The Cormac MacSweeney Blog - 660News Calgary

So you may ask me today “Cormac, what’s in the news?” I’ll tell you in one simple word…”elections!”

Currently Albertans have three elections they may be keeping an eye on, one suspected, the other two are already in campaign mode. Let’s start off with the election that is most popular.

Hillary Clinton has thrown her support behind Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race. Clinton was a good little party member and tried to sound as enthusiastic as she could when speaking about the man who beat her in the race to become the democratic candidate in the presidential race.

In her speech to the Democratic Convention, Clinton came out with all the catch phrases she needed to say (or was forced to say) to try and make the next president a democrat: “Barack Obama is my candidate.” “No way. No how. No McCain” and even flat out “He (Obama) must be our next president.”

Some say she is keeping herself in the game so she can run again in 2010 … others say it was a brilliant display of a woman who’s ridiculously bitter but could bite her tongue so hard she didn’t show it.

Barack Obama will be formally nominated as the Democrats’ candidate for the White House tonight in Denver, following speeches by his running mate Joe Biden and former president and Hillary’s hubby Bill Clinton.

On to the next big election … or should I say possible election.

Stephen Harper has raised some eyebrows and fueled speculation that Canadians could be heading to the polls in the fall. The PM has asked Governor General Michaelle Jean to skip her trip to China because she’s needed at home.

That move could mean that Harper will be asking Jean to dissolve parliament within days. Some say Harper is being hypocritical considering he was the one who orchestrated the law that set fixed election dates. Harper though says a minority government is not covered by the law…basically saying “I left an out clause for myself and I can do as I want.”

The Liberals and Conservatives are in a virtual dead heat according to recent polls but that’s because no one seems to care about either party.

So when exactly might this happen? Harper is suggesting the vote might be called prior to three federal by-elections September 8th.

Finally the last election Albertans may be keeping an eye on is the Liberal leadership race in our province.

So what’s new here? Well not much. It seems Dave Taylor announced he was running, the media took notice saying “we have the first candidate,” and that’s where the fizzle began. The Liberal leadership race has fallen off the radar of most people. It seems the crack PR teams have let this fall through the crack …
not the thing you should be doing when you’re trying to revive your party after a crushing defeat.

The not-so-recent update is that Dr. David Swann has joined Mo Elsalhy and Taylor in the battle for Opposition Leader. The good doctor is apparently the candidate for dramatic change … he won’t count out changing the name, the party colours, and even party policy.

This tainted meat recall is becoming larger and larger with Calgary-based Lucerne foods now recalling pre-made sandwiches it supplies for Safeway and Mac’s stores in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The sandwiches may contain meat from Maple Leaf Foods which has now pulled all 220 products made at their Toronto plant from the shelves.

So in recent memory we have had spinach that we weren’t allowed to touch, and then it was tomatoes…or peppers…or any other ingredient that went into salsa. Heck we couldn’t even eat dog food if we wanted to because that was pulled off shelves as well. Those three examples are just major ones in the last year!

What the heck is going on in society that is causing all of our food to become tainted and possibly deadly? It seems no matter what you eat or do, there’s going to be something wrong with it.

I don’t know about you but I’m just going to go on a strict diet of bananas, lemons, peanuts and dry cat food and just hope for the best.

We are nearing the end of the Beijing Games. We’re in the last weekend of the games and what a comeback.

Canada started in an embarrassing way with no medals for seven straight days. Just when we thought things were done for our country, we explode with a medal spree.

I don’t believe we have gone a day without a first second or third place finish since we broke the horrible trend. Just today we won a silver and bronze and we have a few shots tomorrow to add to our tally.

There was widespread speculation we’d get a max of 16 medals but we have now surpassed that mark and as of 9:30 a.m. on Friday we have 17 pieces of bling.

While we still did well in the end and we should be proud of our athletes…I think we should take a serious look at our performance at the games.

There’s obviously some issues because going that long without anything to show for it is a warning flag. We should take a serious look at why we did so poorly and take the necessary measures to fix the problems.

But I won’t rain on the parade anymore. Let’s just be happy and proud of our athletes and the hardware they are bringing home.

Starting today, and for the next two weeks, I am Ted Henley.

No I’m not wearing his clothes, styling my hair like his and becoming interested in space and science … I’m just filling in.

Ted is out of the country on a well-deserved vacation so I am sitting in the anchor chair next to Lynda. Today was my first taste of sitting in the on air booth non-stop from 6 to 9 a.m. Three hours of constant writing and talking, desperately trying to get your next half-hour newscast prepared while trying to read the current one.

It’s not as easy as it seems. I think I put about 25 more white hairs on my head before the 5:30 a.m. newscast even began. By the end of the two weeks my salt and pepper hair will be jet white. I’ll have to start doing sponsorship spots for ‘Just For Men.’

It was an interesting shift to do and hectic as hell but I got through it without killing myself or others … which is always a good thing.

The next nine work days should be fun as I attempt to fill in the big shoes of the “Big Hen.”

So, I guess I’m admitting my age with this one … (the funny thing is when most people say that you find out they’re 92 or something) … but today I met my hockey hero Theoren Fleury.

Fleury was on the Fan960 with Dave Rowe for the morning show and I got to interview him after he was done his two and a half hour session with the sports nuts at our sister … I mean brother station (say “brother station” in a manly voice of course).

The former Calgary Flame was actually just heading out the door when I sprinted from the newsroom to the reception area just to do a four-minute interview with him about the Olympics. I looked a bit like an idiot but if you had the chance to meet your idol I’m sure you would have done the same thing.

Of course because I did that the Fan guys took me on the air and made fun of me … but it is all worth it to know I met one of my heroes. He was exactly how I expected him to be … kind of quiet, cracking a couple of jokes, very modest and overall a nice guy.

Yes, I know Fleury has been the subject of controversy in the past and didn’t leave the NHL, or hockey in general, in the brightest of lights. But you have to give the man the respect he deserves. Since leaving hockey on a couple of bad notes, he has started his own concrete sealing business, tried to make a TV show out of it (not sure if it got picked up by a network), and even played with the Calgary Vipers baseball team.

Fleury is a person who has had troubles and worked through them to turn his life around. Anyone who can do that deserves respect and acknowledgement.

To give you a hint at what he’s done for hockey, I’ve pulled some stats from Wikipedia:

Calgary Flames franchise records

points scored (830)
goals scored (364) - since passed by Jarome Iginla
most first goals of the season (3)
most shots in one season (353)
3 or more goal games in one season (5; tied with Hakan Loob)
most shots in one game (13; tied with Al MacInnis)
most penalties in one game (8 - 5 minors and 3 10-minute misconducts; tied with Charlie Bourgeois)

53rd in goals on NHL all-time rankings (455)
63rd in assists on NHL all-time rankings (633)
55th in points on NHL all-time rankings (1088)
NHL record 3 short-handed goals in one game (only short-handed hat trick ever recorded)
NHL record highest plus/minus rating in one game, plus-9 (February 10, 1993 against the San Jose Sharks)

Holds single season record for assists (92) and points (160) for Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)
All-time record holder for goals (201), assists (271), and points (472) for the Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)

I guess I’ll end this off by letting you know I can now die a happy man.

It may come as no surprise to you that Heath Ledger is dead. Blunt news I know, but unfortunately after a stunning performance as The Joker, Heath is no longer with us.

The strange thing is that the passing of Ledger is only the beginning of a string of problems that has been following the stars of the Dark Knight.

First off, in the latest news on Ledger’s death, his friend and speculated drug buddy, Mary-Kate Olsen is refusing to speak with investigators about the case unless she gets immunity…from what, we don’t know.

You could easily speculate that it is something her parents wouldn’t approve of, because why would you need immunity from innocent actions? The U.S. Feds want to know how Heath Ledger got two powerful painkillers that contributed to his accidental overdose death. But Olsen’s lawyer says the former Full House star has nothing to do with the drugs, and has already told the government everything she knows. So again…why ask for immunity?

The second incident surrounds the Dark Knight himself. Christian Bale’s own mother and sister claim he beat them in a London Hotel the night before the premiere of the movie in England. Bale denies the charges.

There are still a lot of details unclear about this one.

Finally and most recently Morgan Freeman is in hospital after a car crash. The actor was driving in Mississippi and reports are that the car he was driving in, which is owned by the passenger of the vehicle, went airborne, flipping a few times and landing in a ditch. The jaws of life were needed to get him out of the car.

Freeman has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage and had to undergo surgery last night. Thankfully his publicist says he’ll be okay, is in good spirits and is looking forward to a full recovery.

Is there anything behind all of this I don’t know. But this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of movie curses and it probably won’t be the last. As a quick example there is The Crow curse, where Bruce Lee’s son Brandon was shot to death with a prop gun that was supposed to have blanks in it. There is also the Supermancurse. Margot Kidder had a nervous breakdown, Richard Pryor got M.S., Christopher Reeve was paralyzed when bucked from his horse and George Reeves, who played Superman on TV in the 50s, ended up committing suicide.

Let’s hope no further tragedy strikes for a movie that could very-well break the half a billion mark in ticket sales. Michael Caine may want to cover himself in bubble wrap and get a body double.

So the other day I was at a Tim Hortons talking to people for my story on the Moose being killed by police after it got too close to the airport.

When the day was done…or at least that part of my shift…I tried starting up the cruiser.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK

Nothing.

The battery was shot (for the time being) and I couldn’t start the engine. I rolled my eyes and groaned. There’s nothing worse for a reporter who wants to finish his day than being stuck with a vehicle that just doesn’t work. I’m just lucky I was at a Tim Hortons and not in the middle of nowhere.

I only had to ask two people before I had ensured a boost. The first guy parked way too far and wasn’t ready to leave the Tim’s yet. The next one up had absolutely no problem with it. He pulled right up next to me and we gave the cruiser a jolt of electricity.

The problem is I can’t remember his name. I remember he worked for SMART Technologies but that’s it.

So whoever you are…thank you again.