Condi's Canadian Visit Commentary posted by Ben

The Winnipeg Free Press - View from the West

So this was published March 3rd, but I only encountered it for the first time today. It's an open letter from a former Canadian foreign minister that succinctly and devastatingly illustrates just what some of the problems with how we're running things are. Here's an excerpt from the above link.

I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a missile-defence system that has failed in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves were carefully rigged to show results.

But, gosh, we folks above the 49th parallel are somewhat cautious types who can't quite see laying down billions of dollars in a three-dud poker game.

As our erstwhile Prairie-born and bred (and therefore prudent) finance minister pointed out in presenting his recent budget, we've had eight years of balanced or surplus financial accounts. If we're going to spend money, Mr. Goodale added, it will be on day-care and health programs, and even on more foreign aid and improved defence.

Sure, that doesn't match the gargantuan, multi-billion-dollar deficits that your government blithely runs up fighting a "liberation war" in Iraq, laying out more than half of all weapons expenditures in the world, and giving massive tax breaks to the top one per cent of your population while cutting food programs for poor children.

If only some of our own Democrat politicians could read this and learn something about how to criticize the President's overall message and theme.