Tags
casserole, Catholicism, chicken, Chinese, election, evolution, Gardening, George Bush, Iowa, Iraq, meat, quilting, religion, SCOTUS, skillet meal, Tibet, world history
This is a camera print from a 35mm 15 minute silent movie by David Wark Griffith in 1909. It is entitled “The Mended Lute.” It is at MOMA.
Hope you all had a pleasant weekend. The weather was lovely Saturday, but I cannot say the same for Sunday which was mostly gloomy with showers now and then. Today is gloomy again and fairly chilly. It’s a slow progressing spring, but the trees are budding and the Contrarian predicts we will have leaves this year!
Since nearly 3/4 of my feeds are lit up today, it looks like people have been busy, so let’s get at it shall we?
~~**~~**~~**~~
Ever heard of Marbury v. Madison? As a lawyer, I knew it as perhaps the most important case of our early republic. It established the ultimate right of the Court to pass on the constitutionality of the actions of the other two branches of government. In that particular case, the Court determined that the Judiciary Act of 1783 was in part unconstitutional, and thus not enforceable as Mr. Marbury had requested. This established what we commonly know as “judicial review.” This case has been largely taken as a given until recently by the far right, which claims that there is no such right. This of course is all about their dislike for certain court decisions. They like that judicial just fine when it works for them.
~~**~~**~~**~~
If you would like to travel even farther back into history, then mosey on over to Gill’s Ancient History Blog and read about Alexander’s first battle against the Persians at Granicus.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Meanwhile, the Bushies go merrily along, ignoring the facts as they are always wont to do. If we have not uncovered enough abuses from the no-bid contracts to the Bush favorites, here we go again. You would think that given the black eye that now is apparent regarding Blackwater, that just maybe the Administration would choose to look elsewhere for help in Iraq. Nope, nada, no way Jose. Blackwater has been re-upped as they say, or as State Department mouthpieces say at least. Some claim that the sum total of American mercenaries now outnumber actual troop levels. That’s a lot of private army folks. It smells to me. What do you think?
~~**~~**~~**~~
You may not have noticed by I no longer will be linking to E-Mail from Grandma. The reason was a post last week about immigration in which the poster (grandson) claimed illegal immigrants are responsible for just about every ill in America. His sources were lousy, as you might expect, mostly Lou Dobbs, well known ranter from the right on this issue. My contention is that even if there is some kernel of truth in such numbers, the dangers of such statements overwhelm the point. This simply reflects, in my opinion, our refascination with bigotry, and those who are naturally so inclined now feel safe to engage in this kind of racist rhetoric. But these “voices of anger” really do encourage consequences that are unhealthy and dangerous. Read about it at Alternet in the post entitled, “Sexual Abuse fueled by Abusive Immigration Language.“
~~**~~**~~**~~
Just wanted to alert you that the blog An Iowa Garden worth looking at if you are a true plant person. I’m not, per se, caring more about pretty flowers and color schemes than the technical aspects of species and all that stuff. I urge you to add the blog to your list if you are more serious than me. The photo’s are quite lovely, and there is a very well constructed explanation of the plant in every case.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Baking Delights has a nice surfing from Saturday around the food blogging world. She’s collected a number of recipes you might like to take a look at. Coconut Lemon Twinkies, Quintuple Chocolate Brownies, and garlicy bean enchiladas are just some of her finds. Take a look and find tomorrow’s menu!
~~**~~**~~**~~
Begging for Bargains has a couple things, free Tide, and free calendars. Check them out, as I will later, when I’ve finished this!
~~**~~**~~**~~
Who has dinner parties any more? Who ever did? Not me for sure. That is the province of the rich and wanna be rich. Still I found the post by Josie at C’est La Vie interesting and well, it got me to thinking that this might be a great gourmet delight if you got some friends together and each did a course or two. Kinda fun perhaps. Anyway, enjoy her tutorial on what you need to do!
~~**~~**~~**~~
I think I linked you to something about the care and growing of roses a week or so ago. Here’s another entry from Sally’s Gardening Tips and it’s a first part of more parts to come. I hope to try another one this year, so I know I’ll be reading the series in hopes of getting some good tips that will make the latest acquisition a keeper!
~~**~~**~~**~~
This recipe looks like comfort food to me. Potato-Bacon Hash sounds just about perfect for a Saturday light dinner. A nice salad on the side and I think you are all set don’t you. Thanks to Epicurious for this one.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Hey folks from Iowa. Head over to Essential Estrogen please if you have a second and link to where to vote for her for Favorite female blogger. She’s been nominated. She’s Lynda Waddington and is on the next to last tier on the right! She does such a wonderful job of keeping us up on what is going on politically in the state. I never miss her posts.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Feeling Stitchy has a group of links to other crafters she’s crazy about. I again will run through them later and see if there are any that I think would be of benefit to draw a feed on. These kind of posts definitely make my job easier! Lots of pics of the various crafts to give you a nice idea of the kind of work each does as well.
~~**~~**~~**~~
If you love flowers and a pretty garden but don’t have a lot of money to spend, go over to Gardening Tips ‘n Ideas and get some really great ideas for how to maximize that money to its fullest. She is talking about a mere $5 dollars! P.S. I have asked if they mind if I dead head flowers at a nursery and take the seeds. No one has ever said no to me.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Everyone is putting in their two cents about the Bush administration, and I certainly am no exception. There is an exceptionally fine article ( I read about the first 1/3 and skimmed the rest, and will return to read it in its entirety) about the rush to judgment about our boy wonder. No, the author is not a fan, but he does make an important point: history is not something that can be assessed with any immediacy. Things need time to play out and settle before one can correctly vision the impact of decisions on the total political landscape. I’d recommend this one. (I have toyed with placing a countdown calendar here too! lol. Maybe I will.)
~~**~~**~~**~~
Knitting Dragonflies has another featured crafter for us today. This one is Stormy Designs, and you can see some nice pics of her crafts. She is also having a sale at her Etsy store, so be sure to take a look. Very cute stuff!
~~**~~**~~**~~
Oh the creationists are at it again. A new film is out called “Expelled.” It’s a documentary supposedly about a “debate” between Intelligent Design proponents and the rest of the bleeping world. The ID folks claim that life is so intricate that it calls for a “designer,” which would be God. So far so good, I would agree, but they claim that there is evidence of this in nature (there is not) and therefore it should be included in school curriculum as science. This has all been exploded in the Dover case already. The ID people’s “evidence” simply collapsed under examination and the Court found in favor of those opposed to the religiously motivated Discovery Institute and its ID claims. (The Dover case is mentioned in the article in references to Pennsylvania in 2005.) Be informed!
~~**~~**~~**~~
Okay, so this is an old one, but it’s been too long since I had a Dave Barry fix. So with apologies to those who have possibly already read it, this gem from 2002 helps men with laundry. I think I might be able to benefit as well, since I am no sort of expert in laundry, and everything is sooner or later discarded as too stained to wear any more. Enjoy my pretties.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Midwest Neurotica has an absolutely great sounding recipe for chicken. This one is called Mississippi Delta Chicken and Rice. I think I’ll give this one a try soon. I just need some mushrooms and I’m set for this one. Just give me a little delta cornbread and we are set for some fine greasins’.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Niki’s Ventures has a nice little wall hanging applique quilt for Christmas. Composed of an advent wreath, a manger and a present, it is lovely. You can never start to early you know. She got the full pattern and directions from McCalls, so follow the link.
~~**~~**~~**~~
One of the issues prevalent in the Roman Catholic Church, but certainly of concern for all faiths, is how to make and keep supposedly “eternal” truths, well, current in the a changing radically different world. Major religions such as Catholicism are suffering loss in membership, and even in Italy, only one in four considers religion very important in their lives. This in some measure is because many feel that mainline faiths have lost relevance in this day. This drives the ultra right traditionalists quite mad. They rant, they rave, they call most of us liberals cafeteria Catholics and suggest we look elsewhere for our salvation. They like their church unchanging forever and forever. Read this interesting take on the problem and see what you think.
~~**~~**~~**~~
The Contrarian and I never miss either The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. We find them hilariously funny, as well as sophisticated and witty. Steven Colbert often boasts that politicians get a “bump” by appearing on his show. Is it really true? The amazing answer is only a click away! By the way, Colbert has set up a donation site for the PA school system. Register your likes for the candidates by voting your money. I’d find that by going directly to his show through Comedy Central.
~~**~~**~~**~~
The Chinese must be getting awfully darn frustrated. This Tibet thing is not going away and the Olympic torch is the latest casualty. It seems in Paris, demonstrators were able to get a hold of the torch as it passed and extinguish it. The planned relay was eventually cancelled as Chinese officials realized that they were never going to get through the protesters along the way. I’m heartened by this news that the world is responding so well to the crackdown against the beleaguered country of Tibet.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Given the never ending primary season for the Democrats, one might wonder if the super delegate thingy was a good thing. Also whether the democratic ideal of proportional delegate assignment was such a good idea. Sean Wilentz makes an argument that if there had been winner take all, Hillary would be far ahead. He finds Obama’s minor popular vote lead inconsequential. Read his article and see what you think. Anything would be better than this morass as far as I am concerned.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Glenn Greenwald lambastes Cokie Roberts for her appearance on George Stephanopolis’s Sunday show wherein she laid claim that Americans would prefer to win in Iraq ala the plans of McCain and Graham. Such is not of course at all true, Americans overwhelmingly want this war to end and for US forces to get out as quickly as possible. A video clip is linked to so you can see it for yourself. I did for sure, and Katerina Vanden Heuvel handled her expertly in my opinion.
~~**~~**~~**~~
Wow, finally scientific evidence to back up what I always assumed. Perhaps you did as well. Me, I have always thought that one of the lessons we should adopt from dogs, (and there are many I contend) is their ability to stay focused on the present. Of course, this applies to other animals as well. Animals do have memory of the past, but it is largely just weak or strong, and that may dictate future action. They cannot however place a past episode into an actual time frame. Got it? What I can’t figure out is how they could concoct a test to figure that out. They explain it, so enjoy the read. The same applies to the future by the way. Animals are simply blessed with living in the moment, which is where we all should reside most of the time.
Existential Ennui 