Sunday


So here I sit with what's called a "New Mix" in my fist, working on the hair of the dog that bit me (Mexicans are always amused when I translate and explain that expression.) Mew Mix is a mixture of El Jimador Tequila (ToKillYou as the Sultan likes to call it) with grapfruit soda. Mmmmmmmmm. I am almost feeling better. I was going to go downtown to the Zócalo to see the protest and snap some fotos for the blog, but nahhhh. This is better.

Yesterday in Canada (lindo y querido) the Liberal Party chose a new leader. They chose to reject front-runner egghead, Michael Ignatieff and go for Stephane Dion, from La Belle Province. I hope it turns out to be a wise choice. Besides have a distinct aire de nerd, Dion is a polarizing figure in Quebec. He is almost as disliked as Jean Cretién. I would hate to see the sovereignty issue reopened again. I think recognizing Quebec as a nation within Canada was a clever move, much as I hate to give Stephen Harper and his cretinous Conservative Party credit for anything. Listen folks, this is what I write on - nationalism. I have studied the meaning of "nation" for twenty years. Quebec has ALL of the attributes of being a nation. Yet it is not a nation-state. The country it is subsumed into, the family to which it belongs is Canada. Newfoundland is in a similar situation. Quebeckers are hurt and dismayed when the rest of Canada doesn't acknowledge its distinctive culture. Anglo-canadians should wake the %%$$##@ up.

Look, I am an Irishman and a Canadian citizen, but in my heart I am an internationalist. As such I am suspicious of any form of nationalism - especially ethno-nationalism. I would just hate to see the Balkanization of Canada, a country almost everyone I have met abroad loves.

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