April has certainly gone down as an extremely busy month, both in my own life and in the world. I only wish I had the impetus to write something here both profound and earth shattering in the wisdom it would impart.
The Columbine High School situation: I see the reports of this, and all that pops into my mind are the lyrics of John Mellencamp: "Ain't that America..." What do you expect will happen in a society and country that was born of violence, conquered its territory by violence, and has violence enshrined in it's constitution? Why do you need 200,000,000 guns? It's ridiculous. I'm not saying Canada is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but in comparison we're the land of milk and honey. I have never held a handgun, let alone fired one, and I hope to hell I never will. Kudos to our federal government for bringing in tighter gun controls. I like Robin Williams line about the whole thing: "You have the right to bear arms, or the right to arm bears."
The Kosovo Crisis: Seems Serbia is at the flashpoint of a lot of conflicts this century. I seem to recall a certain skirmish starting in 1914 thanks to the Balkan Powderkeg. Why do I see history repeating itself again and again? What happens if and when Yeltsin keels over and a old school leader moves into the Kremlin? You can be sure as there's shit in a pig that things will escalate. Won't that just get their balls knocking in the Pentagon, where they've been sitting around twiddling their thumbs over the big red buttons since the Cold War ended?
On to more important things: the NHL playoffs have begun! Yes, it's time for my third annual Playoff Prognostication and Pool Prowess. (Alliteration sold separately.) Here we go...
Ron's First Round Fearless Forecast: (All series are best 4 of 7)
Western Conference:
Dallas Stars (1) vs. Edmonton Oilers (8)
- Dallas in 5 games
Colorado Avalanche (2) vs. San Jose Sharks (7) - Colorado in 6 games
Detroit Red Wings (3) vs. Anaheim Mighty Ducks (6) - Detroit in 5 games
Phoenix Coyotes (4) vs. St. Louis Blues (5) - Phoenix in 6 games
Eastern Conference:
New Jersey Devils (1) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
(8) - New Jersey in 7 games
Ottawa Senators (2) vs. Buffalo Sabres (7) - Buffalo in 6 games
Carolina Hurricanes (3) vs. Boston Bruins (6) - Carolina in 6 games
Toronto Maple Leafs (yay!) (4) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (5) - Toronto in 6 games