The Corner Observer

A little bit of hope

2009-12-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

Its painfully obvious how the state of the economy is right now. Unemployment is high, companies are reporting record losses, a struggling stock exchange, no health care coverage, higher food prices... the list goes on and on. People are struggling and struggling badly, and they want a way out. However, the path to the exit is littered with bad debt, an only recently recovering housing market, government bailouts to banks, inflation and a higher cost of living. It is at this point in ones life that one looks for hope. Hope to make it out, hope for a tomorrow, hope that they will make it out of the crumbling house that is our economy.

You can see that search for hope abound in the States. You could see it in the way they clung to Barack Obama, putting all their chips on his ability to lead. Or on Ron Paul, Mike Gravel, or Dennis Kucinich for their ability to speak truth to power. You can see it in the movies we watch. Three to four years ago, many of the movies worth watching where complex and often bleak discussions on life, its purpose, or lack thereof. Films like The Visitor, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood got us to think about inequality, nihlism and greed. This year we see the exact opposite. Bleak films would be inappropriate in this time of uncertainty (not to mention unprofitable) so instead we get films like Invictus, Pirate Radio and The Blind Side, films that discuss the power of tolerance, music and faith. Films that lift the heart and empower the soul have become a mainstay.

Human beings need to hope, they need something to believe in, someone or something to tell them that things will be alright. That is why movies are there to be uplifting distractions, politicians who voice the concerns of the people and presidents who solve real life problems.

Greener Pastures: The State of Canadian Basketball

2009-10-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I have been not been able to blog at all about any subject. For all who have read my blog posts in the past, I am sorry I haven't been able to post anything. Just to re-iterate, this is a blog mostly about sports, politics, literature, and anything in my private life I feel comfortable sharing.

Now, to the blog:
With the opening of the NBA season fast approaching and the international expansion of the game in full swing, I believe it is a good time to look at the state of basketball in Canada. We all know that hockey is king in Canada, has been since this country was born and will still be number 1 far into the future. However, even in our hockey dominated culture, there is still room for many sports to grow and develop into viable spectator sports.

In this landscape, football is has firmly established itself as number two. NFL Canada has done an amazing job developing a fervent fanbase for the league south of the border. As far as the CFL goes, it is still profitable and is wildly popular in places like Hamilton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and all of Saskatchewan. Baseball is struggling, with underrepresentation in Canada, and a struggling Toronto Blue Jays squad who has not made the playoffs in over a decade and declining league participation.

That leaves us with basketball. A sport that is trying to establish itself as a rival to cricket or rugby as the world's second most popular sport after soccer. The NBA has 20% of its players come from foreign countries and has league offices in China, the UK, Mexico, France and Brazil. But lost in the shuffle of all of this excitement is Canada. The place where this international frenzy started. Where are we right now in terms of the sport's growth?

The answer is not very far. Even with millions invested in Canadian Basketball, we have very little to show for it. A struggling Toronto Raptors team that has won all of 1 playoff series in its 14 year existence, 1 NBA superstar in Steve Nash, with a bunch of role players (Dalembert, Magloire), and a National Basketball team that's main claim to fame was finishing one place out of the medals 9 years ago, and a team where the country's main superstar (Nash) has refused to play due to team mismanagement.

When the NBA first started making moves towards Canada, it was greated with great optimism. Youth leagues would go through the roof. Development of the game at the lower levels would be properly funded, and Canada would be partly responsible for the next generation of NBA superstars. These lofty aspirations have been hit by the dull thud of reality as youth participation has sagged and as a result, Canadian international teams have been struggling to be competitive. Meanwhile we see in shorter periods of time, the game explode in China, Great Britain, Argentina, Brazil, and most of Europe. Great, exciting players have started to come out of those countries and this has led to an exponential growth of the game.

Meanwhile, Canadian basketball sits there, like an old mine shaft, once full of promise, but now abandoned for greener pastures.

2009-05-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

And the Winner is...

2008-01-28T02:52:00.000-08:00

The true winner in this presidential race is the media conglomerates. Each quarter, the headquarters gives each local station a revenue quota. If the local managers cannot meet the quote, the main office will find someone else who can. With over $2.5 billion in revenues, political campaign ads are an easy way for local stations to meet that quota every 4 years. In the end, its a sellout.
Big media conglomerates are use public airwaves for their own profit. They are required under law to give some of these profits back to the general public in some way shape or form, but most never do. So in the end, no matter who wins the actual election, the so-called "democratic process" of the US elections do not benefit the voters. Its still the big business on Wall St. that are going to cash in that big cheque and once again, the everybody else gets fooled and screwed.

Environmental Observations from the Republican Debate.

2008-01-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

This is quite literally my first blog. For my readers, you will find out alot of things about me personally, politically and my future outlook on both my own life, Canada's path and the World's path. The first think that you will observe of me is that I am very serious about the environment. I think environmental problems should be taken the most seriously, because it transcends national borders and ties everybody in this world to the same fate. So, for this first blog, I will take a look at some of the comments that were mentioned about environmental problems (namely Global Climate Change (GCC)) in the Republican presidential debate. My takes will be in italics

Rudy Guliani:

"We haven't lisenced a nuclear power plant in 30 years. France is 80% nuclear, we are 20% nuclear going down to 15% nuclear. We need to crack through there"
Nuclear Power plant??? That has nothing to do with protecting the environment. Nuclear power plants will end up just creating a huge waste problem that ends up adding to the environmental concerns. If you thought our current landfills are overflowing with garbage, wait till you see what happens when waste, instead of taking hundreds of years to biodegrade, instead take thousands and tens of thousands of years to degrade. Please Mr. Guliani, stop fooling yourself, and more importantly, stop fooling the American people. I personally have had enough of your charades.

"We need to expand the use of clean coal"
Clean Coal?!? Isn’t that an oxymoron, you moron?

Rudy talks at length about how we need to expand alternative energies. I agree, thats a no-brainer but we need to do alot more than that if we want to alleviate the damage we have caused to the environment. Alternative energy's positive effects take some time to be apparent and are most effective when combined with effective government regulation (i.e. carbon tax)

"You gotta solve (GCC) as a world problem, you cannot solve it just in the United States"
I do agree with what he says about environmental concerns. They are a global problem. You can’t look at them in terms of national borders. You need to take the international perspective of this

John McCain
I'm in favour of cap-and-trade ... Look, you can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions? You earn a credit. Someone else is gonna increase theres? You can sell it to them ... We need to go back to nuclear power. Climate change in my view is real. ... Suppose we are wrong, there is no such thing as climate change, and we hand our kids a cleaner world, but suppose we are right, there is such a thing as climate change and we do nothing…
Other than nuclear power, I actually do agree with what John McCain has to say about the environment. Global climate change is something that needs immediate action. Cap and trade is a good place to start, but what you really need is a “polluter pays” carbon tax. Of course, being the republican that he is, he would never say something like that. I also agree that it is irrelevant whether global climate change is real or not. If it isn't real and we do something, the worst that will happen is a global depression. However if it is real, and we do absolutely nothing, there will be global ecological, social, AND economic catastrophe, a much worse off alternative.

One last comment. I believe that the environment should have gotten a much longer time devoted to it, and all the other candidates (Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney) should have also gotten a chance to make their views known.

So thats my first blog, kinda quick and painless (I hope). I also hope that people realize that these are just my opinions, and views. If you want to comment on them, go right ahead. I will respect your opinion and take to heart any justified criticisms that you may have