Posted on 12/08/2003 12:40:28 PM PST by albertabound
But maybe it was only a waste of $35,000 if the $50,000 were in Canadian dollars.
That would be $38,218.78 US . . . ; 0 )
I spent a considerable amount of time in Manitoba this year. It was my first visit to Canada in several years. I was struck by the increased number of Canadian flags flying from the businesses and residences. Love of country is alive and well in the Great White North.
BTW, I noticed the Ottowa Citizen is still as Anti-American as ever. Some things never change . . .
Here's the key sentence because it undermines the rest of the article. Americans don't know much about Canadians. Know why? Cuz Americans don't think very much about Canadians one way or the other, all that often.
A person who is interested in "Canadians" might be inclined to pick up a book about them or something. Americans, in general, aren't, and don't.
Since this completely-obvious point is what their focus groups told them, I have no idea how they got the rest of this stuff about "insecure cuz of war in Iraq", "rift due to stance on social issues", etc, etc.
How can Americans have these thoughts and feelings about Canadians when we don't know or care much about them? How can Canada's "stance on social issues" cause "rifts" with the U.S. when you'd be hard-pressed to find 1 in 100 Americans who even had an inkling what Canada's "stance on social issues" is? (I'm not even sure that I know, to be honest... then again, I'm not even sure I know what a "social issue" is in the first place....)
Personally, I chalk it all up to projection. Apparently the Canadians who wrote these reports are quite conscious of their "stance on social issues" whatever that is, quite conscious of their different take on the war in Iraq, etc, and so in the face of Americans who don't care one way or the other about them, they think "aha, must be due to these things I've got on my mind". As if Americans care.
Canadian comedian Rick Mercer [...] joking that between gay marriage and pot smoking, "it's a wonder there is not a giant deck of cards out there with all our faces on it."
See, here's an example of what I'm talking about. Apparently Canadian comedian Rick Mercer has the impression that Canada figures more prominently on the radar screen of Americans than it actually does. Apparently Canada has some policy or another regarding gay marriage and/or pot smoking which he thinks would anger Americans. He's surprised that it hasn't.
The explanation is simple: Americans don't care. (I have no real idea what Canada's gay marriage/pot smoking policies are.) But apparently that explanation is not very satisfying to some Canadians, so they have to invent all sorts of crap about "insecurity" etc. Who's the insecure one here? The American who doesn't even notice Canada's social policies, or the Canadian who expects Canada's social policies to cause a "flap", in a vain effort to attract attention and inflate self-importance?
For instance, an American from San Diego is quoted saying: "What bugs me about Canadians, if I may, is that they wear that damn patch on their bags, the Canadian flag patch. That way, they differentiate themselves from us."
What the hell kind of idiotic comment is that. They sure found an idiotic American to interview (and, whose views to extrapolate to the rest of us).
So the whole story is based on the dumb comment of one guy, right?
Believe me-I'm a Canadian citizen currently living in the U.S., and the Canadian left is far more guilty of knee-jerk nationalism and ignorance of the world beyond its national borders than the American right.
How John "F"ing Kerry unbelievable. Who's this author taking about? Who feels rejected by the rest of the world? Not real Americans.
On the other hand, I'm concerned about the potential new NAFTA (North American Factory of Terrorists and Assassins)
Ahmed Ressam, for example, an Algerian convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport during the millennium celebrations, was caught by Customs Service inspectors entering Port Angeles in December 1999 from Canada, where he lived as a refugee even receiving a $500 monthly government stipend pending an immigration appeal.At the time of his arrest, Ressam had a Canadian passport and driver's license that identified him as Montreal resident Benni Antoine Noris.
Since 1995, at least 15 persons identified by federal authorities as known terrorists have been caught crossing the border from Canada, two in Blaine alone.
But about 300,000 immigrants are admitted each year to Canada, some of whom have been identified by law enforcement authorities as terrorists, mostly Islamist extremists, looking for safe haven. Because Canada does not detain refugee claimants, even those with questionable backgrounds, more than 10,000 disappear into Canada's ethnic communities each year.
I got a problem with current Canadian foreign policy, but I have no problem with them putting flags on their luggage.
Wasted money. They did focus groups in 4 US cities, including San Diego ... Okay, it's not San Francisco, but it's still not even vaguely representative of the U.S. as a whole. Example:
"What bugs me about Canadians, if I may, is that they wear that damn patch on their bags, the Canadian flag patch. That way, they differentiate themselves from us."
It took a lot of effort to find someone with an IQ this low. Most people know that there's nothing wrong with Canadians displaying the Canadian flag.
But I forgot one lady last week - true story - on the ferry who was convinced that a Canadian truck was promoting marijuana usage...yep, he had a Maple Leaf sticker on the rear window...I am not making that up...
While I don't want to repeat something that they all know is true about America helping them in their times of need, it is that their learership continues to make fun of the USA.
I do believe that in a time of need, their leadership would change their tune and once again ask for our assistance.
And the "Ugly American" would once again come to their assistance, without any strings attach and without expecting to be repaid.
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