Speaking of the Pan Am Games stadium debate...

There's a great Letter to the Editor in this week's edition. It can be found here.

No, it's not one of mine. It's from Mark-Allan Whittle, a regular commenter on Raise the Hammer and The Hamiltonian.

While I appreciate the cogency of Mr. Whittle's editorial offering, and I admire how he's remained consistent throughout his both his questioning of the West Harbour option for a Pan Am Stadium as well as championing the East Mountain one, he manages to do that...I don't know, 'jumping the shark' thing with his logic.

"What I really find sad, and I'm sure Ian Troop would concur, is we are losing sight of the heart and spirit of the games, why we are participating in this world class event in the first place."

I don't have much tolerance for this kind of emotional guerilla tactic. (Methinks that he and Group Managing Editor Mark Cripps would get along just fine, thankyouverymuch.)

And to be honest, the way he executes this manoeuvre is quite disheartening, because I respect Mr. Whittle's acumen; this seems quite beneath him, given his time-proven ability to sort out the wheat from the chaff. (I'm obligated to point out that he often manages to chafe when commenting.)

Trying to get the right stadium decision in place, even when done messily as in this instance, is not something that needs to be apologized for, no matter how lofty the 'heart and spirit of the games'. In fact, this sentiment, this approach reminds me so much of our southern cousins, those on the right, especially conservative commentators, most recently seen in the portion of the electorate participating in 'tea parties'.

Even acknowledging the fact that we have diametrically-opposed views on stadium placement (no, this isn't a 'lower-city vs The Mountain' situation, as much as those to foment this crap want to believe that it is...though I do agree that there's a valid discussion in there, a much larger discussion that begs to be had under 'Liar, Liar' circumstances), this tack taken by Mr. Whittle pretty much torpedoed the good his argument had accomplished.

Conflation; worse than cell phones, worse than bottled water...worse even, in the long run, than littering.

(Oh, and I hate people making assumptions regarding the opinions of others, as is the case here with Mr. Whittle about Mr. Troop. Bad form, Mr. Whittle, bad form.)