An interesting commentary from Jeffrey Simpson this morning;

Mr. Chrétien, a deeply conservative man, likes to think of himself as a progressive, even if he is not. The "petit gars de Shawinigan" shtick, that tired vaudeville routine of his, works best when Mr. Chrétien can point to something being done for "ordinary Canadians."

Behind the vaudeville lurks a streak of terrible pettiness and vengeance directed against those who have crossed him, Exhibit A being Mr. Martin.

This Chrétien animus toward the Finance Minister runs so deep that ministers have emerged shocked from conversations with the Prime Minister who went on and on and on about Mr. Martin's statements and tactics during the Liberal leadership race of 1990.

Three different senior ministers have recounted their astonishment at these conversations, or more properly monologues, about events that occurred more than a decade ago but still poison Mr. Chrétien's soul.

More and more I find myself comparing Chretien to Richard Nixon during the time of his slow sure decline. A man who nurses his grudges, a man who seems to fear the thought of losing power more than anything else, a fighter, a brawler, etc... etc...

This week we even got the word about Chretien compiling 'lists' of un-cooperative backbenchers. Fans of Richard Nixon will recognize the pattern.

Toronto penalty to # 16, Darcy Tucker.

Two Minutes for Charging

An interesting commentary on the Israeli refusal to allow a UN 'fact-finding' mission in Jenin. It's very hard to argue with the quite logical question ' what is Israel trying to hide'? Perhaps a better question is: 'what is the UN trying to find'?

This is the problem with the fact-finding mission over which Israel, the United Nations, the United States, and Arab governments are now quarreling. The mission's stated premise is that it can settle "the facts" about Jenin. But the mission has failed to get off the ground precisely because that premise is false. Israel and its critics can't agree which facts to find. The mystery of the Jenin investigation—namely, why a country with nothing to hide would resist a search for truth—dissolves when you realize how much of the battle for public opinion takes place not between truth and falsehood, but between one truth and another. To control the answer, you must control the question. That's the game Israel is playing-and its opponent, the United Nations, is winning.

Canada salutes you, Tie Domi.

In years past, anyone who described Tie Domi as a skilled hockey player would have been jeered and derided as an idiot. And rightly so... The only possible way to make Domi look good as a hockey player is to surround him with slack-jawed, cementheads who are even less disciplined, less focused, and less capable of playing the game. Thankfully, the Maple Leafs think so highly of Domi that they have gone ahead and done that. Tie Domi, the goon who grew by staying the same.

Denis Coderre... What the hell are we going to do with this bonehead?

There are all kinds of comments in the news about Denis Coderre and his comparing the Alliance to a "Le Pen franchise." An editorial in the Post claims that this idiotic smear was not the result of high emotions or hyperbole... He planned to say it and he refuses to back away from it... Here's the exact context in which he used it...

Mrs. Diane Ablonczy (Calgary--Nose Hill, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister can huff and puff all he wants but the fact of the matter is that the former chief of strategic planning for CSIS, the former director of Canada's immigration system and the auditor general have all been saying that Canada's refugee system is a problem as far as security is concerned and it is rife with abuse.

The auditor general says that there is inadequate training for frontline officers and that airlines are not made to return passengers arriving with no documents. The government has ignored all these warnings--

Hon. Denis Coderre (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to congratulate my colleague for her new appointment as the critic for immigration. I hope she sees that as a promotion and not as a demotion. However I would say that she needs more briefings.

When we consider every refugee or immigrant as a terrorist, it is not the case. Maybe now Le Pen has a franchise in Canada.

So that's the play... wait for someone in the Alliance to object to an immigration policy that simply screams out for criticism and then call them a 'racist' without the slightest pretence that the slur has anything to do with the question. I swear, if I could find a single Canadian who'd admit to voting Liberal, I would wrestle him to the ground and demand an explanation of this nauseating government. What a slimebucket individual is Mr. Coderre and what a slimebucket government bred him...

I'm back after a long, unplanned hiatus. Work got workier, taxes got more taxing and the playoffs took care of my evening playtime. How about them Sens! WHOO HOOO! How about them HABS! WHOO HOOO! How about those evil clowns in Blue? BOOO BOOO!

Ottawa fans will be quite happy to see Toronto go down to defeat (in 5 games) but we really would have enjoyed watching the amazing disappearing 10 million dollar man (Alexei Cashin) do his amazing vanishing act again. Eh! It would have been a tainted victory in any case since Toronto fans could rightly claim that they had crippled the Islanders for us before the second round.