State of the nation

[murraysovereign]

no one has attacked Canada in the last XXX years [with the notable exception of] a heavily armed nation to the south

 

And one more history lesson JayB - the last time our (and your) shipping lanes were threatened was during World War Two, and it was the Canadian Navy that kept those shipping lanes open. The Navy and Merchant Marine suffered by far the highest losses of any of our forces throughout the war in a miserable, hard-fought battle to keep the lights burning in England against pretty formidable odds.

 

It would have been nice to have had some help from "a heavily armed nation to the south" but they were nowhere to be seen for the first three years. Sometimes being an "Ally" of the US can be pretty lonely.

[jjd]

[JayB]

Canadian troops have performed valiantly in just about every conflict that they've had the misfortune to be involved in - no question about it.

 

But let's not kid ourselves. It wasn't the dread of the mighty Canadian Navy, Army, Airforce, et al that has convinced the rest of the world to leave North America alone.

[Dru]

jayb - you are totally correct. that is why all those evil nations in the rest of the world have spent the last 50 years overrunning peru, sweden, switzerland, new zealand and all the rest of those subjugated nations that Canada would have joined had we not been snuggled up to you.

[JayB]

You and the Mexicans would have certainly given pause to any potential threats. I can see the Admirals in the Japaneese Navy recoiling in horror at the prospect of encountering the Mexican Armada and Canada's flotila of modified ferries on the open sea.

 

The Swiss were bankrolling the Nazis, who would have finished them off once they secured the rest of Europe. The Swedes halted the Nazis for all of a day, and no one except other South American backwaters has ever given a shit about Peru. Had Haber not figured out a way to fix nitrogen on the eve of WWI, a European power or two may have had an interest in all of the nitrates lying in the Atacama desert, and had the Chileans not been willing to fork over every ounce they had to whoever could cut them a check, then there may have been some interest in their neighbor to the South, but certainly not them. Peru is a copper mine with a parliament, and not much more.

[Dru]

we're not talking ww2 buddy you guys took 3 years to wake up on that and if it hadn't been for japan might even have cut a deal with hitler.

[klenke]

We took 3 years to join in on WW2 because we couldn't get UN Security Council approval to do so.

[Jim]

Maybe they think Canada is OK because they don't fund dictators all over the world or hire thugs to implement the latest coup.

[Dru]

are you sure it wasn't because your keys were locked in the truck

[murraysovereign]

It wasn't the dread of the mighty Canadian Navy, Army, Airforce, et al that has convinced the rest of the world to leave North America alone.

 

I didn't realize that "the rest of the world" had been contemplating an invasion of North America. Who are you suggesting would have wanted to try, and why?

[fern]

 

Isn't Denmark trying to invade the Canadian Arctic these days?

[iain]

well they certainly have the WMDs to do so - danish butter cookies

[jjd]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dru]

"touk" Americans can never figure out how to spell it properly

[JayB]

Murray:

 

This is like the geopolitical version of "Its a Wonderful Life" that we are playing here.

 

Pretend that the US never existed and that you have a conglomeration of former colonies spawned by the Euros, the Japanese, or whoever occupying the region to your south. Pretend futher that they don't get along. Some like Canada, some don't. Some of those that don't are on your border. If such a situation existed, the odds are pretty high that you would have to:

 

-Field an army that's actually capable of defending the territory, instead of what you have now, which is essentially an armed division of the Red Cross.

 

-Pay for the said Army yourselves. What you have now is essentially a direct subisdy from the US.

 

Its pretty silly for anyone to expect our neighbors to the North to acknowledge any benefit whatsoever that they derive from close proximity to the US though, as expending untold billion and hundreds of thousands of lives saving the Euros, the Koreans, et al from certain conquest and subjugation hasn't deterred them from talking shit about the US all the while.

 

Hobbits and Rangers.

[murraysovereign]

 

couple of corrections, though:

 

1) it's "touque", not touk.

 

2) the only people who says things like "aboot" are Americans who seem to think it makes them sound like Canadians. No-one knows where this delusion originated, but it's well entrenched now so we're probably stuck with it.

 

3) Basketball was in fact invented by a Canadian - James Naismith - so those archeologists would quite easily recognise what those things were. However, being a discerning bunch, Canadians quickly realized that it's a profoundly stupid game and have never really given it much thought since.

 

4) The only place "Canadian Bacon" exists is in the United States. There is no such thing in Canada. We just have plain old ordinary "bacon". The "Canadian Bacon" seems to have been some sort of Madison Avenue invention that, like "aboot", has taken on a life of its own.

 

Hope that helps

[Dru]

yeah but murray what the us thinks is "Canadian bacon" is back bacon or ham....

 

off topic here but what is the difference between ham and pork?

[klenke]

2) the only people who says things like "aboot" are Americans who seem to think it makes them sound like Canadians. No-one knows where this delusion originated, but it's well entrenched now so we're probably stuck with it.

 

Huh? We Americans say it as "aboot" because that's what it sound like you guys are saying. It's joking around based on a phonetic reality.

 

3) Basketball was in fact invented by a Canadian - James Naismith - so those archeologists would quite easily recognise what those things were. However, being a discerning bunch, Canadians quickly realized that it's a profoundly stupid game and have never really given it much thought since.

 

Uh, isn't there a NBA team in Canada? The Toronto Raptors. Furthermore, there used to be the Vancouver Grizzlies, since moved to Memphis.

[marylou]

Pork is just pig meat.

 

Ham is smoked pig meat.

[Ratboy]

I miss suck.com. Thanks for the rememberance!

[johndavidjr]

Who is this guy Larry Abraham?

 

I can't seem to find any reference to him in mainline publications & I can automatically search 5,000 of them, though maybe I didn't search correctly.

 

The item seems to be a string of assertions, many wild. What are we supposed to learn from what he has written?

 

THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AND

THE GREAT CALIPHATE

By

Larry Abraham

[jjd]

[murraysovereign]

Huh? We Americans say it as "aboot" because that's what it sound like you guys are saying. It's joking around based on a phonetic reality.

 

Must be some peculiar regional dialect you're hearing - maybe Cape Breton Island, or the Avalon Peninsula. Everywhere I've ever lived it's pronounced "abowt", unless it's being spoken by an American comedian making fun of how American comedians pronounce it "aboot".

 

Uh, isn't there a NBA team in Canada? The Toronto Raptors.

 

Technically speaking, this is correct. But no-one outside of Toronto pays any attention, and there's no consensus on Toronto truly being part of Canada, either. It lies within our borders, but that's about where the relationship ends.

 

Furthermore, there used to be the Vancouver Grizzlies, since moved to Memphis.

 

The operative words here being "used to be..." and "...since moved to Memphis." Case in point. Why did they move to Memphis? It sure wasn't to get away from the huge mobs of over-zealous fans.

Edited June 18, 2004 by murraysovereign

[jjd]

[JayB]

What was this thread aboot again?