Random thoughts

Today was Lesley's birthday. I took her to dinner at a Restaurant that I am sure has some odd English name but in Chinese it's called Xin Tian Di, named after a very pleasant little car free area of Shanghai.

If I can just step off topic for a second, Xin Tian Di in Shanghai is one place where a very modest effort was put towards preserving old Shanghai. Too much of that city's culture and history has been swept aside and replaced with new high rise condominiums. Gone now are the 5RMB (less than $1 cdn) pan fried dumplings and noodle soup available right at the side of the road, now you have to pay 30 or 40RMB at an upscale restaurant with fine silverware and food without flavour. (And little brass notices on the wall saying not to take pictures as the walls are patented - honest to goodness, they really have notices just like that in some upscale restaurants in Shanghai.) Of course at Xin Tian Di in Shanghai there are no street vendors, just very posh, very expensive restaurants, but the architecture isn't soaring to nose bleed altitudes.


At dinner Lesley informed me that I am married to someone who is exotic because she is a woman (surprise there) and East Asian. Now I replied that as there are literally billions (yes with a B) Asians more than there are Westerners if anyone was exotic it was (as my friend from America calls me) "Mike the Canadian" as there are only about 15 million male Canadians so if there is anyone who ought to be exotic it should be us Canadians. Surprisingly despite what I feel is a more logically rigorous argument Lesley felt she was right and therefore she was. (One day I want someone to explain that to me!)

While on the subject of the exotic it turns out the Royal Family have started a U-Tube channel. I must admit one thing that I find surprising is that other people would be surprised that HRH Queen Elizabeth would use technology to engage her subjects. For heavens sakes people she's been doing that since she was crowned, in 1957 when many families we just buying their first T.V. set the Queen broadcast her Christmas day message. In 1996 she personally typed and sent an email, making it a proper photo op by having a class of 8 or 10 year-old's helping her to send it. Say what you will about the monarchy this one has tried to keep herself relevant.

One day I probably ought to wax on my thoughts on the Royal Family but it occurs to me that I really don't want to waste the intellectual effort, having a symbolic head-of-state (who my taxes hardly even finance) is probably better than say, the Prime Minister being the head of state. For heavens sakes you know how embarrassed I'd be if Stephen Harper were not only the leader of the government but also on Canada's money? Or worse yet, Brian Mulroney will now be on the stamps! (The joke about Americans being unable to decide which side of the Nixon stamp to spit on could be made Canadian then!)

Earlier I lamented the loss of optimism not only my own but in the public realm as well. As I watched the Queen's Christmas message of 1957 it dawned on me. We have become a much more informed society. When, in 1953 the elected Premier Mohammed Mossadeq of Iran was overthrown, anyone who saw the events reported on the news, by the well trusted news reporters of the day, would have believed that this was a purely internal Iranian matter that happened to play out very well for Anglo American interests. Today we know our governments lie and deceive all the time, just reading that last sentence "that happened to play out very well for..." screams: CIA, CIA, CIA!!

Who would have thought that agencies of the United States Government would go into narcotics trafficking in America's cities in order to finance a war in Central America? Well in the early 1980s that is exactly what happened. Or how about training Muslim fundamentalists on how to commit acts of guerrilla warfare (that's terrorism against solders, not to be confused with the entirely similar terrorism against civilians)? Maybe giving Osama Bin Laden training on how to use modern military hardware and tactics wasn't the wisest expenditure of CIA money, but at least the Soviets got driven out of Afghanistan. We made a deal with the devil to get rid of a comparatively harmless troll. Ooops!

Thanks to You Tube, Google, Wikipedia, Blogs, anyone and everyone can find out about it. Perhaps ignorance is bliss?