canadienmike

I come from a socialist country and I understand how socialized health care works. Lots of people from Canada are coming here for health care regardless of cost. What does that say to you that they are willing to pay big bucks to something they can get for 'free' back home? It says to me that there is something broken. Private health providers are on the rise in Canada and doing very well. Some of the problems back home are the wait times for anything major. Need and MRI? Get ready to wait 6-18 months. That knee replacement? You should have it in 18-24 months. Need to go to the ER? Unless you are having a heart attack, get ready to wait 18 hours. Move and need a new doctor? Good luck with that if you are in a small town. A friend of mine's aunt died because of this. She had cancer in remission but needed follow ups and they moved to another small town. She couldn't find a doctor to see, so the cancer came back and by the time she saw a doctor it was too late. No system is perfect, but to say that socailized health care always works and is the best system is not quite accurate. There are costs to every system.

I'll do that. Are you going to the meet and shoot on Saturday down and Owl Hollow? I was planning on going but I'm having to drive up to west Virginia this weekend for a funeral.

Witt's is terrible. I don't even consider it BBQ.

McDougal's Chicken Fingers and Wings in Cool Springs was not posted when I ate there last night.

You showed me your XDM last week when I dropped my BMW off. I had on the XD9. Plus I thought I saw you in the picture of the dinner at Pie in the Sky and put 2 and 2 together actually came up with 4 this time.

Dang, I'm bummed. I was planning on coming this weekend and looking forward to meeting everyone, but my wife's grandmother passed away this morning so we'll be heading up to West Virginia. I hope to make it out next month.

How about this source then? http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf

Welcome. You wouldn't happen to work in an auto repair shop in Franklin would you?

Gaudio's in Astoria.

Gotta agree with you on this, Joey's is true NY pizza. Makes me miss my little pizza joint back in Queens that caused me to gain 30 pounds

I wouldn't quite agree with all of that. I think if I was in that situation I would definately draw and be prepared to fire if he came around after me. It wouldn't take someone long to get to the other side of a car and get a good swing in which might not give you time to draw and fire. I think if someone is threatening you with a baseball bat, you would be justified in drawing the weapon.

I'm jealous. There really is nothing like fresh seafood right off the boat. That's one of the things I miss.

Steamed are good, with a little melted butter to dip them in. We used to go clamming on the beach when i was younger and them steam them up when we got back to the cottage. Nothing like fresh clams. Did you fry up whole clams? If you did, where did you find them?

So very true

The fried clams are hard to find, I'm going to have to settle for the clam strips, which aren't nearly as good as whole clams, but they will have to do. Where were you able to find fried clams? When I go back to Canada, there is a little hole in the wall diner on the coast that serves the best fried clams I've ever had, and you get a HUGE plate of them. Now my mouth is watering just thinking of them...

You should see some of the looks I get when I tell people about poutine It is rather close in name to that other word...and both are enjoyable

Poutine is a Quebec dish that is french fries covered with shredded mozzarella cheese (or cheese curds if you can find them) and then smothered in a brown beef gravy so the cheese melts. Mmmmmm...can feel my arteries hardening already It's really good.

While this might seem early, for me today is Canada Day. It was on this day in 1867 that we gained our independence from Britain (sort of). We saw how you were able to gain your freedom and wanted that for ourselves. Of course in typical Canadian fashion, we waited for almost 100 years to make sure it would stick So tonight I'll be enjoying a plate of fried clams, poutine and a cold Moosehead.

Yeah, this was part of it. Another part had to do with the breakdown of the family unit and how in the beginning of a sucessful civilization/empire/whatever word you want to call it, the family unit is the most important aspect and that over time the importance of this decreases and as it does, so does society. Divorce increases, people place a higher value on their 'wants' and won't make the sacrifices to keep family together. It becomes about 'do what feels good now' and the family unit no longer holds that high place in society. Don't know if I'm explaining this all that well but hopefully you know what I'm trying to say

I wish I could find a link to an article I had read a couple of years ago that lists steps that all empires go through and the signs that an empire is coming to an end and it seemed that we were at the tail end of the decline side (stuff like the overall acceptance of moral decay, apathy, dependance of gov't, etc). Scary stuff.

Not soon enough.

Very well said!

I agree. Anyone complaining about their shoes is an idiot. Actually, I pretty much agree with everything you said here. And maybe using the term PTSD is a little over the top. This situation cannot compare to soldiers that are constantly in stressful situations where they could die at any time and it wasn't my intent to equate the two. My point was that if a person needed counselling, then it should be covered by insurance regardless of how much is needed. And again, that is up to a professional to determine. Some people can bounch back really easily from something like this and some people may need a little more time. Even though they did all survive, I'm sure they thought they were going to die and I'm sure to some that would cause some emotional trauma.

PTSD not being the case is your opinion. I think that diagnosis should be left up to professionals. Who is to say what causes that? People react differently to stressful situations, and in the case of children, they most likely don't have the ability to just brush it aside and be thankful they are alive. And in some cases, a parent giving them a bug hug isn't going to make it all better. If a professional deems someone on that flight to be suffering from PTSD then I think it should be covered under insurance just like any other medical expenses. As for personal items lost, then I agree that the $5000 that the airline gave them should be enough.

I agree with this statement. The people should have any medical expenses covered and the insurance should cover that, I mean isn't that the point of insurance?