Yankee Love

(Disclaimer: My heart belongs to Canada, I am an extremely patriotic Canadian and am very proud to be Canadian. I AM CANADIAN!)

Notwithstanding the disclaimer, I feel I must declare my sincere admiration for the United States. Rather than bog you down with broken prose and block paragraphs, how about a little list, a la David Letterman.

Top 10 Reasons the United States Rocks:

10. The United States has the (excuse my language here) balls to go out on a limb and stand up for what is right. The United States has a set of values (freedom, liberty, equality, et cetera) and is not ashamed of them. It is willing to defend them, for both Americans and non-Americans. For isn't that the true barometer of one's belief: that I love what I have so much that I feel the overwhelming need to share it?

9. Don't mess with Texas. (because my name is Dallas, get it...?)

8. Jazz.

7. The birth of suburbia. I don't particularly appreciate suburbia today, but I just love the history of the 50's exodus to the suburbs. What an amazing phenomenon: in one generation people were able to own their own large, beautiful homes and transform their lives.

6. Income tax. Appropriately low, tax-deductible mortgage interest. Excellent.

5. The military. Sorry, it's impressive. The American's dedication to their big toys keeps the world safe.

4. The House of Representatives. I love the free-voting system and the rare imposition of party discipline. A democrat from New York can agree with a Republican from Utah. It happens.

3. Hollywood. Nowhere else in the world is there such a concentration of entertainers. It's an amazing concept: a bunch of people whose sole purpose in life is to make you laugh, cry or be afraid. Most of them would do it free, I believe....

2. ---

1. Charlie Wilson.