>>>>I would feel blessed to be able to hold dual US/Canadian citizenship. If I ever found myself in a situation where I could choose one or the other, but only one, I honestly don't know which one I would choose. It could quite possibly be that I would choose Canada. The one thing the US has that gives it a slight edge for me over Canada is that my son lives here in the US. <<<<

CarolC: I am a citizen of both, and my time, friends and family have always been split about equally between the two. This has been a peculiar tradition in my family for generations. They're both nice places, but, as you might have guessed: people are people wherever you go. The U.S. has a bigger impact and just looks bigger in its effects, and responsibilities. But this gives me finally the opportunity to spout something I keep thinking about since reading mudcat since 9/11: People in the "other" country, (whichever, wherever -all over) get the bulk of their impressions through the media. People outside the U.S. see the magazines reporting on whatever result, and outsiders often get the impression that there is a general rah-rah of the citizenry behind that result. There is no way to convey the amount of dissension that goes to any given result. Forgive me for saying that I think Canadians are especially ignorant of that principle. (But it works in reverse, as well, such as with the CBC whining about not getting mentioned by Bush, perish the thought that the CBC provides a good representation of Canadian opinions.)

But guess what else: since people are people, the same thing, this huge divergence of opinions and national self-criticism happens all over to a huge extent. To piss off the yanks, I think they are rather ignorant of that, and tend to belief that the huge levels of dissent are peculiar to here. Have you noticed the comments from the U.K. catters lately. Their irreverence of authority is massive, and it's typical of the U.K. Same thing in Germany I know: passionate debate and diverse opinions are the norm, every day. Italy, ha! I must assume it's everywhere.

So when yanks talk about their precious rights of free speech as if they invented it, you can see why others might get bored.

There. Assuming I've pissed off enough North Americans, I'll leave the soap box to someone else.