Bush/Canada Relations Similar to Sark/Ginger Relations

The international relations of George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Harper are strikingly similar to the domestic relations between myself, my sister-in-law Ginger and my brother, Don.

Here's a couple of paragraphs of a speech George W. Bush made in Cancun recently, followed by a speech I made last night at McAnn's to the new sales dev guy who started this week:

George W. Bush said: "I view the relationship with Canada as a vital relationship for the United States. The relationship, of course, is defined government-to-government. It's also defined people-to-people, and there's a lot of people in my country who respect Canada and have great relations with Canadians, and we intend to keep it that way.

The Prime Minister, of course, was -- made an emphatic case for softwood lumber. And I appreciate his steely resolve to get something done. And I assured him that our intention is to negotiate in good faith, in a timely fashion to resolve this issue. And I appreciate your -- appreciate you pushing."

Paul M. Sark said: I view the relationship with Ginger as a vital relationship. The relationship, of course, is defined in-law-to-in-law. It's also defined people-to-people, and there's a lot of people on my side of the family who respect Ginger and have had great relations with Ginger, especially myself, who had the first relationship with Ginger after her divorce.

My brother, of course, was -- made an emphatic case for inter-family relations as he was the one who hit on Ginger first. And I appreciate his steely resolve to get something done. And I assured him that my intention is to let him negotiate with Ginger in good faith, in a timely fashion to resolve this issue. And I appreciate his -- appreciate his pushing.

As I told the new sales dev guy, relations between governments and people are complex and sometimes messy, but by working together to open and maintain commerce between people and governments we all ultimately serve mankind's best interests.

Still, though I believe that in my mind, I balked when the sales dev guy asked me for Ginger's number. But then I thought: "What would George W. do?"

Being an advocate of freedom and free trade and family values and all, seems on the surface to be a contradiction. But being a big believer in freedom like George W., and after the new guy bought me a few more single malts, I gave him Ginger's number. Her old non-working number!

I mean, there's freedom and there's freedom and then there's business. If you know what I mean.