Welcome, everyone, to Lectures on Everything 2004: the same old crap you've been reading for nearly 14 months, but without all those things like content, topical issues, and insightful analysis that you'll find in other, more popular blogs.

New in 2004:

Tamara has a mouse.

I wrote the following poem for this poetry quiz at poetry.com. They claim it's being evaluated by a team of poetry experts as we speak!

Giant spiders ate my butt!
Only giants made the cut.
Smallers ones stayed at the back
For fear of dying in the crack.

Thank you.

In regards to Kathy Shaidle's article on the Dallas Morning News.

Dear Ms. Shaidle:

I don't know how to begin. As a very left-wing Canadian, I have some beefs with your column; as a Mac user, I respect your Mac.com e-mail address.

What to do, what to do. Well, I suppose even one of the Faithful can be lead astray every now and then.

What I have taken the most offense to is this business of your objections to M. Chretien's actions vis-a-vis the War on Terror. I believe that Canada had every right not to participate in any action the US had concocted; I'm sure you've read MichaelMoore.com and heard his blather about a fictitious war and a fictitious president -- and I firmly believe it's all true. Bush was given the office unfairly; reasons for the war in Iraq were falsified; the US had no business defying the UN (and the Geneva Convention, but I suppose that's still debatable). I am appalled by the actions of Mr. Bush and his cabinet, and as much as I have sympathy for everyone affected by September 11, the US is acting more like a schoolyard bully than the wiser, older brother we all look to as a role model.

Yes, a lot of Canadians hate Mr. Bush; a lot of Americans do too. But we hate Mr. Bush for losing his "family friend" Osama Bin Laden, and for "Freedom Fries", and for the Haliburton deals, and for "Bring 'em on", and for soft-wood lumber, and for declaring people carrying almanacs as a terrorist threat, and for closing the borders to Canadian beef, and for treating us as second class people instead of his largest trading partner, and for taking offense that we are a sovereign nation, and are allowed to make our own decisions regardless of US opinion. We, as a nation, deserve better treatment from our neighbours to the south; we deserve to be treated with the same respect we give, and so far in this presidency, we have not received this courtesy.

I would also like to comment on the content of your column, which was lacking. What was the point of it, exactly -- that you had hated the US at one point in time, but following 9/11 you now love it? Can you tell us why we would care to know this? Can you provide me with the reasoning that might also change my jaded opinions? It seems to me that this Op-Ed of yours is too little Op or Ed, and too much cheering on of the Bush regime. I read nothing more than "Rah! Rah! Rah!"; we have content requirements in Canada -- is it any wonder you had to reach into Bush's home state to get it published?

All the best to you and yours in the new year.

Sincerely,

--Deron Staffen