I recognize that many of my friends vote differently than I do and that diversity makes this country the best in the world.
We live in a democracy which as Candadians, we have fought around the world to defend democracy and to do an ‘end-around’ the democratic process is an insult to all who gave their lives to protect the process.
You may not agree with the present government but voting against this coalition is the right thing to do as consent will undermine all that our forefathers have worked hard to build: DEMOCRACY.
Approval of this coalition open’s a ‘Pandora’s Box’, makes Canada look like a 3rd world country and most importantly sends a clear message to our youth that their vote DOES NOT count.
(The best thing about Canada is that a democracy gives you the right to agree, sign & forward this petition, or to disagree and post your feelings right here on this blog.)
PETITION:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CANADIAN/petition.html
If you're on Facebook - please join in the conversation here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51804386194#/group.php?gid=51804386194
Monday, December 1, 2008
What Does Democracy mean in Canada?
Wow - I just don't understand what's going on here. This whole "coalition" idea of taking over the country because the other 3 parties agree to disagree with the (just) elected government doesn't make any sense to me.
I keep hearing things like "1 out of 3 Canadians didn't vote for the Conservatives" so they band together. What I don't understand is how they can claim the votes for each of them were simply a vote against Stephen Harper. If the votes were all the same, then why do these 3 parties exist? If a Liberal is an NDP and is also the same as the Bloc Quebecois (a Party whose mandate is simply to break up the nation) then why do they have their own parties???
In the poor, oversees, "corrupt" countries, they rig elections and take over governments by force because they want the power. Ok, so in this case, the Parties are using Separatists instead of machine guns, but the end result is the same. Dion went on record stating the Green Shift was "what was best for Canadians" but "Canadians couldn't understand it." To me, that means that he, as opposed to Canadians, knows what is best for us. Too bad we were so ignorant; couldn't see the light and therefore didn't vote for him (in record numbers.)
Now, he has the opportunity to again take his shot at the PMO and get himself back in - and now they can actually do what is right for Canadians, because apparently we are too stupid to have known better and done the right thing - electing the Libs just weeks ago??? (So really, the best leader for Canada is a leader of a party that couldn't win seats in the last election and a leader that isn't even supported by his own Party???!?)
What about the guise they are doing this under? In the last NDP caucus (teleconference) they mistakenly invited a Conservative to call in and attend - he did. He also recorded it. In the call, Layton said on-record, that this whole coalition thing has been in the works for a long time - he went so far as to state that this was not just thrown together over 3 days to react to the last throne speech.
So this whole plot was cooked up long ago and was their backdoor in, should they actually have lost the last election - which they did, so now they're enacting it?
I just don't get it - how is this a democracy? The "educated politicians" seemingly know better than the lay-electorate and therefore can disregard our "uninformed whims" and take over because they want to, and because they "know best" for us?
This is too much - regardless of what party you back, this is ludicrous. I think this whole idea of a British Parliamentary System, the concept of Governor General representing the Crown, even our Lieutenant Governor provincially is just an outdated joke. We need some major political change.
Just my 2 cents.
I keep hearing things like "1 out of 3 Canadians didn't vote for the Conservatives" so they band together. What I don't understand is how they can claim the votes for each of them were simply a vote against Stephen Harper. If the votes were all the same, then why do these 3 parties exist? If a Liberal is an NDP and is also the same as the Bloc Quebecois (a Party whose mandate is simply to break up the nation) then why do they have their own parties???
In the poor, oversees, "corrupt" countries, they rig elections and take over governments by force because they want the power. Ok, so in this case, the Parties are using Separatists instead of machine guns, but the end result is the same. Dion went on record stating the Green Shift was "what was best for Canadians" but "Canadians couldn't understand it." To me, that means that he, as opposed to Canadians, knows what is best for us. Too bad we were so ignorant; couldn't see the light and therefore didn't vote for him (in record numbers.)
Now, he has the opportunity to again take his shot at the PMO and get himself back in - and now they can actually do what is right for Canadians, because apparently we are too stupid to have known better and done the right thing - electing the Libs just weeks ago??? (So really, the best leader for Canada is a leader of a party that couldn't win seats in the last election and a leader that isn't even supported by his own Party???!?)
What about the guise they are doing this under? In the last NDP caucus (teleconference) they mistakenly invited a Conservative to call in and attend - he did. He also recorded it. In the call, Layton said on-record, that this whole coalition thing has been in the works for a long time - he went so far as to state that this was not just thrown together over 3 days to react to the last throne speech.
So this whole plot was cooked up long ago and was their backdoor in, should they actually have lost the last election - which they did, so now they're enacting it?
I just don't get it - how is this a democracy? The "educated politicians" seemingly know better than the lay-electorate and therefore can disregard our "uninformed whims" and take over because they want to, and because they "know best" for us?
This is too much - regardless of what party you back, this is ludicrous. I think this whole idea of a British Parliamentary System, the concept of Governor General representing the Crown, even our Lieutenant Governor provincially is just an outdated joke. We need some major political change.
Just my 2 cents.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Going Green?
I came across a site today that caught my eye - One Million Acts of Green. Its part of the CBC, but don't hold that against them... Its full of lots of tips and projects both small and large that you can do to improve your environmental footprint. Most of them end up saving you money too, so regardless of your position on global warming and greenhouse gases, even Scrooge himself would be interested in something like this.
Check it out, sign up and see how much you can do to help reduce pollution, and your monthly expenses! Go Green!
Check it out, sign up and see how much you can do to help reduce pollution, and your monthly expenses! Go Green!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
What's up with those steaks?
When Chris and Irene (my wife, Carri's parents) came over last weekend, as usual they brought along their "suggestion" for dinner - in other words, showed up with dinner.
Wow - I have to say, normally its something fun to try, or something that Irene normally doesn't get to have at home since she and Chris agree on somewhat limited areas of culinary choices... At any rate, this time the entree du jour was "Cowboy Steaks" -some promo that Chris had won on a Calgary radio station. When I looked at them, I was somewhat less than impressed. Cross Rib steaks, individually vac-packed and frozen. Bleck - this is not something I was looking forward to!
Ok, so... What do we do with this??? A ha! We are going to need to marinate! Acids and flavours to the rescue! Unfortunately, I had already popped the steaks into the refrigerator to thaw, and by the time the marinade idea hit me on Sunday, it was too late to let them thaw in the sauce... I seem to find the flavours more intense and the meat more-tender if (when dealing with frozen meats,) the marinade is poured over the meat THEN thawed, not the other way around.
Ok, so that ship had sailed, time for something with some heart and a good deal of time to soak up and tenderize.
I found a recipe as follows:
1 cup olive oil (extra virgin – come on, we want flavour here, right?)
½ cup red or white wine (we used Carri’s home-made Amarone wine– yum!)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic (at least! I probably tripled that. Sorry, but when it comes to the stinking rose, who measures???)
2 Tbsp fresh parsley (or favourite herb -whatever you have on-hand)
2 tsp Italian seasoning (we didn’t have this, so I used oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary and a bit of savoury)
½ tsp black pepper (I doubled that, fresh ground of coarse... -he he)
1 tsp Crushed red peppercorns
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp sugar
Blend up and pour over meat in a big Ziploc bag, marinate for at least 15 min.
I made a double batch, reserved ¼ for basting while grilling steaks, and another ¼ was heated to use as a sauce for the steaks. (ie. ½ set aside, and the original amount was actually used as a marinade.) -this was plenty for 6 steaks, about 9 oz each. We could’ve probably done more steaks in it, this recipe would be pretty flexible.
We marinated for 5 hours in the fridge with this sauce, and I added an intermediate step of “frustration venting” –I beat the ever-loving-piss out of them with my fists as well, after all, they were cross rib steaks, so some "tenderizing" was in order.
I pulled the steaks out of the fridge and left them to come to room temperature on the counter for a good hour, maybe an hour and a half. If possible, I never put cold steaks on the grill. As a final step, once they were just ready to hit the flames, I hit them with a shaker of Montreal Steak Spice. We use the Clubhouse brand -Carri gets it in a 2 pound bottle at Costco. We seem to go thru about one a month!
Anyway, I'm not sure if there was something done to the steaks ahead of time or not, but after 5 hours in this marinade, they were SUPER tender and VERY flavourful. We have 2 left from Sunday that we’ll be grilling tonite – they’ve been marinating for two days now... Can’t wait! What a turn around! From "Bleck" to "Wow" in a few hours.
Try this marinade and let me know how it works for you! :)
Wow - I have to say, normally its something fun to try, or something that Irene normally doesn't get to have at home since she and Chris agree on somewhat limited areas of culinary choices... At any rate, this time the entree du jour was "Cowboy Steaks" -some promo that Chris had won on a Calgary radio station. When I looked at them, I was somewhat less than impressed. Cross Rib steaks, individually vac-packed and frozen. Bleck - this is not something I was looking forward to!
Ok, so... What do we do with this??? A ha! We are going to need to marinate! Acids and flavours to the rescue! Unfortunately, I had already popped the steaks into the refrigerator to thaw, and by the time the marinade idea hit me on Sunday, it was too late to let them thaw in the sauce... I seem to find the flavours more intense and the meat more-tender if (when dealing with frozen meats,) the marinade is poured over the meat THEN thawed, not the other way around.
Ok, so that ship had sailed, time for something with some heart and a good deal of time to soak up and tenderize.
I found a recipe as follows:
1 cup olive oil (extra virgin – come on, we want flavour here, right?)
½ cup red or white wine (we used Carri’s home-made Amarone wine– yum!)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic (at least! I probably tripled that. Sorry, but when it comes to the stinking rose, who measures???)
2 Tbsp fresh parsley (or favourite herb -whatever you have on-hand)
2 tsp Italian seasoning (we didn’t have this, so I used oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary and a bit of savoury)
½ tsp black pepper (I doubled that, fresh ground of coarse... -he he)
1 tsp Crushed red peppercorns
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp sugar
Blend up and pour over meat in a big Ziploc bag, marinate for at least 15 min.
I made a double batch, reserved ¼ for basting while grilling steaks, and another ¼ was heated to use as a sauce for the steaks. (ie. ½ set aside, and the original amount was actually used as a marinade.) -this was plenty for 6 steaks, about 9 oz each. We could’ve probably done more steaks in it, this recipe would be pretty flexible.
We marinated for 5 hours in the fridge with this sauce, and I added an intermediate step of “frustration venting” –I beat the ever-loving-piss out of them with my fists as well, after all, they were cross rib steaks, so some "tenderizing" was in order.
I pulled the steaks out of the fridge and left them to come to room temperature on the counter for a good hour, maybe an hour and a half. If possible, I never put cold steaks on the grill. As a final step, once they were just ready to hit the flames, I hit them with a shaker of Montreal Steak Spice. We use the Clubhouse brand -Carri gets it in a 2 pound bottle at Costco. We seem to go thru about one a month!
Anyway, I'm not sure if there was something done to the steaks ahead of time or not, but after 5 hours in this marinade, they were SUPER tender and VERY flavourful. We have 2 left from Sunday that we’ll be grilling tonite – they’ve been marinating for two days now... Can’t wait! What a turn around! From "Bleck" to "Wow" in a few hours.
Try this marinade and let me know how it works for you! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)