Open Thread: Thursday Night Menu

From our Food Goddess, TaMara:

I have some good news and some bad news. Tonight marks our last Thursday Night Menu. That’s the bad news. The good news is I’ll still be food blogging and I’ll still occasionally post full menus. I have at least a dozen recipes in the queue that I want to try out, so there will still be cooking adventures to come. But I have a new project I must put my full attention to for a while and a lot of travel in the coming months, so something had to give and it was the full menus on Thursday.

On the more good news side of things, I have a full year of menus (about 500+ recipes) formatted in a searchable database, if you’d like a copy, send me an email and I’ll send you a copy. So to summarize, the What’s 4 Dinner Solutions blog goes on, but Thursday Night Menus will morph into an occasional full menu here and there. Thanks to John Cole at Balloon-Juice for suggesting the Thursday Night Menu and hosting it and to Anne Laurie for posting it each Thursday. And to all of you for popping in for a look and for those who let me know how the menus turned out at your house. It’s been so much fun.

And in some final good news, tomorrow is Opening Day! Rockies have a home opener while the Red Sox will be on the road. Tomorrow I’ll post the ultimate opening day menu. See you then…

On the final board tonight:

1. Skillet Lasagna
2. Vegetable Sauté
3. Italian Bread
4. Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Pecans

Recipes and shopping list, as ever, at the link.

Note from Anne Laurie: TaMara, I’ll miss looking forward to your weekly menus, but I hope you’ll still drop by here often. Sometime soon (despite the wet snow falling outside right now) we’ll all be trading stories about our gardens and the local farmers markets!

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The shock will probably kill you

How this brother keeps a Murdoch gig (via Wonkette) I’ll never know, but I need to read Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”.

The GOP is anti-democracy: With the GOP, “this whole democracy thing” is “very inefficient,” warned Klein. Republican governors are using “a fiscal crisis as a pretext to do stuff they otherwise want to do … Republicans in Michigan want to be able to unilaterally abolish your town. And how do you know when you’re in a financial emergency? Because the governor tells you … or a company he hires.”

Yes the GOP, the party of big business and billionaires, secretly hates democracy, it’s too inefficient for the rich class.

In the interview, Klein reiterated: The GOP governors’ strategy is a clear example of “disaster capitalism,” the Reaganomics war strategy that has dominated, obsessed and driven the GOP for a generation. Klein warns, “these guys have been at this for 30 years,” it is “an ideological movement … they believe in a whole bunch of stuff that’s not very popular,” like “privatizing the local water system, busting unions, privatizing entire towns. If they said all this in an election they’d lose.”

And that’s why crises are so crucial to the GOP war strategies to take over America: Crises “are very, very handy, because you can say we have no choice. … the sky is falling in.” Then the GOP governors “can consolidate power. We remember this from the Bush administration. They did this at the federal level. After 9/11, they said, we have a crisis, and we have to essentially rule by fiat.”

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Florida GOP: The word “uterus” is “inappropriate for children and other guests.”

Hell hath no fury like a vagina scorned.

The GOP is scared of your crotch, ladies. I’m serious.

Last week, during a debate on Florida legislation that would prevent union dues from being automatically deducted from government paychecks, Scott Randolph (D-Orlando) used his time during floor debate to call the GOP out on their hypocrisy. He pointed out that the GOP is staunchly “small government” when it comes to business, but “big government” when it comes to the little guy and their own pet interests—like lady parts.

At one point Randolph suggested that his wife “incorporate her uterus” to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn’t want to further regulate a Florida business.

Apparently the GOP leadership of the House didn’t like the one-liner.

They told Democrats that Randolph is not to discuss body parts on the House floor.

“The point was that Republicans are always talking about deregulation and big government,” Randolph said Thursday. “And I always say their philosophy is small government for the big guy and big government for the little guy. And so, if my wife’s uterus was incorporated or my friend’s bedroom was incorporated, maybe they (Republicans) would be talking about deregulating.

It’s not like I used slang,” said Randolph, who actually got the line from his wife. He said Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word uterus.

“I think it’s a sad commentary about what we think about sex education in the state,” he said.

He’s right. We all know that. According to the Teabilly Doctrine, the government should be teeny-tiny when it comes to regulating big business. But when it comes to lady business, the government is so fucking big that I wouldn’t be surprised if the military starts forcing women to quarter soldiers in their vaginas.

IT COULD HAPPEN.

::ahem::

Here’s what Katie Betta, the Florida GOP spokeswoman—woman!— had to say: (DANGER! SCARY VAGINA AHEAD!!1)

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Attention Black Ladies! Stop Having So Many Abortions Already! You Might Abort Our Next “Dear” Leader!!

Not to be outcrazied by Arizona, here comes TEXAS!

Good news, y’all! Life Always, the Texas-based (but not reality-based) anti-abortion group responsible for the black genocide posters (pictured here) which were slapped up all over New York City a few weeks ago, and which prompted this bit of hilarity from Kristen Schaal and Larry Wilmore, are back in business!

An anti-abortion billboard campaign using a likeness of President Barack Obama to target African-American women has angered women’s groups in Chicago.¹

Some 30 billboards declaring “Every 21 minutes our next possible leader is aborted” [laying it on a little thick, dontcha think? ed.] are being placed in predominantly AfricanAmerican neighborhoods in Obama’s adopted hometown.

They are being displayed for free after the group’s controversial billboards declaring “the most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb” were taken down following protests in New York.

The Texas pastor behind the campaign by Life Always said he wants to “encourage reflection” about the high abortion rate among African-Americans.

“For too long the scourge of abortion has been hidden behind political correctness,” said Stephen Broden, who is African-American.²

“Liberal interests have deceived our women into believing that the answer to poverty is to murder their babies.”

In a statement, Planned Parenthood of Illinois called the billboards “an offensive and condescending effort to stigmatize and shame African-American women while attempting to limit their ability to make private, personal medical decisions.”

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Open Thread: NIXONLAND Update

(Ben Sargent cartoon via Gocomics.com)

Speaking of Republican shenanigans, this week’s NIXONLAND discussion will take place Sunday evening at 7pm EDT, so people have a chance to take advantage of the later sunsets.* Chapters under discussion will be “Trust”, “If Gold Rust”, and “The Presidential Offensive”—closing with the unmasking of a murderous sociopath who ensnared wide-eyed Midwestern innocents into a web of deceit and terror. Also, Charles Manson.

*Stock phrase would be ‘nice Spring weather’ but we’re not seeing much of that here in New England. What’s the weather like in your neighborhood tonight?

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So, Apparently I Blew That One

It appears I was wrong to trust Lawrence O’Donnell, who should know better, as he is constantly pointing out his Senate experience, but he flat up lied about Paul and others:

John Cole you are so willfully misled:

1. Senate Resolution 85 is non-binding; it DOES NOT have the force of law.

2. It was passed in less than a minute after introduction, with no debate, and only the title about “condemning human rights violations” was read outloud. Here is the transcript:
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 85, which was introduced earlier today.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.

The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

A resolution (S. Res. 85) strongly condemning the gross and systematic violations of human rights in Libya, including violent attacks on protesters demanding democratic reforms, and for other purposes.

There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

The resolution (S. Res. 85) was agreed to.

The preamble was agreed to.

There was no vote in Congress authorizing our military action in a foreign country. Please read the Constitution. If you are required to obey laws, our country must also live up to its end of the bargain and obey its rules.

Rand never voted for ‘resolution 85’. It was passed on motion ‘without objection’ before Rand could even get back to the floor, wasn’t even read, so no one knew what was in it, and was explained away as ‘nonbinding’. Check out the Congressional Record, only the TITLE mentioning NO military action was read, even, before it was deemed passed. Wonder why they did it like that? Maybe because Rand Paul had been the only one to object to extending the Patriot Act for three years ‘by unanimous consent’ the same way? What sort of ‘representative government’ is this?

So there is that.

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Mulva? Dolores?

You can not make this shit up:

During last week’s discussion about a bill that would prohibit governments from deducting union dues from a worker’s paycheck, state Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, used his time during floor debate to argue that Republicans are against regulations—except when it comes to the little guys, or serves their specific interests.

At one point Randolph suggested that his wife “incorporate her uterus” to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn’t want to further regulate a Florida business.

Apparently the GOP leadership of the House didn’t like the one-liner.

They told Democrats that Randolph is not to discuss body parts on the House floor.

Apparently they were concerned about pages hearing the word “uterus.”

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Tea and sympathy

Nate Silver looks at the polls and says the Tea Party is genuinely growing unpopular among most Americans. Obviously, I’m no fan of teatards and I think that the American public is right to look unfavorably at them. But also too I think this is happening because the media has branded the Tea Party as insufficiently serious.

We’re being set up to be told that Tim Pawlenty or Mitch Daniels is a serious Burkean intellectual unlike those idiots who wave the Don’t Tread On Me flag. I can feel it in my bones.

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Yes Dear, I Do Remember When Women Were People Too

Blogging  in haste whilst waiting out the sprout’s martial arts class, this from the ACLU blog seems an excruciatingly appropriate follow up to ABL’s post below:

On December 23, 2010, [Bei Bei] Shuai, a 34-year-old pregnant woman who was suffering from a major depressive disorder, attempted to take her own life. Friends found her in time and persuaded her to get help. Six days later, Shuai underwent cesarean surgery and delivered a premature newborn girl who, tragically, died four days later.

On March 14, 2011, Shuai was arrested, jailed, and charged with murder and attempted feticide. Had Shuai, who is being represented by National Advocates for Pregnant Women and local attorneys, not been pregnant when she attempted suicide, she would not have been charged with any crime at all.

I’m fair gobsmacked with outrage and sorrow at this.

Full disclosure: this story strikes home personally—there is a history of depression and associated suicide on one side of my family, and the thought that someone enduring that particularly vicious illness being further tortured by the modern inquisition is just grotesque.  No one who has either suffered major depression, nor anyone who has loved someone thus afflicted would see the state of Indiana’s actions as anything other than vicious.

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Open Thread

Took some pictures today of Rosie, and am emailing them to my friend who places dogs. I can’t take it any more. I’ve earned my star in heaven 72 virgins paid my debts to society and now I need this dog out of my life. I want my old life back with just Tunch and Lily and a happy and calm household.

Right now I am trying to write a description of Rosie that does not include four letter words.

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Gates on the Hill

If anyone watched the full testimony, if you can think of anything else that stood out, please fill us all in. However, I really liked this:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told Congress on Thursday that he opposed having the United States arm the Libyan rebels fighting Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and that it was up to other countries to provide them with weapons and much-needed military training.

Mr. Gates’s comments, made during a marathon day of testimony to members of Congress angered by President Obama’s incursion into Libya, were the first time that a key member of the president’s national security team had publicly expressed an opinion on the issue. The administration has been engaged in a tense debate over the merits of giving arms to the rebels, and so far Mr. Obama has only said that he is weighing what to do.

“What the opposition needs as much as anything right now is some training, some command and control and some organization,” Mr. Gates said. “It’s pretty much a pick-up ballgame at this point.” But, he said, providing training and weapons is “not a unique capability for the United States, and as far as I’m concerned, somebody else can do that.”

Mr. Gates also said he strongly opposed putting any United States forces on the ground in Libya. Asked if there would be American “boots on the ground” – uniformed members of the military – Mr. Gates swiftly replied, “Not as long as I’m in this job.” He declined to comment on reports that the CIA is already working there.

Amen.

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Shamelessness

Although I am skeptical about the Libya stuff, the shamelessness of some of the critics has been simply ridiculous. People who, like me, cheered on the invasion of Iraq, are now running around screaming about the “imperial Presidency” and other crap like that. It’s absurd. I’m not sure we are doing the right thing or the smart thing, but the screams about illegal war seem laughable. Last night, Lawrence O’Donnell absolutely brutalized one such hypocrite, Sen. Rand Paul:

Now that was must see tv.

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Everybody get in line

Open thread, I figured we could use one.

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Am I the Only One To Find This Creepy

And opportunistic:

Representative Gabrielle Giffords is still in the hospital, but some of her most ardent backers are so enamored of the idea of her running for the Senate that they describe the inevitable campaign commercials: the deep-voiced narrator recounting what happened to her, the images of her wounded, then recovering and speaking into the camera alongside her astronaut husband to call on Arizonans to unite.

These supporters say they do not want to get too far ahead of themselves, and make clear that Ms. Giffords, who was shot in the head, is still relearning basic tasks and might emerge from the hospital with neither the same political abilities nor aspirations that she had before. And publicly, her closest aides say the only thing they care about is her health.

At least her closest aides have their heads screwed on correctly. Rep. Giffords needs better supporters than the folks fantasizing about a Senate run.

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More of This, Please

Hats off to Jake Tapper for this exchange:

The temperature in the White House briefing jumped up Wednesday afternoon as Jake Tapper and Jay Carney vented some of their frustrations with each other publicly.

At one point, Tapper dissed Carney by saying he could provide a “room full of straw men” for the White House press secretary.

Here’s what went down (video is above):

Tapper, the White House correspondent for ABC News, asked Carney to shed some light on Libya conversations that are happening “behind closed doors.” Carney, not exactly willing to pop open the lid on private talks, noted a “kind of what-problem-haven’t-you-solved-today aspect to this.” After he recited talking points on “the international community” and the U.N. resolution, Tapper said that “the situation on the ground has changed” quickly.

In response, Carney pulled out a familiar dodge, saying he wouldn’t give a “play-by-play” of what White House officials are talking about on Libya.

Tapper tried again: “What is going on behind closed doors?”

And Carney shot back: “Who’s talking about what’s going on behind closed doors?”

At that point, Tapper adopted a tone similar to that of a politician as he berated Carney. “In the name of candor and explaining to the American people what’s going on, what we’re talking about doing,” he began, “you guys have been criticized for a lot of quick action that you had to take —”

On that cue, Carney knew where to hit back. He interrupted Tapper and asked sarcastically, “After being criticized for moving too slowly?”

Tapper sighed. “If you’d like me to get a room full of straw men, we can do that,” he said.

Then he kept going: “If we can have this conversation for a second, and that is, what are the — what’s the debate, what are the issues? I’m not saying one side is right or one side is wrong. I’m just saying, can you explain to the American people what are some of the considerations you guys are weighing?”

It strikes me that every press interaction with the WH Press Secretary should be like that. We’d be a much healthier democracy if every politician and every spokesman was aggressively challenged.

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