georgia on my Mind.
Hell or the Hole. What a choice.
Aren't we fortunate? ---------------------------------------------------- P.S. Do you think we could have the beginning of the Third World War coincide with the end of the closing fireworks show at the Olympics? That would be SPECIAL.....
As this crisis builds, it's hard to know how to characterize John McCain. Is he a belligerent chickenhawk? Playing with matches in a tinderbox. A songbird masquerading as a war hero? In return for medical treatment at a civilian hospital, a privilege never granted to other injured POWs, McCain reportedly told NVA interrogators the name of his aircraft carrier, how many Navy pilots had been lost, the number of planes in his flight formation, tactics used during bomb runs and the location of rescue ships in the Tonkin Gulf.
Because of the revelations which McCain repeated in propaganda radio broadcasts, the North Vietnamese contemptuously nicknamed him “Songbird.” Who got stuck in a Vietnam time warp and still believes in Total War. Like the man he succeeded as senator from Arizona, Barry Goldwater--whose militaristic style alarmed voters when he ran for President in 1964--there is only one word to describe the prospect of John McCain with his finger on the button: scary.
Or a doddery old duck?
Or ALL of the above? Now close your eyes and imagine that Russia just invaded South Ossetia....and Poppy is Da President. And he thinks it's Czechoslovakia 1968 all over again. The same country he keeps forgetting doesn't exist anymore. Scary enough? I don't know why Obama isn't hitting back harder, when so much is at stake.But with only three months to go before the Great Enchilada. Maybe it's time he should. Hey. It's not just about the economy stupid. It's about the future of the WORLD...
In the comfort of his palace a tormented Archbishop twists and turns in intellectual agony, like a purple shrimp impaled on a toothpick. Or his own petard. After it is revealed that he once thought that gay relationships were comparable to (straight) marriage. Only a few days after he had blasted liberal churches for blessing them. "If North American churches do not accept the need for a moratoria [on same sex blessings and the consecration of gay clergy] we are no further forward. We continue to be in grave peril." In the grubby Merseyside district of Liverpool a murdered gay teenager is mourned.
“We were all there by his bedside. He did not go alone. He knew how much he was loved, and how many lives he had affected by his story.” From grave peril. To the peril of the grave. The two stories are not connected directly of course. But in the larger sense there is a fatal connection. The endless arguments over the humanity of gay people, some refined some not, are just part of a message of hate designed to intimidate and subjugate us.
As Wayne Besen points out. The far right's dirty little secret is that they depend on the threat of violence to retard the advancement of the GLBT movement. Without the fear of physical attack, the number of people who are out of the closet would quickly multiply. Gay couples would hold hands in every city in the nation. On each block, from San Francisco to San Antonio, gay and lesbian people would be visibly present. Each day, all but the bravest GLBT people make subtle or even significant adjustments to remain safe. Some dress a little blander in order to blend in. A number of gay men talk a bit deeper so they won't arouse suspicion. Some lesbians apply make up so they won't get beaten up. And, most loving couples act like buddies so they won't get bashed. We tell ourselves comforting lies, such as "we don't like public displays of affection," to justify pushing a partner's hand away at a romantic moment. But, the reality is, even the most confident and brave among us have something to fear..... each gay person knows these hidden ticking time bombs exist and could go off at any moment -- shattering our lives. Sébastien and I can defend ourselves better than most, but when we're in public together I can never quite relax. In a society awash with neverending shite about gay people, you never know what crazy might jump you. But of course it's not just the right-wingers who are responsible. The cancer of anti-gay bigotry is far more widespread. It's there when parents turn their backs on bullying believing that it's just nature's way of turning boys into real men.i.e. not faggots. It's there in the blogosphere when we are marginalized, and our voices are stifled. It's there when some gays are so anxious to please straight people, they practically beg for acceptance. As if we owed them anything but neverending grief. For some like the Archbishop it's all about religion and betraying his own beliefs to preserve a community at all costs. Even if he ends up with a community of bigots and an Apartheid Church....that is more Catholic than Protestant. For the self styled Freedom Riders of Canada it's a question of abolishing the Human Rights Commissions so they can be free to hate us even more. They say it's about other things but it isn't. It's all about hating us to death....and getting away with it. For some on the left it's just a debating point. Even though while I enjoy mocking them myself.... ahem... I need the Phelps gang running around my country stirring up other crazies like I need a baseball bat in the back of the head. Or needed that brick in the side of my head. But then we know better or differently. We have to.... we have no choice. We know it's about OUR lives. Our freedom to love.Our HUMANITY. And the fear of that shattering moment. That's why we speak out even when they don't listen to us. That's why we fight...
After watching the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing games all I can say is WOW. What an amazing show. The lights, the colours, the children, the flying acrobats, the printing blocks that morphed into the Great Wall, the 2008 Tai Chi performers who moved as one. And of course the awesome fireworks. What a thing of beauty. It was the best show I've ever seen.
And to make things even more special for me.... there was even a pipe band.
When I heard Scotland the Brave playing as the athletes marched in, at first I thought I was hallucinating. Then I thought oh no....don't tell me the Chinese invented the bag pipes too. But it was only the humble Mains of Fintry Pipe Band. What a wonderful story. Unfortunately I don't have any video of them playing at the Opening Ceremony.
But here they are in ....um.....Confolens....
You know they may be amateurs. But I like them. Well done laddies and lassies.
Sometimes life can be so ironic. After all our heroic efforts to stop the Taliban from taking over Canada and installing an Islamic Republic. We couldn't even stop the Westboro Baptist Church from crossing the border. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office had sent an alert to border patrol to "look out" for people with signs and pamphlets that fit the hateful messages that the church promotes and to keep them out of the country. "They were looking for leaflets, which we don't do, and signs, which we do, but we have Federal Express," said Ms. Phelps-Roper. "Our guys are safely tucked away." Duh. So much for our Minister of Public Safety. But then Stockwell Day is a SoCon who believes dinosaurs walked with humans, he's a rabid homophobe, and they don't call him Doris for nothing. So is it idiocy or a CONSPIRACY? Who knows. What I do know is that now that the Christianists are in Manitoba...the beating vulnerable heart of Canada...NOBODY is safe. Because unlike the Taliban, who couldn't find Canada on a map if they tried, these crazies REALLY hate us...
Canada Land of the Sodomite damned? Golly. Who knew? Why didn't somebody warn me? I'm not leaving the house from now on without SIX pairs of underpants. The good news? Ever since that unfortunate fire. Crazy Daddy hasn't been his usual self....
So now I'm wondering.....if we can't nail him for hatemongering, insurance fraud, or insanity. Or arrest him for hanging the Canadian flag upside down. Can we declare him a fake gay refugee and deport him? Like all the others. Or can we just do what the damned sodomites would do?And kick his enlarged ass all the way back to Kansas?
I don't know about you. But I vote for that one.... ----------------------------------------------------- P.S. Will someone please inform the "Faggy Nazi Regime" in Ottawa that the wingnuts are slandering them? I'm laughing too much....
The amazing things you see on TV. Like the abominable chimp George Bush criticizing China's human rights record. Yes. Really. Believe it or not.
As if any government that tortures people at Guantanamo and other secret prisons. Or locks them in small crates.Has the moral right to criticize ANYONE. There are, of course, a lot of reasons for the rest of us to criticize the Chinese government's heavy handed approach to just about everything.
But with only hours to go before the games open, I'm hoping for an Olympic truce. I think it's important to remember that China has come a long way in a short time. And that the Beijing Games don't just belong to the government. They are also a dream come true for millions of ordinary Chinese people.
... Beijing's Olympics will be a success because the majority of the population want them to be, not just because the government wants to use Olympic success to gain legitimacy. Xia Fengzhi, a 67-year-old retired worker and a volunteer, told me how happy and excited he is about the Games: 'I want foreigners to see what China has achieved. We were called the "sick man of Asia". Now we are strong and rich enough to hold such a major international event. I'd hate to see a billion dreams shattered. A confident, proud China is better than a humiliated and angry one.
So I'm hoping the Chinese people's big coming out party is a big success. Hoping we can forget about the grating sound of politics for a while. Here's to the real Olympic spirit. If it still exists.
May friendship RULE...
------------------------------------------- P.S. Did I mention I love fireworks?......and the Chinese INVENTED them.
Peace, friendship, sports AND fireworks? Bonus....
As if the foul Republican Cons haven't done enough damage in Canada. By putting their brutish alien ideology before the lives of Canadians. Now they are going after the rest of the world. The World Health Organization has strongly endorsed safe injection sites like Vancouver's Insite as one of the “priority interventions” that countries should implement to slow the spread of HIV-AIDS, a view that was swiftly and firmly rejected by Canada's Health Minister. “Allowing and/or encouraging people to inject heroin into their veins is not harm reduction, it is the opposite. … We believe it is a form of harm addition.”
Can you believe that Con moron logic? Harm reduction is harmful. Huh? Will these right-wing dumbasses ever stop raping our values and disgracing us abroad? Before we all have to wear paper bags over our heads whenever we leave the country. Or pretend we're from the English-speaking part of ...um....Sweden? I've already explained why we need more safe injection sites like Insite. So I'll just sum it up like this....
The desperate drug addicts of the Downtown Eastside are the poorest and the most vulnerable people in Canada....who need to be reached and TREATED. Not punished. Safe injection sites aren't The Solution....but a valuable part of an anti-drug/AIDS strategy. The foul Cons are a plague upon the land. And the planet. And putting ideology before human lives is still MURDER...
