It’s my birthday, so I’m going to go off on a tangent and do something I don’t usually do…wax political.
I’m Canadain, so therefore even though American economic policies affect me nearly as much as they do my friends to the south, I’m not allowed to vote in their election.
If I were though, I’d be hard pressed to re-elect the only president since the depression who has ended his term with a lower employment number than when he started…he did find Tom Ridge a job though. How’s your civil liberties workin’ out for you now?
The reason the founding fathers of the United States allowed the right to bear arms was so that the American people could rise up against tyranny and opression. Now maybe my definition is different than the average bear’s, but where I come from, these are some examples of opression; People being rounded up for suspicion of terrorist activities. Being harrassed and threatened for taking innocent photos of monuments. Their excuse is always “September 11th”, blah blah blah, “September 11th”.
I think it’s ironic that the world is so proud of our World War II veterans who gave their lives so that we could live in freedom…but whenever we talk about September 11th, we talk about how we have to give up certain freedoms so that we can keep our lives.
The sad thing is that the media is focusing on “Flip Flopping”, and “The wrong war”, rather than the staggering changes that the United States has undergone in these last three years. Land of the free, home of the brave? Not anymore.
While the rights and freedoms thing should not be overlooked let’s look at the economic side. 1st despite wining numerous WTO rulings the American gov’t continues to slap illegal tarrifs on our softwood lumber severly damaging B.C’s economy. Their borders are still closed to Canadian beef. And the latest is the implementation of tarrifs on our hogs. Illegal again according to NAFTA. Ironically it was the American Gov’t of the day that pressured the Canadian Gov’t (Mulroney) to implement this bullshit deal. Yet they continue to impede any trading activity that dosn’t benefit them economically.
Back to rights and freedoms… my latest fight against the man. CIBC VISA processes all its transactions in the States… no real problem there. But as a result those transactions are subject to the U.S Patriot Act. So this American gov’t can look into my financial dealings whenever they want. I am so pissed I have told CIBC and Visa that if this situation is not correct I am pulling my mortage, line of credit and accounts from them. Bank of Nova Scotia does not do this. My suggestion is for CIBC VISA to add an amendment to the contract that forces the Americans to obtain a Canadian Court order to look at my records. In all likelyhood I will be using my VISA to make a donation to a mosque, buy a copy of the Quoran (sp) and a copy of THE ANARCHISTS COOKBOOK and any other “subversive” activity I can think of.. Bring it on! Now I’m all fired up again.
Jab
BTW.. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY BROTHER…. 30 YET?
JAB
Dude, you need a hobby…and perhaps a blog of your own.
Talk about a lot of time on your hands. Why not focus some of your passion into positive pursuits. Constantly focusing on the negative will only lead to negativity.
Railing against “the man” often only results in becoming “the man” yourself. See Todd McFarlane and Michael Moore as examples.
Perhaps you could spend some of your time with a charity, do some good, and maybe change the world for someone other than just yourself.
When it comes to trying to stop the virus (dare I say NAZI) like spread of the U.S into sovereign nations there is not enough hours in the day. Death to the imperialists… we kicked their asses and burned the White House in 1812 and maybe with a little internet venom we can do it again.
GO AWAY USA! STRIP YOUR OWN CITIZENS RIGHTS AWAY.. NOT OURS.
JAB