"Intellectual" Alert - Brooks (Updated)

It's no shocker that David Brooks uses the most asinine word in the English vocabulary. Fun to ridicule him for it, though.

David Brooks in the NYT: "Intellectually serious efforts are made to pay for at least half of the cost of health care reform."

"Intellectually serious." As opposed to non-intellectually serious, or idiot serious, or dumber than a bag of hammers serious, or clowns climb out of my head like at the circus serious.

Thanks for informing us common fools that a group of dancing bears didn't write the budget, putz.

Update: Pegs and Putz go hand in hand, so I'll put her latest laughers here. I love this stuff. Better than the comics.

Peggy Noonan, WSJ: Third is an unspoken public sense that we cannot afford another failed presidency, that we just got through one and a second would be terrible. Americans know how much good a successful presidency does for us in the world, in the public mind. The last unalloyed, inarguable success was Reagan. We need another. Liberal? Conservative? That, to the great middle of America, would, at the moment, be secondary. They want successful. They want "That worked." They want the foreign visitor to say, "I like your president." They want to respond, "So do I."

Yes, perhaps it, would, at least, make people, happy, to use, commas, to make their, point, about wanting, something, anything, to work, no matter what it cost, them. ("Intellectuals" often pay homage to the Comma Fairy).

"Americans know how much good a successful presidency does for us in the world..." Yeah, the world's heart was really boom-boom-booming over your hero Reagan, Pegs. I know you wrote a fawning book about him, but peddle the bull somewhere else.

I love Peggy and her omniscient ability to read "unspoken public sense." She brings it up every time she talks about a shopping trip that took her past a wind swept Italian restaurant dappled with the sunlight of a thousand children's eyes. Or something.

This bit from the piece is good, too:

A mysterious thing happened in that speech Tuesday night. By the end of it Barack Obama had become president. Every president has a moment when suddenly he becomes what he meant to be, or knows what he is, and those moments aren't always public.

That's actually true. A buddy of mine told me a similar story: "You know how they say that love will find you when you least expect it? Well, there I was at 3 in the morning, taking a dump..."

Stop the Press

Another paper goes under:

AP: The Rocky Mountain News will publish its last edition Friday.

Owner E.W. Scripps Co. announced on the newspaper's Web site Thursday that its search for a buyer for the paper was unsuccessful.

"Today the Rocky Mountain News, long the leading voice in Denver, becomes a victim of changing times in our industry and huge economic challenges," Scripps CEO Rich Boehne said.

Sad in a sentimental way, I suppose, but that's the way it's going to go from here on out. For the time being, clicking is free while the newsstand isn't.

Ontario's Open Season On Small Business Owners

Mark Steyn has a good piece about the human rights commissions' impact on small business owners. He sounds mad as hell, and I don't blame him. He mentions Gator Ted's, an Ontario bar that's been put through hoops for the past few years for not letting a man smoke medicinal marijuana on their property.

I heard that the case was settled last year. The Gator Ted's story, however, is still not over. Far from it. If you want to hear the definition of a rock and hard place, here it is:

Hamilton Spectator: Gibson complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2005 he's been discriminated against because he is disabled after Kindos asked him not to smoke marijuana outside the restaurant's front door. Patrons complained about the smell, Kindos said.

Kindos was ready to settle with Gibson, pay him $2,000 for mental anguish, arrange sensitivity training for staff and post a sign saying the establishment accommodated medicinal smokers. But he changed his mind after the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario warned that use of a controlled substance in areas the restaurant controls, including parking, put his liquor licence in jeopardy.

So Kindos decided to fight rather than settle, despite the fact the upcoming hearing could cost as much as $60,000. As Kindos sees it, he either fights or Gator Ted's Tap & Grill loses its licence and closes.

When's the hearing? June 8, 2009. When did this all begin? 2005.

So there you have it. If Gator Ted's owner appeases one government institution (the OHRC), he gets nailed by another one (the gaming commission). He is literally damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

This stuff has always made me angry, but now it's starting to scare me. And that sucks. I suppose it's the feeling these government institutions want me to have and I have to fight it.

We're being told that the economy's going to hell in a handbasket, and that small business owners are oh-so-important, yet two government institutions seem quite content to have a small business owner crushed between them. Who's next? This can't be the Canada I grew up in. But it is.

I don't know who to call on to stop this madness. Maybe it has to start at the grassroots. No-namers that can take an issue and run with it, making it an issue that can put them on the front page.

Here's MPP Joyce Savoline from Burlington, showing more sense and guts than any of the bigshot politicians. This appeared in the smalltime Burlington Post yesterday:

There is something morally reprehensible and very disturbing about a government that allows its citizens to pay the price for its inconsistent policies.

I encourage you to write to Minister Ted McMeekin — who has suggested that he will not let Ted Kindos flounder — and tell him what you think.

He can be reached at tmcmeekin.mpp@ liberal.ola.org.

Take her up on the offer.

"Dr. Livingstone, I --" Ka-Boom!

I read about the UK's troubles every week or so, and every week it just gets worse.

Last week they booted a Dutch MP out of the country for fear of protests. That's as cowardly and pathetic as it gets for a democracy. The Dutch and the English have long diplomatic ties. For the English to not let a Dutch MP through the airport turnstiles is an incredible insult. It's historic. It's also very telling: the UK government is completely cowed, virtual hostages in their own territory. Now this:

Mail Online: The Armed Forces are increasingly fighting British Muslims with Midlands and Yorkshire accents on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

Intelligence reports show that rising numbers of home-grown jihadists have joined the Taliban so they can kill British soldiers.

Senior military sources say UK troops are engaged in a 'surreal mini-civil war' in the dusty badlands of Helmand Province.

The revelations came as the Ministry of Defence announced another three British soldiers had been killed in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan today.

We live in strange times. Twenty-five years ago, this would have been scandalous. If the British had gone ashore in the Falklands and been shot at by Yorkshire lads fighting for Argentina, the cries of outrage would have echoed throughout London. Thatcher would have lost her PM seat in a flash. Now, it's just one of those ho-hum things you see mentioned in blogs.

The Knee's Fine, Thanks

Woods beat Brendan Jones 3 and 2 in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship. He looked strong right out of the gate, posting a birdie and eagle on the first two holes.

Fans are glad to have him back. Fellow golfers? Not so much.

AP Photo/Chris Carlson

Cartoon Critic

I can't help it. Reading her stuff is like watching a train wreck.

I'm always on the side of the comedians, and political cartoonists have carte blanche as far as I'm concerned.

Kathleen Parker: Cartoonists rely on readers' collective understanding of symbols and metaphor and on their unconscious connecting of images to ideas. Given that dependence, cartoonists have to be aware of the many ways those symbols might be linked within a given time and context.

The Delonas cartoon was offensive for reasons unrelated to race. No sane person enjoyed seeing or reading about police killing the chimpanzee. They may as well have killed Bonzo. Compounding the horror of this poor animal drawn dead and bleeding was the knowledge of its gruesome attack on a woman, who at the time was in critical condition.

Not funny.

1) She eventually got around to mentioning the woman mauled by the poor chimp. Kudos.

2) Who is Kathleen Parker to tell cartoonists what they have to be aware of? There's only two things cartoonists need to know: the paper in front of them, and the pen in their hand.

3) The hierarchy of writer over cartoonist is a joke. You write. They draw. Done deal. In fact, judging by how many "outrages" and debates there are over cartoons vs. written words, you could make a case that cartoons are the superior form of expression.

So I will. Keep drawing whatever you want, cartoonists. We need you.

You're In Good Hands

Last night, Obama made a big deal out of his decision to put VP Joe Biden in charge of the stimulus spending. He said he was doing it because, "You don't mess with Joe."

Congress had a good old laugh over that, and I thought the entire room had suddenly gone insane. Placing Joe Biden in charge of $787 billion should be an impeachable offence.

The other day, Obama described the decision like this: "The fact that I'm asking my vice president to personally lead this effort shows how important it is for our country and future to get this right."

Obama's lost his mind.

Here's Biden talking this morning to a CBS news anchor. When she asks him what the website address of the recovery plan is (Obama made a point of it during his speech, and even I remember it: recovery.gov - you know, as in "Recovery Plan," get it?), Man In Charge of Stimulus Joe says, "You know, I'm embarrassed. [To staffer] Do you know the website number? [To host] I should have it in front of me, but I don't..."

The anchor tries to save him, saying she'll call his office later to find out. Joe stumbles on for a couple of seconds until finally coming up with what he calls the website number. When she asks him if it's up and running, he says, "It's up and running."

How the hell would he know?

What's This Video Thing All About? (II)

I wrote a few weeks ago about the Republican baby steps into the mysterious world of web video.

Tom Price is back, this time with a response to last night's speech from President Obama.

Tom obviously gets it. He knows that you have to respond quickly and get it out there fast. As far as content goes, it's isn't bad. He agrees with the president on some stuff, disagrees on others, etc. But I'm not really looking at the politics here, more the method of his webcast.

In my last post about his web video, I said they should find a tripod. They did. And now...sigh.

Tom: buy a boom microphone or a clip-on mic. On-camera mics produce horrible audio, and they also pick up the sound of your aide flipping pages beneath the lens.

Still, it's another good effort. The lack of pro lighting gives it an impromptu look that works, so they should stick with that. We'll see what he does next time.

Barkley Doing Time

Only five days, which is almost nothing, but I guess it sends some kind of message. Right?

It shouldn't surprise me anymore that these rich cats go drinking and driving. But when will they get it through their heads that they have more than enough cash to hire a fulltime driver?

Then again, Barkley said he had a major league good excuse. Let me see, how do I word this for the family crowd...Okay, Barkley gets stopped by the cops. They decide he's drunk, then ask him where he's going. Barkley says he's going to get oral sex from a girl. He says that just last week, the lady had given him the best oral sex of his life. Then he tells civilian police workers that he will, "Tattoo my name on your ass" if they let him off. Then he laughs, realizes his mistake, and says he will "Tattoo your name on my ass" if they let him off. And laughs again.

The cops described him as "cordial."

You can read the full police report here.

A couple of other Barkley mug shots can be found here and here. One is for the time in '97 when he was charged for throwing a guy through a bar's plate glass window. The other's for a time in '91 when he was charged for slugging a guy. He was acquitted of that charge.

Mug Shot: The Smoking Gun

Putz Drinks Kool-Aid, Gets Cramps

I took a potshot at Peggy Noonan the other day, former-conservative-turned-Obama-cheerleader-turned-disillusioned-Obama-cheerleader.

She is joined by Kathleen Parker, who I never really read in the first place, and David Brooks, token faux conservative at the New York Times. The little trio is doing a lot of worrying these days. Who stole the Hope and Change gusto? (Incidentally, Obama should copyright the word "hope." Lately I've heard people say the word on TV outside of an Obama context, and audiences applaud, seemingly for no reason. When they realize the speaker isn't talking about that kind of hope, the applause trickles to nothing. Amusing).

There's just something about J-school hacks who use flowery prose that turns me off. Here's Brooks, worrying:

NYT: If ever this kind of domestic revolution were possible, this is the time and these are the people to do it. The crisis demands a large response. The people around Obama are smart and sober. Their plans are bold but seem supple and chastened by a realistic sensibility.

Yet they set off my Burkean alarm bells. I fear that in trying to do everything at once, they will do nothing well. I fear that we have a group of people who haven’t even learned to use their new phone system trying to redesign half the U.S. economy. I fear they are going to try to undertake the biggest administrative challenge in American history while refusing to hire the people who can help the most: agency veterans who are registered lobbyists.

So much for all of those sober, smart people with supple plans chastened by realistic sensibility (previously known as "reality"). The guy writes a thesis in one paragraph, then obliterates it with the next. Cool trick.

Is it just me, or has modern politics created a whole new form of journalist as putz?

The Money Hole

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

He's Back

The Lender Made Me Do It

Stories like this make me see about a dozen shades of red:



First thoughts:

1) If you receive a notice of foreclosure, you are not, by definition, a home "owner."

2) If you are a bus driver and mother of 2, and your husband isn't loaded to the gills, then you have to be out of your mind to purchase a house worth $800,000.

3) Buying a house and using it as a credit card is stupid. You deserve to pay.

4) When someone buys a house worth 800 large, then cries to the president to "stop the foreclosures," I say, "Why?"

5) "If people are losing houses, losing jobs, what are we going to do?" Move. And get another job.

6) "Like countless other Americans, Garcia admits she and her husband bought more house than they could afford..." And now the taxpayers have to keep you in "your home" so you can relax? Get over yourself.

7) "The lender made it all too easy..." This one kills me. Kills me.

Today I had to buy two laptops for my business. Just two laptops. They wouldn't break me, but I didn't want to get taken by some high school geek, either. I studied all of the websites. I got the flyers from Staples, Future Shop, Best Buy, and Office Depot. I compared all of the computers. I considered saving by buying a couple of desktops, but no, I needed the portability of the laptops. I thought $700 was way too high for the work the laptops would be doing. I needed some cheapies, but not so cheap that they'd crap out in a couple of weeks. I decided to sacrifice some RAM to get more harddrive space. I made my decision, walked over to the store, and bought them. That's how I look at the purchase of laptops. Now, am I supposed to feel sympathy for people that buy a house worth $800,000, know they can't afford it, and turn around to blame the lender? And, to top it off, they're now calling for the president of the United States to "stop the foreclosures" and have the taxpayers bail them out? It stinks. These people were gambling that the house would increase in value. If they get bailed out, then the craps players in Vegas should be bailed out, too.

This recession stuff is tough. It makes me sound like a hard hearted jerk. To hell with it. From lollipops, to laptops, to houses, take responsibility for your life. If you take risks, fine, but the consequences should be yours to keep. Funny thing: so will the rewards, though I'm sure these innocent "home owners" would have poured millions into the charities of America if their house had doubled in value.

I See A Higher Premium In Your Future

Wondering why your insurance company hasn't paid your claim yet? They've been busy consulting their astrologist to find out which star sign indicates the better chance of a wreck.

Yahoo: David Neave, director of general insurance for The Co-Operative Insurance, said: 'The results show that certain star signs are unluckier than others.

'This survey may yield some surprising results, but consumers can rest assured that we will not be adding a 'star sign' to our list of rating factors.'

Yeah, right. Rest assured and insurance company aren't words that usually go together in the same sentence. I'll give Dave two seconds to ask his seer if I believe him or not.

The list:

SAGITTARIUS Top
SCORPIO 2nd
LIBRA 3rd
LEO 4th
VIRGO 5th
AQUARIUS 6th
CAPRICORN 7th
PISCES 8th
CANCER 9th
TAURUS 10th
GEMINI 11th
ARIES 12th

The Swift Justice of the Trash Can

The free speech crowd should like this result:

Canadian Press: A Saskatoon judge acquitted former aboriginal leader David Ahenakew Monday of wilfully promoting hatred against Jews.

The former head of the Assembly of First Nations was charged after a controversial speech and subsequent interview with a reporter more than six years ago. In the interview he called them a "disease" and appeared to justify the Holocaust.

Provincial court Judge Wilfred Tucker said the comments were disgusting but he didn't believe Ahenakew intended to promote hatred.

Fine by me, though this story's reporter is hedging: Ahenakew didn't "appear" to justify the Holocaust. He downright did, and in plain language, too. He said, "The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war. That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe...That's why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the God-damned world."

You know why I don't like hate speech laws? Because they send these clowns underground. I like to know what people are thinking, and the only way to know it is to hear them speak. Let them rant all the live long day. That lets me know who I should keep my eye on.

Actually, that last statement of mine is a little over the top. Do I know there's Holocaust denying bigots in Canada? Sure. Do I care? Not really. There's all kinds of goofballs walking around. Some hate Jews, some hate Christians, some hate Muslims, some wear tinfoil, some want to live on Andromeda 5 in the Doppleloopy Nebula.

I'm reminded of a story from PJ O'Rourke. He was visiting his old college campus and paid a visit to the student newspaper office. He was amused to see the editors going back and forth over whether or not to publish a piece written by a student denying the Holocaust.

Some of the editors were disturbed by the content and said it shouldn't run. It was racist and vile. Others said it had to be published because it was free speech and the student had a right to his opinion. The First Amendment was at stake. Earnest handwringing followed. They didn't know what to do with it. O'Rourke wondered why they just didn't throw it in the garbage because it was a "piece of shit."

Why I Like Sowell

Two paragraphs from one of Thomas Sowell's latest articles:

How can a President of the United States be re-elected in a landslide after four years when unemployment never fell below 15 percent for even one month during his first term? Franklin D. Roosevelt did it by blaming it all on the previous administration. Barack Obama may be able to achieve the same result the same way.

Can you name the only baseball player to bat .382 in his last year in the major leagues? The first five readers who can will receive a free copy of my new book, "Applied Economics."

Sowell's smart, and he knows what's important. (The answer, by the way, is Shoeless Joe Jackson; he was banned from baseball after the 1919 World Series).

Oscar Right and Wrong

"My pick" is who I thought the Academy would give it to, not necessarily who I thought deserved it. Tonight, I landed about 50-50. I caught some of the speeches tonight, too. They always make me feel weirdly uncomfortable, like eavesdropping on a bunch of people shamelessly kissing each other's butts. Sometimes you feel like interrupting.

Best Actor

My Pick: Sean Penn. Right. He got the award, made a few political statements, said he was glad Obama got elected, mentioned Mickey Rourke was his buddy. Everyone happy.

Best Actress

My Pick: Kate Winslet. Right. From her speech: "I'd be lying if I haven't made a version of this speech before." No kidding, Kate.

Best Supporting Actor

My Pick: Heath Ledger. Right. His mother, father, and sister accepted the award. A class act all the way, with a poignant speech that concentrated on the late Ledger's love of acting.

Best Supporting Actress

My Pick: Viola Davis. Wrong. Their Pick: Penelope Cruz. I thought she was good in Vicky Christina Barcelona, but it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. Incidentally, I've found a new appreciation for Woody Allen's films in the past few years. I never liked his movies much before that. The secret: they're better when he's directing them, but not in them.

Best Picture

My Pick: Milk or Frost/Nixon. All wrong. Their pick: Slumdog Millionaire, which I thought deserved it. I was surprised it didn't go Milk's way, as screenplay and best actor both did.

Best Director

Another flip. I thought Van Sant would take it for Milk. Wrong. Instead, the deserving Danny Boyle got it for Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Original Screenplay

My Pick: Milk. Right. I figured the Academy would throw it to Milk. Like Penn, screenwriter Dustin Black used it as an opportunity to treat the podium as a political soap box.

Best Adapted Screenplay

My Pick: Slumdog Millionaire. Right.

Cinematography

My Pick: The Dark Knight. Wrong. It went to Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Documentary

I forgot to write this in my previous post (I guess like everyone else, I'm guilty of giving documentaries the shaft), but I had a good feeling this movie would take it. My Pick: Man on Wire. Right. One day documentaries might go head to head with features (who am I kidding? No they won't). If that had happened tonight, Man on Wire would have been my pick out of all the flicks mentioned. A great movie, fact or fiction.

Oscar Picks

Word's out that this is going to be the most boring Oscar night in living memory.

So what's new? The Oscars are always boring. But last year's crop of horribly depressing flicks which no one saw will probably send tonight's broadcast into the crapper.

I almost never watch the Oscars, except when flicking over when there's a commercial during the hockey game. This year will be no different. The Oscars are too long and boring, and it's easier just to read a webpage at 1AM to find out who won.

In any event, here's my picks:

Best Actor (Winner): Sean Penn. He did a good job in Milk, and the Academy should throw it to him on political grounds. Frank Langhella has received heaps of praise for his portrayal of Nixon, so he might sneak in the back door, but the political climate in California right now almost demands that the trophy go to Penn so he can make a lame speech about how important his movie is.

Who deserves it? Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, though I'd love to see Richard Jenkins win for his part in The Visitor.

Best Supporting Actor (Winner): Heath Ledger in The Dark Night. If memory serves, there hasn't been a posthumous Oscar since director of photography Conrad Hall. I didn't think Ledger's performance as the Joker was memorable, but there's no way the Academy will skip him. Who will accept the award? The Academy isn't saying, but they have said that it will be bequeathed to Ledger's 3-year-old daughter. [I just heard that Ledger's dad is going to be at the Oscars and that he wrote a speech. If true, this will be a poignant moment].

Who deserves it? Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder. Comedies almost never produce Academy Awards, even though drama actors and directors constantly tell us us that comedy is the hardest art form. Whatever. That's simply a big brother making excuses for a little brother that embarrasses them. Downey Jr. wasn't stellar in Tropic Thunder, but he was very funny. I'm always on the side of the comedians.

Best Actress (Winner): This is a tough one, because there's four women the Academy would love to give it to. Anne Hathaway, because we've never seen someone play a drug addict before. Angelina Jolie, because she cried a lot. Meryl Streep, because she's Meryl Streep, played an evil nun, and (remember, she's Meryl Streep) she spoke with the 100th accent of her career. Kate Winslet, because she's Kate Winslet, comes from England, and she showed her breasts while starring in a Nazi movie. Oh, and she cried a lot, too. I'm guessing in will go to Winslet.

Who deserves it? Melissa Leo, in a small, tough movie called Frozen River. Tellingly, for all of Hollywood's "feeling the people's pain" BS, none of these actresses except Leo were in a movie about today's hard times. Frozen River is about a woman living in an upstate New York trailer who turns to smuggling illegal immigrants in the trunk of her jalopy. The rest of the actress nominees appear in films that take place long, long ago, or a spoiled rich kid who got hooked on smack and blames her mom.

Best Supporting Actress: I think the Academy might agree with me on this. Viola Davis for Doubt. The movie wasn't great, and Viola was only in it for five minutes, but they were a great five minutes. She literally turned the movie on its head. Loved her performance.

Who Doesn't Deserve It? Marissa Tomei. The movie was very good, but Tomei was just there. Any number of competent actresses could have played the role and maybe done better. I think she suffered because her age and beauty didn't match the constant "washed up" label given to her character.

Cinematography: The Dark Knight. I agree, though Benjamin Button would be fine, too. The Wrestler should have been nominated.

Best Director: Who knows? Gus Van Sant for the politics of Milk, or Ron Howard for the politics of Frost/Nixon.

Who Deserves It? Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, or David Fincher for Benjamin Button. Either one is fine by me, because they'd be a thumb in the eye to the artsy crowd. Both of them come out of the action/thriller scene, a genre that always pleases the crowds but never wins awards. Tonight, perhaps one of them can beat the snobs at their own game.

Best Picture: See "Best Director" above.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): This should go to Slumdog Millionaire. If it goes to Frost/Nixon, it's a joke, because the interviews could have been transcribed from YouTube.

Writing (Original): I was stunned to see In Bruges nominated. It's got a taste of comedy in it, plus a lot of gunplay. The Academy must have been hurting for nominations to give In Bruges a nod. For all of that, I didn't think the movie was that good. The Academy will most likely give it to Milk, though I think Frozen River is the best script in the bunch.

Die, Evil Television, Die, Die, Die

This story on Drudge caught my eye:

The station reports that a 70-year-old Joplin man was arrested and charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm after shooting his TV set. Responding to a report of shots being fired, the station reported, the police found the man angry that he had both lost his cable and had been unable to get his new DTV converter box to work.

According to the man's wife, he had been drinking.

The rage against the promise of plug-and-play technology is as old as the first caveman to smash a piece of flint against the wall when his fire wouldn't start.

The 70-year-old TV assassin reminded me of this recent bit from The Onion. It's hilarious, and true. (Major league language advisory).

Trouble in Hab Land

Like Montreal Canadians GM Bob Gainey doesn't have enough to worry about. His team sucks. They've won three games in regulation out of the past 15. Their goaltending situation is a mess. Now this:

CBC: NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to Hockey Night in Canada's Jeff Marek that the league is investigating a report in Friday's edition of La Presse that links two Montreal Canadiens players to a man arrested in a recent sting operation.

"I can confirm we are investigating the facts," Daly wrote in an email exchange with Marek.

According to the Montreal newspaper, Canadiens forwards Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn allegedly made calls to 38-year-old Pasquale Mangiola requesting vodka, women and luxury cars while the players were at local restaurants and bars.

For an old school guy like Gainey, this has to grate. Even if the players did nothing illegal, he may have found the answer as to why his hockey team is in the dirt: they're not as interested in hockey as they are in partying.

Nothing new, but he needs to address it fast. The Montreal press are going to have a field day.