More proof that people are generally kind of dumb

Usually, the poll results at CTV.ca are indicative of a readership that is pretty reasonable, but not today, absolutely not today.

In the current poll, over 60% of the site's readers favour a blanket ban on the presence of trans fats in all foods. 20% favour trans fats to be "limited". LESS than 20% favour any kind of system where the presence of trans fats could be unregulated (and even then only 2% of their readership wants the presence of trans fats to be allowed without labelling).

I have to admit, that while my prediction of the poll results is usually pretty accurate, today I was blown away. I was dead-wrong.

I guess this might explain why everyone keeps telling me how the movie "Super Size Me" is the best movie ever - because anyone who sells food that contains fat is like, so evil.

How come I don't hear about this in Canada?

Every now and then, I hear the most disappointing stories of governments investigating companies for "price fixing" or "price gouging" or something else along those lines. Today's story comes out of both the UK and the US.

Usually, the story is the result of the government trying to seem like they're trying to stand up for the "little guy", especially in the wake of natural disasters. Perhaps it's because Canadian politics has less of a populist strain in it, but I've never heard about these kinds of investigations in Canada. I hear about them all the time in the states though... against Microsoft for being too successful, against the gas companies for raising their prices as the price of light crude rises on the market and so on.

I don't know that much about "price fixing", but complaints about "price gouging" drive me absolutely insane. After major hurricanes in the southern US, I often read stories of hotels and gas stations being potentially charged with price gouging if they raise their prices from what they should ordinarily be. Well I'm working at a hotel we operate, and I'll be here for the entire summer, and if there's some event that causes a surge of traffic to our village, we'll be sure to raise our rates or do whatever supply and demand dictates we do (perhaps we'll have to even LOWER our rates if a natural disaster PREVENTS people from coming). The other hotels in the area will do the same. We won't be constrained by the ridiculous idea of "price gouging".

Self-loathing Canadians: Get out of Canada

In response to his article from yesterday, Jonah Goldberg has posted a number of e-mails from Canadian readers of his who agree absolutely with his take on Canada.

I can't comprehend at all how or why any Canadian would a) even hold those views and then b) send them to Goldberg so he can prominently display them on a website that is read by many influential Americans, particularly those in Washington.

Yesterday we also witnessed the remarks of a former mid-level CSIS bureaucrat who sat infront of a Congressional committee in order to testify that Canada was a haven for terrorists and that immigration and refugee admissions into Canada should be halted immediately.

Do these people have no loyalty to their country? I don't get it. Why would they purposely want to hurt their country and misrepresent it to Americans? Especially when Canada relies so much on America and its economy?

The fact that their views are ignorant and misinformed only adds to the stupidity of their actions.

Now I'm not an anti-American, I never have been, I never will be. America is one of the best countries in the world and it is usually a force for good in the world - but Canada isn't so bad itself. Sure, Canada might be embarrassing from time to time on the world stage, but everything's relative. Canada is usually far more responsible and stands on the side of democracy/human rights, etc. far more often than most countries in Europe.

If you actually look how things are developing, Canada is set to play a more responsible and active (and more moral) role on the world stage - but very few people seem to appreciate this. And since the current PM will probably be more capable of having the ear of the US President than his Liberal predecessors, an active Canadian influence on world affairs is something we'll be almost sure to witness.

As for Canada's supposed addiction to the welfare state - I don't know how any American commentator can honestly make such a criticism. Does he not remember when Bush's ratings tanked precisely after he tried to reform the ridiculous social security system down south? Is he not honest enough to admit that small government doesn't sell all that well in the States either? Sure, Canada has a pretty inefficient healthcare system - but that's opening up, and will only open up more as we move forward.

I expected better...

I never used to think that Jonah Goldberg was all that bad, but today, a profoundly stupid column by him in the LA Times.

"Canada is arguably the most deluded industrialized nation in the world. Because elite Canadians think the U.S. is the font of the world's problems..."

Which elites think this? Does he mean political elites? Naturally he can't mean the current Canadian government, considering their Conservative political label... but even if he's referring to the past government, the Liberals, it isn't exactly true. None of the prominent Liberal leadership candidates is blatantly "anti-American", though most of them will have no problem appealing to anti-Americanism in order to secure political advantage (though this strategy did not work very well at all during this past general election.) The front-runner in the Liberal leadership race is actually considered to be half-American, especially considering his use of the words "we" and "us" when speaking to American audiences about the role of America in the world.

Moving on:

"They've bravely contributed to the war in Afghanistan, where 2,300 troops still serve, but refused to join the effort in Iraq, believing that jihadists would honor such fine distinctions. That was awfully nice of them."

What a moronic statement. I think it's regrettable that Canada did not contribute to the Iraqi war/liberation, but to attribute to Canada's motives that Chretien believed that "jihadists would honor such fine distinctions" is really ignorant. Chretien didn't participate because he knew it would be politically unpopular - that was the only reason. There were no high principles involved, no fear of being a terrorist target or anything like that. Chretien knew that it would be politically unsellable, especially in Quebec, and he was right. It's also proved to be politically unsellable in America as well, despite President Bush's admirable efforts, but Goldberg doesn't bother to point that out.

Then Goldberg goes onto quote several obscure Canadians who talk about their surprise at Canada being a target because Canada is supposedly so "nice". He doesn't bother to quote the many commentators who have pointed out that our committment to Afghanistan is not viewed with much distinction to the American "occupation" in Iraq. He doesn't bother to mention that there are active terror cells in the United States as well.

Most of all, Goldberg doesn't consider there to be much distinction at all between the social situation in Europe compared to the situation in Canada. While in Europe, demographic and social issues will continue to result in much conflict and tension, that same situation is not replicated in Canada. Our economy is doing a lot better than Europe's and Canada's Muslims are by in large far more likely to view themselves as "Canadian" compared to European Muslims who have a harder time identifying themselves as "British" or "French" or "Dutch".