The Violence Worker!

Canadian Cooking Ain't Got No Soul

The Canadian people are some of the best anywhere.  They are some of the most hospitable people I've ever met in all my travels.  Unlike the hospitality, the local beaneries are mostly mundane.  To put it another  way, Canadian restaurant food is just plain...well...plain.  Canadian Cuisine is tasteless.  Fries with gravy, cheese curds (or Mozzarella) called "poutine" and peameal bacon (what we call Canadian bacon) seems to make up the sum total of cuisine Canada.   What's left is really not worth bragging about.   

Yesterday, I decided to eat some spaghetti and meatballs some place.  I was tired of burgers, fries, steak, and chicken in various recipes and incarnations along with other standard restaurant fare.  I went to a place here in Belleville called "Eastside Mario's".  Eastside Mario's bills itself as an "American/Italian Bistro".  In a word, it was awful.  I indeed ordered spaghetti and meatballs.  Honestly, the meatballs weren't too bad. They indeed had a modicum of flavor.  However, the sauce was as tasty as you would get out of  Chef Boyardee.  It was pure tomato sauce with a little bit of meat spread over some limp spaghetti noodles.  There were no signs of anything resembling an herb or a spice. You know, the little green bits of oregano, basil, rosemary and such that you can see in a jar of Prego?  Yeah, that stuff.

Breakfasts have been minor disasters.  The one place I actually had decent food, the service was so slow, it wasn't worth it. 

Then there was the Denny's Harpy.  After listening to some head waitress whose sister was Iris and her parents were Echidna and Typhon, I got a little bit of an idea of the plight of Phineas.  Every time a dish would appear from the kitchen, this gal would call out for the intended waitress in the most piercing and shrill voice imaginable.  I left my breakfast on the counter, half eaten.  Every other bite was jarred by a shrill call for "Sheila Please!" or "Rachel Please!".  Sadly, Jason and his Argonauts didn't show up to save me from her shrieks. I told the manager he needed a new system.  Most places have great service so don't be put off by a couple of bad apples.

Mexican food?  Forget it.  There is one so-called Mexican restaurant in this area and it's about as Mexican as Mario's is Italian.  The only thing Mexican about that place is that they serve Corona - I think.  No spice, no flavor - blah.

There is one notable exception here in the area.  There is a restaurant in Trenton called Tomaso's.  They are an Italian style eatery with a patio outback with a gorgeous view of the Trent River.  The food is Italian and Mediterranean and tastes like it.  Reservations are recommended because it is always crowded.  Even the Canadians know good food when they finally taste it!

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Saying Goodbye

Yesterday was a somber day here at CFB Trenton.  Yesterday afternoon, a Canadian CC-150 Polaris (A modified Airbus 320) landed with the remains of two of Canada's finest.  Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier and Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne, both of Quebec, were brought home to rest.  MWO Mercier and Master Cpl. Duchesne were killed August 22 by an IED not far from Kandahar, Afghanistan.  I stood at the fence line with about 300 others as the plane landed and the flag-draped caskets were brought off the plane for a brief ceremony before being loaded into waiting hearses for the 105 mile trip to Toronto where the remains will be examined before they are returned to Quebec for burial.

MWO Mercier was a member of the storied Royal 22nd "Vandoo" Regiment of Quebec.  Vandoo is a bastardization of the French word for twenty-two -- Vingt-Deux

Master Corporal Duchesne was a unit medic with the 5th Field Ambulance.

(Above photos from the official site of the Royal 22nd Regiment)

I carried both a Canadian and US flag and held them out as the hearses drove by along with others with flags.  A couple people asked about the flag and I just told them that I was there to show my support and pay my respects for the two Canadian heroes.  Other than that, I pretty much kept in the background. 

Many in the crowd were the Canadian equivalent to our Patriot Guard Riders here in the states.

The procession leaves the airfield and will pass our side of the road east bound as they head for the 401 highway.  The Canadians want to rename the stretch between Toronto and Trenton as the Highway of the Heroes.  Canadians line the overpasses waving flags and banners as the processions, escorted by the civilian Provcial Police, pass underneath.

Rest In Peace soldiers and may God comfort your loved ones.

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He Really Can't Be Serious!

"I strongly urge President Bush to nominate a new attorney general who will respect our laws and restore the integrity of the office." — Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Maker's Mark.

You know, I think Bush ought to nominate that old reprobate and alleged murderer to Attorney General.  Wouldn't that be a hoot?  I wonder if Dirty Harry Reid would consider him the wrong man also?  Just wondering.

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Paging Doctor Canada! You Have Patients Waiting!

The much vaunted (by liberals) Canadian health care system is not in the best of shape.  Doctors are leaving in enough numbers to make the situation critical. 

Many doctors have so many patients that they just can't take on any more.  The government says they can't pay them more and yet, they can't make enough to pay their student loans.  If you are an American ex-pat or working up here on a work permit, you will find it even harder to find a doctor to treat you.  If a doctor takes on an Americaan patient, his malpractice insurance rates will skyrocket because their experience is that Americans will be more likely to sue than a Canadian patient.

There are several Americans here from my company that are here on 5 year work permits.  They cannot find a local doctor willing to take them on because of the shortage and because, well, because they are Americans.  They are looking at getting an American doctor in New York State three or four hours away for routine healthcare and using the emergency room at the local hospital for more immediate concerns.

Remember that mother that recently gave birth to quadruplets in Minnesota?  She was from Canada.  Canada did not have the facilities to care for her and her babies and no, she didn't take fertility drugs, it was one of those things we call "flukes".

We have a problem in the US, but it is not getting adequate healthcare.  One of our biggest problems is that our tort system is way out of whack, causing everybody's (Our's and the Doctors) insurance premiums to be way out of whack. 

Whatever our problems are in the US, having the Government run health care will not provide an adequate solution.  That should be obvious to most folks that have taken an honest look at socialized medicine.

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The Americans

I remember when this came over the radio back in the early 70's.  Mr. Sinclare could have run for President and gotten elected

Gordon Sinclair
    Radio Station CFBR 1010
    2 St. Clair Avenue West
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada

   

"LET'S BE PERSONAL"
    Broadcast June 5, 1973
    CFRB, Toronto, Ontario
    Topic: "The Americans"

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British     exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has     declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the     Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.    

   

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods     on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The     Americans did.

   

They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger.     Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has     sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were     lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and     forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest     on its remaining debts to the United States.

   

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it     up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there.     I saw it.

   

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into     help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59     American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

   

The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars     into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the     decadent war-mongering Americans.

   

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United     States dollar build its own airplanes.

   

Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the     Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them?     Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land     on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon?

   

You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German     technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men     on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about     scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at.     Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of     them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma     and Pa at home to spend here.

   

When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if     they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the Israel     bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that     won't shake apart in earthquakes.

   

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was     the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central     went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000     times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

   

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I     don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

   

Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing     them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they     do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their     present troubles.

   

I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.     And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans     this morning that it was broke.

   

This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and     nobody...but nobody... has helped.

Dirt Track Demons

Who needs NASCAR?!  Sunday afternoon, I went out to Brighton, Ontario Speedway.  The husband of one of the folks (Corporal Jen) we've been working with here at CFB Trenton was entered into a 200 lap endurance race. The cars were street stock jalopies slightly modified for the track.  The windows were removed, airbags disconnected (supposed to be anyway), and a few had a roll cage.  The idea is to race for 200 laps on a muddy track.  It's quite a site.

   

The Water Truck prepares the goo!

Corporal Jen's Hubby, Corporal Dave, in the 31D car coming out of the pits to start the race.

31D is in the middle in the second row behind the #29 car.  They started the cars cold from that position on turn 4.  51 cars in all started the race.

31D breaks out of the pack at the start in 2nd place.  He had to exit after the 12th lap.  He bumped someone and spring a leak in the radiator.  Some got it a bit worse:

This young lady (yes, many of the drivers were women and in this case, a 15 year old girl) was t-boned pretty hard right in front of us.  She was OK, just a little shaken up. 

However, the driver of this car wasn't so lucky.  He was taken away in an ambulance.  He got rear ended and hit pretty hard.  He'll be OK, they said.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the winning car. 

What a way to spend an afternoon!  Watching amateur racers live out their NASCAR dreams.

It doesn't get anybetter than that.  I'm planning on going back next Saturday night!

VW

Vandals

I don't have a driveway in front and I don't like to go around to the alley to park in my backyard so I park my car out front at the curb.

I have a little Kia Rio I drive back and forth to work and around town because it gets pretty good gas mileage. On the back window, I have some Bush bumper stickers from the '04 election. I've thought about removing them a time or two, but there always seems to be something more important to do. By now I figured it's close enough to the next election that I would replace them when the next candidate came along.

Well, it seems that someone decided they didn't like them on my car. They took a can of black spray paint to my back window and spray painted them out. Since I'm here in Canada for another month and a half, the chore of cleaning up the mess goes to my wife.

Now I don't know if it was just kids or someone who is so imbued with hatred, they think by vandalizing my property, they've given me what I deserve for daring to support President Bush in the last election. I suspect the latter. There is precedence. I'm sure there are jerks out there from my side of the fence who've done similar. Shame on them as well!

To steal yard signs, or to damage or destroy another's property simply because you don't like another's view point does not speak well of you and unfortunately, it tends to make those on your side look bad. I say this to anyone of any political persuasion. It's a crime to vandalize people's property.

I guess I just don't understand the thought process of anyone who does things like that. Damaging my car did not teach me any kind of political lesson. It will not sway me to change my ideology. It sure doesn't make the perp look real mature.

This is America - Land of the free and home of the brave. Political intimidation does not belong here. I should be able to have a bumper sticker on my car for any candidate I choose. If you don't like my choice, that's fine, just leave it alone!

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Working Hard

Please bear with me.  I'm busy with work and have little time to post.  I'll try and get some things out this weekend.

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My Hero

From Kelly at American Infidel

Ain't nothing I can add to that!

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Ron Paul Supporters - Why They Are Losers

I got a comment today from an idiot Ron Paul supporter.  This guy's IQ is about three points lower than an average steaming pile.  He has absolutely no sense.  This was a comment to a post I did almost two years ago titled: Hitler Was Not Elected To Anything!

Hello. I've been to your site before and I would like to say that I am not for one party or another, but vote for the person I think is best suited for the job.

You can see it coming from about 300 miles away here can't you?  He's "not for one party or another".  It's either a liberal or a Ron Paulite.  Usually, they are Paulites. Oh, and just to clarify things hero, if you are voting for someone you think isn't "best suited", you really shouldn't be voting.  What an idiotic thing to say.

For some time now I've come to believe that Ron Paul would make a good president because of his non intervention foreign policy. We should trade freely with other countries, but we should avoid war unless it's absolutely necessary.

Heck. I'm for that.  So is every major Presidential candidate running from either party!  Genius, I tell ya, sheer genius this guy.

Now this is where Davey Dumbass really shows his ignorance.

Also I would like to ask you why you believe history books are accurate all the time, since it sounds that way when you tell people to look at history? You've obviously seen a lot in your military life but how can any of us know it all since none of us can witness it all? Did you fight the nazies? How can you know how Hitler was elected, exactly? Any and all information has to be questioned since there is the human element of exaggeration and distortion and propaganda and lies... ..and that includes questioning history books, and questioning who writes history and who stands to gain from it. You can't be a fly on the wall all the time.

Dave Demoise

Hey Dumbass, or Dimwit or Dipshit or whatever your last name is, just exactly where did you get an education? Are you really that stupid naturally or did you have to practice being dumber than rock?

No, I didn't fight the nazies(sic). (It's Nazis, you dumbass - you probably don't even know what the word means!) Your assertion that we don't have any kind of accurate history of the Third Reich is one of the most idiotic statements I've seen in a while.  Hitler's rise and fall is probably one of the most documented periods in all of history.  The Weimar Republic's ( or the Second Reich as the Germans referred to it) elections and the dealings of the National Assembly are a matter of record.  You see Dumbass, it was in the 1920s and 1930s.  We had movies and radio.  We had newspapers.  The National Assembly kept records as did the government.  Elections and appointments were meticulously recorded.  Now, if this  was 1935 BC instead of 1935 AD, you might have a point, pinhead. 

So, unless you have something specific that proves my history wrong, shut up and go pound sand up your over-sized rectal orifice until it comes out your Dumbo ears.

DUMBASS!

VW