Friday Night Blogging

I'm going to try writing something each weekend to share with you. You may have noticed that there is a place to comment on what I have written at the end of each post. Until I find out how to get you online yourself, please feel free to say and post what you will, not just about my post, but about anything that is important to you.

It does not have to be school-related. Share with us what is of interest to you. Please use a pseudonym. You can send your real name with the moniker to me later via MAIL in WebCT. Remember you can do this while you wait for the pizza guy, your new best friend in Thunder Bay, to deliver the goods to your basement hovel. But I digress.

The weather is too cold and nasty to support any meaningful outdoor activities, for which T. Bay is justifiably famous, thus we are relegated to staying indoors and creating mini works of genius on our laptops while we wonder how much longer this lousy weather is going to continue. If it wasn't for my head cold, I would have gone to Lac des Mille Lacs this weekend for ice fishing with a few of my fishing buddies.

I don't really like ice fishing; it's too hard to troll and search for the ever elusive walleye (pickerel to Canadians), but I do like the company of my friends and a Breeze or two into the bargain. Did I mention how damn cold it gets out there on the lake? Luckily my friends have ice shacks right on the ice. This is good for me because basically I'm a wimp, and I don't like the really cold weather.

This weekend I will mark lesson plans, read student responses to work they were to read for class, check my WebCT for student comments and finish reading "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley. It is a wonderful novel about farming in the American heartland. In fact, it won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1991.

The Iraq/Iran? War

“The Iraq War”
I’m presently watching “Meet the Press” with Tim Russert and presidential hopeful and ex-Senator, John Edwards. I like Edwards; I’m not sure I trust or like Russert. I find him to be an equivocator and a tool, and I mean a ‘tool’ of the Republic Party as well. They are discussing Edwards’ position on the Iraq war at the lead up and the early years of the war. Edwards has been forthright about his mistake about his early support for President Bush and the war. He continuously and fervently and honestly, I think, apologized for being dead wrong about his support for these abysmally prosecuted and pathetically weak excuses for starting the war in the first place.
As I’ve said before I am intrigued by American politics; I’m also thoroughly alarmed by them too. It would appear that our friend (yours and mine), President Bush, will be taking his Iraq war on the road to Iran. It is just not Bush, of course, who is pursuing this disquieting route to hegemony in the Middle East. He has lots of company, led by, the de facto, president of the United States, Dick Cheney and his disturbing band of neocon nutjobs. Bush, as usual, allows himself to be propelled along these disastrous courses but makes sure he does not miss one of his workout times; priorities, you know.
I really believe as these scary events unfold that we, the international community, are witnessing the demise of the American empire. George Bush has almost single-handedly brought American power and prestige to its knees. Pretty impressive, you must admit, for something he has been able to accomplish in less than six years. This incurious, indolent man has supervised (I’m not sure if that is the right word) his country’s remarkable destruction right before his too-close-set eyes. For all intents and purposes, Japan, and especially, China own America. The Americans owe hundreds of billions of dollars to each of these creditor nations. Because Bush refuses to tax the rich and the super rich in America, he must pay for his Iraq war by borrowing from these two nations. The children and certainly the grandchildren of present day Americans will be left with this huge bill to pay. But Bush does not care, by that time he will be dead and universally acknowledged as the worst American president ever!
An interesting, and even more disturbing aside to all of this is the posture of the Republic party. They have circled the wagons on this war and are steadfast in their support of Bush, their leader. The Republicans, who have shown an interest in running for president in 2008, have to a man continued to mouth the GOP talking points; it’s as if the disaster that is Bush/Cheney never happened. It is clear, at least to me, that the Republic party will continue to bow to the most extreme and wingnuttery flanks within their party. They will attack mercilessly and without any sense of decency anyone and everyone who dare disagree with their policies and their divisive and purely partisan planks in their platform.
In this they will be ably supported by a compliant and lazy national press and FOX News, as well as certain high profile newspapers throughout America. Until these Americans realize how disastrous this cozy and inherently evil partnership continues to cripple American government at home and abroad. The key word here that explains too thoroughly, I’m afraid, is the greed that is the basis for the Republic party and too many people who share in this short-sighted and wrongheaded policy.
In other words, it will be the same old, same old. It is too clear that the Republic party has no intention of changing, nor has it shown any sense of learning from all their mistakes in government the past six years. That they will elect no one to office in two years is a clear and present possibility. Just remember what Brian Mulroney did to the Progressive Conservative party of Canada in the 1980s. Did they not have but two members for the entire country? They could have, and perhaps did, caucus in a phone booth.

Blogging

(begun on Sunday, January 14, 2007)

Blogging

I’m very much into blogging. I read approximately 40 blogs a day. I rarely, if ever respond, however. Perhaps I should, to hone my weak and moribund writing skills. I really need to get back into the writing game. There is no excuse for me not to give a minimum of 30 minutes a day to writing – 30 minutes a day, every day. This can easily be added to my less than robust schedule. It is what I like to do; it is what I am good at, but it is also something I have to do regularly. I have to find a way (like I did with my Monday Memo work at St. Pat’s lo those many years ago) to find a niche for my particular kind of humour and my particular bent of mind, twisted as it might be.
I really cannot explain why all my blogs are American and that they all deal with American politics, particularly national politics and, even more particularly, deal with the presidency of one George W. Bush. It is not unlike how I used to devour the Canadian newspapers when Mike Harris was Premier of Ontario. His bullying, ham-fisted ways made him an easy target for my vituperativeness and my venting of spleen. Thus with Dubya as well. His sheer incompetence, his indifference, his indolence, his stupidity are without parallel. He truly is not only the worst president ever; he may also be the worst politician ever! He is that egregiously dreadful.
Perhaps it is because I am drawn to train wrecks that I follow so closely the workings, the machinations of incompetent blowhards. It is the distinct pleasure I get from knocking their silk top hats a kilter with a well aimed snowball (verbal projectile). There is something deep inside me that wants to expose and punish those who would use their power and wealth to punish those who are less fortunate and less favoured than they. It makes me feel good, not superior, to bring down the high and mighty as they try to use their influence and position of power to look after their rich and powerful friends. I cannot countenance that kind of naked abuse of power and privilege; it makes me see red and attack these types verbally and in print. It gives me a feeling of doing something worthwhile and edifying.
Which leads me to the distinct possibility of beginning my own blog, alas; I would be forced to dabble in American politics from a Canadian perspective. I’m sure Americans will be less than thrilled to have a Canuck, a left-leaning Canuck at that, lecturing, opining on American politics. The right and its extreme wing, where all the most outrageous and vile nutbars and neocons reside, would be in a righteous uproar. I would learn two things for sure straight away: blog honestly and competently and develop an extra layer of Naugahyde skin for that toughness so necessary for political battles in America.
A considerable problem with having my own blog would be the tremendous amount of time needed to attend to its growth and maintenance of a solid, albeit Canadian viewpoint. The more I think about this the more I like it. One problem for sure will be the fishing season; I would need to have Internet access at Pine Point or I would have to impose upon Bill and Kris to use their Internet in the office. This may be dicey because they might be Republicans; ooohh… I shudder at the thought of using their good graces and offices to impugn and rail against their party. Although I am quite sure I will find some very easy Democratic targets to zero in on as well. One thing about politicians in Canada and the United States: they will never cease to not provide fodder for my particular grist mill.
It’s interesting that I began this column talking about blogging and how much I enjoy reading them, but that I do not respond very often, and now I’m talking about starting my own blog where I would be writing reams and reams of verbiage – all of it brilliant, of course. Of course.

Detroit Red Wings

“This Year’s Wings”
Monday, January 29, 2007

We have passed the halfway point by a bit now and my Wings continue to struggle in rather strange ways. Our defensive play is without a doubt superb. Mind you it has to be superb because our goaltending is satisfactory at best. I just do not trust the abilities of Dominic Hasek or Chris Osgood to carry the load. We are still the best team in the league to support the puck and make crisp, accurate passes all over the ice. What surprises and vexes me is our inability to finish off splendid passing plays with goals. We lead the league most shots on goal and least shots allowed on goal.
I think that is pretty significant and speaks well of much of what we do well, but these fancy plays and dipsy doodle passes and moves do NOT result in goals. We have to be able to put teams away for good. Yesterday’s game against Colorado was a clear example of our problem. We absolutely dominated that game from start to finish, but with six minutes left in the game we were leading 1-0; we outshot them 38-10. We had multiple chances to score throughout the game, yet we did not, and it wasn’t because Jose Theodore, their goalie, was playing so well. Too many of our shots get blocked or we miss the net altogether.
Both Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg should have at least 30 goals each, given the many, many chances they get. They have less than half that amount. Why? When they are on the ice with Thomas Holmstrom, usually, they absolutely dominate any other line (with the exception of the San Jose Sharks) a team the Wings really have been dominated by. I’ve never seen a team in the last 15 years that have clearly outplayed us in every way as have the San Jose Sharks. They have two goaltenders that are clearly superior to anything we have, and when the playoffs begin this becomes crucial, absolutely crucial.
So what are we going to do? We don’t have the wherewithal that I know of to pick up a first rate goaltender. We don’t have one down on the farm and we have never drafted goalies well. We are also rather small and light. The Sharks really do push us around; not only are they big but they are also fast too.
Presently I’m watching our game against the New York Islanders. I’ve been impressed by the Islanders quickness. DePietro, their goalie, has been solid. We are down 0-1 on a goal 22 seconds in. We just got overwhelmed in our end. Hasek was not at fault. We had 4 power play chances; we had a lot of excellent chances, but blocked shots and poor shooting, as usual, kept us off the scoreboard. We have a lot of jump; that explains the many penalties against the Islanders, but we have not scored. I expect the team to continue to force the play and find a way to put one past DePietro.
The Islanders are clearly trying to run us and take the measure of our resolve; I think they will find us more than willing to put up with whatever the Islanders send our way. We are about to begin the second period; both teams will be playing five-on-five. I want my team to find the net more, especially Dan Cleary and Jason Williams. They have really been struggling lately. Williams has struggled all year. It is obvious from the first period that we really miss Mathieu Schneider on the power play; his cannonading drive from the point is sadly missed. Even Niklas Lidstrom seems to miss his power play partner.
I really don’t think we will do particularly well this year in the playoffs. I think we will have trouble getting past the first round again. If we do advance, then I’ll have to wait and see who we play and how well we played in the first round. I’m still waiting for our team to begin to jell offensively, especially on the power play, where we have been dreadful at times. I will revisit my team later in the season to see if their offence has come to life.

I want to begin using this blog as a stepping stone to my Process Writing course at the Faculty of Education. It is a nine-week course that has just passed its halfway mark. I want to use my students as willing (I hope) guinea pigs in order to use it full time in all of my classes next year.