Hockey - it's coming back!

Guess what, my friends? Expect to see a return to major league hockey this fall!
Alleluia!
Why am I so optimistic?
Well, you're starting to see teams line up coaches and other front-office personnel.
You're starting to see stories about changes in the game from some of the top hockey beat reporters, such as the Philadelphia Inquirer's Tim Panaccio, with stuff like this:
The red line will not be used to determine two-line passes.
In overtime, teams will play four-on-four, followed by three-on-three, and then a shoot-out.
There will be no ties; standings will show wins, losses, overtime losses and shoot-out losses.
Tag-up offside. This enables players already inside the offensive zone before the puck crosses the blue line to peel back and touch the blue line to become onside.
No-touch icing. Defensive players need not touch the puck for an official to call icing.
The size of the goalie equipment will be drastically reduced.
And you're starting to see stories like this about personnel moves. Oh, wouldn't I love to see Niedermayer in the orange and black!
So, I'm thinking we'll see a return to the NHL come fall.
Sometimes life can be good, eh?

Canadians behaving badly, continued

Well, well, well.
Remember that protester from Canada who was charged with assault in Philadelphia? The fellow in the case where a policeman suffered a fatal heart attack?
Well, the joker is broke, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.
THE FRENCH-CANADIAN protester accused of assaulting police officers in a melee during the BIO2005 conference here said yesterday he was an unemployed baker in need of the free legal services from the Philadelphia Defenders Association.
In a thick French-Canadian accent, Guillaume Beaulieu, 23, told Municipal Judge Linda Anderson that his $10,000 bail, paid for by a group of American and Canadian protesters, was simply a loan and did not provide evidence that he has access to a defense fund.
"Just to come here is expensive and, you know, I just ask from my friend something like $13,000," he said. "For the moment I am unemployed. I was in school last session."
"I don't have any income," he said, adding that he plans to attend graduate school in the fall.
When the prosecutor asked how an indigent protester paid for a trip from Quebec to Philadelphia, Beaulieu said he hitchhiked here for the demonstration.
Police said the confrontation at the demonstration began after Beaulieu threw water on Police Officer Edward Braceland. Braceland then chased the Canadian and a scuffle broke out, police said. Police Officer Paris Williams, of the Civil Affairs Unit, became embroiled in the melee but collapsed and died of a heart attack.
Three other protesters were arrested and charged with misdemeanors.
Beaulieu, dressed in a gray suit and wearing his frizzy hair in a tangled tuft, was in court yesterday for a scheduled preliminary hearing on two counts of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, conspiracy and disorderly conduct.
The hearing was postponed, but Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Michael Barry still asked Judge Anderson to remove public defender Bradley Bridge from the case.
"At the end of the day it seems to me there are many indigent people in Philadelphia" who should benefit from free legal service first, Barry said.
Anderson, saying that the case was "politically sensitive" and that she "didn't want to touch it," recused herself. She sent the case to another judge.
"I would hold him probably on a half a million [dollars] bail, but I'm not going to touch it," Anderson said.
Barry said he would raise the issue again during a July 15 status hearing.
At the D.A.'s request, Anderson last week increased Beaulieu's bail to $100,000. He was required to pay 10 percent. Bridge said he did not believe that the judge was trying to elude the political fray, but wanted to avoid any conflict from deciding both the issue of bail and of financial eligibility for a public defender.
Bridge said Beaulieu, who plans to return to Canada, has suffered "a lot of anxiety" since his arrest.
"He's not guilty of any felonies," Bridge said. "To think someone is guilty of a felony for throwing water on someone is ridiculous."
Beaulieu declined to comment. He is free to travel back to Canada but he had to surrender his passport.
He's Canadian. He's broke. And his defense is on our dime.
Sounds something like the Canadian government, eh? (At least as far as the defense is concerned.)

How do I say this?

To my Canadian friends, may your holiday today be enjoyable. May future ones be better (and Librano-free).

Return for re-grooving, redux (UPDATED)

Updated 3:13 p.m. Friday July 1 2005. This candidate couldn't wait.

It's another weekend on the horizon. And it's time once again for Return for Re-grooving, where we take a look at the idiots of the week and suggest an attitude readjustment.
Without further ado, let's get to this week's programme...
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The newly-elected president of Iran (which, in translation, means the public face of this year's Ayatollah Ho-Ho-Ho-Kus) was one of the terrorists who stormed the U.S. Embassy in 1979, which led to the creation of the TV newsmagazine "Nightline." That's enough for us to require that we re-groove this "bastard" (quote courtesy of Army Col. Charles Scott, who was one of the hostages in the embassy).
Rick Mercer. He's an alleged comic from Canada who is paid by the Librano government. It's a well-known fact that Libranos have no sense of humor. Re-groove this sucker forthwith.
Susan Parker. As the fair Conservative Princess points out, Ms. Parker is taking the Catholic owner of an inn in Vermont -- the home of How-weird Dean -- before that state's Kangaroo Court (read: Human Rights Commission) because he expressed concerns that he and his family wouldn't have their hearts into hosting a civil union ceremony for Ms. Parker and her lesbian partner. She doesn't have her groove on, so let's get re-grooving.
Tom Pinkney. He's the Canadian refugee board adjudicator who denied a Chinese asylum-seeker permanent refuge in Canada because the guy worked for prisons in China... and fled because he could not live with himself doing what would be required of him there. Whether he's a puppet or an idiot is not clear, but one thing is -- he must be re-grooved immediately.
(Update here) Michael Shefchik. This candidate for re-grooving comes from The Museum of Left Wing Lunacy. He gave one of his students in an English course at a California (where else?) community college an "F" for mentioning God in an essay -- the topic of which he had approved -- concerning religion and government. The school that hired this yo-yo, Victor Valley Community College, still has a chance to redeem itself. This "gentleman," however, does not. Re-grooving time.
The fools who voted to legalize same-sex marriage in Canada. People of faith, be very afraid, as my friend The Great Pumpkin observes. It's gonna take a miracle to re-groove these folks, but we gotta try.
Until next time, this is either orr for Return For Re-grooving.
Portions of this programme have been transcribed. Others probably should have been omitted.
Peace.

Exactly right

From the AP:
President Bush said in a Danish TV interview aired Thursday that adhering to the Kyoto treaty on climate change would have "wrecked" the U.S. economy.
That's exactly what Maurice Strong wants, don't you know?

Heroes, part 2

A pair of Canadian politicos chose principle over going along, and it cost both of them this week.
Bev Desjarlais, who held two critic's portfolios in the Canada's far-left socialist NDP, lost her portfolios because she didn't support same-sex marriage. She got booted to the back benches. Some "new democratic" party, eh?
Joe Comuzzi, a Cabinet minister from the Liberal Party, gave up his portfolio because he could not support SSM. He had promised his Thunder Bay-area constituency that he would not vote for SSM, so he stepped back to the back benches.
While I may not agree with either on a lot of issues, their principled stance on SSM and what it cost them is worthy of Hero status this week on either orr.
It won't get 'em a cup of coffee, but what they did merits honor.

Striking back at the Supreme Corpse

By now, you all know about the outrage perpetrated on property rights by that great judicial body, the U.S. Supreme Corpse, in Kelo v. New London.
This week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-Montana) introduced legislation that would restore some of the Fifth Amendment rights taken away by five InJustices. At Cornyn's site you can read his legislation; Rehberg's is a companion proposal.
Their measures would ban the federal government from using eminent domain as it was used in Kelo and ban states and municipal governments from using federal moneys to do a Kelo on the people.
For that, Cornyn and Rehberg get Heroes of the Week citations from either orr. It won't get 'em a cup of coffee, but their actions merit thanks from all of us.

The CP is reporting that a defector from China is going to be denied asylum in Canada.
TORONTO (CP) - A Chinese security official who defected to Canada fears he could be executed if sent back to his homeland after failing to win refugee status, The Canadian Press has learned.
Guangsheng Han, a former supervisor of prisons and labour camps in northeastern China, faces possible deportation following the Immigration and Refugee Board's rejection of his claim. Han argued at refugee board hearings he tried to stamp out the practice of mistreating prisoners and worked to protect their rights upon becoming disillusioned with the Chinese justice system.
"There is too much darkness and cruelty in the official circle," he wrote his superiors after defecting.
The board denied Han's application in late April, ruling he was a "willing accomplice" in crimes against humanity and therefore ineligible to remain in Canada.
"I think it's not fair and it's not objective," said Han, 52.
"They only looked at what job I did, and not how I did the job."
Wow.
He was a "willing accomplice" in crimes against humanity.
In China.
The same China that Paul Martin has been all but fawning over. The same China that Paul Martin's company uses to build its boats. China -- committing crimes against humanity.
Paul Martin's ally. Committing crimes against humanity.
Now, somebody who clearly didn't want to commit crimes against humanity is going to be sent back to China to become a victim of a crime against humanity.
How humanitarian is that?
"If sent back I definitely will face a very long term in prison," he said. "I may even lose my life."
Yet, Mr. Han shows his courage.
"Ultimately, if I have to pay the price with my life, I believe it is worthwhile."
Is there any way to give this man some protection? And you have to ask if Mr. Han is just a pawn in the current geopolitical games now being played by our northern neighbors.
Humanitarian? My derriere.

You gotta read this

For an eerie coincidence of spiritual import, pay a visit to The Great Pumpkin's post called "God-incidences"...

Why the left hates Wal-Mart

The left hates Wal-Mart.
I think we can all agree on that.
But why?
Let me count the most important way.
Wal-Mart is for everybody.
We live in a time where everything, it seems, is niche-marketed. Very few try to reach the mass audience. Remember the halcyon days of Top 40 radio, when you could hear "It's Impossible" by Perry Como and "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin in the same hour? Remember the days of the Ed Sullivan show, which offered something for everyone?
Those days are all but gone.
But Wal-Mart built its empire on something for everybody... and that meant everybody, not just the yuppies. Wal-Mart was handed the so-called "downscale" market and ran all the way to a whole host of banks with them.
Wal-Mart provided goods of acceptable and better quality at prices that the lower reaches of the economic scale could afford.
"Omigawd," said Mr. and Ms. Elite. "Those... those... those common folk can get the same stuff we can. That's... that's... that's just not right!"
They also claim that Wal-Mart is killing the smalltown retailers of America, just because it is a total department store. Reality check: Unfortunately, the changes in society over the past 50 years or so did more to put little guys -- and more than a few big guys (remember Montgomery Ward? W.T. Grant? Woolworth's?) -- out of business long before Wal-Mart got out of Arkansas.
It can't be the fact that the Walton family is from Arkansas, could it? Nah. After all, Bill Clinton's from Arkansas. Yeah, but he's a Democrat and the Waltons aren't.
When you get down to it, the fact that Wal-Mart puts items within the financial reach of the lower economic reaches just ticks off Mr. and Ms. Elite so much that it makes them crazy.
Hey, look at some of the discussions on the left over last week's Supreme Court thievery in New London, Conn.
The point? "Omigawd, Hermione, Wal-Mart could come in and get the town to condemn my land for a superstore!"
Didn't seem to matter in a lot of other cases for those folks, though, unlike the right, which was nearly unanimous in its total condemnation of the condemnation issue.
This is not intended to be a defense of Wal-Mart, or a praise of it... just what one person sees as the reason for the hatred of this one retailer.

Cool place

Well, I'm now back. Really.
If you want to see where we were, click here.
It's a very cool place, in point of fact. The amusement park is an old-time format park; none of this one price admission stuff (although you can get a handstamp for all-day or nighttime riding); two great rollercoasters; a classic carousel; and a lot of other fun rides for the young and young-at-heart. In addition, you can even bring your own picnic basket (and Yogi Bear won't steal it!) or cook out on grills provided in the picnic areas. There's a good swimming pool there, too, complete with a pair of water slides.
And the campground is cool, too. We tent-camp. But there are showers at a number of locations around the campground, and the facilities also enable the ladies who are so inclined to use their blow-dryers and curling irons.
The campground is divided into a couple of sections. We prefer to stay in the "Canadian" section of the campground... it's a touch farther away from the park entrance, but it's also quieter. Our clan and Judy's sister and her clan (3 kids, twins aged 8, and a soon-to-be 4-year-old) claimed adjacent sites on Saskatchewan Avenue.
It's an annual trip for us and it's always worth while.

Same-sex marriage: The aftermath

Now we'll see if there is a real freedom of religion in Canada.
I'm not optimistic.

Showcase

I'm back... I think.
Anyway, I'm also in the Carnival Showcase. Pay a visit.