Friday, January 19th

1 - It's been a while hasn't it. Alas, life is not as simple as it once was, here in the big city, although we were able to avoid the blizzard Saskatoon got. That will probably set the cause of global warming activists back a few years, which I find amusing. Canada is probably the only place in the world were the citizens complain it's not cold enough in the middle of winter.

2 - Kenton Keith leaves for the NFL. Good for him. If he doesn't make the cut, expect him to come back with the Riders, since no one else needs a running back right now (except Calgary, possibly). This is also good for the Riders. With Keiths departure to Indianapolis, the Riders will be able to keep another veteran while maintaining KK's playing rights, and wiggling their tremendous girth beneath the CFL's new Salary Cap.

3 - As for the Stamps, I don't think anyone's job is safe after that play-off loss. Here's my two cents, and then we shall not speak of the Stampeders again until spring:

Keepers: Burris, Reynolds, Linebacking Corps
Extra Baggage: Lewis, Copeland, Higgins

Calgary, you know what to do.

4 - I've seen similar reports in (and on) the news lately:

"But the past few months have seen the government issue a number of reversals.
The biggest of course, was Mr. Harper's decision to replace his environment
minister, Rona Ambrose, with John Baird. Another example this week was the trip
to China of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and International Trade Minister David
Emerson to mend fences after a cool start to relations. This past fall, the
government also broke its pledge not to tax income trusts."

Let's be clear here, this is not a sign of weakness, or that the Conservatives are losing their fortitude. It's a sign that they are not the "extremists" their opponents claimed they were in previous elections. Harper is in fact willing to work in make a minority government work by making some sacrifices, among them replacing Rona Ambrose and playing nice with China. What you don't here in the media is how Harper has done more with a minority government than any other I can think of. The income trust pledge is a bitter pill for Conservative voters to swallow. The moral of the story here is be careful what you promise.

A note of interest for people who read the entire article in the link provided, how is the governments broken pledge on income trusts a sign of Conservative flinching. If anything, I think it proves this government has a spine. The income trust decision was wildly unpopular with stereotypical Conservative voters, and was a political gift to the Liberals. The fact that they didn't reverse position a second time actually disproves the writers theory. As I've maintained all along, there are legitimate reasons to oppose the government, but many people are so eager to beat Harper down they miss the legitimate reasons and write things like this.

5 - It wouldn't reflect well on me as a hockey fan if I failed to comment on the Vote for Rory campaign. Did I vote for Rory? Yes, several times. Am I sad to see he didn't make it in? Absolutely. Do I think Kelly Hrudy, Don Cherry and Darren Dreger need to lighten up? I think so. Wouldn't Rory have made the all-star game a joke? You mean the same all-star game that has witnessed the likes of Brad Marsh and Sergei Krivokrasov. Or are you referring to the All-Star game that is so sacred it was cancelled last season. I honestly don't know where all this new-found respect for the All-Star game came from, because it certainly blindsided me. If people like Fitzpatrick get in on a regular basis, then we have a problem, but this one time, I think it would have been great, and not at all disrespectfull.

P.S.

Dan Murphy is plugging a possible conspiracy theory over at Sportsnet.

P.P.S.

Here's the best part of the whole campaign:

Nik Lidstrom
Chris Pronger
Scott Niedermayer

Viva la Rory!

M. O. F.