Thursday, November 15, 2012

Jolly Hockey Sticks







It would be difficult for anyone who lives outside the bounds of Canada to conceive the amount of grief and frustration that is being currently endured by our populace.

The reason?  Why it is the season of the GREAT HOCKEY LOCK-OUT.

For six months spokesmen from the National Hockey League, representing the players, and their counterparts, representing the owners of the teams, have been involved in an arm-wrestling contest.

At stake is the division of over a billion dollars of revenue from T.V rights, sales of tickets, sweaters, T-Shirts and other stuff; a regular "who-gets-what"?

The players are wanting more than is being offered them;the owners say they are not going to get it.

 A classic stalemate has ensued and Canadians are forgoing their favorite winter pastime.... hockey viewing.

Don't feel too badly for these wealthy young sportsmen.
A close friend of mine, Brent Tremblay, a past member of the Washington Capitols, said:

"Ian, in my day we were just happy to have a chance to play the game we loved. To get a weekly pay check for doing it was a huge bonus. Now this generation of 'newbies' is squabbling over who gets the next million."

Thanks for giving us your perspective Brent.

Not being content with having the golden eggs they want to kill the goose that lays them.

History repeats itself.

Jubilate.

Ian

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Rothko or fiasco?




How about this painting of a Canadian lake in the fall?



Or maybe this early 19th century view of Niagara Falls.

One was sold for $75,000 and the other for $38,000.

Both will adorn some wealthy person's living room;scenes quintessentially Canadian.

But yesterday this Rothko painting sold for $75,000,000.








 It will be hanging on the walls of a wealthy lunatic's home where other lunatics can come and "ooh" and "aah".

Such is the 21 st century society in which we live.

Jubilate.

Ian



Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The new lexicon of the guilty.







It is  fascinating to listen to the confessions of top officials when their misdeeds and malfeance are uncovered.
In the lexicon of General Petraeus describing his sordid affair with Paula Broadwell, we hear such phrases as:

"It was a colossal mistake." "I was guilty of the worst form of judgment" or " It was a let down of my guard."

All of these carefully phrased 'Mea Culpas' could come from the lips of a quarterback in a press conference the day after losing the Super Bowl.

But in case you think that this scandal embroiling the General is all about missteps and mistakes ask the opinion of his wife, Holly.

She is both broken hearted and devasted by conduct involving her husband's lies, infidelity,adultery, denial and cover-up.

No words from a military lexicon are going to fool her.

After all, Holly was the daughter of the President of West Point Academy from which Broadwell and Petraeus graduated and where, planted firmly in the grass for all to read, is the dictum.

"WE ABHOR CHEATING, LYING AND INFIDELITY AND ALL WHO PRACTICE SUCH."

Jubilate.

Ian




Monday, November 12, 2012

Where was the general's chaplain?






King David had Nathan as his chaplain, King Saul had Samuel. Oliver Cromwell had the godly Richard Baxter to speak sober words to him.
King Philip of Macedon hired a Nubian slave to remind him daily that he was "but a man".

But where was the the chaplain of General Petraeus when the 'cutsie' Paula Broadwell arrived in his camp?

This woman, had he known it, was more dangerous than Osama Bin Laden.

She had never written a book before, yet she got into the general's tent with tight fitting pants and revealing blouses ostensibly to record the great man's success in Afghanistan.

But where was the general's chaplain?

In a situation fraught with danger, temptation and beguilment the chaplain, the general's spiritual armor bearer, failed to deliver warning and admonishment before it was too late.

When David crept into King Saul's camp and stole his spear and water pot while Saul slept, David shouted that Abner, his body guard, should die.

Maybe General's chaplain should hand in his badge and join his boss on civvy street. At the very least he ought to be disciplined for dereliction of duty.

Jubilate.

Ian



Sunday, November 11, 2012

Petraeus: another statue in the scrap-yard.




Whether bronze, marble or iron the statues of the fallen super-heroes usually finish behind the fence in the re-cycling yard.

General Petraeus is the latest. News broke on Friday that this iconic figure, past general in Afghanistan and current head of the CIA, had been carrying on an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

How quickly a hero becomes a zero.

 It turns out that the competing agency, the FBI, did a special probe into the General's behaviour.
His seamy relationship with Broadwell was judged to be a National Security risk and the whistle was blown.

What adds insult to injury is the fact that he and Broadwell had just finished producing a shiny, new code of behaviour called, of all things,  "Rules for living." . Not only so, but the good general was wont in time past to speak in strongest possible terms about the base conduct of men who 'philander'.

General. Stand to attention while your medals are removed from your chest. You have brought shame on the Petraeus name, demeaned your organisation, broken the heart of your wife and destroyed the Broadwell family, even as you were preaching from your book of rules.

Step forward all men who love their wives, hold down a job, do their duty, raise good kids, fear the Lord,look after grandma, help their neighbours and are real dads.
You get the medals.

Jubilate.

Ian