Rails from the Rails 22 – Political Musings

Rails from the Rails 22 – Political Musings

All Aboard: “In politics, madame, you need two things: friends, but above all an enemy.” Brian Mulroney.

Tickets Please: If you care to read an earlier Rail from the Rails on politics you can see it here. Allow me to share with you some further musings on politics.

• The leader who is the best politician at the moment is Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Now before you Harper-haters go off on a rant allow me to explain myself. This is not necessarily a compliment. Considering the negative impression most Canadians have about politicians, labeling one of them “the best” isn’t necessarily praise. I think Harper is the best because he plays the political game with more savvy than the other leaders do. His last minority government lasted longer than most thought it would and his new government has more support now than the last one. Were it not for the economic crash I think Harper may have had a majority government. We’ll see how the Conservatives fare this time around.

• I hate the negative advertising. But I hate the fact that it works even more. I hear many people complaining about the negative advertising that political parties use during elections. It seemed Dion got more than his fair share of the negativity but the Prime Minister got a dose as well. Many websites I visited had a banner ad at the top of the page that had a picture of Stephen Harper alongside George Bush as if they were running mates. The other parties fly under the radar for much of this type of propaganda. I’m guessing the Liberals and Conservatives do not feel the need to fight the NDP, Green Party, and Bloc in this fashion. I liken the complaints about negative advertising to the complaints that sports fans spew when talking about professional athlete’s salaries. Here’s an idea: if you think athletes are paid too much stop paying exorbitant ticket prices and stop buying jerseys and stop watching the games on TV. As matter of fact come to a CFL game because it is a lot cheaper and you probably make more than some of the guys on the field. Sport figure’s salaries and the effects of negative advertising are both something the average person is responsible for.

• What happened to the NDP and the Green Party? This was supposed to be their year. I guess not. I think in some respects they have the advantage when delivering promises: they’re not going to have to back them up. Elizabeth May was an intriguing personality during the debates. One thing she supports which I really like is the idea of income splitting. This would save my family thousands of dollars in taxes every year. But, I also realize she can put forward this idea on her platform with little chance of having to actually see it through. I think voters realize that the smaller parties aren’t held to the same level of scrutiny as the larger ones and take that into consideration when voting.

• Our election does seem boring compared to the US election frenzy. It has been quite a ride with starting with the battles that Obama and McCain fought to represent their parties. This was followed by the meteoric rise of Mrs. Palin and the ensuing media circus. And they are all appearing on Letterman and Saturday Night Live and Leno. And think of the money being spent. It’s high drama for sure. But would you want that here in Canada? Not I. I’ll take our process for us and watch their horse and pony show from afar.

• I heard on a radio talk show a caller complaining about the cost of the election to tax payers. The host informed the caller that it worked out to be about $25 per Canadian to cover the cost. That seems to me to be a small price to pay in order to participate in democracy.

Last Stop:

Where does the term Tory come from? The name originally applied in the 17th century to Irish Roman Catholic outlaws and bandits who harassed the English in Ireland. In the reign of Charles II the name came to be applied as an abusive term to supporters of the Crown. It came from the Irish word toraighe which means pursuer.

And what about Grit? “Clear Grits” were reformers in the Province of Upper Canada. Their support was concentrated among southwestern Ontario farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by a lack of democratic enthusiasm. "Clear Grit" was a complimentary term meaning tenacious or dedicated. The name derives from a quote by party member David Christie who describes the movement as "all sand and no dirt; clear grit all the way through", a reference to the type of sand preferred in the preparation of masonry. The word "Grit" is used as a neutral reference to members of the Liberal Party in English Canada.

Rails from the Rails 21 – Coffee Chronicles – Part 2

Rails from the Rails 21 – Coffee Chronicles – Part 2 (as seen here)

All Aboard: You can view Part 1 of the Coffee Chronicles on the Argos website

Tickets Please: I have made another monumental leap in my coffee consumption journey. In the aforementioned Rails from the Rails I shared with the reader about my penchant for great coffee and my pursuit of this quaff by grinding and brewing my coffee. Well I have taken yet another step in the process into my own hands; I now roast my own coffee. I bought a home roasting appliance called the I-Roast 2. Well, I actually did not buy it for myself rather my wife bought it for me as a Father’s Day gift. Since receiving the roaster I have put it through its paces and have roasted over 20 pounds of coffee. I also learned how to roast coffee with an air popcorn popper. Perhaps some of you youngsters did not realize that popcorn has not always been made in the microwave. The process of roasting coffee beans is quite interesting.

Roasting coffee beans is exactly what it sounds like. It is applying heat to the beans in order to roast them. Many roasters apply the heat to a drum which holds the beans. My home roaster applies the heat on a “bed” of hot air. It really is a glorified hot air popcorn popper. A coffee bean, which is actually a seed, is usually a greenish colour in its un-roasted state. When the roast begins it does not take long for the greenish colour to change to yellow and emit a grassy aroma. The heat begins to dry out the beans which naturally contain water. The roasting process does all of the following: release water from the bean, caramelize the natural sugars of the bean, release oils, and break down the beans structure. These processes continue until you remove the beans from the heat or until the beans combust. Removing the beans before combustion is crucial to deriving palatable coffee. The longer the heat is applied to the bean the darker the roast will be. Generally, the darkest coffee most of us drink is French roast. Different levels of roast produce a huge range of tastes and textures in the coffee and determining roast levels is very much a matter of personal preference. That is where home roasting comes in.

I now have the ability to roast my coffee to my own specifications. I can get my machine “dialed in” so that I can have coffee the exact way I like it. Now this isn’t all that easy as I have to garner this information through my own tests and trials. But the many cups that are produced in searching for the perfect brew are enjoyable in themselves. My wife has declared that I already have made the perfect cup of coffee. Early on in my experimentation I blended a dark Kenyan bean with a lighter-roasted Cost Rican bean and, in my wife’s opinion, this was the best to date. I keep notes on all the different beans and roasts so that if I do mange to make something worth trying again the information can be retrieved. It really is a lot of fun. And it has been going on for quite some time.

Traditional methods of roasting are believed to date back to the fourteenth century. Originally coffee was roasted in iron pans and it can still be roasted in similar fashion today. I have talked to some people whose parents or grandparents roasted their own coffee on the stove top or on baking sheets in the oven. Modern roasters can be very technological appliances as companies who sell coffee now need to be precise and consistent in making their particular brand. But there are still some who like to do it the traditional way.

Roasting coffee at home has been an interesting endeavour for me. It is yet another way for me to enjoy my beverage of choice. A little over the top? Perhaps. But wait until you taste a cup of my coffee.

Last Stop: Perhaps one day I’ll serve you a cop of coffee at the St.John Coffee house but until then you can consider this backhanded compliment served up by Duane Forde: While veterans Mike O'Shea, Chad Folk, and Jude St. John are clearly on the downside of their impressive careers, they remain valuable assets to the organization as mentors to the young Canadians who will one day succeed them. Ouch! Duane does a great job with his new job at TSN but don’t you think he could have given a fellow UWO alumnus a little more love than that? The truth hurts I guess.