The leader of what country?

Steven Harper in China

It almost went below my radar but the Prime Minister of my country, Canada, is paying a state visit to the People's Republic.  As an afterthought, I asked the students in an English Corner about it.  Their reaction was basically "don't know!" and "don't care!".

 

It always warms my cackles to see how little the Chinese and other foreign citizens know about Canada.  Canada' biggest virtue is that it is unimportant and insignificant in the world scheme of things.  And this unimportance, insignificance, and obscurity remains despite the efforts of the Left through state programs to create a Canadian Nationalism that would somehow have the cultural impact of the U.S.A.

 

One account I have read of Harper's visit says the Chinese government has been snubbing him.  Good on him if that is the case  -- it shows he has some backbone -- I have found him to be something of a pantywaist.

 

Where I went on the Internet yesterday

I love the Internet.  Here is, more or less, what it permitted me to do yesterday:  read Chesterton, read Vincent Van Gogh, read a Shakespeare sonnet, read opinions about Global Warming, read a poem by John Keats, read some Psalms, read the words of Pope Benedict XVI, read some Jewish Scholars, be instantly updated with my parents half a world away, and other things I can't think of off the top of my head this morning.

 

Long Johns

It is colder the past few days in Wuxi so Long Johns seem the thing to wear.