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58 Responses to “Heartless! Worry-wart! Make up your mind! Or, failing that, ours!”
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Contrary to popular belief, the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremonies is, in fact, a decidedly modern affair. The culmination of the torch relay in a grandiose display at the Opening Ceremonies is a relic of the 1936 Berlin Games—just one of many attempts by the Nazi regime to lend a mythical air to the Games. Still, despite its dubious history, the lighting of the cauldron has evolved into one of the most spectacular and ostentatious displays at the Games. And the secretiveness that surrounds the lead-up to the ceremony only lends to the hype.
When it comes to the 2010 Games, the speculation about who will be selected to light the cauldron has coalesced around whether VANOC will go the traditional route and opt for a former Olympian or take the road less-travelled and pick someone from outside the sports world. Facebook groups have popped up promoting everyone from Terry Fox’s mother, Betty, to former Vancouver Canucks captain Trevor Linden. So far, Vancouver’s Olympic organizers have kept a tight lid on who the potential candidates might be. We’ve assembled a list of the names making the rounds, but feel free to add your own in the poll or in the comments below.
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Beyond The Commons
The Commons: Jack Layton doing as Jack Layton does
In all sorts of ways, it’s difficult to imagine him ever stopping
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Inside the fall of a famed hedge fund
A Bay Street legend, a whiz kid manager and the angry investors
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Super Bowl XLIV: A liveblog, but with naps and long pauses
Eight and a half hours in front of the TV and, finally, kickoff
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Tales of over-the-top Christmas
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Friend in high places, Dog tired and Bubba’s other bombshell
Newsmakers of the week
And how about a big hand to Canadians for a Proper Media, for shattering the previous record for “Most Uses of the Word ‘Media’ in a Single Blog Comment,” previously held by Jason Cherniak.
The Bank of England was already ringing the warning bells as far back as April 2007 :
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/fsr/2007/fsrfull0704.pdf
Here’a a good article analysing the sources of the financial crisis back in February 2008 :
http://user.uni-frankfurt.de/~ffecht/FinCrises/Lit/Goodhart%20(2008)%20The%20background%20to%20the%202007%20financial%20crisis.pdf
The bomb was ticking for a very long time – in fact, since asset pricing models for the derivatives at the root of this crisis did not include the possibility of decreases in housing prices in the United States, and as this decline started in 2007, it was not a question of ‘if’ it would go off but rather ‘when’ and how big a mess it would create.
By the time the Bank of England lent £3 billion as lender of last resort in September 2007 to the Northern Rock, a British bank which didn’t even have any direct exposure to sub-prime mortgages and associated derivatives, there was already a very big financial poopstorm on the horizon. Unfortunately, both Congress and the Bush Administration decided to allow it to play itself out rather than intervene at an early stage.
It was just like the old Leonard Cohen tune, “Everybody Knows” …
Harper is definately not my favourite person in the world – but a reality check is maybe what we need. C’mon, are the unions not paying attention? Ottawa transit and postal workers on strike and the world economy collapsing?
I think we’re in never, never land.
Catherine,
calls Harper a LIAR?
It must be quarter past the hour.
Paul Wells,
Kudos for the post: a straight shot, right to the kisser.
The more that’s done, the healthier this industry becomes.
I think the object would be to suggest, yes, we are in tough times but we know what we’re doing. You get the feeling that these characters are floundering around like a fish dropped on a deck. Not the first time I’ve got this impression. At least Dion had the Carbon Tax – Green Shift – which was a direction toward economic sustainability, several growth industries, mass transit for cities and more money for railroads to haul freight and food instead of semis. And that was before the fiscal meltdown. I mean, if you love fiscal disaster wait until the Masterminds of the Universe receive word that yesterday was the best time to fix the Global Warming. A lot of fish on that deck. We all breathe the same air.
Actually, ol’ bionic-hands, fish don’t breathe the same — oh, never mind…
Paul
Only you and Olaf make sense in today’s comments. That’s 1 or 2 more than usual. You got the rich debate you’ve been looking for!