Behold! Canada's most disgusting export, by Mark Morford

[madokie]

Behold! Canada's most disgusting export
Nothing like Alberta's's revolting oilsands to destroy your optimism
By Mark Morford

Are you having one of those days? One of those moments where you feel like you've endured a simply relentless onslaught of negative news and economic hardship coupled to endless rounds of cretinous politicians -- all of whom enjoy fully paid health care on your tab -- debating whether or not you'll be able to afford to see a doctor ever again, all to the point where you say, you know what? I need just one more.

Just one more really good, depressing story to put me over the top, ruin not just my day but maybe taint my entire month, a tale so vicious and disheartening I immediately start yelling at my boyfriend for no real reason and slam the cupboard because I realized I'm out of peanut butter, and I absolutely refuse to smile at anyone because they're all clearly complicit in making this world a bleak and miserable hellpit of oh my God you suck.

Why, sweetheart, step on over here for a moment. I have just what you need. You need to read a bit more about Alberta's infamous oilsands.

Have you heard? Have you taken even a cursory peek lately into the oversized eco nightmare that is Canada's monstrous, pollutive, disgusting hellholes of rapacious greed and pollution and destruction and sheer capitalistic joy? I bet you have. ...

(click here to read the rest)

(Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/10/07/notes100709.DTL&nl=fix)



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[Ikonoklast]

1. And here I thought it was Poutaine.

[Mist]

8. Looking up "poutaine" and finding it to be "beef gravy on french fries, with cheese curds," I can

only wonder why McD's and Burger King haven't started selling it. Sounds like it would be a big hit with many of our supersized consumers...

[Altoid_Cyclist]

11. Like this guy?

MMMMMMMMMMMM poutaine!!

[Lucy Goosey]

16. MacDonalds does sell it here (Ottawa, Canada). KFC, too.

It might be a regional thing, since Ottawa is on the Quebec border - they probably don't sell it in Alberta, for example.

I have also had it in Upstate NY, close to the border - only they pronounce it wrong. It's supposed to be, roughly, poo-teen, but they were pronouncing the last syllable as if it rhymed with "wine". (By the way, a smooth red wine goes great with poutine!)

[SidDithers]

10. It's actually Poutine, without the "a"...

and it's a wonder of taste and texture. :)

It used to be lumberjack food. Hearty and full of energy for guys who were burning thousands of calories a day.

Sid

[Ikonoklast]

12. It looks like what a lumberjack would leave in the woods the next day

after eating it for dinner the night before.

[JBoy]

15. Good poutine is awesome. One of the things I miss about living back east.

When I worked in Ottawa there was nothing better for lunch on a cold winter day than a steaming styrofoam container of crispy poutine from a chip wagon.

I was at a diner once in Moncton NB, and ordered a burger and fries. Waitress asks "Do you want to poutinize that?" For an extra buck I could turn the fries into poutine. My answer was "oh yeah".

[piratefish08]

2. This might be a close second. When I lived in Switzerland, they sold horse meat.

According to the local "metzgerei" (butcher) it was imported from Canada........


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat

[madokie]

4. I think they may have put horse meat in the c rations we eat in 'Nam

it was something that sure didn't taste like beef or have the same texture like beef does. As I look back the red meat and potato's, as it was labeled, IIRC, was my favorite of the rations.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

3. What's one more eco-disaster to some people?

I'm not sure why it is, but some people don't seem to understand the concept that we only have ONE planet to live on.

This has become such a throw-away society that they must feel as though that extends to the planet Earth also.

[Botany]

5. What is Canada's most disgusting export?

[madokie]

6. I don't know who that is

I mean I can read his name but other than that I have no clue who he is.

[Mist]

7. How, how can you diss Alex? nt

[Botany]

9. I'll take google Trebek for $1,000 please

[Lucy Goosey]

18. Blasphemy!

I got my degree in Philosophy from the University of Ottawa; Trebek also got his degree in Philosophy there, so I have a soft spot for him. I wish he wasn't such an arrogant ass, though.

[CanSocDem]

13. Clearly....

...many posters worry more about their next meal. Gee, there might be something to that....


.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. I recommend you follow the link from Mark's article to the 'before and after pictures'. I traveled

through Alberta in 1988, during the fall, and it was so beautiful.

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. +4

[caballero]

17. And yet there are still people who think nuclear power is -worse-

:eyes:

[populistdriven]

19. omg go into Google Earth and type in "alberta oil sands"

the area stripped mined (this is just one mine) is 26 miles long and 5 miles wide and they are just getting started

there are lots of photos in there too (small blue boxes)






the tailings pond in the below two photos is 4 miles by 2 miles in size





from the WWF

"Canada is home to approximately 30% world’s boreal forests, which include pine, fir, spruce, aspen and a number of other tree species. But oil and gas exploration has resulted in a significant loss of forest in some regions of Canada. In Alberta, extracting oil sands from under the forests is an energy and water intensive process, producing 3 times as much CO2 per barrel as normal oil production. This is significantly contributing to Canada's greenhouse gas emissions."

[GliderGuider]

20. Here's another candidate for that honour

David Frum.

Y'all are welcome to keep him...

[mdmc]

21. --

[charlie]

23. Huh. "yelling at my boyfriend" is now "yelling at my girlfriend"

Morford's a switch hitter? :)