BS: Canada - the teflon country

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:44 PM

Then again, they say it's LIKE riding a beaver. (Beer 4, gnu 0).

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:45 PM

Doug, I feel I should warn you that there is a heavily armed beaver creeping up on you at this very moment...

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:46 PM

bruce Buddy... where and when ?

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:47 PM

Mostly, Doug, I don't give a rat's ass about American Conservative views. Tryly. Not on FOX, CNN, in the NYT or Aunt Matilda's weekly newsletter. Don't let this bother you at all, Doug, but the USA is just another country to me, like Sri Lanka or Mali or France.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:49 PM

BB, in the event LH doesn't get back to you in ten, we mine asbestos and ship it all over the place. Free market--capitalism. Make hundreds of billions at it too. Not as lucrative as armed invasions, but we're learning.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:49 PM

Shite, I missed that one. What happened. Doug... what's got your shorts in a twist?

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:56 PM

Re asbestos: Canada, former Soviet Union, South Africa and Brazil all export. Just want BB to receive an answer.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:56 PM

"BB, in the event LH doesn't get back to you in ten, we mine asbestos and ship it all over the place. Free market--capitalism. Make hundreds of billions at it too. Not as lucrative as armed invasions, but we're learning." brucie

Kind of like the US heavily promoting tobacco products in developing countries, eh? Altruism and Self Interest are not comfortable bed partners.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 06:58 PM

Wish I could stay and defend the honour but I got something real important to do... watch the pretty puppies on the Westminster Dog Show on TSN for the next three hours. As for asbestos, I have it covering my house in the form of asbestos cement shingles - only shingles made that will last forever... fuck vinyl, it's not good for the environment. And Doug, whatever your beef is, I'm sure we can work it out over beer and BBQ. I have some mad cow that's real tasty.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:00 PM

Yeah, BB. That's the trouble with capitalism. Self-interested, greedy bastards who want more and more tend to take over at the top. Just like happened in Russia and China under the Communists. :-)

Makes you wonder what they were fighting over in the Cold War?

Oh. Market share.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:02 PM

Not as lucrative as this:

I happen to agree with BB that Canada is disgusting for exporting asbestos. No doubt. And I wish we'd stop. Get into the money flow by doing the above. Hey, it works for you, it ought to work for us, right?

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: beardedbruce
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:16 PM

So, since others are doing it, it is OK for Canada to continue? Seems a little hypocritical to me...


"The great thing about Canada is that it's virtually immune to serious criticism"

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:19 PM

BB, if you insist on turning this thread into a serious discussion, then we are going to have to get serious with you! Don't make me send the attack beavers, man...

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:21 PM

It is NOT OK for Canada to do it. Is it your opinion that the US arms exports should contiue, BB?

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:29 PM

Here's Mining Warch Canada - a site with a piece about Canadian asbestos. Pretty clearly some unfinished business that needs to be taken care of, and it indicates some of the ways many Canadians are trying to do that.

Truth is, there are bent politicians and irresponsible business executives in every country. The important thing is to cut them down to size and get and keep them out of power.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: beardedbruce
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:29 PM

No, we should be keeping it all ourselves, so we can use it where needed to make the world safe for democracy.

( THIS IS A SARCASTIC MESSAGE )

I just object to Canada being put up as a "Perfect" country. ALL countrie do what the government feels is in their OWN self-interest- But only the US gets raked over the coals for it...

Feel free to criticise the US, but don't give me any "holier than thou" shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: artbrooks
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:34 PM

Of course, Canadian military exports aren't exactly paltry, and about 2/3 of them go to the US. Now, can we get back to discussing beaver?

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:37 PM

Man, I seen this trhead and I am, like, proud, eh? Canada is my flippin' home and native land and I would be prepaaired to, like, fight anyone who thinks it ain't the best flippin' place there is! Flip-faced George F-in Bushwah thinks he is gonna take out Blind River because of the loomin' beer shortage, eh? Well he is ROYALLY FLIPPED!!! We will kick his flippin' Texas ass from here to Shawinigan, eh?

I am still in jail. The food keeps gettin' better. We got pork chops tonight. Officer Dana was real pleased to get the valentine I give her yesterday. She turned all red and tried to, like, act tough about it, but I know she was happy. Officer Dana is a real woman and a half...but I mean, with a good figure, eh? Like a figure skater. I wanta marry her when I get out, but I know that I am gonna have ta clean up my act some. I figure that maybe I should start washin' my socks once in a while and stuff like that.

She don't like heavy metal music. She said so. I can't figger that, but maybe she will like it later if I get a chance to, like, explain the lyrics to her. You gotta, like, unnderstand what Ozzie is talkin' about before you, like, judge him, eh? The man is DEEP.

That guy Snake in the next cell has got me and Don (my brother) worried. He has a weird flippin' attitude. I don't think he likes us none, and the feeling is muchewall, eh? He is a flippin' mental bolthole with a hostillity problem. No wonder the flippin' loser is in jail! He's a menace to society. I woulda put him in jail first thing if I was a cop...or else just shot him.

This bein' Canada, I figger the wheels of justice will soon have me and Don outa here, and then we can do our public dooty and warn society of the comin' beer shortage! And I can marry Officer Dana. The future depends on me and Don. Man, that is a heavy thought! I never reelized my life would be this sidnificant. Majorly cool. I am gonna suck my gut in and face the challenges. My, like, hour has come to walk the plank of destiny.

- BDiBR

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 07:45 PM

"I just object to Canada being put up as a "Perfect" country."

Me too, BB. Me too. However, I don't recall ever doing that.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: dianavan
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 09:33 PM

BB - Who ever said it was perfect? Not me, "We are not perfect, but I don't know of a better place to live."

You sound a bit defensive or jealous or somethin'.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Cluin
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 09:44 PM

You think nothing sticks because of teflon?

Wrong! It's `cause it's too damn cold.

Unless you put your lips or tongue on it. Then it gets real sticky.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Mooh
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 12:13 AM

Oh Canada, our homes on native land...

While we're on the subject of beaver...June to Ward just as they were about to fall asleep, "Don't you think you were a little hard on the Beaver?".

I like it here, but it's all I've known. A visit to Armstrong Ontario or Cape Breton might seem like another planet, but the folks are still my kin cause they're Canadian (I know, trying to rhyme kin with Cdn is pretty thin).

I like my trout stuffed with corn and covered in maple syrop, served hot with cheddar sauce and PEI fries. Washed down with Creemore too except I don't drink anymore so apple juice will do. The pan can be teflon.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 10:44 AM

Woohoo! PEI french fries! yep, I am originally a SpudMuffin, grew up (and out) on those....

Canada may not be perfect, but we're nice. And we can even put up with our crazy Uncle that lives next door...

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Mooh
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 11:36 AM

What do we need teflon for? We got ice! Had a case of toboggan bum this morning...

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 11:54 AM

Does it cure the itch? I gotta know, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 12:29 PM

Just wait until the water wars come. Oh boy. You think Iraq is bad. You guys are so much closer for conducting those surgical strikes, logistically we ought to be able to save a few defense dollars. And we will have had lots of practice by then, thanks to Bush, at occupying countries to get the stuff we want. You have so much fresh water up there, it's downright selfish to hoard it all for yourselves. All those rich retirees living in the Arizona desert need shimmering pools of clear blue water to sip their margaritas by.

We'll have to come up with an excuse to invade pretty soon, though. Maybe our CIA can claim to have intelligence reports and satellite photos showing that William Shatner has toupees of mass destruction. Can you help us out by doing something we can spin into a threat to our national security? The retirees in Arizona would appreciate it.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 01:59 PM

You mean like my uncle Jim ? In his retirement, he lives in Arizona during the cold Canuck winters. He was in the Canadian Diplomatic Corps. Last post was head of security in Moscow. Hmmm, maybe he's not retired. Maybe he's "scouting hair pieces" for Bill, if ya know what I mean. Know thine enemy and all that, eh.

As for the water, we all know that's the only reason for the PQ. Whoever can separate La Belle Province will be rich beyond their wildest dreams, selling water to the Tri-State area and beyond. They're going after another referendum if the provincial government passes a vote of confidence tha's coming shortly. You Yanks had better pray they don't separate and get a grip on the water. Canadians might be nice and polite but the PQ are a bunch of fuckin pricks.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 02:10 PM

You have "French Fries" in Canada? Rather than "Chips", like they do back here, and out in Australia? Your language has been infiltrated by your neighbours I think!

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 02:16 PM

nah, they call them "Freedom Fries" down there.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: artbrooks
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 02:26 PM

We do?

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Mooh
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 02:26 PM

brucie...No cure, but the snow down the pants numbs a bit. Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 02:40 PM

Sorry Art... that was just a hold over from a couple yrs ago when some US businesses/restaurants changed the names of some foods in protest of France, Canada, etc, not supporting the conflict in Iraq. But I hear that the greasy little tators are back to the normal names now... not like those silly chips... chips are from Frito-Lay, and no, they are not crisps...

Shatner for Prime Minister!... OR at least, Defense Minister! OR maybe Minister for Sex with Green Skinned Aliens!

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 02:46 PM

Depends on the usage. NObody says fish n' fries. It's fish n' chips. And we don't say fries with a meal, we say French fries or home fries (home fries = pan fries). And if we want small pan fries without any peelings left on, it's hash brownies... er, hash browns. Hash brownies come before the meal.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 04:32 PM

Hash, brownies--good combo.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 05:12 PM

It would be the only way I could stomach fries covered with cheese. Can you say heart attack?

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Cluin
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 05:14 PM

We used to say "chips" for fries when I was a kid. Things changed by the time I was in my teens, about the time we got a McDonalds locally. It's not so much national influence as it is corporate.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 06:11 PM

I still call 'em chips.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: GUEST,Willie-O
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 06:57 PM

It's still a chip truck, eh.

Doug, you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that we lack a rightwing perspective or something. We have our own homegrown rightwingers who suck up to Dubya, miss the old Thatcher days and are throwing rhetorical tantrums about how same-sex marriage (the debate in Parliament started today) will destroy Confederation...and they are ably represented by massive multi-media conglomerates CanWest Global and CTV/Bell GlobeMedia...

but I hadn't heard about the Fox "News" Network coming here...wasn't aware it wasn't already, the border is awfully porous for blowhard commentary. I googled it and found a great Canadian website on "cross-media ownership,
convergence and concentration", http://www.yourmedia.ca/, so thanks for that.

W-O

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Peace
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 07:05 PM

. . . and much of what passes as debate in the House of Commons I call buffalo chips.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: GUEST,Willie-O just getting going...
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 07:05 PM

and in New Brunswick they are represented--well, owned--by the Irvings. http://www.yourmedia.ca/modules/irving/041118_cbc_mp_irving.html

Can you believe it? A Conservative MP complaining about concentration of media ownership...I wanna go vote for this guy now!

Please help me...someone...

Course, the Irvings have had a long and happy relationship with the Liberals...for the benefit of any non-Canadians who have gotten this far, let me offer a couple of Canadianisms:

"small-l liberals"--people with liberal politics, not in the Liberal Party.

About which it was said a couple of decades back "you could take all the small-l liberalism in the Liberal party, fit it in a gnat's navel and still leave room for Trudeau's Mercedes."   

"small-c conservatives"--most large-L Liberals.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Feb 05 - 08:49 PM

A Conservative MP complaining about concentration of media ownership - you mean a Conservative politician who is actually a genuine conservative? By which I mean, resistant to any change that cannot be demonstrated to be necessary and desirable.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Grab
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 04:08 PM

Azizi, everywhere else in the world uses coloured money. FWIW, the general opinion is that US dollars look like cheap toy money. Well, they practically are since the dollar went down the crapper, but let's not get into that now. Using different colours (and changing the designs regularly) makes them harder to fake.

There's also a practical issue - most other countries have notes that are different sizes for different denominations. Not only does this help against fakes, it also allows the blind to use cash. It's an interesting little factoid that blind people in the US can't tell bills apart, because they're all the same size.

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 05:22 PM

Yes, multi-colored money is a worldwide phenomenon. The poor USA is stuck with drab old green money, all looking the same. Bor-ing!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Azizi
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 06:17 PM

Thanks Grab for the info aboout the use of colors for paper money.

Since I haven't been to any 'foreign' country but Canada, and knowing little about other nations, the fact that Canadian dollar bills [if that phrase is appropriate] came in other colors besides green was remarkable to me.

I wonder, do the colors change with each years' fashion 'it' color?


And Little Hawk, I gotta say that there are alot of descriptors for the USA that I would use, but "boring" isn't one of them.



Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 06:42 PM

You're right, Ms Azizi, the USA is not a boring country in the least. :-)

The main reason most countries print different denominations of money in different colours is:

1. It makes it easier to immediately see what denomination the bills are. In Canada, for instance, Ones used to be green, Twos were sort of tan/brown, Fives were and still are bright blue, tens are subdued blue-violet, twentys are pale green and gold, fifties are red, hundreds are sort of gold-coloured, and so on.

2. Harder to counterfeit.

(The Ones and Twos have been recently changed from paper bills to coins. It's cheaper to mint, because the coins last a lot longer in circulation.)

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: gnu
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 06:47 PM

Not mine. I blow them at the corner store on the lottery. Hmmm. We got loonies when the 6/49 made it big. Then, we got toonies when the Super 7 made it big. Jaysus!!! Lotto Canada is running the mint!

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Cluin
Date: 18 Feb 05 - 01:48 AM

Lotto Canada is running EVERYTHING right now.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: JennyO
Date: 18 Feb 05 - 10:20 PM

In Oz, our ones and twos are coins, fives are pink, tens are blue, twenties are orange, fifties are yellow and hundreds are green. They are quite colourful and attractive, and vary in size - Aussie money

The only thing I don't like about them is that they are made of a sort of plastic, instead of paper like the older ones, which makes them very hard to fold. They keep springing back to the way they were last folded. I gather the bank tellers don't like them for the same reason.

Come to think of it, and to sorta bring this thread back to the title, they feel rather smooth and greasy, as if they were coated with teflon - maybe they are - just like our PM, sometimes known as Teflon Johnnie, because mud doesn't stick to him.

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Feb 05 - 10:37 PM

A little hyperbole in this particular article, methinks. On the other hand, the basic facts are there. I think it proves fairly well that Canadians, per se, are not appreciably better or smarter or more compassionate than anyone else.

Japanese Internment Camps in Canada during WWII

Excerpts

"There were ten internment Camps in total; they consisted of: three road camps, two prisoner of war camps(POW), and five self supporting camps scattered throughout Canada during the second World War. Prior to World War II, 22,096 Japanese Canadians lived in British Columbia; three quarters of them were naturalized or native born Canadians.

Many historians believe internments camps came about because of racist attitudes Canadians held towards Japanese Canadian's-many of whom lived in BC. Once the bombing on Pearl Harbour happened racism came to a head. British Columbians started to blame all their troubles and problems on the Japanese. Japanese people were blamed for everything from a bad crop to a flat tire. The scared people of BC cried out, wanting the BC Government to deal with the problem as they saw it-Japanese Canadians. The people of British Columbia wanted to feel safe in their homes again and they wanted Prime Minister Mackenzie King to rid Canada of people of Japanese orign. They were causing a threat to Canada (or so it was believed by the public.) Mackenzie King wanted the votes from B.C. so he was more than happy to do what they asked. Mackenzie's first order of business was to incarcerate all Japanese males between the ages 14 and 45. They were ordered to move more than 160 km inland. This was to "safe guard" the pacific coast from Japanese spies. The Canadian government took away all of the Japanese fishing fleets, in order to protect Canada.

"Over a nine month period 22,000 people were taken from their homes and scattered throughout BC. By October 1942, the Canadian government had set up 8 internment camps in interior BC. They were in Kaslo, New Denver, Tashme, Roseberry, Slocan City, Lemon Creek, Sandon, and Greenwood. Tashme was named after the 3 leading BC's security commisioners; TAlor, SHirras, and MEad.

"The war caused a large labour shortage for farmers, especially sugar beet farmers. The Security Commission Council organized sugar beet projects to combat the labour shortage. This gave the Japanese males a choice. The choice was to work in road camps as slaves or go to the beet camps and be with their families. Working in the beet camps was the choice taken by the majority of Japanese married men.

"Living in interment camps was a hard life to live. Many families were forced to live in cramped quarters with ten other families sharing one stove. Some camps such as Slocan city didn't have the resourses to house the huge amounts of people coming into the camps. Many Japanese were placed in tents until there were houses available. One would think that moving from a tent to a house would be a step up, but this was not true. Most houses consisted of panal board with no insulation, rickety walls and maybe a stove. During the harsh cold winters many Japanese put lanterns under their beds to try and keep warm."

One first person account (1978):
"I was in that camp for four years. When it got cold the temperature went down to as much as 60 below. The buildings stood on flat land beside a lake. We lived in huts with no insulation. Even if we had the stove burning the inside of the windows would all be frosted up and white, really white. I had to lie in bed with everything on that I had... at one time there were 720 people there, all men, and a lot of them were old men."

Subject: RE: BS: Canada - the teflon country
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Feb 05 - 10:41 PM

Yup. Typical. If the Toronto Sun had existed in '41-45, they would probably have been pressing none too subtly for a "final solution" for the Japanese-Canadians.