i am thankful

Today is Thanksgiving in the US.

Here are the headlines on the front page of the New York Times from Tuesday, November 22, the morning after we arrived.

"G.M. Set To Drop 5,000 More Jobs And Shut Plants"

"Louisiana Sees Faded Urgency In Relief Effort"

"Cheney Sees 'Shameless' Revisionism On War" (My pick for Irony of the Year Award)

"Iraqi Factions Seek Timetable For U.S. Pullout"

* * * *

I am thankful I don't live here anymore. I am thankful for Canada.

Comments

  1. Unknown24 November 2005 at 07:32

    I cringe about all of the violence happening in Canada. It's sad but I hope it gets better and not worse. You know Laura - I have been telling myself that the moment I left the states in 2001. I'm happy I live elsewhere also.

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  2. James Redekop24 November 2005 at 07:47

    I'm hoping this year is a fluke, but there seems to be a lot of retaliatory violence going on, which only tends to escalate. Yesterday's drive-by is though to be revenge for another shooting in Regent Park (also near home, and near our old condo). Makes you want to ship 'em all off to some farmer's field somewhere and tell them to sort everything out before they come back to town.

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  3. Kyahgirl24 November 2005 at 08:05

    I'm glad to be here too. I've always lived here and try not to take it for granted. Doesn't stop me from feeling bad though about all the upheavals in the U.S. There are an awful lot of nice people there, don't ya know?

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  4. Anonymous24 November 2005 at 08:19

    The American in me (yes, there is some US heritage in my bloodline) feels in a festive mood today, despite the awful weather in SouthOnt this am ... must be the holiday (which I actually do take advantage of my US blood to celebrate ... why not another turkey, right? But no, I can't get the day off for it, sadly - but I should get home in time for the Broncos game - excellent).

    So today, I am thankful that you guys made it to Canada, and that others will be coming soon also!

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  5. kelly24 November 2005 at 08:54

    We're thankful you're here too. Like many others whose parents are from elsewhere, I'm thankful my family chose to immigrate here rather than Miami (like our farflung relatives did).

    Too often, all you hear about is how immigration does little but increase violence or welfare recipiants (talk about your sterotypes, eh?). So it's always a pleasure to be reminded that most people who move here only enhance our country.

    BTW -- did you also celebrate Thanksgiving back in October?

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  6. teflonjedi24 November 2005 at 11:55

    My best wishes to all on this holiday here in the US.

    "Louisiana Sees Faded Urgency In Relief Effort"

    M (my fiancee) is mightily concerned...her law school (at Tulane in NOLA) is forcing all students back into NOLA in January. When you see all these news articles about how slowly things are going down in NOLA, she's worried whether she'll have water, food, sewers, transportation...and she's mightily annoyed (to put it mildly) that Tulane is putting its survival instincts ahead of the care of its students...

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  7. Potato Head24 November 2005 at 17:00

    We moved to Canada in the summer; I feel the same way. I was wondering if the feeling we had in the States of life there being like a lunatic asylum would abate once we'd gotten out, but it's only sharpened. I also share the concern about the contagion of US values taking root up here, but take heart that so many people here are aware of that influence and make a conscious effort to shun it. Believe me, you don't want to take the blue pill... (or was it the red pill?)

    At the same time, I continue to hope for our native country to pull itself out of its downward spiral before it's too late, and I find cause for elation in the karma that's now being visited on the criminals, shysters, and general moral cretins that have dragged America into the gutter.

    So we indeed have at least two things to be thankful for this year.

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  8. Wrye25 November 2005 at 09:48

    insert "2005 Canadian Blog Awards" before that slightly off bit of html there...

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  9. Lisa25 November 2005 at 18:00

    Hello Laura and Redsock (and the rest of you too)

    I am a longtime lurker (what a term!...sounds kind of creepy, really) and I guess I finally kind of had to say hello. It's been a total pleasure to read the posts on this site - you’ve created a wonderful gracious forum for really smart people to let loose, be kind, and just, well, generally be smart. Welcome to Canada!

    I am really really happy (err…thankful…this is my Thanksgiving thanks, I guess) that progressive and engaged Americans are moving to Canada. I wish that more of you would come! I don’t know if anyone else has brought this up, but I think that there is definitely an argument to be made that the American influx in the late sixties and seventies made a huge difference in at least Toronto. It was in no small part the Americans who helped to transform Toronto from being Toronto the “Good” to…well, whatever it is now. I know for certain that my personal life would not have been at all the same if not for many Americans (now Canadians) who helped to change this city (ie: the daycare I went to, the high school I went to – all “alternatives”, all started by draft/riot dodgers).

    Anyways, I have a thousand things I’d love to recommend to you, but that would be too long a post.

    So, I’ll just hi!

    Don’t bother checking my blog (if you were so inclined) – there’s nothing there. I had to start one just to post here! I don’t think that’s in my nature really to blog. Just to comment.

    Last word: re: your comment about "G.M. Set To Drop 5,000 More Jobs And Shut Plants". It should be noted that the headlines here a few days ago were: GM cutting over 3,600 jobs at Canadian plants.

    Okay. That’s it. Again, welcome to Canada!

    Lisa

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  10. aspiring crazy cat lady26 November 2005 at 20:21

    I just spent some time surfing the other sites nominated for Canadian Blog awards, and I must say, NONE of them come even close to this one. I think many of them must have nominated themselves as most of their posts have no comments! (and also direct you to go and vote for them for the award....) Although I'm not a regular poster, I read the site daily and appreciate the intriguing commentary by the guests and the hosts. I would like to thank the person who nominated this site too!!!

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  11. laura k27 November 2005 at 07:17

    I'm glad to be here too. I've always lived here and try not to take it for granted. Doesn't stop me from feeling bad though about all the upheavals in the U.S. There are an awful lot of nice people there, don't ya know?

    Well said. Yes, there are. And very, very few of the people there deserve what they're getting.

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  12. laura k27 November 2005 at 07:20

    Thank you G and Kelly. :)

    Kelly, previous to moving to Canada, we never celebrated Thanksgiving at all! We mostly did our own thing and hid from everyone else.

    Then ironically, my mom came up for Canadian Thanksgiving (a complete coincidence, it was just a convenient time) and we went to the US, as a great opportunity to see family. So we went from no Thanksgivings to two!

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  13. Beausejour27 November 2005 at 19:00

    I've decided to go guerilla down here and help bring down this obscenely corrupt regime from within -- especially now that it looks like Jebbie 'hasn't ruled out' a run at the GOP nomination for president in 2008. On the surface I am a quiet Canadian so very happy for the opportunity to work here in these United States of America -- yessir! But secretly, I make plans to make this country the 11th province - heh heh heh...

    And re: crime stats -- Any crime is a problem. But I was noticing that I think Toronto has had 65-70 homicides this year and it is (rightly so) the cause of a great deal of soul-searching? San Francisco (The city itself is about half the size of Toronto proper) just had homicides 89, 90 and 91 on Thanksgiving Day.

    I weep for this country, truly -- it is an incredible place. But how did this all get soooooo messed up?

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  14. laura k28 November 2005 at 05:02

    Beausejour! Welcome back. :) I remember you from my earliest days of blogging. IIRC, you used to live not far from us in NYC. Upper Manhattan?

    I believe San Francisco has a pretty low crime rate for a US city its size. If you count the whole Bay Area, including the lower-income areas of Oakland, it looks way worse.

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  15. James Redekop28 November 2005 at 05:04

    And re: crime stats -- Any crime is a problem. But I was noticing that I think Toronto has had 65-70 homicides this year and it is (rightly so) the cause of a great deal of soul-searching?

    Yup. I believe #70 happened on the same night as the shooting I mentioned in the first post in this thread, but I could be mixing them up.

    For the first time, we're having to send police escorts to funerals. One of the recent shootings killed a young man at the funeral for another young man killed in a shooting.

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  16. Beausejour28 November 2005 at 05:15

    Yes I am back! and don't get me wrong, SF does have a low crime rate all things considered (and those numbers were for SF alone, not Oakland or San Jose -- I didn't know until recently that SF is actually the smallest of the 3 cities!) but there seems to be a culture of violence everywhere now. It makes me sad...

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  17. laura k28 November 2005 at 05:33

    Oh yes, I knew what you meant.

    but there seems to be a culture of violence everywhere now. It makes me sad...

    It makes me sad, too - but I don't think it's new at all. The US has always had a culture of violence. Foreign wars are part of that, as is the gun problem, and the rampant violence in US homes.

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  18. Beausejour28 November 2005 at 09:40

    And there's new hope -- Jebbie may want to run in '08! He has changed his tune and apparently said "he hasn't ruled it out" even though he's previously said he had no designs on the presidency.

    Let's send the Caligulas back to the White House!

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  19. Wrye28 November 2005 at 12:00

    >I just spent some time surfing the other sites nominated for Canadian Blog awards, and I must say, NONE of them come even close to this one.

    Oh, but now Apples and Oranges come into play. I primarily meant the ones in different categories, (i.e., non-personal blogs) natch--many fine politicultural blogs to be had--especially in the frzy season we're about to enter

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  20. barefoot hiker30 November 2005 at 09:20

    And there's new hope -- Jebbie may want to run in '08! He has changed his tune and apparently said "he hasn't ruled it out" even though he's previously said he had no designs on the presidency.

    Jesus, why don't the Republicans just get if over with and overthrow the republic already? I'm starting to think the only thing holding them back is the fact that "the United Kingdom" is already taken.

    ...You don't suppose Rumsfeld's going to start looking for WMD in Britain, do you...? :)

    ReplyDelete

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