First Green MP
Parliament has its first Green Party member. Blair Wilson – formerly a Liberal, most recently an independent – represents a riding in Vancouver. He gave his allegiance to the Greens, becoming the first MP to stand for that party.
It’s a huge step for them, but it’s not the way it should be. To me, it’s just a reminder that members can change their colours – it doesn’t prove that the Green party deserves to be in Parliament. That will only happen with an election.
HNIC theme song
The CBC is currently running a contest to find a new theme song for Hockey Night in Canada. I’m still miffed the old one got scrapped, but such is life. Anyone and everyone can submit their own ideas for a new anthem until the end of the month, when the contest will close and public voting will begin. It’s a good thing specific judges are ultimately choosing the winner, because right now this one is scarily popular …
Is that not the weirdest thing you have ever seen? Yeah. I thought so. My favourite part is when hockey is spelled wrong at the end.
Go here to listen to all the entries and pick your favourites. Voting begins on October 4.
Skydiving world record
This is amazing. You must watch.
I can’t even imagine how high they had to jump from to do this … incredible!
Election talk
It’s not just the U.S. that has election fever lately. From Stephane Dion refusing to make time to meet with Stephen Harper to the prime minister asking the governor general to stay close by, all the activity is pointing towards a fall vote - even before Americans go to the polls.
Even though Parliament is probably not as productive as it could be, I don’t think an election will accomplish a whole lot because I think the result will be the same as our current status. A Conservative minority.
I won’t get into my view on Harper – I think he’s a smart guy but has done some dumb things – but I will say that I am not a fan of having Dion as our prime minister.
Here’s an interesting article on the PM’s possible plan.
Tom Flanagan, a political scientist at the University of Calgary, believes Harper would be satisfied to return with a strengthened minority – a result that would throw the Liberals into chaos, thereby advancing the prime minister’s longterm strategy of destroying Canada’s so-called natural governing party.
Olympic highlights
The Olympics wrapped up on Sunday with the closing ceremony. Canada finished the Games with 18 medals, definitely better then our Athen’s showing of only 12. It doesn’t seem like much compared to the United States’ 100, but hey, they have like 10 times our population. We had some good races, some disappointments, but an all-around great showing in Beijing. Oh, and I think the racewalk is the weirdest Olympic sport there is - no competiton there.
There were so many amazing wins and smashed records, but I picked out my top five moments … and here they are:
5. The opening ceremony. I didn’t watch all of it, but one of the coolest parts was when a couple hundred guys were standing under these box things, making patterns and symbols. We couldn’t figure out at first if it was all mechanical or if there were actually people under them, but at the end everyone popped out and waved. It must have taken years to choreograph all of that.
4. The Russian pole vaulter not only took the gold medal in her event, she also set the Olympic and world records. I know, records were being decimated throughout the Games in most of the events, but her efforts were incredible. She knew she had the gold, but still kept going and pushed herself to do better. It took her three tries to beat the Olympic record height, but she wasn’t satisfied. Two more jumps, two more incompletes. Then, in her third and final attempt, she broke the world record. Phenomenal! I’m pretty sure I would have just walked away with the medal and left it at that.
3. Michael Phelps. Eight gold medals. Enough said. Except … you would think just one of them would be a silver, that he would be just a little slower than somebody in one of the races. But no, it was all golden.
2. This wasn’t an event, but I was really impressed with how all the Canadians encouraged each other, even without realizing it. Triathlete Simon Whitfield said he was able to keep running by thinking of paddler Adam Kreek belting out the national anthem with a gold medal around his neck. Adam van Koeverden, our flag bearer and kayaking silver medalist, dedicated his first place and record-breaking finish in the 500-metre heat to Whitfield.
1. Speaking of Simon … okay, so it might not have been the greatest moment of the Olympics, but he’s Canadian and it was the most captivating race I watched. Despite falling behind the pack several times, Whitfield was consistently able to catch up and remain a contender. He slowed again in the last kilometre or so, but then threw down his hat and gave it his all, sprinting past the other leaders and taking the silver medal.
‘A profoundly decent man’
I found this interesting article about Stephane Dion and decided to share it …
“And there are far worse people than Stéphane Dion, a profoundly decent man who is a perhaps the most honest leader of his party in living memory. Being a prime minister, however, requires more than Canadian niceness. Sadly, it requires steel and guile.”
“Goodness it’s hard not to like him but it’s equally hard to imagine him being tough with our enemies and careful with our friends.”
Hard not to like, eh?
Journalist kidnapped
A Canadian freelance reporter was kidnapped in Somalia yesterday. Amanda Lindhout, 26, along with a photojournalist, translator and bodyguards were taken in the supposedly pre-planned attack.
I’ve wanted to go overseas as media for years, but stories like these always give me second thoughts. Reporting in another country would be exciting, very challenging and a great experience … but I’m not sure I want to go somewhere that requires a bodyguard to travel with me everywhere I go. Somalia is one of the most dangerous and unstable places in the world right now though.
Hopefully Amanda will be released without being harmed or kept for too long. The Alberta native was working on stories about the humanitarian crises in the nations she was in, looking for help for local people instead of just focusing on the politics. She was on her way to refugee camp when she was kidnapped.
Fun with pink paint
The office pranks continue here in Kanata … one of our production guys was working for another paper for a few days so we stole his beloved wooden footstool and gave it an upgrade. It sounds nice, but really … well, the photos/video speak for themselves.
Lindsay, the mastermind, gets to work with pink paint and sparkles.
Oh yes, we had fun. Maybe a little too much.
Kim was also a contributor to our devious plot. And ta-da, the finished product.
I would tell you how Ryan reacted to his gift, but he decided not to give us the satisfaction and didn’t even respond to the ransom note we left him. The beautified footstool is still currently hidden somewhere in this office. He’s missing out. Big time.
Cheryl
