Sunday, June 10th

1 - Some thoughts on the Stanley Cup Finals:

- The Senators still choke in the clutch (anyone seen Jason Spezza... anyone?).
- Daniel Alfredsson's play was much improved.
- Ray Emery will be the Senators starting goalie for the next 10 years.
- Scott Neidermayer deserved the Conn Smythe.

2 - Senators fans can be consoled by the fact that Alexie Yashin now wants to come back to Ottawa. So Sen's fans everywhere, I ask you: do you (a) welcome the prodigal son back with open arms, (b) tell him where to go and how to get there (Russia, naturally, flight leaves at noon), or (c) sign him to a two way contract for the league minimum and send him down to the AHL?

3 - Despite politely disagreeing with Alan Adams in my last post, I do give credit where credit is due. This article is (unfortuanetly) bang on.

4 - It's nice to see the Lebanon showing some spine and fighting back against terrorism, but this job would have been a lot easier if they'd sided with Israel last summer in their fight with Hezbollah, instead of playing the victim card.

5 - The CBC's Larry Zolf on the grumbling and unrest amoung Canadian conservatives with the direction Stephan Harper is taking the Conservative Party:

Harper's Quebec strategy will yield big results. The extra billions in the
budget and his successful motion that Parliament recognize the Québécois as a
nation in a united Canada have done nothing but sway more Quebec voters toward
the Tories. The conservative right may stomp and yell but it has nowhere
to go but to tug at Harper's coattails. The conservative right is
forgetting that the prime minister is a shrewd and talented politician, with
both the Tory caucus and the party behind him. Canadian business and the
conservative far right know nothing of Canadian politics. They should both let
Harper get on with his job of building a truly national conservative government.

I like Larry Zolf. He presents thoughtful opinions without making things personal, however I think he's way off base on this one.

Someone said recently (I can't remember who) in response to a question about why Conservative support was dipping that if voters wanted a liberal government, they would vote for the real thing thank you very much. I realize a national Conservative Party needs to bend a little in order to get a majority, but I think they've reached the breaking point.

P.S.

Zolf did forget to mention the Canadian Tax Payers Federation, who has been more than a little upset with the Harper government.

Cheers.

Man on Fire