Happy Birthday America!

I remember as a grad student in Halifax having a friend, a fellow student, from somewhere in the New England states. We were sitting in the grad bar of our university, and this tune came on. He got all agitated and shit (he was a very conservative fellow). "Why," he wondered aloud, "does that sound so angry"? As a Canadian, I could only dream of a national anthem sounding so utterly fucking cool...

True Canadian Facts! (2)

Our wingnut friends in the south are veritable fonts of information and trivia about Canada. They certainly know us better than we know ourselves and we really appreciate their unceasing efforts to educate us and keep us in our place.

--Canada sent troops to Vietnam. (Ann Coulter)

--Canada exists solely through the good graces of its American benefactors. (Ann Coulter)

--Canadians are mentally-retarded stalkers who obsess about the United States. Anybody with any ambition at all in Canada has left and now lives in New York. (Tucker Carlson)

--"Without the U.S., Canada is essentially Honduras, but colder and much less interesting." "... the average Canadian is busy dogsledding." (Tucker Carlson)

--[...] Canadians... are often among the nicest and most decent people you'd ever want to meet. They just don't live in a normal country. (Jonah Goldberg)

--Canada is a haven for terrorists. "[...] virtually every terrorist organization in the world has come to and set up shop at one time or another in Canada..." (Pat Buchanan)

--"[...] Canada is a homo-fascist state where the filthy fag agenda has become the law of the land." "God hates Canada!" (Fred Phelps)

As a Canadian it pleases me that these (and many other) luminaries of the arts and sciences in America have devoted their time and energy to the study of Canada and all things Canadian, and have, by their selfless and untiring efforts, contributed to the world's knowledge and understanding of Canada. Bless you all, and please, keep up the good work!

From the Really Fucking Stupid Dept.

From This AP story we learn of a discrimination suit being brought against federal officials and JetBlue Airways in the US. Apparently in August of 2006, Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi architect who's been a US resident since 2005, and who's married to an American citizen, was barred from boarding his flight "because he wore a T-shirt inscribed with an Arabic phrase."

The incident is part of a discriminatory pattern at airports since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with officials targeting people perceived to be of Arab descent — particularly those displaying their ethnic background or religious faith, two civil liberties groups said Thursday in filing the lawsuit.

The ACLU, joined by the New York Civil Liberties Union, filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Raed Jarrar. The Iraqi architect was barred from the JetBlue flight for wearing a shirt that read, in English and Arabic, "We Will Not Be Silent."

[...]

Last August, a Transportation Security Administration official identified only as Inspector Harris pulled Jarrar away from a boarding gate, took him to a JetBlue counter and told him his shirt made other passengers uncomfortable, the complaint said.

Jarrar was told to cover up the message if he wanted to board the flight to his home in Oakland, Calif. The TSA official equated wearing Jarrar's an [sic] Arabic shirt to an airport with "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, 'I am a robber,'" the complaint said.

[...]

Jarrar, who now lives in Washington, D.C., said he was intimidated into wearing a shirt purchased by a JetBlue customer service agent over his T-shirt. His seat was also moved to the back of the plane and he was forced to board first, said the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.

"We will not be silent" in Arabic and English... Pretty radical stuff. I guess Mr. Jarrar should have had a more "American" slogan on his tee, maybe something like "Live free or die" (although Mr. Jarrar, being an Iraqi, could be forgiven if he found such a slogan too poignantly ironic).

I wish I had been there. I would gladly have loaned him this t-shirt of mine: