in the cross-fire

so tucker carlson thinks that canada is america's retarded cousin. that's fine. he thinks canadians are hostile to americans. that's not true. we just don't like their president, who by all rights, under the laws of his own land, should have been impeached by now for all the laws he's broken. (if bill clinton can get in trouble for getting head while on the job, surely bush should be nailed for sending america's sons and daughters to war on false pretenses and illegally wiretapping fellow american citizens, right?) tucker also thinks that we canadians believe that we are morally superior than the americans, and that the truth is, we are not at all. he's half right on that: we aren't morally superior, in fact, we can be just as bad sometimes, but we definitely don't go around thinking we are. that would be delusional and a waste of time. we're too busy being pissed off that our national hockey team lost to switzerland at the olympics. he also says that the united states thinks very little about canada. that much is true. but the reality is that the united states should think a heck of a lot more about canada.

there is this great big fat lie that's been floating around for the last fifty or so years, that says that canada needs the united states more than they need canada. the truth is, the united states needs us more than we need the united states. we are the united states' largest trading partner, and one of these major exports is oil. the united states imports more oil from canada than any other single country. then you also have the whole energy thing... the fresh water thing... you know... the essentials. you need these things to function in society, to live your every day life, or to even go to war. to be fair, the united states government is, and has always, kept a close eye on canada, because they know how valuable we are, which is why it is in their best interest to continue with this great big fat lie. i suppose part of this lie is furthered by our own sense of inadequacy for sure, but the united states needs us. they need our resources, they need our vast distances of land, they need our borders, and they need our friendship.

i wonder what would happen should the day come when canadians finally wake up and realize that we have everything we need to support ourselves, right in our own backyard. We have the resources, we have the skills, we have the work force, and we have the drive. What if we just started manufacturing our own goods instead of simply exporting raw materials and buying back the manufactured goods that were made from said raw materials?

i suppose this is just a dream, because there's still too much money in trading with the united states, and no canadian politician would be willing to take the hit for any possible short term economic devastation that would occur if we tried to change the system in any dramatic way. look, i'm not saying that we should cut ties with the united states or anything that silly. all i'm saying is that we don't have to believe the lie. at any rate, tucker carlson needs to just sit down and listen to someone else other than himself for once.

here's a clip of his appearance on the hour, a surprisingly intelligent and funny news magazine show on the cbc.