The investment guy said “people come in all the time and say Michael said this and Michael said that, and I tell them I worked with Michael Campbell and he couldn’t make it in the business and now he talks about it.”

(Response: I think he probably does very well, with his radio show, his commentaries and seminars. I don’t begrudge that at all. I just wish he gave what I would see as a fairer, more balanced and less political view of our economic problems and who/what is really responsible for a lot of it. ho.)

Seriously though….

Arnie + Gordie = Water sell out to Californian Corporations….

(Response; Would be happy to call you my younger “Bro” … esp if you win the Lottery h.o.)

many thanks to the “whiners” that bring these issues to light. Left to the population of B.C. suffering from social apathy or the nauseating “greatest place on earth ” crowd, Gordo’s clique would be using the province more of an ATM machine that they already are.

Any estimates when M. Campbell, the Fraser Institute , B.C. Business Council and other assorted cheerleaders will be raising red flags on the increasing provincial debt and owelympic fiscal legacy.?

(Response: I expect they will all do that just prior to the HST coming into effect .. partly to justify it and also to blow smoke at its critics. And watch for labour unreast too …maybe with teachers? … to distract the media from HST horror stories when it begins. h.o)

Michael: That’s YOUR brother, Stupid
or
Michael: That’s your brother, STUPID.

Either way it works.

One thing I don’t agree with that you and others have expressed is your admiration for the Games themselves and the athletes. To me, there is far too much emphasis on ‘elitism’ in sports. I realize that in sports there are winners and losers, but the extreme emphasis on winning is very detrimental to our society, on many levels.

I would far rather see money being spent on children than on the few who have the talent to ascend to the elite levels. I would far rather have my taxpayer dollars go to provide staff in the nursing home so elderly people could get some fresh air and exercise. I would love to see corporations make big donations to programs for youth who have become addicted to prescription drugs (the fastest growing drug problem in North America). I would greatly support a ‘Green Games’, where the “spoils” would be funding for innovative projects to try to turn around our dying planet.

Instead we get glorification of the elite, entertainment for the masses (bread and circuses). While the foster child cowers in fear, while the elderly person is abused in care, while the public is subjected to a corrupted court system and increasingly secretive government, on and on. No money, they cry. Nope, it’s all stuffed into their bulging pants’ pockets. How shameful we are as a society.

Want to know what’s really going on? Here are two recommended stories:

http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20100106/KAMLOOPS0101/301069970/court-order-bans-secret-video-forever

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/topic.html?t=topic&q=Access+Denied

(Response: I don’t think that to enjoy watching people excel (whether in sports, or literature, or dance, or even blogging (LOL) is to support elitism. You can also admire the kid who barely hits the ball with the bat but still races off towards first base on his/her tiny little legs … and whether he/she gets there “safely” or not is irrelevant. Good on them for being able to do that …and for trying. Sure maybe professional sports players are paid too much ..but most Olympic atlhetes are NOT. And when someone gets up almost every morning aty 4 a..m. and in addition to working or going to school spends hours also goes to the gym/pool/rink etc for YEARS to perfect their ability … I admire them. And what an unpleasant society we would have if ALL public/corporate funds had to be directed to nursing homes, the homeless etc. No Hockey Night in Canada, no expensive dramas on tv, no American Idol (LOL!) Sometimes ..just to survive as a civlization …we have to have fun too. h.o)

He “coulda bin a contendah” to be a full-time host at NW. (He certainly seemed to be perpetually auditioning in the first few years after Rafe’s ouster.)

To his credit, Mike always spent the prep time to write a provocative editorial on some news of the day. (Other than Rafe, Jon McComb and the long-departed Stirling Faux, it’s troubling how few hosts do the same.)

Mike has a decent enough set of pipes and has usually been unfailingly polite to dissenters who tee off on his views.

Too bad there’s always a grey-haired, bespectacled elephant in the broadcast booth–brother Gordo! Surely even pro-Grit Corus management couldn’t help noticing how Mike never awarded a Goofy Award to any member of the BC Liberal cabinet, let alone his sibling. He simply ignored one of the most gaffe-prone administrations in Canada this past decade.

So Mike only has Money Talks now, his coterie of gold bug guests who regularly star in the financial forums he organizes.

It’s sad how (in my view) he put familial loyalty ahead of any sense of journalistic integrity. He’s intelligent enough to know better and could have ably succeeded Bill Good in that early p.m. slot.

Oh well, at least he was willing to debate Mike Smyth on the Olympics. As I recall, he just took snide on-air pot shots at McComb over the latter’s crusade against soaring gasoline prices rather than going mic to mic with Jon.

(Response: Couldn’t agree with you more. He’s really not stupid ..just seems to so partisan, so ne-sided, it has not only hurt but destroyed his credibility with any fair-thnking person. Of course I’m sure the right wingers who listen and call him to congratulate him salivate over his biases .. but I believe his one-sidedness has hurt his own career, reputation …and that of Corus radio too. h.o)

(Response: I don’t mind Arnie carrying the torch. Not that I agree with or admire much of what he says and stands for, vis a vis California or B.C. However, I realize that one benefit of the games AND Arnie’s Photo Op will be publicity for Vancouver all over the U.S. in photos on TV and in newspapers. And we do need as much as we can get to promote our tourist industry. When UI was in the U.S. only a few weeks ago ..I met a professionally employed educated person from Michigan who never heard of British Columbia; a lawyer who didn’t exactly know where Vancouver is ..although she knew it is in Canada; and a TD Bank official (imagine!) who had no idea we were in a different time zone than Florida. So Run, Arnie, Run! And let them see Vancouver in the background. My only regret ..it’s supposed to rain. h.o)