The True North, Boastfully

By Baxter

The International Olympic Committee has behaved so despicably in its 115 years that we cats find the thought of the Committee passing judgment on someone else's comportment laughable, to say the least. But when we heard a possible explanation for the gold-medal-winning Canadian women's hockey team going wild with champagne and cigars, it intrigued us.

Politics.

The U.S. athletes in Vancouver come from Barack Obama's America. In this new, non-Bush era, we behave ourselves. We work hard. Compete fairly. And accept our victories and defeats as the world's greatest nation ought to — with relative humility and quiet confidence.

The Canadians, by contrast, in their Olympic-inspired hue and cry, fully reflect the Stephen-Harper/George-W.-Bush attitude of "We are designated by God to rule the world and will do anything we want, to anyone we want, and if anybody doesn't like it, they can just sign up to be invaded. Bring it on."

Lest our good friends across the border think we don't like them any more, guess again. We love you guys, even if we're not thrilled with your Bush-clone prime minister. And of course we realize that the tables, heaven forbid, could turn once again.

Can we all imagine how kick-butt boorishly a U.S. team under President Sarah Palin would act? We shudder to think about that — for so many, many reasons.