Ranting and Roaring explains to people that are not of the Canuck persuasion, what we mean when we say ‘east of’ or home, or ‘easterners’.

When a person from Western Canada says “the East”, he means “Ontario”, and sometimes “Ontario and Quebec”, worthwhile geography seemingly running out somewhere a few hundred kilometers east of Montreal. When someone from Ontario says “Canada”, they mean “Ontario” and when someone from Toronto says “Ontario” they mean “Toronto” and when they say “Canada” they mean “Toronto”.

With eight distinct geographical regions in Canada, I’m suprised sometimes we can understand each other at all.

And the Survey Says…..
A Pew Research Study involving 38 thousand people in 44 countries says sympathy for the United States after September 2001 is slipping.

“There are lots of headlines that come out of this report and the biggest one is the slipping image of the United States.”The post Sept. 11 wave of sympathy for Americans has faded away and what’s most striking says Kohut, is that it’s happened just about everywhere.

Yes. Sympathy has a way of drying up after a major crisis is past.

“The lower ratings are among NATO nations; they’re among nations in Eastern Europe; in emerging countries; and of course most dramatically the declines are seen in Muslim countries.” The war on terror and the threat of war in Iraq have not just turned the Muslim world against the U.S. but made many Muslims actually hate the United States.Elsewhere views are conflicted and complicated.

Yes. Human beings tend to have conflicted and complicated views.

President George W. Bush was asked about the survey, especially the growing rage at the U.S. in the Muslim world, and the widespread notion there that the war on terror is a disguise for a war against Islam. “I hope the message that we fight not a religion but a group of fanatics that have hijacked a religion is getting through. I understand the propaganda machines are cranked up in the international community that paints our country in a bad light. The Muslim world will eventually realize, if they don’t now, that we believe in freedom,” he said.

Pew Research didn’t call me. The US is a hyper-power, and the best in the world at a lot of what it does. When it comes to projecting the best of themselves to the rest of the world, Americans don’t rate a A.

This is a real kicker, and shows how much faith to put in surveys.

The survey had a lot else in it, including the general fact that the world in 2002 is not a happy place. People around the globe believe the world’s fortunes are drifting downwards.

There was one exception.

The survey says Canada is the only place in the world today where a majority of people are actually satisfied with their lives.

Maybe Canadians who took the survey just didn’t understand the question.