Canada, be a friend. Offer early retirement for George Bush Jr. on Vancouver Island

Even the most die-hard Canadian neocons have pretty much washed their hands of George Bush Jr. and his disastrous legacy, if only to salvage their own credibility (FULL DISCLOSURE: I was on the fence when Bush beat Gore as to whether he'd make a good president. Frankly, before 9/11, it didn't really seem to matter who got in).

Some have gone to the extent of denying Bush true political conservative status. It certainly is possible to make such an argument. But I suspect the impetus for such denials stem from a sort of a twisted counterpoint to Muslims who deny the existence of Islamic terror by simply stating that anyone who commits terrorist acts in the name of Allah cannot possibly be a true Muslim.

Any lingering sympathy by some (but by no means all) Canadian Conservatives for the current Republican administration should be pretty much dealt a death blow by the Bush-ites latest blunder: trying to list the sovereign and official military forces of the Iranian Republican Guard as a terrorist group.

Declaring a War on Terror was a big enough blunder (As BC columnist Norman Spector would say, why not declare war on armored personnel carriers? How about declaring war on flanking movements?). But to compound the error (and the English language's misery), the Bush administration is now in the business of equating the armed forces of a major regional power with the Shining Path guerrillas or the Red Brigades.

The consequences of such idiocy are as clear as they are lethal (potentially, for the entire planet).

The world knows that Canada is America's friend. Friends don't let friends start world wars.

Canada plugging the brain drain

Canada's best and brightest are going where the opportunity is: right here in the true north.

The brain drain to the US is finally slowing to a trickle, Vancouver blogger and technologist David Drucker points out, with Vancouver Sun in hand. Indeed, Americans are coming Canadians in increasing numbers. Will the movement of gray matter finally reverse itself entirely?

Probably, right around the time that the Canadian dollar reaches parity with the US greenback. Right now, the USA is the number one target for bad guys all over the world, with a declining economy and increasingly unrepresentative political system.

Canada has its own set of problems, but whether it's the economy, politics or just the ability to stay out of the firing line no matter where our foreign policy goes, the smart money seems to be on Canada these days. If anyone has a reputation for following the smart money, it's our southern neighbors.

Just like Microsoft testing the waters in Vancouver, it's a sign of the times.

The enemy of your enemy is still your enemy, you crazy Yankee dumbasses

There's a new reason for Canadians to be happy they never sent our "peacekeeping" forces into Iraq.

In a move straight out of Orwell's 1984, the USA has started arming Sunni insurgent groups that have turned on Al Queda in Iraq. These are the same Sunni groups that blow up American soldiers with improvised explosive devices, kill hundreds of civilians with suicide bombings in crowded markets and drill holes in the back of their prisoners with power tools. The Sunni militias haven't stopped doing these things, mind you - they've just trained their guns on the other bad guys for the moment.

As John Stewart says on the Daily Show, this plan is so crazy that... well, it's just so freaking crazy.

Looniness in the currency market

The loonie's rise to over 94 cents US is causing some nationalistic pride amongst our citizenry and some real financial worries for corporate Canada. It won't do us much good if we can buy our iPods at the same price as our southern cousins if we're out of work and can't buy groceries.

But we can't say we didn't see this coming. Canada's budget-surplus guided, resource-driven economy has been booming for years while the US is saddled with an $8.5 trillion public debt and a national treasure pipeline that funnels wealth one way, straight into Baghdad.

In any case, now might be a good time to book that Las Vegas trip you've been thinking about. At least when you're forking over your paycheck, it will be at par.

Fortress Americanada

Canadians must agree on shared border and security measures with the United States to ensure we still have pull with our southern neighbor, according to the right-aligned think tank, the Fraser Institute.

Apparently, the Fraser Institute's consultants have all had their head stuck in the sand for the past year and a half. We have a Conservative government in power that shares at least some values with its Republican counterparts - at least as much as Canadians will stomach. Our soldiers are supporting in a significant way the American-led UN mission in Afghanistan. We also have NORAD. The only gaping hole in our border security is a lack of firepower for American badasses on their way north. Meanwhile, the American border guards, plus their helicopters and satellite surveillance, already have their side covered.

If we don't have pull with the White House now with regard to lumber, beef or any other of our exports that American corporate interests would like to shut out, the Fraser Institute can hardly blame Canadians for that. Old fashioned economic nationalism - on America's part - is hurting us.

The above video shows NORAD in action, by the way.

The Virginia Tech Shooting: a lesson in grace, tolerance and forgiveness

"To be honest, it makes me a little ashamed to be Korean. The whole nation feels terrible for what happened."

My South Korean international students didn't hold back as they gave their opinion of the news from Virginia of a Korean student who shot at least thirty people on an American campus.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, describing it as an unbelievable incident.

Undoubtedly, their sorrow is sincere. Of course, Koreans or Asians in general need not fear any sort of ill will or reprisals against their citizens traveling in North America or immigrants who have already settled here. No sane person would ever condemn an entire nation for the acts of a madman.

And of course, no one will assume that just because Cho Seung-Hui compared himself to Jesus and called his acts a martyrdom that this shows that Christians are fanatical killers.

But for those who believe that much of American society is fundamentally and unredeemably intolerant and institutionally racist, one has only to compare the actual reaction in the USA to this massacre, and the predicted reaction if the roles were reversed, in South Korea or virtually any country in the world.

Stocks tumble, just in time for tax season

The financial market just had it's worst day since 9/11, just in time to smack everyone who topped up their retirement savings plan for tax season.

I know the market fundamentals look okay. And I know that investing for the long term, I can expect my capital to grow in spite of temporary setbacks.

But the timing on this one is awful.

The worst of it is (at least for Canadian investors) that our country, and in particular my region of the country, is doing pretty well, buoyed by high commodity prices. We may be hewers of wood and drawers of water - and drillers of oil - but right now that's not such a terrible gig.

The mantra to diversify is backfiring big this time. We put some of our hard-won coin into foreign markets, only to see it squandered as economically retarded powerhouses, the USA and China, bring everyone down with them.