Bad news from Canada, the US, and Holland

My morning did not start that good: the radio told me right away that Canadians elected Tory Party leader Stephen Harper as their next prime minister. His platform: better relations with George W. Bush, tax cuts and more money to the military. He has also said he might have Parliament revisit a previous decision in Canada that allows same-sex marriages. If I lived in Canada, not that of a long shot since they love ice hockey, snow and timber as we Swedes do, he would never get my vote.

The day went on and then I heard Republicans call Supreme Court hopeful Samuel Alito "one of the most qualified nominees ever". Since all ten Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee stand behind this statement, the committee will give him a positive recommendation (there are only eight Democrats on the committee).

And now I just read that the Dutch Minister of migration, a Rita Verdonk of the “liberal" party VVD, has said that only one language shall be spoken on the streets of the Netherlands (and that language is Dutch, of course).

The Minister’s idea is that immigrants should be obliged to pay a fee, in order to then take a compulsory language and culture test. In Amsterdam you have some 173 nationalities and 24 million tourists every year. Are we supposed to have study groups on the Belgian side of the border together?