"Don't Get Rid of the Rules Just Because they're Difficult to Enforce."

THAT'S RENT-A-GOALIE's Graeme Manson at the CRTC hearings today.

It's always a depressing watch when you tune in that little room in Gatineau. But today -- even though I didn't hear a lot of it -- there were some gems and some observations that just seemed weirder than most.

First - will someone, preferably a fully billingual English-French speaker, assure me that Arpin, author of the bilgeworthy report on the CTF, famous snubber of the writers at the last presentation, will someone please tell me that he makes sense in French? Because if this is a translation, or second-language problem, that's one thing, and worthy of a pass. But if he's half as muddled a thinker in French as he seems to be in English, it's no wonder we're in deep fudge.

There's something deeply troubling to me when these appointed mandarins sit before the unions' reps and dismiss them as "special interests" when the people who actually COST Canadians money get to whine for more protections and breaks, and it's called "improving the market."

If any of these guys ever saw a free market, it would land on them like the butt cheek of a 800 pound sumo wrestler.

The worst part is, if the broadcasters DO manage to get fee-for-carriage, you just know that's going to be blamed on US. And no amount of pointing out that the tiny fingernail we have in their pocket is nothing compared to the whole fucking arm the cablecos have managed to get -- thanks to their friendships with certain politicians who may rhyme with "Leave and Tarp Her."

I'll get into transcripts and excerpts once I can post them -- if I can stand them without raising too much bile in my throat.

In the meantime, THANK YOU once more to our WGC presenters, and the other creative union representatives, and Graeme -- for rockin it. And oh yeah. Go Ricky!

It will be wonderful sipping drinks with you down in Santa Monica when all this settles.

Kidding.

(Or am I?)