Post-Mortem

Becks is done, and Rooney says there is no hard feelings. And about Ronaldo getting all up in his grill? He's willing to bury the hatchet.

Bury the hatchet... in his head

Reason 15,734 that some Grits make me puke:

Ethnic insta-Libs become pawns in sleazy leadership machinations.

From the G&M:
Mr. Karygiannis -- called Jimmy K in political circles -- has just given the go-ahead to all-out organizing in two ridings held by Liberal MPs -- although he won't say which ones.
There are ridings in which Mr. Volpe's campaign won't go all out, Mr. Karygiannis says. Sometimes it's a courtesy if the MP is another leadership candidate or someone who might back the campaign later. Sometimes the effort is just not worth it. There are ridings that have big numbers and signing up a few new ones won't help win new delegates. At a Tim Hortons in south Ottawa, he plays guess-the-nationality as a man walks through the parking lot. He shouts a greeting in Tamil, and discovers the man is from Guyana. Mr. Karygiannis tells him that he visited Guyana after floods there last year, when Canada provided aid, and the man, who identified himself only as Mr. Ali, starts to chat.
"Let me ask you something. Do you think it's time that Canada had an ethnic prime minister?" Mr. Karygiannis asks. Joe Volpe is ethnic, somebody who immigrated to Canada just like us, he tells him. He asks if Mr. Ali wants to join the Liberal Party, and Mr. Ali gives him a telephone number so that an organizer can call. "And I have a lot of family," Mr. Ali says. Later, Mr. Karygiannis remarks on his "killer closing line" -- "Is Canada ready for an ethnic prime minister?" -- and explains how it's done. "It takes 30 seconds to zero in on an individual and figure out if you can sign them up, if you've got something in common with them."
For him, it's where people come from. An MP since 1988, Mr. Karygiannis has assiduously courted ethnic communities, and has visited dozens of countries such as Somalia and Sri Lanka, often after natural disasters -- so often that his critics call him an international ambulance chaser. But he insists he is pressing the views of the communities he represents, helping push on immigration or trade matters. He helps them, and later, on campaigns like this, many help him, he says, even if he has to plead. "Put smoke signals out. Put lots of them out," he tells someone on the phone a few minutes later. "And you might want to tell them if they don't come out, my ass is grass."

Jimmy K, your ass is already grass.

Canada Day Weekend

I can't help but feel that I missed out on Canada Day this year. Somehow, I just wasn't feeling it. Perhaps I have been overdoing it with the running --50 K this week-- and that's why I was been unable to muster any enthusiasm for the holiday weekend.

But I don't think that's the real reason... in my heart of hearts, I believe my glum disposition was brought on by a dire premonition that things were not going to go as planned on Saturday. Sure enough, we all looked on in disbelief as first, Beckham made an early exit, and then Rooney was ushered off the field in ignominy on a questionable red card. After extra time, Lampard's missed penalty kick sealed the English side's fate, and brought an end to the quest to repeat as World Champions forty years later.

Sure it was Canada's birthday... but alot of people were holding a wake on the evening of July 1st.