Greetings All,
First time poster here. I'm active Coast Guard (aviation type) coming on 24 years in March. I have read this thread and felt compelled to respond, which I don't normally do. A few personal opinion talking points.
1. IMO, and as stated by someone else earlier, it's not the French folks that I don't care for, it's the leadership. Same for Canada. Likewise, for the most part I'm sure that is reciprical towards the U.S. I don't have a problem with that. I've been lucky enough to do hunts in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba. All the folks I've met have been very nice. I've been all through the Caribbean...the USVI's, BVI's and FVI's. All the Brits and French down there have been nice also. I've worked with the Canadian CG before, nice folks there also. However, like all places you will have a segment of people that carry a bitter hatred. We can't change that. No sense getting all worked up over it.
2. I strongly feel the liberal media (pick a country) causes more discontent than the people do. We as consumers of their "product" do not always get the full story or what you are receiving has a bias built into it. I don't have a problem with balanced coverage of a story as long as it is fair, fully factual, and not speculative.
3. No....I don't think Sadam was going to attack the U.S.......directly. We're there WMD's? My gut feeling is there were. I suspect they are now buried in the sand or in Syria. I would also bet we have satellite photos but are sitting tight for the moment. I suspect maybe they or evidence of WMD's will turn up one day. I suppose history will let us know someday. Anyway, as has been documented via the various investigations, we know Sadam was using his money to indirectly funnel resources to support the bad guys. IMO, I believe that was one reason to take him out. The U.N. or it's resolutions just were not having any effect. The world can't sit on it's hands and hope there is not a 9/11 again somewhere else. Again, IMO another long-term objective was to establish some form of a democratic government in the Muslim world over there. Hopefully Iraq will turn out like Afganistan and hold elections.
3. Illegal's crossing the border....what a mess!!! I had two tours in Michigan and two in the caribbean. This is where I part ways with our boss. We have to shut down our southern borders and fast before it is too late. If it offends someone or not politically correct....sorry!! National security trumps everything. Pre-9/11 Canadian borders were not that great either. (I've been there and seen it!!) Since 9/11 it has gotten somewhat better but we still have a probelm in a few areas with some of the Indians smuggling illegals across the borders. This has been documented in the media numerous times.
4. OK, I'll get off the soapbox. Here's something I find humorus. For our Canadian sportsmen and women, in the US there has always been trash talking between the north and south (Yanks and Rebs). Some of it is funny and some is mean spirited. Well, I was surfing a while back and came across the website for the newspaper Nunatsiaq News in Nunavut. I happened to find a talk forum the locals (northerners) and outsiders (southerners) post back and forth on. Alot of talk on local politics, jobs, general discussion, etc. It has some interesting insight though. I see some parallels between the northern Canadians/southern Canadians and the north and south in the U.S. To me that aspect is where I see the humor. The link is below. Some of the topics are funny and some are mean spirited so keep an open mind. To me it's interesting to read what folks in a small, isolated community have to say.
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/phorum/list.php?f=1Stay safe........John
