coyote's corner

Wow - Seems like Canada ia what the USA wanted to be and failed!
Janis (who really is sorry about the lipstick thing)
----- Original Message -----
From: Andrea
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 4:18 PM
Subject: Canada, was Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion]OT? HSDLA and Gay Marriage


At 10:34 AM 10/11/03 -0400, Shyrley wrote:
>Sigh. I hear Canada is nice :-)

It's better than nice! You might be interested in this column:
http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20030730sam0730p1.asp

Though we did come down and burn your White House a while back.

Donna in Nova Scotia

>It's not just the weather that's cooler in Canada
>
>Wednesday, July 30, 2003
>
>You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music or
>throws raucous parties. He doesn't gossip over the fence, just smiles
>politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared-for, his house is
>neat as a pin and you get the feeling he doesn't always lock his front
>door. He wears Dockers. You hardly know he's there.
>
>And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends his
>weekends at peace marches and that guy you've seen mowing the yard is his
>spouse.
>
>Allow me to introduce Canada.
>
>The Canadians are so quiet that you may have forgotten they're up there,
>but they've been busy doing some surprising things. It's like discovering
>that the mice you are dimly aware of in your attic have been building an
>espresso machine.
>
>Did you realize, for example, that our reliable little tag-along brother
>never joined the Coalition of the Willing? Canada wasn't willing, as it
>turns out, to join the fun in Iraq. I can only assume American diner menus
>weren't angrily changed to include "freedom bacon," because nobody here
>eats the stuff anyway.
>
>And then there's the wild drug situation: Canadian doctors are authorized
>to dispense medical marijuana. Parliament is considering legislation that
>would not exactly legalize marijuana possession, as you may have heard,
>but would reduce the penalty for possession of under 15 grams to a fine,
>like a speeding ticket. This is to allow law enforcement to concentrate
>resources on traffickers; if your garden is full of wasps, it's smarter to
>go for the nest rather than trying to swat every individual bug. Or, in
>the United States, bong.
>
>Now, here's the part that I, as an American, can't understand. These poor
>benighted pinkos are doing everything wrong. They have a drug problem:
>Marijuana offenses have doubled since 1991. And Canada has strict gun
>control laws, which means that the criminals must all be heavily armed,
>the law-abiding civilians helpless and the government on the verge of a
>massive confiscation campaign. (The laws have been in place since the
>'70s, but I'm sure the government will get around to the confiscation
>eventually.) They don't even have a death penalty!
>
>And yet ... nationally, overall crime in Canada has been declining since
>1991. Violent crimes fell 13 percent in 2002. Of course, there are still
>crimes committed with guns -- brought in from the United States, which has
>become the major illegal weapons supplier for all of North America -- but
>my theory is that the surge in pot-smoking has rendered most criminals too
>relaxed to commit violent crimes. They're probably more focused on
>shoplifting boxes of Ho-Hos from convenience stores.
>
>And then there's the most reckless move of all: Just last month, Canada
>decided to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Merciful moose, what
>can they be thinking? Will there be married Mounties (they always get
>their man!)? Dudley Do-Right was sweet on Nell, not Mel! We must be the
>only ones who really care about families. Not enough to make sure they all
>have health insurance, of course, but more than those libertines up north.
>
>This sort of behavior is a clear and present danger to all our stereotypes
>about Canada. It's supposed to be a cold, wholesome country of polite,
>beer-drinking hockey players, not founded by freedom-fighters in a bloody
>revolution but quietly assembled by loyalists and royalists more
>interested in order and good government than liberty and independence.
>
>But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our
>time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are so
>reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting people do
>what they want to?
>
>Canadians are, as a nation, less religious than we are, according to
>polls. As a result, Canada's government isn't influenced by large,
>well-organized religious groups and thus has more in common with those of
>Scandinavia than those of the United States, or, say, Iran.
>
>Canada signed the Kyoto global warming treaty, lets 19-year-olds drink,
>has more of its population living in urban areas and accepts more
>immigrants per capita than the United States.
>
>These are all things we've been told will wreck our society. But I guess
>Canadians are different, because theirs seems oddly sound.
>
>Like teenagers, we fiercely idolize individual freedom but really demand
>that everyone be the same. But the Canadians seem more adult -- more
>secure. They aren't afraid of foreigners. They aren't afraid of
>homosexuality. Most of all, they're not afraid of each other.
>
>I wonder if America will ever be that cool.





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