Well now, thank-you, you cuddly, lovable warmonger, you. But a warning: Should the issue on the table ever be Arctic sovereignty, East Coast Fisheries or Olympic hockey, you will quickly revert to the rapacious Yankee trader, got it?
Actually the thought process that led me to post that was a little weird. I thought your Devil-is-in-the-Details reply to Oro was spot on and it got me thinking something like: Proud American--erp--Mark Steyn--Canadian--other pro-American Canadians--Gordon Sinclair--must try and make her day, etc.
Do the Islamists really understand what they are up against?
Peter, the answer to your last question is no because, to paraphrase the Immortal Bard, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Habibi, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
We often talk about this at chez erp. Here we are, all 300,000,000 of us living in the lap of luxury. Even the least and poorest of us live better, are freer and have more opportunities for the future than even the wealthiest sheik of araby. Yet, the moonbats and their willing accomplices in the media would have us believe that we should tremble at the might of the Moslem hordes. Give me a break.
Analogies to ancient Rome and Gulliver notwithstanding, if I were a murdering terrorist, I'd start worrying about now because even Democratic politicians are beginning to notice that We, the People, have reached the end of our patience.
I know what you are saying. In the summer of 2004 we visited friends in Brooklyn and spent a day walking around Manhattan. 9/11 was still fresh and I had been anticipating the poignancy of a wounded city. But after the day was over, my only thought was: "Geez, those guys didn't even scratch the surface."
We were in Mexico City quite a few years after the 1985 earthquake and yet the debris was everywhere and not a cleanup crew anywhere. That couldn't happen here. Don't even mention Katrina which was a disgrace beyond imagining that had nothing to do with Bush or FEMA.
One of the images I have of 9/11 is pictures of the mile upon mile of heavy machinery and emergency equipment coming from all parts of the fruited plain, not governmental actions, but the actions of individuals who saw the need and came to help.
On a much smaller scale, we happened upon many caravans of trucks come to help us here in Florida after the devastating hurricanes of the past years. We were ordering pizza one afternoon when a fellow wearing a FPL (Florida Power & Light) uniform came in to order some pizzas for his crews, he was cheered by patrons and the owner refused to take his money. He said the same thing was happening everywhere
There are quite a few heart-warming stories of cross-border generosity and cooperation in the face of a crisis or natural disaster. Stranded airline passengers after 9/11, fleets of hydro trucks crossing borders during ice storms, etc, often community based initiatives. Not only does everybody get the job done, there are usually lots of "hands across the border" good feelings stories that go with them about friendships made, reunions planned, etc. Houses are opened, supplies are donated and Grannie is staying up late making soup. All the prickly wariness that can characterize everyday relations gets dropped in a spirit of "They may be rapacious Yankee traders, but they are our rapacious Yankee traders, dammit!"
As you are a bit of a student (:-))of anti-Americanism, Sinclair's editorial is a good example of how the sentiment brings it's own reaction up here if it goes beyond certain time-honoured subleties. You can whine all you want in private or in scholarly dissertations, but you don't slam in public, disrespect symbols or do it in front of the rest of the world. Those officials and politicians who so upset you a few years back all lost their jobs. If your anthem gets booed at a hockey game in Montreal, you can be sure the talk shows will be a-hummin' and it will be cheered the next week in Ottawa. And if, like the Liberals, you openly side with Europe over the States, they may fete you in Starbucks, but your days in government are numbered, although nobody will actually admit that's why they voted Conservative. The taunt from the left, of course, is that it is all about fear and money. Did you hear fear and the lure of lucre in Sinclair's voice? Moral: It is really hard to to get a good anti-American party going among people who know and like Americans.
Syrupy? Maybe a bit, but compare all this to what is going on in Greece right now. Fires are raging and people are dying and all the Greeks seem able to do is point political fingers at one another. We are tracking it because of my wife's family and I have yet to read of one private or community-based initiative to help--it is all about government. Europe appears to have sent a plane or two, but no private help or even apparent concern. Otherwise the story is now in the back pages. But I'm sure those terrified Greeks watching the flames approach their villages will take great comfort in knowing the EU has moved smartly to set up a committee to look into establishing a commission to look into setting up a standing European natural disaster response unit. Soon, we promise.
The worst thing about socialism is that destroys people's natural instincts at survival and causes them to placidly sit and wait like cattle for help to arrive. This is what happened in New Orleans. Katrina was a catastrophe only in that showcased to the world what happens when the left is in complete and total control.
It was a bad storm, but there was plenty of warning, however those in charge preferred to use it as another cudgel to beat George Bush about the head rather than save those in their charge. The rest of the gulf coast was also hit hard, but people there pitched in and helped each other, black and white.
As for being an expert on anti-Americanism, I've always taken the attitude of -- look to where it's coming from and ignore it. But the recent flare-up showed how the ugly American attitude is so casual and pervasive, most people don't even notice it anymore and I couldn't let it pass this time.
It's especially galling when those whose prose is rife with the superior attitude of the self-righteous, take offense when it's pointed out to them, just like liberals who cry foul when their own words are quoted back at them.
6 comments:
Well now, thank-you, you cuddly, lovable warmonger, you. But a warning: Should the issue on the table ever be Arctic sovereignty, East Coast Fisheries or Olympic hockey, you will quickly revert to the rapacious Yankee trader, got it?
Actually the thought process that led me to post that was a little weird. I thought your Devil-is-in-the-Details reply to Oro was spot on and it got me thinking something like: Proud American--erp--Mark Steyn--Canadian--other pro-American Canadians--Gordon Sinclair--must try and make her day, etc.
Do the Islamists really understand what they are up against?
Peter, the answer to your last question is no because, to paraphrase the Immortal Bard, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Habibi, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
We often talk about this at chez erp. Here we are, all 300,000,000 of us living in the lap of luxury. Even the least and poorest of us live better, are freer and have more opportunities for the future than even the wealthiest sheik of araby. Yet, the moonbats and their willing accomplices in the media would have us believe that we should tremble at the might of the Moslem hordes. Give me a break.
Analogies to ancient Rome and Gulliver notwithstanding, if I were a murdering terrorist, I'd start worrying about now because even Democratic politicians are beginning to notice that We, the People, have reached the end of our patience.
I know what you are saying. In the summer of 2004 we visited friends in Brooklyn and spent a day walking around Manhattan. 9/11 was still fresh and I had been anticipating the poignancy of a wounded city. But after the day was over, my only thought was: "Geez, those guys didn't even scratch the surface."
We were in Mexico City quite a few years after the 1985 earthquake and yet the debris was everywhere and not a cleanup crew anywhere. That couldn't happen here. Don't even mention Katrina which was a disgrace beyond imagining that had nothing to do with Bush or FEMA.
One of the images I have of 9/11 is pictures of the mile upon mile of heavy machinery and emergency equipment coming from all parts of the fruited plain, not governmental actions, but the actions of individuals who saw the need and came to help.
On a much smaller scale, we happened upon many caravans of trucks come to help us here in Florida after the devastating hurricanes of the past years. We were ordering pizza one afternoon when a fellow wearing a FPL (Florida Power & Light) uniform came in to order some pizzas for his crews, he was cheered by patrons and the owner refused to take his money. He said the same thing was happening everywhere
There are quite a few heart-warming stories of cross-border generosity and cooperation in the face of a crisis or natural disaster. Stranded airline passengers after 9/11, fleets of hydro trucks crossing borders during ice storms, etc, often community based initiatives. Not only does everybody get the job done, there are usually lots of "hands across the border" good feelings stories that go with them about friendships made, reunions planned, etc. Houses are opened, supplies are donated and Grannie is staying up late making soup. All the prickly wariness that can characterize everyday relations gets dropped in a spirit of "They may be rapacious Yankee traders, but they are our rapacious Yankee traders, dammit!"
As you are a bit of a student (:-))of anti-Americanism, Sinclair's editorial is a good example of how the sentiment brings it's own reaction up here if it goes beyond certain time-honoured subleties. You can whine all you want in private or in scholarly dissertations, but you don't slam in public, disrespect symbols or do it in front of the rest of the world. Those officials and politicians who so upset you a few years back all lost their jobs. If your anthem gets booed at a hockey game in Montreal, you can be sure the talk shows will be a-hummin' and it will be cheered the next week in Ottawa. And if, like the Liberals, you openly side with Europe over the States, they may fete you in Starbucks, but your days in government are numbered, although nobody will actually admit that's why they voted Conservative. The taunt from the left, of course, is that it is all about fear and money. Did you hear fear and the lure of lucre in Sinclair's voice? Moral: It is really hard to to get a good anti-American party going among people who know and like Americans.
Syrupy? Maybe a bit, but compare all this to what is going on in Greece right now. Fires are raging and people are dying and all the Greeks seem able to do is point political fingers at one another. We are tracking it because of my wife's family and I have yet to read of one private or community-based initiative to help--it is all about government. Europe appears to have sent a plane or two, but no private help or even apparent concern. Otherwise the story is now in the back pages. But I'm sure those terrified Greeks watching the flames approach their villages will take great comfort in knowing the EU has moved smartly to set up a committee to look into establishing a commission to look into setting up a standing European natural disaster response unit. Soon, we promise.
The worst thing about socialism is that destroys people's natural instincts at survival and causes them to placidly sit and wait like cattle for help to arrive. This is what happened in New Orleans. Katrina was a catastrophe only in that showcased to the world what happens when the left is in complete and total control.
It was a bad storm, but there was plenty of warning, however those in charge preferred to use it as another cudgel to beat George Bush about the head rather than save those in their charge. The rest of the gulf coast was also hit hard, but people there pitched in and helped each other, black and white.
As for being an expert on anti-Americanism, I've always taken the attitude of -- look to where it's coming from and ignore it. But the recent flare-up showed how the ugly American attitude is so casual and pervasive, most people don't even notice it anymore and I couldn't let it pass this time.
It's especially galling when those whose prose is rife with the superior attitude of the self-righteous, take offense when it's pointed out to them, just like liberals who cry foul when their own words are quoted back at them.
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