Another one bites the dust ...

Chris Reid, who was running in Toronto Centre against Liberal Bob Rae, resigned because he said he couldn't commit to four years in government.

But bloggers were quick to speculate that Reid was pulled because of remarks he allegedly wrote on a blog, "Political Thoughts From a Gay Conservative" (I'm not sure who was the Gay Conservative but at least sexual orientation does not seem to have been an issue here) -- the blog is gone but you can find cached versions if you hunt around on the web (it was conservativeandgay.blogspot.com ).

One of the posts makes controversial statements about the beheading of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus trip in July. Now readers will recall I too had some thoughts that, if the passengers on that fated Greyhound had tried, they might have saved a life -- I was slagged for that post by people pointing out how I knew nothing of what the dangers were -- and I backed away.

But Mr. Reid went further than I and didn't reconsider his thoughts on comment.

In a post dated August 10, the blogger wrote that the tragedy could have been prevented if other passengers had intervened, which they would have done if they had been carrying guns.

"Passengers and the bus driver stood by and watched another person being butchered, and couldn't muster up any courage or self-sacrifice to intervene," the post said. "This is where socialism as (sic) gotten us folks, a castrated effeminate population."

The blogger goes on to say: "This is a perfect example of why we need concealed-carry handgun legislation in this country, so we can defend one another and deter horrible events such as this. But what are our politicians talking about? More government regulation and security."