Carry On Crosby

Another Sidney Crosby wardrobe disappearance case has been solved. For the second time in less than a year a Sidney sweater has been found missing from the Crosby family luggage.

This time it was the debut jersey of young Sidney fresh from his first NHL appearance in New Jersey last week. Sidney's Dad Troy had packed the jersey into his luggage Sunday for a trip from Pittsburgh to Buffalo, only to find his luggage partially open upon arrival and the historic sweater missing from the contents of the luggage.

The jersey was found two days later by a US Airways employee who discovered it at the foot of a stairway that is used to load planes. The jersey was placed in the care of a US Airways manager and is now in the process of being returned to the anxious father.

The latest sweater problem brings back memories of last January when a Sidney Crosby Team Canada jersey went missing at Pierre Trudeau Airport in Montreal. An investigation that time determined that a baggage handlers had stolen the sweater to give to his daughter. It wasn't long before the sweater was discovered and returned to Crosby, the baggage handler was fired over the situation.

Sweaters for Sidney seem to find a way of walking away. One piece of advice may help reduce the frequency of theft and perhaps even end it completely. Carry On baggage, no matter how sweat stained it may be, still in sight is the best policy. Either than or wear the things home at night.

The above posting first appeared on my HockeyNation blog, for more items about hockey check it out!.

Bud Selig and his crew are doe heads

So what sport in the world has its championship teams down to the final four and schedules them to play head to head?

We work our way through the Divisional finals quite nicely with a double header, even a triple header. Now we get to the League Championship series, the final four teams in quest of the World Series championship and they schedule both the American and National league teams to play at the same time.

Uh, not to make things to complicated for the Bud and the folks at Major League Baseball, but scheduling either early and late games or playing on alternate days might help boost your television viewership.

UNICEF tries a new approach

With Halloween almost upon us, the little orange change boxes for UNICEF will once again be trotted out for your pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies and toonies. It's an age old tradition that goes back to when I went trick or treating back in the day, a few treats for me, a few coins for UNICEF, a few more treats for me.

It was a nice way to feel like you were making a contribution, raising awareness and getting a message of caring for the children of the world out to your neighborhood. But apparently the gentle approach just doesn't cut it anymore.

UNICEF has just released a media campaign to raise awareness that presents a dark and horrid future for the little ones, using the Smurfs those Blue Belgian creatures of cartoon fame, UNICEF goes for the heart with a vignette of death and destruction.

In the commercial currently on the air on Belgian TV (click here to view a version of the ad and get some background), Smurfette is left for dead. Baby Smurf is left crying and orphaned as the Smurf's village is carpet bombed by warplanes. A scene of Apocalyptic horror designed to bring attention to the plight of ex children soldiers. The theme is to highlight the horrors that some children face in places we don't tend to give much thought to.

It certainly is an attention grabber, with little Blue creatures left for dead, others left orphaned destined to wander the forests of Smurfland on their own. Officials at UNICEF claim that the commercial has provided many hits to their official website with Belgians seeking out more information on the UNICEF programs.

I'm not sure if the Smurf campaign will be an effective tool in raising awareness or funds. Sometimes shock value can have the opposite effect on the audience it's designed for. Not to mention that fact that smart ass teens and some parents may not actually mind seeing little blue Smurfs blown to bit.

One thing is certain however, the times have certainly changed. Gone are the mushy feel good spots about making a difference. With the Smurf campaign, UNICEF's fundraising and public awareness has definitely gone down a long and different path from those little orange boxes of my youth.

With no particular direction to go

Another disaster and yet more questions for Canada's disaster response officials. The weekend earthquakes of Pakistan and India have reportedly claimed over 35,000 lives, left countless hundreds of thousands homeless and changed entire villages forever.

At 7.6 on the scale, this one has been classified as a major event, some thirty aftershocks have rattled the area since the main event of Saturday, reliving the fear for those that survived. A widespread call for assistance has been issued by the Pakistani President and many countries have stepped up to offer aid. And so far Canada has made a lot of noise but little tangible effort. In a replay of the Southeast Asian Tsunami of Boxing Day, another disaster hit on a Canadian Long weekend and that only seems to spell trouble for any kind of comprehensive response by Canada. It seems that everyone is out of the office and no one has the phone numbers to stir the nation to action.

Originally 300,000 dollars was suggested as a sufficient amount to drop in the donation box. Quickly upped to 20 million dollars when the optics became a bit poor on the initial amount. Now 20 million is nothing to sneeze at, it's a generous display of concern even if it appears to have been picked out of thin air in a moment of political panic. Perhaps some officials reminded the government that there were votes to be lost in the homes of Canadians affected by the disasters in their home countries. In fact the Prime Minister is to meet with the Pakistani community in Ontario today to explain what Canada is going to do and express his condolences. Good for him for making that gesture, though I always look for ulterior motives with politicians these days, my cynicism cup runneth over I'm afraid.

While the financial aid will no doubt be welcome and is the least we can do, the real question remains why we never seem to provide boots on the ground as they say. Now keeping in mind that our military forces are rather thin at the moment with other ventures including a rather concentrated effort in Afghanistan, but one must wonder why our much vaunted DART unit never seems to leave home. This dedicated unit to disaster relief would seem tailor made to be sent to areas such as the recent flooding of New Orleans and Mississippi or now this latest disaster, but again the containers stay packed and locked in a compound at some Canadian Armed Forces base.

It seems that we have a transportation problem with our Armed Forces, we don't have the necessary lift potential to take our good intentions to where they need to be placed. We also are rather short staffed when it comes to the actual personnel to go to disaster zones and lend a hand. Consecutive decades of neglect has left our Armed Forces stripped of its ability to respond, this is no criticism of those that serve valiantly, no doubt frustrated at the expectation that the job will get done without the proper backing.

Time and time again our political leaders will trot out the old chestnut that Canada stands ready to take its place in the world, to step up and help when the call comes. Then when we receive the call suddenly the cupboards are bare, the gas tanks empty or the mission not practical. Eventually someone is going to ask just what exactly is an emergency that the DART unit could be used for and what it might take to send it someplace useful in a timely manner.

I'm reminded here of our recent efforts in the Hurricane ravaged Gulf coast, we took longer to get to the disaster zone in travel time than we actually spent doing good deeds. When we arrived there was not much in the way of work for our troops to do. So it was back on the ships and heading north for home as another Hurricane was heading for Texas. Fortunately the damage to Texas wasn't as terrible as expected, yet it could have been much worse. Why our ships weren't placed on station in the Gulf ready to head for stricken ares after the first hurricane is beyond me, there did seem to be enough warning there. Once on station in the Gulf, we could then have gone on to Texas for the next one, we were down there anyways, but instead we were steaming back home. Again this is not to criticize the folks doing the heavy lifting in our Armed Forces they truly want to help, but it seems there is a dis-connect from the will of the troops and the planning and financial contribution of the politicians.

International Co-operation minister Aileen Caroll, was quick to head for the microphones stating that Canada's financial contribution puts us in the lead of the G8 on a per capita basis (a quaint term of bafflegab, that makes us look good cause you know were not the big kid on the block). But she said there were no immediate plans to send DART to Pakistan, however we may send Bill Graham there to take a look for us. I'm sure the folks digging through the rubble are just waiting for Canadian politicians to show up on the scene. Hope he brings a shovel!

Far too often Canada seems to be playing catch up on these things, we tend to scramble to react, rather than take effective and decisive action when its required. The press releases are flying from Ottawa, once again we're leading the world in patting ourselves on the back, while at the same time not exactly breaking our backs with anything resembling tangible labour.

Blinking at the Deathstar

An interesting article in the Globe and Mail (registration required, but its FREE!!) caught my eye today, Canadian broadcasters have asked the CRTC to delay it's review of conventional radio while the industry comes to terms with the new landscape they are working in.

Radio has been tied to the railway tracks for years now, watching the approaching train get ever so close as newer forms of media come along and split the pie that they once had to themselves. Every once and a while the business has a renaissance and then slips back into a comfortable groove, smaller than it once was and significantly further and further away from what once made it an integral part of a community.

The latest threat to your local radio station (according to local radio) is satellite radio, which the industry tried to keep out of Canada in the last few years trotting out the old song that it would cause irreparable damage to Canada's cultural fabric. Somehow confusing local radio commercials and a mandated 30 some odd percent of Canadian music as a glue holding the country together. In fact, the threat to local radio has been local radio itself.

The CRTC found some backbone and stood its ground, granting licenses to operate satellite delivered radio to a couple of major players in the field. Despite the grumbling of the CHUM group which lost out and a bit of cultural sabre rattling from Quebec, the two competing services, Canadian satellite Radio and Sirius Radio are still working on their plans to bring the newest gadget to Canadians in time for Christmas. Some small changes were made to the bids to satiate the parliamentarians on the Hill, but for the most part it seems that the proposals made earlier are still the ones to come to receivers shortly.

Satellite radio is basically niche programming on steroids, numerous formats all delivered with CD like sound, many without the interruption of commercial message. Though others won't be much different than what many in the larger centres have today, except the programming will be available to anyone willing to part with the money for a receiver and a subscription. The key players in this pay radio thing are numerous sports leagues and high profile talents like the much discussed, feared and at times loathed Howard Stern, though to date there's no actual suggestion that the Stern show will be allowed to beam down to fragile Canadian ears. Stern may not make the bandwidth (my bet is he will), but there will be many other options previously never explored in Canadian media.

The whole Sat radio thing seems like a convenient excuse for current broadcasters to shake their fists at the sky and scream Damn CPR or some such current equivalent. They can't get their heads wrapped around the idea that their world has changed and actually changed a while ago. The age of the internet provides anyone with a computer browser, a sound card and a pair of speakers the chance to listen to stations from anywhere in the world. The likes of the BBC, Radio Eire and Radio Australia all put their excellent options on the net. Numerous private stations such as Radio Paradise all stream their programming on the net, easily accessible and quite enjoyable. Sports fans have no shortage of streams to chase down to follow their favorite sport or team. Even the CBC has an internet only service called Radio 3. There's pretty well something for any interest out there if you want to take the time to search it out. Each hour listened to is one hour less that your local station has of your attention. And one less hour that its advertisers will have of your spending potential.

I live in a town with technically four "local" radio stations, a CBC affiliate that kind of broadcasts a morning show from here, though it shares the show with a host 700 kms away in a different city. They touch on local issues, but its a wide region they cover and two and a half hours doesn't give them much time to keep everybody happy (of course the last six weeks or so they've been gone completely, but that's another story.) Our other AM station is supposed to be the local station, however it long ago began broadcasting out of a central studio in a city an hour and a half down the road. They apparently have a local reporter who sometimes provides local stories for the chain and rumours persist that there is a local radio guy in town who goes on the air, but to be truthful I stopped listening a long, long time ago and wouldn't be able to testify that I've heard the guy or gal.

We also have two FM stations in our market both of which also broadcast from another town and only come to our city for remotes, where the station pretends to be part of the community by dropping by some local business for three hours or so. To say we have a thriving local radio station, that is deeply concerned about our community and is tapping the pulse of the place is just not a truth. What we have is a company that comes in here with sales reps and takes commercial dollars away while not serving the community in a very tangible way.

And ours is not the only community with this kind of arrangement. With radio having downsized itself over the last fifteen years, this scenario has repeated itself time and time again across the country. Mother ship studios provide the content for numerous towns, occasionally sending some announcer out on the road to show the flag. Automation has reduced the human contact and bean counting has reduced the visible presence in most towns. The big cities have been able to fight off the concept thus far, though automation has taken root there and recently the simulcasting of "network" shows in local markets has begun to take away blocks of programming from the local market. The best example of this has been a once mighty CKNW which has been a mainstay of Vancouver radio for years, now slowly the Vancouver audience is finding that local issues are being sidestepped for a more "national' vision, as the Charles Adler show took over the 1-3 slot. It's apparently an experiment, but who knows if its not the thin edge of the wedge.

The major and minor players in Canadian radio say that the oncoming rush of satellite radio will fragment the Canadian market, but that Canadians will always want local product. Which is probably quite true, but sadly in many markets it isn't provided. Playing a tight rotation of the same old songs over and over again, utilizing automated voice tracking with no local flavour, reading PSA's as the only local involvement offered up, while airing the odd newscast and running local commercials, is not quite keeping the pulse of the local market. Eventually more and more choice will have listeners voting with their fingers, clicking from pre-set to pre-set looking for something worth listening to.

To go back to my local market for just a bit, Twenty years ago there was more or less a full service radio station here. They had four on air announcers, three news people who found local stories to relay, a sports guy that went out and covered local sports as if he was covering the Lions or the Canucks, commercial copy writers and sales reps that lived in this town and understood the market. Today they're all gone, the station lives on in call letters only, the afore mentioned newsie and possible on air person providing a sliver of content. But to call it a service of local importance would be folly. The difference between that station 20 years ago and what we have now is like night and day.

Now to be fair and upfront the town has gone through a rather severe economic contraction, as near to a depression as any town in Canada, yet there are other markets in similar economic distress that have managed to keep a local comprehensive radio service in business. Our market was abandoned by the chain that owns the license, the news reporter is basically lip service for license maintenance. But that's all ancient history now. Yes some people still listen, but with more and more choices to come, the numbers will continue to erode away as people seek out a more reliable barometer of the local community.

Now about that change, the fear of satellite radio seems rather silly as there is so much more out there now and on the way that will have a much larger impact. Perhaps one day a co-op radio option may arrive in our town, but that's really old time thinking. More likely is some new form of media. I wouldn't want to be banking on anyone under the age of thirty being a dedicated local radio listener here or anywhere, with Ipods that can hold over 1000 songs or more, MP3 players in cars and homes, the idea of waiting for your local radio station to play a song you might like seems like a quaint old tradition. One the old folks harken back to when they talk about the good old days. Podcasting is still in its infancy, but it's making huge gains every day. New podcasts pop up each hour, some good, some awful, but all offer a choice. If local radio continues on its current path, where safe is best and cost cutting is the religion, and the local community is treated as only a vat of revenue then the alternatives will soon find a ready audience.

Even the large cities will not be able to stem the flow of the new media experiments. Satellite radio is really only one small piece of an ever changing spectrum of options. Your average listener may one morning load up their Ipod with a dozen podcasts of their liking, some put together by local guerilla journalists not encumbered by corporate chill. They'll then select a collection of their favourite songs for the day from their own library or download some for ninety nine cents at itunes, maybe download a chapter from an ebook that they have wanted to read, a seminar from a well know speaker or last night's Jon Stewart show or Letterman monologue, the possibilities are endless. Your favourite blogger may have a podcast, perhaps you'll take a half hour of his or her thoughts on the way to work. Click, click, click, your local old media outlet suddenly has no one listening.

Local media will have to compete, but if the last twenty years is any indication they won't really be up to the task. They have taken the easy way out for far too long, taking their audience for granted because the competitive options weren't there. That day has apparently changed forever, no wonder they want a delay of three years for reviewing the industry. The industry of today most likely won't even be in place by the time the CRTC calls its meeting to order.

The stations that today say they aren't worried are only whistling by the graveyard. As the old spiritual goes, People get ready there's a change a comin'.

For the listener it's a day of celebration as they will soon have the power to choose what they want for entertainment and information. For creative folks with something to say, it will be like a revelation, the new era of communication will make your voice heard by more people than you ever thought possible.

But most importantly for those radio and other media outlets that have shown nothing but contempt for their audiences and communities, it's more of a day of reckoning! The train is getting closer, one wonders if they can get off that track one more time? Do they even know how to get off the track? More importantly, do we the listener even care anymore?

Update: As though to re-inforce my point about new technology the folks at Ipod today announced an upgrade to the current Ipod players, this one will offer video, so instead of just listening to your favourite new tune you can view the video to it. Plus, ABC has signed a deal to offer up current episodes of its prime time lineup, the two mentioned in this article, were Desperate Housewives and Lost. Hmmm, Desperate and Lost, two terms that come to mind for certain head in the sand broadcast executives!

Happy Thanksgiving

For those of us above the 49th, today is our Thanksgiving, so take time to give thanks for the country we were fortunate to be placed in. While there may be many things we don't like about the governance of the country from time to time, we should never lose track of the Big Picture. There are no doubt millions, perhaps tens of millions that would only wish to live in a land of plenty such as ours. In far too much of the world our freedoms and shared beliefs are just a dream or fantasy belief. Think of how many today wish they could change places with you or I and share in the bounty of this truly blessed land.

We have the right to vote, to earn a wage, to join a union or association of like minded people. Free from tyranny there are no limits on our potential and no chains to hold us in place. For every little nit picking thing we might find about this country, there are far more great things that make us the envy of a good portion of the world. When trouble arrives, for the most part we can counted on to stand up and do the right thing, many times to the detriment of our own self interest.

We should strive to make ourselves better each and every day, but on this day we should take the time to be thankful for what we have and what we can and shall achieve.

Enjoy your turkey with all your trimmings, dive into that pumpkin pie and over indulge in the spirits of the season if you must, but try to remember those that may not be as fortunate and make the step to offer a helping hand. This is the time to celebrate the harvest and to plant the seeds for improvement over the next year. There is always room for improvement, but it won't come unless you and I step up and do our part to make our corner of the world better than it is today.

Send someone your best wishes on this day of food, friends and celebration, a simple click and a few words will help you share the tidings across the nation.

Marital bliss nailed at the blue line!

With the NHL season officially underway now, reports of hockey widows suddenly being abandoned are becoming more and more common. Rather than Don Cherry, perhaps a second intermission feature with Doctor Phil might help bring the two sides together!

The above posting first appeared in my HockeyNation blog, for more items about hockey check it out!

The Gift of Conservatism and other tales

Rick Mercer nails it again, his latest blog entries zing the zingable and bring a chuckle to the poor trodden upon Canadian proletarian (not to be confused with a Rotarian I guess). I've enjoyed his work from the days of 22 minutes, through the highly entertaining Made in Canada and most recently with his Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday whateverdaytheCBC wants Report.

Mixed emotions on his return to TV soon, probably means he won't dedicate as much time to his blog, then again at least it gives us a reason to find our local CBC affilliate in the multi channel universe. God anything please other than the Antiques Road Show.

Check out his tales on entertaining the troops and vexing Valeri!

The power of the puck

For Canadians weary of the reruns of Coronation Street, Antiques Roadshow and other imported epics from England, the return of the NHL hailed the end of the CBC lock out. With money on the line and a population getting nervous about missing out on the sage meanderings of one Donald S. Cherry, the management of the CBC and the Media Guild have cobbled together an agreement to end the labour dispute.

With days counting down to the debut of a new year of Hockey Night in Canada, the Liberal government brought the two sides together and instructed as to the wisdom of settling their differences, preferably before the puck would drop at 7pm EST on Saturday.

And thus with the power of a puck, Hockey and the rest of regular programming will return to the CBC. No CFL like silent movies for the Hockey fan, it's full programming ahead this Saturday night. CBC management put about a million dollars in the pot to ensure that technicians report to work early to make sure the show goes on as scheduled. Peter Mansbridge and friends can now get back on the payroll, because hockey is back, the risk of losing the single biggest money maker the network has evidently secured a deal.

Seven weeks went by, and while a few folks probably missed their diet of Canadiana, the nation seemed to get by just fine with other options, that is until hockey season started, then we noticed, and with that so did the politicians. Suddenly an agreement was within reach, a settlement arrived and Ron, Don and the rest of the gang are back to work this Saturday.

The power of the puck, it may be mightier than both the sword and the pen!

The above posting first appeared in my HockeyNation blog, for more posts about hockey check it out.

Slowly back to the blog

Hmm, lets fingers on keys, click, click, click, yep words still come out.
Well who knows, I lost my way to the basement and the computer, couldn't put two words together that made sense and just plain ran out of things to say for a while there. It happens from time to time, the need to punch out a few lines just wasn't there. Not sure it's even back yet, but I figured I had better just sit and write for a while before my brain and fingers both atrophied at similar speeds.

And since I'm not getting paid here, figured there was no pressure to meet a deadline, nor any cheques to cash. So for now I'm back, to the dozen or so folks that once and a while browse these pages I'll try to at least make an appearance on a more frequent basis.

Some days I have a dozen things run through my head that might be blogworthy other days nada, zip, not a thing. Seem to have run into a month of that, man I hope that doesn't happen again for awhile. I'd like to say I was so busy with other things that I just couldn't make it to the computer, but that would not be totally honest.

And while in my absence, the world seemed to move along its path quite nicely without me, I'll stick my nose into its affairs from time to time, I hope anyways.

Flight of the Stumble Bees

There is apparently a fascinating documentary that has just wrapped up on the French and English CBC in Quebec(which is for some reason a distinct society all to its own and thus not embroiled in the current nastiness of the rest of Canada English networks, but I digress), which has raised more than a few questions about just how close Canada came to being Quebec-less in the last referendum of 1995.

Now perhaps this little tempest in a cathode ray aired in English Canada (outside of Quebec), but as I've all but given up watching the CBC whilst the two sides gnash and wail at each other, I'm afraid I'm out of their programming loop. So if it aired, my apologies to the folks at the marketing dept., but if it did air and nobody knew about it I'll take back my apologies and suggest that cost saving measures take place in promotions.

At any rate the Documentary which was called Breaking Point, or Point de Rupture is all the talk in Quebec and suffers the silence of the Lambs in Canada where the CBC has a hard time keeping the Antiques roadshow on the air, let alone translating a controversial program from their French language counterparts. One of the key components of the documentary besides the glaring math that we were less than 40,000 votes away from two nations is the suggestion that the Feds had no back up plan whatsoever. Jean Chretiens' nephew, Raymond, who at the time was the ambassador to the USA from Canada, reminisced about a dinner with his Uncle where he asked for some talking points for the Clinton White House should the Sovereigntists win the day. As Raymond puts it, suddenly I realized that we had no plan B. Apparently realizing what he said and how it sounded to the cameras, he gave a slightly different interpretation for the French language version, which as you can guess ended up on the cutting room floor. The producers preferring to utilize his English version and the drama of a government terribly adrift and incapable of cobbling together a worse case scenario exit plan.

Things were apparently so bad that even a political coup was considered to relieve the beleaguered Chretien from his travails. English Canadian cabinet ministers were concerned that Chretien was incapable of not only winning the referendum but more importantly that there would be no one in place to represent the rest of Canada in the follow up negotiations. It would seem that only Mike Harris (God Help Us!) and Frank McKenna were contemplating how to approach the potential fissures approaching the nation.

But by far, one of the more interesting conspiracy theories floated in the series involves the state of the Canadian Armed Forces and how they would be utilized or tasked in the event of a positive vote for sovereignty. The producers strongly suggest that Federalist forces were so unsure of the outcome of the vote, that they voted with their wings in the days prior to voting day. Effectively removing every CF18 in the province, sending planes out of province from their Bagotville base. In a scenario that kind of reminds me of the early days of the first Gulf War back in 1990, Canadian pilots were according to the producers, apparently moving their planes to South Carolina and Virginia of all places, much like Saddam's ancient warriors headed for Kuwait (or those with poor navigational skills Iran). Of course the idea that Canada was bugging out was quickly quashed by military officials, who stated that in fact, the fighters in question from Bagotville went to the States as part of a pre-arranged military exercise called Hornet's nest. An interesting name for an exercise and indeed just what many of these stories from Breaking Point seem to be stirring as more and more reports come out.

In a province and a nation that seems super sensitive to anything to do with National unity or disunity, the documentary is just another little chapter in the ongoing war of attrition.

However, if there is a suggestion of truth to the idea of moving our assets out of Quebec when times get tough, perhaps the Federalist forces can be a bit more disingenuous next time, if God forbid there is a next time. I suggest that if there is yet another referendum for us to suffer under, we move Sea King helicopters and less than sea worthy Subs INTO Quebec, that should do more than enough to save the day for the Federation!

Reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated

Lots of egg on the face over at CTV Newsnet as the cable news channel which at the moment has the genre all to itself, managed to kill off Lucien Bouchard without the former Premier and Bloc Quebecois king passing away.

As Mike Duffy launched into a wonderful eulogy of Mr. Bouchards contribution to political life, someone whispered into the Duffs ear that uh, ooops, ole Lucy is still around.

CTV then managed to chuckle their way to commercial and went on with their regular dose of endless loop news coverage, edited of course to omit the exit of Bouchard from our mortal coil.

Now to make things worse for the folks at CTV, the crew at Quebec's Radio Canada are livid with them for suggesting that the Death notice was filed by the Quebec broadcaster. Management at Radio Canada say they issued no such advisory today and wonder how exactly CTV managed to screw up so badly.

A fair question no doubt, but even more alarming for the folks at CTV is the idea that they need to scalp news (incorrectly as it turns out) from other media sources and run with the story without in house verification. As things began to hit the fan the finger pointing and harrumphing began in earnest!

Over at the CBC, things were a lot more relaxed and error free. With no actual live programming making its way from the National or Newsworld, countless dozens of Canadians could sit back and enjoy the antiques roadshow uninterrupted.

The public network which is now into day number 26 of the great network lockout managed to avoid embarrassment due to the fact that there's no one around to watch the other channels, let alone to do some reporting of their own.

With CTV looking sheepish these days it's advantage CBC News and they're not even on the air!

Hey Ralphie Boy, they've got their eyes on you!

Good Luck selling this plan to the folks in Alberta!

Man would that be recipe for the de-confederation of the federation! Not to mention an instant jump in the price of gas to the stratosphere as the rest of the country all of a sudden loses it's main supply of the evil fuel!

Suspect if this is a trial balloon it just popped before it got into the air.

Als hold aces after NFL cuts released

The final cuts from the NFL could stock the Alouettes for years to come. With the NFL rosters about to be set for the start of the season teams made their final cuts of training camp. On the short end of the list were four Canadians, three of whom find themselves on the Montreal negotiating list.

The Alouettes may find that Jesse Palmer's name jumps out at them, the Als who have never really been able to find a suitable insurance policy for Anthony Calvillo, now find Palmer available as the New York Giants let the fourth year Canadian go on Saturday. If ever there is a city that the "bachelor" might find appealing it would be Montreal, perhaps the Als should send him an invitation for a night on the town.

Pass catching could also be a strong suit for the Als as Jerome Paython was issued his release by the Seattle Seahawks, making him the second Canadian released by the Hawks who earlier in camp terminated Jesse Lumsdens NFL experience early.

The purge of Canadians continued in Seattle as Ken Carter a running back from Toronto was informed that the end had come. Carter was mostly used on special teams in Seattle and did not see much action in the backfield. He now can contemplate his football future and should his thoughts turn to Canada he will have to think Montreal, the Als hold his rights as well. The exodus of Canadians from the NFL camps this week makes Als GM Jim Popp probably the most prescient GM in the CFL today!

One other Canadian got his pink on Saturday Brett Romberg a centre with Jacksonville cleaned out his locker and is looking for further football projects, somehow Montreal missed his name as his CFL rights belong to the BC Lions.

Perhaps Wally could give Jim a call and work something out.

The above posting first appeared in my Twelve Men on the Field blog, for more items about Canadian Football check it out!

Voices

It may be a little late in the situation for listening in, but for those that want to get the pulse of the people of Louisiana talk radio seems to be serving the need.

The radio stations of New Orleans and all of Louisiana have combined many of their forces, you can listen in to the reaction of a people seemingly abandoned for the most part. Click the station link below, you may have to download a file and play the station through your media player as the on air link doesn't always work. When you get the station you will hear many emotions, at times the dialogue is fascinating, at times heartbreaking and at times the anger jumps through your speakers and grabs your attention.

http://www.wjbo.com/main.html

A couple of hours later you too may be mad as hell at the promises of help that seem to be not much more than rumours of help!

On the nose, on the money

As New Orleans suffers under its fourth day of misery the apparent incompetence or unwillingness of the US gov't to engage in the crisis is staggering. All day watching CNN one heard correspondent after correspondent all but scream (and Anderson Cooper and Jack Cafferty actually did) where the hell is the help. Cafferty especially seemed to reflect the angst of Americans with his well placed anger at those supposedly in charge.

There is no better explanation of the mess that seems to be Homeland Security than this from Slate, there will no doubt be many other editorialists ready to wade in, but this one article from Slate does it in concise and frightening simple terms. It's a must read and should be made compulsory reading for those politicos that spent the day patting themselves on the back and thanking each other for doing what appears to be nothing!

Guess they're sick of her around the house!

When Christy Clark left provincial politics in British Columbia, there wasn't a dry eye in the house, she stepped aside from the daily grind of governance because she wanted more time with her family. She especially was concerned about not being a part of her sons life in ways that she would like. Who couldn't admire her stand to put family ahead of ambition, leaving the highest of positions in government to keep guard on the family home. Priorities that seemed to be right in tune with the times.

That was less than a year ago, so one can only assume that like any parent having spent a summer vacation with the kids enough is enough, it's time to get back to the adult world, well sort of I guess. Clark is coming back, this time as a candidate for mayor in Vancouver, the apparent penultimate launching pad for those that would be Premier one day. Having put in some part time work in that other political launching (or is that landing pad) of talk radio, Clark has kept a pretty high profile of late for someone looking to spend time with the family/

Ms. Clark has tossed her hat in the ring with the NPA as candidate to replace the Senate bound Larry Campbell, a guy that she apparently really, really respects. As Clark said "if Larry was staying on as mayor I wouldn't be running".

But Larry isn't running for mayor, he's running towards the Senate in Ottawa, perhaps urged on by Clark's husband, Mark Marrisen who is a political fixer in BC for Prime Minister Paul Martin. Interesting possibilities that one offers up, hubby puts a bug in the PM's ear, PM offers the mayor the Senate and Christy steps in to fill the void at City Hall. Considering the many branches of the Clarks into the Liberals it's easy to see how Conspiracy theories can run like water here.

What remains to be seen is how the folks in Vancouver will react to Ms. Clark's candidacy, considering her current residence is in the burbs of Port Moody and nowhere near the neighborhoods Vancouverites call home.

Will she be running for the long haul? Or merely as a stepping stone to the job many pundits feel she truly wants that of Premier of British Columbia. She's a smart student of BC History and the last few occupants of the Premiers office have begun their path to Victoria through the electoral process of the Vancouver mayoralty.

She will make the race for mayor a much more interesting affair than what was shaping up, but she brings with her some serious baggage from her days in the Gordon Campbell cabinet, her battles with the teachers and the events in Humans services will find her facing some serious opposition in the bare knuckle ridings of Vancouver.

She's a high profile candidate no doubt, but will she have both eyes on the job at hand should be successful or will she be keeping an eye on the career path of Gordon Campbell, how she answers that question could go a long way as to whether she'll be back to being a stay at home Mom at the end of November!

Katrina leaves me with a loss for words

There are many questions I have right now, how such a humanitarian disaster can seemingly go on and on without end, with no clear indication that the powers that be have any idea what to do.

Why the world's richest, most advanced and most militarily equipped nation in the world somehow doesn't have the proper resources at hand to deal with a human tragedy is puzzling. Knowing how ferocious this storm was going to be, one wonders why military and social services weren't pre positioned closer to the impact zone before the storm came ashore. But that's for another day.

I wonder how the best of some people can be so overshadowed by the worst of others. Again one day perhaps we'll understand how instead of pulling together things degenerate into every person for themselves.

And of course there is the always at the top of my mind question. Why a God would allow such things to happen over and over again? The horror of the gulf coast must surely test the faith of the strongest of believers!

Many questions, no easy answers. But probably right now isn't the time for questions and finger pointing anyways. Instead we offer up our prayers, thoughts and hopes for a return to normalcy one day for all those so horribly affected by the events in the Southern USA this past weekend.

The visual evidence provided night and day tells us more than we can possibly process. May those suffering today be delivered from their tribulations very soon.

Two bananas short of a Republic?

The uneasy tidings regarding Canada's newest Governor General nominee continue to leak out from Quebec. And for those that actually still feel any attachment to the Vice Regal position it's a rather worrisome time to be a monarchist.

Michaelle Jean, the Quebecois film maker and broadcaster tapped by Prime Minister Paul Martin to replace Adrienne Clarkson, continues to find herself in the high heat spotlight. Interestingly enough, it's separatists that are suggesting that the Governor General designee may not be one to take an oath to the Queen all that seriously.

Quebec media and bloggers alike are abuzz with all sorts of contradictory information about Madam Jean and her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond's political leanings and past expressions of sovereignty passion.

The Prime Minister for his part is sticking to his guns, stating that the government did a thorough job of vetting her application, investigated all paths and are firmly convinced of her dedication to a united Canada.

Personally the GG's position is not one that I give a great deal of thought towards, there are far more important things in the country to be concerned about. However, one must admit a bit of envy towards our American neighbors. I don't normally find many things about their system of governance that I like, but the nomination process for high profile government positions is one we could certainly take a look at. Compare the process for selecting a new US Supreme Court Judge and our little hand picked lottery winning for GG and well, I think we would be well served to set up some committees for closer looks on all government positions.

For many Canadians our days as a Constitutional Monarchy are pretty well numbered anyways, a growing number of Canadians seem to think that once Queen Elizabeth leaves the throne we as a nation should set aside our Monarchist ways and evolve into a more Republican form of governance. A position I tend to agree with these days, however, I certainly don't think we should speed the process up by placing anyone in the Queens employ who might not actually be inclined to respect the boss.

A more thorough investigation of the Jean appointment is certainly called for. The announcement a few weeks ago was more in line with a patronage appointment, rather than a solemn appointment of the nation's touchstone with the throne.

Then again if the nominee is truly a sovereigntist it might possibly all be a misinterpretation of terminology. Perhaps the PM only asked Madam Jean and her husband Mr. Lafond if they wish to represent the Sovereign in Canada. It quite possibly may have been something they wished to associate themselves with eh, a little Sovereignty Association for two, it's not all that an uncommon idea in Quebec!

1, 2, 3, 4 we declare a thumb war!

And now a pause in the hostilities over Hans Island, as the Danish government has said that they will refrain from planting a Danish flag on the contentious island.

The Danes had tasked a navy ship off to the far side of Greenland to offer rebuttal to Canada's latest visit to the island, when defense Minister Bill Graham stepped upon it's rocky shores and made one small step for Canada, one large step for Danish anxiety.

The Danes and Canadians intend to discuss the issue later next month when the respective Foreign Ministers meet at the UN, while the Hans Island debate won't be the material of Security Council deliberations, the two ministers hope to find some common ground when they meet outside of the regular meetings on major UN issues.

So for now, the Canadian flag is flying on Hans as the Danish flag has suffered severe weathering over the last year, with the Danish flag squad put on hold Hans will remain uninhabited for the foreseeable future.

The Mice that roar will go back to their respective corners and try to find a way out of the world's loopiest territorial dispute in a long time.

A few acres of rocks
A few acres of snow
The two sides will talk
Perhaps now common sense will come to this show!