I forgot to post the recipe for the weekend:

1. Marinated Chicken w/flaming pineapples
2. Cuban Black Beans & Rice
3. Ensalada Cubana
4. Fried Plantain

Also, I need someone with mad photoshop skills for a “big” job involving a cat and a Bengals uniform. The innocents always suffer the most.

This is insane:

Freelance journalist Nick Martin has an update on Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Stoddard, who last October was caught on video swiping a file in open court from defense attorney defense attorney Joanne Cuccia.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe held a hearing on the matter, and on Tuesday ordered Stoddard to hold a press conference to apologize. It’s a weak and odd way of admonishing Stoddard for such a brazen trespass on attorney-client privilege (not to mention Stoddard’s arguable violation of a number of other laws, rights, and rules of procedure).

You really have to watch the video. The cop just walks up, starts snooping through her notes, calls over another deputy, pulls stuff out of her folder, hands it to another cop, and he walks out with it.

And, he will most likely get away with it. Time to break out the foam USA fingers. You can’t get justice like that in a Banana Republic! Oh, wait.

Why is this a big deal:

The 2,074-page Senate health care bill would take 34 hours to read cover to cover—and that’s just what Sen. Tom Coburn wants done on the Senate floor.

The Oklahoma Republican has threatened to invoke parliamentary rules to force the Senate clerk (or more likely, a team of clerks) to read the massive bill before the full Senate begins formal debate on the legislation.

The move is strictly according to Senate rules, which say any senator can demand a bill be read in its entirety before debate begins. While Democrats could, if they wish, repeatedly make motions to end the soliloquy, Republicans on the floor could object, and the reading would continue.

Thirty-four hours seems like a pretty short amount of time in the scheme of several decades of trying to attain health care reform. Let them read it. Who cares?

Am I not understanding something here?

The story:

Here are a few pics of my cat, Chompers. My partner and I adopted her a little over a year ago from Pets in Need, a small rescue group in eastern Massachusetts. She was 5 months old when we got her; she’s now a year and a half. My partner and I frequently remark that getting her was the best thing we’ve ever done. She wakes me up in the morning by rubbing her face against mine or walking all over me. In the winter, if we’re sitting on the couch under a blanket, she likes to climb under it and onto our laps, or huddle on top of our feet. Every once in a while, she gets a crazy look in her eyes and suddenly streaks across the apartment at full speed. This occasionally ends with her slamming headfirst into a wall, but this does not appear to faze her.

Here, also, is a link to a series of pictures in which Chompers picks a fight with, and loses to, an empty tissue box.

I also want to plug Southwest Collie Rescue. My stepmother, Lee More, helps run it, and it is really a stand-up organization. They take in any collie, no matter how old or how sick, and make sure they get great care and loving homes. They go to great lengths to make sure that every placement is right for dog and owner.

Consider this an open thread

Apparently she has had enough and is call it quits in 2011. I’m betting she signs with the Jets and the Vikings before really quitting.

Rainy, overcast, windy- the sky looks like a bruise, there are no leave on the trees, and Lily looks pissed that I am not holding the umbrella over her while we walked.

Only one thing can help- meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Who is with me?

Well, it looks like Andy Drama’s latest bout of Trig truth-squading has come to naught: “There is no proof here of anything.” I guess I was hoping for a denouement resembling a scene from “Chinatown“, or at least from a very special episode of “Little House On the Prairie”. Now, it looks like the best we’ll see is some kind of half-baked second shooter theory.

I don’t think this kind of focus on Sarah Palin’s personal life is healthy or productive. It reminds me too much of the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky thing, pointless gossip about something that has no affect on anyone beyond the people direclty involved.

But I don’t agree that the current media fixation with Palin is bad all in all. Remember that Palin was a major party’s vice-presidential nominee. And that before she embarrassed herself in interviews, Palin polled pretty well. And that the top of her ticket was an elderly man who had a reasonable chance of dying in office. The fact that someone who seems dumber and more vindictive than George W. Bush was close to becoming president should frighten us all. To the extent that the current focus on Palin reminds people of that, it’s a good thing.

I’m still following the CNN story about the Killings at the Canals, and this piece today about the soldier who finally broke silence and reported the murders, Jess Cunningham, included this charming tidbit:

Based on Cunningham’s information, the Army launched an investigation in January 2008.

Asked why he did not report the crime earlier, Cunningham said, “Retaliation. Fear of being alone, fear of being the only one that had a problem with it, fear of so many things that could have happened to me.”

Cunningham was among 13 soldiers at the canal. He and another sergeant were charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, but the charges were dropped. Cunningham received immunity for testifying.

David Court, who is Hatley’s attorney, said Cunningham “did not come forward for any altruistic motive. He only mentioned this because he thought it would get him less punishment. He didn’t do it because he thought, ‘I’ve got to blow the whistle.’ “

Court said, “If I were Sgt. Cunningham, I’d be worried that, having broken the band of brothers, something might happen to me.”

Cunningham said that is exactly why he did not come forward earlier.

How is that not intimidating a witness? How is that legal? And maybe people unfamiliar with the military don’t get it, but for those of you who do, can you not see right away the sort of cult-like following that Hatley had in that unit? We’ve all seen this dynamic. The more I read about this company, the more dysfunctional it sounds.

Dustin, Quinn. Mazel tov to Dustin and Mrs. Dustin for delivering a healthy baby at 27 weeks, 2:09 EST yesterday! Quinn is curerntly 1 lb 15 oz (870g), and he’s 13.5 inches long (34cm). For more Quinn pics go here.

Mario Piperni, Mother and Son.

Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.

Click on the photos for a link to the photographer’s website. To see all photo threads, click on ‘photo blogging’ at the bottom of the post.

If your computer cannot read our email links at top right, my email is (remove the zeroes): portus0jackson0ii at yahoo dot com.

Apparently losing is so much fun that Hoffman wants to lose the same election twice.

Also, ACORN!

Speaking of Twitter, Atrios has an account now. That’ll teach him to slim down his prose.

And I am still locked out of my twitter account.

Pratchett released Unseen Academicals six weeks ago. If you’re a Pratchett fan, have you read it yet? And if so, what do you think of it?

I liked it, more than I had feared, especially since all I know about Foot-The-Ball I learned from TBoggs and translations of the Japanese manga Whistle. It’s not one of the top five Discworld novels, but it’s still miles ahead of, say, the first two books in the series. The plot construction wasn’t as sinewy and water-tight as we have come to expect. A better acquaintance with British football (Comrade Scrutinizer, for instance, connects the UA to Manchester’s AU, Arsenal United) would certainly improve one’s enjoyment of the usual Prachettian in-jokes and satires. Lord Vetinari talked too much, but then he was supposed to have imbibed at least a dozen strong ales before doing so.

I think Mr. Nutt, Glenda Sugarbean, and especially Pepe are all worthy additions to the Discworld Canon. Your thoughts?

Here is tonight’s rescue story:

Bigger dog Onion was abandoned as a pup. He was the last of his siblings to be adopted because he was scared and neurotic after whatever happened to him before he came to Scottsville Veterinary Adoptions, near Rochester, New York (www.petadoption.cc). I saw him during one of the shelter’s adoption days at a big-box store. He was in a crate, terrified, and when I walked in, he looked over his shoulder at me, and I was smitten. He’s been with us for almost 10 years, and has done a really amazing job of stabilizing himself. He’s still terrified of thunderstorms and skateboards—of course, Dogs at Play dog daycare is right next to a skateboard shop—but he climbs trees, barks his fool head off at all parcel delivery people, and basically has a happy life as a dog stereotype.

Little guy spooning him is Tater, who came from a high-kill shelter and Ohio through http://anotherchancepetrescue.org/, also near Rochester, NY. The little guy and the big guy are totally in love, despite little guy’s piercing ‘yip,’ obsession with stealing tennis balls, and near-total breakdown due to an immune response to a silicone-coated microchip. Microchip is gone (insert jokes about saline, rather than silicone, implants here), little guy is recovered, and the humping has begun again.

Separately and together, they are marvelous, funny, sweet creatures, and the folks who do this rescue work in the Rochester area are amazing. We are forever grateful.

Remember, pets are great, but they require a lot of money, care, time, and love.

*** Update ***

I was going through old folders and found this gem:

Without a pet, you are missing out on the unconditional love they give.

So I’m finally getting around to figuring out this twitter stuff and have added a bunch of people to my twitter feed. The default page is so unorganized that I got chest pains and had to go re-organize my dvd’s to restore some balance in my life after I tried to visit twitter.com, so I am looking for a program to deal with the chaos. Are there any out there you would recommend? What about as gadgets for Windows Seven or Mac?

My feed is johngcole, btw. Not sure how much I will use it.