Kick at the Darkness

I just booked my tix for the sweet 16 round in Syracuse. Go Badgers!

Again, at the same time Carleton just won the CIS championship (congrats by the way), but without the passion and desire of the NCAA (in the stands), which is too bad because the passion and integrity on the court is about the same.

I am really excited to be at the games (UNC/Villanova, Wisconsin/NC State) and to really soak it in. I hope that Canadian students some day get the chance to feel that excited about their own teams.

Riding along Ottawa's transit way on Friday I overheard a cell phone conversation. A male teenager, obviously talking with his mother about some grave injustice done unto him by his parents. Not news.

As the call went on, the tone became ever more hostile, finishing up with "F--- You Bitch".

That kid is going to regret that for the rest of his life. Some things cannot be unsaid, and there will be a time when he realizes that. Youth is wasted on the young I guess.

The baseball steroid hearings have proven a couple of things:

• Baseball players are not good witnesses. They stammer, they avoid, they deke and they NEVER take on the questioner.
  
• The congressmen and women on the Government Reform Committee are grandstanding. They blew off the stories from families whose kids have died, possibly due to steroids, so that they could get the 'real' story from pros. They seemed to be poised to at any minute.... ask for an autograph.
• This could never happen in Canada. This would require not an afternoon of testimony but an $80M inquiry. For all its tawdriness, the US system beats our ability to look into things quickly.
• Congress needs to formalize its oversight of baseball. Given the anti-trust exemption, it seems fair that congress can keep an eye on things. But a different hearing every day, by a different committee is no way to get anything done. (Of course assuming that actually getting anything done was ever the point.)
  

It seems the world is in an uproar over Bush's last two major appointments. Wolfowitz for the World Bank and Bolton for the UN. The most impressive part of the uproar is the surprise. Bush, for all that he has done wrong, has done one thing well. He has been consistent, even predictable.

Ann Coulter for Chief Justice? Maybe, I mean why not? He has kept things close to his vest and made appointments based on his judgement only and not based on the thoughts of the political class. Does that make them good apppointments? Of course not! They are idiotic, but decry their idiocy and not their unpredictability.

Quebec's Supreme Court rules that the Quebec rule regarding the yellow-ness of margarine is OK. Great. I was hoping to be protected from the chance that I might mistake corrupt, foreign margarine for my laine pur butter. This rule presupposes a few things:

• Quebeckers are stupid. The gov't seems to think that Quebeckers can't tell the difference between margarine and butter and thus have to institutionalize the colour difference.
• Quebec's dairy industry is helpless. If the industry needs government intervention to prevent colouration, do they really have an industry or just a lobby group?
• Protected industries are strong industries. This of course is a long held concept in Quebec and one that results in it having among the lowest productivity levels in North America.

Of course none of the presuppositions above are valid. However, they continue to be invoked to hold Quebec back, economically.

Had you heard of Bucknell before they beat Kansas? Probably not. Millions are infinitely more likely to know about Bucknell now that they have won a game at the Big Dance. In Canada? Does anyone know about that St. FX is in the semis, or that Carleton is still the favourite. Does anyone know where St. FX or Carleton are located? I bet if we didn't push the CIS with one hand behind our backs they would. I'd really bet they would if Carleton was in the NCAA tournament. On campus, sports matter. We continue to blow this one.

The tories were better off split apart. They got more votes, they got along better and they did not have to pretend. Poor (albeit fetching in a metallic power suit) Belinda Stronach. She tried to pull the party back from the social conservative-whacko precipice only to be outshouted by Elsie Wayne. Tough break Belinda. Stay hot.

The other consistent element of the convention seemed to be whining farmers. Asking for a constitutional amendment to protect property rights, and more aid. "We have to help our farmers" the assembly decried. Why no outcry for the demise of the family corner store? Perhaps the family hardware story? This family owned business is among the most heavily subsidized in the world, and they still demand more help, while at the same time demanding independence through property rights amendments. Free markets are great, but they have to be in place even after a hailstorm. Either all the time, or not at all farmers. Pick one.