Avalanche

This year we have had record deaths from Avalanches in Western Canada, as more folks go skiing in the back country. It appears we are not alone. The popularity of skiing beyond the confines of resorts has created a mini-extreme sport, back country skiing, looking to be the first on virgin snow.

However all is not as it seems,under the tantalizing powder lays cracks, crevices and a creaking horror; the avalanche. Especially caused by the lack of consistent cold periods, warming, cold means sheets of ice that are under the fresh fallen snow. This crust is the source of avalanches and cannot be detected until it is too late. As I traveled in Jasper at Christmas, the conditions of bare mountains revealed this deadly fact. And it can take the life of even the most experienced outdoors person.

The fact is that access to the wilderness, to the back country, has been created by technology and infrastructure. However rather than being just another spot to go sport skiing these areas need to be treated as dangerous. Unfortunately the promotion of dare devil extreme sport and the nonchalant idea that skiing is a safe sport means that those taking on the mountains do so without the same regard that more serious adventurers like mountain climbers do.

Back country skiing is not the same as sport skiing in the confines of commercial resorts, and even some of these have been impacted by avalanches this year. Rather it should be treated as seriously as mountain climbing. A dangerous activity that could end in death. Unfortunately it's not treated that way. And thus we have more deaths this year and the season has just begun.

Snowfall to hike BC avalanche risk


AVALANCHE: THE WHITE DEATH

According to the Canadian Avalanche Centre, this past year Canada has experienced the deadliest beginning to the avalanche season on record. As of January 2008, there have been ten fatalities since the start of the avalanche season.

And the deaths from avalanches are affecting skiers across the globe.

Skiers are being warned to take extreme care as deaths from avalanches threaten to reach record levels. Even before the peak holiday months of February and March, the number of avalanche deaths in Italy and Austria has exceeded the total for the whole of last winter.

Heavy snowfalls in December and January have been greeted with delight by skiers, but excellent conditions come at a cost. Research by Escape reveals that as of last Thursday, 39 people had been killed in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. Austria alone has had 18 fatalities, one more than last year's total.

'We're expecting more deaths every weekend,' said Ingo Kroath, manager of the Innsbruck-based Austrian Board of Alpine Safety. 'The situation is very dangerous at the moment and isn't going to improve until March or April.'

France has recorded eight deaths, double the number at the same time last season, and the situation across the Atlantic is just as bad. The death toll in both Canada and the US has already exceeded the total for last winter.

An often deadly quest for perfect powder Los Angeles Times

Two months into the winter sports season, avalanches have claimed 26 lives nationwide, including three near Mountain High Resort this weekend, in what officials warn may be a record year for mountain fatalities.

Avalanche experts say average annual death tolls have edged up from 20 to 25 over the last decade and are likely to increase as more people with better technology and a new "extreme sports" mentality venture into remote areas in search of untrammeled powder.

But even a seemingly innocuous snowpack can hide tragedy: Layers of snowfall, often interspersed with ice, can slough off at the slightest disturbance.

"There have been avalanche fatalities since people have been in the West and in the Alps, but what has changed is the equipment has gotten better and there's a lot of hype associated with the outdoor retail industry," said Sue Burak, an avalanche forecaster for the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center. "They're encouraging people to go out, and the level of backcountry skills haven't caught up with the technology."

Every avalanche fatality this year, except for one in Utah, involved a person who was skiing, snowmobiling or snowboarding outside of designated areas or in wilderness, with the majority of the deaths in backcountry. Only 1% of all avalanche deaths in the United States occurred within the bounds of skiing or snowboarding resorts. About 11% were out-of-bounds deaths, and the rest were in backcountry.

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Steroid Nation

The story of 2007 for the U.S. was not the sub-prime melt down, nor the U.S. presidential race, heck it wasn't even the surge in Iraq. The story of 2007 was how the United States replaced East Germany as Steroid Nation.

It's all about winning. Not competition really, but winning. Winning at all costs, even if it means cheating. We're Number 1, We're Number 1 is the mantra. And the cheating through steroids, human growth hormone, testosterone, etc. is merely a reflection of a culture of cheating that is the moral economy of American culture.

Enron, Worldcom, the economic scandals of the boom economy where tax evasion is considered a good thing, a fine thing, screw the IRS, which led to the accounting scandals that brought down some of America's corporate giants. Like the doping scandals, tax avoidance and accounting manipulation over stock prices, back dating stock, all these schemes are based on the idea that everyone is doing it.

Illegal doping recognizes no national boundaries. It is an inevitable offshoot of a system that stresses winning at all costs, invading every sport, entangling amateur and pro alike. The conviction that everyone else is using these illegal performance-enhancing substances creates a vicious cycle.

That is why Conrad Black wants to become an American, he fits into that mold quite well.And by the time he finishes his jail sentence he will have enough time in to become one.

Whereas in Canada we are embarrassed by such cheating. We denounce it, and those who do it. Look at how we sacrificed Ben Johnson on the altar of good sportsmanship. And we did it promptly. While in America they wait and wait until the inevitable leak reveals that their Olympic medals were won through cheating.

In 2000, Dr. Wade Exum unveiled one of the biggest doping cover-ups in sports history when he released a list of 19 American medalists who were allowed to compete in various Olympic Games from 1988 to 2000 despite having failed earlier drug tests. The list also helped to stir up an old controversy. Track and field star Carl Lewis, who was named on Exum’s list, won the gold medal in the 100M event at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games because his opponent Ben Johnson was disqualified from the event due to steroid use. Johnson was not too happy to see Lewis’ name on the new list, to say the least.

And by then it is too late, the damage is done. They only admit after the records are broken. Making those records is all important. Making record breaking profits, Olympic medal records, baseball home run records, the Tour de France, etc. once made they can never be expunged from the popular record. Even though they were made by cheating.

The cheater may be defrocked but his or her record stands. And that is all that counts. Winner takes all.And America is all about winning. They can say only dopes use dope, but they cheer them on all the same.

The company may have gone bankrupt but the CEO gets golden parachutes and hired again. Unless they go to jail to make an example that the 'system works'. And the defrocked corporate cheaters like Millikan or Martha Stewart get out of jail eventually and once again are embraced by their old pals.

Steroids and Corporate Greed share a common morality, a common set of values, that truly reflect the American cultural psyche far more than any claim to family values or Christian morals. And after all professional sports is a business.



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The West Wins TO Goes NFL

Well that was a spectacular set of CFL finals on the weekend. As I said to my partner it would be sweet to see the Blue Bombers beat the Argonuts. An all West Grey Cup in the city we all love to hate; Toronto.

After all Torontonians could care less about the CFL they want the NFL. Torontonians have no use for Canadian sports, they view themselves as home to American sports, like baseball and basketball. The CFL well that's just a prairie league. And the prairie league is coming to their home town to show them how the game is really played.

The program OTR (Official Toronto Report) on the Toronto Sports Network (TSN) , a program given to prestidigitation on when the perennial losers the Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup ,had Paul Godfrey and Pinball Williams on earlier this year once again talking trash about bringing in the NFL. The premise is if they do the CFL will collapse.

Paul Godfrey, the president and chief executive officer of the Toronto Blue Jays who has been pressing Toronto's NFL viability for 20 years, said that Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and media mogul Ted Rogers have joined forces and will bid on bringing an NFL regular-season game to Toronto in 2008 and 2009.

What a pretentious proposition. The CFL is a Western League always has been. Its greatest support and fans are in the West and Hamilton. Toronto has always viewed the league as second best next to the NFL. Ottawa is gone, Montreal collapsed and came back. But in the West the teams are strong. And because of that they were able to bail out Hamilton and Montreal when they had tough financial times. Because unlike privately owned teams that go bankrupt, the majority of teams in the West are community owned.

If Toronto gets the NFL it's impact on the CFL will be minimal. The game will continue. It is a blue collar sport, where the players at the end of the season go back to their jobs, their farms, and work until next season. Unlike U.S. pro sports.

If Toronto got a NFL franchise then the CFL would still have Hamilton, could revive Ottawa, and look east to a team in the Maritimes. Lack of a team in Toronto would only hurt Toronto. And for the CFL no great loss except for Skydome, and that can be rented. And if Toronto gets the CFL the Skydome rent will be cheap because the plan is for Godfrey and pals to build a new stadium for its NFL team.

Toronto must prove mettle as host of the Grey Cup
Tue, November 20, 2007
By TERRY JONES, SUN MEDIA

Bubbling in the background of the 95th Grey Cup is the fight for the right to play host to the 100th anniversary edition.

Should the 2012 Grey Cup be in Toronto? Or out West?

With Toronto to be flooded by football fans from the West for a surprise Saskatchewan Roughriders-Winnipeg Blue Bombers Grey Cup, there will be no lack of fans here to support the concept of the 100th anniversary belonging where the Grey Cup has flourished since Toronto last fumbled the football here in 1992.

Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg each have held two successful celebrations of Canadiana in the interim with almost no Toronto fans showing up to participate.

But there's more to it than that. Looming in the background is the NFL and the Buffalo Bills. Toronto will have one pre-season game and one regular season game of the Buffalo Bills for each of the next five years.

It's possible the 100th anniversary Grey Cup game could be held here the same year Toronto becomes a full-schedule NFL city.

A Grey Cup on Sunday and the Toronto Bills hosting Monday Night Football the next night? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

Canadian Colts? NFL team considering move to Toronto

By Dave Forister, THG Sports

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was recently quoted as saying the Colts would consider a move to Toronto in 2007 if the team can’t come to an agreement with the city of Indianapolis on the building of a new stadium by that time.

The Colts, whose revenues are among the worst in the league, feel they need a larger, more modern stadium with luxury skyboxes to be able to compete financially with other teams in the NFL. If the city won’t build them a new stadium, then it is very likely they will move. “The RCA Dome is a very nice facility—by 1984 standards. It is depressing when we go on the road and see all these great new facilities and then have to come back here and play,” said Irsay in a Sunday afternoon interview.

Irsay told The Hoosier Gazette he would like to keep the team in Indianapolis because of the tremendous fan support the team receives, sometimes even selling out a game when a very good opponent comes to town, but in the end the decision will come down to finances. “It is all about the Benjamins,” said Irsay.

Toronto has a metropolitan area of over 5.5 million, five times that of Indianapolis, and is willing to build a new stadium if the NFL wanted to move a franchise into Canada’s largest city.

“We would welcome the NFL to Toronto with open arms,” said the city’s new mayor David Miller, “Except if the Cardinals wanted to move here of course. They suck.”

If the Colts can’t come to terms with Indianapolis and do decide to move, they would play in the Toronto Sky Dome until a new football-only stadium was built. The Sky Dome seats 53,506 for football and is currently the home of Major League Baseball’s Blue Jays and the Canadian Football League’s Argonauts.

SEE:

unintended consequences

Edmonton Eskimo Moon's NFL Hall of Fame

SKYDOME THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SPORTS

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unintended consequences

One of the funny unintended consequences of the article below is the RONA ads which play on the CFL games, which show an American football field instead of a Canadian one. You can tell from the hash marks.

Sheesh such a tiny detail could be disastrous for the renaming of the Grey Cup to the Rona Cup.

"As soon as 2008 you could see players competing in the Rona Grey Cup or the Ford Grey Cup," said one high-ranking league source. "It's for sale and the league will be pushing ahead with this."

And some sponsorship experts say the CFL may be risking more than it realizes by selling Grey Cup naming rights.

After their 1953 inception, the league's most valuable player awards were called the Schenleys until 1989, when sponsor Schenley Canada Inc. cut its ties to the league. The awards have had multiple sponsors since but are no longer as well known.
"The league has to ask itself, at what price do you sell your soul?" said Stellick. "The Grey Cup really is the soul of that league."

The more serious consequences are that a regulation that benefits the bank accounts of broadcasters does nothing for Canadian production. And of course the usual suspects will cry for the elimination of the CRTC because of this.

The right to insert Canadian commercials into U.S. broadcasts when shows air at the same time on both sides of the border is worth more than $200-million to the industry.

Such provisions were initially contemplated to give Canadian networks revenue that could be used to fund Canadian productions, including news, drama and comedies. But the report argues simulcasting has instead created overwhelming financial incentives to run U.S. programs in prime-time, since the networks can earn more ad revenue from American shows, which draw much higher ratings.

As a result, Canadian content is being marginalized to Friday and Saturday nights, or to the summer, when audiences are smaller. The report doesn't suggest killing simulcast rights, but the authors wonder if networks should be required to show a certain amount of domestic programs on weeknights.

"It's a great example of an unintended consequence of a regulation," Mr. Dunbar said in an interview. "We have all kinds of incentives for producing Canadian content, all kinds of subsidies for producing Canadian content, and then it's not really getting shown at a time when Canadians are watching television in large numbers. ...We are not saying abolish the rule.

SEE:

Death of Channel Ten

CRTC vs The Public Interest

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Curses!

It appears though that Wicca has made it into the Big Leagues in America. As in Major League Baseball. Not so strange since most sports types are superstitious and after all witchcraft and magick is commonly used in Soccer.

Garner can’t find right voodoo doll

Looking for a way to slow down Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano, Houston Astros manager Phil Garner decided to try voodoo.

“I’m confused,” Garner told Chicago’s Daily Southtown. “I went online and looked for my voodoo guy and I’m going to have to pick one and try to get it. Most of these curses are against lovers … I’ve got to find one that puts a curse on a baseball player.”

Of course there are other ways to curse a ball player.

“It wasn’t voodoo. I stayed away from the voodoo. I can’t go into the details. I’ll just have to tell you Wicca (a form of witchcraft),” Garner said to the Houston Chronicle, explaining his latest plan.

But Voodoo ain't Wicca. The former does claim on occasion to use curse magick the latter says it doesn't.


Voodoo is Black Magick, as in originating in Africa, while Wicca claims to be White Magick, as in Eurocentric.

A Witchcraft suppression bill, currently being drafted by the Mpumalanga legislature, has struck fear into the hearts of South Africa's witches, who fear the dark days of medieval witch-hunts may soon return.

The bill, leaked in June to the South African Pagan Rights Alliance (Sapara), threatens to undermine the freedoms and rights of a religious minority by criminalising and prohibiting their right to exist and practise their religion, says Sapra convener Damon Leff.

The draft, titled the Mpumalanga Witchcraft Suppression Bill 2007, states in its introduction that it is "to provide for the suppression of witchcraft in the province".

In Chapter 6 it states any person who "professes a knowledge of witchcraft or the use of charms" or "for gain pretends to exercise or use any supernatural powers, witchcraft, sorcery or enchantment" shall be guilty of an offence.
One of the major causes of the Western pagans' upset, according to Leff, is the failure of the bill to recognise the doctrinal and ethical gap between Western pagan and some forms of traditional African witchcraft.

And according to Vos, by lumping the two religions together the bill has overlooked how differently they approach the issue of ethical responsibility.

"While in rare cases (some in Mpumalanga) murder has been committed to get hold of human tissues, such as hearts and genitals for muti practices, the furthest a Western pagan would go is to collect human hair and nail clippings," he claimed.

Another serious criticism Western pagans in the country harbour is the bill's stereotyping of witches and witchcraft as being harmful and dangerous to their community.

The bill defines witchcraft as "the secret use of muti, zombies, spells, spirits, magic powers, water, mixtures, etc, by any person with the purpose of causing harm, damage, sickness to others or their property".

Leff has asked the Mpumalanga advocates to replace it with the definition: "a religio-magical occupation that employs the use of sympathetic magic, ritual, herbalism and divination".

AIDS, Witchcraft, and the Problem of Power in Post-Apartheid South Africa

As an epidemic of AIDS sweeps through this part of Africa, isidliso is the name that
springs to mind amongst many in the epidemic’s path. To the extent that this occurs, the epidemic of HIV/AIDS becomes also an epidemic of witchcraft. But the implications for a witchcraft epidemic are quite different from those of a public health crisis, at least as such things are conventionally conceived in western discourses of social and political management.

In this paper I will examine some of the implications of interpreting HIV/AIDS
infection as witchcraft and ask what they might mean for the legitimacy of public power in post-apartheid South Africa. For when suspicions of witchcraft are in play in a community, problems of illness and death can transform matters of public health into questions of public power, questions relating to the identification and punishment of persons deemed responsible for bringing misfortune to the community, that is: witches.

So instead of using pins in dolls to curse his opponent perhaps Garner should have found a witch who was good at casting Lucky Mojo Spells.

Like this guy.

Wiccan Wins Lottery

Wiccan instructor Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett says a New Age book store made it possible for him to become an overnight multi-millionaire.

The Maryland accountant, who claims to hold one of four winning tickets sold for Friday night's estimated 330 million dollar Mega Millions jackpot, says he made a bargain with the multiple gods associated with his Wiccan beliefs: "You let me win the lottery and I'll teach."

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Surf's Up In Gaza

The antithesis of the surf routine in Apocalypse Now.

Surfing for Peace. Cowabunga!

Dorian Paskowitz, 86, from Hawaii, handed over some of the surfboards himself. The retired Jewish doctor hopes a love of surfing will help bring Israelis and Palestinians together

Israel has allowed few nonessential goods to pass into Gaza since the militant group Hamas took over the coastal territory in June. When Paskowitz, 86, reached the crossing, the officer in charge had reason to be wary: Israeli forces trying to thwart rocket fire from Gaza that day had killed three Palestinian gunmen and two children who were playing near a rocket launcher near the border. Eight other Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops this week, among the bloodiest this summer.

Paskowitz, who is known as Doc, said he told the officer:

"I came 12,500 miles from Hawaii to give away these boards. The guys who need them are standing 50 meters from here, and you're trying to stop me. How can you do that to a fellow Jew?"

He showed the Israeli officer a photograph of two Gaza surfers on the Mediterranean shore with one battered board between them. It had appeared in the Los Angeles Times on July 29 with an article about how some Palestinians try to escape the poverty and violence of the overcrowded strip by riding the waves.

Paskowitz is one of surfing's top gurus in America after first taking to a board 75 years ago. He and his surfing brood - eight sons, one daughter and a brood of grandchildren - have been dubbed the "first family of surfing", with premier US newspapers and magazines writing about them for years.

The medical doctor who has penned a book on "Surfing and Health" hopes his initiative will bring happiness and hope to both Palestinian and Israelis.

He hopes to organise surfing competitions off the Mediterannean coast of Israel and Gaza within the next three years in order to bring the two sides closer.

"We love to surf and we know how other people love to surf. There is nothing more fulfilling."

See:

Israel

Palestine


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Same Old Olympics

So what else is new.

Chinese activists and intellectuals have published an open letter to "Chinese and World Leaders" on numerous dissident websites demanding that China honor its commitment to respect human rights at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

For this reason they cannot share in any “pride” in China’s glory as the Games’ host country; for them, “these glories are built on the ruins of the lives of ordinary people, on the forced removal of urban migrants, and on the sufferings of victims of brutal land grabbing, forced eviction, exploitation of labour, and arbitrary detention.”

Regardless of where they are held, urban poor are displaced, developers rule and it's all glossed over in the name of Sport.

The Olympics are the ultimate reflection of the Society of the Spectacle.



SEE:

Scabs Cause Olympic Cost Overruns

The Curse of Bruce McNall

Pro Sports and Criminal Capitalism

Criminal Capitalism-Sports-Soccer

SKYDOME: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SPORTS

NFL IN TORONTO

As American As Apple Pie

The End Of The Leisure Society

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Soccer Not War

Once more the common people in Iraq make a poignant political point about the national solidarity created by sports. In this case the victory of the Iraqi Soccer Team winning the Asian Cup this weekend unites the Iraqi people as I pointed out the other day. Proving once again that sports are an alternative to war and a great national unifier.

"Those heroes have shown the real Iraq. They have done something useful for the people as opposed to the politicians and lawmakers," said Sabah Shaiyal, a 43-year-old policeman in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City. "The players have made us proud. Once again our national team has shown that there is only one, united Iraq."

Spontaneous celebrations broke out in religiously mixed Baghdad as well as in Basra and the holy Shiite city of Najaf in the south and northern Kurdish towns like Arbil and Kirkuk.

Fans cried and danced in the streets, waving their shirts in the air and hugging.

Soldiers with their rifles slung over their shoulders danced with ordinary Iraqis in Baghdad while children, their faces painted in the Iraqi colours, held up pictures of their heroes.

While mainly comprised of Shiites, the team was captained by a Sunni Turkman from Kirkuk — goal-scoring hero Younis Mahmoud — and also contained Sunni Arab and Kurdish players in a broad representation of Iraqi society.

In Baghdad's Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite slum, women threw sweets to gathering fans and poured water over crowds in sweltering summer heat.

"A thousand congratulations for all Iraqis," another fan said.

Television presenters, draped in the red, white and black Iraqi flag, dissolved into tears. One Iraqiya television reporter was engulfed by a crowd in Baghdad and re-emerged on the shoulders of chanting fans.

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Soccer Surge A Success In Iraq

It is not the U.S. Military surge, nor the Iraqi government, nor the Shia, Sunnis or Kurd politicians and imams, its not Al Qaida in Iraq, it is soccer that is a success and unifier in Iraq. And the irony is they beat the terror state Saudi Arabia, which funds the Sunni insurgents, in the Asia Cup.

So perhaps the U.S. congress should fund the Iraq Soccer Team instead of more money for Iraqi politicians and George Bush's surges. Certainly it is the only successful thing to come out of the Iraq war.

Iraq's triumph in the Asia Cup signals a soccer program rising from the ashes, even as the country descends deeper into civil conflict. The resurgence of Iraqi soccer is one of the few untainted pieces of good news to emerge from post-invasion Iraq. A powerhouse in the 60s and 70s, the national team faded in the 1980s as Iraq's young men were killed and maimed by the hundreds of thousands in Saddam Hussein's war with Iran. Saddam's son Uday vented his sadism on soccer players and other athletes, forcing them to kick immovable stones and imprisoning them in medieval torture devices. Says Abu Ahmad: "I can't express my feelings. We are so happy, those 25 men brought happiness and hope to 25 million Iraqis, the thing our politicians couldn't do."

Iraq knocks off favored Saudi Arabia to win Asian Cup

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Vroom Vroom

Seems that my and other bloggers comments on the Conservatives 'C' Car in the Canadian NASCAR races has raised hackles on the right; here and here.

They of course both fit the NASCAR profile of 'voters' the Conservatives claim to 'want' to represent.

63% of fans at the track and viewers at home are between the ages of 30-49.
69% of motorsports fans make between $30,000 - $75,000 a year.
74% are homeowners.
75% are males.

Running a car in NASCAR Canada is what we call advertising to the converted.

The 12-race series will likely attract about 70,000 people across Canada -- the only B.C. stop is Vernon -- with some additional viewers on TV.

"This is a unique opportunity for the Conservative party to reach out to Canadians," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a release.

NASCAR has a big middle-class fan base that the Tories want to get their message out to.

Immigration Minister Diane Finley says sponsoring a car is a way for the Conservatives to tap into that following.

A Conservative source said the goal is to reach middle-class voters who don't like current Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and have bad memories of Brian Mulroney's leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party from 1984 to 1993.

"We're targeting what we have termed the Canadian Tire voter. It's basically a middle-income house owner in suburban areas, regional centres and rural communities with a do-it-yourself mentality. These people in the past have often seen the Conservative Party as out-of-touch and elitist," the source said.

Despite its popularity in America, in Canada motor sports are still elitist, as are Harpers Conservatives.

This spring's budget served up a sprinkling of tax and spending initiatives for everyone from seniors to farmers, and Conservative strategists have identified a number of segments to target, such as the "Tim Hortons" crowd and the "Canadian Tire" crowd.

Greg Weston of the Sun makes a good point about why we should be concerned about this and other Conservative party political advertising. We pay for it as taxpayers, but the party is not accountable to the public for its spending, which even the boys on the right should be outraged about.

But so far, they have all missed the real question that should be of interest to the vast majority of Canadian taxpayers: Whose money is it, anyway?

If the NASCAR deal were being paid entirely by donors to the Conservative party, it would not be an issue to anyone but those who have coughed up the contributions.

But it's not a private party issue.

Thanks to the genius of Jean Chretien's banning of corporate and union donations, Canadian taxpayers now fund the federal parties to the tune of roughly $28 million this year.

More than $10 million of that will go directly into the coffers of the Conservative party to spend on pretty much anything it wants.

Add to that the tax deductions for individual contributions to the Conservative party, and probably close to two-thirds of the money in the Tories' overflowing till is coming from taxpayers' pockets.

And while NASCAR fans express their outrage over comments made about the Conservatives opportunism lets not forget that other little fact, this is a kick back to their pal Pierre Bourque who writes his headlines for them.

It turns out the party logo - a big blue "C" - appears on the hood of the car driven by Pierre Bourque, whose popular Internet news aggregator sells torqued headlines to political operatives.

Bourque's website confirmed the connection Monday, linking to a story by Inside Track Motorsport News that noted his Dodge Charger is the sponsored Tory vehicle.

Research on the business model for Bourque Newswatch suggests the federal Conservative party has just guaranteed itself favourable coverage for the foreseeable future by sponsoring Bourque's hobby.

Past and current Bourque clients have confirmed to The Canadian Press that advertisers on the site can expect flattering headlines or links, or headlines and links denigrating their opponents.

The Conservative party refuses to confirm or deny that it employs Bourque's headline service directly. But months of negative headlines and links to scathing blogs about Liberal Leader Stephane Dion on Bourque Newswatch indicate someone with an axe to grind is paying the news aggregator, which openly advertises its headline service for sale.

When the Conservatives announced the NASCAR sponsorship Sunday, they also neglected to mention the sponsored vehicle is driven by Bourque.

Instead, the party's news release referred to Whitlock Motor Sports.

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"C '" Car Go

Wow how far from the maddening crowd can you get.

The Conservatives are sponsoring a big "C" car in the Canadian NASCAR races. Of course in this case NASCAR is not nearly as popular as in the U.S. and is in reality an elitist pro sport in Canada, like Horse Racing. It has little of the popular support of other Canadian favorite sportslike Hockey, Football, Soccer, Baseball, Basketball or even La cross.

Motor sports fans are extremely brand loyal. Statistics show that motor sports fans are in fact the most brand loyal consumers of any sports fans in the world.
• Corporate Canada estimates 5.3 million (15.2%) Canadians attend Stock Car
Racing events annually in Canada.
63% of fans at the track and viewers at home are between the ages of 30-49.
69% of motorsports fans make between $30,000 - $75,000 a year.
74% are homeowners.
75% are males.

And of course the idea of appealing to white middle class males who follow NASCAR was a policy of the Bush Republicans in the 2004 election. So why should we be surprised that the Harpocrites in Ottawa have now adapted it for themselves. After all they are claiming to want to appeal to ordinary Canadians; like NASCAR fans; middle class, white, males.

The Conservative Party has shifted its advertising strategy into a new gear and slapped the party logo on a NASCAR stock car.

The big blue Conservative "C" made its debut Sunday on the hood and front side panels of car 29 of the Canadian Tire NASCAR series, the Canadian offshoot of the popular U.S. stock-racing circuit.

The Canadian Tire circuit only started last fall after NASCAR bought the CASCAR series here in Canada.

And so long time race driver, bon vivant, raconteur and self published publicist Pierre Bourque, sounds like Bjork, is the beneficiary once again of Conservative largess.

Following the lead of Tim Hortons, Home Hardware and Milwaukee Electric Tool, the white No. 29 car in the Canadian Tire auto-racing series now sports a big blue "C" on its hood and side panels.

Clever move. A 'C' car. Get it, 'C' car go.

NASCAR is new in Canada having bought out the CASCAR circuit last fall. CASCAR was in trouble lacking popular appeal after a decade and needed the support of NASCAR.

The 2006 schedule was very late coming out and key tracks such as Delaware and Race City are missing. The hoped for success and excitement with NASCAR® involvement has not materialized, with many feeling that perhaps their presence is hurting rather than helping. Major sponsorship is desperately needed before this series completely fractures and disappears.

Once again showing the Tories support American and Foreign takeovers of Canadian industries, though they will tell you that's not their message. Their message is they are winners of course.

Which may be hard to sell since Bourque and his 'C' car came in 13th place in Saturday's race at Mosport.

And remember the environment, and the Tories call for cleaning up air pollution. Well thats kinda hard to do when race cars still use lead gasoline which is banned in Canada, except for the race car industry, aviation fuel, etc.. Wonder if the Conservatives will continue the exemption since they have a car in the race.

Canada’s Gasoline Regulations have prohibited the production, import and sale of leadedgasoline since 1990. Gasoline for use in competition vehicles has been provided an exemption under the regulations. The current exemption expires on January 1, 2008.

Gasoline is the most common fuel used in racing. Both leaded and unleaded gasoline formulations are used in Canadian racing. For engines with high compression ratios, a very high octane gasoline is required to prevent engine knock (and resulting engine damage) and to maximize power output. Lead additives are used to achieve this high octane.

Leaded gasoline that is imported for use in Canada has reported lead contents ranging from 0.1 to 4.23 g/L. The Gasoline Regulations have reporting requirements for anyone producing or importing leaded gasoline. The reports indicate that there is no Canadian production of leaded gasoline for use in competition vehicles. In 2005, 1,160 cubic meters of leaded gasoline was reported
as imported for use in competition vehicles. This represents 1.1% of the leaded gasoline pool in Canada (the remaining is used for aviation purposes) or 0.003% of all gasoline produced or imported into Canada.

The estimated breakdown of leaded gasoline sales for racing in Canada is as follows:
stock cars – 15 to 40%;
dragsters – 40 to 50%;

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Not The Nations Team

Not after last nights loss. The Senators put it out there again but the problem is that they are not a 'Team'. There are a lot of 'i's on the ice but there ain't no 'i '
in Team.

It doesn't matter that by being in this years playoffs have been in more playoffs than the Leafs.

Well to the Leaf establishment and its fan base yes it does. They would like nothing better than 'that other Ontario' team to fall flat.

For example here is some so called analysis of the game. Do you detect a Leaf/Toronto bias?

History is against the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup final

June 5, 2007

By: CHRIS JOHNSTON

OTTAWA (CP) - It might be time to turn out the lights on the Ottawa Senators' dream season. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs have ever erased a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup final and these Senators don't have the look of a team about to join them in the history books. Ottawa thoroughly outplayed Anaheim in the first period of Game 4 on Monday night before going completely flat in a 3-2 loss. "It's hard to explain," said forward Mike Fisher. Indeed, none of the Senators seemed to have any explanation for what had just happened.

While ESPN, the Americans, report the same story like this;

The victory gives the Ducks a 3-1 series lead and the opportunity to win their first-ever Stanley Cup at home on Wednesday. Of the 28 teams that have taken a 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup final since 1939, only one has failed to win a championship and that was 65 years ago.

There is joy in Hogtown as the Senators appear to be flaming out. Our Nations team. NOT.

Which is unfortunate but exposes the Toronto domination of Canada's Sports media. After all its not called the Toronto Sports Network for nothing.

Toronto fans should embrace the Senators after all their team has not been in the playoffs since Canada's Centennial. Forty years. F O R T Y.

Despite all their wishful thinking, simulated video game victories, and Mike Meyers best efforts.






See:

Hockey

Shane Doan

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BQ and Team Canada

We owe a thanks to the BQ and in particular to the xenophobic nationalist MP Luc Malo who pushed the Official Language committee to look at Shane Doan's leadership of Team Canada. As Rick Nash said on OTR yesterday the team came together in solidarity with Doan when he was attacked by the BQ.

Off The Record - May 16, 2007

Michael Landsberg goes Up Front with Blue Jackets and Team Canada star Rick Nash.

That is what happens when you challenge the leader, the people unite behind him despite their personal views of him, such was the case when the Americans attacked Saddam and Iraq.

In this case of course the team already supported Doan, and this parliamentary attack solidified it. They went on to not only win Gold but to sweep the World Cup 9-0. A historic fact itself.

Thank you Luc Malo for your inspiring the team.

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Sharks=KAOS

So watching tonights game between the Sharks and the Red Wings, as we enter the third period are 2-0 in a series they dominate 3-2.

My assessment is the Sharks will lose. Why? Because the are all over the ice, no organization, sheer KAOS. As in Control vs. KAOS, from the old TV series Get Smart.

The Red Wings are in Control, the Sharks are KAOS.
And for the Sharks it is fitting that the symbol of KAOS is the California turkey buzzard.

See ya next season.


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Muslims and Christians Refuse To Play Ball

Hmm, I wonder if it was because the women priests wouldn't wear hajibs.

A soccer game bringing Muslim imams and Christian priests "shoulder to shoulder" on a field in Norway was cancelled Saturday because the teams could not agree on whether women priests should take part.

See:

Witches Play Mullahs To A Draw

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Radio Canada Blog

Well I made it to the Radio Canada Blog with my Shane Doan story, blogger Philippe Schnobb says;

"Un blogueur Albertain fait de l'ironie en comparant l'affaire Doan à l'affaire Dreyfus qui a divisé la société Française au début du 20ième siècle. "

I am joined by a link to the Save Shane Doan Petition blog produced by Adam Sobkow and a link to the World Cup site.



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J'Accuse

Canada's Dreyfus affair over Hockey. What foolishness. Luc Malo the BQ MP has made it his personal mission to be prosecutor, judge and jury in L'affaire de Sean Doan.

Parliamentary committee summons Hockey Canada

At the House of Commons Official Languages committee today he harangued and harassed Hockey Canada and Sport Canada officials refusing to believe them, when they said Shane Doan had not used an anti-French slur against a referee in the NHL.

"I mean it is not the first time that words like that are used against French players. That was almost a tradition and we should accept that? Never," Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois party, said.

No matter what they said Malo insisted they were wrong. His is a personal mission of scapegoating and political interference in the arms length operations of Hockey Canada. Perhaps his venomous misplaced attack on our national hockey team captain is the result of confusing Shane Doan with Don Cherry or Sean Avery.

Mr. Doan allegedly made derogatory remarks toward a French-Canadian NHL linesman two years ago. Mr. Doan has categorically denied making the comment and the NHL cleared him when it looked into the allegation at the time.

But some MPs still allege that Mr. Doan made a racist insult and wanted Hockey Canada to explain its decision to parliament.

Bloc MP Luc Malo aggressively questioned the hockey officials, saying the whole controversy is their fault and it could have been avoided if they had simply appointed someone else as captain.

He asked why they took the word of the NHL over the word of the linesman, who claims it was Doan that made the insulting remark.

The officials explained that Hockey Canada is a partner of the NHL and it is not about to challenge the NHLs jurisdiction or trustworthiness. They said the NHLs investigation determined an insult was made on the ice, but it could not be proven that it was Mr. Doan that said it, and so they see no reason not to have Mr. Doan on the team.

Could the BQ's real agenda be that they would like to see two teams in Canada, one from Quebec and one from the ROC. That was after all the official party line of the BQ in the last election as expressed by their Marxist Leninist leader Gilles Duceppe. One that Hockey Canada flatly rejected. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and in this case it is ice cold.

Bloc wants Quebec to compete in international hockey

When asked about a Quebec hockey team, the Bloc leader immediately rattled off the goalies who would be available: Martin Brodeur, José Théodore and Roberto Luongo.

"Today I'll announce goalies — tomorrow I'll give you the defence," he quipped yesterday.

Hockey world rejects Duceppe's plan

Kevin Lowe, assistant manager of Canada's 2006 men's Olympic team, doesn't think much of Gilles Duceppe's idea of entering a separate Quebec team in international hockey competition — and he has company in the hockey world.

Lowe, who grew up in Montreal and is fluently bilingual, flatly rejected the Bloc Québécois leader's proposal, which was unveiled Wednesday as part of his party's election platform.

"Those politicians should stick to politics," said Lowe. "If they want to come and apply for a job in hockey, then they can have their say."

Prominent lawyer wants a Team Quebec at the 2008 worlds

If lawyer Guy Bertrand has his way, Canada could be represented at the 2008 world hockey championship by Team Quebec.

Bertrand, who is again proclaiming his sovereigntist faith after embracing federalism for several years, said Thursday he wants Quebec's hockey elite to play a pre-tournament best-of-three or best-of-five series against players from the rest of Canada.

Up for grabs would be one spot at the 2008 world championship, which will be held in Quebec City and Halifax.

Bertrand's scenario would see some of the losing players allowed to represent the winning team at the worlds.

"When you look at Czechoslovakia, it split in 1992. Since then, Canada has won four championships, the Czech Republic won five championships and Slovakia one. Not bad for a country that split."
— Duceppe returns to the hockey sovereignty theme he broached earlier in the campaign.

The BQ contests only Quebec ridings. Apart from earning ridicule early in the campaign for his claim that Quebec national teams should be able to play in international tournaments for ice hockey and soccer, leader Gilles Duceppe made few new policy announcements. Election 2006: Canada changes government

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