Sooey Says

...Is that they don't believe in government. It stands to reason, therefore, that Canadians ought not to let them try and run it.

Posted by Sooey at 10:46 AM | Permalink

Ugh.

Posted by Sooey at 10:16 AM | Permalink

I don't know if this is a gag or not, but if the undead Palestinians left in Gaza don't hate the Israelis now, this ought to do it:

P.S. I Ate The Food You Left For Me In The Fridge

Posted by Sooey at 08:31 AM | Permalink

I notice the New Conservatives, having themselves failed to notice a looming recession until we were well in it, and having completely mismanaged the Canadian economy to the point where we went from a rollicking EI surplus to a dismal national deficit (notice, too, how we never benefit in good times, but must always belt tighten in bad?) are now blaming the victims of New Conservative policies for their lot in life. I mean, really. It's not like they're trying to hide their contempt for people who've lost their jobs, even. They have absolutely no shame, so sure are they - still - that the answers lie (pun intended) in ideologically driven Conservatism.

Punch a Conservative in the face today. There's nothing else for it.

Posted by Sooey at 08:14 AM | Permalink

I just want to point out again, while everyone is focused on buses, that in two out of three Greyhound return trips, Ottawa - Pembroke, I was stranded in a laundromat parking lot waiting for a bus that never came, in spite of having paid up front for my return ticket.

So, the next time some Rightwinger goes on and mindnumbingly on to you about the free market, capitalism, yadda yadda blah blah, remind him that a private sector company gets away with delivering spectacularly shitty service with no competition in sight to worry about because some countries are too big and too sparsely populated for the government to NOT step in and provide a necessary service to taxpayers who aren't rich stupid Rightwingers.

Then punch him in the face for being a rich stupid Rightwinger.

Posted by Sooey at 09:45 PM | Permalink

Pants on fire much?

Posted by Sooey at 09:44 PM | Permalink

The Liberals under the direction of the Michael Ignatieff Club will vote for the budget hoping against hope that it will prove to be the disaster they know it is for Canadians so that, come some date in the future, we will beg them to come forward to save us all from the New Conservatives with whom they aligned themselves lo these many minority government mandates in so few disastrous years.

Meanwhile, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe will be left to turn over and over and over in their political graves.

Posted by Sooey at 08:32 AM | Permalink

...By Reformers, For Reformers.

You'd hardly know they are a minority party in a minority government the way they've brought about the weakening of both the Canadian economy AND the Canadian government in less than a full mandate with two elections interrupting their evil undoing of our country.

Posted by Sooey at 06:26 PM | Permalink

We all know that Monday will bring the usual welcome to the Hill from the Media when the New Conservative Government of Canada comes back to work after a two month holiday from the economic crisis that has seen countless Canadians lose their jobs, educations, homes, cars - and any illusions that their representatives in government are their representatives in government.

So I think citizens should send a different message to the Hill by setting up guillotines outside the Parliament building to greet our New Conservative Cabinet Ministers as they step out of their luxurious limosines to make a quick dash to the insulated world of the Canadian House of Commons. They'll be slow and soft from their inactivity, living large on the taxpayer's dime, while we'll be fast and muscular, economic misfortune not having killed us, but made us stronger.

Mmmmm. Think of it. We could have quite a pig roast (nudgenudge, winkwink) and since we didn't need a government during the darkest days of winter, why not, you know, make good use of it now.

Anybody got a recipe for Finance Minister Stew?

Posted by Sooey at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Mark Carney,

Shut the fuck up.

Sincerely,

Sooey

Posted by Sooey at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Many people in Ottawa are in economic crisis but because they live in a government town, our City Council, led by Mayor Larry O'Brien, can afford to ignore them. Government employees are only vaguely aware of the lives of non-government employees, not because they don't care about other people, but because they are so insulated from economic insecurity themselves that they don't really give it much thought.

What's unconscionable is that politicians seem to be just as vaguely aware of what's going on here with a public transit strike heading into its third month on top of a global recession. People who, three months ago couldn't afford to take a sick day, have now lost their jobs.

The big employer here, the federal government, can't help them. It's a human resources mess with gaps everywhere but the hiring process is so byzantine that getting a job in the civil service is like winning the lottery. It happens. It's just not going to happen to you.

If you didn't know the civil service couldn't possibly have been designed to deliberately keep Canadians not already employed in it from gaining entry, you'd think it most certainly had been. Unless you're a recent graduate from a university co-op program. Then you can move right into a management position and pretend to deal with the personnel issues of staff the age of your parents while you search in vain for an administrative assistant to handle everything else.

The devotion to second language testing continues unabated, of course, with competitions held and re-held seeking bilingual candidates for designated bilingual positions that sit unfilled because there are no successful bilingual candidates to fill them. Meanwhile, unilingual English positions, the holy grail of positions for Anglophones, are filled so quickly they don't even need to be posted.

(Here's a tip when you see an English Essential position advertised as vacant - it isn't. But sure, write the exams, do the interviews, get in the pool. Just don't expect to get a job for your efforts.)

Ah, whatever. I've got the January blues bad enough to realize that the trade-off for a lifetime of employment security is most likely your soul, from what I've seen, so perhaps poverty is a better investment. At any rate, I'm as employed as I want to be I decided last night, sometime around 3:00 a.m., as I lay fretting in bed. Still, I imagine it'll go against my Scottish Presbyterian grain not to be trying, at least, to get one of those elusive positions one imagines exists in those huge government complexes that populate the otherwise unemployed downtown.

Ironically, just when I came to the conclusion that it was time to stop trying so hard, I realized what I'd like to do as I turn 50 is learn French. So if anybody has any immersion ideas that won't have me living in a cardboard box in the road in my old age, I'm all ears. But as I posted earlier in the New Year, I pulled the Burning House card in a Tarot Reading on New Year's Eve, and as Yesmenia said, "You can't stay in a burning house. You have to jump."

I'm starting to think Ottawa might be the burning house.

Posted by Sooey at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, let's get something straight: Women and children have NEVER been first. Somebody yells it out on an airplane wing in the middle of the Hudson River? I dunno, but that's got nothing to do with reality. What we do know is that the life rafts work best up by the First Class section.

And lest we forget, it's men who lump women in with children, in the same way physically handicapped children used to be lumped in with mentally handicapped children in Opportunity Classes way back in the 1970s. We're the "other", not the power. Heck, we weren't even people until Feminism came along.

Good gawd in HIS heaven, I'm just trying to picture a poor Aboriginal woman going ahead of a rich white man almost anywhere in the world, at any time in the world and I'm having a hard time finding that time and place.

Privileged white men have always gone first in our society and don't let those anti-Feminists tell you any different because it just ain't so. But you've gotta love the threat/accusation that Feminism has destroyed some grand noble ideal that supposedly existed in the extreme world of imminent life of death situations somewhere sometime...

Posted by Sooey at 07:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I liked the poem commissioned by Obama.

But really, how about you Americans just mind your own fucking business now for a few years and leave world leadership to THE REST OF THE WORLD!!!!!

Enough already. You want to believe your ridiculous press about who you are? Go ahead. Just leave the rest of us alone. Please. We beg you. Who knows? World peace might even break out.

Posted by Sooey at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Subtitled: It's Always the Titanic for Us:

Miracle?NotOnYourMiddleClassLife

Has anyone noticed the ugly reality captured in the so-called "Miracle on the Hudson"? One of the first photos shows that first class passengers were offered first-class rafts to ensure that they'd survive in comfort, while the economy class passengers were forced out onto the metal wings to fend for themselves. Kinda sorta looks a lot like a metaphor for the financial crisis. "Miracle" our ass-this is just flat reality in 21st century America.

Sing along paupers!

"Sooooooo, they put us down below, where we'd be the first to go
It was sa-ad when the grea-ate ship went down"

Official SooeySays Sucker-At-Large Disclaimer:
(Hopefully, this will turn out to be one of those awful urban myths. Please, gawd.)

Posted by Sooey at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Police are now shooting us instead of tasering us. Accidentally they say, but I don't believe them anymore. They've been proven liars too many times in court to be trusted to tell the truth if it makes them look at all guilty. They also taser us instead of using their words, I've noticed. It's become a first option for lots of stupid young men in uniform all pumped up on authority - don't have the vocabulary? Taser the bastard/bitch.

The New Conservative Government of Canada wants this type of policing because it will make Canadians behave. Public protest is suddenly more dangerous, talking back is risking your life, "I want to speak to my lawyer - and not an immigration officer impersonating my lawyer" could become a death sentence if the Thug in Authority smells attitude - or worse for some, intelligence.

Stockwell Day, biped, is Minister of Public Security. He thinks defence lawyers are bad guys, that the unborn must be saved because God wants the souls of the born, not the aborted, and that ordering more tasers for the RCMP so they can shoot more young mothers with children in their laps, escaping abusive partners, is a good thing.

What definition of Fascist would convince Canadians to boot these New Conservatives out of office once and for all?

Embarrassing Fact Check Alert: Stockwell Day, biped, is now Minister for International Trade. The Public Safety Minister is actually Peter Van Loan, bivalve.

Posted by Sooey at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A friend of mine did an hour or so in detention at American customs recently and he was struck by how terrifying it was to realize that American authorities can disappear people at will now, thanks to the successful fear-mongering campaign generated by 9/11. What struck him most was the tiny room with the giant portraits of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney looking down on him. Very Big Brother. And scary. Outspoken activists are clearly not welcome in America these days. Keep your head down, be good, and maybe nothing will happen to you - at the hands of your duly elected government, that is.

Anyway, we got to talking about how fearful Americans seem for a country of free and brave citizens and how their patriotic rhetoric bears no resemblance to their reality. It's as if the country insists that the "propaganda as history" campaign continue, too, lest everyone's mind suddenly be torn asunder by the facts and America the Beautiful disintegrates into thin air.

Still, there's hope - shift forward to a tiny customs room with a giant portrait of Obama on the wall and transfer the psychological impact of that to 300 milion people and I bet Americans will soon be able to turn down the alert level to beige.

Posted by Sooey at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The most recent attempt to silence the bleeding heart reaction to Israel's War on Gaza is to accuse critics of singling out Israel with their finger-pointing. Well, just for the record, I think the United States, China and Russia are MUCH worse than Israel. And to be fair, I suppose, I grew up believing Israel was "like us". I just didn't realize "we" were such amoral savages. But it turns out we are, so it's all good. Or bad. I mean, at least Israel has been fired on by Hamas rockets - what's OUR excuse for rahrahing the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza?

Posted by Sooey at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Subtitle: Gee, Palestinians - who needs Hamas when you've got the UN pissing off the Occupier!

But seriously, bombing UN headquarters in Gaza? I guess Israel just showed the Palestinians how it feels about Ban Ki-Moon and his UN resolutions.

Posted by Sooey at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The next time a Conservative runs for political office and demands your vote because he wants to run government like a business, say, "Sorry, I'm going to vote for the person who wants to run government LIKE A GOVERNMENT!!! and then punch him in the face to make sure he understands what you're saying.

Posted by Sooey at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You've really got to wonder about people who proudly proclaim their Pro-Israelness these days. Yes, it's true, Hamas are pretty much the Thugs-of-the-Day calling the shots for the Palestinians, but, Geez Louise, people - talk about over-compensating. It's like the real fear of all these psychotic Israel-or-bust cheerleaders is that they're going to be caught out as deeply twisted anti-Semites, so they run to the Internet every ten minutes to announce they are as Pro-Israel as ever - while Israel rains bombs down upon a group of trapped refugees, killing and maiming civilians and the odd Hamas rocket launcher (I guess, maybe, odds are probable - or not), indiscriminately.

And what about those politicians of ours so out of touch with their own humanity that they mistake craven politicking (because for some sick reason, entirely beyond my comprehension, they actually think they are endearing themselves to voters) for moral bravery. It's like opposite world our there in Canadian politicianland. Israel doesn't give a shit if they support its barbaric new strategy for dealing with the Palestinians because, for them, it's a lot like shooting fish in a barrel, raining bombs down upon trapped refugees. Heck, who knows, they may even kill a few Hamas rocket launchers (have they, by the way?). Israel will win this lopsided whatever it is with or without Canadian politicians shouting their two cents of "You go, Israel" into the prevailing winds. But for some reason incomprehensible to the sane among us, our politicians are proudly rooting for Goliath against Davey - to put it in Old Testament terms - quite as if that's the right thing to do at this time.

Anyway, that is all. I just thought I'd wonder aloud why everybody is acting like moral depravity is the new black. Oh, before I forget - here's my official Internet discussion of Israel disclaimer: {{{Hugs, Israel}}}

Posted by Sooey at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know, the Mayor of Ottawa, Larry O'Brien, seems to think the Ottawa Transit strike is all about him - that this showdown is a test of his mettle that will somehow absolve him of his alleged criminal behaviour that got him elected to public office and for which he goes on trial in the spring.

He's scheduling meetings weeks apart to deal with this crisis, talking tough to the media, taking out ads in the local CanWest propaganda sheet, bragging about walking to work (he doesn't - he lives across the street and has a driver), using OUR money to pay for leading and pointless public opinion polls. Well, here's a hint, Mayor O'Brien - everyone but YOU hates the strike, YOU are having your George W. Bush 9/11 moment in the sun, dick-stretching with the head of the transit union - WE are trying to get to our jobs because, unlike you, we actually have to work to make money.

Meanwhile, the taxpaying citizens of Ottawa are losing their jobs, having their lives turned upside down, their children's educations are suffering - in my case, my health has actually suffered. If I was Larry O'Brien, I'd probably have sued myself ten times over by now.

And where is the New Conservative Government of Canada? How dare those incompetent slackers ignore this crisis. When on earth did politicians become such useless, ineffectual lay-a-bout leeches? Why are we electing these barnacles on the public purse, these absolute cretins, so insensitive to the concerns of taxpaying citizens who actually have to work for a living - as our public office representatives? When did people become so stupid?

We could have had a competent Mayor, too, that's what really gets me. But the New Conservatives, a federal political party, actually interfered in the last Ottawa municipal election to ensure we didn't - or so it is alleged, denied, sued over, alleged again - maybe we'll get some answers in the spring. Me? I believe the guy who suddenly dropped out of the race for no apparent reason and then came forward to say he was bribed to do it. I also believe that it all happened because the REAL man for the job was a socialist and homosexual and THAT'S how corrupt and ideologically-driven the federal New Conservative Party actually is.

So, here's the thing - I demand that every cent saved by the City of Ottawa during this transit strike be paid back to the people who count on public transit to get to their jobs and schools - with improved public transit services. Because if this strike is used by Mayor Larry O'Brien as an excuse to further cut services to the citizens of Ottawa I say it's time we rioted in the streets, fellow taxpayers.

Screw democracy - anarchy would be better government.

Posted by Sooey at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know why Canadians are surprised that courts favour mothers in custody battles (if indeed they even do - where are the statistics on this, please?) - when all our official Judeo/Christian institutions still insist that girls were born to be mothers at home, while boys were born to be people at work.

Sure real live people have moved on to understand that either sex can parent and provide for their children, but be careful who you marry, girls and boys, because chances are very good that you'll end up in court fighting a losing financial battle over finances with your beloved because you're supposed to be in roles defined by a Patriarchal system you thought was long gone with Bill Davis' Ontario.

By the way, there's a crazy canard out there that courts are blameless at heart because they're really just putting your children first (on the assumption that, since you're wasting all your family income in court, you clearly don't care about your children at all). In fact, mom and dad, the kids are beside the point once you end up in court because courts think putting kids first means equalizing their standard of living - up - in two different homes. I'm not an economist by trade, but, by my calculations, that formula = double the consumption on the same income.

Let's face it, too, paying somebody you probably hate - and once you're in court, the love is as long gone as alimony and key parties - is a tough sell, especially if you're the man half of the couple and don't even have a chance of having sex with the bitch - like you at least did when you were married, by guilting her into it using such arousing lines as, "c'mon - I put out the garbage two weeks in a row - you owe me".

Meanwhile, if you're the woman half, the social stigma attached to NOT having full custody of the kids convinces you that the passive aggressive woman-hater you were married to was probably a baby rapist, too, in addition to never taking out the garbage even though it was his only household chore and he whined about it constantly which somehow led him to believe this was the ultimate turn-on for a woman - and that you still owe him 1234127490782141 blow jobs.

Addendum: Sooey Says: Stay out of court, take a financial/custodial hit upfront, and live happily ever after with imperfect compromise and social stigma galore.

Posted by Sooey at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think politicians should have to take public transit. No more taxpayer subsidized cars. Get out and meet the people, you shiftless good for nothing prima donna bums who seem to mistake yourselves for VIPs.

By the way, the City of Ottawa actually spent our tax dollars conducting a public opinion poll on the transit strike it pretty much caused - by insisting that unionized drivers increase their shift hours from 12 to 13.5 for no extra pay - instead of working towards a settlement of the transit strike. You go, Larry O'Brien. Far. Away.

Posted by Sooey at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was reading recently about males becoming more female due to pollution levels (the Vatican blames women's Pill filled urine - but, of course, the Vatican WOULD blame women's Pill filled urine, wouldn't it) but has anybody noticed how masculine Miss America is looking? I mean, any one of those beauty queens looks like she could bench press an entire football team. No wonder they all have boob implants. How the hell else would we know they were female?

But seriously, maybe males look like they're becoming more female because females are starting to look like bulked up gorillas.

Posted by Sooey at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've re-named Ottawa. Hereafter, it shall be known as Jerktown.

Did you know that in Jerktown taxis have stands outside government buildings and are reserved for government bigwigs - even during a bus strike when no other transportation is available for the people who pay government bigwig salaries but do not themselves work for the government (at a level high enough to take a "reserved for government bigwigs" taxi, at least)?

Oh, and did you know that the Mayor of Jerktown goes on trial in the spring?

Meanwhile, the car people of Jerktown have made no special accommodations for their carless co-citizens beyond blocking their paths as they try to cross at intersections, honking their horns in annoyance when we insist on our right to cross the street on green walk signals and my favourite (when we have puddles) splashing us carelessly as they drive by in an angry rush to stop at a red light.

I mean, you work for the government that the New Conservatives have pretty much completely fucked up and over to the point that it barely functions - what could possibly be your hurry?

Posted by Sooey at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had a Tarot reading on New Year's Eve in San Francisco that may have changed my life.

It was only my second Tarot reading, the first being a reading I had at Fun Club (which coincidentally ALSO involved San Francisco) when I was 7 or 8 and the Reader told me I'd soon be going on a trip (I'd already told everybody my mom and my uncle were taking my brother and me to San Francisco to visit a great great aunt).

I wasn't impressed.

But at this Tarot reading, I pulled cards that confirmed the truth - I am not living the life I want to live. So stark is this reality, that I pulled the Burning House card. Yesmenia, the Reader, looked me in the eye and asked, "Do you understand what the Burning House card means?"

"I think it means I have to do something."

"That's right. Because you can't stay in a burning house, you have to leap. The problem is, you don't know what you're leaping to. So you have to make a leap of faith."

I don't take risks, but having pulled the Burning House card, I have no choice now but to take a leap of faith into the unknown. Right now, my lower back constantly aches, I've developed some kind of stress related condition where I'll lose hearing in one ear for hours at a time, then I'll develop vertigo and have to stay very still or fall over. I tell people I enjoy my job, but I really don't. I'm just doing it because I got it and I have a hard time saying no to security and decent pay.

Also, I pulled cards that in combination with other cards told Yesmenia that I'm not moving on because I'm not letting go. "The effort of going forward is too great, because you're trying to drag everything with you into the future. That's why you're finding it so hard to get anywhere."

I know this to be true. I'll do anything to avoid a confrontation, but I also don't like to give in. So I carry silent struggles with me through life. I can actually feel them sitting there, somewhere in the middle of my being.

She mentioned a contract that was hanging around, she didn't understand why something so seemingly minor was sitting amidst all the powerful cards I'd pulled, but I knew what it was.

The year ahead is going to be one of faith. I have no choice but to leap because I can't stay where I am. Everything I learned in the Reading, I already knew, of course. I just didn't realize it until I pulled the cards and they confirmed reality.

Later, once I was back in Ottawa, I had a visitor who was talking about growing up and how her mother had always made her choose the straight and narrow because she was so afraid of taking risks herself that she couldn't bear for her daughter to take any, either. "That's so selfish", my visitor opined. "To make security your priority for your kids is just selfish."

"Why?" I asked, realizing that if I could control every aspect of my children's lives to ensure their safety, I would.

"Because you just don't want to suffer any sadness."

And there's truth to that, because almost all of my efforts in life have been to steer myself and mine to safety because I can't bear the thought of anything sad happening to any of us. But now I have chronic lower back pain and loss of hearing and if I don't sit very still, I might fall over.

Yesmenia read the Tarot and the cards have spoken. Living is a leap of faith.

Posted by Sooey at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Canadian Women,

You thought date rape was bad - wait'll you get a load of State Rape.

Signed,

Jonathan Kay of the National Post
Official Sponsor of the New Conservative Party of Canada

(I'd link to the column, but I don't want to violate any laws against woman hating. Oh wait, there ARE no laws against woman hating. Nevermind - here's the link: Badges?WeDon'tNeedNoStinkin'Badges!)

There's nothing like fascism when it's not YOUR freedom at stake, eh, Jonathan Kay?

Posted by Sooey at 04:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spent New Year's in San Francisco at a fabulous party on Treasure Island, shuttled there by limosine. We danced to a live band, drank free booze, ate free catered Mexican and Asian food, and watched a showy fireworks display from across the Bay, the Golden Gate bridge all lit up, Fisherman's Wharf sillouetted.

It was postcard perfect.

But it was also a little bit like a scene from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel with the majority of guests facing unemployment and substantially reduced standards of living as they rang in the New Year with their hosts, an incredibly successful young couple - one of which is actually Canadian.

There's nothing quite like being an ordinary/average/working Canadian (as in, taxpayer) talking to "middle-class wealthy" Americans (a million-plus dollar house in San Francisco is still pretty middle-class in San Francisco) at the end of 2008. Smug isn't the word, because who knows how badly the American Depression will affect us - and these were the sorts of people who read Harpers and vote Democrat, anyway.

I wasn't afraid for them, exactly, because they all have parents, boomer-aged parents, with money and they're all well-educated. But you just need to drop it down to the next class of American citizens to get nervous about what the future holds - for all of us. Because those people are in trouble and the United States doesn't have the social infrastructure that we do, up here in the Great White North, to weather this one out very well.

So, although I mostly listened to my new American friends talk with great concern about the American economy (they all had the sorts of financial jobs I don't understand - which is why I still have money - I stick to GICs and ignore the markets because I don't understand how they work), I did most of my own talking to a young man on the plane (poor fellow - he was from Iowa living in San Francisco, curious about Canada, had no idea about our own ridiculous politics of the day, and he was sitting beside me) who started our conversation by telling me about a recent healthcare experience. He'd gone to the doctor with a rash, but because of the litigious nature of American society, one can't simply have one's rash looked at and part with a couple of hundred dollars. Oh no. One must have pretty much what we would call a routine physical and part with close to a grand in order that the doctor can be assured he won't be sued for negligence because you came to see him about a rash, but it turned out you had high blood pressure, too.

So I told him about my recent trip to a clinic as a result of an episode of vertigo. In and out in half an hour, no money down, a prescription for a generic drug in hand. I'd been seen by a doctor with 22 years of emergency room experience who knew what I had before even looking in my ears.

His jaw was literally in his lap. Then he asked about access/wait times for more serious diseases - and I told him about a family member's year of cancer treatment involving chemotherapy and radiation with no wait time between diagnosis and treatment, access to MRIs as required, regular follow-ups, and most importantly - no money down. I also told him about triage and how a broken arm will wait for treatment if there are other priorities, but eventually your arm would be set and you'd be sent home with a prescription for painkillers. And most importantly for me and mine and everybody else I know in my middle-class life - again - no money down.

But because he was so starry-eyed about Canada, I felt obligated to tell him about the unrelenting and constant pressure from the Right in this country to have American-style healthcare. I told him about our impossibly stupid New Conservative government led by Alberta Separatist Reformers, its obsession with the free-for-all, trailer park to Whitehouse mentality of the worst of American politics and its desire to transform our country, through stealth, into the unregulated economic mess that gasps and wheezes south of the border.

He was fascinated. He had no idea of our thuggish Prime Minister and his proroguing of Parliament, his disbelief in climate change, his hope that abortion would be re-criminalized, his contempt for all things Canadian and the social infrastructure that has insulated us from the sort of awful crash average/ordinary/working (taxpayers like us - except with no guarantees of government services when they need them most) Americans are experiencing right now and will continue to experience for some time to come. When he told me about his boss, who was part of an stem cell research ethics committee on which Bush appointees actually sabotaged scientific data, I told him about a civil servant/novelist who worked for Environment Canada having his book reading cancelled by the New Conservative government because his book - his fictional novel - was called "Hotter Than Hell" and the government felt it might unfairly imply that climate change via global warming - WAS REAL!! And I told him about how the regulation of our banking system had pretty much saved our asses but that even now the New Conservative Right was trying to deregulate it. Then I told him about how the Prime Minister was supposed to have been an economist of some kind in his previous life, but he hadn't seen the economic meltdown of the closing months of 2008 coming - even in the closing months of 2008.

No, my American friends, smug would definitely not be the word.

Posted by Sooey at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)