British Open golf - C'mon Watson, win one for us old warriors

Regular readers of this blog can be excused for thinking that the only thing I really care about is politics. While I do admit to being a political junkie, I do in fact have other interests.

One of those interests is sports, both playing and watching. I've played hockey, baseball, basketball, a bit of rugby and some football. I used to play a decent game of tennis and I've even tried curling on one occasion.

But the sport I'm going to be focusing in on for the next couple of days is golf, specifically the British Open. I haven't had my sticks out for a couple of years now, but watching Tom Watson these past two days has me thinking about cleaning them off for a go at the driving range.

Why am I finding this year's British Open so captivating? Well...naturally there's the thrill of watching the world's best golfers challenge for the claret jug at the birthplace of the game. But its more than that this year. This year its about Tom Watson, 59 years young and leading after play on Friday.

Its not just about Tom Watson the golfer, its more about Tom Watson the metaphor. No matter what the sport, I've always enjoyed watching the aging warrior, reaching back into his bag of tricks, trying to sneak one past father time.

I was in Exhibition Stadium the first game knuckleballer Phil Neikro pitched for Toronto. He was somewhere around 48 years of age, up on the mound trying to confound hitters with a flutter ball. He was picked up late in the season by the Jays in 1987 as a fifth starter. That night at the old ballpark something like 40,000 fans showed up to watch him work. I remember him being quoted in the paper the following day, saying something like, "I can't believe that many people came out to watch an old man throw floater balls".

But they did, for the same reason that many people will be drawn to the British Open on Saturday and Sunday if Tom Watson can stay in contention.

Why are we so fascinated? I think the reason is simple, its because we're all mortals. The moment we draw our first breath is the moment we start dying. I don't mean to sound morbid, that's not my intent. But we're all 'on the clock' as it were. Trying to squeeze as much as we can out of the time we have on this Earth.

Seeing someone of Tom Watson's age, competing with men much younger...some old enough to be his grandchildren, its exhilarating. If Tom can do it, dammit so can I...and you, and you, and you. Sure he has an artificial hip, and maybe he hasn't won a major championship in something like 30 years. But maybe...just maybe.

Logic dictates that this is just an aberration, that reality will eventually set in during the final two rounds. But life isn't always logical, sometimes life is spiritual.

The human spirit operates beyond the calendar, it can soar in a 90 year old and whither in a teenager. Age isn't everything, that's something we all know but have trouble believing. You hear it all the time, "age is just a number". But numbers are real and tangible things, and very hard to ignore. Can Tom Watson ignore his age over the final two days?

Golf is a physical game certainly, but more than most other competitive pursuits, its a mental game. Can this ancient warrior forget about his birth certificate and summon up the spirit to contend and possibly win come Sunday? I think he can.

I've played sports, and there have been moments when everything just clicks. When the brain shuts off and its like you're watching the game as an outsider. But its you making an unbelievable pass, a brilliant deke, a perfectly executed shot. That's the spiritual aspect of sports, when you connect with something and find yourself doing things you didn't think you physically could.

Tom Watson seems to understand that, he's quoted as saying that the spirits are with him this year, and I think he's right. I know my spirit will be with him, along with many others. Forget the numbers Tom, just play the game.

For those of you who aren't fans of the game of golf, but who read to the end regardless, I'm going to leave you with a little treat. Its a video of Robin Williams explaining the origins of the game of golf. Chances are anyone who's ever played the game has seen this clip, but if you haven't its priceless.

PLEASE BE ADVISED, THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANITY.


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Now is the summer of Harper's discontent...

Ahhhh summer! A time to kick back and relax, weekends spent at the cottage or camp site, burgers and hot dogs on the bbq. A time to leave our problems behind as we bask in the warm sun.

Stephen Harper's summer got off to a glorious start. Michael Ignatieff had backed himself into a corner by threatening to topple the Harper led Conservatives. The Bloc and NDP were on-side....the puck was on Iggy's stick, all he had to do was shoot. But then the leader of the official opposition back tracked, deciding to cycle the puck rather than taking a shot on net.

It made Iggy look weak, his protestations to the contrary notwithstanding. He'd threatened the governing Tories with defeat if they didn't address his concerns. Harper said no, but tossed a small bone to the Liberals in allowing them to sit in on discussions about the future of EI. The summer was looking almost perfect for Conservative supporters.

Stevie was off to Italy for the G8 meetings, a chance to look all Prime Ministerial on the world stage for the hosers back home. A stop at the Vatican to visit the Pope would make for a great photo-op. All was going according to plan. Soon the Liberals would be knocked back in the polls, the result of Iggy's failed ultimatum and Tory attack ads making the rounds.

Why did that priest have to offer him a communion wafer at Romeo Leblanc's funeral? In fairness to the PM this should really have been a non-issue. Did he eat the wafer or pocket it? He says he ate it, okay. But doesn't he know communion in the RC church is only for confirmed members? Why wasn't the priest properly instructed? Okay, there was some damage....but like a rainy day in July, you know the sun is coming out soon. And besides this wasn't a downpour, more of a light drizzle.

Then the heavy rains came, and kept on coming.

Toronto's Gay Pride festivities received $400,000 in stimulus funding. Big deal. Well...for Harper's Religious Right base this is a very big deal. Backbench MP Brad Trost went running to a socially conservative news service to assure the Bible thumpers that the government wasn't going to let something like this happen without there being some consequences. Diane Ablonczy, who was handling the file, had her responsibilities stripped for handing over the cash according to this Saskatchewan MP.

Out the window goes all the effort at appealing to Canada's moderate urban voters, nice job Brad. It reeked of the old Reform/Alliance days when Ontario proved a wasteland for Canada's conservative movement. Worse, it makes the Harper Tories look like a house divided against itself. You can just picture Liberal strategists salivating at the prospect of western reformers and eastern progressives within the party gouging each other's eyes out.

Okay...okay, its been raining for a week now, but surely the sun is coming out soon!

Sorry Stephen, the next gaffe was all your own. A misattributed quote caused our pit bullish Prime Minister to froth at the mouth in front of the world's cameras in Italy. Harper couldn't resist the opportunity to attack Ignatieff over comments made by some academic...only thing was, the academic in question wasn't Ignatieff. Even if the words had been Iggy's, the G8 conference was no place to launch a partisan attack. The fact that the words weren't Ignatieff's only made matters worse.

Talk about Chevy Chase 'Vacation' type material. I doubt many would have blamed our Prime Minister if he packed up the station wagon and headed back home. Strap Aunt Edna to the roof and don't stop driving til you're back at 24 Sussex Steve.

Thankfully he got a bit of a reprieve from the republicansforignatieff website, but not much. Tom Flannagan chipped in by calling the Liberals a bunch of whiners. Maybe, just maybe the sun would finally come out?

Uh uh....the rain keeps pounding.

The press is full of economist projections about how the Conservatives are managing the economy, and the projections aren't good. While finance minister Jim Flaherty was busy trying to tell the street that "all is well", others like Dale Orr of Economic Insight were backing the words of Kevin Page, parliament's budget watch dog. Page is warning Canadians that the deficit the Tories are plunging us into will be systemic, that we'll be stuck borrowing billions for years longer than Flaherty is projecting. Even TD bank's chief economist is on side with the Mr. Page in snubbing Flaherty's numbers.

Now there's talk that Harper may or may not be making a stop in Canada's north. It was reported a few days back that the Prime Minister would be heading up to Nunavut. The purpose of the visit being the announcement of a northern economic development agency for the region. Now it seems the trip is up in the air according to CBC reports, with nothing having been confirmed.

Who can blame the poor guy? I can just see Harper chastising his caucus right now.

"Can't I go away for a couple of weeks without you guys wrecking the place? Yes, I know I screwed up when I blasted Iggy back in Italy, but I wouldn't be so damn edgy if you guys weren't giving this country's liberal press so much ammunition".

Go up north Stevie, take the wife and kids. Lock the liquor cabinet and put duct tape over all your member's mouths. And if you're asked to eat a raw seal heart....you're on your own. These days, you can't win.

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Stephen "Deficit" Harper - What a Joke

Yet another Stephen Harper commitment has gone the way of the Stanley Cup in Toronto.

Sorry to pick on the big smoke's hockey fans, but they can likely identify with Stephen Harper's supporters. Loyal Tories want to believe their leader's promises, every bit as much as die hard blue and white puck heads want to see Lord Stanley's mug make another trek down Bay Street. And while the possibility for both always exists, realists know that chances are slim....at least in the foreseeable future.

During the 2006 election Harper promised Canadians in the strongest possible terms that his government would never, "NEVER" tax income trusts. It would be a crime and an assault on the retirement plans of seniors we were told. Yadda, yadda yadda....thanks for the votes. We all know what those strong words were worth.

Then came the promise of fixed election dates, with legislation to back it up. But our Prime Minister wasn't serious about that either. The law had about as much backbone as Harper's caucus, and so we were back to the polls yet again in October of 2008 so 'Wonder Boy' could try again to get his majority.

And let's not forget the senate, long a lightening rod of dissatisfaction with many western voters. Harper had pledged to leave empty seats vacant until the chamber could be reformed. Steve stuck to his guns for a couple of years, then caved faster than Mike Duffy on a hunger strike. Not only did the PM stack the senate, he broke the record for most appointments in a single day.

Which brings us to recent news. We all know that Conservative pledges about keeping Canada out of deficit are long gone. The PM did talk a good game for a while, but with the global economy tanking, Canada had as much chance of keeping the books balanced as Jim Flaherty has of completing a tomahawk dunk on the basketball court.

Okay, there's going to be a deficit...we've had them before. How big and for how long? Those are the questions being asked right now. For a while Harper and company did a good job of keeping a straight face while spinning the numbers. $35 or so billion this year, then slowly dropping until we're back in surplus in another 5 years.

Hands up everyone who believed those assurances? Put your hand down Flaherty, I can barely see it anyway. No Ms. Raitt, this isn't about a new "sexy" cabinet posting for you...please sit back down.

The news just keeps getting worse if you're concerned about seeing your tax dollars going to debt repayment instead of actual services. The figure this year has been revised up to $50 billion, and Harper and company have given up trying to fudge the numbers. Instead of returning to surplus in another 5 years we're looking at 10 years or longer of continued deficit spending.

Its all over the news:

• Financial Post: Deficit plan 'leaves much to be explained': Orr
• CBC News: Deficits could remain until 2019-20: economist
• Bloomberg: Harper’s Plan Would Give Canada a Decade of Deficits, Orr Say

And that's just a sampling of what's out there today.

So its back to the Trudeau/Mulroney years, watching more and more of our tax dollars going down a black hole. Instead of bolstering health care, improving our military, building infrastructure or helping out vunerable citizens....we're going to be seeing more and more of our money being used for interest payments. Lovely!!!

Harper has laid out his vision...just read the news. He won't raise taxes, or cut services...no he'll just keep hoping the spending limit on the nation's Visa card gets lifted higher and higher. Great plan.

Harper is trying to get re-elected in the next election, the Leafs are hopeful of sneaking into the playoffs. Canada deserves sound fiscal management, the same way long suffering Leaf fans deserve a contender. The Leafs finally got wise and turfed a lousy GM after too many screw ups, its time for Canadians to do the same with this PM before he does even more damage.

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The New Canadian Catch Phrase - "Stephen Harper Is a Joke"

Like most Canadians, in the last election I did not vote for the Conservative candidate running in my riding. I was with the majority in rejecting a party led by a man who's politics and partisanship run counter to the way I would like to see my country run.

I believe my judgement has been vindicated, all I have to do is pick up a newspaper.

Harper embarrassed Canadians by using the world stage as a pulpit to attack a political opponent, over things that opponent never even said. The Conservative finance minister is definitely out of his weight class in fighting this recession. Jim Flaherty's deficit projections don't last a month before they're being revised upward. The Prime Minister surrounds himself with ministers like Mme Raitt, she who thinks people having cancer treatment delayed is 'sexy'. And a competent minister is hung out to dry for funding an event that the Religious Right finds offensive.

In short, Stephen Harper is a joke. And that's how I think ordinary Canadians can help bring both him and his government, down.

Harper and the Conservatives have succeeded in reducing Canadian politics to a game of branding, buzz words and catch phrases. Ignatieff is 'just in it for himself', Dion last time around was 'not worth the risk'. Well here's the buzz for the next election....

STEPHEN HARPER IS A JOKE!!!

Practice it. It rolls nicely off the tongue doesn't it?

Now that we have the phrase, its time to look at putting it in the minds of voters. Do the opposition parties need to spend wads of cash on media spots to drill it into the collective conscience a la the Conservatives? Nope, we can do it in a more cost effective way than that my friends. All we need to do is scan the news when we're surfing.

You know all those stories reporting on our wonderfully inept Prime Minister? Whether its serious or mundane, weighty or fluffy. The ever increasing deficit, or Stevie missing another photo shoot. Wafergate or breaking a promise about stacking the senate.

When we find yet another on-line article or opinion piece showing Harper in a negative light, SHARE IT!!! Hit that little button or icon after the article and post it to your Facebook page, tweet it to all your twitter friends, put it up on Myspace. Use social networking like its never been used before.

And when introducing the news to your friends, family and acquaintances through all this wonderful social media....put in your own little comment. STEPHEN HARPER IS A JOKE!!!

It would be nice if Harper and his Conservative lackeys would indulge this nation's citizens in serious conversation about the issues. Sadly that's not to their liking. Tories seemingly prefer branding over brainstorming, slogans over serious debate. And with their war chest and a bevy of supporters willing to put up endless websites and such, its time for those of us who've tired of this small man to beat him at his own petty little game.

The plan is simple for the majority of Canadians who didn't vote Conservative. Read the news, then remind everyone that STEPHEN HARPER IS A JOKE!!!

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