From Illinois with love

[quote]
Gov. Pat Quinn today signed an agreement with China to export as much as 30 million pounds of Asian carp a year from the Illinois River, a move aimed at reducing the population of the invasive species downstate.

Flanked by state lawmakers and business leaders from Illinois and China, Quinn said of the Asian carp crisis, “if you can’t beat 'em, eat 'em.”[/quote]

So what do you guys think? Can Illinois strike gold here and pull itself out of massive debt by exporting fish?

If Lake Michigan is all up. and Erie’s been for quite some time, Lord help those geriatric longhairs from Essex County.
So says: Aye, ready, Aye! And We Let Loose The Freak Flags Flying!
HuZZaH!

Erie, AYe?

Brilliant move. American CARP to China. Chinese love to eat carp. I do occasionally too, even if its too fresh water tasting for me, and too many bones.

[quote=“TheGingerMan”]If Lake Michigan is all up. and Erie’s been for quite some time, Lord help those geriatric longhairs from Essex County.
So says: Aye, ready, Aye! And We Let Loose The Freak Flags Flying!
HuZZaH!

Erie, AYe?[/quote]

Sorry, my decoder is busted at the moment.

[quote=“Namahottie”]

[quote]
Gov. Pat Quinn today signed an agreement with China to export as much as 30 million pounds of Asian carp a year from the Illinois River, a move aimed at reducing the population of the invasive species downstate.[/quote][/quote]

Man, I totally read this as “30 million pounds of Asian CRAP a year…”

I was thinkin, like, DAMN, that’s a lot of Apple Sidra and Ah Mei CDs!!

Bullshit agreement between 2 bullshit govts.

Think about the logistics of catching, processing and shipping 30 million lbs of carp in Illinois. If you haven’t been to or know about Illinois, then all you need to know is that when the rest of the country was going gangbusters on growth, it was the 3rd slowest growing state after I believe Michigan and Ohio(not sure about this one). It’s corruption is so bad that they have 2 different organizations dealing in corruption, the Chicago machine and the Illinois Combine.

Waiting for expose showing the IL govt subsidizing fish eaten in China.

See I don’t know why we can’t just eat them here. For some reason I thought I read somewhere they weren’t edible. shrugs shoulders

[quote=“Okami”]It’s corruption is so bad that they have 2 different organizations dealing in corruption, the Chicago machine and the Illinois Combine.

Waiting for expose showing the IL govt subsidizing fish eaten in China.[/quote]

So then we should be right at home in dealing with China. :bravo:

See I don’t know why we can’t just eat them here. For some reason I thought I read somewhere they weren’t edible. shrugs shoulders[/quote]They’re edible but they have too many bones, are bottom feeders and most rich country consumers hate eating fish with lots of bones. In my family, you never ate carp unless you were dirt poor and had nothing else, even then you’d probably eat bluegill instead or use the carp as bait to catch snapping turtles :lick: or bullhead catfish.

Edit Being bottom feeders, they are difficult to catch on most bait iirc. They were most commonly caught in my neck of the woods with a bow and arrow when they went to spawn in shallow water.

See I don’t know why we can’t just eat them here. For some reason I thought I read somewhere they weren’t edible. shrugs shoulders[/quote]
They aren’t. Lots of Asians and Euros eat 'em though. Disgusting fish.
I can still remember a restaurant down south someplace where the specialty was these huge carp. You went in a big group, chose a carp and they prepared the various bits of it “nine different ways.” I scrawled “and each way still tastes like shite” on the bottom of the menu. Its probably still there. Awful!

There was a restaurant right near the dam in Shihmen Dam that served very good fresh water carp at reasonable prices. pretty tasty honghsow (sorry spelling) you know? yea but watch the bones, they will stab ya .

[quote=“housecat”][quote=“TheGingerMan”]If Lake Michigan is all up. and Erie’s been for quite some time, Lord help those geriatric longhairs from Essex County.
So says: Aye, ready, Aye! And We Let Loose The Freak Flags Flying!
HuZZaH!

Erie, AYe?[/quote]

Sorry, my decoder is busted at the moment.[/quote]

Sorry, got a trifle carried away there. The fact of the matter is that The Great Lakes are by and large no longer great. And, as if to slap yon good folk in the face, not much lake there besides.
And whence, I am back upon the fold, I shall run for city hall seats, always having to refer to my opponents as “long-haired” due to their refusal to ride for The GonZo Brand. Call it a kitschy quirk, but it’s more like stratagem to me.
With the flags, and all that.
It’s just a Gong, Part Of A Song, to Beat Along.
Aye?
Essex County explains itself, as if it even had to. Point Pelee, and all that War of 1812 vibe. Tecumsuh, abandoned by The Brits, ridden on down by Kentucky Horse.
Those GodDamn Limeys!
:imp:

See I don’t know why we can’t just eat them here. For some reason I thought I read somewhere they weren’t edible. shrugs shoulders[/quote]
They aren’t. Lots of Asians and Euros eat 'em though. Disgusting fish.
I can still remember a restaurant down south someplace where the specialty was these huge carp. You went in a big group, chose a carp and they prepared the various bits of it “nine different ways.” I scrawled “and each way still tastes like shite” on the bottom of the menu. Its probably still there. Awful![/quote]

Whew. Good to know that my comprehension skills aren’t that messed up. :wink:

My throat is just swelling at the thought of what these things taste like from all your descriptions–and I"m allergic to fish, to boot.

So, I guess this is a case of one man’s fish is another man’s dish? Either way, the main question is when will this kick in and will it eventually help the state tackle it’s massive debt problems, particularly with education and transportation. Funny thing is, I haven’t seen any articles crunching the possible numbers about any benefits this will produce.

[quote=“Namahottie”]So, I guess this is a case of one man’s fish is another man’s dish? Either way, the main question is when will this kick in and will it eventually help the state tackle it’s massive debt problems, particularly with education and transportation. Funny thing is, I haven’t seen any articles crunching the possible numbers about any benefits this will produce.[/quote]It’s Illinois and that means short of making it a right-to-work state and cutting the massive red tape, it’s headed for bankruptcy. I believe they’re even beating California on interest rates on their bonds currently. Decertify the unions, forensic audit the state books, and cut every state employee’s pay by 20% and cut their benefits in half, then and only then might Illinois avoid the unprecedented step of a state going bankrupt.

Probably right, but we have to clear the nuckleheads out of office before we’re going to get anywhere…

[quote=“Namahottie”]Probably right, but we have to clear the nuckleheads out of office before we’re going to get anywhere…[/quote]The problem is between Cook, Monroe and St. Clair counties you have democratic machines that are basically in the business of enriching themselves to the detriment of the people that live in Illinois. You’re going to have to literally burn those 3 counties to the ground in order to change things. People often make the mistake thinking Cook County is the only bad place in Illinois, but Monroe and St. Clair hold their own. If you’ve ever heard of some outrageous judgement for an insane amount of money that was probably done in one of those 2 counties.

Never heard of those two counties. They must be downstate and that’s unusal for two counties outside of Cook to be heavily Democratic. Most of our state is GOP. Chicago is overall the blue “state” lol. Well, we’ll see next year. Daley is testing the waters to see if he should run for a 7th term. I pray to GOD that I’m out of here before the election. This city is going to hell.

Unfortunately most people and especially those in Chicago think Illinois is a smaller part of Chicago rather than the other way around.

Those 2 counties border St. Louis county and city on the Mississippi River and were heavily industrialized and heavily unionized. During the 80’s it was pretty common for thousands of layoffs to happen at a time every month. St. Clair county is basically just a subsidiary of Scott AFB and if Scott AFB left the whole area would look like something out of an apocalypse movie. East St. Louis is also there and always made sure to help imprint that MLK Drive is always the most dangerous road in any city in the US to be on for getting shot. They’re basically cesspits of corruption and clan politics that would surprise most people. That is the place that turned me into a conservative.

Basically any city ran by democrats is going to hell, especially the large ones. Ask Cedra Crenshaw how she is doing, though it should be better after a judge reinstated her on the ballot. :aiyo: :aiyo:

[quote=“Okami”]Unfortunately most people and especially those in Chicago think Illinois is a smaller part of Chicago rather than the other way around. [/quote] No they’re thinking the right way. :laughing:

[quote]Ask Cedra Crenshaw how she is doing, though it should be better after a judge reinstated her on the ballot. :aiyo: :aiyo:[/quote] :unamused: She’s a whiner who won’t give interviews. So I won’t bother again.

Laugh? :sick: It’s that kind of mentality, disdain for the hinterland, which is the much of the root of the problem in many a failing northern North American state/province.