Land of the Free ?

I am not an American, but I feel sad that USA is going down. Selfish capitalism (or should I say corporatism and plutocracy?), greed for money, fame and power, endless wars and military involvements everywhere, and its ever-increasing heavy debts  - all these led to its decline. 
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American capitalism works wonderfully for the 1% but fails terribly for the 99%.The recent shut down of the U.S.Government is so crazy and ridiculous. 
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Uncle Sam spies on everyone: friends and enemies, American citizens and citizens of the whole world, foreign leaders, embassies, countries, organizations, companies, individuals, EU, even UN, I mean everyone.
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Now think about the global image of Uncle Sam in the world. Sad to say that USA no longer brings respect and admiration from the world, not even from its own citizens. Looks like America is no longer Land of the Free. Please take care !!!

Mistakes

A co-worker says it is "scary" that I never make mistakes.Of course this can't be true. Nobody is perfect. I think he rather means that I am a very good worker, usually very accurate in my work, especially when it comes to financial and legal matters. Mistake is not always a bad thing. It makes you grow and learn. After failure, there will be success.

O Canada

It is not the first time that Canadians take issue about their national anthem.I remember that Canada's men and women hockey teams both won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Sidney Crosby's overtime winning score turned the whole country of Canada into a frenzy. It created some wonderful nationalistic feelings spontaneously. Everyone, even non-Canadians, got caught in the Canadian pride and excitement.Many joined in singing O Canada.
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Recently, O Canada became Ouch Canada again. The same old question resurfaced: should O Canada be changed to be gender-neutral ? A few prominent Canadian women, including Kim Campbell and Margaret Atwood said yes.
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There are 3 ouches in O Canada. The first ouch is that some women are upset about the line 'in all thy sons command'. This is sexist, they complain. Some suggest that it should revert to the old version of 'thou dost in us command'. Others suggest the change to 'in all of us command'. Yet some women say it is just fine to keep 'in all thy sons command' with no change.This is my opinion: 'thou dost in us command' is old English. It just doesn't sound right for our time.The words do not sound good for singing either. 'In all of us command' is O.K., but for singing, it doesn't sound as good as 'in all thy sons command'. My suggestion is this: change the words to 'in you and I command'.
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The second ouch is 'our home and native land'. What does the word 'native' mean? Often when we see the word 'native', we think of the native people of Canada. The native people are the aboriginal or indigenous people. But then the people who were born in Canada are also natives of the land. Furthermore, this land or country called Canada belongs to all Canadians, not just the natives or native-born.Canada also belongs to the many immigrants from different backgrounds who chose to become Canadians.So what are we going to do with 'our home and native land'? I have a suggestion: just change it to 'our home Canadian land'. The meaning is appropriate, and it sounds good for singing.     
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The third ouch is 'God keep our land, Glorious and Free'. Canada is a free country. People belong to different religions and faith groups. The problem is that people believe in different gods, so which god or gods keep our land? Besides, there are agnostics and atheists, too. Canada belongs to all Canadians, whether you believe in a god or not. I suggest to simply drop this line of 'God keep our land' and replace it with 'O Canada'. 'O Canada, Glorious and Free' sounds very good, do you agree ?
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Maybe the Government of Canada can hold a contest across the country, to come up with the best new version of O Canada, otherwise we have to keep living with the 3 existing ouches !






  

US Government Shutdown

Jim Rogers says the US Government shutdown is a sham and charade to jerk us around. Whether you agree with him or not, this whole thing can't be something good. Is this a sign that USA is actually declining? Uncle Sam doesn't seem to care about his behavior, which affects not only America but the whole world, why? Just because he has a US Money printing machine? What if we don't want to play the game with US money anymore?!   

Where is the salt ?

Went to super market to buy grocery. I was looking for salt. I asked a male store worker,"Would you please tell me where I can find salt in your store?". He said," Ah ... maybe aisle #1... mmm ... maybe aisle #4 or #5." I laughed," Hey, that's not very helpful." A female customer passed by and said,"You'll find salt where they keep the spices." I laughed even more,"But where are the spices?". Yes, I found the salt, and how was your day ?