 
Coup de Main for the Culture. A very important message from home.
In an effort to save and restore more than 1,800 recordings of Cajun and Creole music that span over a century, we are passing along an appeal for donations to all Cajun music fans.Merci, mes amis.
Cocktail of the day. Once a year our department head at The Day Job takes us all out for a nice, long, leisurely lunch at the company's expense, and that day was yesterday. Typhoon was new to me, although I'd heard of it; it's a pan-Asian restaurant located in the second floor of the General Aviation Building at Santa Monica Airport. Large windows around the circumference of the restaurant offer a nice view of planes taking off and landing. I was a bit skeptical, with the menu offering a mishmash of Chinese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indonesian and even a few Indian dishes, but everything I tried was very tasty. The goi cuon (cold Vietnamese spring rolls) were quite good, although the peanut dipping sauce was too sweet and could have used more chile; grilled Chinese sausages with sliced raw garlic was delightful (and smelly!); sesame crab cakes were a tasty and interesting variation; even the samosas were up to snuff. My main course was very, very good -- a fiery Korean beef soup called yukkaejang (although I think my version was minus the tripe) that I enjoyed very much, although it's still not as hot as the Hot and Peppery Soupy Beef at the fabulous Fu Shing in Pasadena. I was more enamored with the hunky Hawaiian bartender, though, who unlike many of his peers is very good at his job. (For one thing, he shakes his drinks for at least ten seconds, for the proper amount of chilling and dilution, unlike what seems like 80% of American bartenders who give it one or two shakes to mix the ingredients, then they pour.) The specialty drink menu was full of the requisite rum-based tropical drinks (some of them blue), but a couple of things caught my eye. One of their house specialty cocktails contained ginger-infused vodka, and in fact they offered several infusions on their menu. This indicates to me that it's a bar that cares about how their drink tastes. I ordered the one that looked the most intriguing, and that's the one we offer you today. Besides this one, I can also recomment his Martinis -- mine was made with Hendrick's Gin, more than just a drop of vermouth, shaken ... and was exquisite. This drink has an incredibly stupid name, but it's pretty tasty. Feel free to call it whatever you want.
Gilligan's FriendA new use for bottom-shelf vodka like that crappy bottle of Popov (or plain-wrap!) that some cheap bastard brought to your house for a party and was left there intact and unopened because you have far more decency than to actually serve that turpentine, even later in the party when everyone's too drunk to know the difference. Oh ... what's the new use? Use it to run your laptop. The continued brilliance of The Onion. It truly is America's Finest News Source.™
Bush Bravely Leads 3rd Infantry Into Battle:Coalition of the Shilling. (er, "Willing", that is, apparently, sorry.) Let's point out who they all are, shall we? The ones that have actually sent troops to Iraq are in boldface.
Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Palau, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Slovakia, the Solomon Islands, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Uzbekistan.Good thing we've got all this support. I don't know if we'd be able to pull off this war without Albania, Eritrea and Palau. Oh wait ... sorry, we've just been handed a bulletin ... the Solomon Islands have pulled out of the Coalition of the Willing, and are now reportedly joining the Coalition of People Who Oppose Empire-Building Wars That Will Drag On Endlessly And Likely Envelop The Entire Region. Film at eleven. The end is near. Could it be The Last Days when, out of all the frothing, babbling, talking heads on television the one who's the most level-headed and making the most sense is ... Jesse Ventura? Speaking yesterday on MSNBC:
On Iraqis "not fighting fair" with tactics against the "rules":It gets more surreal every day.
Because we can all use this, it's The Gulf War Drinking Game. My favorites: drink when...
* you see soldiers in gas masksIf you play, I preduct you'll be stinking drunk in fifteen minutes. Free posters! And y'know, free is my favorite price. (Hey, if it's free, take two!)
Oh, and once again, while we're on the subject of posters, Micah Wright's "1940s Propaganda Remixed" is the Mother Of All Anti-ShrubCo-and-Their-War poster site. They're not free, but they're well worth the money.
"It's a precious natural resource that's no longer available," said Stephen Pauley, a chief proponent of the local dark-sky ordinances in Ketchum and Hailey. "At least 60 percent of Americans can't see the Milky Way."This is a great idea and I support it wholeheartedly, although it's probably far too late for Los Angeles. I've seen the Milky Way far too infrequently, and the last time was probably four years ago in Clifftop, West Virginia. Visit the International Dark Sky Association, and see what you can do.
Great seafood. Bad feet. Retirement? (AIEE!) The rumors have spread in horrified whispers. Surely it couldn't be true. Unfortunately, it looks like it is -- next year, Anthony Uglesich, proprietor of a dingy little hole-in-the-wall joint in New Orleans called Uglesich's, which happents to be one of the best restaurants in town, will probably retire. I know he's tired and deserves a rest, but damn ... I want to eat at Uglesich's for the rest of my life! The only good thing about Anthony and Gail's potential retirement is that he says he'll publish a cookbook of his unique and wonderful dishes. When he announces the date, I'll take a trip back home and eat there every day for a week. ¡Y tu chilaquiles tambien!" We went to an Oscar party Sunday night, where the potluck dishes had to be (loosely) based on one of the nominated films. I decided to honor the original screenplay nominee "Y Tu Mama Tambien" by whipping up some Mexican treats. I love chilaquiles, the delectable Mexican breakfast-or-anytime dish of tortilla strips cooked in a sauce with sausage or chicken or whatever else. My favorite way to have them is with a really good red sauce redolent with different kinds of chiles. This version is based on one I found in Sunset magazine years ago -- refined and improved, of course. It's quickest to use ground chiles and store-bought chorizo, but it's a lot better if you start with whole dried chiles and make the chorizo yourself.
Chilaquiles con chorizoTomorrow I'll post a recipe for homemade chorizo that's tons better than the store-bought stuff (which I will eat, but I occasionally have to hide the packaging. One friend in college saw the ingredients and was horrified. "CHEEKS?! LYMPH NODES?! SALIVARY GLANDS?!!" Um, well, it tastes good! It's all pig!) Blame corn syrup! The Los Angeles Times health section reports that the use of high fructose corn syrup as a cheap sweetener is seen by some as responsible for soaring obesity. (Annoying LA Times login: annoying/annoying)
"High-fructose corn syrup is a really low quality, really cheap sugar," [writer-educator Robin] Landis says dismissively. The syrup starts out as cornstarch, which is then made sweeter by converting some of its glucose to fructose; the more fructose in the end product, the sweeter it is. "It is not something our bodies should be dealing with. It's completely unnatural."Talk about unlikely places ... when shopping for ingredients for my chilaquiles I picked up a brand of tomato sauce and was shocked to see that it contained tomato purée and corn syrup as well as lots of other unnecessary things. I found another brand that contained only puréed, cooked tomatoes, and that's what I want. There's absolutely no good reason to have high fructose corn syrup in a canned tomato sauce. The apology Natalie Maines should have made. A helpful suggestion from "The Specious Report", via Lia:
As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I now realize that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect.[ Link to today's entries ]
Inconsequential personal updates. Because a couple of people have asked (and thanks for asking). My avulsed finger is almost completely healed, and I'll probably have a lovely concave scar there once it's all over with. All the better to tell the story. (As Frank Orrall of Poi Dog Pondering sings, "You should wear with pride the scars on your skin / They're a map of the adventures and the places you've been.") Astonishingly, my friend Mary found me a replacement bottle for Sazerac 18 Year Old Rye in New Orleans for which the store had apparently forgotten to charge her (they only charged her for the styrofoam travel packaging). It's lovely to know that the Cosmos thought I should get that bottle back. The house is also coming along splendidly, thank you. We're down to maybe three boxes in the living room, which is entirely presentable and we've actually begun to have people over for chat and cocktail-quaffing. There's still the Lack Of Aesthetically Pleasing Clothes Hamper issue (piles of dirty clothes on the bedroom floor do not constitute furniture!), and the My But Isn't The Back Yard Getting Overgrown issue (because we haven't touched it since we moved in, and it's getting to be about time to do something about it). Ah, the joys of homeownership -- every project is much more expensive than you think it'll be. Still, I wouldn't trade it for any thing. I love our house! If you're looking for non-war-related posts today, you might want to skip all this today and wait until tomorrow. I'd really prefer to just post about food, drink, music and other more peaceful things, but unavoidable things just keep cropping up. Quote of the day. This is perhaps the most chilling one I've ever posted. Will this be George W. Bush's legacy?
"Today you have created an Osama bin Laden in every village in the Arab world."Liberating the Iraqi people. Here's one of the tools we're using in our newly-renamed War to Liberate the People of Iraq.
[T]he 2,000-pound Mark-84 JDAM bomb -- Joint Direct Attack Munition -- the new workhorse of the U.S. military... In nanoseconds it releases a crushing shock wave and showers jagged, white-hot metal fragments at supersonic speed, shattering concrete, shredding flesh, crushing cells, rupturing lungs, bursting sinus cavities and ripping away limbs in a maelstrom of destruction.Very liberating effects indeed. In reading this article, in fact, my lunch was almost liberated from my stomach. It is to boggle. An editorial by Ted Rall:
Now it's official: most Americans are idiots.That perennial government employee, Mr. Prop A. Ganda, that's why.
Lady Sings the Booze. Natalie MacLean writes a bi-weekly wine newsletter that Wes has been subscribing to for the last couple of months, and he loves it. I finally started reading a few forwards from him and I'm hooked too; I subscribed yesterday. This time she writes about cocktails, and in particular about someone I'd love to meet one day: "Libation Goddess" Audrey Saunders of Bemelmans Bar in New York, and a frequent contributor to the DrinkBoy Community for the Cultured Cocktail. It's full of her most excellent philosophy on the art and craft of the cocktail, and features several scrumptious-looking original drink recipes. Incidentally, Nat has been nominated for two (!) James Beard Awards for journalism; one for her wine newsletter, and another for the above article itself. Congratulations, Nat! "The Coalition of the Willing is about to rock! Thanks, Uzbekistan! Thanks, Macedonia! You guys are the best!" Episode twenty-two of "Get Your War On" has been posted. (My other favorite quote from this episode: "All I have to say is, 'Once this is over, the Iraqi people better be the freest fucking people on the face of the earth. They better by freer than me. They better be so fucking free they can fly.") Quote of the day. (Well, other than the above brilliance, of course.) Wes sent me the new DVDFile review of "Ghost Ship", which begins thusly: "Boy, does this movie suck. 'Ghost Ship' is so bad in every conceivable way that I could only sit there dumbfounded, hoping and praying to find something -- anything -- to hold my interest." Gotta love that; no beating around the bush there. Here's the best line, though:
"But why is everyone running around a ship with enough disco lighting to make it look like the Halloween episode of 'Queer as Folk'?"Peter M. Bracke, ladies and gentlemen. Waging peace. Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United Nations, now Chancellor emeritus of the University of Peace in Costa Rica was one of the people who witnessed the founding of the U.N. and has worked in support of or inside the U.N. ever since. Recently he spoke on how thrilled he is by what's going on in the world today regarding the role of the U.N. "Never before in the history of the world has there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation about the very legitimacy of war".
The whole world is in now having this critical and historic dialogue--listening to all kinds of points of view and positions about going to war or not going to war. In a huge global public conversation the world is asking-"Is war legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough evidence to warrant an attack? Is there not enough evidence to warrant an attack? What will be the consequences? The costs? What will happen after a war? How will this set off other conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives? What kind of negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for declaring war?"An interesting and unexpected viewpoint, particularly considering that we are at war at the moment (however, his remarks are a couple of weeks old by now). He's right, though; the world expressed its opinions in a civilized manner, from the Big Five powers to little countries like Cameroon and Guinea (for all the good it did). Emailing your MP. That's "Member of Parliament", for all you 'Murricans. Greg Allen writes about a communication not with his U.S. representative, but with a member of the British Parliament: (bold typeface emphasis mine):
Utterly remarkable.Remarkable indeed.
Sigh. Let's just hope it ends quickly, with as little loss of life as possible (that said, I wouldn't cry if Saddam and his rat bastard sons were casualties) and with every one of our people coming home safe. In the meantime, don't let anybody tell you that you can't speak your mind. Peace never had a chance. Eric Alterman, writing for MSNBC:
For me, the antiwar movement such as it was, is over. We lost. It's time to wish the best for our soldiers and the victims of this war focus on building a better future.Sounds like a good course of action. Oh, just one more thing from Eric, though...
Of course, all rules have exceptions and in this case, one must be made for the unpatriotic anti-American attacks made by Republican leaders in Congress during the war on Kosovo. Can you believe the noive of these hypocrites in going after Tom Daschle for saying what virtually everyone knows to be true?Quote of the day. "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (1901-1909), speaking in 1918 Good advice from Molly Ivins for both the pro- and anti-war crowd.
I have some unsolicited advice for both those who are pro- and anti-war at this point. If you are anti-war, keep in mind that anyone who suggests or urges that you do anything illegal or violent to oppose the war should immediately be regarded as poison. Peaceful civil disobedience is another matter, but I have always maintained that there is a good case to be made for taking out Saddam Hussein. I'm just sorry the administration -- by constantly changing its rationales, making dubious or unprovable claims about nuclear weapons and links to Al Qaeda, and relying on what turned out to be forged evidence in the case of the Niger papers -- has so muddied the water and alienated the rest of the world.Or me? French-haters, I'll be happy to take all your French wine off your hands and dispose of it properly. Cocktail of the day. 'Cause goddamn, we could all use a drink today. I normally don't drink drinks like this, nor do I recommend them, nor am I in the habit of drinking myself into stupefaction. Today I'll make an exception. From Dave Wondrich of Esquire magazine:
ZombieThe Cocktailian. Here's today's installment of Gary Regan's most excellent bi-weekly column, in which The Professor makes a Bloody Mary in its original form, and discusses a somewhat controversial work of art with a new customer. Uh-oh, Spaghetti-Os! When I was about 12, my mom finally got fed up with my bitching about what I considered to be the weekly abomination that in my household was known as "roast", threw up her hands and bellowed, "Fine! If you don't like it, fix your own dinner!" I took that exhortation to heart, and therein began my long career as a cook. It was an ignominious beginning, however, since my idea of a better dinner back then consisted of a can of a product called "Beef-O-Getti", Chef Boyardee's version of the venerable Franco-American product "Spaghetti-Os". Having once tasted them during adulthood while in a fit of inexplicable nostalgia (and having spat them out almost immediately and scraped the rest of the day-glo orange goo down the garbage disposal), I can't imagine how I survived a bite of that stuff, much less a can a week. Skot shares a brilliantly hilarious account of how he's managed not to shake off this particular bit of gustatory desire, even though he's a grown-up:
There is one thing I didn't quite grow out of, at least not totally; almost but not quite, and it fills me with horror to even confess this, but: Spaghetti-Os. I don't know what to say about this, except that there is evidently some tiny, unkillable node somewhere in my brain that every now and then raises itself from its torpor and barfs up some synaptic whatsis that generates a bunch of electrochemical holy-fuck all over the goddamn place until finally my brain gets it and throws up its cerebrospinal hands and yells, "Jesus, fuck and Liberace, we have to buy Spaghetti-Os again." I don't know why, and it's horrible.As if I'm not already very grateful to Skot for the near-daily enjoyment I get out of his writing, I will always be indebted to him for contributing the exclamation "Jesus, fuck and Liberace" to my vocabulary. (*wipes tears from eyes*)
So long, Melvin. 
West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine passed
away last Sunday at age 93, in a hospital near his home in Braxton County,
West Virginia. I was privileged to hear Melvin play several times at
various appearances at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in
Clifftop, West Virginia.Melvin received the National Heritage Fellowship in 1991, and was the first recipient of the Vandalia Award, the State of West Virginia's highest folklife honor, in 1981. If you're a fan of traditional Appalachian fiddle music, you should certainly check out Melvin's recordings if you haven't already. "Cold Frosty Morning" was first released in 1976 and is now available on CD. A 1989 recording, "Hannah at the Springhouse", is available from Augusta Heritage.
Ninety-three years is a good long time, and
he had a good run -- influencing generations of musicians, playing lots
and lots of fiddle, and, as one friend of mine pointed out, "pinching lots
of girls' backsides". Thanks, Melvin.
The members of the Bush team don't seem bothered by the enormous ill will they have generated in the rest of the world. They seem to believe that other countries will change their minds once they see cheering Iraqis welcome our troops, or that our bombs will shock and awe the whole world (not just the Iraqis) or that what the world thinks doesn't matter. They're wrong on all counts.Quote of the day. "When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it." -- Clarence Darrow L'abomination: The American school lunch. Here's one thing the French know how to do a lot better than Americans: feed their kids in school. Those of you who have witnessed the horror that is the school lunch in much of this country should be focusing your outrage in that direction. (Via Jason)
Finally, notice how hard it is to eat a healthy diet at the American school. You would be relegated to a ghetto of garden salads, 'soups of the day', and whatever nutritious innards you could pull out of the breaded main dish. The message American kids get is that healthy food is second-rate and tastes bad, that they should eat lots of meat, cheese and potatoes, and that eating fast food every day is a normal diet.I can't speak for the food quality now, but when I was a kid the lunches at my high school were so vile -- limp, tasteless, mushy vegetables out of a #10 can and boiled to extinction; thick, doughy, lumpy "buns" for the "sandwich lunch"; textured vegetable protein burgers of myriad shapes that still had finger marks in them from when they were squeezed together that morning; French fries so greasy and limp that could have been used as shoelaces -- that often I'd go to "The Huddle", as the campus snack shop and hangout was called, to get three doughnuts and a strawberry soda for my lunch. Neither was a terribly nutritious or pleasant alternative. Another reason war is wrong. 'Cause it would be, like, a crime against humanity if this didn't happen. (Thanks, Shari!)
'THE' party on hold[ Link to today's entries ]
Fait attention, idiots; America is French as well. A perspective on current foolishness from French-speaking Americans who live not far from where I grew up. (Thanks, Ray!)
Marie Dean did not know until yesterday that America was on the brink of war with Iraq. Although she has lived every day of her 85 years in the steamy Louisiana Bayou, she speaks only Cajun French and cannot understand the news on television.If anyone were to make such a demand in my presence, I would have no option but to smack him in the head. Very, very hard. The heritage of my city and my culture is predominantly French, and anyone who doesn't like it is welcome to -- how shall I delicately put this? -- go fuck himself. (I'm really fed up with this.) Dissent. The Washington Post, who seem to have taken a supportive view of the impending war in the past, finally start asking some tough questions.
As the Bush administration prepares to attack Iraq this week, it is doing so on the basis of a number of allegations against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that have been challenged -- and in some cases disproved -- by the United Nations, European governments and even U.S. intelligence reports.Well, which is it, Dick? Either he has nukes or he doesn't. Suffer. I hate to be deliberately cruel to you, my lovely readers, because I'm very fond of all of you (even the ones from whom I get hate mail every now and again, because it's so vastly entertaining). If the following link is upsetting, you may blame my friend Sean for sending it in. Ahem. Okay, here it is: Weight Watchers recipe cards from 1974. Imagine the worst recipes from James Lileks' Gallery of Regrettable Food, made for people on diets. The horror. The horror. Mmmmmm, bunny. I have good friends, some of whom read this weblog, who have rabbits as pets. Mary, Gregg, Mike ... you might want to skip over this entry, and tell Dennis Hopper and Desi that it's nothing personal. Now, on to the meat of the matter, so to speak -- Robert made rabbit and andouille jambalaya the other day, and it looks really good. I love rabbit, and if I could have it as frequently as I have chicken, and instead of chicken, I'd be a happy man. Madonn', what a relief! James Gandolfini backed down, everyone shelved their lawsuits, and production on Season Five of "The Sopranos" will commence on March 31, only a week late. I'm glad I'll be getting my fix next year; I wouldn't have wanted to have Tony whacked, ya know. The Shrubtimatum. While reading the New York Times article about reactions to The Speech, I was dumbstruck by one passage:
"The sooner we do it, the faster we do it, the better and safer the world will be," said Rodolfo Castillo, 40, a fashion designer, as he watched the president's remarks on a flat-screen television above the black marble bar at Le Méridien hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. "The uncertainty of what is going to happen is the worst part of it."Jonno was struck by the same comment, and remarked, "As she might say: I laugh. Because I will cry if I don't." Gee, thanks. Patrick Nielsen Hayden offers his undying gratitude to Ralph Nader voters, in a post certain to rankle some (and I can think of a few specific readers who will be rankled, so please remember I'm just posting a link). There's a followup as well, with excellent comments attached to each post. As for my own input, I have to say that I lost whatever shreds of respect I might have had for Ralph Nader back when he bellicosely declared that it didn't matter whether Bush or Gore was elected, as there was no difference between the two. Given what's been going on since the last presidential inauguration, it's difficult to see how anyone could fail to realize how mindbogglingly wrong that was. "Frog. Bloody French." In one of the early Monty Python books there was a guide on how to insult other Europeans, in commemoration of Britain's entry into the Common Market, precursor to the modern-day European Union. The above quotation was the sole entry for France, accompanied by the annotation, "The French are very easily insulted by the English; almost anything will do." Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors, offers some advice on that subject for Americans in a recent entry in his journal (no permalinks, unfortunately; link nicked from Patrick as well).
I have very mixed feelings about Americans disliking the French. I'm English, after all. We have a special relationship with the French: we are in awe of their sophistication, their cuisine and their wines, we think their women are beautiful, we like them as individuals, we badly want to go and live in their country when we retire, while at the same time we are deeply suspicious of them. It's like having people living next door to you who may be snappier dressers and better cooks, but who, after all, borrowed the lawn mower sometime in the thirteenth century and never gave it back.That's not all, Neil; it'll make us laugh at them too. Unfortunately, I'm almost beyond the point of laughing, and as I mentioned earlier, at the point where I'm ready to smack somebody.
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig agaibh! First off, forget about the green beer. No one in Ireland drinks green beer on St. Patrick's Day, unless they want to do an imitation of an eejit American. Just good Irish lager, ale or stout, if you please. Although if you're in New Orleans in the Irish Channel, you may throw cabbages. There's a lot going on in Dublin this year, and if there's a parade in your town, go and have fun. Listen to some Irish music. (Recommendations: Kíla, Altan, 4 Men and a Dog, Planxty, The Bothy Band. Read an interview with ex-Bothy Paddy Keenan, uilleann piper extraordinaire, and get his new album The Long Grazing Acre. Corned beef and cabbage is an American dish, not an Irish one; so, if you want something traditionally Irish, it's bacon and cabbage and that's Irish-style bacon, not American streaky bacon. (Feel free to be untraditional and add seasonings). You might be better off with an Irish breakfast -- rashers of lovely Irish bacon, brown bread, jam, eggs, and strong Irish tea. (It's good for dinner, too.) Take a quiz to see how much you know about Ireland. (It's hard.) Check out Ireland's newest monument (The Nail in the Pale! The Stiletto in the Ghetto!) Watch "Father Ted" (on BBC America in the States). Read Ardal O'Hanlon's new book, and anything by Roddy Doyle. Oh, and have a bit of the pure drop while you're at it. Email of the day. I'm being boycotted, apparently. From J. L., whom I thank for at least being civil:
Chuck, you certainly have the right to say and speak and write your thoughts and opinions. I certainly have the right to disagree with them.Oh, I think the Dixie Chicks and I will be just fine, rampant idiocy notwithstanding. Thanks again to J. L. for being nice about it, unlike the guy back in January who suggested I rename my site "The Falafel Pages". Lovely.
Le Google ... avec!! I'm not one of these idiots who's jumping onto the "boycott France and everything French" bandwagon. France is perfectly within its rights to disagree with the Shrub administration with regards to the upcoming war with Iraq, and to exercise its veto on the Security Council, just like the U.N. set it up to begin with. Don't get me wrong, though; one is also entitled to intelligently disagree with the French position. By "idiots" I mean people like the guy who started calling French fries "freedom fries", and the Republican lawmakers who followed his lead. They're idiots. I love French Fries and won't call them anything else (even though they were invented in Belgium). I eat Camembert and Roquefort, and I can't do without French bread (because without French bread there would be no poor boys). I love Bordeaux, Sauternes, Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados. Bring on the Périgord truffles and foie gras d'oie with gingerbread pain perdu (which is, of course, French toast!) and a cinnamon-caramel-fig sauce... yum yum yum). I have French doors in my house. I like to French kiss. I enjoy the sound of the French horn (although it's properly called the "Horn in F"). Yep, I love the French, rude waiters and all. They can keep Jerry Lewis and that whole not-bathing thing, though. Still, this is too funny to resist. Go to Google, enter the words "French military victories", then hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Oh sure, it's a hoax (a sublime bit of Googlebombing, I suspect), but come on, it's funny. (Thanks, Steve and Haven!) Why aren't we reading this in American newspapers? It's no wonder that more and more Americans seem to be getting their news from newspaper sites in Britain and Australia, which seems like a very good idea to me.
Bush Sr warning over unilateral actionSo far the only other reference I've been able to find (thanks, Rick!) was an article from Business Week, detailing that the speech at Tufts took place on February 26. UPDATE -- Here's the transcript of the Tufts speech. Apparently the Times took several of the former president's speech out of context, and he was not directly addressing his son. Still, his views seem to support by example his views of the necessity of cooperating with the U.N. and our allies. And I still think it's a really good idea to read European and Australian news sites.
Reasons for going to war: Saddam has weapons of mass destruction! (Um, somewhere.) He defies the U.N. and has defied the U.N. for 12 years! He's a tyrant and a murderer! He's gassed his own people! Oh, and this:
A company tied to Vice President Dick Cheney has won a Pentagon contract for advice on rebuilding Iraq's oil fields after a possible war. The contract was disclosed in the last paragraph of a Defense Department statement on preparations for Saddam Hussein's possible destruction of Iraq's oil fields in the event of a U.S.-led invasion. The statement calls for proposals on how to handle oil well fires and for assessing other damage to oil facilities. The contract went to Kellogg Brown & Root Services, which is owned by Halliburton Co., of which Cheney was chairman until his election in 2000. [more]Oh, and this too:
In recent months, as America has threatened and prepared for war against Iraq, the price of oil has gone from the low 20s to the high 30s a barrel. American consumers, therefore, are paying an extra $15 a barrel, or $300 million a day, or over $100 billion a year as a "war premium" on the oil they consume. It's like a taximposed as a result of government policyexcept that the government doesn't get the money. That's before the war even starts, and it is in addition to the $300 billion or so they're saying that prosecuting the war is going to cost directly. Of that $100 billion, $55 billion pays for the oil we import. But $135 million a daya dayor more than $45 billion a year (minus some taxes) goes into the pockets of domestic oil producers.Marches forward to what, one wonders. War? Then what?
U.S. spying on U.N. Security Council going unreported in U.S. It's apparently been headline news all over the world, except here. The Observer has obtained a National Security Agency memo describes how "the U.S. government developed an "aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the e-mails of U.N. delegates... [a]s part of its battle to win votes in favor of war against Iraq." From the New York Times to the Washington Post and everywhere else, there hasn't been one word about this in the major American media. Salon also has an article on this (accessible after clicking through a commercial), which makes an excellent point:
What might be most telling about the episode, however, is not that the U.S. is spying on U.N. Security Council members in search of information "that could give U.S. policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to U.S. goals or to head off surprises," as the memo states. Spying at the United Nations is nothing new, nor is it necessarily nefarious. Rather, the story is significant in that it reveals much about the way that the Bush administration has handled its foreign policy: clumsy or arrogant or righteous, depending upon your point of view, but indisputably alienating to most of the rest of the world. The media maelstrom the memo has set off as far away as Sydney and Moscow is indicative of how much the U.S.'s reservoir of goodwill has dried up.ShrubCo are a naught but a bunch of unbelievably arrogant, stupid bastards. The massive outpouring of goodwill around the world in the aftermath of September 11 has been completely squandered in less than 18 months. This latest little escapade will only exacerbate that. With every single thing this administration does, half of me isn't surprised in the least, and the other have wonders if I'm going mad.
Quote of the day.
"It's a blanket matter of policy that we do not answer
questions of that nature." Recipe of the day. Fried green tomatoes, from the Whistle Stop Café. To make a New Orleans version of this (originated at Upperline, then on to Uglesich's and everywhere else), add some Creole seasoning to the flour, place three fried green tomatoes atop some shredded lettuce and top with shrimp rémoulade. Yeah you rite.
Lights, camera ... Floridita! In today's issue of Gary Regan's column "The Cocktailian", our bartender bumps into a guy who's somewhat of a legend among cocktailians, and they discuss a couple of drinks created at one of Ernest Hemingway's favorite Cuban bars. Just 20 more months ... 20 more months ... A nationwide survey of U.S. voters reveals that if the November 2004 presidential election were held today, George W. Bush would lose to an as yet unnamed Democratic candidate by a margin of 48 to 44 percent. We've got plenty of time to expand that four points. My current dream is to see him defeated by the largest margin in American history. Then again, I was always an imaginative boy; I'll just be happy when he's out. Sign sighting of the day. Which, I must admit, is a lame feature when I don't have a picture of said sign. I've gotta get me one a' them nifty neato digital camera thingies.
STOP, DROP AND ROLL ... DOESN'T WORK IN HELL.[ Link to today's entries ]
Happy Mardi Gr-- ... oh wait. It's Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is over. No more parades. No more King Cake. Time for Lent. Penance, and all that. Giving up stuff. (Historically I've given up neurosurgery for Lent, but this year I think I'll give up cigarettes, alcohol and rollerblading. Well, maybe not alcohol. "Sacrifice? ARSE!") I've been busy the last few days, with lots of cooking on Lundi Gras night and Mardi Gras. Creole roast beef for poor boys (the stock for the braising liquid/gravy cooked all night long ... mmm), Creole hot sausage and red beans 'n rice. Not much revelry, but lots and lots of comfort food (and a constant stream of Mardi Gras music from black Indians to brass bands to Professor Longhair and the Neville Brothers). It ain't the Krewe du Vieux, but it'll do. Welcome to Shrub's America, 2003 A man was arrested for trespassing in New York state after refusing to remove a t-shirt which bore a slogan advocating peace. It's nauseating to consider that the people who perpetrated this (from the initial complainant to the mall security guards to the arresting officers) probably have no idea that they are very, very bad Americans. The mall officials counter that it's private property and they can do whatever they want. What's next, I wonder? Okay, show of hands! Please raise your hand if you're the least bit surprised by this:
Health care economists said the drug benefit President Bush proposed for Medicare yesterday would be a bonanza for the pharmaceutical and managed-care industries, both of which are huge donors to Republicans.Nature's Klein bottle ... with an agenda, apparently. Jason wrote an interesting post today about seedless watermelons and how we get them (so, like, what do they grow from?). Tasty without having to spit probably wasn't good enough for the theocracy of Iran, who in September of 1995 saw seedless watermelons in a different light.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (Reuters) - Iran's parliament voted to ban the sale of seedless watermelon deemed corrupting by Moslem clerics. Deputies voted for the bill after a two-day debate in which a minority argued that people should not be denied watermelon because it has no seeds. "The government has to defend Islamic and cultural values, just as it has to defend the borders...Spreading corruption, robbing the youth of moral values. Seedless watermelon promotes homosexuality and asexuality." The law will take effect after further debate on details of the bill expected in several weeks' time.We're here! We're queer! And we're not spitting seeds! February Looka! entries have been permanently archived.
|
| Several of my friends and loved ones (and a few kind strangers) contribute regularly to this weblog. Thanks to Wesly Moore, Mike Luquet, Andy Senasac, Michael Yasui, Steve Gardner, Michael Pemberton, Steve Kelley, Barry Kelley, Eric Labow, Tom Krueger, Greg Beron, Sean Burke, Shari Minton and Barry Enderwick. |
chuq's links | the gumbo pages
creole and cajun recipe page | search this site
chuck taggart | email chuck (at) gumbopages (dot) com
|
This site ©1994-2002
by Chuck Taggart. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. |
|
This means that you may not copy my writing onto other web
pages or anywhere else without my specific written permission. (Brief
quotes of a few lines, properly attributed, may be considered fair use.)
If you do copy my work, it's called "stealing". People who steal my stuff will be étoufféed and served to Dr. Lecter, with a nice Chianti. (I'm serious. Just don't do it. Thanks.) |
