The Christmas tree is up, we have 800 brand new lights on it, and it's on the Internet. You can visit here.
The last of the "out of town" packages and cards left today. We just need a little more snow on Christmas Eve to round out the experience.
Merry Christmas!
Boing Boing has a post about Rick Mercer’s “Talking To Americans” joke. 
Living in Canada, I often have the opportunity to see Rick Mercer's comedy. And I often pass it up.
Mercer can be funny and insightful, but the "Talking To Americans" bit, once just a segment on a half-hour program, then a series of one-hour specials, is nothing but the same joke over and over again. Americans are ignorant of Canada, but unhesitant to express opinions --- that's the joke. Ha ha.
Well, I get it. I get the joke. Ha ha. When can we stop hearing the joke?
I guess Canadians find the "Talking To Americans" joke funny because Canadians can't actually express an opinion, informed or not, without either prefacing the opinion with "Sorry" or adding "Sorry" to the end. It's that sort of passive-aggressive, snarky, stealth-opinion-expressing practice that makes Canadians seem unremittingly self-righteous, and at the same time timid, to Americans who must live among them. It takes some getting used to.
“Canadian Blood for Canadians”
Hey, how about that for a slogan to promote International Blood Donor Day?
The local head of Canadian Blood Services appeared on local radio station CKOV yesterday to encourage people to give blood. Canadian Blood for Canadians? Hey, what about us?
Here’s my email to John Michaels, the talk show host:Hi John,
If you're going to make an effort to encourage people to donate blood on International Blood Donor Day, it's a good idea actually to encourage people to donate.
I am a landed immigrant. I pay income taxes here. I pay property taxes here. I spend money for goods and services right here in Kelowna. I pay my BC MSP bills on time, and generally without complaint. I also donate blood here, and CBS seems happy enough to take my American blood. Maybe they just pour it down the drain after I leave the clinic?
While it is reassuring to know that the blood supply in Canada is controlled by an Canadian agency (!), and that blood and blood products for use here in Canada come from people in Canada, remarks like "Canadian blood for Canadians," as your guest this morning proclaimed, are simply inaccurate. As well, they have the effect of discouraging a good-sized chunk of the local population from participating in this important opportunity to save lives. Canadian lives, chiefly. I hope your future promotional efforts for International Blood Donor Day will be more inclusive.
Thanks for letting me vent. I do enjoy your program and am a regular listener.
Cate Eales
--
Cate Eales
Email: cate@shaw.ca
My Blog: http://ftoc.blogspot.com/
My Dog's Blog: http://sandydog.blogspot.com/
As If That's Not Enough: http://rlis.com/kelownadays/
"As Canadian as possible under the circumstances." ~ E. Heather Scott - 1972 ~
Well…he called me this morning and had me on the talk show. What a guy. What’s it like to be an American in Canada? It takes some getting used to.
I guess I'd better get down there and donate blood.
The Poddog Show podcast is worth a listen. Daryl N Cognito hosts the podcast from Calgary, with his faithful canine companion, Kuma, co-hosting. Daryl talks about life and politics in Calgary, Alberta. Kuma recently interviewed "The Queen of Disobedience" at a local bark park.
You don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast. If you have one, or if you have another kind of mp3 player, you can transfer the podcast to your player and listen there. But you don't have to. You can listen right at your computer.
I like this podcast because of the Canadian content. Sandy likes it because of the Canine content. Check it out.
Well, it seems that the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team 
beat home team Italy by the score of 16-0 yesterday. I saw the first few minutes. Canada scored five quick, unanswered goals. I went out. I ran errands. I came back later and saw the replay of the last period. It was 11-0 when the announcers started explaining how it’s not Canada’s fault that the score is lopsided. It’s not Canada’s intention to run up the score or embarrass anyone. No. It’s actually the fault of the United States of America. THEY are scoring goals, so Canada has to score goals in order to secure the home ice advantage in the game where the two teams will meet.
Canadian announcers apologizing to Canadians for Canada running up the score. It takes some getting used to. But you know, even Frank and Gordon quit playing when the score gets to 7.
Today, the women beat Russia 12-0. The announcers got off to an early start apologizing for the lopsided score, again explaining that no one wanted to hurt Russia’s feelings, but that the USA made them do it. This afternoon, an AP headline reads: “Canadians Defend Inflated Hockey Scores” and includes this, from the coach:"That's definitely not what we're doing. We're just competing," Davidson said, adding that her team's goal is to reach the gold medal game — not humiliate anyone along the way.
"We definitely don't focus on the scoreboard. It's not about what the score is, it's about us moving the puck and making good plays. It's about success as a team. ... It is the Olympics, regardless of the score. These girls have worked hard to be here. I would take things away from our team, our opponents and everybody involved if we didn't compete as hard as we could."
The Canadian and USA women’s hockey teams do not like each other. I don’t really follow hockey and even I know that. The Canadians won a gold medal last time, in Salt Lake City. Hayley Wickenheiser, the team’s leader, appeared on (Canadian) national television claiming that Team USA had stomped on a Canadian flag in the USA dressing room.
USAHockey denied that happened. They certainly didn’t apologize for it.
It’s widely expected that Canada and USA will meet in the final, and compete once again for the gold medal, and has been since four years ago. I don’t know who to cheer for, and didn’t four years ago, either. I just can’t wait to see if anyone is able to run up the score. And if anyone apologizes.
Posts
All Comments
