"The selection of a longtime associate of the Bush entourage, however eminent, may not inspire great public confidence. The families who have courageously fought for this commission may well wonder whether Kissinger has the independence and the integrity to perform the job adequately. There are reasons for doubt that extend beyond the former secretary of state's legendary propensity for prevarication, secrecy and worse. As Daniel Schorr predicted on NPR this afternoon, "What is sure is that Dr. Kissinger will do nothing to embarrass the president."

The most significant problem, aside from Kissinger's obvious partisan and personal ties to the White House, is the same issue that has dogged him ever since he left government for private life: Kissinger, Inc. As a glorified fixer for multinational corporations, he brings an inherent conflict of interest into almost any public responsibility -- especially a job that may require him to examine the behavior of the Saudi government, for instance. "

Joe Conason on Bush's naming of Henry Kissinger as chairman of the independent 9/11 probe.

"The favorite Canadian quote on cross-border relations came from the late Pierre Trudeau.  Living next door to the U.S., the former prime minister said, is like sleeping with an elephant; you feel every twitch and grunt.

He was perhaps too diplomatic to point out that Canada is actually more like a flea on an elephant's ass -- invisible unless we prove too annoying, and then easily crushed. That's a fact Canadians are forced to accept. But it doesn't lead to fond feelings.

Recently I was talking to some friends about that Ben Franklin documentary and happened to mention the inspiration French revolutionaries took from the Americans. My friends were skeptical -- surely, they insisted, the American Revolution must have followed the French. The idea that those heroic peasants from "Les Misérables" lit their torches from an American flame seemed impossible to my Canadian peers. Today's America is viewed as Republican -- not bravely-manning-the-barricades republican, not teaching-the-world-the-ways-of-liberty republican. George W. Bush Republican.

And we know what Canadians call him."

An interesting article in Salon on what our friends to the north think of Dubya and his America.