Okay Ben, did you see the women’s gold medal game? No surprise Candada won, of course.

But what about that Swedish power play. (I meant to ask Swede down at the rink today, but I forgot.) They set up with the puck behind the goal line and just played catch. The Canadian defenders didn’t know what to do at first. On the penalty kill, defensemen don’t want to wander far from the front of the net when the puck’s in deep, so they were just clinging to the corners of the net looking nervous.

The Swedes just passed it back and forth, waiting patiently. Suddenly they passed to the point, and get a one-timer goal.

Very creative and original power play. Canada learned pretty quickly, though, and shut it right down the next time Sweden tried it. Has anybody ever seen that play before? Nobody I talked to at the rink had. I’m not sure it would very effective twice against any decent team, though.

…and gets in some nice shots on the rump neocons in the process:

New York Times Magazine: After Neoconservatism

Fukuyama was part of the neocon chorus for an Iraqi intervention immedieately after 9/11. On 9/20/2001, he signed a letter to President Bush stating in part:

We agree with Secretary of State Powell’s recent statement that Saddam Hussein “is one of the leading terrorists on the face of the Earth….” It may be that the Iraqi government provided assistance in some form to the recent attack on the United States. But even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Failure to undertake such an effort will constitute an early and perhaps decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism.

“To the vice president’s credit, he did own up to it. On FOX News he said the fault was his, he can’t blame anybody else. Boy, it’s amazing, the only time you get accountability out of this administration is when they are actually holding a smoking gun.” —Bill Maher

“Rumors are that the reason Dick Cheney didn’t say anything about the hunting accident for about 24 hours was because he had been drinking. And I’m thinking, well jeez, he was probably drinking when we planned the invasion of Iraq.” —David Letterman

“Cheney now says he can’t blame the shooting on the guy who got shot. He said we tried that for three days. It didn’t work.” —Jay Leno

“They were in a car, they drive along, they get out of the car, he shoots his friend in the face, then they get back in the car and they go hide for 18 hours. That’s not hunting…that’s an episode of ‘The Sopranos'” —Jay Leno

There’s oh so much more at about.com.

I am. It’s true.

Fancy Portuguese espresso machine crapped out a while back, and I’m taking it as a sign from the heavens. I’m down to half a cup of drip brew today. Drinking lots of agua to flush out the system. Hopefully I won’t put on too much weight or lose my edge on the ice.

Wish me luck.