Dr. Rice's Visit.

You would think the current american administration would seek to please as many of its 'friends' as it could. It has somehow managed to squander all the post Sept. 11th goodwill and become one of the most vilified regimes in the world. Of course thats all relative, really, because lets face it we are not talking about someone like Robert Mugabe here. Bush will not visit Canada ever again and not just because of that B.C. lawyer's (frivolous) criminal case. Personally, I think his dislike of Canada started with that whole Rick Mercer "Jean Poutine" thing for This Hour has 22 Minutes. Republicans traditionally are not fans of Canada e.g. Socialized Medicine. In the lead up to the 'liberation' of Iraq I thought it was rather disingenous of Chretien, after the right decision to go into Afghanistan, to stick his finger in the air and see which way the political winds were blowing before deciding not to go into Iraq. I think this dithering offended the politicos in Washington and the softwood lumber dispute is tied up in it. It also should tell us that we need powerful lobbyists in the Senate and House. By not following the rule of law in so many things is it any wonder that the current american adminstration has essentially ignored the ruling by the NAFTA panel. With all that Bush has to deal with, CIA Leak, KatrinaRitaWilma, Iraq etc. the lumber dispute might seem like a small thing, but it isn't to us and abiding by the NAFTA panels decision would do a lot for improving his standing above the 49th. Also, where is some of the lumber gonna come from when the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast really gets going?

B.C. Teachers Strike.

I'm glad the teachers have gone back to work. They will get some more money from the provincial government. Even after paying the $500,000 fine I still think the BCTF got off lightly. One of these times during an illegal walkout the provincial government will find a judge that will drop the hammer on the union leadership. The tactic worked for the ferry workers a while back and it worked (sort of) for the BCTF.

Cave Hollywood Cave.

It's a paraphrase of the Public Enemy song, but I mean it. The two shows I go out of my way to watch are on Tuesday nights and inbetween them I caught a few episodes of that Geena Davis president show. In the three episodes I watched she invaded and or threatened two countries. Of course countries that couldn't resist the threats and had to change their laws because they interfered with her morals. It pretty much summed up how far we've come to appease some elements in our culture. She was governing how they think the President should, without any regard to consequences. Since the media corporations need to play it safe the risk in mainstream culture has seemed to disappear. The 'net will help fight this, but it might be to late.