So, earlier today, on twitter (and then facebook) I posted the following:

http://bit.ly/bfvxp I love the surprise by the journalists & the reasonable commentators. The mask slipped. They walk among us.

Click the link, I’ll wait.

Ok, so we can all agree that, regardless of what we think about Obama, his policies etc, that the comments about his daughter and her t-shirt start at racism and wander out, way out, to Crazytown with some really nice stormfronty shit and some lovely death threat/near death threat stuff.

A bit later I posted this:

RT @novenator via @RawStory Freepers refuse 2 apologize 4 calling Malia Obama ‘typical street whore’ http://is.gd/1wqdB http://tr.im/s2q4

Again, you can click the links. I’ll wait.

So, in the face of criticism they’ve gone and busted out the Photoshop fun (where “fun” means “homophobic bullshit”).

To this I received the following:

@ronindotca That Kos is disgusting isn’t it? Talking abt Malia Obama that way & not aplogizing. Just like Bristol Palin.

So, let’s stop for a second and think about this, shall we?

1) Kos? Eh? Ohhhh.. I see you’re talking about a liberal website that you feel aggrieved by. Ok. Thanks.
2) Kos didn’t say anything about her.
3) The comments about Bristol Palin were not about Bristol Palin. They were about the hypocrisy of a woman who wants to tell people how to run their reproductive lives having a pregnant daughter. The problem was a whole “do as I say, not as my family does” thing.
4) How old is Bristol Palin again?
5) (psst: this is the important bit, so pay attention)  ARE YOU SERIOUSLY USING A SERIES OF JOKES ABOUT A YOUNG WOMAN GETTING PREGNANT BY HER IDIOT BOYFRIEND TO JUSTIFY OVERT, DISGUSTING, IGNORANT, KNUCKLE DRAGGING RACISM (WHICH CONTAINS DIRECT THREATS OF VIOLENCE) DIRECTED AT AN INNOCENT YOUNG WOMAN WHO DID NOTHING WORSE THAN PUTTING ON A T-SHIRT?
6) Honestly, I have nothing else.

Oh, I replied to her:

@jaxbchgirl521 Umm.. you’re an idiot.

What else could I say?

Oh, as a sort of post script, I encourage you to go and read her twitter timeline, it’s a wonderful jumble of bigoted ignorance. I would suggest the medical application of whiskey after you’re done.

https://twitter.com/jaxbchgirl521

I want to start this post with two initial thoughts:

1. To my Kiwi buddies, or any random Kiwi readers: your country is lovely, it’s pretty and filled with interesting things to see and do. The people here are lovely. Many of your buildings are lovely (pity about the lack of heat and insulation). There is much to recomend your country to visitors and immigrants. Your stable (if confusing) democracy and it’s system, your laid back attitude towards much that is going on around you… it’s all lovely and wonderful. It’s just not my home.
2. When I am at home I kind of treat Canada Day as a bit of bunk. As a joke. Something to be mocked and ridiculed.

Ok, so that’s out of the way…

Where I am it’s already the afternoon of July 2nd, so for me Canada Day has come and gone and right now, I have to tell you, I’m feeling every cm of the distance between Montreal and Dunedin, all 1,516,900,000 of them.

To give a sense of how far that is, take a peek at this:
(this image is from Wolframalpha.com)

At the best of times, I miss home, but true homesickness comes in waves and is mostly managable. The pattern of day to day life (take Lucas to school, make dinner, clean the house, do the dishes, shop for food, job hunt - yes, still) tends to blot it out for the most part… but periodically, birthdays of family members, holidays, elections (yes, I’m a geek - sue me) etc, it just washes over me. For the last 2 days I’ve been basically engaging in the interwebs version of self-flagellation. I’ve been reading blog posts, looking at youtube videos, reading articles… like some kind of Canada junkie looking to score just one more hit of that Mapley-goodness.. it’s been a touch unseemly.. I’ll admit that I’m misty, and a bit maudlin and when I think about the fireworks and the crappy hotdogs and the mildly offputting flag waving etc I realize that I would give almost anything to have been at home today.

I think Christine put it best “Based on this experience, I think everybody should leave their country for an extended period of time in their lives to really appreciate what they have.”

There are some posts that I’ve read that I thought were really awesome, that showed what my Canada is like, if you follow me on twitter or are friends via FB you’ve seen them, but here goes anyway:

Galloping Beavers thoughts are those of an expat as well.

Dr Dawg has worked tirelessly to help bring a fellow-Canadian’s plight to the fore (others deserve credit as well, but I like this post the best.

This was a good whomp on the old heart strings.

From 2002, from the Sunday Telegraph.

This tickled me muchly, from the NY Times

This made me laugh.

And finally, this tweet was just lovely: @Rawnsley: “Pardon me for saying so, but I fucking love this country.”

O Canada! This native son misses you so.