Tube City Almanac

March 05, 2008

Meanwhile, In Lieu of Content

Category: Cartoons, General Nonsense, Mon Valley Miscellany || By



Scott Fybush asked me to contribute something about Myron Cope for Monday's edition of NorthEast Radio Watch. That was the result.

I'm not entirely happy with the cartoon, which I did Saturday night, but at the time I was already starting to feel like I'd been run down by the 56C and dragged for three blocks.

Oh well. As one of my first editors told me, "They can't all be Pulitzers, boy."

Another Scott --- my former Observer-Reporter cow-orker Scott Beveridge, globe-trotter and man about the mid-Mon Valley --- recently reviewed North Versailles Township's Casa d'Ice.

Casa d'Ice is the restaurant in the former North Versailles Ice Co. on Route 30, near the Westmoreland County line, that's nationally known for the often profane, but never boring, signs posted on its message board.

The owner, Bill Balsamico, has always used the sign as a sounding board for his personal opinions. (Years ago, he was engaged in a long running feud with the former Norwin Dodge up the street: "IF YOU WANT A PIECE OF SH-T, GO TO NORWIN DODGE.") After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the signs became increasingly jingoistic.

Lately, illegal immigration has been Balsamico's pet peeve. Like the rest of us, he's worried about all of the Mexican immigrants who are swimming across Turtle Creek into North Versailles to take our high-paying jobs at Aldi and Wal-Mart.

Frankly, Balsamico's signs don't do much for my appetite, and I've voted with my wallet: Casa d'Ice is one of the few Mon-Yough restaurants where I've never eaten.

Luckily, according to Scott, I'm not missing much:

He might as well keep drawing customers to the bar with those signs because his food doesn't make a bold statement. My hamburger and fries came plopped on a layer of tin foil spread across a plastic serving tray. The food wasn't so hot.


It's anti-American comments like that which embolden our enemies, Scott.

Or should I say ... Señor Beveridge?






Your Comments are Welcome!

In lieu of content? That conversation would propel Firing Line into the 21st century. William F. Buckley Jr. debating John Kenneth Galbraith was interesting; sparring with Norman Mailer was exciting, challenging Gore Vidal, memorable. Buckley and Cope — that would be the spoken Super Bowl! The urbane intellectualism of the upper crust meets the experiential erudition of the hard crust; Sailboats vs. Steelers. Of course, both men were much more than that. They were multi-dimensional and multi-talented. Hm-hah, there’s plenty of content in that cartoon.

The notoriety of Casa d’Ice goes beyond The Washington Post. A blogger who wrote the “Top 5 things I saw in America which, as a Canadian, freaked me right out,” rated the profane political messages as number 1. That posting was submitted to the social media site, Digg where it received 3,159 diggs and 1,034 comments.
http://digg.com/politics/Top_5_things_I_saw_in_America_which_freaked_me_out

The source blog garnered another 1,205 comments, one of them mine:
I’m not surprised by the sentiments at Casa d’Ice in North Versailles, PA. Several decades ago, an “Impeach Earl Warren” sign had a prominent spot along the same highway, less than a mile to the west. (Earl Warren was the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1953-1969). It appears that a new generation of the local John Birch conservative culture has added xenophobia to it’s agenda. In balance, there are nearby communities where election day vote tallies for Republican candidates struggle to reach 3 digits.
Comment by Strisi — 10 January, 2008 @ 2:44 am

I don’t know what Mr. Cope’s political views were, but he had class and good manners. Mr. Buckley, the leading voice of American conservatism, was staunchly anti-Communist, but he renounced the extreme views of the John Birch Society.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Goldwater—the-John-Birch-Society—and-Me-11248

Mr. Buckley was more critical of lawmakers’ attempts to deal with illegal immigration than of the aliens themselves.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjhjZGIwNTUyNTA4YTM2M2JmMmJjNjBlNWM2NGQ5ZGI=

I suspect that like Scott Beveridge, William F. Buckley Jr. wouldn’t have enjoyed Bill Balsamico’s burgers. Mr. Buckley would have probably considered the signs at Casa d’Ice even more distasteful.
Strisi - March 06, 2008



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