Lemon Meringue Pie
Linda and J stopped by last night with a lemon meringue pie that was to die for. We had given them some Meyer lemons from our trees and they brought this over. Linda made the pie from a recipe from "
The Village Baker's Wife" which is written by the owner of
Gayle's Bakery in Capitola. You should buy it just to try this pie.
Messaging
Molly Ivins
writes about the Republican message on Social Security. Apparently it's undergoing a subtle shift:
Here's the state of play: Everybody went along in cheerful harmony describing the president's Social Security plan as "partial privatization," since it would allow younger workers to put a third or more of their payroll taxes into private accounts. President Bush called them "private accounts," everyone in the administration called them "private accounts," and Republicans, Democrats and the media all called them "private accounts."
Then, one day, some focus group showed that people, particularly older people, react negatively to any connection between Social Security and the word private. For some reason, people like the sound of "personal accounts" better than they do "private accounts."
So the Republicans, with their fabulous ability to march in lockstep, all about-faced and started referring to the privatization of Social Security as "personal accounts." The Republicans in Congress, the president, the administration and all its media supporters, both paid and unpaid, now insist on referring to the partial privatization plan as "setting up personal accounts." This is the new political correctness.
So watch to see if the message changes in the next weeks as the debate rages. I'm guessing Fox News picks it up immediately, being the good little Hitler messenger that they are.
No Child Left Behind
The No Child Left Behind Act, which is summarized on
Nochildleft.com as:
- Place unrealistic demands on public schools.
- Provide too little capacity building support and too little time to meet new demands.
- Label schools as failures.
- Permit wholesale transfers to a broad range of alternatives.
- Mandate transfer of public funding to charters and alternatives.
- Fund education of many previously private school children with public monies.
- Privatize.
- Privatize.
- Privatize.
has another side "benefit". According to C.W. Nevius, the No Child Left Behind Act
requires that all schools receiving federal funds (virtually all public schools) provide the phone numbers and addresses of high school students to military recruiters. That lead to this charming phone conversation between his son and a recruiter:
When the phone rang two weeks ago, our high school senior picked up.
"Heeeeeeey,'' said a jolly voice on the other end. "What's up?''
"Who is this?'' our son asked.
"It's Sgt. So-and-So from the Army,'' he said. "Just checking in to see how your senior year is going.''
"How did you get my home phone number?''
"Through the government,'' the sergeant said. "So, have you started your senior project yet?''
Things went downhill from there. The high school senior not only wanted to know how the Army got his number, he wanted to be taken off the list permanently. And the recruiter kept trying to get back to cheerful chat about the school year.
It did not go well. In fact, the recruiter ended up hanging up on his potential recruit. A little frustrated, apparently.
So, if you have a child of high school age, you can expect they'll (not the parent mind you) be receiving a phone call.
Wardrobe Malfunction
Dick Cheney decided to dress down while at a service at Auschwitz commemerating the liberation of Nazi death camps. Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan described Cheney's look at the deeply moving 60th anniversary service as "the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower." Other comments:
With Cheney's name embroidered on his olive-green parka, said the Post, "It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp."
"And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults," the Post said. The newspaper noted that the second-most-powerful man in the US government had a large choice of hats for the solemn memorial ceremony, attended by numerous European leaders. He opted instead for a black ski-cap cryptically stitched with the words "Staff 2001."
It was "the kind of hat a conventioneer might find in a goody bag," wrote Post Style section writer Robin Givhan.
Rob thinks he's a tool, I think he's a dick (I know, too easy).
A new use for beer
A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche
freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.
Encyclopedia Brown
For whatever reason I was trying to see if I could find online any of the Encyclopedia Brown stories I read as a kid...
Fred: The acid I have in this glass vial will eat through anything.
Encyclopedia Brown: I know Fred's lying
Sally: How?
EB: Because if it ate through anything, it would eat through that glass vial
Sally: You're so smart
Which lead me to
this story from
Modern Humorist. I almost wet my pants reading it... I'm afraid you had to read Encyclopedia Brown growing up to truly appreciate it.
I see dead people
Bush is promoting his
Social Security plan to blacks by saying that:
"it would benefit blacks since they tend to have shorter lives than some other Americans and end up paying in more than they get out."
Does anyone else think the larger question in that statement is "Why do Blacks live shorter lives!!!!!????" Could it be the policies of the Republicans toward minorities in this country lead to poorer access to health care? I'm appalled.
More Social Security
David Lazurus
writes again about the dangers of Bush's Social Security "plan".
"Yet the only measure Bush has advocated so far is establishment of private accounts that would place greater responsibility on ordinary workers to prepare for their retirement years.
Businesses, in turn, have embraced the president's plan, believing that private accounts will shield them from higher payroll taxes. A major business group says it will spend well over $5 million to persuade a wary public that private accounts are the way to go.
The upshot is that the two players in the Social Security equation with the most resources -- the government and employers -- are distancing themselves from working Americans, who are being asked to bear a greater risk for meeting their retirement needs."
We are going to be screwed if we allow Bush to move forward on this. Keep in mind, Bush only helps big business, oil and fundamentalist wackos. He is not looking out for my best interest or yours. This is an issue we need to contact our representatives in Congress about. Bush will not listen to us, but perhaps our representatives will. Use this link if you are unsure who your representative is.
1906 Earthquake
San Francisco supervisors are
revising the official death toll from the 1906 earthquake from 478 to a more realistic number. According to Gladys Hansen,
now the curator at the Museum of the City of San Francisco:
the tally overlooked single women, who were not registered in the city directory, as well as Chinese, Japanese and Irish workers, many of whom were illegal immigrants.
She puts the toll at closer to 3,000. I saw a presentation years ago, and it may have been by Gladys Hansen, where the presenter showed photos that had been retouched to minimize the earthquake damage. The thinking being (and this is from memory) that politicians didn't want to scare away business and settlers. A fire was an acceptable disaster given the Chicago fire of 1871, but an earthquake would scare away settlers and business.
Light bulbs
Courtesy of Rob:
Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?
Impugning Integrity
Condescending Rice's nomination as Secretary of State has given Democrats the opportunity to highlight her record. Some of the better lines:
- "I don't like impugning anyone's integrity, but I really don't like being lied to," Sen. Mark Dayton said. "Repeatedly, flagrantly, intentionally."
- "My vote against this nominee is my statement that this administration's lies must stop now," Dayton said in opposing Rice's nomination on the Senate floor.
- "Dr. Rice is responsible for some of the most overblown rhetoric that the administration used to scare the American people," Sen. Robert Byrd
And
Barbara Boxer's grilling of her last week was priceless.
SEN. BOXER: Well, you should read what we voted on when we voted to support the war, which I did not, but most of my colleagues did. It was WMD, period. That was the reason and the causation for that, you know, particular vote.
But, again, I just feel you quote President Bush when it suits you but you contradicted him when he said, "Yes, Saddam could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year." You go on television nine months later and said, "Nobody ever said it was" --
MS. RICE: Senator, that was just a question of pointing out to people that there was an uncertainty. No one was saying that he would have to have a weapon within a year for it to be worth it to go to war.
SEN. BOXER: Well, if you can't admit to this mistake, I hope that you'll --
MS. RICE: Senator, we can have this discussion in any way that you would like. But I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity. Thank you very much.
SEN. BOXER: I'm not. I'm just quoting what you said. You contradicted the president and you contradicted yourself.
MS. RICE: Senator, I'm happy to continue the discussion, but I really hope that you will not imply that I take the truth lightly.
I love the fact that Rice felt her integrity was being questioned when all Sen. Boxer was doing was quoting Rice's own contradictory words over the course of the Iraq war. She doesn't deserve to be Secretary of State.
States' rights
In
this article from 2001, George W. Bush said this to a gathering of Republican governors:
"While I believe there's a role for the federal government, it's not to impose its will on states and local communities," Bush said. "It's to empower states and people and local communities to be able to realize the vast potential of this country."
I guess he forgot the line, "unless of course it involves my friends in big oil, then I'm going to screw you like a $10.00 whore" because today the
Bush administration approved oil and natural gas drilling in New Mexico,
"despite pleas from the state's governor...to protect the desert grassland from energy exploration."
Can you say "flip-flop"?
Summarizing the lies about Iraq
This article from "In these Times" summarizes better than I ever could the lies of the Bush administration. The highlights:
- They knew Iraq posed no nuclear threat
- They knew the aluminum tubes were not for nuclear weapons
- They knew the Iraq-uranium claims were not supported
- They knew there was no hard evidence of chemical or biolgical weapons
- They knew Saddam and bin Laden were not collaborating
- They knew there was no Prague meeting
- Finally, They knew they were misleading America
Blogging
Today's SF Chronicle has an
article about the dangers of blogging about your job. Ellen Simonetti was fired from her job at Delta for posting "inappropriate"
photos of herself on her
blog. The one I relate to best is Peter Whitney:
Whitney, who worked for a brokerage owned by Wells Fargo, said he wrote about everything in his blog (gravityspike.blogspot.com), including gripes about work. For instance, the 27-year-old Seattle resident recalls complaining about having to chip in to buy a birthday card for a manager at work that he didn't consider a friend. The manager wasn't pleased when she later read the comments. "She said her feelings had been hurt,'' said Whitney, who was an administrative assistant for Wells Fargo's Ragen MacKenzie unit.
How many times have I had to sign a card for someone at work wanting to sign it, "Happy Birthday and why do we still pay you?"
So beware what you write...
SpongeBob Promotes homosexuality
Or so say Focus on Family and their homophobic leader James Dobson. According to
this article, Dobson claimed that:
SpongeBob's creators had enlisted him in a "pro- homosexual video," in which he appeared alongside other children's television characters like Barney, Blue's Clues, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Jimmy Neutron, among many others. The makers of the video, he said, planned to mail it to thousands of elementary schools later this spring to promote a "tolerance pledge" that includes tolerance for differences of "sexual identity. " He urged his allies to stand together to stop it as part of a "spiritual battle" for the country.
Now, I actually wish that were true. I think promoting tolerance is a good thing. However, according to the article:
The video has appeared on Nickelodeon and other television networks, and nothing in it or its accompanying materials refers to sexual identity. The "tolerance pledge" is not mentioned on the video and is available only on the group's Web site
Once that fact was pointed out to Focus on Family, you might think they would admit they made a mistake and apologize. But just like our current president, they cannot. Instead they said:
"We see the video as an insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids," he said. "It is a classic bait and switch."
I'm not sure what that means. They draw people in by not promoting tolerance and then "wham" they are going to promote tolerance? Those devious people. Finally, anyone remember the dust up about whether Tinky Winky was gay or not? And people wonder why I think right-wing religious conservatives are *ssholes.
Weapons of... umm I mean Social Security
David Lazarus
writes how Bush is once again resorting to scare tactics to push his agenda, this time Social Security. From the article:
In recent days, the president has warned that the Social Security system will be "flat bust, bankrupt" in coming years unless immediate action is taken to avert what he called a crisis.
Then:
"To say that the system is flat bust or bankrupt is simply not accurate," said Michael Lehmann, professor emeritus of economics at the University of San Francisco. "The implication is that there's no money for anyone, and that's clearly not true."
So, let me take this opportunity to impugn his credibility and integrity. He is lying to us. (I'll get to Condescending Rice tomorrow).
New wine for seniors
Sideways Tour
For those of us that wanted to tour the Santa Barbara Wine Country but didn't know where to go, the Santa Barbara Visitors Bureau has published a
map highlighting the locations from the movie.
Free Stanley
Thanks to Rob for passing this along. Three Canadian men have launched an effort to reclaim the Stanley Cup for Canada. Quoting from
their site:
Free Stanley is a movement founded by three Edmonton Stanley Cup fans: Michael Payne, Mark Suits and Tom Thurston. We love hockey , we love the Stanley Cup and Stanley Cup playoff action. We want to make sure there are Stanley Cup playoffs this year and we don't think the NHL or the NHLPA should prevent the Cup from being awarded if the NHL season is cancelled due to the lockout.
I don't think the NHL is worried, but wouldn't it be nice to see these guys succeed? I stopped watching baseball due to the 94 cancellation of the World Series and I'd stop watching hockey-- if I'd actually ever started -- because of this.
Inauguration
You may have missed
this,
The Homeland Security Department told the District of Columbia government Wednesday to use federal homeland security money to pay the costs it will incur for President Bush's second inauguration. Washington's costs for the inauguration, the first since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, are expected to be at least $17.3 million, city officials said.
If I were the mayor of DC, I'd tell Bush he's on his own. Compare this to FDR who held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake. You can find a discussion of the extravagant costs of Bush's second coronation in
this article.
Finally, we had a discussion amongst some family and friends as to whether we would attend this event if given the opportunity. My favorite response was (and I'll keep the identity of the person who said this secret so federal agents don't go knowing on their door, even though the statement is obviously a joke) "I'd go if I thought I could get past the metal detector."
Comments
Does anybody speak German? I was googling for an image related to "comments" (If you haven't noticed, I like to post a photo for each entry) and this came up. Too good to resist. :)
Anyway, Rob told me that you had to register to comment on my site. Not my intent, so I checked settings and indeed it required signing up. I've changed it to allow anyone to comment. Let me know if you still have problems.
Charbono
Adrienne and I went to a wine dinner last Wednesday at Nonno's in Redwood Estates. The proprietor talked about a varietal I had never heard of (shocking I know) called "Charbono". Apparently there is less than 100 acres of the grape planted in California. We ended up buying the
Summers 2002 Charbono and really enjoyed it. This description of the grape from
California Food and Wine Magazine sums up the grape pretty well.:
The grape is dark, with an almost opaque purple color and a distinctive aroma of Damson plums, tinged with tar, black pepper and old saddles, It has a rich, full-bodied palate, with often very pronounced tannins, which when well-integrated, provide a rich texture and long finish, Charbono needs 5 to 10 years to get itself ready for dinner. Talk about a long wait for a date! The best of them can age up to 20 years. This wine can stand up to roast venison, boar, grilled steaks, lamb, and aged cheeses, especially sheep’s milk (Romano).
A.J. Pierzynski
Here's the kind of class guy the White Sox are getting in A.J. Pierzynski.
According to Bruce Jenkins:
During a Giants exhibition game last spring, Pierzynski took a shot to his, shall we say, private parts. Trainer Stan Conte rushed to the scene, placed his hands on Pierzynski's shoulders in a reassuring way, and asked how it felt. "Like this," said Pierzynski, viciously delivering a knee to Conte's groin.
He had a reputation as a jerk, I just didn't realize how big a one. Perhaps Rob could call into one of those sports talk radio shows when he's on out there (and he will be, he loves to hear himself talk) and ask about this incident.
U.S. Dietary Guidelines and wine
The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released, and this is what it had to say about wine consumption:
- Those who choose to drink alcoholic beverages should do so sensibly and in moderation - defined as the consumption of up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men.
- Alcoholic beverages should not be consumed by some individuals, including those who cannot restrict their alcohol intake, women of childbearing age who may become pregnant, pregnant and lactating women, children and adolescents, individuals taking medications that can interact with alcohol, and those with specific medical conditions.
- Alcoholic beverages should be avoided by individuals engaging in activities that require attention, skill, or coordination, such as driving or operating machinery.
As far as #1 goes, as long as a drink is defined as a 16oz pour of wine, I'm good.
Royal ties to Germany
In the midst of the commotion over Harry's ill-chosen costume, there was a
good article that discussed the royal family's historical and sometimes uncomfortably close relationship with Germany. In fact, "
George V's wife Queen Mary always maintained that Britain had "backed the wrong horse" in 1914."
