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Hits of the Day
Favorite things: wall-to-wall hockey
Don't mean to step on anyone's franchise (no need to lawyer up, Deadman) but I simply have to share this armchair fan's elation at tonight's orgy of televised hockey fare: four games to choose from, spread over the next seven hours -- and much of it top-notch.
It starts with Sweden and Finland facing off in the bronze-medal game of the World Junior Hockey Championship. Sweden is always a contender, but I'm pulling for the upstart Swiss, who pulled off a last-minute overtime win to eliminate mighty Russia from the medal round. It was the first time Switzerland had ever beaten Russia. (The game for the bronze is actually under way; Sweden leads 5-0 after one period.)
At 7, the Canadiens meet the Washington Capitals, who lead their division but have slid badly recently. Meanwhile, the Canadiens have been on a bit of a tear, winning six games out of seven during their last big road trip. Slump or not, it's always a treat to watch Alexander Ovechkin play (and I've got him in my hockey pool, too).
On another channel, the Boston Bruins meet the Ottawa Senators (both ahead of Montreal in their division); I'll flip to that game during commercial breaks. At 8, it's the night's biggie: Canada vs. the United States for the World Junior gold medal -- two closely matched national teams playing at the top of their game. I'm pulling for Canada.
Tonight's orgy of hockey is just an appetizer for what's coming next month, when the NHL shuts down for two weeks while its best players compete for their national teams at the Vancouver Olympics; I'll be glued to my TV. Then, as icing on the cake, I scored a Christmas gift of tickets to the late-March matchup between the Canadiens and the Eastern Conference leading New Jersey Devils. That will be six games from the end of the season, so Habs' playoff hopes could be on the line.
2010 is shaping up as a great year in hockey. Feel the joy.
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In the News
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Conversations with suicide bombers
By Elizabeth Weingarten, ForeignPolicy.com, May 23, 2012
It was 2009 in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Mossarat Qadeem was sitting on the floor of a house with about a dozen young Pakistani men -- some of whom had nearly become suicide bombers. Qadeem's goal: to undo the destructive brainwashing of the al-Qaeda and Taliban teachers who trained them in extremism, in part by asking the students to narrate their life stories.
"We were handling one of the boys, and he just came, put his head here in my lap, and he started crying and weeping," Qadeem recalls. "I was taken aback. It is very unnatural in my country that a man that tall can just sit at your feet and put his head here. [The other men] were all crying with him, and I was looking at him, and thinking, ‘my God.'"
All in a day's work for Qadeem. She's the national coordinator of Aman-o-Nisa, a coalition of Pakistani women that convened in October 2011 to combat violent extremism in Pakistan at the grassroots level. [....]
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For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice
The issue of sexual assaults on American Indian women has become one of the major sources of discord in the current debate between the White House and the House of Representatives over the latest reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
.......
“We should never have a woman come into the office saying, ‘I need to learn more about Plan B for when my daughter gets raped,’ ” said Charon Asetoyer, a women’s health advocate on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, referring to the morning-after pill. “That’s what’s so frightening — that it’s more expected than unexpected. It has become a norm for young women.”
The difficulties facing American Indian women who have been raped are myriad, and include a shortage of sexual assault kits at Indian Health Service hospitals, where there is also a lack of access to birth control and sexually transmitted disease testing. There are also too few nurses trained to perform rape examinations, which are generally necessary to bring cases to trial.
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Doctor Who Helped Find Bin Laden Given Jail Term (for...
By Ismail Kahn, New York Times, May 23/24, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.
A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region [....]
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Russia lawmakers advance bill on penalties for protesters
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
The bill, which opposition parliament members termed draconian and protested by threatening to file out of a legislative session, calls for fines of up to $50,000 and up to 200 hours of community service for organizers of rallies and demonstrations that grow violent or exceed the approved number of participants.
The sanctions were approved on first reading by parliament's lower house, which is controlled by Putin's United Russia party. They mark a return by the Kremlin to a tough stance against critics after concessions during the recent election campaign [...]
Also see:
Russians back Putin, strong leadership
Washington Post, May 22, 2012A Pew survey of 1,000 Russians found that President Vladimir Putin is well-liked by more than 70 percent of citizens, especially older adults.
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In Cuba, Mystery Shrouds the Fate of an Undersea Internet...
Associated Press, May 21, 2012
HAVANA — It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island.
More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.
Perhaps most maddening, nobody has explained what happened to the much-ballyhooed $70 million project....
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Congratulations to Team U.S.A., the new world junior champions. Canada scrambled back from a two-goal deficit in the last three minutes to force overtime, but the miracle comeback was not to be. Full credit to the U.S. team for the win.
See, I'm not bitter. Much less cranky. Not a bit. We'll get you next year, like we did the previous five straight.
Everyone else I was rooting for also lost. There are days like that.
Yup, been some great hockey already this year. Good to see the US win Juniors after 5 years, eh? I think their NCAA-based training/pro/education route is better than the Junior Hockey League schtick anyway.
Meanwhile, my Leafs suck slightly less than previously, the season only being saved by that truly bad Smurfs/Habs team, and the Olympics coming should be fun....
I like hockey. I spent some of my formative years in Minnesota, so that's a given. But I've never really followed any organized leagues, including the NHL, so I didn't know about all the hockey activity last night. However, a friend's comment on Facebook was a clue that there was at least one game. The comment read: USA USA! Suck it, Canada.
Heh.