A Canadian Look at American Politics

James K.A. Smith presents a look at American politics from a Canadian perspective:

Take, for instance, the shape of federal politics: an American presidential campaign is basically 2 years long. In short, an elected president is just barely halfway through his term before he needs to begin campaigning for re-election, kicking into gear a massive PR machine that will run for two years, eating up unbelievable amounts of time and money. In contrast, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper just announced that Canada will have a federal election this fall–October 14, as a matter of fact. While the American press is focused on the “60-day homestretch” of the years-long American presidential campaign, the Canadian federal election will be announced, contested, and resolved in 38 days–total! And, of course, as a parliamentary system, the election is not so completely fixated on the election of a chief executive. In fact, Canadians can’t select who will be Prime Minister; instead, they vote for members of parliament whose party they believe will best lead the country. (In fact, if the party leader–say, Harper–fails to win the seat in his riding, he can’t be prime minister.) (Permalink)

I think this points to the idiocracy of American politics. We must remember that we were the first version of the democratic republic, and that we should be humble enough to admit that the system has begun to burst at the seams and show it’s holes. We can’t put new wine in old wineskins anymore. Time for a change. Or for all of us to move to Canada.

PETA, Mexicans, and the Problem of Chile Colorado

“We think that Mexicans and other immigrants should be warned if they cross into the U.S. they are putting their health at risk by leaving behind a healthier, staple diet of corn tortillas, beans, rice, fruits and vegetables,” —Lindsay Rajt, assistant manager of PETA’s vegan campaigns.

Umm, as a Mexican American, I can safely say you are being a bit judgemental of the impoverished Mexican stereotype.  Mexicans love meat.

Last time I saw her my grandma made chile colorado and carnitas.  They have pork in them.  And that is the tip of the iceberg:

I love carnitas for lunch.

And chorizo for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner).

And carne asada cut up and placed in tortillas.

And a big tamal with pork.

And chicken mole (PETA, I don’t know if you can tell, but chicken mole has chicken in it…).

And don’t forget about flan, which has eggs and milk in it, which come from the chickens in the mole and the cattle in the carne asada.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I agree with a lot of what PETA stands for.  Have you ever seen a CAFO?  I don’t think you can be a civilized human after seeing them—stare at one, look at the thousands of chickens cooped up unable to move and wonder at the audacity of agribusiness to treat animals like bricks stacked at Home Depot.

I understand there are problems and inabilities for people, especially people in the suburbs like me, to always get CAFO-free, Organic, grass fed, Fair Trade, etc.  But my wife and I try to, we really do.  And we have drastically cut our meat intake to once a week (if that) because we feel that until we can live in a place where we can eat well raised happy chickens we cannot actively support the agricultural-industrial conglomerate continue to choke the health and welfare of our country.

But come on PETA, some Mexicans have enough money to buy meat before they move to this country.