dear ryan,

thanks for feedback. do think bumming in japan is a bit different to bumming in third world due to gradient of wealth, all i say is if you have college education and you're going for the same few dollars as local glue-sniffing homeless streetkids there's something deeply wrong with you. not sure with economy of scale, or whatever, but the locals are aware of said gradient, its quite literally a different world if you go for semiotics (as in first vs third). socially aware u.s. citizens? yes, of course.

and what exactly is a conversation school?

news from Canada:
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BUSH- A MORON?

OTTAWA -- One of the prime minister's top aides has
stepped down after referring to U.S. President George
W. Bush as a "moron."

"To avoid continuing controversy, Francoise Ducros has
decided to leave her position as director of
communications in the Prime Minister's Office and
accelerate by some weeks her planned return to the
public service from which she had been seconded,"
Percy Downe, chief of staff, said in a statement
Tuesday.

See below for text of Ducros and Chretien letters

Ducros sparked a storm last week when she referred to
Bush as a "moron" in a private conversation with a
reporter in the media room at the NATO summit in
Prague. The comment was overheard by another reporter
who published the remark.

Opposition politicians had been calling for Prime
Minister Jean Chretien to dump Ducros, saying the
comment hurt relations with the U.S. They noted that
an Iraqi newspaper had cited the remark as proof the
U.S. president is "the most hated person in the
world."

Ducros apologized for her comment last week and
offered to resign, but Chretien rejected her
resignation at that time.

But in a letter of resignation to Chretien on Tuesday,
Ducros wrote: "It is very apparent to me that the
controversy will make it impossible for me to do my
job."

Chretien accepted the resignation, responding in a
letter: "In your almost four years as director of
communications, you have served the government as a
whole, and me personally, with extraordinary skill and
dedication."
The controversy spread to CNN, with commentators on a
talk show debating the impact of the insult on
Canada-U.S. relations.

"I understand [Ms. Ducros] offered to resign," said
Robert Novak, a co-host of CNN's Crossfire. "But Prime
Minister Chrétien refused to accept the resignation.
So who's the moron?"

Jonah Goldberg, a syndicated columnist, said Ms.
Ducros' comment, in which she called Mr. Bush a
"moron" in front of reporters in the media briefing
room at the NATO summit in Prague, was indicative of
the government's attitude toward the Bush
administration.

"It reflects what the Liberal Canadian government and
liberal elites on the east coast think of the U.S.
government," he said. Mr. Goldberg also criticized
Canada as "remarkably undemocratic," using our
appointed Senate and near-absence of free votes in the
House of Commons as examples.

James Carville, the Louisiana firebrand and Democratic
strategist best known for running Bill Clinton's
presidential campaigns, downplayed the significance of
the communications director's remark.

"Big deal," Mr. Carville said. "[Mr. Bush] has been
called a lot worse by people here."

Mr. Novak then showed a clip from a CBC television
interview in September in which Mr. Chrétien linked
Western "arrogance" and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. "He said [Sept. 11 was] America's fault for
being greedy," Mr. Novak said.

Meanwhile, calls for the Prime Minister to accept Ms.
Ducros' resignation offer continued in the House of
Commons. The Alliance and the Tories argued that Mr.
Chrétien's decision to keep Ms. Ducros in her position
gives the appearance that he condones the comments.
The Opposition also pointed out that Ms. Ducros'
comments were cited in an Iraqi newspaper as evidence
that the world was against Mr. Bush.

Mr. Chrétien was not in the House of Commons
yesterday, but John Manley, the Deputy Prime Minister,
said it was time to "move on."

Roger Gallaway, a Liberal MP from the border riding of
Sarnia-Lambton, Ont., said many of constituents were
talking about the comments when he was home for the
weekend.

The general view was: "Of course he's a moron,
but...," he said.

"I heard from a number of people who have
uncomplimentary views of Mr. Bush but who maintain
that he is the President of the United States and that
Canadians, particularly those attending conferences
where he is present, should be extremely circumspect
about their comments and that private views ought not
be expressed by public officials in such places.