Rod,
I peeked at your links. Interesting, but I would take this stuff with a grain of salt. When locals are polled, America gets bad marks from just about everywhere in the world (except maybe Israel).
We're the guys with the big stick and people resent the guy with the big stick (particularly liberals everywhere, who don't like big sticks, even in their own hands.) This IS NOT a statement about liberal vs conservative politics, merely an observation that Canadian attitutdes about the USA look a lot like, say, European attitudes.
I only mention this because I worked with a Canadian bank (in its New York office) for more than a decade and spent considerable time in the great white North. I came away with enormous affection for the place. No one ever gave me a hard time about being American, although lots of folks hated Bush. Even if you are a staunch Bush supporter, he didn't win many popularity contests abroad - Canada is no different than most places in that respect.
However, if you prefer to "Buy USA", I certainly won't argue with you.
Marty
