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Last updated on August 9th, 2017 at 03:50 pm
Dear letters editor of the Toronto Star,
I understand that Canadian law requires you to think in French half the time, and that this eats into your ability to check every item you receive, but Schon Golgerth’s recent letter could really have used some revision prior to publication. She wrote:
So Australian Prime Minister John Howard is counselling Stephen Harper on how to run a country? Howard is the soul of American outreach and its spokesman. He has abandoned Australia to American influence and to American interests. With the Australian voting system of proportional representation, he will stay in power and Australia will irretrievably become a U.S. satellite doing the big brother’s bidding.
Australia’s House of Representatives, voting for which determines who holds government, is not decided by proportional representation.
Australians can’t seem to figure out how to get rid of him so they have learned to live with him and apologize to the world for him.
Australians don’t want to get rid of him. Howard has been elected four times.
Howard sees himself as a great leader and Australians see him as an embarrassing U.S. parasite.
In 2004, Howard was re-elected with an increased majority.
Whatever you do, Canada, avoid this at all costs. Losing one’s identity for the economic crumbs thrown by the big brother impoverishes the spirit and impoverishes the will of the people to seek viable alternatives. We are on the same road Australia took some eight years ago …
Ten years. Howard was first elected in 1996.
Losing our sovereignty makes us subject to others’ desires and whims — like having to put our people in harm’s way because their troubles are forcibly made ours. Their propaganda becomes our thoughts; their rhetoric becomes our policy.
Golgerth’s idiocy becomes Star page-filler.
Yours,
Tim
UPDATE. Schon Golgerth is Australian! Lived in Canada for 35 years—long enough to forget how Australia’s electoral system works, evidently. Via Irving and Burrah.
- Schon, your country, with Australia, entered World War I three years before mine and World War II two years before mine. Do I have to tell you at whose behest? What is the Canadian Gallipoli? Myrtle Beach?Posted by chinesearithmetic on 2006 05 25 at 01:30 PM • permalink
- 4. Or Vermont. (Thanks for the info. No disrespect to Johnny Canuck, just a reminder on who actually cried “Forward” from the rear. Which reminds me, The Second City Toronto’s “The Drowsy Chaperone” should win every Tony in sight.)Posted by chinesearithmetic on 2006 05 25 at 02:20 PM • permalink
- The Wronwright Paddle?
What the hell have I missed now?
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 05 25 at 02:22 PM • permalink
- 5. Just looked up Vimy Ridge. The significant milestone is 3,598. Dare anyone say quagmire in two languages? Not me.Posted by chinesearithmetic on 2006 05 25 at 02:28 PM • permalink
- 9. Spiny, I saw the Python episode that birthed you! How’s Detective Harry “Snapper” Organs?Posted by chinesearithmetic on 2006 05 25 at 02:30 PM • permalink
- 4 Room
24% of US Democrats said they would go live in another country if they could.
Damn those draconian anti-exmigration laws! I curse Bush’s neoconazi congressional running dogs for blockading all those airports, walling off the entire northern and southern borders, and mining the harbors of both coasts plus Hawaii!! Now we’re stuck with 24% too many USeless Democrites! At LEAST that many, actually! Oh if only they “could” leave!
Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 05 25 at 03:14 PM • permalink
- What has happened to the red ensign state? I’m told they have a proud, independent military heritage that petered out about 50 years ago.
It’s a tragedy when a country with such a spirited tradition descends into reflexive insecurity. Canada today defines itself by not being the United States. That kind of twisted betrothal is quite pathetic.
Posted by James Waterton on 2006 05 25 at 03:27 PM • permalink
- I also like Canadians a lot. Even the French ones!
Just don’t talk politics with them. They tend to be infuriatingly naive.
Posted by James Waterton on 2006 05 25 at 03:33 PM • permalink
- 18. Quagmire is the soccer of lexicography? How fitting…Posted by chinesearithmetic on 2006 05 25 at 04:04 PM • permalink
- Hmmm.
Chinese: In an amazing coincidence, “quagmire” is the same in every language known to man.
Strangely enough so is pointing a finger and screaming “SHARK!!”.
Posted by memomachine on 2006 05 25 at 04:57 PM • permalink
- Hmmm.
Damn those draconian anti-exmigration laws!
You know I don’t think I’d be willing to inflict all those Democrats on anybody. There’s nobody I hate that badly. Nobody I despise that much.
…
Well except Iran. Hmmmmm.
Posted by memomachine on 2006 05 25 at 04:59 PM • permalink
- 1. Quick Canadian military history lesson: Vimy Ridge was a victory, a big one. The Canadians pulled off something the British and French failed to do. But Dieppe was certainly a debacle.
2. The Toonto Star? C’mon, Tim, I’d be hesitant to use that paper to line a budgie cage.
Posted by JJM Ballantyne on 2006 05 25 at 05:22 PM • permalink
- Oops – make that “Toronto Star.”
Though on second thought, “Toonto” seems to work just as well.
Posted by JJM Ballantyne on 2006 05 25 at 05:23 PM • permalink
- >Quick Canadian military history lesson: Vimy Ridge was a victory, a big one. The Canadians pulled off something the British and French failed to do. But Dieppe was certainly a debacle.
I know. I meant it as a battle that helps to craete a national identity/solidarity.
According to legend, after hearing that the Canadians had taken the untakable ridge, a French soldier exclaimed “Ah! les Canadiens! C’est possible!”
- “24% of US Democrats said they would go live in another country if they could.”
Problem is, they keep getting the directions to “Dean’s land” screwed up.
Posted by tim maguire on 2006 05 25 at 06:32 PM • permalink
What is the Canadian Gallipoli? Myrtle Beach?
No. Dieppe.
Re. Vimy Ridge, the British and French both failed to take the strategic ridge suffering 50,000 dead each over months. The Canadian Corps fighting for the first time with all of its four Divisions together as a unified Army Corps took it in a weekend with 3,500 dead. As mentioned, it was where we truly found our nationhood.
If the war would have gone on for another year, PM Lloyd George was going to have made Canadian commander, Sir Arthur Currie, British-Imperial C-in-C with the Australian, Monash, as his Chief-of-Staff.
In a fitting analogy, considering the turn this comments section has taken, several years ago, one of Chretien’s many Minsters of Defence mistakenly called it “Vichy Ridge”, an error that wasn’t caught by him or any of his speech writers etc. (Maybe you should join the Liberal Party of Canada, Chinese, your education seems to be about right for it.)
I’m told they have a proud, independent military heritage that petered out about 50 years ago.
It started petering out in the mid-1970s courtesy of Pierre Trudeau (Canada did have a large Brigade Group in Germany that was more like a small Division and a Division back home) until it began having funding cut. Our “Red Tories” of Brian Mulroney didn’t rebuild the CF in the 1980s after PET’s disinterest and/or hostility (he was Bush 41 in maple drag); and then from the mid-1990s onwards ex-PM Jean Chretien cut the Forces by 25% in manpower and budget during his 11 some odd years. His Liberal successor, Paul Martin, continuing Chretien’s policies post-9/11, talked about putting billions into “national defence” that, in practice, went to the all federal security and defence services: our CSIS spies, the RCMP, the Coast Guard, Customs Canada and the military with high-sounding promises of adding $15-billion to the budget etc. while keeping quiet about it being spread over 5 years or more. We’ll see what new Conservative PM, Stephen Harper, does about it. He has a minority government, but neither of the main opposition parties, the Liberals or the separatist BQ, want an early election as their polling is in the 20s.
Still, the men and their training is still top-notch; it’s the equipment that sucks along with (in the past) its political leadership. And you’re right, James, about how the Canadian left, that’s been running schools etc. for the past 35 years, defines Canada (along with pushing multiculti BS.)
No disrespect to Johnny Canuck, just a reminder on who actually cried “Forward” from the rear.
If your “forward” crack was historical in nature and not GWOT-related, when was that? We were in all of the wars that Australia was in, for the same length of time until Vietnam (and Iraq). Even then as many Canadians joined the US military to serve in Vietnam as draft dodgers fled to Canada.
If the comment is re. the GWOT, our version of the SAS was in the initial Afghan war in 2001-02 (along with a battalion and its support) where several of our snipers were awarded US gallantry awards for saving US lives through their sniper fire. One sniper set the world’s record for longest kill.
What’s left of our navy served in the blockade of Iraq. And there were a few pilots etc. on loan to the US military who did serve in Iraq proper—a bunch were flying AWACs IIRC, for example.
For more history, re. WW1, the Canadians and ANZACs disliked each other because we both wanted to prove that we were the toughest (mere) colonials, but we always wanted the other corps on our flank. BTW, in the final 100 Days the ANZACs and the Canadian Corps spearheaded the great offensive with your guys taking 1/4 of the POWs, us taking 1/4 (you beat us out by a few hundred, but the Canadian Corps advanced the furthest into German-held territory, ending Nov.11 in Mons where the BEF had its first battle in 1914) and the entire rest of the British and Imperial forces taking the other 50%. The entire US army took fewer than you guys or our single army corps.
Canada has always had an all-volunteer army: 600,000 in WW1; 1,000,000 in WW2; a brigade in the Commonwealth Division in Korea (one unit winning a U.S. Presidential Unit Citation); traditional peacekeeping in the 1970s and early ‘80s; peacemaking in the ‘90s, like Somalia; the Balkans; Gulf War; Afghanistan in 2001 (SAS and infantry with armour support); and now with a brigade there until 2008.
We do wish Canadians would take the Americans that would like to move…We need the room for our illegal aliens.
El Cid, conservative Tony Blankely (sp?) wrote a piece sort of on that topic yesterday—I think in American Thinker, but I may be misremembering. Read it for a good laugh.
P.S. the Star does suck, big, big time.
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 05 25 at 08:03 PM • permalink
24% of US Democrats said they would go live in another country if they could.
Most people don’t realize that’s the secret reason for the wall on the Mexican border, to keep all our welfare recipients and grant ho’s IN…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 25 at 08:05 PM • permalink
A good chunk of Breaker Morant’s Light Horse unit were Canadian too and were also tried on the bogus charges.
The above is just in case I didn’t turn off the “quote” machine for my P.S., above, that I didn’t intend to “quote” (or italicize etc.) in the first place.
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 05 25 at 08:09 PM • permalink
- #9 Spiny Norman,
Don’t listen to El Cid. He sucks up to Andrea. Go to here.
Speaking of which, Andrea, my tender cheek where you paddled when I wasn’t looking was still smarting today. So I went to the pharmacy and asked for some buttock cream. The lady behind the counter gave me a confused look and then handed me some face cream. I said no, I need arse cream. She gave me a double take and then handed me some hand cream. I said no, I need it for my rear end. It’s in pain. She gave me a strange look, sighed, and then gave me a tube of some kind of jelly. I asked if it makes the pain decrease and she said it works well for her. Damn it Andrea, you must have paddled her too.
(keeps watch for when she puts down the damn piece of bitch wood)
Posted by wronwright on 2006 05 25 at 08:25 PM • permalink
- Did I mention she also erased my Monty Python quote? You know, this one:
Mr. Figgis: Why is it the world never remembered the name of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfernschplenden schlitter crasscrenbon fried digger dangle dongle dungle burstein von knacker thrasher apple banger horowitz ticolensic grander knotty spelltinkle grandlich grumblemeyer spelterwasser kurstlich himbleeisen bahnwagen gutenabend bitte ein nürnburger bratwurstle gerspurten mit tzwei macheluber hundsfut gumberaber shoenendanker kalbsfleisch mittler aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?”
And then she slapped me, hard, with that paddle. I swear I ought to go to the UN over this.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 05 25 at 08:30 PM • permalink
- Thanks for the history lesson, andycanuck. I served with a few Canadians in Germany (good troops), and I always found it intriguing that Canada, being such a small nation (population wise, area wise is a different matter) made such a large contribution in WWII (for example, Juno Beach, in the Normandy invasion, was assigned to the Canadians).
I’d love to see more Canadian troops in the GWOT. But y’all are doing what you can, and I thank you for it.
As for your leftoid idiots…..well, I think that you know that we have a similar problem down here. I just hope they don’t get elected in the next round of elections.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 05 25 at 08:51 PM • permalink
- 33 andycanuck
conservative Tony Blankely (sp?) wrote a piece sort of on that topic yesterday
Found it…A Modest Proposal
- #33 AndyCanuck.
A similar story could be told of the declining seriousness of New Zealand’s commitment to its armed forces. We began as the Prussians of the South Pacific: my grandmother had knobkerries, assegais, and other native paraphernalia picked up by family members during the Boer War, and I believe NZ was the first allied nation to capture German territory – Samoa – in the Great War. We continued to make significant commitments in almost all the wars after that, but over recent decades Kiwis have gradually been seduced by the quasi-pacifist, pseudo-internationalist view that all use of force is morally untenable (and anyway any enemy would have to go through Australia first.) NZ still makes a contribution to various peace-keeping operations, but the impression is certainly given that we’re doing the minimum required to maintain relations with more powerful but primitive countries.
- Andycanuck
That brigade has also suffered losses just recently.
Canada also had the distinction of coming up with one of the best fighter interceptors in the 1950’s. I believe that plane was going to be used by the US before it was abruptly cancelled.
Let’s not forget the D.E.W. line.
However, I’m more than willing to forget your eastern hockey teams! Heh!
- A good chunk of Breaker Morant’s Light Horse unit were Canadian too and were also tried on the bogus charges.
Huh? WTF!? You’re not serious are you?
Firstly, Morant was a member of the 14th Light Horse (North Queensland Mounted Infantry). Are you saying that there were a large number of Canadians living in Charters Towers?
Secondly, Morant was a murdering bastard. He received his just dues. As a former member of the same regiment as Morant, I can safely say that the widespread view of Morant is as much a product of Fenian revisionism as that of that other mongrel bastard “Irish Australian Hero”, Ned Kelly.
- Whew! Thank you, andycanuck, for that post.
As an “honorary” Canadian (by virtue of marriage, 7 years residence, work and degrees from U of Winnipeg and U of Toronto and being born in the Windsor Tunnel), I was just about to jump in and remind those who forgot what Canada did, does and can do militarily.
My specialty is the Ancient Near East—I would have made a complete hash of what you so succinctly (and may I say calmly, under the circumstances) explained.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 25 at 10:54 PM • permalink
- #48 Do I know you? I was Captain of the Sabre Team, Cal State Sonoma, 1979-82.
Cold winter breaks, stuck in the dorms with no money, I can tell you of many a walk down the duck pond, and how easily even a dueling sabre will whip off a duck’s head.
Duck soup, Roast Duck, BBQ Duck, Duck Burgers, Duck Jerky, the possibilities seemed endless.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 25 at 10:59 PM • permalink
- Murph, re Morant and Kelly at #45, yes, from a strictly historical view, but you must remember the popular meme now is “fake but accurate”, a “higher truth”, a “hoax that bespeaks reality” etc etc. Get with the programme! All the Teacher’s Unions and MSM have.
As for Canucks, I’ve mainly mixed with Submariners, and they are a breed apart anyway. Wellington’s quote applies “I don’t know if they frighten the enemy, but By God they frighten me”. Glad they’re on our side. When their government lets them be.
Bit like the Kiwis in that regard.
- Yojimbo — The Avro Arrow. There’s actually a conspiracy that the US forced Canada to cancel it because it would supposedly have obsoleted the entire US Aerospace industry.
Hell of a nice plane, tho.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 25 at 11:59 PM • permalink
- conspiracy theoryPosted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 26 at 12:10 AM • permalink
- #43 SteveGW
Kiwis have gradually been seduced by the quasi-pacifist, pseudo-internationalist view that all use of force is morally untenable (and anyway any enemy would have to go through Australia first.)
And in turn, we are relying on the fact that any enemy would have to get past our crocodiles first! 😉
- You know I don’t care that this person has this opinion; what I dislike is his/her presumption that he/seh is speaking for ALL Australians – it’s sheer arrogance as well as ignorance.
If I didn’t know better these ferals are preparing to put a case to the United Nations to save Australians from themselves! (I do know better, don’t I?)
- #39 and El Cid: With the ice hockey game over, I just went and found it at RealClearPolitics. Thanks for beating me to the punch, El Cid, as it was a very funny piece that Tim’s readers should enjoy. [But a warning, most hosers would be voting Democrat so a voting bloc the size of the black vote would be tied to the Dems in
occupiedliberated Canada, so I’d suggest a policy of child cannibalism of native-born Canadians to limit our numbers once it happens. Well, you’ve seen our kids on South Park—no one’s going to miss them. (Prof. Peter Singer can organize the programme.)]Thanks, The Real JeffS (and #51 ZoeBrain); I seem to recall you (Jeff) having defended the CF in print at Tim’s before, if not (quite rightly) our governments of the past 35 years.
BTW, I misremembered the POW figures, the ANZACs and the Canadians combined took as many POWs as the Americans. My apolgies to American readers. And, again, their combined total was 25% of the British-Imperial total, not 50%. My apolgies to British readers.
#43 Yes, SteveGW, not quite as bad here as in N.Z.; and I wrote ANZACs and not just “Aussies” because I knew you guys pulled your weight too. (And I’ve read a few short pieces on the Maori Wars, so I know how tough your Kiwi natives are.) It is an awful thing to see happen when a democracy decides to forego the lesson of “if you would have peace, then prepare for war” that always seems to be tied to a democracy’s population believing it can spend itself rich and that it’s safe, so who needs the military. BTW, a Canadian Division replaced the Australian one in the 8th Army for service in Italy when the Aussies returned to the Far East, so troops of our two nations fought together in Italy. When the Division joined the other Canadians in NW Europe in late 1944 on the flooded Dutch plains, they called themselves the “Water Rats” as a play on the 8th Army nickname. (And no, it didn’t involve a Sydney police TV show.)
#44 that was the AVRO Arrow, Yojimbo, as Richard says; if you have an interest in military aviation, you can Google alot on it. 1950s; Mach 2, delta wing; a Liberal-Conservative cat-fight saw it killed in 1960 when the new Conservative PM, Diefenbaker, said it was going to be cancelled to use cheaper Bomarc (sp?) interceptor missiles instead, but he didn’t officially cancel it. (It was also a pet project of the former Liberal PM, so Dief disliked it for partisan reasons as well.) However, the Liberal crony who ran the programme fired everyone at the plant right away out of pique, so there was no chance to defend the programme, and maybe change the government’s views, if instead he would have taken months to close down the programme gradually. Alot of the engineers and designers went to NASA and helped in the moon-landings as the closure killed AVRO Canada. The six prototypes were scrapped even though there were offers made for them (I think the Brits wanted them for civilian high-altitude research, for example). And your hockey views are (unhappily) all too accurate too. [Continued below.]
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 05 26 at 02:04 AM • permalink
- [Continued from above.] Thank you, MentalFloss. And I’ll keep your hoser connections in mind for future postings. BTW, we haven’t opened up our pool yet (it’s been down to single digits, centigrade, overnight still) so we still have the winter tarp on the pool. It is filled with snow-melt and rain water along with leaves from the fall, and two ducks spend spring in this manmade pond. I’ve only seen them with ducklings once though in about 7 years—I think they might hide the kids somewhere else, or leave them with relatives, and then head over to our place for some fun. I’ll probably cheer for the Sabres too, as I prefer the Flames to the Oilers in the Alberta rivalry. I also ate duck a few days ago and didn’t feel (too) guilty about it.
Regarding Breaker Morant, I believe I heard about the composition of the Bushveldt Carabiniers from a TV documentary on the South Africa War and the Canadian role in it, that was similar to Australia’s and New Zealand’s. (Don’t know their sources.) But, in retrospect, I probably should have written “light or irregular cavalry” rather than “Light Horse”, making it sound like it was one of the Australian regular cavalry units like your own unit. My apologies, Murph. (I did just throw it in off the top of my head because I thought the “quote” engine hadn’t been turned off.) There were several, I think six, irregular cavalry regiments of mixed colonials (and the more intelligent Poms who could think for themselves!) formed in the field to counter the Boer commandos beside the initial regular cavalry contingents (Strathcona’s Horse and the Royal Canadian Dragoons were the two we sent; I assume your ones were Australian Light Horse, like in WW1) that were there early.
As far as his crimes go, the movie (and the play it’s based on, I assume) made an issue of only the colonials being hung out to dry for what was unofficial policy and not any of the Pommy nobs. Although I could see a Fenian spin being given to that sort of thing, Murph, of which I’d be unaware upover here.
Still, as far as the charges themselves are concerned, there’s a bit of a GWOT parallel, I’d opine. After the Boers’ tough field armies were eventually defeated and the civilian government surrendered, a guerrilla war of non-uniformed commandos, not acting under a higher authority, continued fighting and the Brits decided to fight fire with fire. It wasn’t pleasant, no prisoners etc., but I can understand its use without implying a defence of WW2-style “I was just following orders” arguments. (Especially when that that phrase is associated with killing unarmed civilian populations in reprisals for guerrilla activity.)
And just to end with some more Oz-Can military facts (that I’ve fully checked this time!), there weren’t any Canadians at Gallipoli, but the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was there as part of an English Division. (Newfoundland wouldn’t join the Canadian confederation until 1949 and preferred its WW1 regiment serve with British forces so as not to associate their colony in Britain’s eyes with Canada lest Whitehall compel it to join the Confederation.)
And I seem to recall that the Poms blamed the Australian contingent for the fall of Singapore in 1941, looking for a scapegoat not led by English public schoolboys. Well, a few years ago, I guess when the archives were opened after the 50 or 60 years, they blamed our two battalions at Hong Kong for the fall of the island despite our having won the only V.C. awarded there. (I think our guys might have been the last to surrender on the island too, but I’ll have to check that first.) Most of the force there were East Indian troops and not Brits, but they were led by public school types, so we wouldn’t want to blame old Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson, would we? He went to Rugby with Old Dickie St.John-Mollusc, don’t you know. So we’ve got something more in common, Dieppe as our Gallipoli; and Hong Kong as our Singapore.
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 05 26 at 02:07 AM • permalink
- The US-Canada relationship looks very much like the Australia-NZ one.
The junior members have had their military decimated by pacifist politicians who know they will never be attacked.
Very noble in their minds but bloody cowardly.
Sullies the memories of those who fought and died for democracy too.
Posted by The (WHMECDM) President on 2006 05 26 at 02:33 AM • permalink
- whine, whine, whine. Wronwright, you henchmen are such delicate princesses. I must tell the Dark Lord that he is falling off in soundly thrashing the henchmen with his riding crop.
Andrea? The minionettes in the workshop report that the upgrades to your paddle are done. It reaches 250 degrees C in 13 seconds and the fleshrending hooks all work fine. (Umm, you didn’t need that Patrick Kennedy chap back, did you? he’s a little….. well…. shredded)
The screaming should now have that special timbre you seek.
MarkL
Canberra
- Wronwright: man up, nancy! We’re in a war, you know. A little beating is good for you. Which reminds me… so, only one buttcheek is sore? I’m losing my touch.Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 05 26 at 06:57 AM • permalink
- I like how she described her extensive pastoral holding:
So, there is now a Nillumbik in Ontario,
three hours north-east of Toronto in the
heart of the old Algonquin Mohawk
regional territory. Our Nillumbik is only
45 acres with a beaver dam that has
turned into a lake and lots of virgin
bush with deer, a small wolf pack in
the area and a couple of bears that are
going to be moved to a more remote
spot this springSheesh, things sure are crowded.
No wonder they want to get the bears to move on…
- (reads #65, growls, rubs more jelly on buttock, notes it doesn’t do jack to relieve the pain, wonders how Andrea would like a turnabout with her bending over wronwright’s knee, likes idea, but notes it would analogous to bending a Death Viper over one’s knee, you only get one attempt at it and then it’s hell to pay)
#40 Ummm, don’t you mean “the damn piece of
bitchbirch wood”?….LOL.—Posted by El CidNo, it’s made of Brazilian walnut.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 05 26 at 08:58 AM • permalink
- Yeah, I heard how the Canadian snipers were treated back in Canada. That will piss me off for the rest of my life. Those men deserved far better.Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 05 26 at 10:07 AM • permalink
- Entropy @ 66.
“…three hours north-east of Toronto in the
heart of the old Algonquin Mohawk
regional territory.”Another howler on a par with proportional representation in the H of R. The Mohawks mainly lived south of Lake Ontario (in the, um, Mohawk River valley) and migrated to Ontario as Loyalists.
Anything three hours northeast of Toronto is old Huron-Awenda country.
Apropos of the Toronto Star, its greatest living critic Bob Tarantino is hanging up his blogging keyboard. Sniff.
I lean to the Second Battle of Ypres as the Canadian Gallipoli, and Ortona as our Tobruk.
- Valid battle comparisons, too, Jim.
And I had read from the blogs and a (very) few MSM sources about our snipers’ treatment on returning home, 91B30 and JeffS, but thanks for the New Republic link. I’ll check it out right now.
P.S. #61, but we’ve got ducks here, Max, as an added incentive. (Although I guess they do leave for the winter.)
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 05 26 at 02:21 PM • permalink
- 36
I scream!
You scream!
We all scream
for arse cream!Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 05 26 at 02:39 PM • permalink
- Heh heh heh. Dream on, wron. But take care that you confine your… ideas to dreams. My Brazilian walnut paddle isn’t the only weapon in my arsenal. There is, for instance, a device I call “Bertha.” Those who have encountered Bertha are usually left unable to speak of the event; for some reason they commence trembling and turn pale when questioned. Those who are still capable of trembling and turning any color, that is.Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 05 26 at 06:16 PM • permalink
- “one of Chretien’s many Ministers of Defence mistakenly called it “Vichy Ridge”, an error that wasn’t caught by him or any of his speech writers etc.”
Good grief. Freudian slip? It is impossible to imagine an Australian politician or *any Australian* making a similar mistake. – Say, calling Gallipoli ‘Galloping’ or ‘Gallup poll’, or something.
What sort of ‘nation’ is Canada, did you say? I was recently there, and in Switzerland too. Both had the same feel, very smug, sort of ‘World-debate-Free Zones’, letting their neighbours do any thinking for them..
- Invertebrates are quick to seek out their own kind, it seems.
#75 has “no idea what Schon Golgerth is rambling about” and yet declaims that “Whatever Schon Golgerth is warning against happened in Canada a long time ago.”
Which is it, then?
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 26 at 10:54 PM • permalink
- But for an umlaut, “schon” would become “schön”, which means “pretty”. So I’m sure there’s some underlying resentment (which can only be guessed at by those not privy to her parents’ intentions) that she/he/it is a Golgerth of undeterminable fashion, as opposed to a clearly defined “pretty” Golgerth. I would be mad and write cranky things, too, should such a fate befall me. But it hasn’t and I’m terminally/unfailingly cheerful, while “Would That I Were Pretty” Golgerth strikes out angrily at those symbols which replace the authoritarian presence of her unloving, absent-minded parental units.
People, read between the lines and show some pity. “But for an umlaut”. On such simple alphabetic missteps are lives and psyches hinged. Or “un”hinged, for that matter.
We’re all not as lucky as you.
Posted by tree hugging sister on 2006 05 26 at 11:57 PM • permalink
- # 78 Ah! The humble, self-effacing subjunctive—would that we used it more!Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 27 at 12:54 AM • permalink
- Reads #74. Yikes! She has something worse than lil fren? The woman is out-and-out evil. Begins to tremble and turn pale, just a tad. Looks to make sure no one’s witnessing this. Decides to skiddadle while the skiddadling’s good.Posted by wronwright on 2006 05 27 at 02:32 AM • permalink
- Doesn’t look like anyone has pointed this out yet, so I will.
A system of proportional representation would not aid the Howard government in any way shape or form. The Australian Senate has PR, and the Howard government’s working majority of 1 was something no political commentator had predicted. It is the first upper house majority since Fraser roughly 30 years ago, and that was under an older
Senate with fewer members.If Australia switched to a system of PR in the lower house, you would see a far greater number of minor-party members in the House of Reps. This is because the quota to be elected under PR (if electing 6 members per region/electorate – as in the Senate – it would require a quota of roughly 16%, as opposed to 50%+1 under preferential voting) is lower than preferential voting, which favours the major parties significantly.
- wronwright — Enquiring minds probably shouldn’t want to know, but… where exactly DO you spank a death viper? And please tell me that’s nothing like flogging the snake…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 27 at 01:10 PM • permalink
- On the back of its Death Viper panties.
Been a long time, hasn’t it Richard.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 05 27 at 03:40 PM • permalink
- Between bouts with the legless, yes…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 27 at 11:06 PM • permalink
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This accurately describes what is happening in Eurabia right now, as a matter of fact. And could happen to us if we are not vigilant.