It All Just Got Over Me

I got back from Cuba about a month ago, and I was shocked at how the standard of living was so low compared to ours and yet the Cuban people can still keep a smile on their faces with relative ease. We Canadians pride ourselves on being polite, but we've got nothing on the Cubans. They are so warm they could melt your heart with their smile. A guy came up to me in Havanna and I gave him a tourist peso (1 tourist peso=1 American dollar) in exchange for a loonie. I knew I was getting the low end of the deal since the exchange rate was that $1.20 Canadian would equal the peso, but I exchanged anyway. He hugged me, shook my hand, and then in broken English told me, "God bless you, friend." One has to wonder how a people like this can be blacklisted by practically everyone in the most powerful country on the planet.

Oh yeah, Fidel's Communist regime. How could I forget about that? Who'd want to do business with a dictator? China wouldn't be able to answer that question. Neither would Saudi Arabia. Uzbekistan, maybe, but anyone of their citizens who answered would get boiled alive. The sugar industry ain't what it used to be, my friends.

The Cuban people should not be put through this hell because they can't match the economic might of other totalitarian dictatorships. If there was any justice in this world, not business would be done in China, Saudi Arabia, or dozens of others around the world. If there was any justice in this world, Cuba would not be isolated by the most powerful nation in the world and cast down as the victim in what can only be described as petty revenge.

Elections, Elections!

So, the Opposition parties aren't going to call an election right away, instead deciding to wait until Gomery finishes his Inquiry. How nice of them. Oh well. It's not like I can vote, and if I could, who would I vote for? Let's take a look:

1)Paul "Mr. Dithers" Martin - Liberal: said he knew nothing about any illegalities that occured during the heyday of the sponsorship program. As he was in charge of all that money, this suggests that he was either a) ignorant and kept in the dark by his employess, b) incompetent, in that he lost track of it, or c) corrupt. None of those are particularily enticing qualities in a national leader.

2) Stephen Harper - Conservative: "Bend me over the table, Georgie!" Couple that with a couple of press releases detailing how the Liberals support child porn and the NDP downright enjoy it, you've got a grade-A assnut.

3) Jack Layton - NDP: "Paul Martin is directly responsible for the deaths of homeless people in Vancouver!" OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gilles Duceppe doesn't count. He's never getting in. And the Greens can suck it.