Back in the Sandbox

Parliamentarians returned to work today.  Jack Layton was sly and clever, while Peter Van Loan, new House Leader for the Conservatives, appeared not to have spent enough time rehearsing his lines. His best moment came when he told MPs that the government has laid out "exactly what we would do to Canadians."  

A CBC Radio 2 host in the post-lunch slot, or what we professionals refer to as "the limbo shift" took a gratuitous swipe at Canuck Alex Burrows, suggesting, among other things, that Burrows' 11-second overtime goal against Boston lacked style. The host said the fact that Burrows is younger, better looking, and earns a whole lot more money had nothing to do with his comments. He was seen leaving the CBC building wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. 

In the Excited States, Representative Anthony Weiner of New York admitted today he had posted that photo of himself, or part of himself, on Twitter. He said he was glad to make a clean breast of it. "Now," he said, "I can stand erect."

And, moving to literary history, on this day in 1832 Jeremy Bentham, founder of the Westminster Review, caught the last streetcar. His skeleton, dressed and seated in a chair, remains on view at University College. It is said that Bentham, long deceased, still shows more wit than Conservative MPs.