And that was the week that was ... Levi Johnston vs Sarah Palin and Harper in Europe

What can we expect in the dog days of summer but a media dominated by stories that range from the sublime to the ridiculous with Levi Johnston emerging at the end of the week as a reliable source on the Sarah Palin resignation as governor of Alaska. Levi, the hockey hunk and hunter from Wassila, who also happens to be the father of Palin's first grandchild, spoke out because people want to know why she is resigning, so says his lawyer.

At a news conference at his lawyer's office, Levi, who is now estranged from Palin's daughter Bristol, who is the mother of his infant son Tripp, said the governor wants to cash in on the lure of financial enrichments as the most logical explanation for the governor's sudden resignation.

A Palin spokesperson shot back that Johnston is also trying to land his own deals -- movie, book, modeling. But that is old news already reported in a major, generally favourable feature on Johnston in the July issue of GQ magazine. Meanwhile GQ's sister publication Vanity Fair comes out with an unflattering piece on Sarah Palin.

As many of you know, I was involved in small town hockey and politics for a long time, but the Palin saga, goes beyond anything that was ever in my wildest imaginings, and we were a pretty colourful cast of characters ourselves in Northern Ontario in the Seventies. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, on a much more serious note, if that's possible these days, Stephen Harper, the prime minister, almost missed his second photo op at a meeting of world leaders. But he made it as his peers started to call his name. Harper missed the photo op at a meeting earlier this year of G-20 leaders. Unbelievable. reminds me of that trip Joe Clark, another Tory prime minister took, and lost his baggage.

Then Harper sees an opportunity to lash out at Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff for remarks the Liberal leader allegedly made. Turns out that Ignatieff never made the remarks, and there we have our prime minister on the international stage forced to formally apologize to Mr Ignatieff.

Want to bet heads will roll in the prime minister's office very soon. Harper tries so hard to come across as a world leader and twice he's blown it. At the next election Canadians will decide if he goes too.

So there we have it. Lots of very important issues out there but it's much easier to bring you the latest on Levi vs Sarah, and Harper blowing it on the world stage.