Things have been said. Things that, ordinarily, I would take offense to. But today I am in a good mood, Obama bought a Beaver Tail on the Byward Market yesterday, taking in feelings of joy and hope (along with artery clogging trans-fats), and so I have decided not to go into my usual balk at criticism, but to embrace it and try to grow from it. I may be a conservative, but I am not adverse to change. So, here goes.

It has come to my attention, rumour has it, Twitter Tweets, that visitors to my blog do not like my tag cloud. Which is fine, after all, you’re the ones who have to put up with it day after day. So here’s my thing: if you don’t like it, do something about it. You can change the world (or my blog, whichever is bigger). Let me know what tag-thing you DO like. What WordPress tag widget is better than the (annoying) one I have now, and make your case why. And, if you do happen to like that 3D moving “nauseating” blob I have now, let me know as well, so those whiners visitors that don’t like it see there are another points of view.

Today’s lesson, children, if you don’t tell me, I’ll never know!

And if you give me some good suggestions, I promise to apply more tags to my posts in the future, because, although I have the coolest looking tag cloud on the ‘web, when you don’t apply tags to posts, it doesn’t really mean anything, does it?

What good is an Economic Dream Team, if you either 1) Do not take their good advice, or 2) take their bad advice?

Protectionism (”Buy American Only“), of course, cannot be a part of any sound economic plan: an economist will be the first to tell you international trade is the backbone of the global economy. All of our economies are too much intertwined to extricate one of them, let alone the largest one. Protectionism is the death of your economy: one cannot ween off one’s largest supplier without affecting one’s largest customer if they happen to be the same. In the case of America, Canada is their largest supplier but also their largest customer. We are their biggest supplier for over 300 billion dollars of stuff every year, and we are their biggest customer with over 248 billion dollars a year (2007). For Canada, American protectionism means: less sales means less money to buy. Very simple. Your exports go down and so will your imports. Protectionism only harms your own economy, unless you can produce all your goods domestically.

So, if Obama’s “Dream Team” came up with this doozy it’s a “Lousy Team”, and if he went against his  ”Dream Team”, why have a “Dream Team” at all?

You may not like the Obama-Mia surrounding the inauguration today, and you may not like the policies the man stands for, but you have to agree today is an historic day. It is not because of his message of “Hope”, it is not because the MSM says it is, but simply because black people in America have finally been accepted as genuine Americans. As much as Obama himself didn’t want to make it about race, and to his credit he hasn’t, it is of course about race. You can’t escape it: he represents the underdog, the blacks of America.

The people voted for “Hope” in these hard economic times, and that is a fairly superficial reason: what is wrong in America today, of course, goes deeper than mere jobs or mortgages. There is still an appalling inequality between rich and poor, black and white. I hope “Hope” extends to relieving that inequality.

As much as Obama-Mia grinds on my nerves today, I will listen to the radio at noon. It is an historic day. Can he live up to the hype? Probably not, but like it or not the man sounds and looks like a breath of fresh air.

And maybe that’s all that’s needed.

• Two popcorn bowls,
• some mouldy cheese,
• a big ass car,
• a crappy book,
• a free vasectomy,
• and a nice introduction to Canada.

I wonder what his [White] House warming party will bring in.

All Hail The President-Elect! He has surrounded Himself with an intellectual team other countries dare not dream of! In fact, according to Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen columnist, Canada does not have what it takes–and never will–but perhaps Harper could look at Ignatieff, our Greatest Thinker, for some “thinking” inspiration. If “Determined Determination” is a sign of things to come, hold on to your hats folks, there will be some eye-poppin’ thinkin’ comin’ from that Hill!