FITZ!

Rootz!

Victory!

No time to relax just yet. Have to write the sermon for tomorrow titled, “What’s Next?” My own wish list for what I’d like to see happen in the country. After that, I’ve got some serious catching up to do with the folks at the church and then need to plan the town Thanksgiving Eve service.

A Lot to Be Grateful For.

Morning all — coffee just finished brewing, for which I am most grateful. The Peanut is painting the entire kitchen with a pan full of soapy water (she wanted to paint and I needed to write, so I figured soapy water was a fun yet not so messy compromise…). And the birdies are cautiously checking out the new feeder. Looks like it’s going to be gray here today.

Gee, just when I thought things were looking better …
Carvelle pops out to push loserman jr. to chair the DNC.
Josh over at TPM lists Dem crooks set to belly up to the trough we just shooed the likes of Ney and Doolittle from. That phrase “Meet the new Boss …” comes to mind.

DEAN!
NETROOTS!

Hey Redd -
Last Sat. I smoked a 10 lb. pork loin and 3 racks of baby backs.
You couldn’t pull the ribs apart; you’d end up with just the bone.

We had 40 folks from sunday school party over including their kids.

And the beauty of it all is that they all got to see my Steve Sinton yard sign in the front yard and I got to answer a few questions from folks that normally fill out a straight red ticket.

It’s the small things…

Here’s a recipe I found yesterday. I haven’t tried it yet but plan to make it for a dessert this T’giving:

Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger-Pecan Crust
(makes one 9-inch cheesecake)

Crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup (40g) chopped crystallized ginger
1/3 cup (54g) pecans
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, cold & cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tbsp cold water

Filling

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 lbs (567g) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 large eggs, at room temp.

To make the crust

Position oven rack in the center and preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9×3 inch springform pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with 2-3 layers of aluminum foil.

Place the flour, sugar, salt, ginger, and pecans in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the pecans are finely ground. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add the cold water slowly until the dough just comes together. Press the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the crust just starts to brown. Cool crust completely on a wire rack.

To make the filling

Reduce oven temperature to 325F. In a bowl, whisk together pumpkin, heavy cream, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium-low speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugars and beat on low speed until smooth. Mix in the pumpkin mixture, then add the cornstarch and mix until just blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and do a final mix by hand to make sure all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Pour the filling in the cooled crust. Set the still wrapped springform pan in a large roasting pan. Carefully pour enough hot water into the large pan to come 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Bake for 70 to 80 minutes until the center is set but still a bit wobbly.

Remove cheesecake from water bath to a cooling rack. Carefully remove the foil and run a thin knife tip around the edge of the cake. This will loosen the cake and help prevent the top from cracking. Cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate the cooled cheesecake for at least 4 hours before serving.

I say we work on cooking William “Cold Cash” Jefferson’s goose down in Louisiana.

Support his challenger in the run off, Karen Carter.

Also, for a good laugh, check out the brilliant Larry Kudlow predicting the election results.

(Snip)

Thanks to John Kerry’s mouth, Saddam Hussein’s death sentence, a strong economy and stock market, and George Bush’s indefatigable campaigning, the Republicans will come out of this election in better shape than almost anyone thinks.

My range on the House spans from a most-optimistic one-seat GOP hold to a 15-to-20-seat loss. But here’s the crucial point: Even if the Democrats rule the House with a slim margin, a number of new Blue Dog Democrats will give President Bush an operating House majority. It was the same for Ronald Reagan during his first term. Back in the early 1980s, the Gipper always could count on 35 to 50 so-called “Boll Weevil” Democrats (yesterday’s Blue Dogs) to support his legislation on lower taxes, reduced spending, and stronger defense.

(End snip)

Because Mr. Kramer, the comparison between a first term Reagan and a second term, loser, 33% Chump Chimp Bush cannot be any more incorrect. Reagan was ascendent, Bush is plummeting like Wile E. Coyote off of a bluff.

There will actually be some incentive for moderates Republicans to show some distance from Bush.

Mr. Kramer, people really listen to you for advice about money?

-GSD

Oh yeah,

-1 toasted English muffin

-spread with butter

-mix two teaspoons of peanut butter with a teaspoon of honey.

-spread liberally on muffin

-serve with hot chocolate

We’ve come across Chafee a few times this year in crucial votes like Alito, I was impressed by his statement below and his loss did help us gain the Senate. In reference to Bolton’s nomination by Bush:

“Mr. Chafee, who was defeated for re-election on Tuesday, said: “The American people have spoken out against the president’s agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy. And at this late stage in my term, I’m not going to endorse something the American people have spoken out against.””

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11…..olton.html

unclemike at 6 — you know, our government is run by human beings who are, frankly, imperfect. There is always going to be some level of corruption — but the key is to select the side which has the less-institutionalized form of it. And to watch them like a hawk regardless of whether you supported them or not. And not to get caught up in personality and hero worship, but to realize that the flaws are going to be there and that you have to figure out a way to enable the better angels of their natures while doing everything you can to limit the rest.

It requires an involved and informed electorate. Well, at least before the internet it did. Now it only involves a small portion of the electorate to be very vigilent and active in their work. And that’s enough at the moment.

twolf1 at 9 — mmmmmmm….now you’ve made me seriously hungry this morning!

Good morning Christy, you’re up early on a Sat am. Hello Peanut (would that be the reason Mom is up?) Morning twolf, angie, RevDeb, unclemike, all.

And unclemike, check out the last day’s threads. Not to worry, Ms Hamsher and the Blogosphere Rapid Reaponse Team are slinging away. Letters have gone out to Mr Carville with copies to Dr Dean, I quote prof’s post from the Gasbags thread:

Prof says:
November 10th, 2006 at 3:51 pm *

Dear James,

I have admired you since the early days helping Bill Clinton get into the Presidency. You have a solid place in American history, provide incisive commentary on CNN, and I hope will continue spending time helping us solidify a Democratic majority in America at all levels.

But calling for Howard Dean to be replaced as DNC Chair is probably the worst idea you’ve ever had.

James, our here in the West, we are rebuilding the Democratic Party in every state, not just Harold Ford’s South. We deserve a national party. I think we are going to get one. We are going to do it with Governor Dean taking the long view, and helping us shore up the foundations — in all 50 states.

I hope you’ll join Governor Dean in that national enterprise.

Best regards,

I decided to be nice about it, hoping he might read past the first line.

Sent it to:
james@carville.info
deanh@dnc.org
tracyr@gmail.com

I simply “made up” the “deanh@dnc.org” address, based on other e-mail accounts at dnc.org that use last name and then first initial. I tested it out by sending a message to that address, which did not bounce, and then another to asdlkfj@dnc.org (nonsense keys for recipient), which did bounce back. So maybe “deanh” works.

I found that the DNC’s blogmistress is Tracy Joan Russo, and Google gave me a Gmail account for her. I figured that including a cc to her would be useful.

I wrote, too, not quite so nice but managed not to say idiot.

Interesting to note that CNN is running a spin/stab-in-the-back piece on Lane Hudson, the blogger who outed the Foley e-mails………wonder where that little investigation is gonna go during the lame-duck session……….ain’t holdin’ ma breath ;-)

All fdl veterans and families: we honor your service and sacrifice. Thank you for being there on our behalf.

Hope we can do right by the current military. We will try.

Today I have to take a walk and try to break this election-news-addiction cycle. Bundle up warm and venture out. Maybe I’ll go to a bookstore, but avoid the political book display, though that will take willpower. Then what? Is anyone else consumed with keeping updated? How are you breaking the “addiction?”

GSD,

Thanks for Larry’s snip.
Another Repug out of touch…
Remember only 67 days and counting to
Libby’s Lies… and Dick’s Big Smear.
My take on the election was “we are sick
of your fucking lies and deception”
Never, never believe George, he started
his presser off with a lie and he will
continue…
Can’t wait for his State of the Union message
(is there one or will it be postponed?)
All roads lead to impeachment..

Jack

Jack

Cooking with Balrog.

I especially like Hobbits, turned on a spit, blackened from the fire I vent at ‘em.

This Carville was a Hobbit before he was Gollum.

DarkBlack?

GSD — heh. My buddy who’s a die-hard righty, a libertarian-Repug type, blows off Kudlow. He says Kudlow is so far right that he still thinks slavery is a fine institution.

Not doing much here, taking some chill-out time. Had some contract work immediately following the election with a deadline yesterday. Now have a little breathing room…for an hour. Need to meet for lunch with a potential candidate for local party office, to make sure we’re on the right page together before we get all the votes behind them.

Our work is still far from done — as the hoo-haw with Carville proved. Getting the right local and state party folks in place will ensure that Carville and his like (I’m sure there are more in the wings) can’t hijack the party. Not on my watch.

ipod–there is a way to make categories of music. I’m slightly too inexperienced with my ipod to walk you thru it, but surely someone here can.

Re crayons: 25-yr-old egrDaughter has coloring parties, invites friends over and they all color with crayons and markers. Stickers and stars too of course.

She’s very in touch with her creativity, in some ways never lost the inner 5-yr-old.

BooMan has a great post up on Big Orange and on the Trib about the rainbow of dem leadership we can look forward to. It will make you all smile. And Devilstower has an interesting take on how the dems can govern out of the gate, also on Big Orange and Political Cortex. Both are worth a read on this, the first weekend of a brighter future ahead. *g*

Well, the birdies are just sort of peeking at the new feeder, but not trying it much. Clearly this is going to take a few days. Wow, it looks nice, though. I’ve been wanting this for a while — it’s a sort of hopper platform, but with a lovely gazebo shape to it and a nice roof, so the rain and snow stay off the seeds. I think once they’ve adjusted they will like it. :)

Christy,

When the Peanut is a teenager, she can help you out with your 10th generation iPod.

My teenager can do anything. I think it’s an implant they get at puberty.

Balrog @ 19

Cooking with Balrog.

I especially like Hobbits, turned on a spit, blackened from the fire I vent at ‘em.

This Carville was a Hobbit before he was Gollum.

DarkBlack?

That’s what happens when you have been too long with power you are not strong and wise enough to wield. Could happen to anyone. As Christy says, vigilance.

egregious @ 22

Re crayons: 25-yr-old egrDaughter has coloring parties, invites friends over and they all color with crayons and markers. Stickers and stars too of course.

She’s very in touch with her creativity, in some ways never lost the inner 5-yr-old.

We should all be so lucky: http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

Doing for self–yesterday I went to a local day spa for the first time and got pampered for a couple of hours. It was heavenly. Daily forest sanity walks are essential. I am trying to restore order in my life by picking up a little around the house. Let’s just say there is a lot of opportunity there. But it makes me feel more organized and in control.

I got insane watching the MSM spin the credit for our success away from Howard Dean. Emailed my ass off to news channels. I should watch talking heads tomorrow but I don’t know if my stomach can take it.

Today it is Veteran’s Day. Small heartfelt ceremony in my hometown.

The sun is shining.

I am going to sit down later and try to make a painting with oil pastels for the first time.

Alison at 25 — she’s already figured out how to work my laptop and it’s touchpad mouse to play Sesame Street games…and can run the regular mouse on our PC. It’s amazing what a three-year-old mind can do, isn’t it?

egregious @ 20

ipod–there is a way to make categories of music. I’m slightly too inexperienced with my ipod to walk you thru it, but surely someone here can.

Easily done. In iTunes just click the sign under the playlist and it will add a new category, whatever you want. Then when you’ve loaded the music, you can drag it into that category. When you sync with the pod, it shows tabs in the iTunes window. Click the music tab and then check the categories you want to load onto the pod (while it is plugged in). Then click “apply.” That should do it.

Lou at 27–when I was young and saw Miro’s art for the first time, it made me laugh out loud. THAT happy color stuff qualified as serious adult art? It really opened my eyes to what art could be.

Then a 7th grade art teacher gave me a C on my very best drawing ever. That crushed my artistic joy for a long time. I did music but never drawing for another 20 years. Got back into it with my kids.

egregious at 28 — if you can afford to do so, may I recommend getting someone to come in and help with the cleaning? Mr. ReddHedd pushed me into doing it after this blog started taking off, because I was running myself into the ground doing the research and writing and then up until 2 am cleaning because I felt like I had to do it. He’s been swamped at work and not able to pitch in as much as he would like, and I was turning into a zombie. We now have folks come in to clean once every two weeks, and it has made SUCH a difference for all of us. Truly, the best thing I ever did for myself, and I had to be dragged into doing it.

RevDeb,

Great news about the legislators in MA Wednesday. You really are an inspiration with your efforts to fight the good fight.

Christy Hardin Smith @ 13

twolf1 at 9 — mmmmmmm….now you’ve made me seriously hungry this morning!

Yes, that does look seriously good, but Mrs. Cat is a fanatic about low-fat healthy eating … anyone have any suggestions for substitutions in twolf1’s recipe for things like the butter and heavy cream?

GSD @10, I voted for Karen Carter (LA-02) and will do so again on Dec. 9 in the run-off, although not with any great enthusiasm. She was simply the best available alternative to “Dollar Bill” Jefferson … and like any elected official in Louisiana, if she wins you’ll have to keep a close watch on her.

RevDeb @
2

Rootz!

Hey Revdeb: I met some of your bluemassgroup friends in on election night. It was fun — I was dying to go home to vote but it was totally worth making the detour to Cambridge. It was a brief visit but really fun. Gotta have fun with election season whenever possible because some of the stuff like phonebanking can be grueling

I am going to see Bill Clinton speak at a luncheon today and feel very excited. It will be strange to hear him speak after the changes of this last week. The world feels different to me, less hostile. My paranoia about this current administration in check.

My inner child has finally been validated by the universe. The world looks so much different today than it did on monday. The world agrees with me that the emperor was wearing no clothes and now we don’t have to stare at a naked guy pretending to be fabulous while all his minions oooo and Ahhhh about his wonderful attire.

Getting to see Bill Clinton, validation from the universe that the current pres. is in fact, evil. What more could you want on a saturday morning? Beside that pumpkin pie recipe, a hot pot of coffee, a snuggle from the kids and a breath of fresh air.

I cannot imagine how I would have made it through this administration without these blogs.

This morning is all about gratitude.

I’m contemplating having either cooked goose or plum lame duck for Thanksgiving dinner.

sofistic at 37 — at least you don’t have to put crow ont he menu like Bushie did when he had Pelosi over for lunch on Wednesday. *g*

egregious @ 28

Doing for self–(snip) I am trying to restore order in my life by picking up a little around the house. Let’s just say there is a lot of opportunity there.

‘Opportunity’, thank you egregious! Yeah, that’s what I’ll do today! And we have two concert jobs today plus an invite to the Winchester Arms for the Rememberance Day (what we call it here)sing-song. Looking forward to some Dame Vera Lynn, maybe I can convince them to do Arirang.

Hey Christy, it’s a bit late in the season for this, but put it on your calendar for next year. Starting in August, stores usually have hugely discounted sales on school supplies. I buy up bunches of boxes of crayons, markers, pencils, paper, white glue and rubber cement, etc. for very little money; then I put them in a plastic box in the cupboard to use over the course of the year. We also collect old copies of National Geographic from friends; you’re going to need them in the near future for school projects, when Peanut needs to find and cut out pictures of animals. It’s become a seasonal ritual now, still doing it more than 7 years later. If you stock up like we do, be sure to pick up many of the smaller boxes of crayons; you can use them at Peanut’s birthday parties in gift bags or for activities.

Anytime now you’re going to say you need some salt dough; we’re going to do that later today. We’re in the middle of the third-grader’s indigenous people project. We’ve made papier mache “ice cubes” for an igloo, will be making Inuit people, seals and bears from salt dough later, after I get back from lunch.

Not crazy about the Inuit teepee; had to cook whole chicken and reserve denuded, cleaned bones for the teepee frame (the boy insisted on authenticity on this point, only gave in on fake fur instead of rabbit fur for the covering). Teepee assembly is tomorrow’s project.

One of these days I really am going to do something for myself…something without hot glue and chicken bones…

Decompressing here after the election. Gave it a good fight, but ~1800 votes short. Thanks to everyone here that gave and for all the kind words of support.
Somehow, in the waning days of the campaign, we acquired two kittens and a puppy (added to the dog we already had). They’re playing on the floor as I type this – the rest of the family is still asleep. Looking for something simple to make for breakfast to wake them up.
I’m thinking of “Dutch Oven Pancakes”
6 eggs
1 C Flour
1 C Milk
1/3-1/2 stick butter

Place butter in brownie pan & place in oven preheated to 425.
While butter is melting, put eggs in blender on low for 1 minutes. Add milk & flour, blend for another minute.

Pour into pan & bake for 30 minutes. Pancakes will fall after removing from oven.

Noonan — sorry about the loss, but it was an amazing try and I hope you’ll find a way to do it again. And if you make the dutch baby pancakes, consider topping them with some sauteed apples — slice, and saute in a pan with some butter and cinnamon. Sprinkle with brown sugar and stir in to coat slices well. Nummy!

CHS–thanks for the suggestion to have cleaning help. I did everything for everybody when the kids were little and finally realized there was only so much of me to go around. Now I have both cleaning help and errand help, so it’s easier to focus on work. Other people have employment, I can read and analyze more, what’s not to like?

I tried to reach you otherwise: are you aware that it’s Veteran’s Day in the US?

egregious at 43 — exactly, same for me. The ladies (and one fella occasionally) who come by to clean are great, and they’ve all gotten interested in politics and talk with me about stuff in the news now. Last year I made homemade cookies for each of them and they were so appreciative. It’s nice knowing that we’re able to help them out a bit with a job while they are helping me out a bit with the house. :)

GSD @
10

I say we work on cooking William “Cold Cash” Jefferson’s goose down in Louisiana.

Support his challenger in the run off, Karen Carter.

Also, for a good laugh, check out the brilliant Larry Kudlow predicting the election results.

(Snip)

Thanks to John Kerry’s mouth, Saddam Hussein’s death sentence, a strong economy and stock market, and George Bush’s indefatigable campaigning, the Republicans will come out of this election in better shape than almost anyone thinks.

My range on the House spans from a most-optimistic one-seat GOP hold to a 15-to-20-seat loss. But here’s the crucial point: Even if the Democrats rule the House with a slim margin, a number of new Blue Dog Democrats will give President Bush an operating House majority. It was the same for Ronald Reagan during his first term. Back in the early 1980s, the Gipper always could count on 35 to 50 so-called “Boll Weevil” Democrats (yesterday’s Blue Dogs) to support his legislation on lower taxes, reduced spending, and stronger defense.

(End snip)

Because Mr. Kramer, the comparison between a first term Reagan and a second term, loser, 33% Chump Chimp Bush cannot be any more incorrect. Reagan was ascendent, Bush is plummeting like Wile E. Coyote off of a bluff.

There will actually be some incentive for moderates Republicans to show some distance from Bush.

Mr. Kramer, people really listen to you for advice about money?

-GSD

Oh yeah,

-1 toasted English muffin

-spread with butter

-mix two teaspoons of peanut butter with a teaspoon of honey.

-spread liberally on muffin

-serve with hot chocolate

granite man:

did i lose something in translation or are you confusing jim cramer with kudlow?

anyway, kudlow is the biggest blivet in the Universe (Evil wouldn’t have him), straight from vaudeville. he’s a ferret that needs jerry lewis for a sock puppet. i’d pay a nickle to see it.

marily at 44 — Yes — I actually did a post yesterday on that (for some reason I kept thinking yesterday that it was the 11th). But I also have something planned for later today as well.

Here is something very simple and I haven’t made it in years.
Make a filling of sliced apples, brown sugar and butter by cooking it in a saucepan. Add cinnamon and a little cloves.

Make a waffle batter with bisquick and add vanilla and cinnamon.

Pour batter in a greased all-steel wok. Add apple mixture to center. Bake until batter creeps up the side and then folds in on itself and browns.

Slide the puffed “waffle” onto a serving dish and sprinkle with powered sugar. Serve with whatever syrup or jam you wish.

Thank you to all the veterans out there who have repeatedly saved their country and the world. Some of them wore uniforms while world-saving, many didn’t. We’ll honour them by continuing to save what they fought for. Christy, you and Jane, Howie K and Howard Dean, thank you for being our generals as we continue to fight for freedom, justice and (dare I say it?) the American way. A battle at the ballot box is still a battle.

And a huge thanks to tommy yum, who wrote the best marching-to-victory song ever. Wonder how many votes that won?

(shoves Kleenex back into pocket)

Now I’m gonna toast an English muffin and put cream cheese and plum butter on it and cleam up my desk. See you guys later.

Now if I can only figure out how to make folders of music for different categories. (I’d like a Kick Ass folder for those days when I’m feeling particularly snarky, for one…)

Comments in iTunes are great for this. Select a song and choose “Get Info” from the “File” menu, then find the Comments field on the Info tab. Add the word “snarky” to the Comments, then create a Smart Playlist with the rule “Comment contains snarky”. And you can have multiple keywords in the comments for a given song, so it can match more than one Smart Playlist of this type.

Christy – did Bird Bingo ever make it to the Peanut?

HotFlash at 49 — Howie got a thank you from someone in the Webb campaign who swears their version of the Had Enough ad may have made the difference in the Fairfax area. TommyYum and Ken and Howie deserve serious thanks from all of us.

i’ll be hotFlash’s echo. right on 100%.

iPods… you can create playlists, either in iTunes or on the iPod itself to play just the music you want to hear at that moment.

Apple used to have a short howto document, but now they just post the product manual. Guh…

Christy and all firepuppies,
Thank you for the Saturday morning serenity threads.
I heard a song yesterday for the first time by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap called “Home” about soldiers and their sacrifice. Since I grew up with Woman,Woman and his other songs, I was surprised not to know about this one.
It is a good one in honor of Veteran’s Day.

I won’t write down the recipe because it is three pages long, but if you’re looking for a luxurious fall dish to savor, go to foodnetwork.com and look up Michael Chiarello butternut squash lasagna. It is out-of-this-world delicious.

Regarding the stolen bird house, as I recall you also had a big plant stolen last fall. What’s going on with yard decor theft if your area?

You need to get a gun – or two or three – and not some weenie thing, a big ol’ Rambo thing with a magazine, and a Hummer, get a Hummer, and build a fence, a really long one with barbed wire on top…

No wait, we turned from red to blue the other day. Skip the gun, Hummer and fence.

Give a squirrell a walnut, you have friend for life. I’m such a easy mark. All they have to do is show up and look in the window. I figure since they’ve made the gesture to ask, I should oblige them.

As luck would have it, I have a party tonight. The victory on Tuesday will the second cause of celebration.

T- at 51 — Oh, yes! Darn it — I thought I had sent you a thank you e-mail on that. She LUVS it. It was awfully sweet of you. :)

egregious says:
November 11th, 2006 at 5:49 am *

Re crayons: 25-yr-old egrDaughter has coloring parties, invites friends over and they all color with crayons and markers. Stickers and stars too of course.

She’s very in touch with her creativity, in some ways never lost the inner 5-yr-old.

When my son’s girlfriend was in jail for violation of probation(due to some horrific travesty that had to do with her being abused and the officers arresting her instead of the perp)she told me one of the small pleasures she and fellow inmates indulged in to pass the time was coloring. The jail commissary, for which inmates were charged double for stuff you could get at walmart for way less, offered colored pencils and they were considered treasures.
After she got out the first thing she did was to send her friends in lockup material we downloaded and printed out from the web to be colored.

In Minnesota (where the amazing Tim Walz unseated 6-term GOP congressman Gil “I never saw a Bush initiative I didn’t like” Gutknecht), we are morphing from fall to winter.

Burning bushes are almost done displaying their fiery reds. Cool days. Sub-freezing nights. Yup. Winter is just around the corner.

Been noodling a lot about how to keep it from being the winter of our discontent. We have a huge challenge before us. The wild rumpus of this past week is richly deserved and desperately needed.

Interesting tidbits all over the blogosphere about Rove’s miscalculations. About Junior’s lifelong struggle to please and/or outperform Daddy. About the snarly sniping of James Carville (I thought he was one of us!). About new drapes. About an emerging era of matriarchy (as some view it). Etc., etc., etc.

‘But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.’ Yes indeedy.

But first, English muffins with home-made ginger pear jam. Yummmmm.

Christy Hardin Smith @
42

Noonan — sorry about the loss, but it was an amazing try and I hope you’ll find a way to do it again. And if you make the dutch baby pancakes, consider topping them with some sauteed apples — slice, and saute in a pan with some butter and cinnamon. Sprinkle with brown sugar and stir in to coat slices well. Nummy!

Christy,
I’m working on it right now :)
I’m amazed by the number of people that see me in public now and ask me to run again next time. I am concentrating on family now (I’m in the post-2000 Al Gore zone). I lost too much time with them over the past few months.
Good news about the election, local Dems are energized and getting organized. I’m hoping to start local chapters of Drinking Liberally to help lay the groundwork for whoever runs in ‘08. Too many people I talked to thought they were the only Democrats in town. It’s time we break down that belief and make people comfortable calling themselves liberal or progressive, or even just “Democrat” in this very purple area.

It snowed here yesterday–started as rain, then sleet, then slop, then snow–so all the trees and shrubs and plants are covered. It’s a pretty sight on a Saturday morning but I’m dreading the slog through winter. Christy, your picture at the top makes me smile and long for summer.

I don’t know about all of you, but I love fish but rarely cook it at home (not counting tuna sandwiches!) But, I have one tried and true simple dish I make…made it again last night. Yummy!

Fish in Foil (or Cassarole dish)

Filets of your favorite firm white fish (I’ve used tilipia, haddock, and snapper)
Veggies, all sliced thinly or into matchstick sizes (I generally use onions, a small zucchini, a bit of red pepper, mushrooms, and chopped fresh spinach)
Grated cheese (jack, fontina, or fresh asiago work well), a small handful per serving
Olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of white wine if you want.

You can either make individual serving packets with foil or simply layer things in a cassarole dish. I usually layer sliced onions and the red pepper and a few mushrooms, then place fish on top. Season fish with salt/pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Add zucchini and more mushrooms around fish and put chopped spinach and finally top with cheese. Add a dash of white wine if you want.

Tightly close each foil packet or cover cassarole dish tightly.

Place in 375 oven for 25-35 minutes, depending on fish type (tilipia takes a bit longer than snapper).

It all steams together and the juices are incredible. I serve with rice or orzo pasta, bread, and salad.

If you use the foil packets, spoon the rice/pasta directly into the packets–it soaks up the juices and is YUMMY.

Enjoy! And thank you all for this incredible community.

Great! Mark my words, she’ll be a world class birder in no time.

I’m going to shoot you an e-mail w/ a pic attached so the Peanut can see her friend in GA.

I have always disliked the “opening” at the end of the Thanksgiving turkey as it is displayed on a platter for all to oh and aww about. To me, that opening looks rather obscene. You can buy little pin and lace kits to lace up the opening, but they are haphazard. This year, in a kitchen specialty store, I found silicone laces with their own needle end. The silicone will not burn or cook away.

I hope this year now to have an easy way to display a “modest” and beautiful turkey.

RevDeb @
4

No time to relax just yet. Have to write the sermon for tomorrow titled, “What’s Next?” My own wish list for what I’d like to see happen in the country. After that, I’ve got some serious catching up to do with the folks at the church and then need to plan the town Thanksgiving Eve service.

A Lot to Be Grateful For.

Hey Deb how’s it going? Can you post your sermon or possible email it to me. I like your ideas and writing.

As for the relaxing thing, my gf and I took a nice bike ride at the Patuxent Agricultural center in Bowie MD yesterday. It was an awesome ride through the trees. Might have to do it again today.

Hope everyone is having a great morning.

Danbury at 56 — there are, unfortunately, a few juvenile delinquents without proper adult supervision that live in our vicinity. But I am slowly but surely converting the stealable stuff into fixtures — it just takes a little time. Next up, a bigger fence around our yard…

Tips on making waffles:
Always use Belgian waffle makers. Those wimpy things with the small shallow squares suck.

Put a quarter cup of yellow corn meal in the batter; it will make your waffles crunchy and crispy.

Put spices and vanilla in the batter. Try using garam masala instead of traditional cinnamon and other spices. Us only burbon (sP?) vanilla; there is a big difference in the flavor.

You can get anything you want
at the FDL restaurant …

coffee just finished brewing

English muffins with home-made ginger pear jam

English muffin and put cream cheese and plum butter on it

waffle batter with bisquick and add vanilla and cinnamon [with] a filling of sliced apples, brown sugar and butter

Dutch Oven Pancakes

Hobbits, turned on a spit, blackened from the fire

Michael Chiarello butternut squash lasagna

Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger-Pecan Crust

Egregious @32: It’s amazing what marks/grades can do to a young mind. I read in a book, can’t remember the title, of a young teenage student who was having serious problems and depression. She wrote her torments, fears, down in a letter to her most trusted male teacher, asking him what she should do. He returned the letter to her, with only red pen marks correcting all the grammatical errors. She was crushed. She committed suicide the next day.

AirportCat at 68 — lol good one!

AirportCat at 68 –

Might interest you to know that Alice is a good friend of mine. In fact, she was a guest at my butternut squash lasagna dinner!

fahrender @
46

GSD @
10

I say we work on cooking William “Cold Cash” Jefferson’s goose down in Louisiana.

Support his challenger in the run off, Karen Carter.

Oops.

Yes, it was Pudlow who made the lame prediction.

Immentioned Kramer in the thread by folly.

Thanks for spotting me.

-GSD

Also, for a good laugh, check out the brilliant Larry Kudlow predicting the election results.

(Snip)

Thanks to John Kerry’s mouth, Saddam Hussein’s death sentence, a strong economy and stock market, and George Bush’s indefatigable campaigning, the Republicans will come out of this election in better shape than almost anyone thinks.

My range on the House spans from a most-optimistic one-seat GOP hold to a 15-to-20-seat loss. But here’s the crucial point: Even if the Democrats rule the House with a slim margin, a number of new Blue Dog Democrats will give President Bush an operating House majority. It was the same for Ronald Reagan during his first term. Back in the early 1980s, the Gipper always could count on 35 to 50 so-called “Boll Weevil” Democrats (yesterday’s Blue Dogs) to support his legislation on lower taxes, reduced spending, and stronger defense.

(End snip)

Because Mr. Kramer, the comparison between a first term Reagan and a second term, loser, 33% Chump Chimp Bush cannot be any more incorrect. Reagan was ascendent, Bush is plummeting like Wile E. Coyote off of a bluff.

There will actually be some incentive for moderates Republicans to show some distance from Bush.

Mr. Kramer, people really listen to you for advice about money?

-GSD

Oh yeah,

-1 toasted English muffin

-spread with butter

-mix two teaspoons of peanut butter with a teaspoon of honey.

-spread liberally on muffin

-serve with hot chocolate

granite man:

did i lose something in translation or are you confusing jim cramer with kudlow?

anyway, kudlow is the biggest blivet in the Universe (Evil wouldn’t have him), straight from vaudeville. he’s a ferret that needs jerry lewis for a sock puppet. i’d pay a nickle to see it.

Oops.

Yes, it was Pudlow who made the lame prediction.

Immentioned Kramer in the thread by folly.

Thanks for spotting me.

-GSD

We’ve brought this up before, but I really do think an FDL cookbook would be a hit for a fundraiser. There have been some really, really good recipes posted here.

Mistake in the recipe I posted earlier. :blush: Can someone fix it to read 1.5 cups of both flour and milk?

A nice appetizer for the fall season and for your significant other(s);

Jacques Pepin’s Onion Soup Gratinee

http://www.recipezaar.com/142658

1. Happy Veterans Day. To all the veterans: thank you for your service to our country.

2. It’s time for Mr. Carville to exit the stage. Thank you for your service in 1992. Goodbye.

When I turned 40 I bought myself the big box of 64 Crayolas and a bunch of coloring books with vellum pages. When I was a kid my parents wouldn’t let me have the 64 box(don’t ask,I have no idea),so I was giddy at the store picking out those things,lol. I love coloring and coloring books. Oh,and there’s a box of 24 crayons that are scented,the black crayon is called Leather Jacket and smells EXACTLY like leather. I’ve developed a fondness for a good gel pen too,those are good for outlining and making your own pictures to color in. I used to do that for my kids when they were little,make line drawings for them to color.

I have that book,Mrs Sharp’s Traditions,it’s really lovely and very interesting.

I wonder what the mail to congress critters have been for the past several years?

I suspect if they really were “listening” to constituents and not the bloviators on talk radio, political consultants like Shrum, Brooksie and the MSM they would have known that the merikans did NOT like what was going down.

The so called “approval rating” of both the admin and the congress showed very deep dissatisfaction with the status quo. Why do asshats like Chafee need an election to know which way the wind blows? And what do asshats like Emanuel spin like a top?

OK it’s official, but the writing was on the wall, in the streets, in the blogs, in the letters to the editors, in the rising protest movements… that there was a lot of discontent.

How dare those f*kers spin this to say that we were not centrist enough and it was a victory of the center. Screw them… more lying, spinning and prevarication.

martha @
62

It snowed here yesterday–started as rain, then sleet, then slop, then snow–so all the trees and shrubs and plants are covered. It’s a pretty sight on a Saturday morning but I’m dreading the slog through winter.

We must be fairly close, we had the same crap yesterday. I was surprised to see the snow is still on the ground this morning.

Danbury @ 56, I haven’t tried Michael’s recipe but I have made Giada’s and it is very, very delicious too.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/foo…..src=search

Noonan @ 80

martha @
62

It snowed here yesterday–started as rain, then sleet, then slop, then snow–so all the trees and shrubs and plants are covered. It’s a pretty sight on a Saturday morning but I’m dreading the slog through winter.

We must be fairly close, we had the same crap yesterday. I was surprised to see the snow is still on the ground this morning.

And it’s like spring in the east. Nice for the heating bills, but I like snow and sitting by the fire with my dog on the lake (well, ocean, but any body of water will do!) on a cold winter night.

I’ll swap with you.

When it comes to coloring, inside the lines our outside?

When I used crayons, and then colored pencils as an art student, it was always inside. Now that I work digitally, it’s outside for me.

It’s getting to be seafood season here on the California northwest coast. And we are looking forward to the dungeness crab season beginning December first. Also, the bivalve season is upon us and I can’t wait to steam up some blue mussels with white wine, garlic and parsley.

Noonan @ 80

martha @
62

It snowed here yesterday–started as rain, then sleet, then slop, then snow–so all the trees and shrubs and plants are covered. It’s a pretty sight on a Saturday morning but I’m dreading the slog through winter.

We must be fairly close, we had the same crap yesterday. I was surprised to see the snow is still on the ground this morning.

Noonan: I’m down in that evil liberal mecca (aka Madison). I kept tabs on your race and was sorry to see the results. But, you were so close, and I’m assuming it’s quite a red zone, given the seat’s previous occupant (ugh).

I hope, once you recover from your really impressive efforts, you try again.

martha @ 85

Noonan @ 80

martha @
62

It snowed here yesterday–started as rain, then sleet, then slop, then snow–so all the trees and shrubs and plants are covered. It’s a pretty sight on a Saturday morning but I’m dreading the slog through winter.

We must be fairly close, we had the same crap yesterday. I was surprised to see the snow is still on the ground this morning.

Noonan: I’m down in that evil liberal mecca (aka Madison). I kept tabs on your race and was sorry to see the results. But, you were so close, and I’m assuming it’s quite a red zone, given the seat’s previous occupant (ugh).

I hope, once you recover from your really impressive efforts, you try again.

Ok, now I can put a name to a userid :)
See, it’s comments like yours that get me plotting and thinking. Now, you’ll need to keep doing that every day for the next couple of months :) Thanks, Martha!

See, it’s comments like yours that get me plotting and thinking. Now, you’ll need to keep doing that every day for the next couple of months :)

Will do!

AirportCat @ 35

Christy Hardin Smith @ 13

twolf1 at 9 — mmmmmmm….now you’ve made me seriously hungry this morning!

Yes, that does look seriously good, but Mrs. Cat is a fanatic about low-fat healthy eating … anyone have any suggestions for substitutions in twolf1’s recipe for things like the butter and heavy cream?

GSD @10, I voted for Karen Carter (LA-02) and will do so again on Dec. 9 in the run-off, although not with any great enthusiasm. She was simply the best available alternative to “Dollar Bill” Jefferson … and like any elected official in Louisiana, if she wins you’ll have to keep a close watch on her.

Morning, AC. I voted for Karen too, though I have my reservations.

Millineryman @ 33

RevDeb,

Great news about the legislators in MA Wednesday. You really are an inspiration with your efforts to fight the good fight.

As long as the fights are good ones, I’m in. Hopefully this nastiness will be put to bed for good on Jan.2. If not, we’ll keep fighting. Don’t know if you saw them, but I posted a couple of pics on my site.

Maureen Dowd has a good column today about the phony testosterone bluster of the Bush crowd, and I really like this line. It has a food reference to boot, so it fits in the thread here just perfectly:

“This will be known as the year macho politics failed — mainly because it was macho politics by marshmallow men.”

cadmium @ 35

RevDeb @
2

Rootz!

Hey Revdeb: I met some of your bluemassgroup friends in on election night. It was fun — I was dying to go home to vote but it was totally worth making the detour to Cambridge. It was a brief visit but really fun. Gotta have fun with election season whenever possible because some of the stuff like phonebanking can be grueling

Would have been nice to be there too, but CT kept me kinda busy that night (and that day, etc.) Glad you went!

Danbury @ 90

Maureen Dowd has a good column today about the phony testosterone bluster of the Bush crowd, and I really like this line. It has a food reference to boot, so it fits in the thread here just perfectly:

“This will be known as the year macho politics failed — mainly because it was macho politics by marshmallow men.”

Maybe they should stick to nachos instead?

AirportCat @
35
but Mrs. Cat is a fanatic about low-fat healthy eating … anyone have any suggestions for substitutions in twolf1’s recipe for things like the butter and heavy cream?

solution:
share one slice, thereby you’ve reduced fat and calories by half.

even if you have to reduce portions to two bites, don’t mess with the recipe… it won’t do justice to the recipe and it won’t be the same experience

portion control is my solution and I’ve been fighting with what my genes want to put in my jeans for nearly sixty years

balance what goes in with energy expended… as I am able to expend less, there are several treats limited to two bites… but they are so good!

Goo morning all, and Go Blue! Cold and rainy here today, so I’m gonna just sit on the couch and watch me some football. Ate my “victory” dinner last night-a big thick sirloin with grilled onions and a couple of glasses of Cabernet. Yummy!

As for the craft closet, we have a huge one! My wife has an amazing talent for art and it has rubbed off on the kids. Crayons, paints, colored pencils, stamps, stencils. You name it, we have it. There is a small coat closet behind the stairs, we knocked a hole in the drywall and it now occupies the whole space under the stairs. All the neigbors kids love it too!

sofistic @ 93

Danbury @ 90

Maureen Dowd has a good column today about the phony testosterone bluster of the Bush crowd, and I really like this line. It has a food reference to boot, so it fits in the thread here just perfectly:

“This will be known as the year macho politics failed — mainly because it was macho politics by marshmallow men.”

Maybe they should stick to nachos instead?

Or pretzels, yellow cake, and whine.

What about this:

In 2000, Joe Lieberman’s Republican challenger received 448,077 votes,

In 2006, Joe Lieberman’s Democratic challenger received 448,077 votes.

Not to get too political or theoretical in the moment of savoring the moment, but…

For about a year now, I have been trying to get a handle on a theoretical model for the changes we have seen. We have been hammered relentlessly by the right in an effort to create a social reality that just didn’t exist in the greater American society. Now, we are seeing the reaction to that hammering.

It looks as if we are seeing just a part of a very big arc of social change that began sometime after WWII, and the shrillness of the right screaming machine is simply what dying things do in their last throes. I think frequently of the enlightenment and how the founders of America were products, and how, perhaps, we are the next cycle in that great arc.

OK, I’m done now.

This from a story on CNN:

Along with Bolton’s nomination, Bush said he would like to move forward on legislation to retroactively authorize the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.

Now, can we get down to the business of booting this shit to the curb, along with the dipshits who advocate it? No more warrantless eavesdropping. No “harsh interrogation methods”, a k a torture. No suspension of habeus corpus.

LisaDawn,
e-mail coming your way with the site I use for church stuff. That’s where I put sermons, not on my “public” site.

CHS,
Re the Peanut’s art projects for a rainy day…
Pick up found things on walks with her.
Bottle caps
bits of colored beach glass
nuts and bolts that have fallen off things
bits of other non sharp metal
whatever else you can find that’s interesting and not greasy or dangerous.
When you hive enough give them a nice washing.
Let her glue them to a board or small wine bottle or other bottle with an interesting shape.
This will teach her the joys of “outsider” art assemblage.
Don’t be surprised if she wants to glue things to an old car when she grows up. HA!
Enjoy. ac

interesting post on Carville here. It seems that he thought Zell would be a good choice for running mate for Gore!!!!

Who is it that he works for again?

The waffle recipes sound yummy – I’ve got a bowl of whipped cream, lightly flavored with Bailey’s Irish Cream, waiting in the fridge.

I can’t think of a better way to say “Thank You” to our vets than donating to my good friend’s campaign. He came close on Tuesday and has already declared he’s going to run in ‘08.

I didn’t think I’d be posting a donation plea so soon, but it only makes sense on Veterans’ Day to give to the guy that blew the whistle on Abu Graib. Yes, he’s the guy.

Came across this and had to share it with you guys. It’s President Lincoln on e-mail, truly!

Lindy @ 89

Morning, AC. I voted for Karen too, though I have my reservations.

Good morning, Lindy! Yes, two of my reservations were the endorsements of Karen Carter by Boysie Bollinger and Joe Canizaro, neither of whom upon would I deign to urinate were they on fire.

Everythingseemssoneat @ 97

What about this:

In 2000, Joe Lieberman’s Republican challenger received 448,077 votes,

In 2006, Joe Lieberman’s Democratic challenger received 448,077 votes.

I’d say it means there are still 448,077 voters who don’t want Joe Lieberman as their Senator.

Wanna do something special for Veteran’s Day…

…watch this: America: from Freedom to Fascism (1h50m)

Of all the victories last Tuesday, the sweetest one to me was the defeat of Pombo, the CA rep who was out to singlehandedly destroy the environment. He has already wreaked much havoc, and I thought he would be in office forever like Herger, but huge thanks to everyone who fought against him.

RevDeb @
100

LisaDawn,
e-mail coming your way with the site I use for church stuff. That’s where I put sermons, not on my “public” site.

Thanks

Hiya Christie

I’ll be cooking south Indian for my Man tomorrow: a chana dal, an okra thing, and rice with lime and spices (plus papads and mango chutney) …. I’m finally getting confidence with the Indian spices, and want to try my own pickles and fermented foods next …

Canning chow-chow today with one of my fave cuz’s. At her ranch/farm (steers and hogs and chickens). All veg’s are from the garden. For tomorrow’s Demo victory supper. Some Repub relatives will be here from Texas and New Mexico. But we’re a large tent type family.

Tomorrow I am the cook as usual.

On the menu:

Deep fried rainbow trout, catfish, fried chicken and gator tail. Turnip greens, baby cabbage, harvard beets, homemade potato salad, and carrot salad. Corn bread (in iron pan) with sweet cream butter and or milk. Mexican beer, Iced tea, butter-milk and soda. Red, white and blue coconut cake for dessert (didn’t make this. Cousin Paula will do that)

We figure to have about 35 or so of our folks here. Four wheeling, movies, target practice, dominoes, constitutions (this is a six hundred acre spread) and chess for afternoon.

Kiddo, that sounds like a blast!

I catered a little girls birthday party once. In the back yard, they had 2 very long tables set up with pink table cloths. The tables were for children and very low to the ground. On top of the tables were cups that lined the middle of the tables. In the cups were stars, glitter beads, ribbons, pieces of lace, etc. Every place setting had unpainted wooden cigar box lightly painted pink and lined in pink felt and a glue stick. I thought that was a great way to entertain little girls for the day.

Everythingseemssoneat @ 96

What about this:

In 2000, Joe Lieberman’s Republican challenger received 448,077 votes,

In 2006, Joe Lieberman’s Democratic challenger received 448,077 votes.

Maybe too neat? We were kicking this around last night.

jinny @
20

Some questions about the Lamont vote numbers and Giordano’s (who previously ran against Lieberman) being the same. Strange coincidence
or what? You may be interested in taking a look:

Are there any statisticians in the house?

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/9615

I found the exit polls for the Liebermann 2000 election here.
But I don’t know how to read them. Any exit poll mavens out there?
FWIW, general response on the Lake and elsewhere for 24 hours on *any* voting irregularity issue has been deafening crickets. Do we not care? Is tinfoil out of fashion? Are we being berry, berry quiet?

Kiddo, can you make it 36? I’ll bring an extra chess board. *wink

DEAN!

ac at 101, you’re after my heart. I was going to suggest collecting items that may lend themselves to sculpture. One of my great disappointments is that art students at the mid-school level still use mostly pencil for their artistic expression. Seems like they have never had the imagination for 3-D. I attribute this to the liklihood that they have never really looked around at the possibilities that anything can be made into art. Go Duchamp!

Of course, you could end up like me, with collections of cool stuff that accrue faster than my ability to imagine how to use them. But the possibilities are still exciting.

I have always used recycled stuff in my artwork. This weekend in Santa Fe, there is a big show of recycle artists.

Since everybody’s talking food, here are a couple of my recent kitchen adventures:

Crab cakes with jicama slaw and coconut thai red curry sauce

Shrimp tacos with chipotle crema and mango salsa

As a meal, it’s a nice last taste of summer before the cold really sets in. You can see the pictures here

Anyway, I hardly ever comment here, but I read this blog almost every day, and I just wanted to thank Christy, Jane and the rest of the FDL crew…not only for a great blog, but for all your great work on this election cycle. Cheers!

Oh, and twolf1, you totally had me at crystallized ginger. I am sooo making teh cheesecake for Thanksgiving dinner.

New thread, gang.

New thread

(smirk)

Morning Everyone!

Late to the coffee-klatch again, but enjoying the comments so much, I suddenly realized I’m gonna be EPU’d for sure (I’m only up to #37 or so, but loving every minute of it.)

Christy, I wanted you to know how we celebrated here. A simple thing, but very meaningful to us, and perhaps to a bunch of others we don’t even know.

We live on a pretty busy country road – peaceful area, but a road lotsa folks use on their commute to & from work & grocery store & everything between.

Christy, do you happen to remember a picture I sent to you earlier this year? It showed an upside-down U.S. flag on our signpost out front, along with a nice big healthy dark-blue morning glory blooming its heart out, and with a big yellow ribbon on the post?

For those unfamiliar with the U.S. flag code, I need to explain: displaying the flag upside down means no disrespect for the flag or the country. It is an official signal for grave danger – in this case, to our country, to our democracy, to those in military service,. . . & those are just for starters. (you’ll find the code described in any almanac)

That flag and its predecessors were never touched by vandals in the several years it has been there(!) (I always kept fresh, clean flag as the display, so it was replaced periodically)

Well. This week, just in time for Veterans Day. I HAPPILY turned the flag right-side-up.

Our neighbor across the road happened to be arriving home at the time, & looked over to see what was going on. He waved in friendly greeting, and I waved back.

That wave was stunning to me. This guy has been a grumpygus for more years than I can remember, and after a lifetime as a Democrat, had switched to repub. during the 2004 election, apparently thinking that was his ticket to success as a small-time local politician. We have tangled mightily over school issues in the past. We never even tried to talk to eachother about Jr. or Iraq – it would NOT have gone well.

And THAT guy is willing to make nice???

Maybe this country CAN mend after all!

Thankyou Christy for your personal leadership in this realm. I would urge folks to read the latest column by Molly Ivins also. It is beautiful.

Morning Redd–Nice peaceful tone this morning.

The best part about this victory is that it shows that american voters can’t be fooled forever- I was pretty worried about em for a while!

Missouri, Montana, Virginia, Ohio—four “red” states went blue. Dems seem to have figured out who can win in these places and how to pull it off. Voters, on the other hand, are no tired of the “same sex marriage” bullshit being trotted out every election-and they WANT Roe/Wade to stand. Most importantly, they know that they’ve been criminally bullshitted on Iraq.

Welcome Home America, Welcome Home!

The Molly Ivins column I referred to in #122

“POST-ELECTION ETIQUETTE”

posted Nov. 8 2006

You can find it at Creators.com

Just got a letter from the guy I was supporting in my House district. He didn’t win. The Repug incumbent was a cohort of DeLay (up to and including a reprimand from the Ethics Committee) and really needed the boot.

Re. ActBlue:

“You may be surprised how much your contribution meant in terms of moral support, for whether our message was getting out.”

My candidate mentined that Howard Dean provided very little assistance. He said that he should have made more and better use of the internet. He was surprised that he had a well-informed supporter in Toronto.

My district has been severely gerrymandered (twice) by the repugs to get a very strong Democrat out of Congress. My area used to be the home of the Dem who was house whip for many years (6 terms of his 13 in office). It’s now thouroughly Red.

Months ago I contacted the district’s Democratic committee – they were useless and clueless. They couldn’t tell me the names of the primary contenders or anything about them. After the primary, I had to find my candidate by searching the Internet.

I am really happy that I could help out, even a little.

Thanks everyone for everything. Next time., I’ll get an earlier start and do a lot more.

and speaking about art for kids:

don’t even let your child know there is such a thing as a coloring book. give them blank paper and paint or crayons or markers. heck, even let them paint with chocolate pudding. they can paint a picture with it and eat what’s left over, and, lick their fingers

and do listen to ac (101) and bg (117).

get them some clay too, the real kind you can get fired in a kiln. it’s completely recyclable until it’s fired. just add water and let it melt. drain the water off and let it get thick again and you’re good to go.

be sure and tell the kindergarten, first and second grade teachers no coloring books, too. they are death to creativity in children. i’ll bet babs bush rapped little georgie’s hands when he didn’t color inside the lines.

Another way to control the ipod: use the “genre” tag. When you add or import music, you can use the “get info” command to change or make up new genre tags — “folk sad female” or “punk 77 sing-along” or whatever. Then, you can choose the genre only when using your ipod and let it shuffle up what it will.

i’m very worried about what rahm et al are planning to do to howard dean. looks like they want rahm or harold ford in the job. what can we do about this?

I came across this amazing writing of FDR..words spoken as he accepted his second presidential nomination in 1936. Such words of wisdom…could never be truer than they are today.

Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine Justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on a different scale. Better the occasional faults of a government living in the spirit of charity, than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

.

greg @ 127

Another way to control the ipod: use the “genre” tag. When you add or import music, you can use the “get info” command to change or make up new genre tags — “folk sad female” or “punk 77 sing-along” or whatever. Then, you can choose the genre only when using your ipod and let it shuffle up what it will.

Ha! when I was setting up labels for my home-made CD one of helpful pre-programmed genres was Christian Gangsta Rap. I often wonder…

nancy goldberger @ 128

i’m very worried about what rahm et al are planning to do to howard dean. looks like they want rahm or harold ford in the job. what can we do about this?

Have a look at 14 above

I know I’m deep in the epu zone here, but I didn’t want to interrupt the veterans day thread with this request.

Does anyone know where I might find the pork roast recipe that Christie posted a few days ago? Or if there is a search function somewhere here?

I wonder how many of these fall before 2008?

State Name Party Seniority Election

AK Ted Stevens R Sr 2008
AL Jefferson Sessions R Jr 2008
AR Mark Pryor D Jr 2008
CO Wayne Allard R Sr 2008
DE Joseph Biden Jr. D Sr 2008
GA C. Saxby Chambliss R Sr 2008
IA Tom Harkin D Jr 2008
ID Larry Craig R Sr 2008
IL Richard J. Durbin D Sr 2008
KS Pat Roberts R Jr 2008
KY Mitch McConnell R Sr 2008
LA Mary Landrieu D Sr 2008
MA John Kerry D Jr 2008
ME Susan Collins R Jr 2008
MI Carl Levin D Sr 2008
MN Norm Coleman R Jr 2008
MS Thad Cochran R Sr 2008
MT Max Baucus D Sr 2008
NC Elizabeth Dole R Sr 2008
NE Charles Hagel R Sr 2008
NH John Sununu R Jr 2008
NJ Frank Lautenberg D Jr 2008
NM Pete Domenici R Sr 2008
OK James Inhofe R Sr 2008
OR Gordon Harold Smith R Jr 2008
RI John F. Reed D Sr 2008
SC Lindsey Graham R Sr 2008
SD Tim Johnson D Sr 2008
TN Lamar Alexander R Jr 2008
TX John Cornyn R Jr 2008
VA John Warner R Sr 2008
WV John Rockefeller, IV D Jr 2008
WY Michael Enzi R Jr 2008

Regarding the how to make a kick ass folder: You make a “playlist” in itunes and then drag the songs you want into that. the songs all stay in the library, so you can have a tune in as many different playlists as you want. I hope this helps :)

Christy Hardin Smith @ 53

HotFlash at 49 — Howie got a thank you from someone in the Webb campaign who swears their version of the Had Enough ad may have made the difference in the Fairfax area. TommyYum and Ken and Howie deserve serious thanks from all of us.

Wow, wonder who steered the Webb people toward firedoglake early on?

Ha, egregious! There were plenty of us who steered the Webb campaign to FDL. Go, Webb!!!

Good afternoon. Just cleaned out the gutters before the next deluge here in the PNW. Reddhedd, did you receive the email I sent of the high school kids saving and sandbagging two homes? Everyone I converse with out here is stoked. Clean sweep, locally, state and Fed. Sometimes it is the darkest before the dawn. While up on the ladder I was able to shoo away a couple of end-timers with their lit. with that message.

bg @ 117

You are after my heart too! I have boxes, bags and cabinets filled to overflowing with found objects and bits of this and that. Nothing seems to inspire me more. It’s very nice to see I’m not the only one who does this. After reading your post I’m beginning to feel normal again. Ha! I’d love to see your sculpture if you have any pics on the net. Just my luck. A show of recycle artists in Santa Fe this weekend and I’m stuck watching the Blue Angles here in Florida.

T- @ 8

Hey Redd -
Last Sat. I smoked a 10 lb. pork loin and 3 racks of baby backs.

did you smoke that in a bong, or rollit up in joints ???

does smoking meat lead to eating canabis ???

I’m really convinced this country is on the wrong track if we’re reduced to smoking meat

/emily latella

mrJJ(#133):

22 of the 33 are republicans. wonder how many are vulnerable?