Gold

Due to this darn flu and a few complications, I haven't been able to follow the paralympics the way I did the Olympics, but here are some photos.
Lauren Woolstencroft wins Canadian gold:


Canada's Greg Westlake celebrates after scoring against Sweden:


Irek Zaripov of Russia celebrates after winning gold during the Men's 2.4km Pursuit Sitting Biathlon:

What is the matter in Quebec?

The Quebec Immigration minister tells Muslim women:

If you want to integrate into Quebec society, here are our values.

Mean-spirited, petty, divisive, cruel, anti-women -- yeah, I'm sure people can hardly wait to move to Quebec these days to share values like those.

Great line of the day

Steve V notes that four out of five Albertans hated Harper's idea about changing the words of the national anthem:

Nice one chess master. Renaming Calgary International Airport to 'Trudeau Rocked' International would have garnered more popular support.

It is to laugh

What a ridiculous way to write a school curriculum.
And if you asked these Americans which country was the most advanced in the world, they would say "ours". Because that is what their teachers have been told to teach them.

Flu

Sorry for the lack of posts -- I've had a horrible flu since Wednesday and finally starting to feel human again tonight, sort of anyway.
More soon.

Good news

One more reason to hope that health care reform in the States is approved.

Other shoe

Last week Atrios made this perceptive observation

I'm really not sure how we got from we don't torture, to that torture stuff we do isn't torture, to anyone who opposes torture hates America. Apparently that's where we are.

I have no doubt that a similar pushback on Canada's Afghanistan outrage will be coming as soon as the Cons can move the dialog from defense to offense. I think we're already seeing the beginning of it when Harper implies that continued questions from the Liberals and NDP on what the Cons knew about prisoner toture is acutally an attack on the public service.

Anonymous sources

Glennzilla has a great post about anonymity in journalism and why it is bad journalism. Here's the paragraph which should be framed and posted on every newsroom's wall:

In very limited circumstances, anonymity is valuable and justified (e.g., when someone is risking something substantial to expose concealed wrongdoing of serious public interest). But promiscuous, unjustified anonymity -- which pervades the establishment press -- is the linchpin of most bad, credibility-destroying reporting. It enables government officials and others to lie to the public with impunity or manipulate them with propaganda, using eager reporters as both their megaphone and shield. It is the weapon of choice for reporters eager to serve as loyal message-carriers and royal court gossip columnists. It preserves and bolsters the culture of secrecy that dominates Washington -- exactly the opposite of what a real journalist, by definition, would seek to accomplish . . . . In sum, petty or otherwise unjustified uses of anonymity is the hallmark of the power-worshiping, dishonest, unreliable reporter . . . . As Izzy Stone put it about the Vietnam War: "The process of brain-washing the public starts with off-the-record briefings for newspapermen. . . ."

Asteroid-denial

So now those scientist guys think an asteroid killed the dinosaurs.
But what do they know anyway?
'Cause some guy sent some other guy an email or something, so of course that proves Gary Larson is right after all:

Another great week for the Cons

First they are embarrased into dropping the national anthem pander
And we find out they have now formented an international scandal over their ham-fisted decision-making at the Rights & Democracy. (A story Dawg has been doing a brilliant job in covering, by the way.)
Finally we find out that Finance Minister Flaherty spent $9,000 on a government jet -- one way -- so he can go to London, Ontario for a photo op in Tim Hortons to tell Canadians we have to tighten our belts.
And his office piously tells reporters that of course Flaherty is taking an $800 commercial flight back to Ottawa -- while apparently the jet flies back, for another $9,000, empty.
Gee, Jim, please don't try to save us any more money, we can't afford it.

Surprise!

All of a sudden, we find out Saskatchewan owes the potash companies $200 million dollars.
The Jurist concludes thst Saskatchewan Finance Minister Rob Gantefoer is either lying or incompetent.
I vote for all of the above.
And I'll bet Wall is rueing the day he abandoned the resource equalization lawsuit.

Caught

How stupid does Citizenship and Immigration minister Jason Kenney think Canadians are?

Mr. Kenney told the group that gay rights had been "overlooked" when the [citizenship]guide was being prepared. . . .

Liar

Canadian flag bearer

The huge flag that the Canadian team carried around after their win on Sunday belonged to a superfan from Regina Dave Ash

“I was stunned. We'd just won the gold medal, and they used my flag as a symbol of what they'd won,” said the 55-year-old Regina tour operator. “It was incredible.”

Thirty years ago Ash also invented the Rider's mascot, Gainer the Gopher.

Crosby's Wikipedia entry hacked by bears

TBogg supplies this screen shot of Crosby's Wikipedia entry from Sunday afternoon.
It describes his winning goal and then someone added:

Then a pack of wild bears stormed onto the ice and ripped him apart.

but the editors have taken it out -- party poopers!

Some memories of Vancouver 2010

Triumph.


Despair.


Cheering.


Protest.


Argyle.


Disaster.


Uppity.


Smart.


And I want one of those flying moose.