About Canadians

Although they hate knowing that they are very Americanish, and can sometimes be very rude about it, the Canadians are so Americanish, pleasant, and just all-around nice that one is hard put to dislike them. Besides which, they have good comedians. A story from one of The Devout Life's correspondents about National Review writer and former White House speechwriter (and Canadian!) David Frum:

I do wish Brother (David) Frum were not doing what he is doing (i.e. now fundraising against Bush). This is a Canadian thing to do: split the conservative movement thereby guaranteeing success of the devil in future elections.

Sometimes we can't help being Canadian, however. I remember, years ago, when Frumsingh lived in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, & worked at WSJ. I was crashing at his place. We rode downtown together on the subway, late one morning. There was an M-LBM (mean-looking black man) distributing commercial handbills through the subway car. In addition to passing them out, he left one copy on each unoccupied seat.

Frum's dander rose. He courageously pursued the M-LBM to the far end of the car, picking up spare copies of the handbills along his way. I followed behind him, thinking, "Frum is going to be killed. As his buddy I am obliged to die with him. How could I face his widow, alive?"

Click here to find out whether Frum got his face rearranged.