Your welcome. I'll send the enviro-meisters my heating oil bill and my taxi fare so they can help me reduce my mortgaged-up-the-ying-yang footprint.

Pandemonium (who always forgets her password)

I imagine this is a common problem for people

Ever thought of installing a password manager ?

Does the logins for ya

I use one called Roboform .....

 How are we smug?

How are we not? We hide our injustices, our lack of principles and our unconcern behind a smirking assertion that we are the best, most tolerant, fair-minded, peace-keeping country in the world. We are largely -- not entirely, but generally --  a society of undereducated, indolent, unfriendly middle class polluters with an exaggerated estimation of our own virtue... serious consumers and seriously acquisitive comfort-seekers taking regular holidays in the sun, avariciously hell-bent on having a cute, untroublesome Christmas/Holiday season, oblivious to dire needs and undercurrents of violence and exploitation even in our own communities. Responsibility for anything "bad"? Us? Never... we're far too nice. We're Canadian.

Smiles at Mike, your post reminds me of Spirit of the West's

Far Too Canadian

i'm so content, to stand in line
wait and see, pass the time
talk a streak, fall alseep, wake up late, whine and weep
i kiss the hand that slaps me senseless
i'm so accepting, so defenseless
i am far too Canadian
far too Canadian
i pick the bones, of what's been done
lick them clean, with a cautious tongue
in dim lit rooms, i spill my guts
i'm the revolution when the doors are shut
i'd bite the hand that slaps me senseless
but my patience is too relentless
i am far too Canadian
i am far too Canadian
i am the face of my country
experssionless and small
weak at the knees, shaking badly
can't straighten up at all
i watch the spine of my country bend and break
i'm a sorry state

i scratch the walls, to mark the days
with my coup d e (tête), i'm locked away
with Mother Jones, pots of tea
the kitchen poster, anarchy
i never march in demonstrations
i hold my breath for arbitration
i am far too Canadian
i am the face of my country
experssionless and small
weak at the knees, shaking badly
can't straighten up at all
i watch the spine of my country bend and break
i'm a sorry state
 

You can hear it on Youtube and discover that the world can thank Canada for creating "simulated" ketchup chips, cheezies and, who could forget, poutine....

click for Far Too Canadian

We take spinelessness to a whole new level , even more than the French

As someone who lives in another largely middle class society, I think Canadians and Aussies share another common problem of middle class societies - we take the moral high ground when it comes to opinions, but how does that benefit those living in Pacific islands who now fear every high tide? Answer - not much.

I once had a work colleague who said to me, in a state of exasperation, "You always take the moral high ground - no matter what the issue." "It might make you feel virtuous, but what does it really achieve?"

As a result, probably because of my background, I will continue to take the moral high ground because I think it's right to do so - but my awareness of my own hypocrisy is more acute these days.

Maybe Canadians are a little slower, a little more cautious and a little less eager to jump on every band wagon.  I don't think that is something to be ashamed about.   Maybe Canadians take smaller, slower steps, not because we are weak, but because we want to ensure that it is the right thing to do.  Sometimes what peers say is right, but isn't proven right, needs to be tested in smaller pieces to be sure it is right.  Instead of following a set standard, sometimes setting a more realistic standard at that time, is the right thing.

Which is why we are so behind in everything and then get jealous of say the Americans

Hesitation is weakness in my book

Leap or go home ha ha ha

Wow!  Inanna!  You've done something I've never been able to do!  Criticize Canadians... and other Canadians agree! 

For years I've been saying this, and everyone jumps down my throat with sanctomonious Canadian righteousness.  How'd you do that?

Well, on second thought, I'm not giving you all the credit.  Stephen Harper at the eco-summit, and genuflecting before Obama, thanking him for seeing Harper (any other world leaders feel that small and insignificant?), and the bludgeoning by Harper with perorging Parliament, the torture in Afghanistan... you had help, Inanna, admit it!

Actually, bravo everyone!  It's like the political sleep in this country is starting to wake up!  We were bludgeoned by separatism and politicians for 30 years, threatened constantly, we just wanted all politics to go away.  It did, below the radar, and we drifted into the future.

No wonder Ignatieff is having a problem.  He's a Pearsonian Liberal and proud of it.  But that just makes us bitter, because we know how far away from those heady days we've become.

I don't think smug is the correct word, for my mindset anyway.

I would say maybe "elitist" more than anything

In All the countys in the world I LOVE CANADA THE  BEST But your right  we have made a lot problems. Why just the other day I read We raised the tempture on Mars by 2 degrees