"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."

If it were not for the US you Canucks would be flying the hammer and sickle.

Neither do I hear people patronizing them, either.

I don't support the the Chinese owning 9 % of our debt. This situation was not brought about by conservatives. It order to pay for the massive federal spending and growth of guvmint the left has intentionally brought about this outcome.

American officials in Washington and Ottawa were counting down the days before former prime minister Jean Chretien left office, according to diplomatic cables. The cables, posted on the website WikiLeaks, outline the well-known coolness in relations between Chretien and George W. Bush's administration, but highlight how much the Americans couldn't wait for his successor, Paul Martin, to take power.

Diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa warned U.S. State Department officials in Washington that Chretien's lame-duck status as prime minister was the likely reason for his "bizarre anti-American public musings" designed to create a public relations problem for those Liberals who wanted him to leave politics before the end of 2003.

"In this regard, we should not underestimate Chretien's capacity to manipulate the system if it serves his purpose," reads the June 2003 cable, signed by then-U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci. "At the same time, at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

The cable was written shortly after the Liberals launched a leadership race to replace Chretien, which the embassy labelled "Canada's race for a political cure."

The cables said that Martin likely would be a more favourable friend to the United States than Chretien.

"We believe that once Chretien is gone, there will be an improvement in Canada's policy toward the U.S., at least in tone and perhaps even substantively," reads a March 2003 cable titled "Canada-Iraq: What now?" and signed by Cellucci.

Much of the animosity was over the war in Iraq. Chretien kept Canada out of the war, much to the dismay of the Americans.

That dismay was the reason Bush postponed a state visit in 2003, according to an April 2003 cable. The postponement, the cable said, was "a harsh but necessary reality check for Canada."

The cables are a small portion of thousands of messages that provide an insider's view of American thinking on border security, anti-terrorism activities, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Canada-U.S. relations.

One confidential cable, sent in November 2001 from the U.S. Embassy at the Vatican, details a diplomatic dinner where then-assistant deputy Canadian foreign minister Paul Dubois talked about how Bush, in a post-Sept. 11, 2001 speech to Congress, neglected to mention Canada's help in the days after 9/11.

"Dubois stressed that Canada is fully behind U.S. efforts to destroy terrorism, but did want to make the point that failing to mention Canada as an important partner was an oversight which was viewed as a major slight," reads the cable.

even though it was never clear it would make a lasting difference in that sorry place.

Our political theater is all about entertainment.

Maybe we're just getting what we pay for.

I have come to believe it is even worse than that. The form a government can take depends critically on the capabilities of the population. Our people are no longer able to support our present form of government.