Star spangled stupidity

Well despite seventeen days among us, some of our guests have seemingly misunderstood what Canada is all about.

The current wildfire on the internet is a pair of articles from a reporter with the Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a columnist by the the name of Gil Lebreton. A journalist (well we think he's a journalist) who has penned one of the most ridiculous  and odious interpretations of Canada and our recently completed Vancouver Olympics as one could ever find.

We thought that the British tabloids, or the lunatics that write for Pravda were out to lunch, but Mr. Lebreton has won the Gold when it comes to pathetic attempts at news copy.

In his article which went by the title of "In these Olympics, Canadians only paid attention to Canada" -- Mr. Lebreton offered up a poorly constructed, research deprived diatribe that among it's major sins compared Canada's Olympic spirit to that of Germany circa 1936, Mr. Lebreton in his rush to cobble together what he apparently believes are wise and lucid observations compared Canada to Nazi Germany.

You can read it here (at least until embarrassment reigns at the Star Telegram and they pull the copy, at which time we'll be back with our archived copy)

The Nazi reference would be despicable at the best of times, but considering the number of Canadian lives lost fighting those same Nazis in the second world war (hey Gil, how many years was that before your fellow countrymen entered that particular fight) it's a cheap shot that highlights just how ignorant this guy is.

Apparently becoming aware of the backlash (the comments are flooding in fast) to his farewell to the nation he offered up a tepid apology, at one point trying to claim some smidgeon of Canadian blood, as though that would excuse his boorishness.

You can read it here, full of weasel words and a final image of a kind hearted Gil dropping off some of his hard earned American money with a Canadian busker.

Sorry Gil, but you can keep your change and your how many generations potential claim to Canadian blood, we can tell from our own and you pal are nothing like us, thank God.

We only hope you have checked in with USDA upon your return, as we can't remember a more serious case of foot and mouth disease, according to the USDA the United States of America has been free of it since 1929, they'll want to talk with you we're sure.

The idea of a lecture in overboard patriotism coming from a Texan is a little much as well, we gather Gil leads a rather sheltered life and has never wandered out of his hovel on a 4th of July, or taken in a Super Bowl. Now those are events that put the jingo into jingoism Gil.

Fortunately Canadians are a tad more balanced than some of our journalistic neighbours to the south, we understand that one journalist's opinion does not reflect the impressions of an entire nation, though sadly it seems that they can sway those impressions, as we've seen from the followers of Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh et al.

We can only imagine that even those Texans that may find Mr. Lebreton's words as Gospel,  will find a little more instructive research from this letter by Brian Williams of NBC News who offered up his impressions of Vancouver's hospitality, and found nary a Nazi among us.

And for the benefit of Mr. Lebreton, here's a visual aid, Tom Brokaw's opening piece  on Canada, broadcast on NBC at the beginning of the games, it's rather helpful as far as picking up a few hints about the country that Mr. Lebreton visited, but seemingly never found the pulse of.