Now that the Olympics are on, I’m not hearing another word about air quality. Gosh, did it just magically disappear on opening day? Or is the China-bashing useless now that the games have begun?
Well, the news people have something else to jaw about - namely Russia and Georgia. Why is that? What is it their business? I guess their answer would be that it’s news and something about the public’s right to know.
I think it would be a much better world if people didn’t stick their noses where they don’t belong. Face it, what’s reported as having been said by ________ (fill in the blanks) and what’s talked about around the dinner table by _________ (fill in the blanks) or over drinks, are two different things. Politicians will say in public, what they think the voters want to hear. In private, well, let’s just say I’d like to be a fly on the wall.
I think I’d like to adopt Swiss’ attitude. Don’t ask. Don’t tell. Keep out of conflicts. As a result, they’ve lived in peace for 200 years. We should be so lucky. I’m sure the odd Swiss here and there, feels passionately about another nation’s issues from time to time. So if he/she wants to run off and fight and possibly have their legs blown off - or worse, I guess that is probably their perogative. But as a nation, their hands-off policy has worked brilliantly.
There is no doubt, Barak is presidential material. His easy charm could translate into world peace. That is, unless he gets sidelined by the Republican political bible punchers. I don’t see how. I think most Americans have had their fill of Republican hypocritical self-rightiousness. It’s phony.
I have to tell you, if he wins - and I sure hope he does - I will take my hat off to all Americans. They would finally have reached the maturity to look past their narrow-mindedness and vote for talent. Maybe some day they will also stop categorizing people. Is it important what colour or religion a person is? How about if their mother tongue is Spanish? Is that any reason to call them Hispanics or black or white, for that matter. I don’t think it’s right to segment people. They are souls no matter what their ethnic background.
I’ve been criticized for being too left. Frankly, I don’t care. Call me whatever makes you feel good.
Well, I’ve had my say for one morning. I feel better now. I hope he likes Canadians.
Between you and me, since Bush senior - skip a president - then Bush junior, I looked at Americans as a whole to be a bunch of red-necked yahoos. You know the kind - hillbillies. Oh there were exceptions but, if you were to believe the right-wing holier-than-thou group, the TV shows, the movies, and the news channels, it’s OK to carry guns, shoot first, ask questions later. Just make sure you’re in church every Sunday and you read that Bible every night. Hypocrites. It isn’t by chance there’s a Bible in every hotel and motel in the country. Why? Why not a book of poetry or Buddhist chants?
Since Bush II, I had completely written off our neighbour. I’ve not been back for a vacation since then. In my opinion, that government is comprised of nothing but a set of murderers and thieves. They will never pay for their crimes either, you can bet. About that deck of cards they gloated over? I have my own set I’d like to pass out.
And then, along came Obama.
What a breath of fresh air. Perhaps because he’d been exposed to another culture. Perhaps because he’s not a washed-down version of a person of colour - his father was a real Kenyan and his mother was a real white Kansan. Therefore he hasn’t that chip on his shoulders that so many people of colour have. He also doesn’t have that weird “black” accent that so many have, either. In fact, his “blackness” is a non-issue. What a honey.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Hillary, but we all know Hillary. She’s not an unknown. She’s a Clinton, after all. She’s extremely capable, extremely smart and a real hard worker but, she’s not a breath of fresh air.
She’ll never change. With her it’s always knee-jerk reactions. Like the latest - telling Bush to boycott the Olympics. Now granted, he is (in my opinion) a war criminal and nobody is anxious to have him around but that’s not the point. Instead of being on the side of the athletes who worked long and hard, she’s using it for her own political gain. Well, she hopes, anyway.
What do you think she’d do if she wins the presidency? Will she stop trade with China? Not on your life. China cannot be ignored. She’s too big and too powerful. She’ll go, hat in hand, just like all the others to promote trade.
That’s where our former Prime Minister had it right. From back in 1993, he led trade missions to China and other ports of call. He knew the power of the dragon. I’m happy to say that, although our trade with the US has declined, our trade with China and other overseas countries has increased. So it should be. We were relying on the US as our main customer and, although they’re conveniently located next to us, their economy went south and who knows if they’ll ever recover. We had no choice but to find other customers.
Free trade. Yeah, that’s a joke. Well, it’s great as long as it’s going their way but the minute it isn’t, they want out. It’s their way or the highway. For me, put them on the back burner and look for business elsewhere.
It is estimated that about one million Americans live in Canada. Some for business reasons, others are students. I swear a good many come illegally, buy fake health cards and use our socialized medicine. I say, let’s round them up and send them home. I don’t want them in jail here. That would mean our taxpayers’ money supporting them.
But to get back to Clinton, when we had the big power cut, her finger pointed north - it was our fault. Even after it was proven to be the fault of the Ohio grid, she never apologized or even just corrected herself. No, no Nanette. Not Ms Clinton.
How about the 911 guys? That finger pointed north claiming they came from Canada. They didn’t. In fact they came from within the US. When is that finger-pointing going to stop?
Now, she’s going to revisit NAFTA. Go right ahead, Hillary. But why in your speeches are you saying you’re losing jobs to NAFTA. You’re losing jobs to India and China. Last time I looked, they were not in North America and certainly had nothing to do with NAFTA. Now, I know your education system sucks. I know most of Americans don’t know where Canada is. I know you’re using their ignorance to convince them that we’re the culprits.
Oh the sadness of it all.
Folks, vote for Barak Obama. Please tell me he’s different.
Well, that’s my rant for the day. I feel better now.
First of all, let me just say that when the first free trade aggrement was reached between Canada and the US during Reagan’s time, I hated it as did many others. It did terrible things to us. American companies who had manufacturing plants in Canada, picked up their things, closed the plants and moved to the US.
After a few years, it turned out it was good for both countries. So good, they figured they extend it to Mexico and so NAFTA was born. That was hard on our workers again. Mexico had cheep labour and our manufacturers were only too glad to go where the cheap labour was. I don’t recall that our prices were lowered as a result.
But when I hear US politicians talk about blaming NAFTA for their country’s woes, and at the same time talking about cheap imports and environmental concerns and cheap labour etc., they’re talking about China and India. They’re sure not talking about Canada. They’re not even talking about Mexico. Do they really think the American people are so stupid, they don’t know the difference?
Well, maybe they are. Who am I to say? I guess that Trillion dollar war had nothing to do with the state of their nation, eh?
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