Unless you live under a rock...

... you've probably heard about my buddy Dave making headlines all over the place.

To chronicle the debacle over edstelmach.ca would be pointless at this juncture because, among other reasons, there are more than enough people being paid for it for me to justify doing it for free.

I do, though, have some thoughts on the matter.

First, I really do have to congratulate Dave. He managed to catch the Premier's team off guard and exploited it masterfully. In politics, we occaisionally salute our opponents for a firing a salvo with such precision. This is one of those times.

Moving forward, though, I worry about the possibility of Dave fighting this for any great length of time.

I'm not worried because I think this will cause a major drop in support for the Premier or the Party. Nor am I worried that the Party can't afford a drawn out lawsuit... far from it.

I worry because, partisanship aside, I really like Dave.

Like I said, he has won the first round without question. He highlighted a glitch in PC organization and has done incredible things for his future readership.

But Round One is now over. And, looking to Round Two, all the chips are lining up in the Premier's favour.

In other jurisdictions, getting away with cybersquatting (the internet term for what Dave has done with Stelmach's domain name) can be pretty easy. In Canada, however, the laws governing the registration of domain names are considerably more strict. Dave got away with registering edstelmach.ca because no one else had it. Now that someone named Ed Stelmach DOES want it, it will be exceptionally difficult for Dave to argue his point.

Moreover, Dave describes himself as a debt-ridden university student. I would hate to see a friend suffer financial hardship because he dug his heels into a fight he is sure to lose.

Dave, you've accomplished your mission and everyone who reads a newspaper in this country now knows it. To continue fighting at this point will only waste time and money while distracting attention from the REAL issues facing the province.

I think we both agree that a debate on those issues is far more important than a battle over a $14 domain name.