Steeliejim,
Your Canadian piece has me puzzled. If you post it you must have found it: insightful, provocative, valuable, intelligent, humorous or delightful. Which was it?
I mostly found it incorrect. Bush may mangle words, but anyone who can handle these times and situations and keep coming out on top (the China snafu, 9/11 and its aftermath, Afghanistan, now Iraq, the midterm elections) has to be intelligent enough to hire good people and make good decisions. And of enough moral fiber to keep good people around him. As for his education, somebody made a list of about 12 Hollywood critics: Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Cher, etc. and noted that George W. had more education than all of them combined. Martin Sheen plays a Ph.D president on TV but did he even go to college? Nope, not even a semester. So we basically get "wisdom" from a kid whose last bit of learning was some blue collar high school in Dayton, Ohio. I think if you're going to mistake an actor for the part, instead of thinking that Martin Sheen could be a Ph.D in economics, let's assume that Sean Penn could actually be a retarded adult.
"I'm sorry about our softwood lumber."
Well, the environmental devastation of the Crown Lands and the selling off of the Northwest forests at firesale prices is a tragedy, but it's for Canada to deal with down the road. Our mills will close but after the Canadian fir and spruce is gone we'll keep building houses with the Russian stuff. The Japanese used a complex national subsidy for years to "get market share" and "drive their competitors out of business" and it's gotten them a 12 year recession/depression. The same recipe will yield the same cake for the Canadians, except they will, as always, be able to hitch a ride to the US economy, which will probably ameliorate the problem.
I thought it was the British who burnt the White House in 1812, and now I find out it's the Canucks.
As for beer, I really don't know what the guy is talking about. I suppose he'd like to say that Molsons or Edmonton's Best tastes sooooo much better than Bud, but I wouldn't drink any of that swill. Now, if he's got a beer that's superior to Deschutes Black Butte Porter (Oregon), I'd like to hear about it. I tasted some micro brews last year in Victoria; they were fine, but nothing to ship home.
Again, with Hitler, I thought it was the British who were in it for 2 years before us, but I guess it was the Canadians. How many troops did the Canadians bring to bear on Adolph and Benito? Were they making any progress? Funny thing, FDR did everything in his power to save Britain (France, of course, fell apart faster than a cardboard suitcase in a thundershower, tant pis) while trying to find a way to convince the US, for the 2nd time in less than 30 years, that we had to throw away American lives (almost half a million this time) to stop something that European boulevardier appeasement crowd failed to even notice. I guess they were all too busy yucking it up, smoking Gauloises and wearing berets and making fun of American tourists (aka "meal tickets").
Finally, the "I'm sorry for apologizing for things in a passive/aggressive" way thing. Yeah, I noticed that on my last trip to Canada. Like the French, Canadians seem so envious of the US, its power, its ability, but are sooooo impotent and resentful. Kind of like the bitter first wife. Most talented and resourceful Canadians find their way here to make a living and stay here; it seems (certainly from reading the Canadian newspapers) that it's just the junior varsity there at home. The US must seem like the goal in "New York, New York": if you can make it there (the US), then you can make it anywhere. All the major Canadian cities just end up being smallish North American cities with bad weather. Realistically, which city is more important: Portland Oregon or Toronto? Kind of a toss up, isn't it?
Kb |
