The Cocktailian. Ssssssshhh ... it's a secret. This edition of Gary Regan's fortnightly column aptly plugs Doc's fabulous new book, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, as well as one of the cocktails listed within. Gin, applejack, lemon, egg white ... hey, isn't that a P-- NO! QUIET! It's a Secret Cocktail ...
Tyranny of the majority of the majority. The Rude Pundit speaks, rudely but succinctly, on the disgrace of Dennis Hastert's hijacking of democracy:
[Speaker of the House Dennis] Hastert now says he simply will not allow bills, negotiated without the participation of House Democrats and with the Senate, to come to a vote unless "a majority of the majority" supports it. So, like, with, say, the intelligence "reform" act, supported by a large minority of the majority, a majority of the minority, the Senate, the public, and (at least through lip service) the President, it will not come to a vote. In things legislative, then, as in the executive, there is no longer a democracy. There is a tyranny of motherfuckers -- unless the batshit insane nutzoids on the fringes of American politics agree, there will be no legislation passed. Simply put, nobody else matters now. Not the moderates in the Republican party, not the Democrats (who now have absolutely no power in the House), not even the President. There is no coalition, there is no compromise, nothing. [...]The Republicans don't want to govern. The Republicans want to rule.
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Hope you had a great Thanksgivingsk (sic), and that Uncle Turkeyclaus was good to you and left a scoop of turkey dressing on your forehead as you slept. (Now, if anyone gets that reference, you win a great big cookie). Turkey Day was ... well, trying. The food and company were lovely, but the two hours and fifty minutes it took to get out to Corona (which until Wednesday I only thought of as "Where the feck is Corona?"). I had exactly 27 minutes to eat once the food went on the table, and then I had to drive an hour and a half to get to Northridge to do my shift at the radio station. Five hours in the car on the freeways is not the way I like to spend a holiday. Fortunately, we had a far more relaxing Second Thanksgiving with good friends on Saturday, with the only stress being cooking (which I actually find relaxing, even if it gets tiring). We had roast turkey with pomegranate gravy (and the pomegranate juice for the gravy came from the trees in our backyard), oyster dressing, whipped sweet potatoes with Bourbon and black truffles, my sister Marie's recipe for green beans with mushrooms, caramelized onions and applewood-smoked bacon, and Joe's Molten Chocolate Marshmallow Cakes, a recipe Mary and I both found in Sunset magazine and wanted to try ("Thirteen-year-old Joe Kozal was impressed by a molten chocolate cake in a restaurant but thought he could do better. Instead of chocolate, Joe's cakes ooze melted marshmallow." Joe thought he could do better. He rules.) Plus, there were olives of several varieties (blue-cheese stuffed Greek, herbed oil-cured Kalamatas and Lucques), crackers, Dubliner and smoked St. Arnoux cheeses and some fabulous potato chips from Tim's in Oregon -- Hot Jalapeño and Sweet Maui Onion (the latter of which Wes claims are The Best Potato Chips Ever). We drank Michel Picard Beaujolais (an ancestor of Robert and Jean-Luc Picard, no doubt), a nice Cabernet-Syrah blend from Clos du Bois, a few shots of żubrówka and a round of Szarłotkas ("Ooh, can I have a pitcher of these?" one of our friends asked.) Not a bad Thanksgiving weekend at all, and I only have two additional pounds to lose. Hell, I can do that standing on my head.
?The politics of victimization. Via Atrios, a commentary by Mel Gilles that hits the nail directly on the head. Think about this next time you hear a Democrat weeping, wondering where we went wrong, or if you're tempted to do it yourself.
Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the new language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, "Why did they beat me?"As one psychiatrist replied to the original post, "Yes, political abuse has occurred. But NEVER define yourself as a victim. Once you define yourself as a victim that becomes your identity. Define yourself as a survivor!" Yeah you rite.
"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." -- John Ashcroft [ Link to today's entries ]
"Who wants a warm Martini?" Geekboy that I am (and have been since the age of six), I couldn't help but mark today's anniversary. The very first scene ever filmed for Star Trek was filmed 40 years ago today, Friday, November 27, 1964. The episode was "The Cage", the first (failed) pilot episode, which was eventually re-edited into the excellent two-part episode "The Menagerie." The scene was between Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) of the U.S.S. Enterprise, in his cabin with ship's doctor Philip Boyce (John Hoyt). The doctor came with medical supplies to see to the captain's health after a long and physically exhausting mission. As he prepared his treatment, Captain Pike looked up and said, "What the devil are you putting in there, ice?" The good doctor handed his prescription to the captain and replied with today's headline. What a long, strange (and mostly wonderful) trip it's been.
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Gimme a necta, bra! New Orleans' own "nectar", that is -- it began life as a soda fountain flavor at Katz and Besthoff drugstores in the Crescent City (known to the locals, of course, as "K&B"). I'm just barely old enough to remember the soda fountains at K&B -- great burgers and fries, BLTs and, of course, those fabulous nectar sodas and floats. Nectar is a New Orleans original, and I've had a hankering for it lately. Deep red, with an almond-vanilla flavor that was best described as tasting "like wedding cake", it may have died out when the soda fountains did, but still lives on as a sno-ball flavor, and has even been resurrected by a little company in Mandeville. A little Googling revealed a forum on nectar on eGullet, wonderful article from the Times-Picayune about it, and I was pleased to see that the New Orleans Nectar Soda Company is back on the web and apparently doing business again (although their PayPal shopping cart seems out of whack; I'll be calling them today to see what's up). Pableaux Johnson, who wrote the T-P article, also says, "Folks craving the goodness of nectar closer to home might do well to check the shelves of a neighborhood grocery store. The Mandeville-based Nectar Soda Co. sells fridge-friendly six-packs of the stuff for open-and-sip convenience. The company also markets 16-ounce bottles of the syrup for those keen on mixing their own. Syrup and soda are available at Dorignac's, Langenstein's Metairie Road store and most Sav-a-Center stores. Call (877) 463-2827 or e-mail mail@nectarsoda.com for information." He was also kind enough to provide some "nectar sipping spots", places in the Crescent City where you can go and have a soda the old-fashioned way:
Sophie's Ice Cream, 1912 Magazine St. (504) 561-0291Ah, Plum Street. I couldn't even begin to count the number of huge Chinese takeout tubs full of finely shaved ice and syrup I've had there over the years. There you won't get a soda or a float, but a gorgeous sno-ball drenched with nectar syrup and topped with a frightening amount of sweetened condensed milk. Heaven. Finally, for do-it-yourselfers, I managed to find some homemade nectar recipes, neither of which I've tried yet. They both look pretty close, at least, and I think that over the Thanksgiving holidays I'll try them out.
NECTAR SYRUP IThat oughta keep you busy for a while. Happy Thanksgiving! UPDATE: Okay, I made up a batch of both syrups. Recipe no. 1 seems to be the one; I wasn't all that thrilled with no. 2, but maybe with tweaking (like more sugar, less water) it'd work. Most importantly ... DO NOT use club soda! Use sparkling/carbonated water only, with a sodium content of 0. Club soda contains salt and sodium bicarbonate, and that really throws off the flavor of the nectar. (We really gotta get one of those nifty seltzer bottles ...)
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Mixing the bison. I found a page containing recipes for cocktails made with Żubrówka, although most of them (other than a version of the Szarłotka they call "Wild Apple") look a little iffy -- too many liqueurs. I have an idea I'm working on, though ... I'll let you know.
How your Congress does business. This is from several weeks ago, but it's still timely and is likely to become more so in January, with the Republicans gaining only a handful of seats but now thinking they've got a complete lock on everything, ignoring the rest of the legislature and 55 million other Americans.
Dismayed that the technology company Accenture had located its headquarters in Bermuda, thereby avoiding paying hundreds of millions of dollars in US taxes, the House Appropriations Committee voted 35-17 this summer to strip the firm of a $10 billion Homeland Security contract.The Democrats need to get some serious backbone going, and be a true opposition party. Their job for the next two years (at least) is to oppose, and to represent the 55 million plus.
Psst, people ... the earth is round, not flat. A CBS News poll shows that the majority of Americans believe in creationism, or some form of it, rather than in evolution. We're in big trouble.
Psst! George! When at a multinational summit while you're meeting and being photographed with several major world leaders, ya might wanna check and see that the ol' barn door is closed.
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My new Polish love ... is named Żubrówka. Or "bison grass vodka", which is perhaps a bit easier to pronounce than "zhu-BROOV-ka". I'd been meaning to try this stuff for a while, since our friends Gregg and Mike had brought us some back from Paris. It's the classic traditional Polish vodka, infused with native bison grass, which gives it an extremely distinctive flavor and straw-green color. Dr. Cocktail has been singing the praises of it for ages, while telling us the American brands have been artificially flavored for a while. Apparently bison grass contains coumarin, a substance with anticoagulant properties that's also responsible for much of its flavor. Waiting for an occasion, I suppose, we never cracked open the bottle of Żubrówka that's been in our freezer since the boys brought it from Paris, but opportunity presented itself for a taste last night. We had dinner at Warszawa, the excellent Polish restaurant in Santa Monica, before heading to McCabe's to see the Savoy Family Band play. It had been years since I'd been, and it was even better than I remember -- bacon wrapped plums, crispy potato pancakes, grilled kielbasa sausages, pierogis of every description, beef stroganoff, thick pea soup with smoked ham and marjoram, smoked fish salad with dill ... and Żubrówka! There it was, listed on the spirits menu, and what better time to try it than before a Polish meal. It arrived in a little vodka glass, ice cold right from the freezer. I know a true Pole would scoff at me, but instead of knocking the whole thing back, I took a healthy sip first, as I wanted to savor it and get the entirety of the aroma and flavor. Oh, my. I instantly fell in love with this stuff. Spicy, yet almost sweet but not syrupy like a liqueur; paradoxically, it was dry yet reminded me of candy -- traces of caramel and nougat and vanilla. It also tasted like green herbs, but not medicinal. I tasted flowers, and lemon, and even a touch of coconut (!), and so many things going on in there. This stuff's dangerous. I immediately wanted more. I've never read Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge, but in it one character describes the flavor of Żubrówka as smelling of "freshly mown hay and spring flowers, of thyme and lavender, and it's soft on the palate and so comfortable, it's like listening to music by moonlight." I can dig it. After enjoying our Polish meal and two-plus hours of the finest Cajun music to be heard, the very first thing we did when we got home was to crack open our bottle of authentic Polish Żubrówka. The difference between the domestic Polish and European version and the type produced for export to America is that the most authentic Żubrówka has a long blade of bison grass in the bottle, and the American version doesn't due to USDA regulations. Apparently there's also some artificial flavoring involved as well, although I'm not certain about that now (at least one website claims that true bison grass vodka is now legal in all 50 states). The French bottling, which we had, looks like this. It was goooooood. It was ... well, it was like the stuff we had at the restaurant, only a bit more complex, certainly subtler. It was great. However, once we run out of this stuff (and it won't be long), I think that for the time being I'll still be happy with the American-export version. They say that if you travel to Poland and start drinking with the locals, don't ever try to outdrink them (unless you're Russian, and then only maybe). I'd better be very careful. If I'm in Warszawa or Cracow, drinking with locals, and they bring this stuff out, I'm a dead man ... 'cause it's so good I would have no incentive to stop unless I become unconscious. Na zdrowie!
Cocktail of the day. From what I understand, most if not all Poles would consider the consumption of Żubrówka in a cocktail as being a crime, an offence against decency, utter blasphemy. It's to be consumed ice-cold, alone and quickly. However, my research seems to have uncovered an exception ... This drink, which translates from Polish as "apple tart" and is also sometimes called "Tatanka", appears to be the one exception to the prohibition against mixing Żubrówka with anything else, and seems to be looked upon fondly. We'll be trying one of these as soon as I get home.
SzarłotkaContrary to what seems to be Polish popular opinion, I think that Żubrówka would make an excellent cocktail ingredient. Only two exist in CocktailDB, and I've already got some ideas.
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A yacht? The lame duck Congress just passed a $388 billion spending bill to keep financing of government programs for this fiscal year. Y'know, so we could avoid shutting down the government and all 'cause we don't have enough money, what with this expensive war and the tax cuts for the rich and all. I want you know know what they're spending it on, too.
The Senate voted 65-30 for the legislation late on Saturday that sets aside funds for a range of priorities including a presidential yacht, foreign aid and energy. It is one of the final pieces of work for the 108th Congress and they may return to finish a spy agency overhaul before the end of the year.A presidential yacht. Let's say that again. A presidential yacht. As Atrios put it, "Families are taking donations to send body armor to their kids and Bush gets himself a presidential yacht?" We live in a country where a woman ill with cancer has to have a garage sale to try to raise money for her treatment, because she can't afford it and can't afford any kind of health insurance (not that anyone will insure someone with a "pre-existing condition" of cancer, 'cause they won't). Even the British Queen got rid of her yacht so that her luxury wouldn't be paid for with public money. Even if it involves repurchasing the one that Carter got rid of, we're not in any position to be giving Dear Leader a yacht. (UPDATE, 11/22: Apparently it is to buy back the Sequoia, for $2 million ... "Because there was no debate on the matter, there is no way to know whether President Bush wants the yacht and, if so, what he plans to do with it.") This is on the heels of the hugely deficit-ridden Republican government deciding that instead of cutting back on expenses and actually paying off its debt, it just raises its own credit limit by $800 billion -- "Though an increase in the debt ceiling was never in doubt, Republican leaders in both houses of Congress postponed action on it last month, until after the elections, to deprive Democrats of a chance to accuse them of fiscal irresponsibility." Because ... they didn't want you to know how fiscally irresponsible they were. Oh, and the Republican Congress also cut college grants and loans for nearly 100,000 lower-income kids, plus scuttled a bill to provide intelligence reform that was recommended by the 9/11 Commission. Have a nice four years.
A family's struggle, a nation's shame. I'm going to post in its entirety the Steve Lopez column from the Los Angeles Times I linked above. In case you skipped the link, don't skip this.
The fliers were left on bulletin boards and windshields all over Main Street in Alhambra, and a small ad ran in the Penny Saver too. [ Link to today's entries ]
Quote of the day. Unbelievable, yet unsurprising. (Via Wes.)
[Republican lawmakers] fixed the rules so that Democrats cannot use our rules against us.Wes says, and I concur, "Because of course we never meant those rules to apply to us, only them. Does he even know what he sounds like?" Are these the "moral values" you voted for, Republican voters?
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Shame, hypocrisy, disgrace. The Republicans seem dismissive of the idea of rules, laws and what's right; they only seem interested in power, and maintaining their grip on it. This includes changing the rules when it suits them. Today the Washington Post reports that "House Republicans approved a party rules change Wednesday that could allow Majority leader Tom DeLay to retain his leadership post if he is indicted by a Texas grand jury on state political corruption charges."
"If they make this rules change, Republicans will confirm yet again that they simply do not care if their leaders are ethical. If Republicans believe that an indicted member should be allowed to hold a top leadership position in the House of Representatives, their arrogance is astonishing," [House minority leader Rep. Nancy] Pelosi said.I wonder if DeLay will be forced to step down if he's convicted. Or imprisoned. I wonder what it takes to actually make these people feel shame. Would it be Edwin Edwards' speculation of the only way they'd get 'em would be to catch them "in bed with a dead girl or a live boy?"
"Music is not a loaf of bread." Wilco's Jeff Tweedy talks to Wired's Xeni Jardin about music downloading, and why it's good for the band, and for the music business. By the way, don't miss the online stream of Wilco's concert of last Monday at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
Brad Bird of The Incredibles, on story. Good interview in The Onion's A.V. Club, via Wes, who says, "He gets it."
Onion: Do you have a theory about why it's so hard for Hollywood to understand the value of a good, solid story? [ Link to today's entries ]
Six days off, and boy did I need it. There were wonderful meals to be had, and relaxing to be done. I'll write about the former as the week progresses, but first, I might as well catch up on some old news from a few days ago, but first ...
"The West Wing" is brilliant, and sad.
I know, I know, I'm four years behind the
times. But it came on opposite "Star Trek", and was pre-TiVo (at least
for me), and I just never got into the habit of watching it, despite all
my friends telling me it's the best show on TV.
Thanks to Michael
I got the first season DVDs for my birthday, and Wes and I have started
watching it. Goddamn, what a great show. Brilliant, sparkling writing,
terrific ensemble acting, and superb characters including a President of
the United States who's intelligent, thoughtful and who has people
around him who'll tell him what he needs to hear, not what he wants to
hear.
I watch this show and it almost makes me
want to cry, to think of the kind of people we could have in the
West Wing, if only real life were more like TV sometimes.
Wes drives all the way to West Covina
(which I still call "Left Covina", as an old classmate from there used to)
to get his hair cut. On the last several trips I've taken to tagging along,
primarily because the salon is located right next door to a huge,
wonderful Japanese market called Marukai,
filled with all sorts of nifty, exotic stuff to buy.
Gorgeous sashimi-grade fish, tons of
Japanese ingredients (we stock up on wasabi and spicy rice crackers),
plus things that we barely have an idea of what's inside. The prime
example is a brand of potato chip we've fallen for. All we knew was that
it was indeed some kind of potato chip, but with nothing but Japanese on
the label it was a bit difficult to tell what kind ... except for the
mouth-watering picture of what looked just like Chinese barbecued pork.
"We must try these!" I cried. Sure enough, they're Chinese barbecued pork
flavored potato chips. What mad genius.
There's also a lot of Hawaiian products, the
Japanese being terribly fond of Hawaii and all. Chocolate covered
macadamia nuts, these yummy sweet Maui onion potato chips (yeah, I know,
chips again), and varieties of SPAM that I never knew existed (Turkey
SPAM? SPAM with bacon? Who knew?) -- plus store-made SPAM musubi, of
course. The one major coup was a Hawaiian brand of passion fruit jam,
which we recently served on crostini with Tasmanian Roaring Forties Blue
Cheese, which was a flavor combination made in heaven's heaven.
On our last trip to Marukai (where I dropped
nearly a hundred bucks, including four jars of that jam), I saw one thing
that made my jaw drop. You see lots of Asian products that Western folk
might consider "weird" (dried cuttlefish snacks, for instance), but this
one struck me as particularly bizarre:
'Cause, y'know, nothing says "let's party"
to me like little roasted baby crabs.
I had finished my shopping and was loading
the groceries in the car by the time Wes was all done being coiffed. "We
have to go back inside Marukai," I said. "I need to get my camera out of
the trunk. There's something inside I want to photograph, but I don't
want to buy." "What is it?" he asked. "C'mon in and see," I
said.
I showed him, sitting on the shelf in all
its glory, next to some other strange "Let's party!" snacks. "Oh my God!"
he exclaimed. "You don't want to buy that?!" I must confess I wasn't
terribly enthusiastic, even though I'm an adventurous eater, and even
though I love crabs. These were ... well, whole little crabs, shell and
all, and I didn't get the impression that they were soft shell crabs.
(Well, they're supposed to be crunchy, aren't they? Beer snacks are
supposed to be crunchy, and soft shell crabs aren't necessarily crunchy.
It wouldn't be "Crunchy Frog" if you took the bones out, now, would
it?)
A couple of pokes in the ribs, and what the
hell ... we bought 'em.
We went back through the line and had the
same checkout lady as I had before. She eyed our purchase warily. "Uh
... you like these?" she asked. "Well, I don't know yet. We're going to
try them. Why, do you like them?" "Oh no!" she blurted, then made a
face and actually shuddered. "I don't try!" Then she quickly qualified
that with, "Allergic." Ah. I see.
Well, if we're going to eat them, dammit,
we're going to do it right. Some good Japanese beer, a Shonen Knife
record, and a bowl o' crabs.
As it turned out, we had one out of three.
No Shonen Knife (iTunes mix instead), and we figured on cocktails instead
of crabs (no complaints there, I suppose). A couple of Saturdays ago when
we had some friends over for cocktails --
Mother-In-Law Cocktails,
Hoskins Cocktails,
Footloose Cocktails,
Blue Moons,
Lillet Tomlins,
Aviations,
Corpse Reviver No. 2s,
Perfect Pears,
a Grande Bretagne Cocktail No. 1 (from Charles Baker's Gentleman's Compmanion), not a bad batch all in all --
and dinner, between the bacon-wrapped dates and the shrimp and mirliton
remoulade ... there were crabs!
I have to admit, they started off
really well -- nice 'n crunchy (of course), with a tangy, sweet soy
glaze and a nice bit of nuttiness from the sesame seeds. However, deep
within a nice, protective bubble of crab shell, was a tiny, desiccated,
chewy and extremely fishy little ball of dried, processed, sitting
unrefrigerated in a plastic bag for god knows how long since it left
Japan, crab.
Wes' reaction was similar.
The next crab dish was appreciated far more,
I think -- a nice plate of Crabmeat Maison à la Galatoire's (called "crabmeat ravigote" elsewhere
in New Orleans), and another fabulous batch of Stuffed Eggplant Soup with shrimp and andouille.
Not a bad meal at all, but I think we'll skip the Party Time Crabs next
time 'round.
A bunch of brave and intrepid souls, true
lovers of science of whom Dr. Momus
Alexander Morgus would be very proud, performed an experiment in which
they attempted to determine that putting cheap, rotgut vodka through a
Brita water filter would actually
make it drinkable. The results were astonishing ... although I'm not
sure I'm ready to try it myself.
"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a
former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and
to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those
soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White
House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the
president's agenda."
No posting 'till Monday, probably. I'm taking a few days off to celebrate the birthdays of Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite writer (who's 82 today) and Leonardo DiCaprio (who's 30 now ... and how old does that make me feel). Oh, and mine, too. Jeez, I wasn't nearly finished being thirty-twelve yet, and now they want me to be thirty-thirteen ... I've got relaxing to do, great meals to eat, and cocktails to drink. See y'all Monday.
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That was quick. What did I say yesterday about an indicator of what we can expect? Bush nominates as his new attorney general his administration's primary advocate of torture. Via Michael, here's a little light reading on our new attorney general nominee:
White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales's Texas Execution Memos: How They Reflect on the President, And May Affect Gonzales's Supreme Court Chances, by John W. Dean, FindLaw columnist and former Nixon administration counselI suppose Bush could have done worse -- I kept hearing William Pryor's name bandied about. Gonzales is more moderate (socially, at least) than Ashcroft and doesn't appear to be as much of a religious nutjob, but he seems to be dedicated to strenghening the powers of the executive branch and the office of the president, and I find that an alarming threat to our system of checks and balances.
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Yes, we're all perfectly safe now. Lest anyone dance a joyous jig that the odious John Ashcroft has resigned as Attorney General, given that George W. Bush thinks that his 51% of the popular vote consists of a "broad mandate", I doubt that Ashcroft's replacement will be much more interested in the Constitution and in our civil liberties than his or her predecessor. We can only hope, but I'm not holding my breath. Know this, though -- whoever Bush chooses will be an indicator of what we can expect from the spending of his self-described "political capital" for the next four-plus years, including Supreme Court nominees. However, we can all take comfort from one of Mr. Ashcroft's parting remarks, from his five-page letter of resignation to the president:
"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved."Wow ... so in case you hadn't noticed, we're now no longer in danger from either nasty criminals or evil terrorists! Gee, I guess he did a better job than we all thought. Relax, everybody. We're safe. (Oh, and as August points out, "[u]nder four years of John Ashcroft heading the Justice Department and over three years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States of America has not convicted a single person of terrorism."
That's one pricey shroom. I've only been fortunate enough to have fresh white truffle twice in my life. It was expensive, but not nearly as expensive as this record-priced $41,000 truffle, weighing in at 2.4 pounds (that works out to about $1,067 per ounce). I once paid about $25-30 each for three little black truffles about half the size of a ping-pong ball. They presented them to me in a plain little brown paper bag -- porous, of course. As I was driving home, the intense perfume emanating from the bag was so intense and intoxicating that I nearly crashed the car. I couldn't imagine being anywhere near a nearly two-and-a-half pound white one ...
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Voting machine error gives Bush 3,893 extra votes in Ohio. And that's just in one precinct. Rick writes in, "A little math before you read this... Bush won Ohio, therefore winning the presidency, by 136,000 votes. "There are 7,575 precincts in 88 counties in Ohio. "If the error below happened at 35 of those precincts, or less than 1/2 of 1% of the total number of precincts in the state, then John Kerry won Ohio."
An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush (news - web sites) 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.BoingBoing reader Joe adds:
A computer glitch in a Columbus, Ohio precinct gives Bush an extra 3,893 votes. Makes you wonder what other mistakes the computer made that we haven't found.Whether what Rick suggests is true or not, I cannot say. However, do you not see why every vote must be counted, and why every electronically-generated vote that does not have a verifiable paper audit trail must be re-checked?
Mandate, shmandate. Conservatives gleefully post the following county map of the United States to demonstrate their so-called "mandate" for Bush:
 
Titanic will founder. It is a mathematical certainty. An article in today's Washington Post (with out headline courtesy of Wes):
Analysts Call Outlook for Bush Plan BleakBe careful what you vote for, folks.
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"Ain't no best. They all good." The delights of the poor boy. Los Angeles Times travel writer Brady MacDonald tromps through New Orleans looking for the best poor boy sandwiches. It's a noble quest, but one that could cause considerable damage to one's waistline (I gotta split 'em wit' someone now, me). It's a pretty good article, and he hits most of the main places. He makes the mistake of including muffulettas in an article about poor boys, though, and he misses out on the joys and delights of a hot sausage poor boy wit' cheese at Gene's on Elysian Fields and St. Claude. Not a bad effort, though.
Quotes of the day. Oy. Already he starts.
Now that I've got the will of the people at my back, I'm going to start enforcing the one-question rule. That was three questions. [...] Again, he violated the one-question rule right off the bat. Obviously you didn't listen to the will of the people.It's gonna be a long, long four years.
I will reach out to every one who shares our goals.Atrios: "Translation: My way or the highway. Alternate translation: You're either with us or against us. For Democrats in the Senate: Any 'compromise' you try to achieve on various bills inevitably gets stripped out by DeLay's goons in the conference committee. Amendments should be written as land mines (metaphorical, of course) for the Republicans to trip on, not because any of them will end up being law. For Democrats in the House and Senate: If you vote for the Republican agenda, you cannot later credibly criticize it. That's just the way it is..."
Soldiers describe looting of explosives. Los Angeles Times, this morning:
In the weeks after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove the material away from the Al Qaqaa ammunition site, according to a group of U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen who said they witnessed the looting.That's funny. BushCo keeps saying they were already gone by the time we invaded. Why do you suppose they would say that?
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It ain't over until it's over, y'all. There are up to 250,000 provisional ballots still to be counted in Ohio. There are 1.6 million absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted in Florida. Every vote must be counted, and then we'll sit back and see where we are. UPDATE, 9:45am: It's over. Kerry conceded. I'm torn on this ... in one sense, if it's a complete wash, then a concession from Kerry prevents a repeat of the prolonged agony of 2000 (and I must admit, I didn't think I'd be able to take another 11 days of this). But all the votes still haven't been counted. Keep your chins up. Start preparing for '06 and '08. UPDATE, 1:00pm: Bush says, "America has spoken ... the result is now clear -- a record turnout and a broad, nationwide victory." Broad? I don't think so. Perhaps if you include the people who didn't bother to get out and vote, but for the people who did, it doesn't look so broad when you put it into visual terms, courtesy of Jesse at Pandagon:
Josh Marshall:
And then there's this from [Bush's] comments today: "We've worked hard and gained many new friends, and the result is now clear -- a record voter turnout and a broad, nationwide victory."I agree with Jesse, who said, "It's going to be a long four years."
Still proud. (Thanks to Steve for sending in this reminder.)
Liberal (lib'&r &l)Always.
Don't mourn ... organize! Joe Hill's words ring true to me this morning. BushCo had four years to organize their masses, and we didn't really get started until the Dean campaign a year and a half ago. Clearly we have more work to do. We can have a week or so to lick our wounds and (in my case) let the stomachache go away. Then it's time to get busy. The '06 midterm elections are only two years away. First, don't forget the Democratic National Committee, and let's make the first order of business as getting rid of Terry McAuliffe. I keep hearing a buzz for getting Howard Dean to head the Democratic Party. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Here are some other organizations we're going to need:
The American Civil Liberties UnionI'll gather more links and start a new sidebar in a day or so.
Simple but effective. Via Wes, who says "another take on the Why of it all." William Saletan writes in today's Slate:
Why you keep losing to this idiot.Good god, has it really come to this? We have to be like them in order to win, to "keep it simple, stupid" because we can only appeal to Americans if we avoid intellect, nuance, education, subtlety? Fuck. I'm with him about Edwards, though. He had my vote in the primaries, and I'd vote for him again.
"The national fissure remains deep and wide." One thing I'm convinced John Kerry would have done was take the steps necessary to heal this wounded country, or at least give it a start. He would have made moves to the center, and tried to reach out to the other half of the country. Bush isn't going to do this. He gained access to the White House based on a loss of the popular vote, a one-vote majority of the Electoral College and installation by partisan members of the Supreme Court. Afterwards he governed as if he had a wide mandate from across the country. Now he doesn't have to worry about winning another election; he doesn't even need to please his own electorate. He doesn't give a crap about popular opinion, particularly that of the 42 million plus people who didn't vote for him. He said just the other day, astonishingly, that he does not believe the nation is divided. (This is, apparently, because his administration "creates its own reality.") The Los Angeles Times published an article and poll today with the same headline as this post.
After four turbulent and tumultuous years, President Bush expanded his support but still divided the country along many of the same lines as in his narrow and disputed victory in 2000, exit polls of voters found Tuesday night.It's going to get worse before it gets better.
Cocktail of the day. 'Cause some of us really need a drink today. (Not too many, please.) An apt repeat from last June:
This is a really good drink. If you're serious about cocktails, I once again highly recommend picking up a bottle or two of Torani Amer. It's a wonderful product, and even though some esteemed and learned friends will disagree with me, I use it for cocktails that call for Amer Picon. It's not exactly the same as the Picon of old was, but it's close enough (and it it's close enough for all those California Basques for their Picon Punch, it's close enough for me). It's only about $10 a bottle, and you can order it online from Beverages & More.
Post-election Morford. I hadn't got a chance to read this yet, but Wes emailed it to a bunch of our friends this morning, saying, "Many of you may already have seen this today, but I thought it worth sharing. Mark Morford's style may not work for everyone -- hey, some days I can barely take him -- but he's passionate and usually makes a thought-provoking point, albeit after rambling around for a while. In the third paragraph from the end, he touches again on the central idea of a column he wrote some weeks/months back, and which I mentioned last night to the group while in throes of election angst, namely: maybe the pendulum simply hasn't swung far enough yet. "Anyway, for what it's worth..."
Oh dear God please not again. Quote of the day. There was a sound of thunder.
His face was cold. His mouth trembled, asking: "Who -- who won the presidential election yesterday?"We can't take it back. This isn't Ray Bradbury's stepped-on Jurassic butterfly. You asked for it, you got it. Be careful what you wish for, America.
[ Link to today's entries ]
I do not believe this darkness will endure. This is it. People ... do the right thing today. Talk to everyone you know in this nation -- family, friend, acquaintance -- and get them to the polls to bring this country around. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of this country, and the future of the world, hang in the balance. Four more years of George W. Bush and his cronies will be disastrous for both.
Don't give in to fear. Believe that we have a chance to reclaim this country. Believe that America can move forward, not backward. Believe that the power of government can truly be in the hands of the people. Believe that we can reclaim a respected place in the community of nations. Believe that our constitution will always enshrine rights, not remove them. Believe that we can be safe without inflicting needless wars. Believe that education and health care are more important than waging needless wars. Believe that we can be free. John Kerry for President.
Be of good cheer. In the words of the Godfather of Soul, "I feel good." I have hope that today will mark the beginning of this country's healing. I believe that with gentle persistence, achieved with a gesture of friendship and not animosity, that we can heal the wounds of this divided nation and help those who blindly supported the incumbent truly see what the last four years have wrought. I think that a really good way to start would be to take Teresa's advice:
1. Be of good cheer. If that means not watching the news, don't watch it.Relax. It's going to be all right.
A community of believers. Last night Mary, Steve, Wes and I headed to a neighborhood Kerry rally in Silver Lake, just a few miles from home. There were a couple hundred enthusiastic Kerry supporters, lots of signs, and a huge number of passing automobiles, the vast majority of whom honked, flashed their lights, cheered and waved in support. We implored them to get out and vote today. (That's me in the upper left shot, standing to the right of Steve.) Speakers included state Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg (Dist. 45, next door to ours), local Democratic headquarters officials (who said that this one Silver Lake office alone had made 24,000 GOTV calls to likely Kerry supporters in swing states), a couple of actors who lived nearby (including Patricia Arquette, who was passionate and emotional but was correctin her own self-deprecating statement that she wasn't a terribly good public speaker) and a couple of musicians. Granted, it wasn't like being at a 120,000-strong rally featuring Bruce Springsteen, but it felt good to be there, on the last night before The Big Day. As I mentioned, overwhelmingly positive support from passersby, although we had a half-dozen or so cries of "Go Bush!" or the like (we waved back and blew kisses), but one woman shrieked something unintelligible and then threw something at us from her car window. It turned out to be a large handful of baby spinach leaves. I have so far been unaware of the use of baby spinach leaves as a weapon of assault, and I was additionally miffed that she didn't even bother to throw any bacon, mushrooms, Gorgonzola cheese or balsamic vinaigrette at us as well.
The wait. I don't think I was ever so happy to wait in a line. Wes and I got up early this morning and hit the polls at 7:05am. There was a long line already. We saw several of our neighbors, and met some new ones. The mood was jovial, upbeat, nervous but hopeful.
Poll workers also told us that the books containing the lists of registered voters in our precinct were a lot longer than in 2002. I keep reading that the lines are this long and way longer, all over the country. The New York Times predicts a record turnout. I hope this can only mean good luck for our side. I feel like Ripley in the shuttle at the end of Alien. "You ... are ... my lucky ... star ... you ... are ... my lucky ... star ... lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky ..."
What to do today. Rather, what not to do today. Don't believe anything until it's certain. Don't believe exit polls. Don't believe network projections. Don't believe anything you hear from Republicans, whose thuggish precinct operatives are reportedly wearing angry scowls today. Don't believe anything you hear on Fox News or from from people like Drudge (who should just be ignored until he goes away). Don't believe anything unless it's an Associated Press vote count report. The AP has stringers stationed in every county elections board in the country, and they will only be reporting confirmed counted votes. That's all that matters today.
Quote of the day. Quoth hizzoner ...
Don't believe any false rumors unless you hear them from me. John Kerry in New Orleans. New Orleans musician Tony Green wrote this letter to OffBeat magazine, which appears in the current issue:
On March 31, 2003, my group Tony Green and Gypsy Jazz were hired to perform at Latrobe's On Royal for a fund raising dinner for a then unknown candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Latrobe's is located cattycorner to the 8th District Police Headquarters in the French Quarter. Ironically, the building was named after Benjamin Latrobe, the architect who not only designed this Royal Street landmark but was also responsible for the renovations done on the White House in Washington, D.C. back in 1824. All this wonderful history was lost on me at the time as my interests were primarily focused getting to the gig on time, setting up and hoping that the rest of the musicians will show up.I don't think anyone would ever be able to tell a story like this about the other candidate.
[ Link to today's entries ]
Apparently I was on CNN yesterday. We got home last night to this email from Steve:
WE WERE JUST ON CNN!I wasn't able to find the video online, but apparently Mary and Steve have it on tape. In the days of celebration after the election, I'll see if I can digitize it for our amusement. Woo, I love doin' my part!!
Federal judge says, "No thugs in our state." It's about time.
A federal judge issued an order early Monday barring political party challengers from polling places throughout Ohio during Tuesday's election.Now, Ohioans ... get out and vote these crooks out of office.
Powell: U.S. losing Iraq war. Today's issue of Newsweek, via a report in Salon's War Room column, reports:
Secretary of State Colin Powell has privately confided to friends in recent weeks that the Iraqi insurgents are winning the war, according to Newsweek. The insurgents have succeeded in infiltrating Iraqi forces "from top to bottom," a senior Iraqi official tells Newsweek ... "from decision making to the lower levels."From the Newsweek article itself:
Sgt. Jonathan Scarfe, a broad-shouldered U.S. Marine with a square jaw and a 5 o'clock shadow, is trudging through a small town near Fallujah. On the opposite side of the street, taking his cues from Scarfe's movements, is Hussein Ali Jassim, who commands a small unit of the new Iraqi Special Forces. Scarfe says he trusts Jassim implicitly -- which is more than he can say for most Iraqi National Guardsmen, less-trained locals thought to be collaborating with the insurgents. "The ING guys usually slept outside during the summer," says Scarfe. "When they slept inside, you knew a mortar barrage was coming." At one intersection, children laugh and shout as Jassim, who sports a small, well-trimmed mustache, distributes candy. But a young Iraqi across the street smirks and makes an obscene gesture. "These people," says Scarfe, "will let us walk right to our death."But things are really going well in Iraq, according to the President.
U is for Undemocratic. Via Chris K., from Publishers Weekly's email newsletter:
Who would have thought that wearing a fairly innocuous T-shirt promoting a children's book would result in a mild-mannered college professor being kicked out of a political rally? (Only the quick response of a man who appeared to be a Secret Service agent allowed the professor to re-enter the event.)October Looka! entries have been permanently archived.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president who
led this country to victory against fascism, said, "The only thing we have
to fear is fear itself." Bush, Cheney and their ilk want your fear. They
cultivate it. It's their only cash crop. It's all they have. They want
you to be constantly afraid. It's the only way they can deceive you
into voting to return them to office after
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