Appearances

Always in the search for an LJ style that works well with screen readers, I recently went and changed the appearance of my journal. Hey, it sounded great. Headings in all the right places, bla bla bla, I thought I had it made. But no, 'twas not to be.

Today a friend of mine e-mailed me privately and told me, as tactfully as it's possible to say such a thing, that my LJ had a girly appearance to it. Which is fine if you're a girly. But I'm a boyee, so this was not what I wanted. And so, dear reader, I hope my new appearance, or at least my journal's new appearance, will straighten this thing out, and rest assured that I am not dealing with some mid-life gender identity crisis or anything. Just to prove it, I'll go look for something blatantly obvious not to notice.

What Does This Election Mean to Canada?

So what does the recent US election mean to Canada? The answer, for me, is a resounding I don't know.

You see, we're the little country next to the most powerful country on Earth. This has implications that no other country in the world has to face. For whatever reason, the American government regards Mexico as the good guys, and Canada is one step away from being a part of the axis of evil. How many troops does Mexico have in Afghanistan again? And the United States government has the power to make or break us as a country in so many ways. Yes, in many respects that's Canada's own fault, for making ourselves so dependent on the United States as a trading partner. Yes, we're also the United States's biggest trading power, but the American government doesn't need to worry about losing us, because we need them, and they have the power.

The result is that Canada doesn't even show up as a blip on most American politicians' radar screens. They get attacked on 9/11, we take their people in, and gladly, and Bush makes a big show of thanking all the other countries for their assistance and omitting Canada. Small thing, of course, but it's indicative of a much larger picture of utter indifference toward us. Just as our premier has an utter disregard for our farmers, because that's not where the votes are, so too America has an utter disregard for Canada, because we just don't matter, we're just not important enough. Who can blame the American government, really? but that doesn't make it an easier pill to swallow.

So is Obama good for Canada or would McCain have been better. I really don't know. We didn't come up in the discussion. Okay, Obama has a sister in Canada, McCain has a brother in Canada, that's all the pundits could come up with. It's just not a lot to go on. So what's in the future for us? I dunno.