Shouldn't the Lockerbie bomber have died by now?

The Lockerbie bomber was sent home by the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill on compassionate grounds because he had ‘just three months’ to live.

It's six months since his release and Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi is doing just fine.

Yesterday, his elderly father even held out the prospect of him beating the prostate cancer that doctors said would kill him by last Christmas.

The governments of Scotland, the UK, the USA and Libya have some explaining to do but it’s unlikely they ever will.

The 57 year old no longer receives hospital treatment after ending a course of chemotherapy. Was he as sick as we were told?

There are some interesting developments. Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi has a £2million fortune stashed in a Swiss bank account – not bad for a man who spent 10 years behind bars.

Libya is on the brink of agreeing £5billion of investment in Britain – and they expect us to believe there’s no connection?

Bad figure skating costume week

An exhibition by Kiira Korpi at the European Championships. Kiira I like, the program not so much.

Harper please don't fire Helena Guergis

I have to admit I love MP Helena Guergis. This woman is solid gold. The Charlottetown tantrum. Her beauty queen resume. The political marriage. Ducking reporters when the heat is on. I could dedicate an entire blog to this woman.

Now people are suggested they are getting tired of her act and want the Prime Minister to fire her. NOOOOOOO!!!! Don't listen to these Liberal stooges. Prime Minister you have to keep this woman in power. In fact give her more power. I want her running the Treasury, External Affairs and the damn gun registry. I want her at every ribbon cutting ceremony, every Olympic medal ceremony and the Queen's visit. Send her out to drop the puck for the gold medal game between Canada and the USA. I can't get enough of her.

In the history of Canadian politics no one has achieved what she has achieved in such a short period of time. She is Stephane Dion, Jessica Simpson and Imelda Marcos all wrapped up into one. I will vote Conservative till the day I die if you keep this woman in the limelight. This country needs Helena.

Police arrest clown...for being a clown

An 18-year-old Tampa man was jailed on Tuesday afternoon, charged with wearing a clown mask on a public road.

Deputies say Matthew David Lopez, of 7003 Ponderosa Drive, was seen with two other people walking south on N 58th Street, just north of E Fowler Avenue. What caught a deputy's attention was Lopez's masked face with a bright red-and-orange wig, according to an arrest affidavit.



Lopez was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail on charges of wearing a mask or hood on a public road after the age of 16 and resisting arrest without violence. He was released on $750 bail.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said any disguise in public is illegal. Even on Halloween, adults aren't allowed to enter any businesses or stores with their faces covered.

Flight cancelled after stewardess brawl

Bad weather wasn't the only thing slowing travellers down Thursday in New York. Passengers on a Delta Connection flight out of Rochester were delayed after two female flight attendants got into a fight on board the plane.

Dozens of frustrated passengers were forced off the flight and had to make alternative travel plans.

"Apparently, they got into a fist fight on the plane and the pilot decided to kick everybody off the plane," said one air traveller. "They told us we had to get off the plane because stewardesses were fighting."

Dozens of passengers on the Delta flight from Rochester to Atlanta were left to scramble to make other plans.

Look out USA we are going for GOLD!

Lady Ga Ga I totally love this one

Oh Canada...

So what's wrong with a little beer and cigars? They just won gold. The International Olympic Committee said they will waste time and money on investigating the shenanigans of Canada's women's hockey team.

Bad figure skating costume week

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy brought their game clown faces to Vancouver.

Happy Birthday Helena Guergis

I heard how my favourite cabinet minister Helena Guergis had to issue an apology for her rude behaviour at the Charlottetown airport, where she allegedly threw a tantrum and screamed obscenities at staff who asked her to take her boots off for security screening.

According to the account, Guergis and aide Emily Goucher arrived a few minutes before the scheduled takeoff of an Air Canada flight from Charlottetown to Montreal. In the pre-boarding area, Guergis refused to remove her boots despite being informed that they might set off the security alarm in the metal detector. When the alarm sounded, she was asked to sit down and remove her footwear. Guergis "slammed her boots into the bin" provided by security personnel and then, according to the account, said to one of the airport staff: "Happy f---ing birthday to me. I guess I'm stuck on this hellhole."

My initial reaction was schock that she would refer to her home town of Angus as a hellhole. I have visited Angus on numerous for hockey games and didn't think the place was so bad. I would have thought her constituents would have been offended too. But my mistake she was talking about Charlottetown not Angus.

As for her reaction to being asked to remove her boots - quite understandable. I would expect Helena to have coordinated her boots and handbag. Not expecting to be walking around in her socks, she may have been wearing a garish pair that clashed with her outfit. What if someone at the airport recognized her? There might have been media present. That would have been very embarrassing. This is just another example of political opponents twisting around the facts to make her look bad.

By the way Helena, I meant to send you a birthday card last week but couldn't find one that said Happy fucking birthday!

Politics sink the Russian hockey team

After the opening barrage in last night's hockey game, the Russians folded and called it a night. In was shocking to see how passionless the team played and the contrast to the Canadian juggernaut was so obvious. To some extent the team never came together in time just like Team Canada in 2006. In fact Team Canada may have been fortunate to have lost to the Americans on Sunday because it game them an extra game to come together.

Still I can't help but wonder whether the Russians ever had a chance. Some very prominent Russian NHL players were never invited to play including Sergei Zubov, Alexei Kovalev and Alexander Frolov. Instead, the Russian team was stacked with nine KHL players to go with the 14 NHLers. The team captain was not Alex Ovechkin or Pavel Datsyuk but KHL player Alexei Morozov. I have no doubt that politics was a factor in these selections. There has been tremendous pressure to repatriate as many Russian players back to Russian leagues. Someone was also pressured to include as many players playing in Russia in order to make a political statement. Except it didn't work out too well.

I'm guessing the selection process will change considerably in four year

Ovechkin loves shoves his fans

Multi-tasking

Clara Hughes is a Canadian hero

There are few athletes that have impressed me more over the years more than speed skater Clara Hughes. It is rare to see an athlete compete at the world level in two sports. Even more rare is when the two sports span both the winter and summer. She is only the fourth person and second woman to win medals at the Summer and Winter Games. Only Clara has won mutiple medals and both Summer and Winter Games.

Her international competitive career has spanned the 1991 Pan Am Games at the age of 19 to the 2010 Olympics at age 37. Over that span she competed at four Pan Am Games (eight medals), three Commonwealth Games (two medals) and five Olympic Games (six medials).

She has a big heart but not just when it comes to competing but when it comes to people in need. On Thursday she donated her $10,000 in prize money from the Canadian Olympic Committee to Take a Hike, a youth at risk foundation program for troubled teens which exposes them to outdoor adventures such as kayaking, journeys into the back country and camping. After winning gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics, Hughes donated $10,000 of her own money to the charity Right To Play.

She challenged Canadian business and individuals to match her donation or give what they can. To date, over $400,000 has been raised. After traveling to Ethiopia in May of 2006 to work with the Right to Play programs,

The woman is an inspiration. A true Canadian hero.

Bad figure skating costume week

Johnny I love yeah but the outfit is over the top.

Whoa baby! That was amazing!

That had to have been one of the most exciting hockey games I've ever seen. It goes down there with game 8 of the 1972 hockey summit. Except tonight's game saw Team Canada Russia, something that haven't done since the 1950s. At times I thought I was watching a replay of the Canada-Norway game.

They dominated in every way. Besides outscoring the Russians 7-3 and outshooting them 42-28, they also badly out hit them. I haven't been able to find hitting statistics for the game but I'm sure Canada at least doubled the Russians in hits. Certainly the Canadian doubters have jumped back on the bandwagon. As I told my American friend on Sunday, the Canada-U.S. game was meaningless since both were moving on. I suggested that he "enjoy the moment" and we will "see you in the final."

Today turned out to be one of the greatest days in Olympic history for Canada. The gold and silver in women's bobsled is unprecedented for Canada. Add to that the silver in the women’s short-track. But the most significant win was bronze by 37-year old Clara Hughes in the 5,000 metre long track skating. Hughes is one of the greatest Canadian athletes of all time. In fact few athletes around the world have matched her accomplishments. Six medals spread over four Winter and Summer Olympics. She is truly an inspiration and role model.

It was a great day to be a Canadian!

Who knew lap dances are good for school spirit?

Students are calling it “Two Teachers, One Chair.” But school administrators and parents are hard pressed to find humour in a graphic lap dance caught on video between two teachers at a spirit rally at Churchill High School in Winnipeg last week.

The two teachers, one of whom was identified by students as phys-ed instructor Chrystie Fitchner, have been sent home without pay after the spirit dance before 100 students as young as 13 years old.

The whole routine has since been distributed on the Internet, thanks to the footage captured on a student's cellphone camera. The Winnipeg School Division is investigating.

source

I must have missed this event at the Olympics

Happy 89th birthday Abe Vigoda

Bad figure skating costume week

Ukrainian ice dancers Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov back in the 2006 Torino Games. Grushina's dress was backless — and nearly frontless too. Thank goodness for the strategically placed tassels.

Hump Day Hottie - Olympic edition

Finish figure skater Kira Korpi

Horny German breaks into jail for sex

A man who broke in to prison night after night for sex with his girlfriend is now facing a permanent stretch himself.

Daniele Eberhardt, 33, scaled a ten-foot fence, dodged surveillance cameras and used a skeleton key made from a spoon to break into the low-security jail in the British Army garrison town of Bielefeld, Germany.

For nearly a month the other female jailbirds were driven to distraction by the passionate moans coming from cell 13 in Detention House C7 of the jail for petty thieves, drug criminals and benefit fraudsters.

It got so bad that the convicts broke the unwritten law of the underworld and told guards about the couple's illicit trysts.

Friedhel Sanker, deputy governor of the prison, said: 'Some of the other women felt that their sleep was being disturbed, while others feared that the man might try to come and visit them, too. They were going at it quite energetically, apparently."

Prosecutors in Bielefeld said he will go on trial for trespass next month - and will probably end up behind bars himself.

A good thing the Summer Olympics are still 2 years away

EMBED-Stupid Blonde High Jump Fail - Watch more free videos

Mug Shot of the Week

Is Evgeni Plushenko the victim of a prankster?

There are pictures of Plushenko's three Olympic medals on his official website, and reports Tuesday said his latest was labeled "platinum of Vancouver." His medal from the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 was properly identified as silver. The Russian also has a gold from the Turin Olympics.

His agent, Ari Zakarian, says whoever did the "stupid thing" had no authority, and the figure skater isn't even aware of it. Various websites began to accuse him of awarding himself a platinum medal and being a poor loser. After his loss, Plushenko made the rounds of media interviews complaining about the loss. And when he walked into the RTR (Russian network) studio in Vancouver, the host, Alexei Popov presented him with a symbolic medal - the platinum one.

So is Plushenki the victim of a hoax or just a poor loser?

Bad figure skating costume week

Ukranian Oksana Baiul at the 1994 Olympics had the classic Eastern European look complete with bad hair, beads, fur trim and fringe.

Record number of Canadians watched that hockey game

According to BBM Canada overnight ratings, Sunday's game was seen by an average of 10.6 million Canadians. That was 2.4 million more than what MSNBC averaged in the U.S. The gold medal game in Salt Lake City in 2002 averaged 10.2 million viewers in Canada.

Probably more impressive were the MSNBC numbers. Afterall this is hockey not NFL football. The average of 8.22 million is just shy of MSNBC's record audience of 8.23 million on Election Night 2008.

If these two teams meet next Sunday in the finals, it will be rating heaven for CTV.

Canada hasn't lost anything yet

The panic button is being hit right across Canada after last night's loss to the U.S. In short series goalies can steal a win or two That's why the Stanley Cup is a best 4 out of 7. Certainly Team Canada could have played better last night. Defensive coverage at times was weak and the team took a series of damaging penalties. However they dominated the game and just couldn't beat Miller more than 3 times.

This isn't the same team that went to Turin and was shutout 3 times. More like the 2002 team. If you remember that team lost the opener to Sweden 5-2. They squeaked by Germany 3-2 and then tied the Czechs 3-3. So their record after the initial round robin was just 1-1-1. At the time the country was also in panic mode and Wayne Gretzky went to the media to declare the world was against them after a missed call by a referee on a hit from behind on Theo Fleury. In the quarterfinals Canada beat the Finns 2-1 and then blew away Belarus 8-1. In the finals the handed the Americans a 5-2 loss.

It's hard to go undefeated in a tournament like this. The gap between Canada and the rest of the world has closed considerably. Many hockey nations now have strong goaltending which helps to level the playing field. Countries that are largely made up of NHL players do not prepare for the Olympics which creates a considerable disadvantage. Meanwhile the Swiss and Germans have 4 year hockey programs designed to inflict the maximum pain to powerhouses like Canada and Russia.

The Swiss team are drawn largely from the Swiss league and practice regularly during the hockey season. They have developed a distinct style of play - much like Muhammad Ali's "rope a dope" approach in his fight with George Forman. They will sit back and allow you to attack while waiting for you to make a mistake. That's what the Americans did last night. Canada has to take a much more conservative approach to international play. Much like what you would do in the 7th game of a Stanley Cup final.

So tomorrow they take on the Germans which will be followed by the Russians. If they are truly the best team at the Olympics then they will eventually have to take care of Ovechkin and company.

As for the Americans, they are not guaranteed a birth in the finals quite yet. They have to take on the pesky Swiss with their version of goaltending hell in the form of Jonas Hiller.

Happy 92nd birthday to Don Pardo

Bad figure skating costume week

Skating to "Rhapsody in Blue," Russia's Ilia Kulik looked like a disaster in yellow at the 1998 Nagano Games. His shiny yellow outfit (with shoulder pads) looked like either a rotten banana or a jaundiced cow.

Rick's rant on the Olympics

Next 'Home Alone' sequel?

Another Mother of the Year candidate

Nicole Allen is a 20 year old mother of three (now 2) who left her 2 toddlers and one infant home alone to go and buy beer. While she was gone -at least an hour – the apartment caught fire. The three children were severely burned and one later died. She has just been convicted for criminally negligent homicide, a lesser charge than she was originally arrested for.

The jury was lenient because they found that she was too terminally stupid to realize that leaving 3 babies alone with a gas burner turned on posed a serious threat to the children.

Charlotte Church turns 23 today

One Hit Wonder

Brewer and Shipley - One Toke Over the Line (1970)



My favourite version was on the Lawrence Welk Show. The singers had no idea what they were singing about. It's hilarious!

Bad figure skating costume week

Bonus points here for the bad music. You won't see these outfits at the Olympics because they wisely decided to change them.

Man find Jesus in a frying pan

There was Jesus in a banana. Oh yes, Jesus on an iron. In a Kit Kat bar, a piece of toast, a lava lamp, though my favourite is still on a toilet seat.

Then there is Toby Elles who believes he has found Jesus in his frying pan.

Toby is adamant this image genuinely appeared after he burnt a pancake. He was making dinner on Shrove Tuesday with his flatmate at their Salford apartment, and accidentally left the pan on the hob at bedtime.

Toby woke in the middle of the night to find the leftovers smoking, and threw the pan into a sink full of cold water.



When it came to doing the washing up a day later, he said the face of Jesus had been burned on.

Bachelor Toby, who works for Halifax bank in Stockport, admits most of his friends are doubting Thomases at the story but insists it is true.

He said: "It’s a crying shame that no-one believes me! I went onto the internet and found other things that had Jesus on them, like pizza, but they were just outlines. Mine has eyes and a nose and everything."

Looks like Toby will be buying a new frying pan real soon.

This is solid gold

How does Team Canada and Team USA match up

	Canada	USA
Career goals	372	263
Career wins (goalies)	992	355
Average height	6’ 2.2”	6’ 0.5”
Average weight	208 lb	203 lb
Average age	28.3	26.2
Stanley Cup winners	14	6
NHL trophy winners	Hart (4), Vezina (4), Art Ross (3), Norris (2)	Vezina (1)

Johnny Weir jokes are getting a little stale

The Canadian Press reports the Quebec council of gays and lesbians is going to make a complaint about French-language RDS, whose commentators Alain Goldberg and Claude Mailhot decided to go for the gold for trading in stale Johnny Weir jokes.

The pair called Weir "a bad example" and also suggested he go through gender testing, like the runner Caster Semenya. After all, in no way is the latter a touchy subject.

RDS' apology addressed "tactless comments on the appearance and manner of a figure skater." The crux of the grievance, though, was the comparison to Semenya.

No wonder gay skaters are reluctant to come out.

Statue of the Week