Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

The mouse between the cat�s paws.

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004
2:19 p.m.
The question on the Radio Noon Phone In today was: Do you want to see Canada have better relations with the U.S.? What a stupid question! Of course we want to have better relations with the U.S.! Hey, if you lived next door to a big bully who tried to control all aspects of the interaction between you, wouldn�t you want to make damned sure you had good relations? This was � propos our new prime minister meeting with George W. at the summit in Mexico today. Of course, it doesn�t mean we have to become the 51st state or any such nonsense, nor do we have to agree with everything the big bully next door says, but we sure as hell don�t want to antagonize him, which is something our recently departed prime minister did on a semi-regular basis.

I was playing literati once not too long ago with a southern American who, upon finding out I was Canadian, began to say really terrible things about our having made the decision not to get militarily involved in Iraq. Luckily for me she exceeded her three-minute limit, and I was able to force a forfeit and boot her out of my room. I don�t need that kind of B.S. from anyone, thank you. I am normally a very mild-mannered sort of guy (� la Ghandi and Mother Teresa, you know) but I won�t stand for someone bashing my country and my democratically elected leader because he made a decision with which I happen to agree. Frankly, I don�t know the first thing about our new P.M., I just know that other people whose opinions I trust have made rather disparaging remarks about him, so I guess that colours any opinion I eventually develop.

In the meantime, the driving is very scary out there. I just got back from a trip to the temple of consumerism, Costco, as well as Bureau en Gros where I purchased more Zip disks. The removal of information from the hard disk is a slow and tedious process. I am bored to tears and taking my time. I am also afraid of making a mistake. I got to the continuing education office on the stroke of noon and was able to register for Patsy�s class, but the book store has not yet received the text for the course. I would like to start teaching tomorrow, but I�m still waiting for one student to get back to me. I have told everyone I know to tell this girl to call me, so if you see her, pass the message on, okay?

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