A GREAT DAY IN OUR NATIONS HISTORY, A new Day

Patch;

Today the Throne Speach will be delivered by the G.G. and Parliament will open. To-morrow the Budget will be announced and we will find out about our stimulus package to kickstart the Economy. We will also get an idea if the opposition will bring the Government down and we will either have a coalition government or an election. Either one is going to make the you know what hit the fan. I am all for getting rid of the Conservatives, but not now, wait until the summer or fall and give the country time to start down the recovery road. No matter how we slice it both are countries are in deep doo doo now and everyone has to pull to-gether.


Camac.

We get virtually no Canadian news here. I get some from the BBC.

I got some news on our stimulus package today and find that it is parsed out over three years. Also, I am going to have to read the bill as they say it is filled with entitlements. We will see if Obama veto's it. He was not going to allow entitlements! We do not have line item veto powers any more as it that provision was struck down by the Supreme Court some years ago.

Slàinte,    

Patch    

Patch;

The Budget which will be read to-morrow will have a $34,Billion defict for this year and a $30, billion deficit for next year. If you are interested I will fill you in after I hear how hard the pocket book will be hit. The Veto does not exist in Canadian Politics. A bill can be held up by the Senate, or by the G.G. but they can merely suggest changes. The Commons is the ultimate power in Canada. More so than the Supreme Court because only the Commons can make changes to the Constitution. The only thing we have anywhere close to Veto is the "not withstanding clause" in the Constitution and that pertains merely to Constitutional Matters.


Camac.

Interesting Times Eh! What.

Personally, I think the messianic image is entirely the part of the voters and media. He says he'll push for change and accountability, not to solve the economic crisis instantly. I also remember his eluding to there being a lot of waiting and economic pain before any solutions have had a chance to make things better. That sounds, to me, like everyone is looking to him to fix their world, but he's trying to tell them to be reasonable. It will take time, and he's not pretending it won't.

Also, I can't remember hearing about that many leaders of Nations getting to work at forcing change on their first day in office. He may not be tackling every promise immediately, but he's already taken on some of his bigger goals in his first week. He hasn't been sitting around soaking up the glory, if you get what I mean.

The celebration itself makes sense to me. Yes, it could have been cheaper. I won't argue with that. But I feel the sheer size of the event and all of the fanfare was deserved. That day was a lot less about the Inauguration of a President than it was about the OFFICIAL end to racial division in the US. That celebration was about the long awaited victory of the Civil Rights movement. And its' point is better made since Obama doesn't come from that movement. His roots are Kenyan, not Black (Slave). He's not a guy on either side of the coin. Half Caucasian, half African American, yet not tied to either group (even if groups have attached themselves to him). He's of a visual minority, and he got the top job. That's what matters.

But people have to stop calling him a Black President. He should be a President who happens to be Black. An unimportant detail when it comes to doing his job. Continuing to put the emphasis on his colour after the big celebration is over will just serve to point out the differences between people, not the similarities.

Like I said, celebrate today. I totally understand why it's a big deal to visual minorities for someone from a visual minority to get the top job in the Nation. The significance of the event marks the END of something. But it'll never end if people don't let it die.

I know it's vindicating, but making people feel like crap about a history they can't change (and had no involvement in) doesn't serve to bring people together. Being Canadian, I do have some insight into issues of dragging up the past and keeping a wall between people that should be coming together. We've spent the last three decades and more making apologies for the actions of our ancestors. For many in the south, the actions happened within memory, but if they can't get past them in the coming months, when they have every opportunity and responsibility to, they'll end up spending another 50 years divided. Civil rights achieved, but no closer together. After all of this time, we still haven't managed to bring First Nations people together with the rest of Canada (though it's hard when the reservations still exist). The same goes with the French in this country. So much time is spent concentrating on what makes us different and blaming the British/Anglophoniqe/Europeans for our problems that we continue to drive each other apart, and risk further isolation every time the topic makes the headlines. Forever laying blame from one side, and forever gaining resentment on the other.

I say it was good to celebrate the event, but try not to hold the cause to Obama for the next four to eight years. Move on and see your President for the man he is, not the man people see at first glance, because if you can only credit him as a Black President, you have to blame him as a Black President when he screws up.

Now, as for Bush and the phony Cheney (who I believe faked the injury just so he wouldn't have to stand when Obama received his accolades and performed his duties on inauguration day), I hope the door hit them HARD!

Probably the biggest reason I dislike the duo is because of a speech Bush made shortly after the Coalition of the Willing was formed. He stood at the mic and named each and every ally the US had, and then proceeded to say something to the affect of "If you're not with us, you're against us." When the US and Canada list their allies, they typically name one another first. Canada was nowhere on that list. Why? Because we refused to invade a Sovereign nation, and chose to honour the UN's resolution to stay out of Iraq (a separate war that the B/C administration successfully convinced the world was one in the same with the retaliation to 9/11). Shortly after people in the States started eating some foolish thing called Freedom Bacon. All the while, Canadians stood side by side with US troops in Afghanistan, taking 'friendly fire' (the most disgusting term ever crafted) that went, at the time, unpunished, and continue to this day to have themselves blown up by roadside bombs.This happened about the same time that a Canadian MP stomped on a Bush doll on TV. She was fired and had to issue a public apology, yet Bush barely got a finger shaken at him by our own leaders. Not one word was ever said about that horrible speech by either federal or provincial representatives, and certainly not by the one man who should have given a very loud, heard by the world, "Wait a minute there. What did you just call us?". Our Prime Minister. At that very moment, we should have brought every last soldier home and told the Bush to deal with it on his own. But we stayed long enough that leaving now would be a severe disappointment to those Canadians who have since died there. We can't leave yet, but then, for the sake of our own pride, we should have.

We went to support the USA, and their leader stood in front of the whole nation all and called us, essentially, the enemy. Now we're involved in an impossible war with an 'ism'. Because of that Canada will, for the first time in its history, lose a war, because you can't defeat a concept.

That's all I need to dislike the destructive duo. And yes, I'm still waiting for a apology for that statement. Obama has every right and responsibility to make it, as well.

Finally, I'm so sick of party politics, I hope Obama really does succeed in abolishing it. We really don't have anything close to a charismatic leader in Canada, and our current ones are getting worse by the day with their party bickering. Our system is designed to promote this kind of fighting, since it's based on a majority vs. opposition. It'll be a nice day when a representative actually gets to make a decision on their own instead of have to tow the party line because of a choice made by a caucus weeks before.

oldraven;

I have to say that I agree with everything you have said. There is far to much division in the world and here in our country. We have as a nation apologized to just about everyother peoples in the world and that is our way. Our ancestors made the mistakes and caused the harm and abuse through their ignorance and prejudice and we are trying to make ammends. The Native people of Canada got a raw deal there is no denying that but the French on the other hand didn't really do so bad. The French and Indian (Seven Year War) War happened and France lost. Canada became part of the British Empire but on the most part the French of Quebec were left much as they were. Their Culture, Language and Religion were left to them and were even protected by Law and yet 250 years later we are still bickering with each other. As to our friend and ally to the south well I cheered when we said no to Iraq and I was deeply insulted and angry when Bush intimated that we were the enemy. It seemed that all we did in two World Wars, Korea, and at 9/11 were totally forgotten by him and his administration. It is not the first time though that we have been snubbed by the U.S Government and it won't be the last. Also on at least two occassions from 1941 til 1953 the U.S. left our troops hanging out to dry but they got a hell of a shock when they discovered the mettle of the Canadian Soldier. Well after all is said and done we are still the best of friends and allies and I think that when it really counts we will both be there for each other. President Obama has a long difficult road ahead of him and many, many bridges to repair and I for one wish him every success but I also realize that there will be mistakes made and some of them will more than likely upset us here, but as in the past we will get over it and carry on. One last comment. Who knows but maybe just maybe somewhere in this vast land of ours there is a leader waiting in the wings.


Camac.

Here's hoping, Camac.

Iggy's already showing himself to be just another complainer with his panties in a twist. Layton, telling us that he's going to vote down the budget no matter what it looks like shows us this attitude at its' worst. Power before Service.

oldraven;

Iggy is an intelectual along the same mould as Dion. As for Layton he wouldn't know a good idea if it jumped up and bit you know where. NDP, party of protest, and protest and protest. Sounds like an old record.


Camac.

I just heard that another Czar has been appointed! (health care) I am beginning to feel we have passed Socialism, and gone right to Communism!!!

Slàinte,   

 Patch