The Cool Hotline
Every so oftenthe best comes out in the United States and when that happens, the source is almost always ordinary people. It’s hardly ever a politician. And these days it’s never the President.
The project referred to in this news story shows how much can be accomplished with one person’s big idea.
It reminds us that both Americans and Iranians are just people and that the higher up the political ladder you go, the more distorted things get.
I’d welcome an Enough Fear hotline to Americans, never mind Iranians.
(Yes, both might have trouble with my English…)
You are right. Ordinary people on our continent are reaching critical mass over what’s going on.
Any Canadian teachers/lecturers reading?
Why not a high-school/university project for the generation to inherit the crap created by our politicians? And by ourselves, who let them away with it?
We have to hope our young minds won’t adopt our slipshod thinking.
You wrote an inspired comment. Perhaps we ought to form a team and set up a tour of Ontario high schools and univeristies to deliver guest lectures and Q&A’s on the topics of Mideast politics, Peace, War, Current Affairs, U.S.-Canada relations mixed up with a little history, literature and a smattering of sociology.
I for one am ready.
Unrelated story but funny…
CBC’s news-page has Current Topic:
Should Schreiber be allowed to remain in Canada until a public inquiry into corruption allegations against Brian Mulroney is concluded?
and Top Searches are:
1. The Tudors
2. Hockey Pool
3. Weather
4. Fecal Transplant
…are Mulroney, Schreiber and item 4 linked…?
Canada would be greatly improved if we send Shreiber to Germany and Mulroney to USA where they belong.
No shit.
Both of you would be excellent to try and get across to young people how badly our country is changing. Unfortunately, time goes by and the youth are not aware of past foreign policy adventures of the U.S.snd how Canada differed. I watched a horrid video of a poor polish man who couldn’t speak English get tazered to death by our R.C.M.P. who did nothing to try and help this man. Very poorly handled. The R.C.M.P.’s story was very unbelievable after watching the video. It looked like murder to me.It scares me also that Canada is not allowing Americans who are against the war in Iraq to come to Canada. We used to be a Country that honoured these things. The Afghanistan situation is also very unsettling to me as we are following the U.S. on many issues and our Government is lying and doesn’t seem to care. Torture cover up, killing civilians, etc, doesn’t sit well on this old girl.
I think we are both with you on all those things sherry…thanks.
I noticed that the politicians tried to avoid the memorial service for the victim.
Canada should be embarrassed and ashamed that this happened.
Sherry has joined me in what the RCMP boss is referring to as “a rush to judgement” on the Vancouver Airport disgrace.
I’ve already written to Ottawa.
Yes, I’ll go with what I saw, underscored by what I’ve been yammering about on Reed Writes from the start… CHUMPIFICATION.
It has always been with us, this strutting and flexing by uniformed bullies and their insistence that we’d all be lost to Darkness without their paranoid heroics, but it’s many times worse in recent years.
You can get a good sense of chumpification by observing parking-ticket “enforcers” in Toronto these days. They’d love Tasers and handcuffs.
Overkill?
No, no. Everything has changed since 9-11, that’s the stock answer.
If these bozos weren’t in police uniform they’d be locked up without bail pending charges of criminal assault causing death.
But no, they’ve been “re-assigned”.
Wouldn’t it be a good thing as you drive into Vancouver to see AM radio signs offering information on where these thugs are working?
“For your own safety, please avoid the area…..”
You two are the best of Canada. I am honoured to have you commenting on my blog. Thankyou.
US dollar reserves, Chavez …. and Canadian Tire
In the good old days, Canadian Tire money could go back into the till at par. What a brilliant marketing idea!
It could be used as a perfectly good charitable donation. It could be exchanged at par for chicken-wings on Thursday nights at the pub. It was acceptable for paying small debts.
People would have a little stash of it in their cars. Kids would save it up for Christmas. Others would have a sizeable wad of it at home, for…whatever.
It was as good as….a dollar.
But if Canadian Tire was a country, and Canadian Tire money was its currency……… what if Canadian Tire did some nasty, unexplainable and vicious things which not only shocked and alienated other countries and a great many of its own citizens (customers, staff) but also created instability, fear and unpredictability within itself?
Morale and business would start falling off as people took their shopping elsewhere.
The crisis would grow as customers continued to present Canadian Tire money to the point where there wasn’t enough real money in the till to pay wages and important bills like heating and Property-taxes.
(Canadian Tire money doesn’t work with these guys, even for Canadian Tire.)
What would happen then? The board would have to decide a Canadian Tire dollar wasn’t a dollar any more, if it was anything at all.
But with the rumour-mill going, people would be already dumping their Canadian Tire money. Their cashiers would be turning in sacks full of it with less and less real money.
Get rid of it. Anywhere, quick. This would lead to all those stashes coming into the pub on Thursday nights, and neither the chicken-wing supplier nor the staff want to be paid in Canadian Tire money, especially when it’s in free-fall. So the pub takes a bath and quickly stops the Thursday deal.
People would be running around trying to get something, anything for their tumbling Canadian Tire money. It would be everywhere.
Some say it is best to sit these things out. This only makes business-sense when there’s a prospect of the currency coming back and exceeding its original value.
Thank goodness this nightmare isn’t happening to Canadian Tire. They know how to run a business.
But it is happening in USA, where their leadership hasn’t a clue. What will they do as other countries dump huge US dollar reserves into the world cash-pool for…….just about any other currency they can get?
What will USA be able to buy in the world with its falling, failing currency when the seller doesn’t want what they’ve got, other than their sophisticated killing-machinery?
The Euro-jackals are circling.
You are right L.A.
See my posts of October 30th…
U.S. Dolar: End Of Empire, Parts one and two.
http://www.reedwrites.ca/2007/10/us-dollar-end-o.html