I'm still not cool.

This is a farewell to President Bush, who governed America to the best of his ability for eight years, and will hopefully be remembered by history more kindly than he is remembered by the media. To all those who would criticize him - and he is not perfect, like all of us - he has served during eight of the toughest years in American government. Had I been in his position, in all likelihood I would have done no better.

From the National Post:

Re: Taking A Shoe For The Country, Charles Krauthammer, Jan 19.

Charles Krauthammer, as usual, aptly describes George Bush's legacy by citing the incident in which an ingrate launched a shoe at him during a news conference in Iraq. I prefer to extend the shoe incident metaphor to describe the entire Bush legacy. Chiefly, what Bush did in Iraq was to secure the country's freedom by dismantling its tyrannical leader. And how did Iraq respond? By throwing a shoe at him.

Mr. Bush also secured the safety of Americans over the past seven years. And how did America respond? By laughing at him. Yes, an ungrateful era ends, and an over-grateful era begins.

Nick Kandel, Montreal.

Thank you, Mr Bush, from a Canadian who does not engage in Bush hatred to be cool. America - all of North America - owes you gratitude.

And welcome, Mr Obama. May you manage to both satiate your worshipers and pleasantly surprise your opposition. You've got a tough job.

From John Diefenbaker

"I am a Canadian,
free to speak without fear,
free to worship in my own way,
free to stand for what I think right,
free to oppose what I believe wrong,
or free to choose those
who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom
I pledge to uphold
for myself and all mankind."

From the Canadian Bill of Rights,
July 1, 1960.

Happy Election Day.

The Beauty of Democracy

"I don't vote in this province."

"I think it's stupid to have another election. I'm not voting."

"Sorry, we don't really believe in voting."

I am more philosophical about this topic than my dad, who has to suppress a need to say "Oh yeah? Well move to China then, see how well they take to 'yeah, I don't believe in communism'." We love him anyway.

But back to the point.

This evening I was recalling, as I sat with a blanket and a cup of chocolate-cake-in-a-mug (if you would like this amazing recipe, do tell me) the topic of the youth Sunday School class I was able to attend last week, as there was no quizzing that day. We discussed, with a lively peppering of varying opinions, the blessing of democracy and our responsibilities that follow. This, combined with three hours of dropping campaign literature in mailboxes I did today, made me contemplative about the democratic system. Should we be as cynical about politicians as many are? Do our votes count? (Well, not my vote, per se.) Is voting the responsibility that comes with the gift of democracy? Is it wrong not to vote?

Personally, I have varying answers to any and all of these. However, the gist of the matter is this: Despite its shortcomings, the democratic system gives citizens under its jurisdiction the option to have a say (however small) in how their country is governed. Assuming politicians are, in fact, the conniving lying [insert expletive here]s many seem to think they are, which is better - having a say in which lying conniving so-and-so governs, or having no say?

Whatever your answer, obviously, if you had the opportunity to have a say and didn't take it, you have no right to complain when your taxes aren't what you'd like them to be or a law is passed with which you disagree or etc.

I'm really not here to tell people why they should or shouldn't vote. However, I can ponder all the telling questions I like, and I can definitely add my opinion to the churning mass of others' thoughts that are out there.

So here it is:

VOTE OCTOBER 14TH!