I'd say I know more than the average person about your history. Afterall, your history is same as my ansestors.

I have visited Canada, met hundreds of Canadians and shared quite a few beers with some of them. For the most part, they have been some of the finest folks I have ever encountered.

I stand by my asumption that the people of Quebec don't share the same flair for life that you find in other parts of the country. I haven't met one of them I liked and I haven't met very many Canadians that like you either.

I do think you should move to the US though. The liberal class is always looking for a few more clowns.

That is what I agree with as well. Let's avoid such issues in the future but tacling the problem today.

Couldnt have said it better myself. It's not about Republicans or Democrats, it's about protecting our Nation and what makes it the Nation it is.

While I try to avoid getting to the point of name calling and stuff sometimes you can get under peoples skins here when you continue to bash and/or ignore what this country was built on. Especially when your opinions don't really affect you since you don't like here anyways. I don't mind your points of view from an outsider but just like I don't go around pointing out how idiotic something in Canada is because it doesn't affect me in any way except when someone here wants to implement something from Canada that I don't agree with, you can't expect people to just sit here and have their country and their beliefs insulted without saying something about it.

I have to agree with that statement.  The whole thing could have been cut off at the pass if Obama had produced it at the beginning, but now that the conspiracy is out there, nothing is going to convince some. 

That is why I say let it go.  But yes, let's get behind the Arizona law.  Even Obama cannot be against that as it is post facto so will not affect him.

This is what McCain had done and it shuuuushed his critics in a heart beat. 

Oucb. my last post kinda went out of hand.

Oh well. I guess it's the kind of thing I'd like people to understand a little more about my land. So if you ever visit Quebec, you'll have a much pleasant stay.

Interesting, so this issue you defend with "isn't what the public wants" yet time and again it has proven the public did not want this recent Healthcare bill and you were in favor of it. Kinda funny how you change your mind about a situation when it suits you.

So tell me Cikomyr, when should the Gov't do what the public wants?

Does the amount of people matter? Last I cheaked they were Americans and size of the group does not make them less important. This Administration has proven that the minority (in any issue) are the ones who will be getting what they want, how come now they are ignored? You need to understand one thing about me Cukomyr, I notice these small details. I notice when someone like you thinks the Obama Administration does not need to listen to people when they are the minority yet don't mind they don't listen when they are the majority; I notice when you think the Obama Administration is being transparent yet you don't mind when they are not when they should be. I pay attention to these things and don't mind reminding people when they try to have their cake and eat it too.

Everytime you agree with an issue that goes against the Constitution (which you tend to do) is ignoring what this country was built on.

That's a very strange opinion considering most of your opinions tend to want to change this country in a way it will go against what this country was built on.

Don't forget harshly criticizing the people of this country for fighting for what they believe in can also be considered insulting. Tea Partiers have been bashed in many ways such as brainwashing their kids.

Don't worry, if people wrote little or nothing at all this place would be boring.

But that is the very crux of our problem. People don't.

People come living in Quebec and they learn english. Which means our numbers are slowly dwindling away. Immigrants make their kids learn english, and ours will be a dead language in 200 years at that speed. When we create laws that would force immigrants to learn french, we are treated as extremist for wanting to defend our language.

I agree that bad-rapping a tourist because he speaks english isn't the best idea in the world. However, how should we treat people who lived all their life in Quebec without bothering learning french? At the very least, mexican immigrants are sometimes trying to learn english, up to a point. They don't dismiss your language as a minority, "optional" language.

Also, trust me about this: you don't have to KNOW french to be well treated. Just show that you respect that this is a French land, and that you are friendly ennough to TRY. Know the basics: Bonjour, Merci, s'il vous plait. Try to read your order in french. You'll have a nice smile, and a nice quebec-accented english as a reward.

I wasn't really in favor of THAT healthcare reform. I was in favor of ANY healthcare reform, anything that would get you out of the status quo that has plagued your political climate for the past 20 years, and at least getting the debate go forward.

Problem was, it seems the democrats were the only one who had the balls to try anything. Bush didn't seemed to want to touch that issue with a 10-foot pole, even when he had his majority in Congress.

Interesting statement.  I wonder how that sits with the race baiters below the parallel?  In most US cities today, there is at least an enclave of Hispanic people that do not speak english.  And yes, there is some prejudice against them for that fact.  But for the most part, people do not care.  And if you have to interact with them, you can try English, but you get farther by knowing some Spanish.

Quebec is very French in that respect.  Very Xenophobic and protectionist against assimilation.  Louisiana still has a lot of French Flavor (and that is where John Lives and my Ancestors are from), but the American experiment seems to have just adopted them as part of its culture. and not erased it in the American culture.

You are right about 1 thing - most of us sure do not understand.  I for one do not.  I have bits and snippets of the story, but that apparently does not tell it all.  My ancestors were 7/8 french - Cajun and from the Caribbean. Yet we assimilated (except for our cooking, which caught on with the rest of the country thanks to Paul Prudhomme).  We speak French (my grandmother only spoke french in the house, my Grandfather, pure Cajun, hardly at all - I was taught in school). but English is the language of our country, so of course we speak that as well.

The only difference between my grandfather, and yours is that mine left, yours stayed.  And apparently in staying they developed an isolationist mentality that I do not understand.  New Orleans was as French as Quebec City.  And it assimilated into an english speaking country.

You misunderstood (or I stated it poorly) my statement.  I understand the analogy.  I just do not understand the mentality.

I did not mean isolationist in the nation sense.  But isolationism in the cultural sense.  My Grandmother I spoke of?  Born in New Orleans (last century), so we were still learning french before we learned english (my mother spoke a patois that was French and english mixed up - Frenglish?).  Quebec has a lot to offer and has offered a lot, of that I am sure.  But you are still isolated (there is that isolationist part) from the rest of your countrymen. 

of course the victors write the rules and the history, so your statement about German is relevant (I use the example of Japanese since I do speak German - better than french now,. although I understand spoken french very well).  But that is history, and while the English were not magnanimous in Victory, they were not barbaric either.  That is what I do not understand.  We let Louisiana do their own weird things (that is from the English side as the english did weird things from my French side - BTW - I am no part English).  They have parishes, instead of counties.  They have an election system more European than any of the other 49 states.  And of course they speak more french (or their version actually) than the rest of the nation combined.  But they are still American.  American First, French second.

I am proud of my french heritage.  But I am the first to slam France too (but that is neither here nor there as I do not see an inhibition on your part to criticize the French either).  I just do not understand the intransigence of the Quebecois to understand that there will never be a nation of Quebec, or a new French colony.  And that merging the cultures of the different parts of Canada is going to make it more French, than it will Quebec more english.

This brings up an interesting side bar.  Indeed, the French (France type) are extremely xenophobic when it comes to outside influence, going so far as to fine you for using a non-approved non-french word for something they have coined a french word for.  It is trying to keep the culture pure, but I believe it is a losing battle now.  Airplanes and now the Internet have made it so that you either adapt or perish, and America is the land of adapting.  We assimilate all cultures.  And I fear that those who try to keep theirs pure will only see it atrophy and die.

American English has more words than any other language (including the Royal English) because we take words from every other language.