Thanksgiving in the States

It's Thanksgiving in the States; another work day in Canada. At 3:00pm I called up the family who had all gathered at one of my sister's. Turkey, cranberry, stuffing. Everyone happy, excepting, as usual, the turkey. I remember, back in elementary school, taking a day-long field trip to visit Plymouth Rock, the exact spot where the Pilgrims landed. I was expecting to see a rock right on the water's edge because it was, after all, the rock where Captain, oh darn--what was is name?--William Smyth (maybe) stepped ashore. The Rock wasn't at the water's edge; in fact, it was pretty far inland. I remember looking at the rock and trying to figure out how he stepped ashore on it. I decided they must have had the wrong rock, and so lost interest in the outing and was bored the rest of the day. Even worse, I thought if they got the rock wrong, then they may have gotten other parts of the story wrong too. History suddenly seemed up for grabs. That's when I my skepticism began--at a third grade outing to Plymouth Rock.

That said, there was something about a U.S. Thanksgiving in Massachusetts that made one feel just a wee bit smug, because we lived where it had all happened, whether it was true or not. Why the rest of the U.S. also got a day off didn't quite make sense to me. They didn't have anything to do with the Pilgrims. It's odd to think those people sailed across an ocean to the new world to escape religious persecution only to have a nation founded that enshrined the separation of church and state, only to then morph into the most religious democracy in the west. Would it be too much of a stretch to call the States a theocracy? But I digress. I couldn't understand the rest of the U.S. celebrating Thanksgiving any more than I could understand Florida celebrating Christmas. There was no snow, nowhere for the reindeer to land, and--worst of all--poor Santa would work up one mean sweat flying over Florida in his winter coat. I had a winter coat and I knew for sure I wouldn't wear it if I was in Florida. I knew Christmas belonged wherever it snowed, and Thanksgiving belonged in Massachusetts. In the geography of holidays, I figured I was in just about as perfect a place as one could ask for.

The Downfall, Collapse and End of America

Catchy title for a blog post, isnt’ it?
I figure if CBC’s The Battle of Blades made the NY Times (see November 11th) then America's collapse must be imminent. Who ever knew Canadian fluff would be attracting American viewers, particularly at a time when they have minor issues like healthcare, two wars and a banking system trying to right itself.

The latter task isn’t so straightforward apparently. Senator Dodd who is leading the charge on creating bank regulations had a meeting with the ranking Republican on the banking committee who—is this a surprise?—opposed the creating of an agency designed to “protect consumers from abusive and deceptive mortgages and credit cards.” That’s right, why punish business by preventing them from offering deceptive mortgages or issuing abusive credit cards? This is America, Senator Dodd; how about you get with the program, sir?

Of course, one Republican Senator adverse to some regulations isn’t anything to get worried about. Worry only if this sort of foolishness has spread, and Paul Krugman is sure it hasn’t merely spread, it has morphed into a dangerous virus that has legs, maybe even wings. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/opinion/09krugman.html?scp=6&sq=Paul%20Krugman&st=Search Yes, this is serious shit. As Krugman puts it, “the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right is no laughing matter. Something unprecedented is happening here — and it’s very bad for America.”

Despite all this, America still takes care of its own. And this just in over the wires proves it:
A new study estimates four times as many US Army veterans died last year because they lacked health insurance [WAIT! Hold on a minute, this doesn’t sound like the right item] than the total number of US soldiers who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same period. A research team at Harvard Medical School says 2,266 veterans under the age of sixty-five died in 2008 because they were uninsured.
Oops.

The vets might not have healthcare, but at least those currently serving have weapons like the U.S.S. New York to be proud of, a warship that has over seven tons of steel from the Twin Towers in its bow. Never mind that the ship wouldn’t have been able to stop those nutcases with box knives who flew planes into the Towers, or that the steel might have been used to make a peace sculpture or benches encircling a garden of forgiveness, what matters is that the ship looks damn f…ing scary! Yee-haw!

Not be outdone by Americans proclaiming the downfall of the States, TV Ontario’s flagship current affairs program, The Agenda, just had a panel discussing the erosion of American power. Tell that to the crew on the U.S.S. New York. Go here http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda and look at the program for November 11th. Though I’d like to have heard more focus on the challenges of American democracy, the U.S. received tremendous kudos for the depth of its demographics. The U.S. population is growing, and compared to the demographics of China, Russia and Europe, its demographics are sitting pretty. In the future, the U.S. will actually have citizens to do stuff, compared to Russia, for example, whose citizens die young and don't leave offspring.

So let’s see, when you put all this stuff together, what comes out? Well, apparently we’re going to have a southern neighbor with a whole lotta people, who are broke from deceptive credit cards, lacking healthcare, overrun with Republican ideology and chock full of military toys. Not to worry--at least they’ll be watching the CBC.

Sports (?) Updates

Last weekend there was a Curling World Cup tournament (though I admit I’m not sure if they call it a World Cup) and Canada won. Who’d we defeat, you ask? Another Canadian team. That’s right. Apparently Canada is to curling what New Zealand is to rugby, India to cricket, Tiger Woods is to golf (when it comes to golf, Woods counts as a country). To make a sweeping claim, when it comes to curling, Canada rocks!….(Get it? Sweeping, rocks. “Uh?” says your average American, “what’s he talking about?”)

CBC has created the quintessential Canadian competition, and I suggest all of you south of the border who want to understand Canada tune in to watch it. (That insures a viewership of about 8 people, 3 if you exclude the Devereaux family of Eau Claire, Wisconsin). Battle of the Blades is a pairs figure skating competition with a twist: while the female partner is one of Canada’s many lovely former national skaters, their male partners are former NHL stars, big guys trying to find their inner figure skater. I can only imagine the sequel—great Canadian male figure skaters paired with players from the Canadian women’s hockey team. Elvis Stojko throwing Hailey Wickenhauser? That’ll be tv worth watching. (Go to www.cbc.ca/battleoftheblades)

And this past weekend, Canada hosted its first international surfing competition. Off the shores of Tofino, British Columbia, surfers were riding the freezing waves of the Pacific on November 1st. Called the “Yikes, My Testicles!” Competition, the event favored the savvy Canadian surfers who, for many years, have illegally been injecting their family jewels with anti-freeze.