My Olympic Headache

I have just found out that the parking lot I usually park in for work will be patrolled for the Olympics. Damn. Apparently Hastings is going to be a non-stop zone. I have no idea what I am going to do. I cannot take the Westcoast Express because it does not run when I need it to get to work. Transit from Maple Ridge to Vancouver is a nightmare. I am not even sure how long it will take to get there.

Anyone know someone who lives close to the London Drugs on Hastings who would be willing to sell parking for the duration of the games?

Yawn

So today there has been some breaking news! Wiebo is back (I am not going to blog about that yet). Stevie and Mikey are exchanging blows once again. Only this time it seems like Mikey may be making the most sense. The CBC was reporting today that the Harpie is justifying proroguing parliament again because he needs to reset Parliament in order to deal with the pressing issues of 2010. Apparently the ‘reset’ will help Harper to focus on the economy. Now, please correct me, but haven’t we been focusing on the economy since late 2008? How could all that stimulus money have been approved if Parliament was not focused on the economy? I guess this explains why things have not improved.

Now, to Michael Ignatieff. He seems to have learned his lesson and toned down the rhetoric. He has stated that the Liberals will be back in Ottawa conducting ‘public consultations’ in Ottawa on ‘issues important to Canadians.’ At least they will be in Ottawa. I wonder where the Harpie and the Cons will be? Perhaps in box seats at “Owe-lympics?”* I am sure the federal Liberals are just pissed that they are not in power for the games.

So, to sum up, the Liberals will be in Ottawa trying to conduct fact-finding missions in Ottawa in the dead of winter. I am sure this will be very successful for Mikey. If nothing else it will give his handlers more time to fine-tune his image while no one is looking. It is unclear what Stevie and the Cons will be doing. No doubt they will be drafting a new Throne Speech wherein they will try to focus the Canadian Parliament on the economy. This further shakes my confidence in this government.

The really sad thing about the state of Canadian politics is that it is boring. Not only is it boring, it is also irrelevant. Completely and utterly irrelevant.

*I completely stole this word from the Wandering Coyote. Check out her blog, it is great!

Olympics 2010: The Arrogance of VANOC

Ok, so I am not sure how this has happened but it seems that VANOC has secured a patent on words that are in our Canadian National Anthem. Correct me if I am wrong, but don’t these words belong to Canadians? While the anthem has a bit of a convoluted history with its roots in Quebec, it is nonetheless the one thing that binds Canadians together from sea-to-sea. The English version was written by Robert Stanley Weir in 1908. The Anthem officially became ours when the Constitution was patriated (not re-patriated as some would like to say, our Constitution had never been here so re-patriation was not possible) in 1980.

So, if the Canadian people don’t own the anthem and the line ‘with glowing hearts’ then surely the descendants of Robert Stanley Weir must. If we take a look at the debacle that was the Hockey Night in Canada theme, another ubiquitous Canadian song that was only loaned to CBC by Dolores Claman to see that the creator of the song holds some control. I am not sure what arrangements, if any, were made with Weir’s family but it would seem to me that they should have a say in how the song is used.

It also seems very lazy on VANOC’s part to co-opt part of our national anthem as the theme for the Vancouver/Whistler olympics. I am sure they could have had some brilliant and high-priced marketing company come up with a new and novel motto for the games.

I wonder what the implications are for this in other areas. Will all networks who televise hockey games where the Canadian Anthem is sung have to blank out the patented words? Will they have to pay royalties to VANOC or be sued. How much will VANOC have to pay to itself every time a Canadian wins a gold medal a the Olympics?

Really, this is all very silly. Patenting part of a national anthem, something that represents an entire nation, is kind of like patenting water…