Oh Lord, John - that says in a nutshell what's wrong with little Stevie - was he bottle-fed and never cuddled as a baby? Not allowed to play with others? Rejected by his schoolmates? He seems determined that ordinary people be given no opportunity to be creative, or have fun, or feel safe in that they won't die for lack of money or bad luck or ill health.

Ed T - obviously if I didn't read/listen to other perspectives, I wouldn't be able to have formed an opinion on 'em, now would I?

It's true I particularly dislike the National Post, partly because for quite a while a few years ago their specialty was insulting the intelligence, honesty, and work habits of the people of Atlantic Canada. I'd never pay money for one of their papers, but that doesn't prevent me form reading their opinion pieces.

Gnu - I heartily agree with you on the subject of Quebec. I'd certainly prefer they didn't separate (and don't think acheiving sparation would be good for Quebec's people), and it has been somewhat annoying to see Quebec occasionally get labour intensive projects (ship-building: don't get me started) that would have been a good fit for the maritimes, but if I was a Quebecois, I think I'd follow similar policies. I certainly don't hold it agin' 'em.

I worry more, politically, about the West, Alberta and British Columbia in particular. Alberta, although there are plenty of fine people out there, seems to harbour a lot of right wing politicians and far too many people willing to cast aspersions on people from here - except when they need all our trade workers.

And I just got my very first campaign call, from the NDP. Off we go...