Tim Blair

The odd thing about the affair is that the insults of this dog have been taken seriously before - by Eminem. Perhaps he is practically Canadian, having grown up so far north, in Detroit.

I just have to hang my head in shame sometimes. Can't we talk about Justin and Janet again, and move the spotlight back south of the border?

"Government is the only tool there is. In the right hands it can transform society. It is a force for progress, for redistribution, for putting right wrongs, for redressing the injustices of the market "
It's exactly this kind of Socialist crap that Americans hate. Redistribution my ass. Theft plan and simple. All so some socialist can buy an election.

"In the right hands it can transform society." That's the excuse the communists still use. If the right people were communists the world would be a workers' paradise. Too bad about those 100,000,000 killed by communism.

Polly,
Please give me an example of a government you approve/approved of. Hitler transformed society. Stalin was "a force for progress" (just one more 5-year plan, please. Those pesky crop failures keep holding the progress of the workers back.) Hussein righted wrongs. Of course he considered nearly everybody against him wrong. Castro is redressing the injustices of the market.
Then again you probably think the market works pretty well regarding your salary and benefits. Otherwise you'd do it for free wouldn't you?...Wouldn't you??
BC

I was in North America late last year, and I have to say, this plays perfectly to the impression of [Leftist] Canadians that I got while on the east coast. They have no sense of humour. Whatsoever. Seriously.

I would be snacking on a burger in an Arby's south of the border in the morning; exposed to all the usual morning sounds, laughter and chatter of a crowded gathering-place, then, just thirty minutes over the border, I would walk into a place in which you seriously felt pressured to keep the door from slamming, lest anyone become upset.

If you tell a joke to a Canadian, they seem to just look at you blankly, as though waiting for you to:

A) Declare openly and officially that the statement that you made was in no way intended to cause any offense to the local inuit people, or the French-Canadians...

B) Retract it completely, and burst out into an enthusiastic performance of "Oh Canada".

It's probably a sure bet that by the expression "government in the right hands," she means her hands -- and others like her. They do so much know what's best for everyone.

I hope that rank-and-file Canadians look at:

1) the fact that politicians are giving tax dollars to American performers

2) take seriously the comments of a puppet that work with said performer

3) the previous PM left with a $100 million cronyism scandal erupting

4) a gun registery system that ballooned from $2 million to $2 billion

and decide that they want their dignity back by voting them out of office. #3 and #4 is the worst of the lot, but #1 and #2 sure speaks volumes.

Two Canucks were out camping when they decided to play 20 questions. Pierre silently thought of something Jacque would never guess, a moose- cock, and they started the game. Jacque's first question was "Can you eat it?" Laughing to himself, Pierre replied "I suppose you could." Jacque replied with, "Is it a moose-cock?"

Inferiority complexes are a bitch, eh?

If there are any Canadians reading this, they won’t be the victims that found that dog’s insults offensive.

“Leftists” think that the important values are “fairness, generosity, respect and caring”.
They do not think that the values of self-reliance, self-sufficiency personal responsibility and independence are as important.
They think those values of the so-called “right” are all about “self-interest” which they also think is a bad thing.
They think that allowing people to make their own decisions as to what is best for them will automatically mean that the poor, disadvantaged, handicapped, etc. will be left behind. They have no faith that people will look after the less fortunate simply because it is the right thing to do. They think that people must be forced to do the right thing.

So in order to be a leftist politician, in order to promote those values of sharing and caring, you have to come up with programs that can be seen to be DOING something. You have to spend money to CURE a problem. You have to take action. You cannot simply leave people alone and have faith that what they decide will be the right thing.
The problem with “rightist” politics is that it doesn’t look like ACTION. Leaving people alone and getting out of their way makes it look like you are not DOING anything.

I don’t know how to reconcile this mess.

This whole "scandal" consists entirely of the media, politicians and and a Quebec activist group that specializes in portraying French-Canadians as victims. Most Quebecers hadn't even heard of it before it started making headlines. Most of the rest of Canada were either amused or indifferent.

Unfortunately, contrary to Julia above, it seems like even the right-leaning politicians are feigning outrage over this one. As Geoff indicates, you'd think that Canadian media and politicians would have more than enough to keep themselves busy with these days.

> Government is the only tool there is. In the right hands it can transform society. It is a force for progress, for redistribution, for putting right wrongs, for redressing the injustices of the market ...

This seems to have been plagiarized from Lautréamont

``The priest of religions heads the procession, holding in one hand a white flag, the sign of peace, and in the other a golden device depicting the male and female privy parts, as if to indicate that these carnal members are most of the time, all metaphor apart, very dangerous tools in the hands of those employing them, when manipulated blindly to different and conflicting ends, instead of engendering a timely reaction against that well-known passion which causes nearly all our ills.''

Maldoror

Hey David, don't give up your day job.
Mike H. Spokane, WA

Just for perspective, one of the most popular comedy routines on Canadian TV is Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans, in which he sticks a microphone in the faces of numerous Yanks, prominent or not, and asks them questions designed to get them to exhibit the "stupidity" that makes Canadians feel so much better about themselves.

However, as this article points out, the joke's really on Canadians. After all, it highlights how inconsequential Canada is to most Americans, and just how much this fact bugs Canadians. If Americans even knew about Mercer's show, most of them would chuckle at junior's antics, make a smutty igloo joke, and promptly forget about the whole thing. They certainly wouldn't stand up in Congress and denounce it as "hate speech". Canadians--who got all huffy when Bush neglected to mention them in an early WoT speech to Congress--would just love it if Americans paid them that much attention.

"Government is the only tool there is. In the right hands it can transform society."

Let's accept this as true, and empower government so that "in the right hands" it can accomplish great things.

But this raises a question: what happens if this powerful government falls into "the WRONG hands" (i.e. people who disagree with me)?

The answer is obvious: make sure "those" people can never get their hands on the government. I'll leave it for the reader to ponder the implications.

Another answer is to forgo the benefits that a powerful government "in the right hands" can provide and keep it weak so that even in "the wrong hands" it can't do much damage. I like this idea better.

That hurts Mike. Your last name isn't Hunt, is it?

Sorry, just can't let this go without comment:

"..one of the most popular comedy routines on Canadian TV is Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans..."

That makes it sound like Rick Mercer is Canada's Jerry Seinfeld. His stuff may be relatively popular compared to other Canadian-produced television, but that's like having the most popular show on PBS. I doubt if I know anyone who could pick him out of a police lineup.

With any luck this 'controversy' will introduce triumph to a whole new audience. His relentless bagging of the uber-nerds lining up to see Star Wars episode 1 was a comedy classic. Of course, seeing as it wasnt filmed in Canada, the crowd watching on were also having a good laugh. His appearence on celebrity squares (where he cannot answer a question as a real dog is licking is privates) is also amusing.

Reg --

As a raw-meat-eating red-blooded American conservative, I must say I always found "Talking to Americans" quite funny; This Hour Has 22 Minutes and CBC Olympic coverage were among the advantages to living in the Detroit area.

But, man, the supposed lessons. For example -- "Mercer says the beauty of the gag is that it would never work the other way around."

Well, not quite true. Canada borders a smaller country, too; Greenland/Denmark. Anybody wonder what the results of a Talking to Canadians segment run by a Greenlander would be?

“Government is the only tool there is.” I went back & looked at Polly’s article &, indeed, she makes that statement pretty much unconditionally.

A tool is a weapon, an enforcer, in a situation in which control is not really at stake.

But government is about vying for control. And the more that we put into the hands of government, the more that we politicize all things in daily life, the more we will vie through government for control.

Polly has another “tool,” her column in the Guardian. Government is much more responsive to her talk than is business, which is, by the way, another tool, the one that most of us use in doing business. And it’s much more means-like & utilitarianly instrumental than is government. Polly doesn’t like that, Polly wants a more direct expression of her will, that will more smoothly crack the wills of her opponents. Polly wants an enforcer. Government is the only enforcer.

"Too often the left's over-devotion to individual rights usurps what should be its natural role as the defender of the power of the state - and of its servants."

That's not a surprising sentiment, coming from someone who talks about Che Guevara like some kind of anti-authoritarian romantic hero, rather than a representative of the most repressive and authoritarian state in the western hemisphere.

Oh, yeah, and Canadians need to develop a sense of humor.

'Mercer says the beauty of the gag is that it would never work the other way around."

I call bullshit. The myth of Canadian perspicacity on all matters American is hugely overblown. I've lived in this country for four years, and have yet to find a Canadian under the age of 30 who can locate more than five American states on the map. (One good friend of mine occasioned a hugely comical moment when it was revealed that she believed Arkansas to be a region of Kansas.) Ditto for Canadians who can name more than a half-dozen American presidents, explain the fundamentals of the American constiution, understand temperatures expressed in degrees Fahrenheit, sing all the lyrics to "Camp Grenada," or correctly identify the opening campaign of the war that resulted in the loss of French Canada to Britain (it wasn't in Canada). My list could continue, but really what's the point?

5 states, huh?

Well, California, Oregon, Washington, Texas and Florida are pretty easy. And if you can't locate Alaska, there's no hope for you.

Let's keep Canada in perspective: its last spate of rally-round-the-maple-leaf pride arose out of a beer commercial.

I'm all for Polly Toynbee's side as soon as she can tell me how she can prevent government from every falling into the wrong hands.

"Government is the only tool there is. In the right hands it can transform society."

Gracious! What if it falls into the left hands? Polly's commie friends won't be happy to find out she thinks they couldn't transform society.

and have yet to find a Canadian under the age of 30 who can locate more than five American states on the map

Exactly. I say the same thing to my fellow Australians when they say, "Dude, those dumb 'Merickans can't even name a single Australian state?'

I say to them: Name a single state capital of an American state.

Then come the dumb looks as they waffle on with: Errr...New York, Los Angeles...ahhh...Houston...errr

I can name at least two: Queensland and New South Wales. Do I win a prize? Or at least avoid a "booting" ala the Simpsons?

Polly Toynbee didn't even let Auberon Waugh's body go to room temperature before she mounted a scurrilous attack on him...for the first time without fear of response.

I'll never read any of her nonsense again.

Polly Toynbee didn't even let Auberon Waugh's body go to room temperature before she mounted a scurrilous attack on him...for the first time without fear of response.

I'll never read any of her nonsense again.

Polly Toynbee didn't even let Auberon Waugh's body get to room temperature before she mounted a scurrilous attack on him...for the first time without fear of response.

I'll never read any of her nonsense again.

The camera out-takes probably contain a scene like this ...

A typical French-Canadian, socialist, peace-loving, GWBush hater turns and looks offended at an insult from the puppet dog ...

The puppeteer not wanting to cause (another) border incident goes to apologise ...

The FCSPLGH says (in a mangled french/canadian accent) "Hey buddy, keep out of this" "I dont have an argument with you" looking menacingly at the puppet on the end of the man's arm he says "
This is just between me and that talking dog" ...

E

I've had the same experience as Quentin George in the UK. I used to get so fed up with my fellow Brits ragging on 'stupid Yanks'. I have won bets with people over how many States there are, ferchrissakes (it's amazing how many people think there's 51 or 52). Another good one is: name the four States whose capitals are named after former Presidents (answer: Jefferson City, Missouri; Jackson, Mississippi; Lincoln, Nebraska; Madison, Wisconsin).

I can name at least two: Queensland and New South Wales. Do I win a prize? Or at least avoid a "booting" ala the Simpsons?

You got 2/6 - a third, not bad. You left out two of the easy ones though - Western Australia and South Australia (yes, I know it should be Southern Australia)

I doubt many Australians/Europeans could name a third of the American states.

The whole "Americans are dumb because they're ignorant of the rest of the world, unlike non-Americans who know something about America" routine is ridiculous. I'd wager than back in the early 1800's, when America was inconsequential, Americans knew more about France and England than the French and English knew about America. I'm sure most Americans knew who Napoleon was, and most French had no idea who James Madison was.

The reason most foreigners know more about America than vice-versa is simply because we're more important (note: I didn't say "better", just more important, which is simple fact and not a value judgment.)

Even so, most foreigners' knowledge of America seems to come from "Dallas" re-runs. They don't have a knowledge of America, they have a caricature.

A Floridian, a Texan, and a Mainer are jawing around a campfire. The Floridian says, "In Florida, we've got mosquitoes so big, they've got landing lights."

The Texan says, "Shoot, in Texas, we got armadilloes so big, we saddle 'em up and ride 'em."

The Mainer says, "That's nothing. In Maine, we've got Frogs so big, they put up sheetrock."