NBC Brian Williams, Leaving Behind a Thank-you Note to Canada

{59/365} thank you vancouver ~ thank you canada!, originally uploaded by beesquare.

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor, NBC, from Sunday, February 28, 2010

After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the
blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we
leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I
was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us
laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying
a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing
your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none
of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network,
who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your
athletes won one.



For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.
Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

This is a MOMENTOUS DAY!

Throughout Flickr feeds there are images captured for this very important day and time. For the amazing image above, the photographer deems it "the golden glow of a new day..."

This beautiful photograph from Sphinx on Flickr, in its simplicity, on this day of such significance, truly moves me.  I had to post it.    

I am totally spellbound this morning watching all of this. And just look at the gorgeous weather the Universe has bestowed on Washington DC this morning! 

Also from Sphinx on Flickr for Barack Obama:

It's been a little over 40 years, but history has been made.

On April 3, 1968, the day before the last day of his life, Martin Luther King Jr stood before an overwhelming crowd in Memphis, Tennessee, and closed his final speech.

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man."

Out of the vague, uncertain, shadowy limbo, today the Future is huffing, puffing and ready to go

Who are we that care about hope today? We care all over the world. We are here, waiting. Waiting for what's right and waiting for hope. We are here.

We are making no blurred presumptions. We have observed past events. We have seen the disassembled past and ruptured truth. Recounts and recalls won't do. Today we can't be stoic or placid. Even from across the border where we place no tangible vote, we wait in paralysis.

Dearest Democratic Americans, Today is not the day to be lulled, hushed, soundless or untroubled. Today you must be heard. We are waiting to hear your voice.

Obama's motorcade last night coming into the Prince William County Fairgrounds in Virginia.



And while John McCain is busy with his strident hate speeches, THIS is what the crowds were hearing in Manassas, VA last night.



Consider what we are all faced with in the face of racism. What if John McCain and Barrack Obama were "switched"?
What would the collective media point of view be? How would it be different?

Face what has happened - again last night on CNN - the covering up, the rationalizing, the minimizing of the positive and emphasizing the negative.

Try to ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage,including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
(as Sarah Palin did after one of the debates)

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident?

What if it was Obama who had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late
1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

*Educational Background:

*Sarah Palin:*
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

*John McCain:*
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

*Joseph Biden:*
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

*Barack Obama:*
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a
Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

ANDERSON COOPER 360?! Shame!

Okay, I'm way beyond pissed off right now.  

If there's anyone out there that has any doubt about the evilness behind the American media at the moment, well please explain Anderson Cooper's "360" abrupt cut out of the live address of Barack Obama this evening in order to air a canned interview of John McCain.  

This is utterly preposterous! 

I feel as though I've just witnessed a spaceship land on my front lawn for God's sakes!  Could this possibly be happening in the democracy of the United States?   Please do tell!  

This is a horrendous and blatant manipulation of media.  CNN aired SP entire spewing of nonsense at peak air time this morning and they can't non-partisan like air a live speech by a Presidential Candidate within 6 days of the election?!?!?!?  Are they flippin mad?! 

John & Sarah can have Hank Williams Jr....WE'VE GOT BILL

Live on CNN Bill Clinton addresses Florida at the Democratic Rally tonight.  When you think about the folks that Sarah Palin and Johnny McCain can grab to join their freak show, well let's just say, it's time for peace and prosperity again - there's no mistake - Barack Obama and the Democrats - this is the only way to do it.  

UPDATE: 8:40pm Pacific Time.  CNN just cut off Barack Obama's addresss mid sentence,with  Anderson Cooper saying "we want to give equal time to John McCain" and then off to a commercial.  SHAME ON YOU CNN.  This morning CNN aired the entire Sarah Palin address at peak morning air time.  

To my Shaw Cable Rep:  Please get me MSNBC - I'm flippin boycotting CNN.  

Because Olberman can say it better than I can

"Reinforcing racism and prejudice, spreading rumors and half understood buzz words" 

And furthermore..dear Mr Olberman - when you're in Vancouver, do call me.  We'll do dinner.  And speak of our hate for Country music; or at least Aaron Tippin. 

Washington State

The Canadian Dollar has taken its first hit in a year - down by 20 cents - ouch, but we went down through beautiful Washington Sate anyways. Through Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish Counties, our first stop of the car was the quaint town of Lynden. It's an idyllic little place where almost every home places a flag at their front porch. Oh yes, and mournfully, a McCain/Palin sign. Perhaps I wouldn't survive in Lynden.

The weather more than cooperated and late October is the best time to visit the States for me because all of those cliches are truly a reality. The pumpkins on the porch, the trees are lit with yellow and orange foliage and fallen leaves begin to pile around them, flags are flying, craft fairs and farmers markets are plentiful. American Thanksgiving is an event I truly envy. I love Thanksgiving but in Canada it's just not the fuss as it is down there. In America Thanksgiving is the hallmark of all their treasured values. It's family, hearth and home stuff that Canadians just cannot pull off the same way. Why? Because of our multi-cultural society ramming down everyone else's values instead of bolstering our own. Why is that considered racist? In the United States they welcome everyone but they don't ransack their own values or disassemble their intrinsic culture. That's why when I cross the border and drive into Washington State, I know I'm not on the moon. We can safely say that North Vancouver is transforming into little Iran. Bad thing? Why yes. That's not what my Granddad Kiernan had in mind when he served in the first World War and made Western Canada his home. In the 1950s he worked in the North Van Shipyards and there's little doubt he wouldn't recognize Lonsdale Avenue today.

Although the shopping was a bit painful with our dollar taking it's dive, we mustered some courage and took out our credit cards at the Outlets and a few Ross stores. When we were in Fred Meyer and asked about their exchange rate, the young clerk amusingly said "You guys were counting us out but we're back". I responded "Aw I'd never count you guys out!". He was a cutie and said it in a comedic manner but I could sense his pride. Good for them. I did however, make some great purchases including a Nine West bag for $23. Hello - the same one in Whistler was $143!

But really, this is what you go to America for:























This last photo I took in Anacortes.  It was Wednesday morning - the place was practically deserted.  Garvey would love this little town.  My dad's sister Moira met her husband here in the late 1940's.  He was a Swabbie. I've always wanted to visit Anacortes because of the history with my auntie.  Anacortes is located on Fidalgo Island, surrounded by San Juan and Whidbey Islands, where shipbuilding and State Ferry docks brand the edge of downtown.  Mom and I went into a boutique and as I was paying reverberating sound of jets began to crescendo.   I looked at the shop girl with my eyes bugged open - I hadn't heard that noise before - and she looked back at me to reply "The sownd ah freedom".  I'd hazard to guess she's a McCain/Palin kind of gal.  Actually, the gal didn't make that up.  Although she sincerely believes it, it's on a sign outside of NAS Whidbey Island Base - "Pardon our noise. It's the sound of freedom".  After we left there, I stepped outside to catch another pair of jets soaring across the sky and thought to myself with all that this war in Iraq has caused, was that really the "sound of freedom"?  It's a strange thing I suppose, being a relative of many Americans, with a retired American General in my family from Spokane, I have to step back from the imprint that the military has on the American consciousness.  With a 700-billion dollar bale-out, sound of freedom is wiling down.  The sound of those fighter jets aren't the sound of freedom to many other people in the world today. That sound is a very expensive one.  In more ways than one.  

Special Comment - You betcha!

Keith Olbermann speaks out on Sarah Palin's own "terrorist" associations .



* Alaskan Independence Party
* Founded by Joe Vogler - who's mandate was to have "Alaska to succeed from the United States"
* Her husband Todd Palin was a registered member up until 2002. So if the AIP isn't such a negative threat, why does the AIP website feel it necessary to post THIS statement? hmmmm
* Sarah Palin recorded a speech for the Alaskan Independence Party this past March

And if the above doesn't scare you enough, there's always this article on Sarah Palin's associations.

Sarah Palin and her Uncle John are very scary people. There needs to be more awareness about how much these two are in way over their heads and less about Sarah Palin's eyewear.

And I would love to have dinner with Keith Olbermann.

Good morning

Oh the tangled web we weave. Before the announcement of whether the Big Bail Out Bill is passed or defeated (again), I think all Americans (and Canadians for that matter) should consider Mish Shedlock's statements:

Before we throw $700 billion down a black hole, someone ought to be asking how it will solve anything. Unfortunately the urge is for Congress to "do something quickly" because of the Bush, Bernanke, and Paulson statements scaring people to death with impending economic mushroom cloud warnings.

Not a single job will be created in the Paulson bail out plan, now renamed by the media as the "rescue plan". Close analysis shows the taxpayer was tossed the anchor in an attempt to give wall street the lifeboat.

globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Taxpayers of the world unite. With all of this bullsh*** being pandered, there is truly only one song that plays over and over again in my mind...(please turn your speakers up for this).

and now for something completely different

The Sky is Fallen

">Flickr Photo from Harry

For some cold hard news, check THIS out. How terrifying the last few weeks has been, but I have to say that I felt the 700 billion dollar bailout seemed haywire. It's like the Titanic where the rich are getting on the lifeboats and they're locking the rest of us in steerage.


From the Alex Jones' Truth News Blog, the following was posting November 24, 2007. This is a direct excerpt from that November 2007 post - for the full read go HERE.

“I have no crystal ball, nor do I claim to have well-developed psychic powers, but I’d be willing to bet almost anything that next Thanksgiving season will be dramatically different from this one,” writes Carolyn Baker.

We are confronting “dollar plummeting hysteria, monumental levels of debt, foreclosure, bankruptcy, unemployment, energy depletion, skyrocketing gas and food prices, illnesses treated without health insurance coverage—or just not treated, unprecedented levels of homelessness, and by all indications, within a few months into 2008, America will be well on the road to a re-run of 1929-or something inconceivably worse,” Baker frets. “These are the good ole days, my friend, and these are also the dark new days. Happy Thanksgiving; savor every bite.”

“Derivative dealers, hedge funds, buyout firms and other market players will also unravel,” Celente predicts.

Massive corporate losses, such as those recently posted by Citigroup Inc. and General Motors Corp., will also be fairly common “for some time to come,” he said.

He said he would not “be surprised if giants tumble to their deaths…”

Corsi believes the economic crisis now revealing itself is engineered. “It is engineered because again, the move toward globalism, the pumping of this liquidity to stimulate the markets was totally artificial.”

The federal reserve is going to get caught right now in a total dilemma, if it raises rates to protect the dollar, its going to further tank the economy and cause the housing markets to be in even more of a crisis. We have economic stagnation, the loss of real income, the loss of real wealth and inflation at the same time. With the dropping of the dollar the crisis is going to be manipulated to the point where people will take the Amero or any regional solution if it is proposed as the way you get out of your problem.

It’s all about wiping the chessboard clean, or rather turning it over and dumping all the pieces:

“This is the fastest run I’ve seen ever to get to the goal line of creating a Untied States regional economy, a North American Union. The elite are running like they’ll never have this chance again. It is the tenth hour, the eleventh hour where this battle will be fought. They believe that they can win now and they are going for broke to create a North American Union and tank the dollar.”

New Presidential Candidate: Triumph for President!

I've decided that the only way for me to deal with the Republicans for the next two months is with humour. This one's for Rick.

A perspective on the stepford candidate

As usual, MG has a great in-depth post concerning McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin. Pretty scary stuff. It's so good that someone can put this all into perspective.

I just couldn't bring myself to post a photo of the woman. I much prefer this Palin:

Another exciting night at the DNC

Yesterday I called my dad and asked him if he wanted to watch Bill and Joe at my place - I'm a geek and while I was on the phone chatting about times, like how many hours ahead is Denver and is Bill Clinton starting before we get home from work, etc? the new girl in Marketing snuck up behind me with a mini-sticky note that said "It's at 6:30pm". Thankfully a fellow geek! I looked over at her with a big smile and we gushed over American politics after I hung up with Garry. She's actually cancelled a date so she can watch Barack Obama Thursday. Very cool.

Now about Joe Biden. I completely retract my remark from 2 days ago. Dad has been all over this guy for two months - so he says. He "predicted" Joe Biden would be chosen. What his talk did for me last night is prove you can't judge a book by its cover. I thought he was going to go all White-Born-Again Christian. That's just the way he appears. But when you understand what kind of a man he really is, well, you realize there's an amazing decency and a man with tremendous principles. He's a great family man - there's no doubt about that. He is without airs. He loves his country. I think he's going to make a fabulous running mate. As his family came out to the stage after, dad and I thought that his family is representative of many families in America. And how cute is his mom?!?! I loved how Michelle Obama shed tears over Beau Biden's retelling of the tragic loss in their family - we all can understand what this family has endured. Who hasn't had loss? Well, to lose your wife and daughter is really a horrific reality. But Joe Biden had two little boys left to take care of; and by all accounts, he embraced that duty.

Don't even get me started on our man Bill Clinton - as dad said, "He's the most beguiling son-of-a-bitch I've ever seen" - he says this with pure love - Garry's next comment is, "I wish he was running again."

I think I found the video with the most "cheese" - but I have to say, it really does its job. Yeah, I'm shedding a tear - you bet I am.





It's 6:47am and I have to get moving. The thing is tonight. I haven't seen Aubrey, Lianne and Marni for a while - us cube-de-ville chicks haven't gotten together for a while. Tonight we have plans to meet for drinks and snacks at The Keg Hornby. They better be prepared for me to be near a tv to see Obama. I just can't miss it.

It's a new day and we're one step closer

This morning I've just skimmed through the headlines re Hillary's speech of last night. I came across this letter to the Editor in the Boston Globe. It's short and sweet and to the point.

For me, after last night's speech, I feel that it's really a shame that America doesn't have the confidence of placing one Black American along with one Female American. Yes, together, they were a team to believe in.

Tonight I believe it's Biden's turn to address the Dems and I'm looking forward to it. They better believe he HAS to get this right. He looks like a tight old white guy with tight old white guy beliefs. We really don't need that crap anymore. We need America to get up off the floor because their counting from ten. Please give them another round in the ring.

my bet is that Hillary's gonna knock it out of the park tonight.

Yeah, I'm Canadian, but I'm standing by right now watching the beginning of Hillary's speech at the DNC. I think she's gonna do it right. We can only hope for a brighter future. No how, No way, No McCain. God Bless America.