An invitation to the DDs - Disappointed Democrats

[pkt]

This is what's making the news here in Canada:

Disgruntled Democrats vow to move north
President George W. Bush's re-election on Tuesday has caused many disenchanted U.S. Democrats to see if Canada will offer them shelter from four more years of their Republican leader, immigration lawyers and officials said Thursday.

I have a better suggestion.

Seeing that most of the states that was coloured blue after the election, and that most of these states are contiguous to Canada. Why not come and join us as provinces rather than just as individuals? We'll even let KAlifornia join the Dominion of Canada in spite of the fact that it's 2 states away.

Just today, Friday, yet another provincial supreme court - Saskatchewan's - ruled that banning same-sex marriage is contrary to the Cdn Charter of Rights and Freedom. Sask is thereby the 7th jurisdiction [of Cda' 10 provinces and 3 territories] to allow same-sex marriage.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...ge_041105.html

What a difference a border makes.

PK

[CutLass]

Disgruntled Democrats vow to move north
We'll even let KAlifornia join the Dominion of Canada in spite of the fact that it's 2 states away.

Actually it has the Washington, Oregon line to follow into Canada. It must be the border influence. Every state that turned blue could follow a line that initiated in Canada.

And who said Canada was neutral observers to the chaos?
Your influence is evident.

On that, Florida was supposed to be blue too. In reality it really is a blue state, (retired, jewish, hispanic, uneducated, bikinied) just that there are some temporary difficulties with their voting policies and administration.

The Canadian influenced snowbirds can't be seen through the muck and mire of the state's current ethical situation. Florida too will rise once again and return to it's natural blue!

[jeff]

These may be useful travel phrases (I can't take credit for it; it's from a friend - but it's darn good):

"Hello. Are you a Canadian border guard?":

"Bonjour. Êtes-vous une esti de garde canadienne de frontière?"

"I would like to apply for permanent residence"

"Je voudrais solliciter la résidence permanente"

"I am a political refuge. The reason? My former country has been overrun with morons and rednecks."

Je suis un chris de refugé politique. La raison? Mon ancien pays a été débordé avec des asti d'innocentes et des atardes."

"Before I step over the border, I have a couple of questions for you."

"Avant que je passe la frontière, j'ai un couple des questions pour vous."

"Can the Prime Minister say the word 'nuclear'?"

"Peut le premier ministre dire le mot 'nucléaire'?"

"Is Canada at war with anyone for no good reason?"

"Le Canada à la guerre avec n'importe qui, et est-il pour aucune bonne raison?"

"Do you allow pretend cowboys to be in positions of power?"

"Laissez-vous des osti de cowboys dans des positions de pouvoire?"

"Yes, no, and no? Fine. Let me the f%#k in."

"Oui, non, et non? Et ben, Laissez-moi rentre la dedans chris de tabarnaque de callis."

[pkt]

Great idea, Jeff.

Here's an 'authority' re the idea of the blue states joining Canada.

From Philly.com

1. O Canada, we plead to cede to thee
By HOWARD GENSLER
ADOPT US, O Canada! As a blue-red split continues in the Divided States of America, we note that every blue state is contiguous to Canada or to a another blue state that is contiguous to Canada, except Hawaii - that's not contiguous to anything but a lot of blue water that's contiguous to Canada.
Thursday, November 4, 2004 (Philly.com)

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sea...dopt+us+canada

By HOWARD GENSLER

ADOPT US, O Canada!

As a blue-red split continues in the Divided States of America, we note that every blue state is contiguous to Canada or to a another blue state that is contiguous to Canada, except Hawaii - that's not contiguous to anything but a lot of blue water that's contiguous to Canada.

Therefore, we've got an idea. How about a sort of second American Revolution, Canada, in which you annex all the blue states, liberate us from King George, and thus become the world's sole superpower.

What Canada Gets:

* Higher education: All eight Ivy League universities, Stanford, U. Chicago and Northwestern all just lowered their admissions standards for the kids from Saskatchewan.

* Serious sports: Forget the Super Bowl. With the Eagles, Patriots, Steelers, Jets, Vikings and Packers, the Grey Cup is where it's at. [Of course this means that these teams will have to learn to play with CFL rules and CFL-sized fields. 3 downs, not 4. - PK]

You get the Expos back as they're now in D.C. But who needs the Expos when you've got the Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Phillies and Pirates. The World Series is coming! The World Series is coming! [I've always find it intriguing that an all-US series is called "The World Series". Of course now that Japanese players are playing in the league this claim is more true than before... OTOH, Hockey's World Cup is N. America and northern Europe. - PK]

The Raptors are Canada's favorite basketball team? We don't think so. [Do we non-Torontonian Cdns care? Most definitely NOT! - PK]

What about Flyers-Maple Leafs? Flyers-Canadiens? Settle the strike and drop the puck. [What the puck!? - PK]

* Warm-weather vacations: Sun yourselves whenever you want in Southern California or Hawaii at Canada's beautiful beaches.

* The cultural arts: Tourists will love Canada's museums including the Smithsonian, the Museum of Natural History and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Plus, in addition to Broadway, the Kennedy Center and top regional theater, we're throwing in our best orchestras - Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and L.A. [Opera at the Met! Now you're talking. With a rising CAD it's still not affordable for Joe 6-pack. But then how many Joe-6-packs go to watch operas? - PK]

* The entertainment industry: You already love our movies and TV shows more than those red-staters and now when that rare production shoots in California or New York instead of Vancouver or Toronto, you still get credit for the jobs and the tax revenue.

* The automobile industry: Ohio can keep its Honda plant. GMs, Fords and Chryslers are made in Canada.

* The biotech industry: With many of the world's top biotech firms located in Massachusetts, New York, Washington and California (thanks to $6 billion in new stem cell research funding), it's likely that Canadian scientists will cure cancer and heart disease within the next 50 years.

* The computer industry: That's right, we keep Microsoft, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Valley. "America" gets Dell. [What the Dell? -PK]

* A burgeoning tourist industry: You've now got a lot more to sell than Toronto, the Cabot Trail and the glaciers in Banff. Even red-staters love to visit Atlantic City, the Liberty Bell, Maui, the Space needle and Disneyland (now Disney Canada).

* Fresher produce: Canada, the artichoke, garlic and strawberry capital of the world. And Canadian wines just got a whole lot tastier.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger: He can't be president but he'd make a swell Canadian premier. [...or he may run for PM with no need for an amendment to the Cdn Constitution. - PK]

What the Red-Staters get:

* Exactly what they want.

What Blue-Staters get:

* Canadian citizenship: And we don't even have to move. [The 17% of Americans lwho own passports and live in the blue-states no longer have to pretend to be Cdns when they travel overseas. - PK]

* "O, Canada": A national anthem that's much easier to sing than "The Star Spangled Banner." [...and it comes in English and French. - PK]

* Free flu shots. (Not to mention free health care.) [Well, depends on which province one lives in. -PK]

You don't like our "values," red-staters, you've got your wish - we're outta here.

But remember, the next time you want to see a Broadway show, visit wine country, Hawaii or the birthplace of liberty, don't just bring your Visa card, bring your visa.

You're in Canada now. And we're tightening our borders.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't delay, Canada. This offer expires in four years.
--

[pkt]

Oh Howard Gensler forgot that Cda will also get the likes of the Boss, Michael Moore, etc.

PK

[L.O.A.S.]

This is what's making the news here in Canada:

Disgruntled Democrats vow to move north
President George W. Bush's re-election on Tuesday has caused many disenchanted U.S. Democrats to see if Canada will offer them shelter from four more years of their Republican leader, immigration lawyers and officials said Thursday.

I have a better suggestion.

Seeing that most of the states that was coloured blue after the election, and that most of these states are contiguous to Canada. Why not come and join us as provinces rather than just as individuals? We'll even let KAlifornia join the Dominion of Canada in spite of the fact that it's 2 states away.

PK

The article I saw stated that about 115K Americans recently checked out the Canadian imigration site. Thats a whopping 0.04% of the population, and coincidently, roughly the same amount of members as Moveon.org (actually I just made this last part up).

Did you know that California has about 3 million more people than Canada. Maybe Canada should try to become another county in California.

[pkt]

Here's something from the Beeb.
If it makes it to the Beeb's World News, it has to be important, or amusing.

PK

20041106

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3987697.stm

US vote boosts interest in Canada

Canadian immigration officials said the number of US citizens visiting their website went up six-fold the day after the US election.

Their website, which on an average day has some 20,000 hits, was visited by 115,016 on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported.

The figure dropped on Thursday but was still higher than normal, at 65,803.

Will President Bush be waving goodbye to despondent Democrats?There was speculation that Democrats fed up with George W Bush's win were thinking of moving over the border.

The idea of disgruntled Americans wishing to emigrate north across the border has amused Canadians.

One commentator, Thane Burnett [of the Toronto Sun], wrote a tongue-in-cheek guide to possible new citizens.

"As Canadians, you'll have to learn to embrace and use all the products and cultures of Americans, while bad-mouthing their way of life," he wrote in the Ottawa Sun newspaper.

Hundreds of Canadians have also signed up to a satirical website urging them to do their bit and marry an American.
"Open your heart, and your home. Marry an American," AFP news agency quotes
www.marryanamerican.ca
as saying.
"Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save their southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism."

New high
"When we looked at the first day after the election... our website hit a new high, almost double the previous record high," said Immigration ministry spokeswoman Maria Iadinardi.

Canada has a large-scale immigration policy, and Ms Iadinardi said Canada would welcome all new applicants - whether they be Democrats or Republicans.

Canada may prove attractive to gay couples in the US
"Let's face it, we have a population of little over 32 million and we definitely need permanent residents to come to Canada," she was quoted by Reuters as saying.

But she said it would take about six months to find out if there had been an increase in applications.

"There is no unusual activity occurring at our visa missions (in the US). Having someone who intends to come to Canada is not the same as someone actually putting in an application," she said.

Canada could find itself attracting more gay couples from the US after a Saskatchewan court ruled in favour of homosexual marriages on Friday.

The prairie province joins five other provinces and one territory in Canada by declaring existing marriage laws discriminate against gay couples and are unconstitutional.

Earlier this week, 11 US states voted to ban gay marriage in referendums held on the same night as the election.

[Epictetus]

[keith]

do they have water slides?

[Maeve_Mari]

Very good. I like the new map. It'll be a shame to see Alaska turn black with dredging and oil exploration, and then the smell from the dead seals and other wildlife. Even the Red from Jesusland aren't going to want to keep Alaska after this administration is done with it!

At least we still have Hawaii!

[telkanuru]

It is curious that all blue states are connected to canada either directly or through another blue state.

[Point_Left]

Perhaps being a Right winger is a communicable disease? Looks like the epicenter is in Texas. Interestingly, if you have a colored map of Canada, the conservative trend continues North for a bit in many places. The praries are almost all right wing.

http://www.elections.ca/pas/38e/38official.pdf

It takes awhile to load, but
Blue-Conservatives (right)
Red-Liberals (Left)
Orange-NDP (Very Left)
Ice Blue-BQ (In a nut shell-Let's get out of Canada, only in French.)

If someone can find a better map I'd be happy.

It looks like geography plays a big role in voting.

[jeff]

It is curious that all blue states are connected to canada either directly or through another blue state.

Okay all you computer science guys: is this an example of the Map Coloring problem, or it the Hamiltonian circuit problem? Is this NP-complete? Non-CS people, please turn the page....

[pkt]

Perhaps being a Right winger is a communicable disease? Looks like the epicenter is in Texas. Interestingly, if you have a colored map of Canada, the conservative trend continues North for a bit in many places. The praries are almost all right wing.

http://www.elections.ca/pas/38e/38official.pdf

It takes awhile to load, but
Blue-Conservatives (right)
Red-Liberals (Left)
Orange-NDP (Very Left)
Ice Blue-BQ (In a nut shell-Let's get out of Canada, only in French.)

If someone can find a better map I'd be happy.

It looks like geography plays a big role in voting.

NB to our 'Merican friends, the provinces contiguous to Alberta are mostly Troy red. Albertans think that they are 'mericans living in Canada. They wear cowboy hats, cowboy boats, big-buckled belts, etc.

OTOH, Saskatchewan was the birth place of the NDP, the Cdn social net and socialised medicine.

You'll also note that like in the US, the metropolitan centres are liberal (blue in US and red in Cda.)

Why are the blue US states mostly contiguous to Canada or to another state that's contifguous to Cda?

May be becuase people in these states have been to Cda and saw the light; that there can be a diff't approach, that church and state can be seperate, that people can care for one another, that greed does not have to be the engine that drives the economy, that the gov't can provide law and order without one having to fend for oneself with one's own firearms, that they have seen broadcasts from the CBC or listened to the CBC radio [which is very akin to PBS without the fundraising in the former case, or to Public radio in the latter case.]

Granted the US is about a decade ahead of Cda in so many ways that Cdns learn from the mistakes of our cousins to the south. Becuase of the war against the Indians, the Cdn gov't made sure the law get to the West immediately after the explorers. Hence the Northwest Mounted Police which became the RCMP.

And more recently, seeing the urban sprawl in Seattle, Vancouver's civic leaders and people voted in the 60s against a web of freeways thus causing the population growth within Vancouver. The fact that Vancovuer has limited landmass is also another consideration: mountains on two sides, the sea on the 3rd and the US border on the 4th. As a result the City of Vancouver has a very livable inner city vs the deserted downtown core in many N American cities. Yes, there is still urban sprawl, but those who live in the burbs are made to stew in the traffic... hehehhe! which is no diff't from any big urban centres.

Oh, if you don't already know, we in Cda say the last letter as 'zed' - as the Brits do - not 'zee'. There are of course many other Cdn pronunciations that are diff't, but this is the easiest to notice. So if you blue-stater want ot blend in in Cda, learn that to begin with. In Cdn courts, the sitting judge do not use a gavel. The lawyers do not jump up screaming "Objections"...

PK

[pkt]

I don't like the name "United States of Canada" which implies a take-over of Canada by the blue-staters.

I prefer just Canada:
In the Olympics parade, if English is used, Canada comes out a lot earlier than the countries whose names start with U.

Remember, we in Cda are offering shelter to the blue-staters from the madness of King George, not the other way around.

Furthermore, in spite of what's said and done, most Albertans don't want to leave Cda to join hte States because of the ... [fill in the blank.]

PK

[achilleus]

I prefer the joke I heard last week...

To the South, this may be a little late, but you can Secede. And take Texas with you.

[Point_Left]

NB to our 'Merican friends, the provinces contiguous to Alberta are mostly Troy red. Albertans think that they are 'mericans living in Canada. They wear cowboy hats, cowboy boats, big-buckled belts, etc.

Not all of us. Some of us really want to kick King Ralph out. Also, I don't own any cowboy hats, boots, belt buckles, etc. We aren't ALL like that. [RANT] A few of us are rational individuals who long for a revolution! Up with public Education, fund our future! You have a surplus, use it! We will someday be the leaders of this province, poor and indebt to the province that proudly proclaims the "Alberta advantage." What exactly is it? Oil. WHich can be turned in to money which can be invested in the future. Well, they have the first step right.[/RANT] *Sheepishly steps off soapbox.*

[Epictetus]

I prefer the joke I heard last week...

To the South, this may be a little late, but you can Secede. And take Texas with you.

Which poses an interesting question-- We have proven that states can't secede, but can we kick them out? I think Florida and Texas have to go.

[telkanuru]

return texas to mexico and you'd solve most of the illigal imigration problems and florida to spain, so they can deal with the cuban refugees.

[Inquartata]

It is curious that all blue states are connected to canada either directly or through another blue state.

It's not nearly as impressive a disjunct if one looks at a county-by-county map:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politic.../countymap.htm

I think it's like those night photos from space: the most urbanized areas shine an almost unbroken white, the rest is scattered with dots of light. You could almost overlay the state-by-state map and match them up. "Sophisticated" urban voters tend to lean Democratic, the rest of the population not so much...

OTOH look at that big blue segment of Texas ( so much for "epicenters", that'd seem to be Oklahoma ). And the big blue patches in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado. Most of California is red...just the urbanized coastal area is blue. So much for a contiguous connection to Canada---much less "Jesusland"...

Heh, reality sometimes spoils the most whimsical jokes, doesn't it?