More Canada Day Re-Posts

 

Because you don't live in the socialist utopia that exists North of the 48th parallel let me inform you about how things are up here. We might bitch a little but we got it pretty good up here. I live in a beautiful, park-like city with great seasons to experience all year long. I have easy, full and free access to two doctors and many other professionals dedicated to my better health and welfare. I pay next to nothing for my access to satellite TV and fiber optic internet speed and there are never disruptions in service.

 

My grocery shelves are full of food, especially garlic stuffed olives from Greece and fresh garlic French bread - two of my favorite combinations of eats. My country is ethnic and cosmopolitan so there is no economic barriers to my enjoyment of the delicacies of other nations whenever my tummy growls for them. I don't worry about the safety of the food I am eating.

The streetlights work as does the plumbing.

When you call a cop or an ambulance they are there in minutes. Same goes for the fire fighters.

Every spring they clean and wash the streets. When it snows, the roads are cleared within 24 hrs.

Tim Horton's - and I don't even drink coffee but I do enjoy their donuts.

I can grow mostly flowers in my garden so that I can help the bees. We all know we are nothing without the bees. If I WANTED to grow vegetables, I could because I live on the most fertile part of this good Earth. You should see the zucchini and radishes we can produce with next to no effort. Massive, like the size of a baby's head.

Our superheroes are cooler and we DID invent Superman, the most American of all heroes.

(click to enlarge)

My entertainment industry may suck but no one tries harder to entertain and enlighten than Canadians. More of us are in Hollywood than you think. There are no people who understand comedy more than Canadians do. Living with others during the long, cold winters gives you a sense of humor. If you don't have one you just don't survive.

We have also been schooled (through the CBC) by getting to see the best of American and British comedy programs for decades. We are in a unique position to judge what is funny and what is not. We just KNOW funny. It's in our DNA.

We also make Heartland which is a beautiful family drama about horses and the people who live with them in Alberta. I am not ashamed to say I never miss an episode - no matter how corny it can get.

 

 

I get to enjoy all the best things about American culture without actually having to BE an American. It's sad to see how dysfunctional the American system of government is. One side doing all they can to keep the other side from achieving anything for the American people. Working for the people should be the Republican's only concern. Instead they choose to act like bigoted asswipes. Good luck ever getting elected again.

 

 

Say what you want about our Parliamentary style of government but shit gets done. Within 12 hours of the huge floods that hit my province last week, the military was mobilized to help. How long did it take New Orleans to get it's shit together after Hurricane Katrina?

 

 

I live in a country that worships a violent sporting event that takes place on ice with participants armored as much to protect them from the hard ice and the hard puck but especially to protect them from the even harder players. That is also the sport where a handshake ends every championship series. No other sport has that kind of tradition.

 

My air is safe to breath and the water from my taps is clean. My bath water doesn't light on fire because of fracking being done in my area. Any spills or environmental damage caused by the oil industry is dealt with immediately and effectively.

 

My mother is safe to go about her life and travel the world on a well used Canadian passport. A lifetime of hard work was rewarded by the system - the system that wasn't allow to put her pensions at risk and the life insurance companies paid off like they were suppose too.

 

When my father was dying of cancer we never felt that his hospital stays and special needs would bankrupt the family. As a citizen and a veteran, all those things were paid for and taken care of just like they paid for his hearing aids. As an artillery man, that kind of damage was predictable and it was easy for him to get the treatment he needed despite having the pre-existing condition.

 

Even after death, Veterans Affairs pays for our yard work and snow removal. It's a huge load off my fat ass. I like some chores but shovelling snow and moving the lawn isn't one of them. I am more a laundry, dishwasher, and vacuuming kind of guy.

 

I live in a neighborhood with large trees and near neighbors who know how to mind their business. There is no loud yelling or late night parties. Only the crows and the garbage truck wakes you up in the morning but that only happens once a week when my garbage is picked up without fail. I can even leave out recyclables and that big tub of stuff stays out of the landfill too. The city makes it easy for me to 'do my part'.

 

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

 

 

Once A Year I Play This Song

Star Trek: The Next Generation 30th Anniversary, by Dusty Abell

Dusty is the master at these character posters featuring everyone  you remember from various pop culture franchises. This Star Trek one is great. The detail is just insane but I love it. I need to do a post of all his great stuff.

 

From The Caturday Files

 

It's True If You Believe It

On July 1st, 1867, Shania Eileen Regina Edwards Twain formed the Dominion of Canada. In 1982 she passed the Canada Act that allowed the country full independence from Britain. Today the country is one of the wealthiest in the world with the tenth highest global income.

Thanks Shania.

Happy Canada Day!

 

Happy Canada Day Image Blizzard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am on a Canadian love-fest tonight. I so love this land. When I say the word CANADA it means the following things:

IT MEANS that you are the best example of European sensibilities that respect people enough to offer a basic level of support to all who live within our borders.

Sure it may cost you in taxes sometimes but what you get back when the government combines that revenue is worth far more than what individual people paid to get it.

I have never found waiting times to be severe when compared to nations who do not offer socialized medicine to their people. In those systems the rich get great treatment but the poor, handicapped and disadvantages do not.

IT MEANS there is no profit motive in our medical system. No one is making money off the misery of their fellow human beings.

IT MEANS big corporations cannot have undue and harmful influence in our system.

Regulations are in place to insure that Corporations must follow certain guidelines if they want to exist. They are forced to be more responsible with their actions or pay a heavy price of their greed so they don't take risky chances with peoples lives or their health or their environment. Check out how Alberta's oil and gas industry is regulated. The 'tar sands' would look like the Gulf of Mexico does now if the Oil companies were allowed to do whatever they wanted here.

 

IT MEANS the lives of your young men and women are not tossed away fighting futile wars in foreign lands for selfish reasons.

IT MEANS we are Peacekeepers and not war makers.

IT MEANS that our 'blood and treasure' are used to enrich our country not enrich the military industrial complex whose lack of need for should have led to them being dismantaled after WWII.

If there is no one to fight then there is no need to built weapons to fight them. If the weapons are there then politicians will find an excuse (or create one in the case of the recent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan) to use them especially if they are heavily influence by large campaign contributions. Power for a few becomes more important than the price the society is forced to pay for individuals holding on to their politcal power.

IT MEANS peace of mind that medically you and your family are protected in times of emergencies.

IT MEANS your population is progressive and educated. It's giving your children the best possible chance to create a good future for themselves because they are educated and the opportunities are there for them if they choose to take advantage of them.

IT MEANS that your politicians can't create disharmony by pitting one group against the other for selfish gain because, again, there is less discontent to exploit. Any politician trying to do that is run out of town on a rail for even suggesting that our problems are the fault of the blacks or the Jews or the browns or immigrants.

IT MEANS our two cultures, English and French, have found a way to compromise with each other that benefits both cultures and elevates the nation as a whole. In other places a difference in language and culture leads to many atrocities, misery and death (Serbia, Kosovo and Albania for examples)

IT MEANS we learn the lessons of history and avoid repeating our mistakes.

IT MEANS the people are not fearful or distrustful of those who are 'different' than them and accept these differences far more easily (Gay marriage, immigrant's rights, fairness between the genders ect).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What The Hell Is This?