[LINK] They really don't like us

Via thebitterguy, a news report on a recent outburst of (admittedly) passive Canada-bashing by the United States' Republican Party.

A Republican attack ad stirring controversy in the U.S. mid-term elections does a drive-by smear on Canada, suggesting America's northern neighbour is a do-nothing country on world affairs.

The television ad has sparked denunciations from both the Democratic candidate it targets and the Republican candidate it is designed to help.

Produced by the Republican National Committee, the ''man on the street'' ad features a hefty man wearing suspenders and a ball cap, commenting sarcastically on his view of Democratic foreign policy.

''Let Canada take care of North Korea. They're not busy,'' the man says.

[. . .]

Just how Canada got caught up in the mid-term mudslinging remains a mystery. The Republican National Committee did not respond to calls from CanWest News Service.

But the ad fosters stereotypes about Canada's engagement in international affairs that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has tried hard to dispel.

Earlier this year, the Canadian Embassy in Washington mounted an advertising campaign highlighting Canada's role as America's ally in Afghanistan, where 43 Canadians have died since 2002.

David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, voiced outrage in the last federal election campaign when the Liberal party criticized President George W. Bush.

[BRIEF NOTE] Portable mp3 players: A force for community breakdown?

Monday, during their continuing visit to Toronto, my parents gave me a portable mp3 player, SanDisk's m240. By iPod standards, this player might not have that much capacity, capable of storing only a gigabyte's worth of data in the form of several hundred songs. Still. I spent all last night transferring Eurythmics mp3s to this wonderful player, cursing my inability to locate a third USB port on my desktop as I transferred B-sides, remixed, live versions, and the like over. I'm using it right now. (1999's "I've Tried Everything" sounds nice.)

On the subway ride to work today, I suddenly remembered Andrew Sullivan's contentious argument that iPods and their kin are directly contributing to the breakdown of social capital, by ensuring the fragmentation of listening audiences and crowds into individuals each intent on living out the requirements of their own highly specific tastes. This argument has been criticized abundantly elsewhere for a variety of reasons, and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that Sullivan was wrong. And yet, I also wouldn't be surprised to discover that, yes, I was the first person to listen to "Grown Up Girls" on the Bloor-Danforth line.

Go figure.

[LINK] "There’s something about Oriana"

Oyvindstrommen's takedown of Oriana Fallaci, "There’s something about Oriana", makes for fantastic reading.