overthere

so that means guaranteed first pick for the Oilers?

I hope Edmonton gets him. That is because if I cannot be entertained on the ice, I'll settle for some drama/theater off the ice. You have to understand that this is all about me. The usual penalty for failure is loss of revenue. That does not apply so much in hockey, with strict minimum and maximum salary caps. Revenue sharing in many major sports in North America also eases the $ pain. I don't think there is any chance that any pro sports in NA would voluntarily allow their billion dollar franchise to be devalued for something as petty as losing.

I think Hall is on the trading block too. And I think RNH is not, which suits me. He has had a tough year with a few injuries, but he is an excellent two way player. Maroon and Kassian are the kind of players that Chiiarelli will seek as forwards. I agree that Lowe has been demoted to vice chairman of the entertainment group. His most visible role has been to organize things like Sathers buntoss and the 'last game at Rexall' party. He has nothing to do with hockey. MacTavish has vanished almost entirely from the radar, as has Buchberger. At the big Rexall thing, both were supposedly scouting at the Frozen Four tourney. Every player there has already been scouted many. many times, so this sounds like baloney to me. Bob Nicholson is in charge of hockey operations, and he was the guy responsible for firing everybody, including Lowe and McT.

Can you find a job in Yorkshire?

There won't be any fight at all once Trudeau passes ranked ballots as 'electoral form'. It's over baby. This weekend has been absolutely perfect for the Liberals in every way. A strong and articulate leader deposed. The NDP adopt a platform that will appeal to about 15% of Canadians at most. There is some pretty harsh polarization of NDP at the convention, and that means that the soft left is now wondering how much a Liberal membership costs.

The published story in Edmonton in recent weeks is that the vote was consistently 9-2 for Yakupov. For what it is worth, it was a poor draft year, but there is no doubt that Yakupov is the worst #1 overall since Patrik Stefan. Ryan Murray was #2, and has been hurt much of his young career, and pretty indifferent for the rest of it. I fully expect the Oilers to trade their first round pick, they don't need any more prospects. They have finsihed at #2 overall, and we can expect them to beat put Toronto for the #1 pick at the draft lottery. Of course, thee will be heads exploding all over Canada/Leaf Nation Once the spatter from that has settled, the Oilers can get down to trading nearly everybody except a few. Actually, there will be a few on the block or just let go: Ference, Lander, Yakupov, Eberle, maybe Pouliot, Fayne, Nikitin, Pardy, Clendenning, and several others will be in play. The best move Chiarellia made was for Talbot, the second best is for Maroon.

Except for that Polish guy. I hear he emptied his bowels and bladder, neither in the washroom, after being greeted by the RCMP.

Is it too late to nominate Svend Robbingstores or Bev Desjarlais?

Says 150 years of history and reality. Every party except the NDP scraps over the middle, except the NDP and electoral results at the national level are clear what happens when you do that. Now the Liberals lurched to the left and are eating the NDPs lunch there as well. The NDP could have been dragged to the center and more success by Layton, and Mulcair tried to do it too. But he did not have the charisma to buffalo his own party, or the electorate. Layton had at least half that pairing. And the NDP don't have anybody else that can do it. They have a big decision to make at this convention, and I expect them to make the one that takes them left, and ensure the status quo for the NDP: outside looking in. You can call it partisan, but that is the way it is from here.

This has been an amazing winter and so far we have skippped straight into summer.

I am a hardcore baseball fan and like the full drama exp;erience of watching the whole game. But I have heard several people mention (knowing I love baseball) that they have become fans mostly because of 'Jays in 30'. All the thrills, none of the tedium- a good move for sure by Rogers.

Of course, if Quebec for example had decided to exit Canada via referendum as they so nearly did in 1996, would the laws of a legislature that is no longer your governing body apply? In that case, Quebec would surely state they were now sovereign and that the Canadian Constituion no longer had any bearing on them. Canada could insist on an interpretation by the Supreme Court, and Quebec would have ignored both the process and the judgement. So IMO the statement that 'no such power exists' can be rendered irrelevant in real terms I am quite certain that Wildrose would take some strong opinions and some strong actions related to their relationship with Ottawa if they formed the next AB government, but not anything like the homophobia of North Carolina. I could easily see Wildrose invoking the notwithstanding clause on several issues, but not that one or other socon issues. Brian Jean is far too intelligent and pragmatic for that. And I am not a Wildrose supporter. .

The NDP have to decide if they want to stick with leftist principles that ensure they will never be elected, or otherwise. Pre-convention the sentiment seems to be for the former, so bye bye Tom and thanks for the hard work. The most interesting thing at the convention won't be the leadership business. It will the be the quiet war amongst delegates, which may not stay quiet. The choice of Edmonton is curious, since it will create a split from the outset. Everybody in attendance is a 'progressive' to a large or larger degree, and that means a proponent of all those lovely and costly social programs. There will be a large contingent of vocal supporters of the LEAP Manifesto, who want a dramatically different and dramatically more expensive society, but are very thin on how that gets paid for.. There will be a smaller bunch of Alberta NDP people, who tend to have a more pragmatic approach, specifically in developing and selling resources to pay for programs. Might be some fireworks. I expect the LEAPers to prevail, which means that the NDP nationally will have to resign itself to a decade or two longer in the wilderness.

Maybe if they offered Chuck Guite the right package he'd take the fall again.

So if it is 25% to 50% for electric car running costs as compared to gasoline in the US, what would it be in Ontario (and soon Alberta)? 200%?

I used to think like that too. But all the perks we all enjoy like cops, firemen, hospitals, education, roads etc are paid for by people who pay taxes. They also pay the share of people who scam their taxes or work in the black economy. No free lunch.

The reason is that the coach of all those high performance teams- Babcock- doesn't want higher risk players like Subban. Those teams play hardcore defence, something done to absolute perfection by Canada at the last Olympics. Players like Hall will have similar experiences. That looked like fun on TV. I was surprised that Kevin Lowe got a big cheer when introduced. I guess he is forgiven.

No. Not yet. ' And 'electoral reform' is a whole nother sack of worms for the Liberals. Trudeau wants it bad, real bad and so does the entire LPC, Luckily they have a majority, so hammering it through is just a matter for the communications staff. Their mission, and they have accepted it wholeheartedly, is to get 'er done with ranked ballots ASAP and without a referendum. They'll spend as little time as possible pretending to consult with folks who have little input like the provinces and First Nations. They'll spend even less talking about it with anybody in the Commons, nothing to gain there for them. The Libs will talk to the people every day through the CBC- of course. That part has already begun, with Andy Coyne and others somehow dismissing the status quo system out of hand- without much explanation why. The defence file is one that Trudaeu needs to go away until next term at least. He has no money, and by pretending to study it hard he can pretend he has met another campaign promise, at least for a little while.

I think there is no doubt that every player on the Oilers is now in play, except McDavid. The reason has been obvious for some time: this group does not get it done. I agree that they need at least two defencemen that are better than any they have now. There are rumours that Subban is available, for example. For the Oilers to get him would take something like Taylor Hall plus a Dman like Nurse, Klefbom or Davidson.

Translation: Waldo gibbers in fear of Mackay. A contender, but is his provincial baggage a deterrent?

I think Trudeau is stalling on any defence acquisitions , he has promised so much money to so many groups that it is easier to pretend to study it than to buy. He can buy 5 years wanking and waffling about with 'consultations', easily. He'll have to deal with some new factors soon which will make deferment of decisions much worse. Pretty much all 4 Presidential contenders are intent on pulling back on Americas role, and that means we won't have Big Daddy paying for our defence much longer.

The Cons should follow the Liberal pattern of white men from Quebec as leaders. Very successful. It will most likely be a white man from Nova Scotia though. He is not as dreamy as Trudeau, but his wife is a visible minority and much hotter than the other guys. Pretty much a wash . I'm not sure there are any other qualifications to be PM.

The free agent issue is just a tiny bit related to climate. There are three groups of free agents. The first are the really good players, who only get to free agency rarely. They can get monster bucks anywhere in the league that can afford them. They'll make their team choice based on opportunity to win mostly, So their only destinations are teams that win, and teams that can afford their huge contract. SEcond group is the good/OK players, who arrive at free agency more often, usually after their final RFA season. They tend to be overpaid, with teams knowing their body of work but hoping it will get bettter in OurTown. These guys will take the longest and highest paying deals, winning is not as important as getting paid now. Pouliot is in this group for the Oilers. The final group is the marginal and older/fading players, of all skill levels. Their ambition is to get a contract, and longer term is really important to them. Andrew Ference is one of these. The OIlers, a shit team with no hope of immediate playoff contention are never in the running for the first group, nor are any other shit teams. Edmonton and others are in the running for both of the other group and have signed players in both groups. Agents may give it the old balh de blah about Edmonton not being a destination for their clients, but in reality it is all about the Benjaimins in free agency(except the rare first group player, who wants to play for a team that is winning now and will win again soon) Oh, and the real curse of Edmonton was Lowe as GM and a truly dreadful scouting staff that passed over so very many fine players in the drafts to pick guys who never played in the NHL after being drafted.

Yep. Like they did in 2011. You forgot something very important. By the next election in 2019, Trudeau will long have implemented 'electoral reform' in the form of ranked or preferential ballots. That means he can loaf through elections and still win easily. The Star has to run these puff pieces 'criticizing' Trudeau once every thousand stories or so, just to continue to pretend objectivity. That is very important for 'journalists'. CBC too. They get to pretend to themselves that the big bump in their budget for many years is unrelated to their services rendered to Caesar.

The trailer also shows the Red Queen getting her kit off. I think it is to 'revive' Jon boy. And Bran returns, finally