Conceiving a Patriot
Today, when so many North Americans are going to the bus or car to get to work, many patriotic Russians will be going to bed to get to work. Lenin would be so proud.
The region of Ulyanovsk, on the Volga River about 550 miles east of Moscow already has secured its claim to fame as Lenin's place of origin. Ulyanovsk Governor Sergei Morozov has decided to take President Putin's appeal to Russian citizens to be a little more fruitful a step further. Russia has one-seventh of the world's land
surface but only 141.4 million citizens to inhabit it. That already makes it one of the world's most sparsely settled countries and the problem is just getting worse. Russia's low birthrate and high death rate has seen the population falling by almost half a percent each year. Putin's promise of cash incentives for families to have more than one child hasn't sufficiently lit the fires of patriotism, so Morozov has punched up the area's campaign.
Those who sign up to the campaign are given a half day off work to get down to brass tacks, so to speak. Parents who follow up this time off with the birth of a patriot nine months later on June 12th, Russia's national day, are in for some serious prizes. On the list of goodies to be won are cars and refrigerators, video cameras and washing machines, as well as cash.
Last year, more than 500 women signed up for the contest and on June 12 this year, 78 new patriots, exactly triple the region's daily average, were added to the census roll. The babies' entrance to this world is accompanied by the playing of Russia's national anthem, according to region officials. Everyone who has a baby on June 12 in Ulyanovsk gets a prize but only one couple wins the grand prize. They are selected by a committee that takes two weeks to reach their decision. This year, they awarded a UAZ-Patriot, an SUV, to the winners. Junior, apparently, arrived via C-section, to parents who assured everyone that they had wanted another child anyway, contest or no.
Hey Canada, I wonder what kind of prizes Harper would come up with for a similar campaign north of the 49th? Depending on what he offered, would you sign on for a half-day off work, to go to work on Canada's population?
The region of Ulyanovsk, on the Volga River about 550 miles east of Moscow already has secured its claim to fame as Lenin's place of origin. Ulyanovsk Governor Sergei Morozov has decided to take President Putin's appeal to Russian citizens to be a little more fruitful a step further. Russia has one-seventh of the world's land
surface but only 141.4 million citizens to inhabit it. That already makes it one of the world's most sparsely settled countries and the problem is just getting worse. Russia's low birthrate and high death rate has seen the population falling by almost half a percent each year. Putin's promise of cash incentives for families to have more than one child hasn't sufficiently lit the fires of patriotism, so Morozov has punched up the area's campaign.
Those who sign up to the campaign are given a half day off work to get down to brass tacks, so to speak. Parents who follow up this time off with the birth of a patriot nine months later on June 12th, Russia's national day, are in for some serious prizes. On the list of goodies to be won are cars and refrigerators, video cameras and washing machines, as well as cash.
Last year, more than 500 women signed up for the contest and on June 12 this year, 78 new patriots, exactly triple the region's daily average, were added to the census roll. The babies' entrance to this world is accompanied by the playing of Russia's national anthem, according to region officials. Everyone who has a baby on June 12 in Ulyanovsk gets a prize but only one couple wins the grand prize. They are selected by a committee that takes two weeks to reach their decision. This year, they awarded a UAZ-Patriot, an SUV, to the winners. Junior, apparently, arrived via C-section, to parents who assured everyone that they had wanted another child anyway, contest or no.
Hey Canada, I wonder what kind of prizes Harper would come up with for a similar campaign north of the 49th? Depending on what he offered, would you sign on for a half-day off work, to go to work on Canada's population?
1 Comments:
I'm not so sure the world needs more people ... patriotic Russians or not. Maybe Russia should open it's borders to immigrants ...
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