Good Job Canada!!

[stew71]

Nice job to our Canadian friends....the Mrs and I are watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics...gotta admit that some of the singing wasn't quite our thing, and that whole native Indian thing was okay...but we got a kick out of the Newfoundland fiddlers...!!!

I remember fondly my stays in BC and Toronto. Canada is one fine and pretty country. You guys have some WORLD-CLASS hunting and fishing...and one pretty country to boot!!!

Too bad to hear about that kid from Georgia....darn...only 21 years old...at least he died doing what he loves...can't ask more than that when your ticket gets punched.

As a die-hard snowboarder, I can't wait to watch the alpine skiing, the snowboarder and skier -cross races, the biathlon, and the cross-country skiing. There's few things better and more exciting than carving giant GS turns in epic snow at high speed on a race board!!!

(Well 'cept maybe poppin' steel with my Marlin or my Garand....)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Go Team USA!!!!!!!

Yes...I love the Winter Olympics...and I'm and addict.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
And do not forget it was the Canadian Embassy in Iraq that gave refuge & escape to the Embassy staff members when Iraq was turned into the Islamic Terrorist camp it is today during the presidency of Carter. Good neighbors are not always easy to come by and we have one of the best !

[iceman]

Thanks. Here's hoping they have enough snow at the lower elevations.

[Bogie35]

Canada is my friend.

bogie

[kimwcook]

Very good neighbors. When we lost our deputy last month Canada sent a contingent of RCMP's for the ceremony. An extremely nice gesture, eh? We thought so.

[rjohns94]

Stew71, I agree. Contrast that with this article: http://olympics.fanhouse.com/2010/02/12 ... lympics%2F

[mescalero1]

Thank you Canada

[Ysabel Kid]

Good morning
And do not forget it was the Canadian Embassy in Iraq that gave refuge & escape to the Embassy staff members when Iraq was turned into the Islamic Terrorist camp it is today during the presidency of Carter. Good neighbors are not always easy to come by and we have one of the best !

Wasn't that Iran, not Iraq?

Either way, you hit the nail on the head. Good neighbors are a rare gem!

[2571]

Stew71, I agree. Contrast that with this article: http://olympics.fanhouse.com/2010/02/12 ... lympics%2F

NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/sport ... anted=2&hp

[Griff]

Enjoyed the opener. Speeches too long... as usual, but not to blame the folks... Canada IS a great neighbor... yep, the RCMP is a class outfit, worked with contingents twice, both times were stellar. Thought the Canada Organizing Committe's tribute to the accidental death showed the class outfit that they are... our PC idjits would've botched that.

On to the games...

[Modoc ED]

Good morning
And do not forget it was the Canadian Embassy in Iraq that gave refuge & escape to the Embassy staff members when Iraq was turned into the Islamic Terrorist camp it is today during the presidency of Carter. Good neighbors are not always easy to come by and we have one of the best !

Wasn't that Iran, not Iraq?

Either way, you hit the nail on the head. Good neighbors are a rare gem!

Yes, it was Iran.

[2571]

Enjoyed the opener. Speeches too long... as usual, but not to blame the folks... Canada IS a great neighbor... yep, the RCMP is a class outfit, worked with contingents twice, both times were stellar. Thought the Canada Organizing Committe's tribute to the accidental death showed the class outfit that they are... our PC idjits would've botched that.

On to the games...

We have a luge run in a state park here. For the past 1½ years I have been hearing that the Vancouver run was poorly engineered/built and that injuries were inevitable.

I get Canadian tv channels where I live. Those folks are very anti-American.

My contacts with RCMP & OPP cops when I was a LEO in Detroit were radically different than what you describe.

I do agree the speeches were too long,though. :>)

[brno602]

Nice job to our Canadian friends....the Mrs and I are watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics...gotta admit that some of the singing wasn't quite our thing, and that whole native Indian thing was okay...but we got a kick out of the Newfoundland fiddlers...!!!

I remember fondly my stays in BC and Toronto. Canada is one fine and pretty country. You guys have some WORLD-CLASS hunting and fishing...and one pretty country to boot!!!

Too bad to hear about that kid from Georgia....darn...only 21 years old...at least he died doing what he loves...can't ask more than that when your ticket gets punched.

As a die-hard snowboarder, I can't wait to watch the alpine skiing, the snowboarder and skier -cross races, the biathlon, and the cross-country skiing. There's few things better and more exciting than carving giant GS turns in epic snow at high speed on a race board!!!

(Well 'cept maybe poppin' steel with my Marlin or my Garand....)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Go Team USA!!!!!!!

Yes...I love the Winter Olympics...and I'm and addict.

Thanks!
I have been down the Luge Run in Calgary and it is scary!! I remember the 88 games like it was yesterday!
One good thing as back in 88 Calgary did not have many hippy's so we had no protesting at the games lol.

[brno602]

Good morning
And do not forget it was the Canadian Embassy in Iraq that gave refuge & escape to the Embassy staff members when Iraq was turned into the Islamic Terrorist camp it is today during the presidency of Carter. Good neighbors are not always easy to come by and we have one of the best !

Wasn't that Iran, not Iraq?

Either way, you hit the nail on the head. Good neighbors are a rare gem!

It was Iran at that time Iraq was buddy buddy with the U.S
Are Social Studies teacher had us watching the news about what was going on in Iran.
Anyone read Jack O'conner when he used to hunt for Ibex and Sheep in Iran with, the at time Royal Family of Iran during the 1950's?

[KirkD]

We have a luge run in a state park here. For the past 1½ years I have been hearing that the Vancouver run was poorly engineered/built and that injuries were inevitable.

I get Canadian tv channels where I live. Those folks are very anti-American.

My contacts with RCMP & OPP cops when I was a LEO in Detroit were radically different than what you describe.

I do agree the speeches were too long,though. :>)

A few comments re. the above ....

With regard to what the boys at the state-run park said about the Olympic luge run, there will always be whiners no matter what is built and no matter how well it is engineered .... and the boys at the park are dead wrong about the 'poorly engineered' bit. With regard to what the International Luge Federation (FIL) has to say, both FIL secretary general Sven Romstad of the U.S and FIL President Josef Bendt stated that Whistler is a fast but not too fast track and painted Kumaritashvili as a promising, young slider while noting it was driver error that resulted in his death. Romstad said there have been 5,000 runs held here over the last two years and the "crash ratio" remains low at 3 per cent. The boys at the state park are right about injuries being inevitable, since that is true about every luge track that is in existence today, but when it comes to the Whistler luge track, the injury rate is actually low in comparison to other luge tracks. The other link that was posted earlier was to an editorial by Jay Mariotti which was essentially a rant that consisted of a lot of carefully selected quotes, carefully omitted facts, misrepresentation, and emotive language. Regarding training access to the luge track for other nations, it has actually exceeded FIL expectations and has also included special training for smaller nations. Now, they have made some small changes to the luge run in the past 24 hours, in spite of its low accident ratio, and in spite of the FIL finding it safe, but of course they had to do something. To do nothing would be very bad publicity. In the future, they are also reducing the speed of international luge tracks.

Regarding Canadians being anti-American on the basis of watching Canadian media: Bad call. There was frequent anti-American sentiment during the liberal Chretian era and I frequently heard it expressed in the media. If there is still stuff like that being expressed, I certainly don't hear or see any of it in the Canadian TV channels I watch. Even if there still is, since when did the media represent the general population? Does the American media represent the general American population? The media in Canada attracts the most left wing, PC, liberal people there are. Do not judge us Canadians by the media or the comments of some pot-headed, tree-hugging, PETA artsy. Canada has swung more conservative in the past few years. I hear zero anti-American sentiment here. A recent study published in Canada's number one news magazine 'Macleans' found that the majority of Canadians support the death penalty and more conservative moral values and even the teenagers have turned against sexual promiscuity. Our parliament has voted to abolish the gun registry and the bill has passed 1st and 2nd reading in a free, all-party vote. Those despicable liberal days are behind us and I take offence at having Canadians in general being labeled as anti-American on the basis of some left wing media liberal. The average Canadian is not anti-American and we never were. In fact there are an awful lot of Canadians who are very pro-American. They are salt-of-the-earth people who love everything that is great about America and grieve with Americans over what the left wing liberals are doing to their country.

Regarding the OPP and the RCMP: The RCMP, our national police force, tends to have a higher standard than the OPP, but in every police force you will have good officers and bad ones and then you'll have the dead wood. I will not defend our police forces, especially not the OPP. They have been overtaken by politically correct policies. The RCMP is in the process of re-thinking their PC policies. The OPP on the other hand, and this comes straight from the inside, is very PC to the point of being corrupt and ridiculous. The large majority of women in the OPP are lesbians, the standards for female police officers are lower than for male officers as far as dangerous calls go, which doubles the number of dangerous calls the male police officers must respond to, and if you are female or have some good color to your skin, you will almost always be promoted ahead of a male white officer. I could tell you stories of some of the lesbian carryings-on in the OPP that would not just curl your hair, but are so bizarre, they are simply incredible. A good majority of the corruption and insanity in the OPP began when a low ranking female constable was suddenly promoted several ranks in one swoop to the second highest position in the OPP, and then the top position shortly after, jumping hundreds of officers who had decades of experience. No one knows how that happened, or at least those that do aren't talking. Thank goodness she's been hired by some police outfit in Ireland and we have a good man at the top ..... but he's got a major PC mess on his hands. 2571, if your experience with the police across the river was bad, I believe it and I won't try to sugar coat it and dearly wish whoever it was that was an embarrassment to all Canadians would have their backside royally kicked and sent packing. However, I do have several good friends and relatives in the RCMP and the OPP and all of them are excellent people ..... but I certainly hear of the garbage they have to put up with within their own ranks. There are a lot of problems with the OPP, but I would not paint all LEO's with the same brush.

Well, hopefully that gives a more balanced view of the other side.

[cshold]

Thanks Kirk,
I for one would not hesitate for a minute to stand beside you in one of those,
“if the you know what hit the fan” instances.

[JerryB]

Kirk, my friend, all I can say is THANK YOU.

[rjohns94]

Yep, thanks Kirk - and your country, you have always been there

[win92]

The news media is really screwed up here from time to time (most of the time!!!)
the wife and I were watching the news the night the young lad died on the Luge run and low and behold the A*&*holes actually run the footage of his death right before the world to see . Everything from his start down the hill to losing his ride and impact with the column very graphic and totally unnessary.We couldn't believe our eyes and the fact that some moron was airing the whole thing!! My sympathies to the family of this poor fellow and his teamates but really I would like to know who was responsible for the SHOW? I guess the idots will figure coverage like that might be good for ratings?? SOmetimes as a Canadian I want to hide my head in shame.

[2571]

Perhaps this entire thread should have gone th e political forum.

I'm from a family intermarried with Canadians. I went to college at McGill. If it were daytime, I'd be looking out my window at Windsor across the Detroit River. Half the secretarial staff in my office of 31 people are Canadian. I watch Canadian channels at my desk ' cause they're 2 of the 3 stations I get in my skyscraper. I've got a Windsor station on my car radio because I listen to CBC news every day.

I just don't agree. Candians I know or whom I have met while living in Canda are very anti-American. If I had to generalize, I'd say the only Canadian folks I have ever met who did like us have been ranchers from out west whose agricultural economy was tied more closely to the US than to Canada.

I've always wondered why this is so. 100 miles south of here, people talk about Canda as an exotic place where it snows all year and they have no sentiments about you folks at all.

[brno602]

We have a luge run in a state park here. For the past 1½ years I have been hearing that the Vancouver run was poorly engineered/built and that injuries were inevitable.

I get Canadian tv channels where I live. Those folks are very anti-American.

My contacts with RCMP & OPP cops when I was a LEO in Detroit were radically different than what you describe.

I do agree the speeches were too long,though. :>)

A few comments re. the above ....

With regard to what the boys at the state-run park said about the Olympic luge run, there will always be whiners no matter what is built and no matter how well it is engineered .... and the boys at the park are dead wrong about the 'poorly engineered' bit. With regard to what the International Luge Federation (FIL) has to say, both FIL secretary general Sven Romstad of the U.S and FIL President Josef Bendt stated that Whistler is a fast but not too fast track and painted Kumaritashvili as a promising, young slider while noting it was driver error that resulted in his death. Romstad said there have been 5,000 runs held here over the last two years and the "crash ratio" remains low at 3 per cent. The boys at the state park are right about injuries being inevitable, since that is true about every luge track that is in existence today, but when it comes to the Whistler luge track, the injury rate is actually low in comparison to other luge tracks. The other link that was posted earlier was to an editorial by Jay Mariotti which was essentially a rant that consisted of a lot of carefully selected quotes, carefully omitted facts, misrepresentation, and emotive language. Regarding training access to the luge track for other nations, it has actually exceeded FIL expectations and has also included special training for smaller nations. Now, they have made some small changes to the luge run in the past 24 hours, in spite of its low accident ratio, and in spite of the FIL finding it safe, but of course they had to do something. To do nothing would be very bad publicity. In the future, they are also reducing the speed of international luge tracks.

Regarding Canadians being anti-American on the basis of watching Canadian media: Bad call. There was frequent anti-American sentiment during the liberal Chretian era and I frequently heard it expressed in the media. If there is still stuff like that being expressed, I certainly don't hear or see any of it in the Canadian TV channels I watch. Even if there still is, since when did the media represent the general population? Does the American media represent the general American population? The media in Canada attracts the most left wing, PC, liberal people there are. Do not judge us Canadians by the media or the comments of some pot-headed, tree-hugging, PETA artsy. Canada has swung more conservative in the past few years. I hear zero anti-American sentiment here. A recent study published in Canada's number one news magazine 'Macleans' found that the majority of Canadians support the death penalty and more conservative moral values and even the teenagers have turned against sexual promiscuity. Our parliament has voted to abolish the gun registry and the bill has passed 1st and 2nd reading in a free, all-party vote. Those despicable liberal days are behind us and I take offence at having Canadians in general being labeled as anti-American on the basis of some left wing media liberal. The average Canadian is not anti-American and we never were. In fact there are an awful lot of Canadians who are very pro-American. They are salt-of-the-earth people who love everything that is great about America and grieve with Americans over what the left wing liberals are doing to their country.

Regarding the OPP and the RCMP: The RCMP, our national police force, tends to have a higher standard than the OPP, but in every police force you will have good officers and bad ones and then you'll have the dead wood. I will not defend our police forces, especially not the OPP. They have been overtaken by politically correct policies. The RCMP is in the process of re-thinking their PC policies. The OPP on the other hand, and this comes straight from the inside, is very PC to the point of being corrupt and ridiculous. The large majority of women in the OPP are lesbians, the standards for female police officers are lower than for male officers as far as dangerous calls go, which doubles the number of dangerous calls the male police officers must respond to, and if you are female or have some good color to your skin, you will almost always be promoted ahead of a male white officer. I could tell you stories of some of the lesbian carryings-on in the OPP that would not just curl your hair, but are so bizarre, they are simply incredible. A good majority of the corruption and insanity in the OPP began when a low ranking female constable was suddenly promoted several ranks in one swoop to the second highest position in the OPP, and then the top position shortly after, jumping hundreds of officers who had decades of experience. No one knows how that happened, or at least those that do aren't talking. Thank goodness she's been hired by some police outfit in Ireland and we have a good man at the top ..... but he's got a major PC mess on his hands. 2571, if your experience with the police across the river was bad, I believe it and I won't try to sugar coat it and dearly wish whoever it was that was an embarrassment to all Canadians would have their backside royally kicked and sent packing. However, I do have several good friends and relatives in the RCMP and the OPP and all of them are excellent people ..... but I certainly hear of the garbage they have to put up with within their own ranks. There are a lot of problems with the OPP, but I would not paint all LEO's with the same brush.

Well, hopefully that gives a more balanced view of the other side.

Well said! The run in Vancouver is supposed to be the fastest one in the world. It's like any high speed sport when they have a crash lot's of safety reviews follow. It is sad someone died but the need for speed is a human thing how fun would the Daytona be if they drove 55?
I went down the run in Calgary about 10 years ago you paid like $20.00 they put you in a slow sled gave you a helmit and you got to go down the kiddy part even then I hit 60km and dam it was scary and fun!
I am sure I have gone faster on a VW hood as a kid with no safety gear
I have had two dealings with the RCMP in my life one a speeding ticket the other my truck broke down on the Hiway. The speeding ticket was funny! He asked me how fast I was going I told him 125 then he asked me where I was coming from as it was 12:30am, I told him Elk Hunting then everthing changed we talked guns for 20min he then said I was concerned about your speed as their is many deer on the road but with them lights and bumper on your truck I don't see a problem he really liked the lights lol. I was told to just take it easy no ticket Oh his Elk gun A Rem 700 .338.
When my Tranny burnt up 700r4 The officer pulled up behind walked up and said whats the trouble I told him. He then told me that the RCMP had nothing but trouble with them in the Impala's and Caprice and all the cars (early 90s) now had special order Turbo 400 in them. He then said don't waste your air time I will radio for a tow!!! and get rid of that over drive Auto and put a T400 in it I did that too.
Also the City police in Calgary were great, when in the old day's I had to go in person to register my pistols the guy behind the desk was where did you find that? you want to sell it? he still bugs me at the range to sell my S&W 57 in 41.
I have a friend who is in the CPD and they really like the new chief much more than the old one seems politics runs the police dept too?

[Thunder50]

Never been to Canada. Dad went to Banff and loved it, but I have never been North of the border. Looks beautiful from what I have seen on TV and in some books.

Now to another view. Maybe should be directed at the people that designed the Luge run.
Flame me all you want, but I think that the turn where the kid died ,was poorly engineered. If you come off your sled during your run, forces are going to put you on the outside of the curve, so the retaining (safety)wall should have been longer, as they re-did it, after he was killed. Especially with the steel support beams there. Don't think padding would have helped, as the trauma to his neck (with it snapping rearward )would probably have killed him, at the speed he hit the columns. Should have realized that if someone came off the track there, as it was built, this is what would happen.

Feel so sorry for his family:(