Thursday digest

- By now, everyone has heard that al-Qaeda in Iraq leader and Baghdad Chainsaw Massacre star Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed. No doubt common man and Democrat convention guest of honour Michael “Iraqi insurgents are the Minutemen” is crying in his Perrier at the news. (Personally, I'm still waiting to see if he’ll get out of bed before the weekend is over, which I'd say isn’t very likely considering he stayed under the covers for three days following W’s re-election in ’04.)

Sadly, fresh out of the gates this morning with a comment was beheading victim Nicholas Berg's dad, who takes us through Moral Relativism 101. Although he doesn't have one of his own on offer, he's certainly paved the way for some far-left hero to hatch the first conspiracy theory about this. I can see it coming: Bush knew he was going to lose the gay marriage vote in the Senate this week so he rigged the arrests in Toronto and the killing of al-Zarqawi to distract attention away from his political failures. What's even more preposterous are the numbers of those who actually believe that such a far-fetched plot could actually be hatched.

- Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Star seems reluctant to admit that there might actually be something to the Toronto arrests, while discredited former Ontario NDP premier and Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae wants to capitulate to terrorists and pull the troops out of Afghanistan.

Once a downtown socialist, always a downtown socialist, it seems.

- Quebec is looking at allowing private health insurance for some publicly-funded procedures. You will hear nary a peep from the opposition parties about this in comparison with the screaming and wailing that comes whenever Alberta tries their hand at innovation.

- Finally, it looks like the Oil are in tough after last night's 5-0 drubbing at the hands of the 'Canes. Although I was cheering for Edmonton all the way, it will be good to see Dougie Weight get a ring. Guys like Brind'Amour, Hedican and Wesley deserve one too. Carolina coach Peter Laviolette's old team, the New York Islanders, made a good move today in hiring Teddy Nolan as their new head coach. Interesting to note also that Pat LaFontaine will be the team's special advisor, a guy who I think was arguably the best player to never win the Cup over the last twenty years. There may be some that would have said Dougie Weight also deserves consideration for that title, but by the middle of next week, I think he'll be out of the running.