Bush, go home

Bush is in my country right now, being his usual obnoxious self, and outing his discussion with Paul Martin about Norad and missile defense, much to Martin's dismay, I'm sure. It infuriates me that Canada, as a country, is so closely tied economically to the States that we feel we have to placate Bush despite the fact that most Canadians believe him to be a war criminal. People are afraid to offend him. Tonight I watched Lloyd Robertson interviewing some talking head about the visit, and trying to figure out a way to say diplomatically that Bush is a vindictive asshole who will make it his mission to destroy any country that pisses him off.

It's a scary situation for Canada (and Mexico) to be in, being the US's closest neighbour and being completely tied to their economy. Although I understand the desire to be diplomatic right now, I really think it's time we started focusing our trade on other countries. If we don't, we're going to find ourselves giving up more and more to the States. We've already given them, to some extent, control over our natural resources with NAFTA. We're being coerced to shut up and act like we support their illegal war right now so that we can get the border reopened to Canadian beef (the perpetual carrot being dangled in front of us - surprise, surprise, they still haven't come to an agreement).

I recently had this conversation with a friend of mine who has a lot of business ties to the US through her consulting business. I recognize that it's easy for me to say, because I have a job, not a business. But I think I've commented before on how the US likes to loudly proclaim that nobody can stand up to their military. They're right; our only option is to make their actions have economic consequences. Right now, economic support is tantamount to support for the war, and that is just not acceptable to me. That's why I've decided to boycott US-made products wherever I can.