I'm an American, living in Canada. I married a Canadian. I immigrated to Montreal in 1973 when I was 5 years old to stay with my aunt and uncle. My father stayed behind in the U.S. chiefly because that was where he believed that he was going to have greater success; in America after starting over at forty.

A hard-working immigrant from Italy, my father did have great success in America. But when he came to Canada and saw how well the relatives that moved to Canada had prospered, seemingly much more easily than he was able to in the 'States, he was disappointed that he hadn't stayed here, too.

Everyone came in through Canada. My family's immigrant experience wasn't Ellis Island. It was Halifax and the long train ride to Sherbrooke.

In the end it didn't matter; there was success to be had in either country - each country was just slightly different.

This was in the fifties.

Why did I join the Red Ensign Bloggers? Why do I fly their flag on my site? A flag that was replaced before I was even born? Because we are in danger of losing the chances of comparable success. The Canada that my uncle, my father, all my relatives held so dear - it's slipping away from us.

The place where you could show up with nothing but a suitcase and succeed beyond the wildest dreams of your great-grandparents in the old country - whatever old country that might be - is in danger.

Why is this happening? Do we even care?

Though they have many different opinions, the group of bloggers on this page believe that there are many good and decent things that remain in this country, things worth writing about, things worth fighting for. That doesn't mean that the past was the best. There were many things wrong that we could and did improve on. Now's not the time to lose focus. Now's not the time to give up.

I present to you the 17th edition of the Red Ensign Standard.

"The torch, Be Yours to Hold it high."

“I'm particularly happy for Sultan today because he is by far one of the nicest men I have ever meet. A fine and lovely human being. It is perhaps old-fashioned to say this but Sultan Jessa is, in the true sense of the word, a gentleman.” Just Between Us Girls on Sultan Jessa receiving the Order of Canada.

“I mean, just look at the pic! There I am, little old me, with a big famous guy. Recognize him? Hey, that's Bono! He's Irish (had to get the ethnic plug in there, a vote's a vote right?) and he wrote pop tunes and made millions. Now he's important.” -Minority of One takes us for a tour inside Prime Minister Paul Martin’s head while he fawns all over Pope Bono Vox I * Bono.
*Host's note: My words, not Keith’s. I love Bono, honest I do. I have been a fan since the very beginning. I saw U2 at the Montreal Spectrum for a paltry $5 cover charge when they were virtually unknown outside of Dublin. –Rue

Jason writes about Dan Rather and wind power.

“My new favorite posterchild of white collar crime is free! I love Martha Stewart. I've always hated her for being a white stuffy bitch, but when she was exposed as a corporate criminal, my esteem of her rose dramatically.” -C Diddy

Nathan is sincerely happy for Martha Stewart, and makes a good point about left-wing hypocrisy.


Babbling Brooks makes the distinction between asking for money and asking for moral support, in the context of missile defense.

Bound by Gravity keeps tabs on some of the blogs keeping tabs on “Elections Canada's Neutering of the Search Tool”, including but not limited to The London Fog who used their decoder ring to get past all the sneaky traps set up to thwart dirt-diggers.

“Are these people so blinded by their hatred of G.W. Bush and the United States that they would rather have the people of the Middle East live according to the whims of their local dictator?”
-Canadian Comment on a poll by The Globe and Mail that illustrates the level of/lack of common sense of their average readers. Temujin comments about the Single Transferrable Vote (or STV) No that’s not something you get from a dirty dirty MLA! He also celebrates Randy White not seeking re-election.

"How did the Liberals win the last election? By running against the Tories. I think it's fair to say that if Paul Martin had run unopposed (as was said of Reagan in 1980) he would have lost." - The Monger

“If Elvis were serving today he might be in Iraq. Would the Germans boycott rock 'n roll?” - Keith

“I have one for the non-libertarians. Why is it wrong for an individual to steal from, murder or defraud someone but its OK for a gang of individuals (a state) to do the same things on a much larger scale?" - Jay Jardine

Alan comes hard up on the fact that Canada is probably doomed to Liberalism. That’s Liberalism, not liberalism. There’s a difference. He also Imagines the problems Arthur Fonzarelli would encounter in Quebec.

"Maybe Roots Canada didn’t get the memo on how to operate a business in Gaff-anda and so do not comprehend the full implications of giving to the Liberal party of Canada. By the way, guess who is dressing the US Olympic Team on Parade for 2006?" - The Last Amazon

"As ever you remain a tawdry, tedious and complete fool with ideas so 'soft' you might want to seriously look into those internet pharmacy adds for viagra and see if they come in an intellectual form." – Chris from Striving Against Opposition pens an open letter to Liberal dinosaur Lloyd Axworthy on his recent Missile Defense “observations” to Condi Rice.

Get some Conservative swag. Why does that sound really naughty to me?

Curt writes about the difference between tradition and nostalgia


Darcey talks about Canadian meat bull and wood. I know it sounds naughty, but it really isn’t. Much.

“Canadians take inordinate pleasure in bashing the United States but boy nothing hurts our feelings the most -- or gets our dander up -- is when Americans insult us or worse ignore us.” - Steve from Enter Stage Right.

Keith points out how Canadian tax dollars and our hand-me-downs continue to fund a country that claims they officially banned slavery in 2003, but which refuses to admit that slavery continues to this day within its borders.

Image of the day brought to you by Frozen In Montreal. Paul is doing his part in keeping us royally informed.

DirtCrashr, one of our American brothers, illustrates that some makeovers are extreme.

John of Castle Argghhh! argues that the IDF are misguided and that in fact RPG players do in fact develop transferable skills that can be put to good use in the military. He then invites his readers to submit their own top ten lists of reasons why the IDF should happily embrace the geeks!

Five Canadian communities have made the top 25 list of the most livable cities in the world. Andrew stops to ponder that in spite of his belly-aching, Canada is in fact a great place to live.

Wow. And that is taking into consideration that “Canadian's standard of living is slipping.” - Hammer into Anvil. James is amazed that you can make the list of Canada’s Richest by joining, I mean owning a circus.

Myrick evokes my husband’s favourite Hong Kong action movies by going Very Woo and then has an internal dilemma regarding his nose hair.

Victor, host of the previous Red Ensign Standard, has thoughts about digging out from under the Instalanche.

"Marmaduke thinks he's people, Cathy fights that urge to eat that chocolate cake and Garfield, well Garfield sold out a long long time ago -- there, I just saved you 15 seconds off of your daily routine for the rest of your life" —Stephen Taylor, on funny-page hacks who aren’t funny anymore.


"I'm a bit leery of the whole "blogs vs. MSM" stuff myself, but occasionally someone will stick their big dumb head out of the gopher hole, and then I think it's everyone's responsibility to smash it with a big mallet until it goes away. Don't you?" The Monger

"So one in four voting retards would mark a ballot for Uncle Joe? I've no doubt he'd be wildly popular among the ironically apparelled rock-the-vote hipsters, but I bet he'd also rate highly with the hysterical anti-obesity / anti-smoking crusaders, who are always searching for a "strong leader" to harness their common dreams to." - Jay Jardine

Nationalism = Unconstitutional! - Paul at Ravishing Light discusses the latest touchy-feely report about our “prone to violence” military.

“He's of a sick mind and his ideas are quite repulsive. But if those ideas cannot be soundly defeated by the reasonable through public discourse, what does that say about our resolve in promoting the truth over the hateful?” - BumfOnline on Ernst Zundel

Anthroblogology says Communists are stupid, liars, and get people killed

“So what is the difference between the homeless guy on the street corner begging for spare change and Robert Milton? Besides quantity, I can't think of any either." - Peter Rempel, Rempelia Prime

Damian expresses his ire at the defamatory comments made by journalists about ‘the kind of people’ that join the military.

Angry in the Great White North thinks about Victim Impact Statements and the Naked Gun movies at the same time, but finds no humour in it. He also casts an eye internationally to the Giuliana Sgrena case. First, he points out that the US military has a habit of being very honest and self-critical, as this tragic story shows. Second, he considers the far out possibility that this whole kidnapping was a farce gone bad. If so, Sgrena and her paper are guilty of far more than mischief.

To be fair, I don't think all public sector employees are worthless, feckless, unmotivated leeches bleeding the life out of the productive, economy-driving private sector. - Chris Taylor soliciting opinions on public sector employment

Chris’ post above, has of course messed with Ben’s head: “Essentially, the American populace, a majority of whom did not go to college, is heavily subsidizing my master's degree. Can I justify this?” Sure you can, Ben. Try harder. Don’t let Chris warp your God-given right to accept money from strangers who want to give it to you. Besides, you'll probably be offered a job down there and will contribute to their tax base- Rue

Tipper at tipperography questions whether governments can do anything to maximize "happiness" unless it involves creating a Dept. of Links and Hits to provide for a more equitable distribution of links in the blogosphere. In the meantime, the government of Ontario is doing its best to lower Tipper's happiness level with legislation banning certain breeds of dogs. But since she is living in South Bend, Indiana for the time being, the impact of the dog breed ban be put on hold, while she enjoys an opportunity to see (well, sort of "see") President George W. Bush during a recent visit to the area.

The Meatriarchy details what happens when worlds collide and Canadian right-leaning bloggers meet the conspiracy-minded ugliness of the mainstream media. Over beer.

Will the mainstream media survive with their wits…ah…intact? (Ah, screw it, you know what I meant!)

"Y’know I was gonna comment on that at the time but I feared that I would be the one fingered based on the old “whoever smelled it dealt it” law. Now we know who the culprit was. Maybe less burritos next time Zerb."- The Meatriarchy!)


“All we need are white linen suits, gin and a common beastial private school upbringing.” -Alan, GenX at 40 on Cricket

Alan is also looking for participants for his 2005 Hockey Sports Pool

"In that respect I feel quite comfortable standing shoulder to shoulder with Bobby Clarke and saying "j'accuse". If you still hockey's beating heart the rest of the body is not far from death" Striving Against Opposition

"I wondered how they could possibly think segregating the sexes would make things easier. Trying to solve a 'bathroom dilemma' by alienating the men from the women is ridiculous--if you want to set back women's hockey another century, that would do it." - The Mad Sister
Ith: One of our American sisters with a Victoria BC past, keeps us posted on the latest in what’s hot on TV. SPOILER WARNING! It appears that in Canada we are a week behind with Battlestar Galactica.

Paul: Covered the low point of the 55th Festival di Sanremo. MIKE TYSON SINGS!!!

Huck provides us with two not-so-garden variety movie and book reviews!

Thank you Dana for pointing out that even the Iraqis watch bad reality TV.

Hammer and Anvil takes care of all your Doctor Who needs, and The Kraut expresses his disappointment at the absence of daleks.


It’s a boy! Congratulations go out to Intermittent Stream


“I’ m 22 years old - getting fairly old by undergraduate standards but still very young in the grand scheme. Perhaps I should milk the opportunity to stay in school for as long as I can, or at least as long as my finances permit.” - Hypothesis.ca As good a start to a personal ad as I can think of...

Rightjab posts on Paul Martin and his crush on U2’s Bono. I’d fight him for Bono, if it was eighties Bono! The years (or is it the alcohol?) are taking their toll. Now we know why Martin’s so in favour of same sex marriage. - Rue Rightjab’s also giving up smokes.

Big, Balding member of VRWC will soon be seeking employment. Specializes in communicating improbable computer viruses to invading alien motherships using a Treo 600, and then taking lovely pictures of said destruction for his blog.

Do your part to support the Third Annual International Eat an Animal for PETA Day. Spread the Word. - The Last Amazon

"sweethearts not bleeding hearts". - The Tiger in Winter chuckles at the tagline for conservativematch.com, a dating service for Conservatives…


Over at doxology there’s been discussion about Bishop Fred Henry’s pronouncement that Prime Minister Martin should refrain from taking communion due to his pushing through of same-sex marriage legislation.

John the Mad had this to say about Catholic bishops and Members of Parliament.

North Western Winds cites G.E.M. Anscombe’s essay "Contraception and Chastity", in order to glean his reader’s thoughts on the subject.

Congratulations go out to Rebecca for having received her long-awaited “declaration of nullity” !

"It's very sad how Italian-American spirituality has been viewed by the Irish and German-dominated hierarchy in North America. It seems they're wanting to force a wedge between Christianity and the occult. Whereas Roman Catholics see where each flow into one another without much need for differentiation or distinction." - Rue of Abraca-Pocus!