Hey all – in Toronto on vacation right now enjoying life so I won’t be blogging for another week or so.  Look for some more posts towards the end of next week. Hope you’re enjoying summer!

An article written by the Dean of the Sauder School of Business, Dan Muzyka, which is well worth reading:

Competitive Business – the Government’s Role

… over the last 50 years, provided by Obama in The Audacity of Hope pp. 279-80:

Indonesia provides a handy record of U.S. foreign policy over the past fifty years.  In a broad outline at least, it’s all there: our role in liberating former colonies and creating international institutions to help manage the post-World War II order; our tendency to view nations and conflicts through the prism of the Cold War; our tireless promotion of American-style capitalism and multinational corporations; the tolerance and occasional encouragement of tyranny, corruption, and environmental degradation when it served our interests; our optimism once the Cold War ended that Big Macs and the Internet would lead to the end of historical conflicts; the growing economic power of Asia and the growing resentment of the United States as the world’s sole superpower; the realization that in the short term, at least, democratization might lay bare, rather than alleviate, ethnic hatreds and religious divisions – and that the wonders of globalization might also facilitate economic volatility, the spread of pandemics, and terrorism. In other words, our record is mixed – not just in Indonesia, but across the globe.

Everyone really expected the violence in Beijing to come from the hands of the CCP and the Chinese Military, but this shocking event has turned convention on its head.  Will this tarnish the games? How will athletes, the media, the government, and others react? Is China to blame for this situation or is it an unfortunate and unusual attack that could not have been prevented? I am sure throngs of commentators will let you know how they feel.

Then Will Ferrell accepting Tiger Wood’s award for Best Male Athlete at the ESPY’s this year will… one of the funniest videos I have ever seen.

I’m sorry, but a visitor to town (in the picture below… looking good as always), Ms. Ashley Rowe, threw me off track for the last 4 days.  More regular posts are back! If you’re upset, please take it up with her.

The Economist nails it on the head this week in a big way about the effect of the Olympics on China.  The Olympics have forced the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to “reassert an authoritarian grip over Beijing” in a way that has not been seen in some time.  Yes, the Chinese are guilty of human rights abuses by the West’s definition of that term (although much of their actions are far less worse than those of Canada, the United States, and a host of G8 nations over the last 100 years), but things were improving before the spotlight hit China and every “activist” with sympathetic aims and virtually no knowledge of China and its history other than what they saw for 30 seconds on CNN got all up in arms about the Olympic games.  These uninformed “activists” are alone responsible for the push-back they are seeing from the CCP and should not be the least bit surprised.

It is unfortunate that the real lack of substance to the criticisms of a number of detractors of the games which consistently play over the airwaves cannot be detected by the average citizen who finds it easy to jump on the anti-China bandwagon.  The masses reaction to media criticism of China has re-asserted the power of the thirty-second sound bite and shown that most people lack a true understanding of China, its history, and its suffering at the hands of Western powers.

The bottom line is that everyone should read the article written by The Economist and take a healthy read through a couple of history textbooks on China before they are ready to criticize its human rights abuses and culture while calling for a boycott of the games.  I’m not saying that China is not guilty of what they are accused of, but am saying that before we make condescending statements and assume a moral high ground we should take a long look in the mirror and remember the ethic of reciprocity that our parents bestowed upon us – “treat others as you would like to be treated”.

Are they even allowed to play politics with their employees like this?

A new poll reveals that one in five Canadians would vote for Elizabeth May if she ran in their riding.  The same poll also reveals some not-so-surprising information – that she trails Peter Mackay by twenty-five percentage points in the Central Nova riding they will compete in next election.  

Elizabeth May, welcome to federal politics.  I am sure Ms. May wakes up smiling in the morning after a night of dreaming of defeating a sitting cabinet minister that has done a solid job with both of the portfolios he has handled thus far, but it is time for her to wake-up, smell the coffee and face reality.  

What does this overly idealistic decision say about Ms. May? I tend to believe that it shows she believes the electoral prospects of her party are completely hopeless.  If you thought you had a chance at winning a seat in the House of Commons would you throw yourself in to a riding you could not win? What happens if someone else in her party does win (another unlikely scenario)? Will they have to step aside so Ms. May can take their seat after she is done with her ravaging in Nova Scotia?

If Ms. May truly wants Canadians to take her party seriously, she might want to consider to start acting like a federal party leader that thinks her party has a shot at winning at least a seat.  One in five may say they would vote for her now, but good publicity will only take you so far.  

Someone please remind Ms. May that she’s no longer working for the Sierra Club and, in politics, a healthy dose of reality can be helpful if you truly want to see results.  Of course, if she wants to continue to be a well-publicized after thought she should continue right along the same path, but what would that say about her desire to clean up the environment and enact the plans she will be putting in the Green Party platform for the next federal election?