Perspective Remains Everything
I was having an email exchange with a friend of mine who moved to Argentina (he’s an American but married a wonderful woman down there). Anyways he noticed in the news that Jean Chretien is stepping down many months from now as Canadian Prime Minister. He thought it interesting that a politician would be willing to expose themselves to that sort of diminishing power timeline. I answered rather quickly (and flippantly) that since the Prime Minister of Canada enjoys almost absolute control of the government within the boundaries of the law (more so than almost any legitimate government in a commonwealth country) he had ample opportunity to literally bully people to ensure his authority is protected.
My friend writes back,
“Don’t expect me to be sympathetic to any complaints about Canadian politics.
Just consider this:
Skunk-haired Eduardo “Big Head” Duhalde, current president of Argentina, is
a mafia boss who ordered an investigative journalist burned alive.He is locked in a death match with Carlos “The Turk” Menem, a former
president who took a $10 million bribe to hide Iranian involvement in the
bombing a Jewish cultural center that killed over a hundred people.According to some rumors, Duhalde is a coke smuggler who had Menem’s son
killed in a helicopter crash in 1995. Menem, president at the time,
directed debate in the Senate on a cellphone during his son’s funeral.This the aftermath of a terrorist government that tortured and killed 30,000
people when you were a teenager. The murderers walk the streets today.I would take Francoise Ducros over any Argentine politician on the scene
today.”
I’m ashamed, he’s damn right. We don’t realize how good we have it in Canada. I’m glad Chretien can use his bullying to endorse the Kyoto Protocal.