Olbermann’s standing up to and mercilessly bashing the Bush administration, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, the Iraq War, the corporate greedy fat cats, and all-things-American-corruptions just about says all you need to know about Olbermann! He’s anything but a blind patriot. A patriot, he may be, but not a blind one love-it-or-leave-it type.

Cut the guy some slack.

What part of the original post or of my message constitutes American bashing? Read my message over again please because I think I was saying we are all the same. We ALL have good parts about our countries and shitty parts, that is one reason why claiming to be the best country in the world is just plain dumb, no matter who does it. If you don’t think your media is constantly saying this then we are listening to different US networks. Since we get your 3 major networks plus several of your cable networks, please advise what you are watching that has lead you to believe this does not happen. If you believe that Canadians constantly claim they are better than everyone else I am not going to argue with you about it, even though I have not seen evidence of it and we don’t seem to have that reputation globally. I must say that your response to “a friendly note” from your neighbour is interesting. If you are determined not to take any advice from anyone that is your prerogative.

Please forgive.

Gawd forbid, I get called out on looking too flamboyant – “a typical yank” that is.

Whoa. Speaking of blatant ignorance….

Why am I not surprised that, as usual, you are judging us by our EXTREMISTS – which is always the easiest thing to do.

Why don’t we have a look at the other side, shall we?

Thank you in advance for being open-minded enough to the undistorted reality – you know, the kind that YOUR media won’t show YOU.

I myself, while an anglophone, reside in Québec and have great love for both the Québecois and the French.

Not everybody is interested in the US. This is the reality.

So the point ol grandad the socialist would make is that it is because of the reality of politics that bailing out corporations won’t mean governments will ‘make changes’. In fact, both Harper and Bush have been even louder in exclaiming that there has to be MORE free trade to solve the problems that free trade made. For americans here who may have missed it, at least ten percent of the almost a trillion dollar bailout is earmarked to ensure corporations will still pay off dividends-in other words add more money to those who caused the problem in the first place. This is why there are socialists, and why socialism always comes back. The amount of regulation required to run an ACTUAL capitalist system is pretty damn close to socialism (for one actual capitalism requires the expulsion of ‘corporations’ or what Adam Smith called ‘moneyed organizations).

Government should not be in the business of bailing out business IMO. Not anywhere, and not at any time.

The point was exactly what was stated, but the point is even better made since ‘the winner’ didn’t ‘take all’ because of course a ‘winner take all’ system is so dysfunctional that people are stuck with a government that most DO NOT support. In fact, the system even let New Brunswick elect a Premier who got fewer votes than his opponent, even though its essentially a two party system-and he has a majority government!

If canadian media were as prominent in the world they would no doubt do the same thing, in fact since the country is quickly going the way of the US, you can expect that jingoism to increase exponentially. Part of the reason is obviously brainwashing, like the ‘USA’ chants you hear on the simpsons. The reason for that is ‘control’, which in Canada you don’t need because there are far fewer political recourses available to canadians than americans.

So the point is that the US is only different in a measure of degree to other countries-and that degree is only a reflection of the precariousness of governmental control and their place in the world. It’s very much like the blog mentioned later on the war movie and the National Post. The US IS a lot freer than Canada, and there are far more opportunities for political involvement at various levels. The US is second only to Switzerland in that regard, so again, they DO have lots to crow about, and if you look at the countries that house most of ‘the world’ its not that much of a stretch to state that they are the envy of them.

I do have to say, though, I see a few comments above that are pretty ignorant themselves. Ian in Hamburg comes to mind. If you can’t realize that America is a diversity of opinions, you are just as ignorant as the people you rally against. Frankly, I am ashamed of our perception and standing in many parts of the world, and I apologize personally for our foreign policy. So don’t paint the US with such a broad brush.

But I should also ask what your point was, exactly. When you’ve got a winner take all system like ours (or the USA’s!), it often only takes a small shift in opinion to swing contentious ridings one way or another.