If you look hard in San Jose, really really hard, behind Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle and even Rob Blake, you’ll come across rookie Jason Demers. San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan gave him a chance and boy has the kid run with it. The Dorval, QC. native has a share of the lead in rookie assists with 12 and has 13 points in just 25 games this season. (NHL)

There’s something about a headline that has ‘feel shame’ in it while referring to penalties and the focus of the article is Jared Cowen, of, you guessed it, the Chiefs. Okay, it’s Spokane, but still. (Slam! Sports)

For those that still believe in the power of the mullet, former NHL head coach and TSN analyst Barry Melrose believes the newly departed Nikita Filatov came to the NHL too early. Hard to argue when he has three goals and five points in two games with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. (Russian Hockey Fans)

Not everyone can make an immediate jump to the NHL. For those that can’t, they’re tearing it up in their first year in the American Hockey League. Among them are the likes of Buffalo Sabres prospect Tyler Ennis, Toronto Maple Leafs property and son of a former Charlestown Chief Christian Hanson and a pair of Russians in Sergei Shirokov and Andrei Loktionov. Shout outs to Dustin Tokarski, Zach Boychuk and Logan Couture, all Team Canada WJC alum, as well as Mikael Backlund, who gave Canada fits in last year’s final. (AHL)

Hartford Wolf Pack goaltender Chad ‘Don’t Call Me Ochocinco’ Johnson is expanding his horizons, which originally included Alaska and the mountainous Saskatoon. Good for him. Good for him. (NHL)

Spokane Chiefs captain Jared Cowen made one thing clear.

When it comes to Hockey Canada, nothing is a given.

Still, forgive the Saskatoon native to get excited about the potential to represent his country in his hometown when the World Junior Championships get underway December 26th in Saskatoon.

“I think that’ll be pretty cool just to have my family there that I know is watching,” Cowen said. “It’d be nice to be home for almost a month so that’d be cool. I think it makes it that much more special.”

But Cowen isn’t willing to count on needing a flight home just yet. The sting of being snubbed from last year’s selection camp still lingers long in the mind of the Ottawa Senators prospect.

“The last couple years I thought I could get a chance to go but obviously it didn’t happen.”

Cowen did, however, get an opportunity to join potential teammates at Team Canada’s Development Camp this summer. Unfortunately though, Cowen was unable to participate in on-ice activities after recovering from surgery to his knee, an injury that ended his 2008/09 season early and caused him to drop to 9th overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Continue reading here

Want the latest on Team Canada at the World Junior Championships? Follow Future Considerations on Twitter!

Want to be in the know at this year’s World Junior Championships? Pick up Future Considerations’ WJC Guide!

An enigma wrapped in a riddle and topped with a question mark.

Or if you’d prefer, Kyle Beach.

There hasn’t been a prospect to come out of the Western Hockey League in recent years as talked about as Beach – both on and off the ice.

The first round pick, 11th overall, of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft has been called every name in the book, both good and bad. He’s on his third WHL team in two years, his development seemingly stagnant after failing to improve upon his 29 goal rookie season.

Beach was billed as undisciplined. Billed as uncoachable. He didn’t win too many Hockey Canada fans with his OHL taping stunt, nor will he get an endorsement from Milan Lucic.

His emotions get the best of him. It’s when he plays his most dangerous hockey – and sometimes best.

And here he was in Calgary tonight playing with the Spokane Chiefs, top five in the league in goals.

There wasn’t a skater on the ice that played and looked better than the Kelowna, BC. native. Beach scored the game’s first goal and had another waived off on a briefly delayed penalty to teammate and Team Canada hopeful Jared Cowen. Beach was aggressive on the puck. He was physical. He was dynamic. He created offensive opportunities.

Sounds good?

He was also undisciplined, taking two unnecessary penalties that shifted the momentum in the game in Calgary’s favour. He spent 10 minutes, split between the second and third periods, after receiving a 10-minute misconduct for playing without a mouthguard.

Same old story. Same old Beach.

He raises questions. Can he be controlled? Can his energy be harnessed in only a positive manner? It hasn’t happened for long stretches in the WHL, but if his livelihood depends on it, will Beach adapt?

That’s the question mark surrounding Kyle Beach.

Want the latest on the top hockey prospects from around the world? Follow Future Considerations on Twitter!

Are you a World Junior Championships fan? FC is now taking pre-sales on their 2010 WJC Guide!

“A Cowen ho espresso il mio dispiacere per l’accaduto” – Scende in campo anche il presidente francese Nicolas Sarkozy sulla mano di Henry che ha spinto i Blues ai Mondiali.

Il capo di Stato transalpino replica al premier irlandese Brian Cowen sull’opportunità di ripetere l’incontro.

“A Cowen ho espresso il mio dispiacere per quanto accaduto e l’apprezzamento per le capacita’ dimostrate dalla squadra irlandese”.Ma non si dice apertamente favorevole alla ripetizione della gara tra Francia e Irlanda.

In estate Milan e Inter li hanno ceduti: è stata davvero una grossa perdita’

Fonte:
http://www.datasport.it/?body=news;idnews=3793

Monkeyman Cowen has once again shown himself to be the miserable pathetic Scrooge. His reply to Gilmore’s question was the

Better looking than An Taoisech = and more decent

long-winded and rambling equivalent of “Baah Humbug|”

 What a pity there isn’t a general election in the offing. I remember the time when Charlie McCreevy paid the Christmas bonus early in a vain attempt to win votes. I was in Dublin at the time and I remember you couldn’t get into a pub.

 We are being ruled by a pack of dishonest, lying criminals. Worse, they seem to be acting like hostages to a group of unseen eminences grises in the Department of Finance and the international finance community. In fact, they are showing advanced signs of suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives become partisans of the aims and objectives of their captors. The aims of those holding our government hostage are simply to excavate yet deeper the chasm between the haves and have-nots, and to consolidate the super-rich in possession of their wealth. It has nothing to do with economics and any attempt to say it has is purely mendacious. Cowen and his cronies continue to spin this lie about a drop in the price of consumer goods. This is based on data provided by the Central Statistics Office, a group in need of a long-overdue reality check. A basket of basic items deemed just satisfactory for nutrition and human health is aggregated. This may be going down, but the items in the basket do not correspond to many people’s ideal of a worthwhile and meaningful lifestyle. The choice of a more realistic basket would indicate that prices are going up. But what Cowen and his cronies are saying is that poorer people must be forced to choose the most basic items – they, as poor people, have no right to any other aspiration.  This has been termed the “collard greens” syndrome, because traditionally it was believed that the aforementioned brassicas were a prominent part of Negro diet in the US. Consequently, as many poor people in the US are black, collard greens were part of the basket of items on which consumer prices were based, even though many poor people wouldn’t touch them, preferring other more flavoursome vegetables.

 It is unjust that the fates of hundreds and thousands of people should be based on the ill-informed decisions of a group of statisticians.

La Galerie Seine 51 (51 rue de seine et ici) a décidément du flair. Après  Nicolas Ruel (billet ici), la voilà qui accroche Jeff Cowen sur ses cimaises et le nombre de gomettes rouges témoigne d’un franc succès. Nous avions découvert ce photographe à Madrid l’été dernier (billet ici) et ce sont d’autres tirages, mais toujours dans la même veine, qui sont montrés maintenant à Paris. Des tirages “faits main”, comme des peintures, d’un style singulier et qui fonctionnent particulièrement bien avec les nus et les visages (c’est d’ailleurs ce qui s’est le mieux vendu).

L’exposition s’est terminée hier mais il vous reste le site de la galerie, bien illustré.

I’m not a frequent writer or blogger but want to add my thoughts to the cloud of Irish chatter surrounding Brian Cowen on the Late Late show…

I saw an article on Thursday, obviously designed by RTE to build hype around Friday night’s Late Late show relaunch, “Ryan Tubridy ‘nervous but excited’.” Suffice to say the article was a Ronseal job apart from one interesting quote by the man himself,

“I find it embarrassing to divulge stuff because a little bit of what I am should be kept to myself.”

A little over 24 hours later Mr. Tubridy sat himself into the hot seat of, like-it-or-loath it, the country’s most eminent and respected television show. Within 5 minutes of kick-off the personally-shy presenter had asked the leader of the country three rapid-fire questions about how much rest he had had on his holiday and identified where exactly An Taoiseach and his family had taken a break from it all. He later joined the media bandwagon that have been prying about how much the man has to drink. What bit of Brian Cowen was he leaving to be kept to himself?

It seemed that the heir to the Late Late throne fancied himself a Frost/Nixon style kick off to his reign. Instead what transpired was a cringeworthy barrage of questions that made even the most anti-government viewers feel a small twang of sympathy for the Offaly man.

I’d be one of the first to call for a change of management at Leinster house given the track record of the current batch. However, for whatever you think of Brian Cowen, he is our Taoiseach. How can we expect him to be confident as a world leader if he is treated in the manner he was on the most respected show on national television by a presenter yet to earn his stripes and, it appears, learn the basics of asking pertinent questions? The Late Late made it’s name from the interviewing style of Gay Byrne, perhaps you could describe him as an early Michael Parkinson. Last Friday’s spectacle though, really showed that the revamped Late Late has, at least for now, lost this most fundamental skill of conducting a chat show.

Let’s make clear. Ireland is a democracy and not a bad one at that. The media are free. Much more so then in a lot of other countries. There is the need to have people to ask the hard questions, and dig for the truth. Why though can this not be done while upholding respect for our leaders, no matter who they are? Why must we mine for a scandal that isn’t there?

On the other side of the table, it was evident Brian Cowen was taken aback by the sheer volume of questions, the frequent cutting across his answers and the pointedness of some questions coming from a presenter clearly unfamiliar with conducting a current affairs interview. However as Jody Corcoran, a man himself close to this story, points out in the Sunday Independent, it was Mr. Cowen who received the final rounds of applause. Corcoran quite rightly asks why the Taoiseach, when cornered on minister’s expenses didn’t ask why the presenter was being twice as much as him by the taxpayer. Instead he took every question and simply acknowledged to the greenhorn presenter that it was after all now his show. The Taoiseach didn’t have all the answers and those he did have, could have been phrased more reassuringly but, it seemed, the answers were clear in his head. He repeatedly said the responses were “obvious” and when pushed vociferously and unwaveringly announced his confidence in carrying out the duties of his position.

I still believe this country has produced better leaders and there are many more out there that should be Taoiseach before him, but at least Friday night showed us that Brian Cowen will answer any of our questions, no matter how difficult or badly asked, to the best of his ability and will, while still entrusted with the controls, continue to act in what he believes are this country’s best interests. In the absence of fresh blood coming through the political ranks, no clear indication of a viable alternative to Fianna Fail, and no word yet on the second coming of Michael Collins or Eamon deValera, perhaps it’s time for the media to report respectfully on politics and policies while affording the people behind them the privacy they themselves hold in such high regard.

[The full interview is available on RTE player for a few weeks: http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1054791].

PhotoEspaña s’appuie largement sur les nombreuses galeries madrilènes pour proposer un programme homogène et de très bon niveau. Ainsi, Au cours de la première journée de visite (le 21 juillet), j’ai pu visiter plusieurs “solo shows”, en galerie pour l’essentiel, mais aussi à l’Institut Français de Madrid et au Goethe Institut de Madrid.

Le Goethe Institut de Madrid (Zurbarán, 21) présentait les travaux de Michel Ruetz (1968. Tiempos incomodos), des photos d’actualité noir et blanc consacré au Berlin de 67-68 en rez-de-chaussée, et à l’actualité internationale dans les escaliers. ce n’était pas très captivant pour un non germaniste. L‘Institut Français de Madrid (Marqués De La Ensañada, 12) montrait quant à lui un auteur que l’on connait bien en France et ailleurs, Philippe Ramette. Une exposition de taille limitée mais excellent avec notamment sa série sous-marine mais aussi, et là c’est très original, des croquis et quelques objets utilises pour réaliser les photos: c’est la première fois que je voyais cela.

Arnès y Röpke (Conde de Xiquena, 14) montrait des travaux de Sigmar Polke (1964-1990), pour le moins énigmatiques, tellement même en fait que cela m’échappe. A cote de quoi figuraient aussi des photos plus ordinaires d’enfants sages et des abstractions en taches de couleur. Dans un registre plus photographique et moins artistique, Juana de Aizpuru (Barquillo, 44) montrait Virxillio Vieitez (Sueños por encargo), déjà vu à  Lyon (billet ici) et au Musée Niepce (billet ici) mais cette fois ce sont de grands tirages et les sujets ne sont pas seulement les paysans pauvres, il y a aussi des enfants et des groupes. Toutefois, les poses restent toujours très rigides et les personnages, laids. Par moment on dirait du Sander.

Astarté (Monte Esquinza, montrait le travail de Gilbert Garcin (un marseillais qui s’est mis à la photo sur le tard – son site ici) que j’avais déjà entrevu je ne sais où. Ce travail, très comparable à l’univers de Magritte, plein d’humour et de non-sens est une vraie pépite et le site de la galerie est également remarquable. Je suis fan de cet auteur la  (ci-dessous, œuvre numérotée).

Begoña Malone présente tout autre chose et c’est vraiment un des charmes de Madrid que de voir des styles aussi divers co-exister. Ximo Lizana (série Coltan) produit des oeuvres géantes sous diasec à mi-chemin de la photo et du design, comme des hybrides de robots et d’humains et aussi une femme crucifiée (pour mémoire, une pièce coûte 15 000 euros).

Nieves Fernandez (Monte Esquinza, 25) invitait Jeff Cowen (représenté en France par Seine 51 – quelques images s’y trouvent) qui rendait un magnifique hommage au corps féminin avec d’étonnants tirages noir et blanc de très grand format, ressemblant le plus souvent à des aquarelles avec en plus des traces, des manques et des déchirures. Son site (ici) ne montre pa d’image mais pointe vers Lensculture qui montre une bonne partie de son travail et dont l’illustration ci-dessous provient.

Tyler Cowen hit the nail on the head. In my experience 80% of undergraduate education is spent fopping around with useless (and never defined) concepts like social justice.

Link here.

]]> http://dprogram.net/2009/07/20/msm-fiscal-ruin-of-the-western-world-beckons/ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:31:32 +0000 sakerfa http://dprogram.net/2009/07/20/msm-fiscal-ruin-of-the-western-world-beckons/ http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/blue-meanies-go-green/ Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:20:04 +0000 carasulieman http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/blue-meanies-go-green/

By Cara Sulieman

EDINBURGH’S hated “blue meanies” are going green with the introduction of electric scooters.

Parking enforcers will be trying out the S4 scooter next week and if it is successful it will be rolled out across the service.

Made by a local company, Saltire Winds, the sleek scooter will allow wardens to get around quicker and reach places where parking is more difficult.

NSL provides the enforcers for the council, and is hoping that the vehicles will help them up their green credentials.

“Environmentally friendly”

Tim Cowen, spokesman for the company, said: “Our operations are generally pretty green.

“Most parking attendants are on foot and, of course, parking management such as the kind we specialise in is also very environmentally friendly because it encourages responsible car use.

“There are, of course, occasions when we need to use scooters so we are always on the lookout for something environmentally friendly.

“We introduced a cycle patrol last year which has proved a success and we hope this trial will continue in that regard.”

“Large savings”

The S4 can go 100 miles on a single charge, which costs about eight pence, and are 99.9 per cent emission free.

Saltire Winds’ Nigel Robinson said: “We are delighted to be trialling the S4 scooter with the city council and are confident that we are in a position to help contribute to significant reductions in CO2 emissions, couple with large savings in the cost of their day-to-day business.

“We also hope to demonstrate to the general public and everyday commuters that there is a viable alternative to the combustion engine to get around town, while contributing positively to the environment.”

The council is trying to help the Scottish Government reach its target of cutting carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

“We must act now”

The Transport Convener, Gordon Mackenzie, said: “If next week’s trial is a success, and NSL choose to invest in a fleet of electric scooters, not only will they be supporting local business, they will be supporting our efforts towards reducing emissions and improving air quality, while maintaining safe, steady traffic flow through the streets of Edinburgh.

“The council has a duty to meet local our quality standards set by the European Union and, if we a re to meet the standards set, we must act now.”

I am about 24 hours removed from one of the worst youth nights in a while. I gave a slide-show about taking some of our kids to church camp. Well, that was the best part of the whole night. After we talked about each slide, I gave about a 10 min. testimony on how I am struggling spiritually. After VBS, I was so tired, I quit reading my bible and my prayer time has went south. During this time, some of the younger kids were up walking around. One kid walked right by me during my talk. Another asked if he could get a drink. I was so embarassed.

I know that kids will be kids, but last night was horrible. I need to come up with some ways to seperate the kids when we are in “Big Church”. I also pray that God will deliver me out of this pit that I am in right now. I asked the church to pray for me and it is helping. Please, keep me in your prayers also!!!

Look carefully at the spinning disc, concentrate on it to the exclusion of all else. Forget all your opinions and thoughts. Your eyes are getting heavy, you are drifting away into a deep trance.  Your eyelids are closing, softly, you drift away.  You are now under my control.

You will vote Yes to the Lisbon Treaty, you will vote Yes.

You will vote Yes, you will vote Yes

Dammit you will vote Yes, you will vote Yes…

You will vote Yes you bastard,  now listen to what I’m telling you…

Look you slimey bastard, you’re going to vote Yes or else.  Be warned, I can get very persuasive and nasty you shit…
Indeed, the above just about sums up the Irish governments paranoia on getting the Lisbon Treaty passed in a second referendum which is likely to take place sometime in late September, a mere 15 months after the Irish people emphatically rejected it in a democratic poll in which more than half of them cast their votes.

All sorts of spin are being put on the softening up process.

1. Ireland will be the outcasts of Europe if they vote No again

2. The International Monetary Fund will come in and tell us what to do, including swingeing cuts in welfare, hospital closures, cuts in education and tens of thousands of jobs will be cut from the public sector (aren’t the IMF already telling us to do this?)

3. The Irish recession was caused by our No vote (funny, the Taoiseach Brian Cowen argues that his government had no hand, act nor part in causing the financial collapse and that we were merely being affected by a worldwide recession, i.e. not just the EU or Ireland).

4. The Irish people are basically thick stupid and didn’t know what they were voting on.

5.  The Irish people were mislead by the  extreme left with their propaganda (considering they hardly got a look-in on the airwaves and panel discussions were heavily weighted in favour of the Yes side).

6. We are being petulant or just plain bad Europeans and threw our rattle out of the pram (doesn’t apply to the French or Dutch voters who rejected the same treaty under a different name – the EU constitution)

7. We’ve now identified why Ireland said no and got fabulous guarantees to opt out of the things people were worried about – (we’ve got a meaningless piece of paper to wave at you doubting No voters).

8. Where the hell do you Irish voters think you are, Iran? You can’t vote against your government!

or any of the above.

The fact is that the Irish people are being asked to vote again on exactly the same thing they rejected in June 2008.   Now I didn’t vote for Fianna Fáil in the last election but a lot of those people who did vote for them did so in the belief that they were a “safe pair of hands”.  Others voted for the Green Party in the belief that they would vote to put Fianna Fáil out of office and would solidly oppose such things as further EU integration and militarism, the US military use of Shannon Airport for war games, the dangerous Corrib Gas project and the destruction of part of the historic site at Tara.   I have no doubt many of those who voted for Fianna Fáil or the Greens in 2007 would relish the opportunity to vote a second time on that election – but it won’t happen.   Brian Cowen is quick to quote his “mandate” to stay in power for a full five year term.

Well we too have a mandate Brian.  The Lisbon Treaty was defeated.  It is dead.  You have no mandate to re-run it and your mandate to govern this country was withdrawn in the recent Local and European elections and the Dublin by-elections.

I will be once again voting No to the Lisbon Treaty whenever the referendum takes place. I am pro-European in the sense that I want a Europe of the people’s, not an elitist project run by multinational capital and the military industrial complex.

As James Connolly once said “Go ahead, do your worst. Mayhap we will raise a force that will destroy you”.

Game on.

The announcement today that privately held Ramius LLC will merge with (and basically buy) Cowen & Co (Nasdaq: COWN, http://www.cowen.com/) , the mid-market investment bank that was spun out by Societe Generale fairly recently — there was a fairly active feeding frenzy, and at the close, COWN was priced at $6.58, up $1.74, on about 2.1 million shares, raising the market value of COWN to a bit over $99 million.  According to coverage, the Ramius buying group will end up with 71% of the combined entity. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINBNG40601720090604?rpc=44

Assuming that the Ramius-Cowen deal is done, and that if you missed it, you missed it — what other small broker/dealers should you be keeping your eye on, or even placing a bet here and there to see who will get snapped up at a premium?  At any rate, it would not be surprising to see some of the comparables gain some points in the afterglow.

So here are few to put in the corner of your screen and keep an eye on.  First of all, we know that NY-based Rodman & Renshaw Capital (Nasdaq: RODM,  http://www.rodmanandrenshaw.com) is horny for a deal, because they tried to buy Cowen themselves a few weeks back — the classic minnow-swallows-whale pipe dream.  But Rodman & Renshaw has been a powerhouse in the PIPE and PE markets for years, has a well-regarded research effort, and is probably undervalued in any rush to find a good broker-dealer to buy.  Their shares were up in today’s rally, and possibly in a bit of sympathy with their one-time dreamgirl, Cowen.  RODM closed at $0.90, up $0.16, on 212,000 shares (vs a normal average of 47,500).  Still ,it is way off its 52-week high of $2.99, so there may be more play in it yet.

In some ways the prettiest girl at this dance is San Francisco-based Merriman Curhan Ford (Nasdaq: MERR, http://www.merrimanco.com/).  MERR has a thriving SF-style tech practice, and a very strong greentech presence, having done deals for some of the increasingly common greentech names.  They also have the largest number of PAL relationships on the OTCQX, a high-grade segment of The Pink Sheets where a broker-dealer like MERR can lend a hand to an ADR issuer and collect a hefty fee for the services provided.  MERR shares closed today at $0.50, up $0.08, to arrive at a market cap of just $6.4 million, on a trading volume today of 139,000 shares vs a normal volume of 22,000.  Year-high on the stock was $2.15.  The stock seems to have gained a little luster from the COWN deal.  Ya think? 

Miami-based Ladenburg Thalmann (Amex: LTS; http://www.ladenburg.com/) has been an acquiror, having taken on NY healthcare i-bank, Punk Ziegel — but there is nothing to keep a deep-pockets suitor from bidding for LTS itself.  Founded in 1879, LTS can claim to be one of the oldest names on Wall Street, and it has historically dominated a variety of markets.  It is active on both the buy- and sellsides, as well as in capital markets, so in some odd way it could be valued as a company whose parts were worth more than the whole.   LTS closed up $0.01 today at $0.80, vs a 52-week high of $2.59.  It is probably not getting the rays from the Ramius-COWN deal, but may be worth examining on its own merits.

Finally on a quick survey, you may want to have a look at Houston-based Sanders Morris Harris (Nasdaq:SMHG, http://www.smhg.net/) SMHG has historically had an energy orientation, not surprisingly since they are based in Houston.  But they have done some savvy hiring in healthcare, medical devices, and other broadening segments, to give it access to a wider spectrum of deals in its capital markets operation.  It has launched some newsletters and blogs, and is also making a run at doing some PAL work on ADRs, though not many companies have publicly joined the SMHG stable yet.  SMHG closed today at $5.90, vs a 52-week high of $11.07, on volume of 49,000 shares for a market cap of about $166 million.

If you want to move up and out of the small cap arena, we hear that there is strong nuptial rumor-mongering about some of the midcap banks like BB&T (NYSE:BBT), SunTrust (NYSE: STI) , and Fifth Third (Nasdaq: FITB), but those are outside our bailiwick. 

As usual, we do not recommend stocks; we just write up those that seem newsworthy to us.

Cowen is halfway through his rehabilitation, so because of his medical condition he did not participate in the annual prospects combine testing that is taking place at a hotel near the Toronto Pearson International Airport this weekend.

“It was frustrating,” said Cowen, who was interviewed by 21 of the 30 teams this week. “All I want to do right now is skate and show them what I can do.”

But the earliest Cowen of Allan, Sask, a village just southeast of Saskatoon, could be cleared for light skating would be in two weeks, when he visits his surgeon for a progress report. Still, even when Cowen attends the Canadian junior summer development camp in Saskatoon in early August, it’s not a certainty that he’ll be back skating in full flight.

Eyebleaf sent me this article. You can read  the rest here. Also, I take it as a sign, a good one, from the Hockey Gods, that went I flipped my Chiefs calendar from May to June, the picture is of Cowen and Tokarski. And there it is; the 26th and the 27th, the NHL Draft. This post had plenty of comma abuse. Don’t care.

Brian : Sweaty, stingy and itchy

Is news still news if everyone is already well aware of it? Good question, right? Well, Fianna Fail look like they’re going to have their asses handed to them the next time the public go to the polls, and I can’t think of an example of something as obvious as that, because I don’t think such a thing exists.

Latest opinion polls put support for the government at 20%, which is one point down from the previous all-time low from two weeks ago. So, not exactly great. I think the question we’re all asking is, at this point, would a rather severe case of athletes foot make Brian Cowen’s life any worse? If anything, I’d think it would be an improvement, it could give the poor guy something to aim for. Get some cream, slap it on there, and in a week’s time, that’s one thing sorted. Yes, it might sound odd, even completely irrelevant, but setting attainable short term goals like that is the stuff that strong governments are made of.

_________________________________________

GOOOOOOO TEAM!

The Irish Independent reports that U.S. and South Korean troops on the North Korean border have been put on the highest alert in three years, after the North once again started playing with fireworks. 700,000 Korean and 30,000 U.S. troops are now on something called “watchcon 2″, which sounds like a cheap Gameboy rip off, but apparently it’s the second-highest possible level of alertness, or whatever. Personally, I want to know what happened to “defcon”? That sounds awesome, if you say it out loud it kind of sounds like “deathcon”, which again sounds even more awesome.

I had no idea America had that many troops in Korea, I mean, thirty thousand? That sounds like a lot. On the subject of names, although the U.S. has a history of badass names for their military operations, such as Anvil, Eagle Claw and Preying Mantis, they really seem to drop the ball where Asia is concerned. From 1976 – 1993 they held annual military excercises with South Korean forces, and what was this operation called? Operation Team Spirit. Seriously, guys, get it together.

________________________________________

Would you (go to jail for that)?

The phrase “damn it feel good to be a gangsta” may have been permanently co-opted by Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, as along with the fact that by all accounts he seems to be an actual gangster, he also doesn’t seem to give a fuck what anyone thinks. After successfully dodging some corruption charges in the mid ’90’s he’s now back with a bang as there is the small matter of a recently 18 year old girl at the centre of his divorce case.

As yet he hasn’t admitted to whether or not he had “spicy” relations with the girl when she was underage, in fact he has categorically denied this, but whatever. If I was unfortunate enough to have one, I’d put the mortgage on seeing paparazzi photo’s of his leathery old ass kicking back on a beach somewhere with this bird hitting the papers by August.

The story goes that Berlusconi is an old friend of Noemi Letizia’s family, and this is why he was invited personally to attend her 18th birthday party in April. Other sources indicate that Silvio’s first contact with any of the Letizia family was only last Autumn. So who’s telling the truth? Eh, well, probably not the guy who’s ass is on the line I’d imagine. Still, I dunno what the big deal is, I’ve seen hotter girls on Grafton Street, you’d think if you were going to risk running your political career into the ground you might set the bar a little higher, y’know?

Here is a radio interview with Jared Cowen (about 2/3 in). It’s also a great junior hockey radio and you should totally add it to your google reader because they get some great guests.