Sparks

NEWS
Great, great news for the Horn of Africa and the world! Six months of radical rule by the Islamic Courts has come to an end in Somalia, at least for the time being. Troops of the United Nations-backed interim government were cheered wildly as they rolled into the capital city Mogadishu today. Soldiers from Ethiopia stopped on the outskirts of the war-torn city, but give credit to Ethiopia who got the whole thing done. It was their military that was able to knock out what many thought to be an impenetrable Islamic militia which has links to al-Qaeda. The mujahideen were last seen fleeing to the south of the country.

Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi definitely has his hands full trying to get a government set up in a country that has not had a workable governing body in 15 years.

Ethiopia became worried that the Islamic Courts was gaining too much power and would be a real threat to all the countries in the Horn of Africa. A well-regarded military, Ethiopia, took charge and has ousted the Islamists.

The courts were trying to establish Sharia law which is based on extreme fundamentalism of the Koran. I have no idea what role if any the United States played in all of this. Did they encourage Ethiopia? Did they send over some money? Arms? I don't know, but this is something that needed to be done. A failed state run by Islamists can not be allowed anywhere in the world, and I do mean anywhere.

SPORTS
The New York Rangers have been sliding lately, mostly due to surprisingly bad goaltending and the other teams' ability to shut down Jaromir Jagr. I have always felt that this edition of the Rangers will be better suited in the playoffs and that the team we see in the regular season would go through some changes during the year. I have believed that there would be more youth added to the team as the season went along.

So far Thomas Pock and Jarkko Immonen have been inserted into the lineup, well now joining the fray this weekend will be 24-year-old defenseman Bryce Lampman. He had a very small cup of coffee with the team at the end of the 2003-2004 season, but it looks like he could be up for a while. He has three goals and five assists so far for the Wolf Pack.

According to Hockeysfuture.com:

"Lampman is a solid defenseman with excellent leadership qualities. He is a great skater, which helps him play his excellent defensive game. Primarily a stay at home defenseman, Lampman does possess decent skills at the other end of the ice. He has a very hard shot from the point that he controls very well and he is very adept at making the outlet pass. One of those players that will never be seen as an all-star, but he will be extremely valuable to the team."

Sounds like what the Blueshirts need right now, especially with Marek Malik not expected to play in Ottawa or at home against Washington. Stay tuned...

SAYING GOODBYE
It always seems as though famous people die around the holidays. I'm not sure if that is accurate or not, it just appears to be the case. As we all know former President Gerald Ford and "the hardest working man in show biz" James Brown both passed on. Add to that list a real good columnist from the New York Post, Uri Dan, who died over the weekend. Dan, 71, wrote some very good op-ed pieces for the paper and was a fantastic analyst on situations in the Middle East. He will be sorely missed...

INSPIRATIONAL
If you are looking for a book that is really, really inspirational. I would highly recommend Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman In The World. It's about 105 pages or so and cost $4.95. The book can be easily read in a couple of days and is just an incredibly powerful story.

Finally, have a safe and Happy New Year and here's to a prosperous 2007 for all. Like Louis Skolnick said in Revenge of the Nerds "This is gonna be a great year!"