I’m late getting to this, but, well, you know, the Olympics. Our women’s hockey team shut out the U.S. for a third straight gold, our men’s and women’s curlers both won their semifinal matches, and Joannie Rochette, a lovely and courageous young woman, skated to the bronze in women’s figure skating, with all of Canada behind her, just days after her mother’s death. Yesterday...

center> The world seems obsessed about what Tiger Woods was trying to do with his highly publicized apology. Was it more personal or was it largely public relations? Richard Martineau, a sports columnist with Le Journal de Montreal, puzzles over this odd American ritual contrition, and thinks he’s come up with an answer. For Le Journal de Montreal, Richard Martineau writes in part: In communist China,...

Sad news out of Vancouver Canada. Actor Andrew Koening, son of Walter (aka Chekov) has been missing for several weeks. His body was found today, the victim of a suicide brought on by depression. If you know somebody who is dealing with this horrible condition please be sure to watch over them. A heartbreaking video of his parents press conference. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/andrew_koenig/index.html

Controversy surrounding the victory of American Evan Lysacek over Russian Evgeny Plushenko in Olympic figure skating continues to swirl in Russia. In this interview from Russia’s Life News, three time Olympic gold medalist Irina Rodnina attempts to put paid to the widely-held view in Russia that Plushenko should have won. In this interview with Russia’s Life News, Irina Rodnina says in part: “Speaking...

Hooray for Hollywood…. A tribute to the movies: And another tribute, this time with the full vocal (Doris Day): And — believe it or not — the REAL Brady Bunch featured the song on their (short lived) variety hour: Meanwhile, people still play the tune on various instruments:

Here’s one intriguing view…

Welcome to the “American Idol” Abbattoir by Pat Reeder It’s truly bizarre to me that so many people get so caught up in “American Idol.” I watched it for the first few years, but lost interest at least four seasons ago. Still, I see flashes of it as I wander through the living room because my wife Laura is that rarest of endangered species, a professional singer with musical training....

A friend, who is a fellow tennis player and a bird watcher, just returned from a cruise to and around Antarctica and had some fascinating stories to tell about the “White Continent” with its spectacular ice, rugged mountais and fjords, aggressive seals and awesome whales, and—of course—the unique birds that inhabit the various islands, including the first Snow Petrel he has ever seen. Jim—that’s...

Yeah, so I’m not blogging as much as usual with the Olympics on, what with such extensive coverage on three different Canadian networks. But you know what? We rule! Uh… at… uh… ice dancing? Yes! No, it’s not a sport, and it’s utterly ridiculous, with the performers — it’s undeniably athletic, and commentators fall all over themselves trying to justify it as a sport...

Those stalwart defenders of mother Russia, the communists of St. Petersburg and Leningrad, are at it again. In the past, they’ve called for the arrest of James Cameron for stealing the story of Avatar from Soviet science fiction writers, they have demanded that the Russian Orthodox Church canonize Joseph Stalin, and they’ve complained about the way the KGB was depicted in James Bond films and Indiana...

Via The Christian Science Monitor’s Jimmy Orr (I predicted to friends this would happen): So Sarah Palin is going on Jay Leno. Yep, NBC announced Leno’s first week line-up today. And Palin is on night number two. Shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Leno needs ratings bad. Worse than Olbermann-bad. Leno’s gotta show he can score. And who can bring in the numbers? Sarah Palin. Yes you...

According to ancient sources, from 776 BC to 393 AD on a pretty regular basis, armed conflict in Greece came to a halt every four years for the holding of the Olympic Games. In this lighthearted look at the usefulness of the Games, Swiss columnist Patrik Etschmayer writes that while they still provide a welcomed distraction, the modern Games usually involve diverting our attention from less dire threats to...

Ayn Rand and the World She Made Reviewed by Ron Beasley The picture on the left may represent the beginning of the deregulation frenzy that resulted in the current world wide economic disaster. It was taken in 1974 by David Hume Kennerly and pictured are President Gerald Ford, Alan Greenspan, Ayn Rand, Rand’s husband Frank Conner and Greenspan’s mother Rose Goldsmith. The occasion was Alan Greenspan...

Adele Stan at AlterNet unpacks Glenn Beck’s keynote speech at CPAC. Via Heather at Crooks and Liars and Digby at Hullabaloo. Complete video set at YouTube.

John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Mike Lester, The Rome News-Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

She put books in the White House Library about socialism! Here is the incriminating evidence, brought to us by Rob Port at SayAnythingBlog.com:

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All Rights Reserved

CNet’s headline suggests HBO Go is a Netflix rival. But: Unless you are one of the 38 million cable subscribers who gets HBO or sister service Cinemax, HBO Go won’t be offered to you, the company has said. HBO Go provides subscribers Web access to the same movies HBO screens on cable TV–at no extra charge. This is the on-demand movie provider’s attempt to hang on to subscribers during...

One reason for the out-of-balance economic, financial, trade, and jobs situation between China and the U.S. can be traced to the Chinese policy of artificially pegging the value of its currency, the Renminbi or Yuan, to the U.S. dollar. No matter what the U.S. does to increase domestic productivity, reduce costs, or innovate, the Chinese can always do it cheaper because they prevent their currency from moving...

Some years ago I did a post on The Moderate Voice about show biz pizazz and likability, which got great response. And, recently, the topic came up with some young aspiring entertainers and I told them to You Tube and look for…the Color Honeymooners. The legendary comedian Jackie Gleason — Hanna Barbera used him as the inspiration for Fred Flintstone — did his famous black and white Honeymooners...

Former Congressman Charlie Wilson, who died last week at the age of 76, is known mostly for his activities in support of the Taliban, who afterwards managed to evict the Soviets from Afghanistan. The author of this article from Nicaragua’s La Prensa, apparently a former member of Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front who eventually switched sides and joined the U.S.-backed Contra...

Could it be that subconsciously, Tiger Woods prefers Caucasian sexual partners as a way of getting back at his former colonial masters? Furthermore, have today’s African leaders enjoyed the spectacle of his downfall for exactly the same reason? That is the argument put forth in the pages of Nigeria’s Daily Sun by Dr. Henry A. Onwubiko, one of that country’s leading social activists and scientists. For...

For most of us one of the big questions about the economic chaos of 2008 is how in the world did it all happen ? Although to a degree it is still something of a mystery to even the best experts there is a fascinating book that tries to explain the story in relatively understandable language. The title of the book is Too Big To Fail by Andrew Sorkin. The book follows the story during the fall months of 2008...