What Americans Know About Canada

Last night, I couldn’t help missing all of the swipes that the Republican’s took at Canada’s Health Care system during their televised debate. I remember either John McCain or Rudolph Giuliani making a stupid joke that if the US decided to adopt Socialized Medicine, Canadians wouldn’t have anywhere to go for health care. Yeah, right; Believe what you want to believe, Mr. McCain and Giuliani. It was amazing how many times that all of the Republican candidates all repeated the phrase: ‘The US Health Care System is the best in the world.”, as if saying so would make it true.

When I mentioned to my parents, back in Baltimore, the distinct possibility of a President Huckabee, my mother said “If that happens, then we’ll be joining you.” Really? If I were them, I’d be more serious about that, considering this classic clip from the CBC’s This Hour has 22 Minutes in 2001, where Rick Mercer shows just how gullible they (including Governor Huckabee) can be in Arkansas:

I’ve written before about the staggering lack of knowledge about the rest of the world on the part of Americans, but I would hope that any potential future President would know more about Canada than this. Perhaps I should be worried if there will there be enough room for the Americans fleeing north to join us if Mike Huckabee, a man who might be just as uninformed as George W. WPIUSH, becomes President.

A follow-up on this, thanks to West End Bound: An Article in today’s Vancouver Sun:
Canadian health care better and cheaper than U.S., says research If you think that this source might be not entirely neutral, bear in mind that they are reporting on a British study, not a Canadian one.

Back from Baltimore, and a Dubious Honour

Welcome to 2008!

We’re back from an extended Holiday Season visit to my brother and his family, my parents, and some social calls on both sides of the continent. Highlights included seeing my niece dance in the Seattle Ballet’s Nutcracker for the second year, and a Roast Goose New Year’s Day dinner with my parents in Baltimore (including Spaetzle, Green Beans, and Red Cabbage - the theme was clearly German Cuisine). I’d not had roast goose before, and it is a treat, particularly if you like ‘dark’ meat. Even the breast meat on this bird is dark!

Pam was able to swing north to Massachusetts for a few days to visit with her brother and his family, while I helped my Dad upgrade to Leopard. A good thing, too, as his upgrade was just as difficult as mine (once again taking 3 attempts, and ending up with a call that went to 2 Apple Tech Support Reps and ultimately required a clean install, as well as us manually installing all applications and moving all of his email accounts, documents, calendars and address book entries - just as I had to).

The trip to the States was not without some culture shock (it always hits me, despite my best efforts to prepare for the differences). On our flights there, my seat companions were constantly reading Bibles. On the way back (with a stop in Cincinnati, where I was able to get some Cincinnati Chili at the food court, a delicacy of my undergrad years), we were amazed at the throngs of soldiers everywhere, with make-shift lounges set up in all of the airports we were in. Religion and the Military: not a great combination for me.

I’m still recovering from a nasty cold that I caught while away (which unfortunately, my father also caught and in his case it has since turned into Flu). Work starts up, but for me it’s just a week as the following week I’ll be in San Francisco for MacWorld Expo.

Speaking of things in Tech, my brother alerted me to a somewhat puzzling honour for our family:

Drucker : next gen Windows Mobile smartphone from Palm
January 6, 2008 – 11:22 am

Now that all of Palm’s flagship Treo 750 smartphones have been upgraded to Windows Mobile 6, it’s now time to look forward to 6.1. Engadget reports that the next high end Windows Mobile phone from Palm is code-named “Drucker”. Here’s what we know so far about Drucker:

• GSM/EDGE/HSDPA
• runs Windows Mobile 6.1
• 2 Megapixel camera
• 1500mAh battery
• 320×320 screen
• Bluetooth

Drucker, which will be a replacement for the Treo 750v, will be the first smartphone from Palm that supports WiFi. It’s also the first to match current Palm OS-based smartphones in terms of screen resolution. Drucker is expected to have a retail price of £270 (about US$534), and will probably be available first for Vodafone.

I have nothing to do with this phone, and frankly, I’d probably never buy a phone using Windows Mobile. I wish they had at least code-named the Palm OS phone with our last name, but then again, these days, if it’s not an iPhone, I’m not all that interested. I’m less and less satisfied with my frequently-crashing Treo, and I doubt if a new one is in my future. I’ve been a Palm user for perhaps 12-15 years but it’s clearly time to move on if the best they can do is to use Windows and code-name the device after our clan. (Heh).