tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post5769224044482724041..comments2023-09-12T08:43:11.657-04:00Comments on Principalities And Powers: Memories of CanadaDavid C. Inneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12747926171305438726noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post-43349639742614605372009-07-12T00:03:31.042-04:002009-07-12T00:03:31.042-04:00Some of my best friends in college and grad school...Some of my best friends in college and grad school were Canadians, and my visit to Montreal discovered to me many more of the conservative, down to earth types I knew from school. Makes me wonder why so many Canooks are so whacky liberal--I too would like top see a general history of this sad saga of Canada slipping into Euro stagnation.Harold Kildowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02531427515291393878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post-5000921866422399262009-07-06T10:56:54.433-04:002009-07-06T10:56:54.433-04:00thanks David, for your thoughts on Dominion Day.
...thanks David, for your thoughts on Dominion Day.<br /><br />As for the `New York Times' piece, all I had to do was read the first paragraph or two in which Bob (or Doug?) McKenzie says, `Canadians don't jaywalk...'<br /><br />Sorry, this... fellow grew up in Canada?<br /><br />As much as I love my country, we should face up to one fact: there is one nation in North America - leaving aside the Quebecois minority: it is the Anglo-American nation founded in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by settlers from Britain and nordic Europe.<br /><br />Sure, this nation resides in two countries, and that's fine. <br /><br />But given the national commonality between Canadians and the U.S., what you say about Canadians is true, as a rule of Americans: polite, generous, law-abiding, etc.RB Glenniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16916044843808043297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post-55898099160228442162009-07-04T00:45:18.417-04:002009-07-04T00:45:18.417-04:00Oh, let me add that, unlike down here, Canadians d...Oh, let me add that, unlike down here, Canadians do from time to time "throw the bums out" of Parliament in a sweeping change of he guard. This happened in 1984 when they threw out the Liberals and gave Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives a majority government, the first for the PCs since Diefenbaker in 1958(?). They did it again after I left the country when they destroyed the Progressive Conservative Party itself, reducing it to just a handful of seats under Prime Minister Kimmy "Cheesecake" Campbell's three month leadership.<br /><br />So there is virtue in the population, but the thought police there is very strong.David C. Inneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12747926171305438726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post-84946044626741576252009-07-04T00:33:18.581-04:002009-07-04T00:33:18.581-04:00Oh, let me make myself clear. Canadians are nice f...Oh, let me make myself clear. Canadians are nice folks (unless they're in skates and pads and in competition for a puck). I speak as one myself. !)<br /><br />There is more Christian faith in Canada than you would realize from observing the public square.<br /><br />I don't know the downeasters. They vote Liberal, but imagine they're as nice as anyone else. There were several Albertans in the doctoral program with me a Boston College, Not religious, but fine folk. Obviously Canadian, but politically conservative. Of course, they were Westerners who had chosen to study in the States.<br /><br />So far that reason, and others, it is sad that the country as a country is such a write off. After WWI, even WWII, Canada was poised for greatness. Then the Liberal establishment got a hold of her, and the conservatives were never able to cast a convincing vision for Canada in the post-war world. It was Diefenbaker's ball and he dropped it. I'm not clear on the details, but here's a start: Bill of rights. Avro Arrow. Auto Pact.<br /><br />I would like to read an article that summarizes the sorry decline.<br /><br />Thank you for sharing that delightful story. I read the children's version of Moby Dick to my kids this evening, so my heart was in just the mood for it.David C. Inneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12747926171305438726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5676423713279237243.post-71708746462281788852009-07-03T21:22:58.616-04:002009-07-03T21:22:58.616-04:00Greetings:
I grew up in the Bronx, played basketb...Greetings:<br /><br />I grew up in the Bronx, played basketball through high school, and was pleased to think of myself as a bit of a roughneck. If someone on the other team tried to gorilla me or mine, I was pretty much always willing to straighten the situation out. <br /><br /> Several years after I got back from Viet Nam, I went to sea on Columbia University's oceanographic ship, the R/V Vema. I was on the scientific staff but our deck crew was mostly from the Maritime Provinces, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, etc. When they found out I had been in Viet Nam, they often asked me questions about it in their manly young hockey player ways. They were proud that I had had a Canadian national in my squad. Over the course of the cruise, I found myself enjoying them and their company more and more. <br /><br />One day, we put in to a small village, up a fjord on the east side of Iceland. Our ship's Captain, also a Canadian, wasn't the best at docking the ship; usually he would have the harbor pilot do it, but this village was so small that there was no pilot. It took the Captain so long to dock the boat that most of the village had come out to watch, which was somewhat embarrassing to our deck crew. We finally docked, disembarked and went off seeking the pleasures of the harbor. Several hours later, our ship blew its whistle and we headed back. <br /><br />While we were "downtown", another ship had arrived and docked inside of ours so that we had to cross that ship to reach ours. Now this later-arriving ship was no more than 30-35 feet across (10 meters?) and probably had a crew of 10 or 12. Unfortunately for them, they had heard the story of our docking fiasco and a couple chose to share their insights about it with our somewhat inebriated crewmembers. Before you could say "drop your gloves" the fight was on. <br /><br /> We did very well for ourselves in everybody's eyes except our Captain's. He badly wanted to hang someone from his favorite yardarm. However, in order to pay him back for wasting my drinking time trying to dock the ship, I told him that I started the fight and the crew had to come to my rescue. As I was on the scientific staff, there was nothing he could really do to me except report me to the Chief Scientist. Our deck crew skated as good hockey players always should. <br /><br />No disrespect, but maybe it's time for you to take a mental trip back to the Maritimes (but no Goofie Newfie jokes, please). As much as we are all inundated with the images and ideas the media wish to purvey, I just can't, or won't, believe that the descendants of those hardworking hockey-playing sailors have given up the faiths of their fathers. And, as for those commentators from the op-ed page, there's a fishing boat I would love to see them on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com