Suckers

Gary Bettman (pictured here) and Daryl Katz must think we're idiots.  Rexall Place sells out for every Oilers home game, and Phoenix is a more viable team because the hockey rink is so much better, empty though it is every night?

Edmonton taxpayers might be willing to put up some money for a new rink, if we can make sure we get value for the money, but I don't think Edmontonians are going to respond to blackmail.  Gary, you didn't do the case for a new rink any favours on Saturday.

March 29th?

Prime Minister, I want to quickly remind you, as I did a few years back, that you legislatively stripped yourself of the power to call elections at random times without a defeat of your Government.  It's possible your 2008 election call only violated the spirit of the bill, but not the letter, but it's worth noting that since it was your government's idiot bill in the first place, maybe you should make some effort not to violate it at all.

Having said that, if you're so attached to going to the polls in March, I'm certain you can arrange to have your government attempt to pass something so terrible that you can lose a vote in Parliament, and then complain about the alliance among the socialists and separatists that forced your hand.  The scripts write themselves!  But if you could see your way clear to delay by even a few weeks, I could really use the time to get the next Gaffe-o-Meter up and running.  I know you won't want to deprive the world of that, and you surely don't want to deprive my employer of my full time and attention.

Thanks in advance.

Why do I have to go all the way to New Zealand to get my dose of Gwynne Dyer?

Dyer tends to be pretty on the nose about things.  He says Hosni Mubarak is done, and he'll be leaving Egypt soon. 

So what happens once Mubarak leaves? Nobody knows, because nobody is in charge of this revolution.

One thing that's come clear - Western governments, including our own, who have not dared to risk their favoured relationships with the friendly dictators who run the place now, will not be asked for advice when Egypt forges a new path.  Let's at least be wise enough to give full-throated support to the democratic process, so that even if a government not to our liking emerges, Egyptians will retain the tools to replace them without going to this week's extraordinary measures.

Edited to add, Feb 5: In answer to the title question, I don't.