"O CANADA, TERRE DE NOS AIEUZ; TON FRONT EST CEINT DE FLEURONS GLORIEUX"

For those mono-linguists among you (as opposed to moi) those are the first two lines of the French version of the Canadian national anthem.  The English translation is:  "O Canada, our home and native land; true patriot love in all thy sons command".  Which is my way of saying that all I cared about in terms of the Olympics (and this is not about sports!!!) was ice hockey--both men and women.  And of course our brethren from north of the border took gold in both.  I happen to believe the men were lucky (just squeaking by Latvia) but those women were very very good.  Moving south of the border.....

Maybe Georgia should secede once they formally approve their new license plates which display the confederate flag.  Ditto for Mississippi where students at Ole Miss hung a noose on the neck of the campus statue of James Meredith.  Both those states just seem to yearn for the good old days.  And Arizona whose Governor vetoed that horrific law which would have allowed businesses to refuse to serve gay and/or lesbian customers.  Not that she did it because it was morally right to do it--no, she did it because it was bad for business.  They would have lost the upcoming Super Bowl for one thing.  My favorite talking sports head happens to be Jewish and he said something along the following lines--"how will those stores know who is gay or lesbian?  My people have been through something like that when we had to wear yellow stars".  Really it all makes you wonder what century we live in.

Odds and ends:
-Bruce is playing at Mohegan Sun Casino.  Such a disappointment for me. Seems like the wrong place for The Boss.
-Partners Health Care got its ass justifiably handed to it as it tried to buy yet another hospital.  Their argument, more or less, is that bigger is better--better for service and more financially efficient.  Which ain't necessarily so.  But some sort of health review panel said nope--go back to first year calculus and show us the money.
-I do not believe for a second that the mess of bullying in the Dolphin locker room is isolated.  It happens in other places where macho men do their work.
-Children are dying all over the world and I am just not sure how to wrap my mind around it let alone what to do.
--Ukraine, Syria, Iraq,Thailand--all in some sort of major upheavals with all sorts of people dying.  At least Obama is sticking to his guns (so far) and getting us out of Afghanistan.  Now if he could just reach across those 90 miles to Havana.
-Ted Nugent is a big fat asshole who no longer is even a good musician.
-Are there any tailors left in the former Eastern bloc countries?  I mean those suits worn by the male coaches were so nasty, I could do better with a needle and thread.
-Roger Angell, age 93, has written for the New Yorker for nearly 70 years.  He had a very small piece last week about aging and how it feels--other than requiring him to have a daily evening scotch!!
-Go visit Austin but skip the Ric Perry part of the tour.  Go to the great restaurants, the food trucks, the natural sites and tell Anna we sent you.  Hah.

SPORTS TALK
-Can anyone really tell the difference between ice dancing and pairs skating.  The women in all the ice skating events looked like they had on breakable masks and plastered on smiles.  Yuk.
-Bode Miller, Shani Davis, Shaun White--all over rated and way too hyped by the media in America.
--The $60 million dollar stadium for the Allen High School team is closed indefinitely due to structural cracks--they probably will play in the Cowboys stadium now.  Hope it falls apart with no one inside.

Be strong Norma.
Sayonara