The Road t o Hell...

before you arrive at your final destination), is paved with good intentions.

For example, I am sure Air Canada had every intention of getting me from Toronto to Edmonton in reasonable time last Wednesday when it loaded me onto a plane at 5.30pm and kept me on that plane till almost 8pm before we took off. We arrived several hours late – enough time for me to finish reading Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth (923 pages), watch the movie We Own the Night and take in a glimpse of the stunning movie Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchett.

I am equally sure that the ill fated Mitt Romney really had every intention of running for President of the United States. The fact that few liked him, that he was basically a right wing-nut only got in the way when he realized that he couldn’t win.

And that Oprah has every intention of being intelligent, focused and hip – only succeeding in this latter item by virtue of size and failing miserably on the first two items (aided by Gail King and Steadman).

Or that Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta, intends to win the Provincial election on March 3^rd despite the fact that his communications skills are those of a reclusive Serbian monk on sleeping tablets. He even makes former Premier Don Getty look like a Kennedy, according to The Globe and Mail. (I had him confused with that animal that comes out every year to predict what kind of summer we are going to have – a Corpu or something).

Equally, then, I had every intention of maintaining this blog and of being a reliable source of sauce, gossip, attitude, acerbic comment and insight (not necessarily in that order). Sadly, a little thing called work got in the way. In 2007/8 I managed to write the equivalent in word count of four novels, one good non fiction book or two editions of the skeptic’s bible. I also secured super elite status on Air Canada (not that this means a thing any more).

So, I let the blog slide.

As a penance, I have re read Room at the Top and watched a dreadful 1950’s movie filmed in Morocco and drank a bottle of Mateus Rose.

But I am really going to try, honest.

Speaking of the Presidential race in the US (what about the one in Pakistan?) – it is actually getting interesting.

Looks like the democratic party convention will actually have to do what it was always intended to do – chose a candidate. Curiously the democratic party doesn’t like the idea that every primary and caucus counts – it would prefer that super Tuesday had settled it. John Dean (who fizzled out last time round), Chairman of the Party, would like it to be settled so that the party can start to take on the republicans rather than each other.

And then we have Senator McCain (no connection to the potato billionaires). No one has yet drawn the parallel with Bob Dole - the GOP candidate against Clinton (male). McCain is the same as Dole and will most likely end up against Clinton (female). He is too old, too grey, too liberal and too, well, dull to beat either democrat. Plus McCain has to overcome the real problem for the GOP – George Bush, the sitting President and world class idiot. McCain has to beat Bush to win the republican vote, and then has to beat Clinton to win the election.

McCain will likely have Huckabee as his running mate, and he is clearly articulate and can play the guitar. He is also actually a conservative, which should help McCain, who isn’t.

Interesting – far more interesting that the coming Canadian federal election, which will see the end of Mr Dion, the failed leader of the Liberal Party of Eastern Canada.