The Price of Free Speech

The Western world was built on several fundamental principals that were found to be lacking in Europe back in the 15th century. Freedom of Religion, freedom of expression and freedom of speech were all freedoms that were not granted to everyone in Europe and, even though they were part of what the founders of the United States and Canada wanted to have here, it wasn't until the mid 20th century that everyone of all races, male or female, had those same freedoms here in North America. Unfortunately, over the last 30 years, our overly sensitive society has been slowly eroding one of the most fundamental freedoms of the Western World: Freedom of Speech.

When that basic freedom was instilled in the American Constitution and later in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, there were no limitations placed on it. It was a basic right each and every person was given without reservation or limitation on how or when you could use that right. This basic right has slowly been taken away from the vast majority of people over the last 3 decades and I will explain how.

When did it become against the law to say what you think about the Government? In this, my most recent example, we have been seeing student protests in Quebec, the Occupy movements that were all over the world last year, the G20 protests in Toronto from 2 years ago and the hundreds of ongoing Greek Austerity Protests being severely cracked down upon (at times) by local authorities. Many of these protests were generally peaceful in nature but some of them escalated into violent confrontations between people fed up with something they disagreed with that the Government or big business did and were simply following through with their rights to freedom of speech an expression by protesting what they want changed.

So why the confrontational, sometimes violent stand taken by local government and police in trying to stop these people from using their rights? Is it possible that our governments are starting to place limits on our freedoms? The same freedoms that were part of the creation of most of the Western World are now the same ones that are being curtailed at times when the Government feels like it.

It's not just government that is attacking these freedoms. Big business is another culprit in the fight for individual freedom over the last 30 years. Anything you say against the company you work for can be used against you and possibly even cause your dismissal from said company. It used to be almost impossible to actually prove that a person "said" something against their employer but now, with Twitter and Facebook around, both of which are supposed to be personal social media, employers can terminate employees if they catch wind of negative comments posted on staffs' personal accounts.

But that's not the worst of it. There are some companies now that actually demand that new applicants turn over their Facebook Passwords to them during their interviews so that they can be screened by the company. Basically, failure to comply with this violation of your own personal privacy is grounds for them not to hire you as they take it as if you have something to hide. When did it become acceptable to allow a company that is looking for staff, to be so intrusive with some of their hiring policies?

My last example is a bit more on the negative side but still follows with the theme of my blog today. When Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen expressed "admiration" for Fidel Castro, he was essentially demonized by Cuban-Americans (and, to a certain extent, rightfully so), local politicians and, eventually, he was suspended 6 games. He lost 6 games worth of pay for words he said in an article in a different language over the winter that just so happened to be released around the time of the Marlins opening their new ballpark.

Guillen is a hot head who says things off the top of his head without thinking but he is still a man who has the right to say what he thinks. That was all he was doing. It just so happens that he said what he said about Castro while working for a team that has its new ballpark right in the middle of the "Little Havana" section of Miami.


While I 100% disagree with the content of the words spoken, the fact of the matter is that even speech which some would classify as hateful or hurtful is, and SHOULD be allowed to be spoken in a free society without fear from reprisals. But sadly, you can't say anything today without "hurting" or "offending" someone simply by saying what one believes or thinks. Offending someone will always happen when you express an unpopular opinion. It shouldn't matter if the opinion is popular or not for it to be allowed to be spoken.

Each of us has the fundamental right to express ourselves in whichever manner we see fit. It is our part of who we are in the West to be able to say what we feel and express ourselves freely. Some people, unfortunately, have been winning the battle to place limits on our freedoms over the years and it only seems to be getting worse as time goes by because of our small-minded politicians, who only care about keeping their cushy jobs by trying to appeal to as many people as possible instead of standing up for what is right.

The way things are going, we will (if we haven't already) lose all our basic freedoms out of the need to be politically correct. How incredibly sad....

Mayoral Mistakes, Civic Stupidity, NHL Bedlam & More...

I expected more of you then this.....WAKE UP MAN!!!

I would love to know what the advisers of Mayor Rob Ford are doing. If he has them. And if he does, they should be fired. If he doesn't then Mayor Ford is making a massive mistake right now in failing to address the exact same issue he screwed up royally last summer. What am I talking about? The Gay Pride Parade.

Now, if anyone knows me well, you know I think this is a stupid parade that singles out one segment of the population and makes a spectacle of the city (and I don't mean that in a good sense). Where is the straight pride parade? What about the Black Pride Parade or the Asian Pride Parade? For that matter, why don't we have a parade every weekend of the summer for every single ethnicity in the city? Why? Because its not necessary. But that's not the point of this rant today.

Mayor Ford last year could have skipped the parade without any fanfare had he attended other events of Pride week. His personal feelings (and/or predjudices) should not be on public display like this. He really should know better then to be this transparent with his disdain of Pride events. He is the Mayor of the largest city in the country (which also has the 4th highest openly gay population in North America) and, like it or not, he has to be present for SOMETHING which pertains to events taking place that week. You would think he has someone telling him that there are a significant number of gay voters to whom he needs to, at the very least, maintain the peace with in order to try and coax them to vote for him in the next civic election.

The fact that he has already come out and said he will not be at the parade (which is 2 months away mind you) shows you that he simply does not understand the scope of his role as Mayor. You don't have to like everyone, that's actually impossible to do as a human being. There are always going to be people that you just don't like, for whatever reason. Showing yourself to be this much of a homophobic person just undermines his credibility with everyone. As a person, he is allowed to not like someone. As Mayor, if he ever wanted to win his re-election campaign, he just couldn't be this obvious. This tells me he either doesn't have real PR person that he can rely on, doesn't listen to one if he has one or, he just doesn't have one.

You are entitled to your views but as Mayor you have to suppress them a bit more, especially if 

you want to KEEP your job when re-election time comes around...

All of this of course just adds fuel for his critics to continue to roast him. Maybe its all the constant jokes he is taking in the media over his weight, his dietary failures or even how he is being stalked by anyone with a smartphone that have finally made him snap to the point where he purposely is provoking more unnecessary attention to himself and actually wants to create more controversy by saying things like this. It's just a stupid thing to do and someone needs to have a heart to heart with Mayor Ford and explain to him the finer points of finding a way of keeping yourself in office.

This leads me to another city with some idiotic people at the helm. The city of Mississauga has had the longest serving Mayor in North America in Mayor Hazel MacCallion. She has been at the helm of the city my entire life (since 1978) and has done an amazing job as Mayor. Unfortunately, some of the department heads in charge of various city departments are incompetent asses who would rather spit in the face of people with whom the city has had a long standing relationship and be adversarial then to actually have a strong, mutually beneficial and prosperous one with them. Let me explain.

 You would think the city would appreciate when a field is respected...

I can't get into specific details about what has happened but I will spill the beans on what I have been told. I play in an adult men's baseball league in the city that has been around for nearly 40 years. As with many of the other baseball leagues (kids associations mostly) its a scramble to secure permits to certain fields around the city. However, given the way in which the members of our league have conducted ourselves over the years, the head of baseball field maintenance for the city has always (and continues) to support our use of the best baseball diamond in the city, located in the North end of the city, by Derry and Mississauga Road.

 All it takes is one jerk to give a city department a bad name.....no respect left in this world for anyone

We have always treated fields with the utmost respect and adhere to every request the city has made of us about when we can or can't be on the field, maintenance schedules. etc. At the same time, one of the more arrogant Minor Baseball associations in the City (At least when I was a kid they were and, given how long they have been trying to take our field away from us thinking they are "entitled" to it, I stand by my claim) has had several of the newer fields in the city and totally destroyed them. Their lack of respect for the fields they use has cost the city thousands of dollars in repairs over the years while we have, as an organization, gone out of our way to add things to Meadovale Park in an attempt to beautify it and keep it looking like the best diamond in the city.

The end result has been that heading into this year, our longstanding good relationship has been flushed down the toilet by the head of Parks and Rec who essentially told the leadership of our league that we no longer have the diamond we have taken care of well for years and will be forced to use other, lesser diamonds while paying the same in terms of permit fees. Apparently this prick went so far as to take an aggressive and negative stand towards our league by saying that he will put us on the worst diamonds in the city and like it because he said so.

Now,  I wasn't there but the sources from which I heard this from have no reason to lie about this situation. What I do know is that for years baseball has been taking a back seat in this city as there have been a ton of soccer fields built at times at the expense of baseball diamonds (Huron Park used to have a softball diamond and a full sized diamond which was replaced by 2 soccer fields). At a time when adult baseball is exploding in other cities like Brampton (Which has built 8 new diamonds in the last 5 years), Milton and Burlington (each with their own growing leagues), the city of Mississauga is languishing behind not only in diamond creation but also in their people skills as exhibited by their Parks and Rec staff. Its a shame that our entire 15 team league, and all of their diamond fees, may end up having to go to another, more accommodating city because of one jerk.

This series has been amazing...

I don't know about you but I just can't stop watching the Penguins and Flyers Stanley Cup Playoff First Round match up. It's just been incredible. It has had everything from fights, great goals (many), great saves (few and far in between), heavy hits, cheap shots, all 4 goalies have played, a record for most goals ever scored in the first 4 games of a playoff series, anger, hate, contempt, crazy comebacks, suspensions, whining, bad officiating, coaches being fined....is there anything I missed? I mean WOW!!! No wonder the NHL made sure the officials called everything they possibly could against the Flyers last night, ensuring that this series (A HUGE ratings success so far) continues into the weekend.

 If Raffi Torres and the Coyotes advance after his cheap shot on Hossa, it's called a fix...

The playoffs so far have been just great theater so far. The stories that have been emerging so far have been mesmerizing. From Sidney Crosby losing his cool (and his team on the verge of an embarrassing first round sweep before last night) to the craziness that was Games 2 and 3 in that series, to the Vancouver Canucks almost becoming the first top seeded team in the league to be swept out of the playoffs by the #8 seeded LA Kings (who will finish the job tomorrow night). Then there is the plucky Ottawa Senators battling tooth and nail with the heavily favoured New York Rangers and winning last night in OT despite missing their Captain from the lineup (after he suffered a concussion at the hands of s cheap shot elbow to the head).

 This hit earned Haglan a 3 game suspension....How many games should Alfie have gotten for his hit on Tucker in 2002? Hmmmmm....It's called Karma Alfie....ain't it a BITCH!!!

Washington is standing toe to toe with the mighty Boston Bruins (with both of their top goalies out, having rookie Braydon Hotlby standing on his head), Chicago looks like it's getting royally screwed by the league both in non-calls by officials (I can't believe how bad the officials have been in this series....Its almost as if the league owns the Coyotes......oh yeah, THEY DO!!!)  The only "boring" series so far (if you can call them that) have still featured some high scoring games (the Devils and Panthers?!?! Really? Brodeur looks like he is done) and some drama (OT Winner by Marty Havlat of the Sharks over the Blues in Game 1 and then in Game 2, Jaro Halak gets hurt and in comes Brian Elliot to the rescue....A super back up who had 9 (!?!?!?!) shutouts this season in his 21 wins).

If you can't love the game of hockey after the insanity that is on display in the last 9 days, then you will NEVER love this game. Its been fierce, intense, gripping, emotionally draining, heart-wrenching and enthralling all at the same time!!! There is nothing that you could possibly want more in sport that unpredictability. Life would be boring if everything went according to plan all the time and there wasn't a wrench thrown into the plans every now and then. That's what we are seeing here in the NHL playoffs. Something we won't see in the NBA playoffs, set to begin in the next 2 weeks. It's pretty much a given that only one of 4 teams will win the NBA Title this year; LA, Oklahoma, San Antonio or Miami. And that's about it (yes I know LA has 2 teams, so technically I am cheating by saying only "LA" but this is mky blog so I will stick to that call anyway...too bad!)

The fact that 2 of the early favorites to win the Stanley Cup (Vancouver and Pittsburgh) were almost swept in the first round goes to show you that hockey is unpredictable. A hot goalie (or stone cold like Marc-Andre Fleury was for the first 3 games of that series) can determine a series all by himself. In Basketball, star power makes the biggest difference and who the League wants to have advance because the officials play
WAY to big a role in the final outcome. Easy to see why I like hockey better then basketball when you start to see that basketball is slowly morphing more and more into the WWE-style sport than it is an actual sport determined by actual competition.

I thought this was the perfect picture...Mr. Mulcair has a lot of work ahead of him to keep 

Mr. Layton's Vision for Canada alive and carve out one of his own over the next few years....

Thomas Mulcair has been elected as the new leader of the Federal NDP and official head of the opposition party in Federal politics. Congratulations Mr. Mulcair, you have large shoes to fill in those left by Mr. Layton but I don't get your commercials. I understand introducing yourself to the population but one of the actors in the commercial makes it sound as if you are the "one person" who can take on "Stephen Harper". First, you should show some respect and at all times refer to Mr. Harper as the Prime Minister. He has been for 6 years and has earned that title, whether you like it or not. Mr. Layton, while he disagreed with the Prime Minister on a vast array of topics, at least maintained a semblance of decorum in referring to the Mr. Harper by his proper title.

Secondly, you are not going to be "taking him on" like its a 1-on-1 fight to the death or something. You are leader of the opposition at a time when the ruling party, the Conservatives, have a Majority. That means that essentially, your role will be to act like a little Chihuahua, nipping at the heels of the big boys as the Prime Minister and his cabinet make the big decisions, many of which you may not agree with. Your job will be to voice your disapproval of just about everything he does (because despite being the last country into the great recession and the first one to come out, you have to complain about the Prime Minister just to be cool nowadays).

What you SHOULD be doing Mr. Mulcair, is trying to solidify the gains made by Mr. Layton in the last election and keeping the Liberals down in 3rd party status. You should be doing everything you can to grow your popularity all over the country, not just in Quebec where your party was able to gain an astounding 59 seats.The NDP needs to maintain their hold on being the new centrist party by appealing to people from all walks of life and not slipping back into the shadowy edges from which they had been idly drifting along in for decades.

Good luck Mr. Mulcair, you have a difficult task ahead of you. I am sure that Mr. Layton, wherever he is now, will be pulling for you to continue with his vision of Canada but you have to also find your own ideals and use your strengths as well. It will be an interesting time for your party over the next 3 years.


We are in for an interesting few years in Federal Politics. We could have also seen a resurgence in the NDP in Ontario had Andrea Horwath had the balls to bring the Provincial Government down next week. Apparently she isn't nearly the political leader some people thought she was as she is going to prop up Dalton McLiar and keep him in power without getting nearly the guarantees she sought in her requests from the Liberal Party. She is going to keep this perpetual and habitual liar in office, knowing full well he is going to screw teachers, doctors and all kinds of other unionized workers with his unfair wage freeze requests (not those of Docs, they make a shit load o money as it is, they don't need more of it). I hope she remembers this when she wonders aloud why she is the 3rd party in Ontario.

Until next time....

Apologies, NHL Playoffs Begin & Ready for Another Provincial Election?

 I would believe it if it didn't feel so damned insincere based on the lack of firings,  Re: Burke, Brian

So let me get this straight. It took a season in which the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had been sitting in 6th place as short a period of time ago as February 6th, completely collapsed into the bottom 5 worst teams in the league before someone in the Monolith of MLSE decided to step up and apologize to the fans. Not for the last 45 years of futility, or the last 7 years which have seen the longest stretch of playoff futility for the team in their long and storied history, but for the way in which the team performed this particular season? Huh?

Brian Burke put this team together (with the blessing of ownership) and has been at the helm for 4 years now. The day he took over, he boasted that he would not be following the Pittsburgh or Chicago models of bottoming out and drafting sure fire NHL Stars as his plan, whatever it was, would be faster and get the job done. His hatred for the way those teams have become powerhouses is really baffling considering that he as the one that traded up as the GM of the Vancouver Canucks to select both Sedin brothers, the cornerstones of that powerhouse team for well over a decade.

I would give Burke credit for drafting Ryan but at #2 behind Crosby, it was kind of a no-brainer...

So why is it that he is so insistent on trying to do it so differently here? It probably has to do with the fact that it took him all of 2 years at the helm of the Anaheim Ducks to win the Cup. He just happened to walk into a situation with a team that already had Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Scott Niedermayer on it along with a Conn Smythe Trophy winning goalie at the top of his game in JS Giguere (and a quality back up goalie in Ilya Bryzgalov as well). He made 2 alterations to that team, 1 trade, 1 free agent signing, that turned that team into a Cup Champion: He brought back an Anaheim stalwart when he signed Teemu Selanne and traded for Chris Pronger (who was having marital issues and had been accused of cheating on his wife with a weather girl in Edmonton forcing his demand for a trade out of Oil country).

 Burke lucked out that Pronger couldn't keep it in his pants....

In retrospect, we should have known that Burke was going to cut corners and try to do it his way since he really has never had the true patience to wait for young players to mature. He was canned out of Vancouver when his win it quick schemes failed for 3 years in a row and he only won in Anaheim because Bryan Murray built that team up through the draft when he got Perry and Getzlaf, their 2 stars. His moves in Anaheim worked only because of the foundation that had been laid in place by the previous administration. When he has had to start from scratch, he has been a failure.

 ...and getting Selanne to "come home" didn't cost him much....low level gamble on a solid human being

Sure, one of his other former teams, the Canucks, are a powerhouse now, but his main reason for failing with them is the same as the biggest problem he has with the Leafs : Goaltending. He trusted in Dan Cloutier so much so that it cost him his job. Dave Nonis, his current assistant GM with the Leafs, replaced him in Vancouver and the first thing he did was go out and get Roberto Luongo from the Florida Panthers, who, despite his struggles at times, is one of the premier goalies in the NHL.

 Replace Cloutier here with the Monster and you see Burke has a history of sticking with crappy goalies....

Mr. Tannenbaum's apology was hollow because of the fact that the real changes that need to be made with the Leafs are centered around the man making the decisions: They need to replace Brian Burke. He has already cost them Tyler Seguin (who looks like he will be a good to great player in the NHL for the next 10-12 years), who knows what other potential stars he will cost this team with his inept decisions with regards to the draft.

The Playoffs started last night with 3 great games to get everyone going. Philly and Pittsburgh got it started, Detroit at Nashville (with some WWE moves thrown in at the conclusion) and a nightcap that featured LA at Vancouver. All 3 of these games had various levels of drama and intrigue involved in them and, as the night wore on, the casual viewer would probably begin to realize that there is a very real possibility that these might be three of the best playoff series we have seen in a long, long time.

As you can see from this exploded view....The Pens should have stopped the OTHER 2 goals from being scored....but they were screwed on this one, that's for sure....

The Flyers looked like they forgot the start time of the game as they were down 3 after the first period. The 2nd and 3rd periods the team seemed to wake up and took the game back from a Pens team that seemed to sag a bit after being up so much so early in the game. As much as Penguins coach Dan Bylsma wants to push the off-side goal aside, it was a pretty big turning point in the game. The emotional lift that the goal by Briere gave the team shifted the momentum of the game entirely as Philly began to attack the Penguins more and more after that, knowing that if they got the next goal, and cut the lead to 1 going into the 3rd period, they had a chance. And that they did as they won the game in OT.

The winner of this series will go to the final. There, I said it. I'm banking on the Flyers as they are just so deep. Even Brayden Schenn, who is a 3rd liner, is a stud in the making as he had 3 points last night. My first prediction for this series? PAIN!! My 2nd prediction is the Flyers will take it in 7.

Nashville (or as the the locals refer to themselves: SMASH-ville) loaded up at the trade deadline by going out and getting Paul Gaustad from Buffalo, Andrei Kostitysn and Hal Gill from Montreal and getting back Alex Radulov from the Russian Hockey League (who had bolted to make a ton of tax free money in his native land 4 years ago). With these additions, the Predators (still a stupid name for the team, Cougars sounds way better) were able to sub-plant the Red Wings in the race for home ice advantage finishing 4th in the West with Detroit finishing 5th. This means that a very good Red Wings team has to try to win games on the road in the playoffs this year where they struggled all season long. Not unexpectedly, the Preds were able to hold on to a 3-2 win but not without some rather interesting situations arising.

 Webber must have watched Wrestlemania last weekend....That was a pure "Rock" move....Lucky he didn't throw a People's Elbow in there or he may have had more then just a $2500 fine on his hands...

With 5 seconds left, Gaustad did what he was brought in to do for the team, he won a key face off into his teams' corner where Shea Weber was met by a Henrik Zetterberg hit from behind (very slight but it obviously set off Weber). What he did next was straight out of the Rock's WWE wrestling move handbook as he punched Zetterberg in the back of the head, then grabbed him by the helmet and coco-bonged his head into the glass as if it was the top turnbuckle of a wrestling ring. At the same time, Gaustad took 2 hacks at the back of the leg of Pavel Datsyuk which he retaliated to in-kind.

A wild melee ensued after the final horn went off to end the game with punches being thrown and Zetterberg (who had crumbled to the ice slowly after having his head smashed into the glass) getting himself up and screaming at both Weber and the officials. The fact that Weber was only given a pathetic fine of $2500 for his wrestling-inspired move tells me that its very possible there will be a ton of bad blood coming for Game #2 tomorrow night.

The final game of the evening featured a #1 seed (Vancouver) against a #8 seed (LA) but just looking at the numbers, this series is and will be much closer then your typical 1 vs 8. LA did have a coaching change about halfway through the season and since Darryl Sutter took over the team, their record is 23-15-4. They had the best goaltending in the league all year round as Jonathan Quick finished the season with 10 shutouts and a goals against average of 1.95. Ridiculous numbers to say the least but the most telling fact about this team is that before they acquired Jeff Carter from Columbus, they were having trouble scoring goals (averaging 2.3 goals scored per game). Since his first game with the team, that number has jumped to 3.2 goals scored per game (61 goals scored by the team since the trade) or nearly a goal more scored per game.

Both Carter and Richards, former Flyer teammates who were basically made out to be the scapegoats of the teams failures over the last few years, have reunited and it feels so good for them to be back in the playoffs together. The 2 of them have a real chip on their shoulders as they want to prove to everyone that they were not the problem that the Philly media and management of the Flyers seemed to imply they were with their sudden trades this past summer.

Not sure why a pic like this would lead to both players being traded away but it may end up coming 

back to haunt the Flyers very, very soon...

The game itself, against possibly the most hated team in the league, was all LA. They came out guns blazing and despite being tied 2-2 entering the 3rd, the Canucks were only in the game because of some stellar goaltending from Luongo and some fortunate bounces (Richards hitting the post on an empty net tap in and Alex Edler's incredible bounce shot that bounded past Quick after hitting a defenders stick, then going straight up off the ice and into the upper half of the net). 


The game winning goal may have looked like a fluke but Jeff Carter knew what he was doing when he used his skate to re-direct a pass from Richards over to Dustin "Flapjack" Penner for a tap in and (eventual) game winner. In my view, going into this series, even with both Sedin brother healthy and in the lineup, I was still favouring the Kings to pull it out given the fact that they have een playing playoff hockey all year long. They lost 11 games 2-1 and 6 more by 1-0 scores, all in regulation. Vancouver has been off and on all year long. They started the year slow (another victim of the Stanley Cup Final Hangover as Boston started slowly as well) only to turn it on from mid-November until February. After a small swoon, they finished the season on a 6 game winning streak snatching the Presidents Trophy from the St.Louis Blues in the last 2 games of the year.

With all that in mind, I was picking the Kings to win this series in 6 games before the injuries and poor play were factored in. After watching Game 1, I will have to re-adjust my prediction: Kings in 6. You have to also love what the Kings organization tweeted right after the game on their team twitter account.

Typical high strung Vancouver fans can't take the truth, even when it's right in front of them....

 

 

The fact that someone in the Kings organization recognizes that most of Canada can't stand the Canucks and is willing to poke fun at the situation is absolutely hilarious. Maybe if the team had more likeable players and not jerks like Ryan Kesler and Max LaPierre, maybe the rest of the country would be more willing to embrace a team as skilled and talented as the Canucks. But not with guys like that on that team or with fans that have reacted to 2 Cup losses in 18 years with riots. They are an embarrassment to the rest of the country when they act like that and the rest of the country is rooting against them so that we don't have to be the butt of jokes again this year if they somehow manage to make it again to the Cup Final.

I am pulling for an LA vs Philly Cup Final (for pool purposes and for storyline reasons...Richards and Carter facing Philly for the Cup? How perfect would that be?!?!).

One a final note, I want to go over Dalton McLiar and how his Provincial Government will fall shortly. First, I still can't believe the people of Ontario elected, sorry, RE-elected this ass-clown for another term. He was a liar before and he is showing himself to be a liar again, going back on his word time and time again. Now he is having his Education Minister threaten and attempt to bully the Elementary school teachers into accepting their only offer instead of actually negotiating a new deal with them. These are the same people that voted for his party to keep them in power in Ontario.

 

 Are you ready for another election? Can we please get rid of McLiar once and for all this time? Please?!?!

The fact that McLiar has a minority Government hasn't stopped him from saying things and acting as if he has a majority. The Conservative under Tim "Who the heck" Hudak, have already stated that they will vote against the upcoming Provincial Budget which makes the Leader of the NDP, the lovely Andrea Horwath, a "King maker". Basically, the Liberals need the support of the NDP or else their very short term in office will come to an end. Budgets votes are considered confidence votes which means that  with the combined votes of the Conservatives and NDP, the Government's Budget not passing into law will force an election call for this summer. 

 

Ms Horwath has all the cards right now and she has been trying to use them. Over the last couple of weeks, she has been trying to dictate to McLiar what aspects of his budget she wants tweaked in order to ensure that he gets the votes he needs to stay in the Office of Ontario Premier and she gets the changes she wants to the budget that she can live with. The problem is she is way too trusting. Dalton is a proven liar.He has a track record about as long as my arm of instances when he has gone back on his word with regards to election promises and budgetary items he has said he would support and flip flopped on instead. 

Another reason to dislike McLiar: The way he has refused to get involved in the City of Toronto issue of Subway vs. LRT. This should be a topic he should be all over since the majority of the funds coming for this project are from the Province. Instead, he has sat back and allowed city counselors to essentially emasculate the Mayor of the largest city in the country by bickering with him repeatedly over just about any issue that comes up, primarily the mass transit portfolio. 

Here's hoping that Ms Horwath wakes up to the realization that McLiar will say one thing and do another or maybe he will just be an arrogant fool and refuse to compromise on some of the issues she wants him to forcing her hand and resulting in a new election this summer. We desperately need to have Dalton kicked out of office. Hopefully now, with our teachers starting to see exactly what kind of snake we have been dealing with and Mr Hudak dying for the chance to face McLiar again in an election, it all comes down to Ms Horwath and how comfortable she is in keeping Dalton right where he is; under her thumb.

And, on a final note, Rick Sanrtorum has done the logical thing and withdrawn himself from consideration as the Repubican nominee for President. He was a man who may well have had a chance to win the nomination but had very little chance of becoming President. His rigid views on sexuality and abortion rights were just going to make him look like a fool on the national stage and set back the Repubicans further into the dark ages had he continued along his quest for the nomination. He did the right things pulling out of the race but its too late for the Republicans. As they bitterly fought internally over who would win against President Obama, they allowed the President a chance to regain some of the charisma he had lost after 4 years of bickering with Republican dominated Senate that, at times, put the entire political process into gridlock just because they could.

Now President Obama is on the attack using their own slags against them. He is attacking them and allowing his intellect to shine through once again. The Republicans had a chance to make some hay with voters had they not been done in by such an internally bitter campaign for their own nomination. Not that they would have had a chance anyway. Once the real voters start coming out, the Republican nominee, regardless of who it would ultimately be, would have had no chance against a man who is smarter and more charismatic then every single Republican nominee they had out there.  

 

Until next time...

Have a little Faith? Religion and Sport Intertwine

A little twisted, sure but don't tell that to Habs fans....

When else but Easter weekend to have a blog about religion and faith as it relates to life and sports. I will be the first to admit I tend to have "Faith" that things will work out. I do believe that there is a higher power but I'm not sure if any of the worlds' hundreds of religions are a definitive guide as to what is or isn't God and "His" words.

Regardless of this fact, I do have faith in the fact that some (if not all) of the world's religions have some basis in truth somewhere. With that said, I find the parallels between religion, faith and sport quite startling, especially between the Catholic church and both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. Other examples are present in sport as well such as the fans bases of both the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox in Baseball, the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers in the NFL and Manchester United (really any English Premier League Team) in England, but I will focus on the 2 Canadian NHL teams.

 As odd as it sounds, there are a ton of similarities between Montreal, Toronto and Organized Religion

I'm not the only one to make this connection with Religion and these two teams. The Montreal Canadiens actually have a course taught on them as religion at the University of Montreal. Taught by a Swiss born Professor (named Olivier Bauer), he began to notice similarities between religious relics and rituals that Habs fans followed and believed in that he could relate to how the average religious zealot views his or her own actual religion.

He used 3 particular examples as the basis of his thesis:

 Known as a Saint already, what happens if he leads them as their coach to the Cup?

#1. He referenced the nicknames of 3 of the most notable recent players and referred to them as "Prayer Leaders". Patrick Roy's nickname is "St. Patrick", Guy Lafleur was known as "Le Demon Blond" or "The Blond Demon" and Carey Price who was being referred to as "Jesus Price" (the most obvious religious connection and most recent of them all).

Me thinks he got his nickname a tad....premature....Agree?

#2. The "Ghosts". It has long been talked of that the "Ghosts" of the old Montreal Forum (and have somehow "moved" to the new Bell Centre) would come down from the rafters and help the Habs win games.

Even when they honour players, they do it in style

#3. The "Miracles" that were rumoured to have been performed by Maurice "The Rocket" Richard in his heyday.

The professor went on to make claims about how much deeper of faith the Francophone people in Quebec are when compared to the rest of Canada (evidenced by their continued connection with the Catholic Church in many rural areas of the province) and how some in Quebec have the notion that "The Canadiens are the proof that we have God's blessing," pointing to Quebecers' pride in the only major pro sports team that has had a consistent presence in the province over the last 100 years.

Former players even have given some legitimacy to this course, which began being offered in the fall of 2008. Rejean Houle who was raised as a devout catholic in the Montreal suburb of Rouyn-Noranda, was quoted at the time as saying that "We were raised with this religion just like we were raised with the history of the Montreal Canadiens - there's a common (thread) there," He went on to say, "People were practising their prayers a lot and going to mass on Sunday, but also listening to the hockey game on Saturday night. That was part of the ritual."

While the Habs can be viewed in this light (with saints and relics), the Maple Leafs can be seen as part of the other, much more sinister side of the faith spectrum. To be a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs (as I am), one has to have a need to be tortured and put through painful season after painful season. Unlike the Habs (who are successful both on and off the ice, generally), the Leafs are only successful in draining money out of the pockets of their fans. They give them glimmers of hope only to shatter those same hopes in a matter of  a few weeks (as can be seen by their total utter collapse this season from February 6th when they were 6th in their conference to now where they are 13th).

 These men are looked upon as Legends as they are the Last Leafs to play in a Cup Final...oh, and they won too

They haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967 (the final year of the Original 6 team NHL Era). They haven't had a player win the Rookie of the Year award since 1966 (Brit Selby). They haven't had the top Goaltender in the league since 1964-65 when Hockey Hall of Famers Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk shared the award. They haven't even had a player win the League MVP award since the 1954-55 season when then team Captain Ted "Tedder" Kennedy won the award.

Yet fans keep on coming to watch games. They keep believing that the team will eventually get better. They entrust their faith in the men at the top who make grand proclamations and announcements for all to hear (kind of like the Pope, only with a bit more articulation and Truculence...) and, for the most part, those men at the top tend to disappoint the faithful with the things they do and say. This is where the truly sad part of my blog will begin.

 Kind of says it all, doesn't it?

The past transgressions of men associated with the Maple Leafs and Maple Leaf Gardens are nothing if not horrendous and sickening. The many young boys that were molested at the hands of staff members at Maple Leaf Gardens deserve our deepest, most heartfelt condolences for the childhoods that were robbed of them by sick, disgusting men. While the Maple Leafs were able to address the issue head on and weed out those disgusting elements, it is unfortunate that the very same issue is still one that haunts the Catholic Church and will continue to haunt them until there are fundamental changes made to their infrastructure.

Both organizations faced the same crisis (or are still facing it) and had it resonate all the way to the top of the organization (with the Leafs old owner, Harold Ballard, even being directly accused about 10 years after his death of being involved in some capacity and the Pope being often accused of helping to cover up the issue instead of facing it head on). The fact that many of the victims of the abuse have been coming forward over the last 15-20 years have helped to change both organizations (one faster then the other) but at least their is change occurring. The biggest issue with both organizations is the men at the top. They are rigid in their ideology, hold steadfast to the thought that they are infallible and act as if what they say should be gospel (yes I am talking to you Brian Burke).

So between both the Leafs and Habs, you have all the elements of both the good and bad aspects of the Catholic Church: Saints, ghosts, divine intervention, unwavering faith by the masses in your organization (never to be fully repaid by the Leafs, at least the Habs have won 24 times), sexual exploitation of minors, and leaders who think WAAAAY too highly of themselves. Both NHL teams are gigantic money makers while the Catholic Church (whose mission it is supposed to be to help the poor) is the richest organization in the world.

 These banners are looked upon (by some) as a source of strength and inspiration

Clearly hockey in Toronto and Montreal is much more then a sport. In both of these cities, the 24/7 obsession with the sport has transcended into a religious fanaticism that indoctrinates new members each and every day. Some become so brainwashed, that even when it is time when losing might be (and is) more beneficial to the long term success of the team, there are those "fans" who would still rather cheer a win. Is it any wonder that for years the song that the Leafs would play after a goal was called "Zombie-Nation" or was it a subtle little jab at their own fan base?

Even when they don't like the product on the ice, their butts are still in the seats....

And you thought this was going to be a light blog today.....


(With files from tsn.ca)
(http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=263480)  

Civic, Provincial and Federal Policies, Spartacus Season 2 Finale and More....

Disagree with his policies, sure, but don't attack him because of his weight...that's not classy

I think I have figured out what it is that drives people to severely dislike Mayor Rob Ford so much. It's actually quite clear the more jokes you hear made by radio and TV stations: Its easy to make fun of a fat man. You don't have to like his politics, his leadership style or how he does his job but we need to show some respect to the person who was elected Mayor and not constantly focus on the fact that he has a weight issue in your attempts to dismiss him offhand. It almost appears to me that there is some kind of bias against the man simply because he is overweight.

He was elected on the basis of a platform that everyone could understand (and was and IS still true, unfortunately) that there is overspending at Toronto city hall and spending cuts need to be made. Instead of jumping on board with his policies, he has had a fight on his hands in just about every department with the other city counselors, including some he wrongfully believed were his allies, over his budget. The fact is David Miller was a wasteful mayor who put the City into a severe financial hole in his time as Mayor. Yet, almost to a man, the Toronto media seem to revel in glossing over Miller's tenure focusing instead on making Rob Ford look like a bumbling idiot (and yes, he has certainly contributed to that with some bone head decisions of his own).

Even his determination in wanting a subway line across Sheppard and across Eglinton to connect all the way to Scarborough (which makes sense economically, and ecologically) is lost on people who can't seem to accept any of his ideas simply because they come from him. At a time when we need more jobs to kick start a flailing economy, Toronto City Council is still at odds with the Mayor and his Subway concept, wanting instead to create another ridiculous LRT system on the city when the first one on St.Clair proved to be a financial nightmare that caused chaos with long and costly delays, forcing businesses to close down and snarling traffic for years along St. Clair.

I just wish the media would stop looking at the messenger and focus on the veracity of the message instead. But that would not be "news" today now would it....

Kind of says it all, doesn't it....

On a similar note, Gas prices are about to skyrocket tonight by as much as 5 cents a liter (all over the city and yet there is no collusion on prices??? Really???), primarily because......because....no one seems to really know why other then corporate greed. There is no acute shortage of oil right now (in fact there is a ton of overstock right now because of the warmer then expected winter), there are no issues with any refineries in terms of shut downs or fires, storms, etc., there is no war currently ongoing with an oil-producing nation and, on top of it all, we have the largest deposits of oilsand in the world (which should make our own cost of gas much cheaper then they are.

So why, with all of these things currently the norm, are we seeing the price of gas go up over 10 cents in the last 2 months? I wish I could point to a real reason but there just isn't other then Oil companies and OPEC are looking to boost their profits even more then ever. I generally tend to follow along with the Prime Minister on most things but I would like to see a little more leadership in this area when it comes to the way Canadians are being pinched at the pumps over the last few years. We need to see an actual hard cap on how much gas should cost in this country. It may sound "socialist" or even communist in a way but when you have the largest supply of a product, why are you being forced to export the profits of that product to the Middle East and OPEC? Why are Canadians not among the lowest in terms of how much we pay for gas? It's illogical.

 Look guys, get your heads together and fix the auto insurance industry in Ontario and you will both be hailed as heroes

Also along the idea of capping something, Auto Insurance in Ontario needs to be capped. Insurers are starting to gauge people mercilessly, making it almost impossible for some people to even afford being able to drive their cars legally on the streets of Ontario. If you are going to mandate that all vehicles have to be insured to legally be on the road, then you also, in turn, need to cap the amount an insurance company can charge for said insurance or else you are pushing your citizens to the brink of bankruptcy in terms of not only fueling their cars but also covering their asses with Province mandated insurance. And you wonder why Ontario is slipping further and further down in terms of wealthiest provinces.Well there are 2 very easy examples of where the average citizens is being nickel and dimed into submission because of Government inaction.

And now for some entertainment news.

What a great Season Finale...

<SPOILER ALERT: Spartacus Season Finale Re-Cap>

I almost missed the season Finale Sunday night of Spartacus: Vengeance but I was fortunate that Rogers actually did something right when it comes to their On Demand service for once: Episode 10 was ALREADY available Sunday night at midnight!!!

So even though I had to work the next morning, and I had just watched Game Of Thrones Season 2 premier, I was pumped to watch this episode and, as expected, it was awesome. Now, it wasn't the all out blood bath that the first season finale was when the gladiators were able to destroy the House of Batiatus and earn their freedom, but heading into the finale, Spartacus and his troops were stuck on Mount Vesuvius surrounded by Praetor Glaba's army. With dwindling food supplies and unsure of what to do, Spartacus was left grasping at what course of action he should take.

An attempt was made by a small band of Agron's men to break through Glaba's guards and force a route of  escape through their one and only way down from the mountain. Spartacus and Crixus (among others) were forced to intervene to save their lives but their actions resulted in the death of Mira, the slave girl who had fallen in love with Spartacus. She was only the first of many to die in this episode. Her death, eventually, gave Spartacus an idea that would lead to some of the most brilliant tactics I have ever seen later on in the episode, but first Ilythia and Lucretia made their way to the Temple that the Rebels had been using as their base until Glaba had overrun them in Episode 9. Her sole mission: Force Glaba to action and end the life of Spartacus ASAP so she can get back to Rome and away from Capua forever.

Despite the fact that Spartacus had the high ground, Glaba was going to act and attack Spartacus. He had agreed on the condition that Ilythia kill Lucretia after she had made it seem as if Ashur had told Seppia about killing her brother (at Glaba's command). Still with me? So Ashur and Lucretia are looking doomed. Ashur has his little gang turn on him (when Glaba offered them land and coin). Instead of killing Ashur himself, he sent him on a mission up the mountain (knowing full well that he wouldn't return).

 Starting Season 3, we know one thing....Spartacus ain't dead yet!!!

Ashur ended up being an envoy with an offer of peace to the rebels on behalf of Glaba. They would all be allowed to return to being slaves and not be killed (right away at least, which was clearly a lie). The only catch was that they would have to turn over Spartacus. Clearly that wasn't going to happen. After telling Ashur to stick Glaba's offer where the sun don't shine, Crixus wanted to challenge Ashur but was stopped by Naevia who was determined to challenge him herself. She was outmatched from the start and there were several moments where you felt as if her time had come to an end but Ashur's overconfidence (his biggest flaw) showed itself again and she was able to kill him, but not before he got in yet another great final line. So Ashur and Mira are dead already and the episode is about half done. An ominous sign to say the least.

Spartacus and his men responded to Glaba's offer by sending Ashur's head down the path to Glaba's guard troops. He wasn't surprised by their response to his offer and moved to prepare for his final attack in the morning except that Spartacus had other ideas. Using the vines that they had on the mountain (long ass vines??? On a mountain??? Ok), the rebels fastened 4 long ropes that allowed Spartacus, Crixus, Agron and Gannacus to propel straight down the sheer face of the mountain. The 4 of them then routed several sleeping troops and made their way to the catapults which they then aimed directly at Glaba's sleeping troops, sending numerous fireballs at them, scattering them, killing many of them and forcing chaos on them as they slept.

The troops that were left over were re-assembled by Glaba and ordered to attack the catapults. At this point Glaba had no idea how many of Spartacus' men were there but he was going to wipe them all out regardless. This was where HIS biggest flaw began to show as he decided to send all his remaining men charging towards the catapults leaving no one to guard the mountain (you can see what's going to happen next can't you?).

Seeing only 4 men at the Catapults, Glaba failed to realize it was a distraction and again ordered a head on charge of his men to charge as the rest of the rebels attacked his unprepared men from the side. Outflanked, and losing the battle, Glaba retreated his men back to the Temple but not before we lost yet another main character; Aeonemeus. Gannacus had saved him from death in Episode 9 at the hands of one of Ashur's men (but not before he lost an eye). The two of them seemed to have finally started to mend their relationship before the battle that cost him his life. He repaid his debt to Gannacus as the same ogre that had taken his eye in battle was close to killing Gannacus until Aeonemeus stepped in and took a spear through the gut for his trouble. This set Gannacus off as he pulled a Hulk Hogan-esque power up, and was able to finally kill Ashur's killing machine with a cleave to the head.

The two men then shared a truly heart wrenching emotional reunion before Aeonemeus finally died of his wound. In the middle of all of that mayhem, there was still time enough for them to say goodbye to each other.

Meanwhile, Glaba was guarding the temple thinking that Spartacus wouldn't continue to press the attack only to see him and his men coming ferociously over the wall, killing everything (and every one) in site. With everyone else fighting it out, Glaba and Spartacus had their one on one and we all know who was destined to win this one. With Glaba already mortally wounded and forced to his knees in front of the only men left alive around him (the Rebels), Spartacus was about to kill Glaba but there was more afoot at the same time that I have to bring you up to speed on that before the death blow was delivered.

Ilythia and Lucretia had gone back to Batiatus' home where Ilythia was going to kill Lucretia. She was going to push her over the balcony and off the ledge of the compound when her water broke. As she lay in bed worried about her child, Lucretia went to get some help (or so we thought). Screams were heard and Lucretia appears with blood all over her dress and a long knife in her hand. She kills Ilythia's body slave (brutally) and then proceeds (it would appear) to cut the baby out of Ilythia (we don't see that part but it's vividly implied a few moments later).

With baby in hand and Ilythia screaming, Lucretia walks towards the edge of the ground level of the compound (remember that it's got an open area that leads to an unprotected edge of a huge cliff. Ilythia is still screaming as she somehow crawls he way all the way down to Lucretia who basically falls backward (intentionally) off the edge of the cliff with the baby in her arms as Ilythia screams. Just crazy.  

As Spartacus shoves his sword down Glaba's throat (very homo-erotic there), he has visions of his wife and how she was ripped from his arms and killed, seeming to put an end to his "quest for vengeance" as it was. His line to end the season was perfect...."Now, we build an army"

I can't wait for Season 3!

<End of Spoiler Alert>

Sorry if i went overboard there but it was a great episode, some of the best sequences you will ever see on any show, PERIOD!

Some little tidbits (annoyances)...

--Can drivers please get it through your heads that just because you signal does not mean you have a "right" to change lanes?!?! Signalling just means you are demonstrating your intent to go there "WHEN SAFE" not "WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE IT"

 Lawrie is the key to a breakthrough season for the Blue Jays this year....

--When will Toronto Sports teams ever get some respect in the States? Charles Barkley makes a crack that Kentucky (a college team) could beat the Raptors and the Blue Jays, despite being raved about by men who run the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays, are considered an afterthought in the division (this despite the fact that they have a very deep and talented bullpen, a solid if unspectacular starting lineup that can hurt you in a variety of ways, and a talented and maturing starting rotation that is as good as any in the American League). The Yankees and Red Sox are D-U-N, DONE! They are old and getting older. They have injuries mounting already and I just don't see what everyone else seems to think is there. This will be a 2 team race between the Jays and the Rays for the division, mark my word!

--Have you seen this kid on Britain's got Talent? 17 years old, he seems like a dough boy, has the look of a slob (Simon Cowell sure was judging that book by its' cover) but when he sings, he seems to be the reincarnation of Pavorotti. Just an incredible operatic voice. If he and his female partner (he is part of a duo and she is pretty and can sing very well as well) don't win, then they clearly did not pick songs that best show their talent properly. He should become a star with that voice.

Don' feel like talking much any more eh?

--Where, oh where has Brian Burke gone? Ever since he fired Ron Wilson, he has sequestered himself away, hiding in the shadows of the ACC, almost embarrassed by the team he painstakingly put together. When they were riding high and in 6th place in the conference, you could not shut his ass up as he would go off on reporters, on the state of the game, declare that the Leafs would consider imposing their own "trade deadline" because the NHL one is "murder" on Leaf players, and he even tried to get Ron MacLean and Don Cherry fired. If you were proud of them when they were good, you should be there, front and center when they suck. Yet another reason why they should get rid of the man as their GM.

Until next time....