Olympic pats and FUs

Pats on the back to our Olympic athletes. Pats on the back to journalists who supported them. Pats on the back to Canadians who supported them.

FU to the journalists who did not support the athletes. FU to the government who could not give a rat's ass about our athletes. FU to Canadians who felt cheated by the athletes and NOT by their government. FU to the PQ for the flag flap. That bears repeating. FU to the PQ for the flag flap.

Did we do well? Yes we did. Could we do better? Yes we can. Can the government do a better job supporting athletes with subsidies and better and more professional facilities? Yes they can. Can Heritage Canada spend more on sport than they spend on Francophone summits? Yes they can.

Can Harper see beyond his limited horizon and realize that the Olympics are a chance to support our athletes rather than just making a statement about foreign affairs? I hope so.

'nough said.

Olympic support is a joke

Let me say right at the top that I know that our athletes in Beijing are trying their best. I know that there are only tenth and hundredth of second between first and fourth. Don't tell me that I do not support the athletes - because I do.

What I do not support is the way Harpo's government and many governments before this one treat the whole idea of Olympic sports.

Let me lay one fact on the table that seems to have eluded the bright spots on the hill. THE OLYMPICS ARE NO LONGER AMATEUR! The notion of amateur Olympics disappeared years ago, but no one in Ottawa noticed... or cared.

Kobe Bryant is in Beijing playing the same game that he gets paid millions to play. Roger Federer and Williams sisters are playing the same tennis game that they earn millions playing outside of the Olympics. Australia gives scholarships to athletes to spend time at the Olympic training facilities in Melbourne. I visited the Melbourne site a few years back and witnessed kids as young as 8 or 10 bouncing and flipping on gymnastic mats.

China identifies kids at the age of four and trains them at government expense until they win Olympic Gold.

Canada gives up to $20,000 to a very select athletes and tells them... good luck. By a very few, I mean that the maximum stipend goes to less than 500 Canadians. Most get little or no financial support. Those same Canadian athlete then go to their local olympic size pool to practice. NOT! Ottawa, the nation's capital, has no facility like this. There is no inside track facility (and don't try to convince me about the joke at Lansdowne Park). So off the athletes go to seek facilities in foreign territories where $20,000 is the cost of rent.

According to Sport Canada, they spend $23 million to support 1,900 athletes (that works out to about #12,000 on average). But the Sport Canada budget is over $111 million. Where doe the rest of the money go? Could it be to support an entire building dedicated to the beauracracy of Canadian sport? How about international travel for non-athletes to warm desitination in the winter months to view "best practices"? How about just pissing it away?

There is an article labelled news in the current Barrhaven Independent, the organ of the less-than-independent Con-sniffer, Jeffery Morris, that quotes the Perfect PP as saying "Olympic Games reflect Canada's achievements". How right he is... Canada hasn't won a gold, silver or bronze medal; or even Miss Congeniality.

Maybe the person at the right should be made head of Sport Canada?

Ice Cream for me

I decided to take the National Ice Cream Company to court to force them to make dog food flavoured ice cream. Being a Canadian senior on a fixed income, I have grown fond of dog food.

I have the Ice Cream lobby supporting me in this suit because, I suppose, it will make the lobbyists more money. I also have the CARP folks in my corner because, while dog food ice cream is not a popular flavour, they want more choices for their members.

Everything was going swimmingly until yesterday when I made a bit of a mistake. I demanded in my suit that, if the company did not produce dog food ice cream, they would have to cease production of all ice cream. That was when the wheels fell off my campaign. The lobbyists would lose their clients and CARP members would lose 50% of their calories. All of a sudden I was alone in my suit and shunned by my fellow CARP members.

Does this sound like a strange scenario? Compare it to what is happening with the Women's Ski Jumping lobby and the 2010 Olympic games.