I’m Mrs. Johnny Depp!

Tags

conservativism, cosmology, Election 2012, Entertainment, evolution, Humor, intellectuals, Johnny Depp, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, morality, NAACP, racism, Recipes, Rick Perry, wacko right wing

Oh, yes I am!

And I can prove it. More or less.

It seems that a respectable number of experimental and theoretical physicists believe that there are multiple universes. Not only that, but that there may be an infinite number of them, all of which means, that any thing that can happen, has.

Well, one thing that can happen (I know it might be a stretch but we are talking about statistical probabilities here) is that Mr. Sexy pants could fall in love with me.

Therefore, some where he has. Proved!

That also means that there is an infinite number of me’s. One of me lives in Hawaii in a gorgeous beach house. One of me is President of the US of A, or the United Planetary Association of Andromeda. The options are as they say infinite.

The Contrarian was a bit off-put by this revelation, until I reminded him that somewhere he was married to Halle Berry. That brought a grin.

The Contrarian has some “issues” with the theoretical physicists in the end though. He’s not much in favor of a time “before” time. I myself have no difficult with that concept. However we both noticed that these guys and gals do have a pretty cushy job. I mean they sit in a comfortable office, with a chalk or white board and doodle with numbers and squiggles, and then travel to nice places and sit and “think”. Often at beaches, mountain ranges, and other pleasant places.

It’s not like they ever have to prove anything. As the Rethuglians always say about anything they don’t want to help pay for: “it’s only a theory.”

Best of all, I can theorize about Johnny Depp all I want, cuz who’s to say that he doesn’t figure into some time warpy travel theory? I mean, being a theoretical physicist is so highfalutin’ that nobody can reasonably challenge my claims right? Only others of my kind. And after all, we have a mutual desire not to upset any of our apple carts.

So, I’m applying for my grant money, and hope to set up shop any day now.

♦

Hope you all had a nice labor day. Out of work laborers most assuredly did not I guess. We had a T-Bone, potato salad and some jalapeño poppers. The latter two recipes can be found at What’s on the Stove, which has it’s only little link on the side bar now.

♦

Ricky “Gosh darn this is fun” Perry is what they call “surging” in the polls. Somebody finally tapped the shyster on the shoulder and told him to act “gubernatorial” and high tail it back to TEXAS where people are losing their homes at an astounding rate due to unchecked wildfires. He’s properly “concerned” now.

Meanwhile Mitt “it’s slipping away” Romney is starting to show the wear and tear of being rejected but once again. Mr. Perpetual Runner whom nobody really likes, stares ever wide-eyed at the audience he addresses, and for all it’s worth you can hear under his breath: “can you morons understand these simple sentences?”

Yeah, actually they can Mitt, and well, they really don’t like you. Can you understand that?

♦

Noam Chomsky writes a very interesting and provocative piece in the Boston Review about the role of the intellectual in today’s murky moral world. He is prompted by the questionable action of murdering Osama Bin Laden and dumping his body at sea without trial.

It’s a most serious read, but one that will benefit you. We seldom spend the time we should thinking of the hard issues.

♦

Michele “damn you Ricky” Bachmann is shakin’ up the team. Ed Rollins is out due to “health” reasons as well as the deputy David Polyansky.

This kinda crap is usual in a campaign going down the crapper. But Michele, it ain’t gonna help. You are simply TeaNutz® lite compared to Ricky “I’m more nutz” Perry.

♦

DCMartin gives us a good old slappin’ story about racism reaction gone amuck. And she has designated herself as the “official spokesperson” for Black America, which sure makes it easy on me. 😛

Go give it a read. She’s very funny and actually makes a fine point as well. Don’t ever Pass the Doucheys. . .”

♦

I was prompted to visit a site I’ve only briefly looked at. Conservapedia. It’s the “trustworthy” encyclopedia. Isn’t that just wrong on its face? How can something that purports to be “conservative” by “trustworthy”? It’s clearly not giving truth, but a point of view.

My favorite quote from the front page is from Isaiah Berlin:

“Good government in a free society keeps positive and negative liberty in balance. These two forms of liberty are out-of-balance today.”

Now that is interesting isn’t it? I betcha some wacko TeaNutz® would have some interesting ideas of what “negative liberty” are. 

♦

From “Constant Comment”

 ♦

Hey, have you ever seen Wilfred? You should. It’s hysterical at times, frightening occasionally. It’s an import from Australia. It is not for the faint of heart. It is not for mortifiable-prone evangelicals. It’s about a dog named Wilfred, who appears as a human in a dog suit to a neighbor. Wilfred teaches lessons, and humps stuffed animals, and smokes pot by the pail full.

I thought it would be stupid. But it’s shocking, and funny at the same time. Try to find it on your TV dial. Oh crap, that dated me. TV’s don’t have dials any more.

Laters gators!

 

 

Carmen Miranda Meets Bullwinkle the Moose

Tags

Britain, gay rights, PPH, racism, Royal Wedding, Stonewall Uprising, wacko right wing, Women's issues

Okay, so Troy Mills isn’t such a fashionista’s dream, but we do have a clue at least. We may tend more toward straw hats and baseball caps, but we know awful when we see it.

Pictured here are Prince William and Sarah Ferguson’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenia. I know not which is which but does it matter?

The blue monstrosity fails on every level from the gaudy blue to the what look like grapes plated on her hat overlaid by a feather duster.

The beige dress on the other is fine, but that thing glued to her forehead is simply ghastly. I mean it looks like a pair of antlers.

Those were the only serious faux pas I saw among attendees at THE wedding. The Beckhams looked elegant in every respect.

Of course hats are essential at any Royal affair, and so all the women were decked out in hats of every description and style. A couple of other women (no doubt purchasing from the same “designer” and I use that term loosely) also chose to tack wriggly messes of snakes alongside their heads. These were simply not hats, but head dresses and thankfully were worn by lesser unknowns who assuredly won’t be in any family pictures.

I have no clue why the Royals are so big on hats. I’m sure there is a history, but I’m not aware of it.

One person of course stood out among all the women and that was Katherine herself. I thought her gown was simply beautiful in every respect as was that of her sister’s who was her matron of honor. They were elegance and beauty personified.

All this of course is so much hoopla about nothing much at all. Much more important things are going on in the world, but heck, we don’t really have anything comparable and its kinda fun to see all the pomp and circumstance.

Oh, one important proviso here. The Contrarian warned me against writing anything at all positive about the Royals today. He reminded me that it takes only two people in Iowa to have a person committed, and he would sure be unhappy should I not be available to accompany him to New Mexico.

So, if you don’t see me around here next week, do look into it and come to my assistance. I’m not crazy for watching a Royal wedding! No I am not!

♦

Me thinks they speak with forked tongues. The wacko extremist right is not giving up its fight to defund Planned Parenthood, now called “Klanned Parenthood” in an attempt to marry the group to its founder, Margaret Sanger who certainly did have racist ideas.

However, so did the several other institutions in their infancy, and certainly there is no reason on earth to attribute Sanger’s beliefs to the groups activities today. Of course the insane right continues to paint the organization as out to commit genocide on the African-American community. The do this by citing that African-American abortion actual numbers are higher than for other women. This of course means nothing at all, it simply means there are more poor black women than white who need its services.

Moreover, these same groups who are “so concerned” about the lives of African-Americans, are the same folks who are against affirmative action programs, the use of federal funds to aid poor women and children (more black than white) with health matters and such things as Head Start and so forth.

Worse, they are the first to screech against any black person who suggests that racism still exists in this country, calling them “racists” and players of the “race card.”

These are the people who continue to disbelieve that the President was born in the US, and now question how he got into Columbia and Harvard, ugly innuendos that convey a covert racism that is all too clear.

♦

Don’t know if you saw this or not, but last night we watched a taped PBS American Experience, on the Stonewall uprising. If you are not aware, the Stonewall was a gay bar in Greenwich Village in NYC. Periodically the NY police raided these establishments rousting patrons and generally disrespecting all gay people. This was back in the early 60’s.

One night, for reasons unknown, the patrons decided not to go nicely, and soon the streets were filled with protestors. The police are the ones who finally backed down.

What was more poignant and sickening were the stories many now middle-aged and older gay men and women told of those times, of some of the systems in place. Worst of all was a police detective addressing a school of youngsters, all around maybe 10 years of age, warning them to avoid homosexuals and that behavior because in his words, “we will find you and arrest you.” Imagine saying such things to children.

It was uplifting in how far we have come, and utterly sad in remembering where we were.

 

In Case You Care

Tags

bechamel sauce, enchiladas, GOP, Mexican food, Ohio, Recipes, unions, wacko right wing

Blitzkrieg literally means “lightning war”. It became the Nazi method of surprise attack with overwhelming force. In American terms, think “shock and awe”.

It seems to me, that the assault on public employee unions is much the same. It seems to have been a plot hatched deep in the bowels of Republican bunkers, unleashed after a favorable 2010 election cycle. Strike while the iron is hot as they say.

Republicans in state after state are facing bills introduced by lock-step following drones of the Party hierarchy, all designed to destroy the union movement in America, and thus attempt to weaken if not utterly destroy the Democratic Party who gets most of its votes.

This is all being done against the wishes of the electorate. Poll after poll, even the deeply flawed and uber right leaning arm of the GOP, the Rasmussen, says that the public is overwhelming in its support of the rights of public workers to unionize. The people are not buying the rhetoric of the right plain and simple.

They are not buying the attempts of Fox and other wacko pundits to paint the union workers as grossly overpaid, and not sharing in the pain of “everyone else.” This from the mouths of jackasses who make millions a year. They are not buying the claims that the demonstrators are largely “paid socialists and commies”. In fact Stephen Colbert caught Fox in another of its deliberate lies. It claimed with appropriate footage that demonstrators were from other states, and were “agitators”. Trouble was the agitators were wearing t-shirts and there were palm trees in the background as they marched. Not exactly Madison I’m thinking.

Nothing is too much to achieve their business currying ends. In Ohio, Republican Senate leadership, removed a fellow GOP committee member and replaced him with another GOPer. Why? Because the sitting Republican was not going to vote for their union killing bill. So they just replaced him with one who would. Yeah, that is the lengths these evil people are prepared to go. No democracy for them. No. Just blatant blitzkrieg, good old shock and awe.

***

Okay, so I try to keep my word, so here is the awesome enchilada recipe I concocted. Well, the new and revised version since I really, really don’t like Velveeta®. It’s not the taste so much, it’s the viscosity that leaves a gluey like lip smackin’ sensation. Not good.

What this recipe is designed to do is to eliminate the issue I have with traditionally baked enchiladas, namely the soggy, disintegration of the tortillas during the baking process. The sauce, just melts them away.

This is how I fixed that problem.

Sherry’s Basically Great Enchiladas

Poach a good-sized bone in chicken breast with the usual onion, celery, salt and pepper, bay leaf, until done. Or buy a roasted chicken and shred, or use some left over chicken you already have.  Set aside, cool, and debone and cube. I’d say around 3-4 cups. (Any other meat or seafood is also acceptable)

Meanwhile, in a microwave-safe bowl, place 4 oz of creamed cheese, 1 tsp each garlic and onion granules or powder, a pinch of salt, 1/3 tsp pepper, 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 2 tables fresh cilantro chopped, 1 chopped jalapeno. Microwave just long enough to make the cream cheese stir-able. 

Add chicken and loosen with a bit of milk if it’s too thick to stir easily.

Take your tortillas, flour or corn as you desire. Heat a burner (I have an electric stove, use a griddle pan if you have gas), lay each tortilla on it until it just begins to smoke, turn over and do the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas (about 6). This leaves nice burnt bits here and there on the tortillas.

Fill the tortillas with about 2 Tbsp of the chicken. Place in a foil lined and oiled baking pan. When finished cover the pan with foil and set aside. I do this in the morning and leave them until ready to warm up for dinner. Otherwise place in oven at 275° for 30 minutes or long enough to warm through.

Meanwhile, make a roux of 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp flour in a pan. when melted and mixed, add 1 C warm milk. Bring to boil until thickened. Add 1 C shredded cheddar, Monterey jack, or other cheese of choice. Add 1 jalapeno diced, 1/3 c of green pepper.  Loosen the mixture with a bit of milk again. You want this to be ladle-able.

Place the enchiladas and cheese sauce on the table, along with sour cream and salsa (home-made if you like –my recipe is on this blog under I think condiments or Tex-Mex) and green onions and ripe olives sliced for garnish, along with thinly sliced shredded cabbage. I know this sounds weird but the crunch is wonderful. (add it to the top of the enchiladas before the cheese sauce.)

That’s it! 

Related Articles

• Walker Losing Support from Senate Republicans in Wisconsin? (news.firedoglake.com)
• Cracks In Republican Support For Governor Walker Anti-Union Bill (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
• “Wisconsin Republicans Preparing to Break With Union Busting Gov. Walker?” and related posts (guerillawomentn.blogspot.com)
• Republicans to debate Ohio union bill for weeks (reuters.com)
• GOP In Danger of Losing Younger Voters in Wisconsin? (themoderatevoice.com)

America in the Midst of a Temper Tantrum

Tags

America, American psyche, election 2010, maturity, Politics, psychology, sociology, stupid people, wacko right wing

I keep trying to make sense out of what doesn’t make sense. That can drive you a little nutty all by itself.

Still, those of us who consider ourselves reasonably sane and mature are having a nearly impossible time with the wacko Right. We are just so tired of stoopid people. And it makes us cranky.

Imagine how the rest of the world feels. We act for all the world like the 75 IQer in a 6’5″ frame weighing  320lbs. Scary huh?

I sit in the wee hours of the night, sipping on a Merlot and ponder. And, well I think I got this figured out. A little bit anyway.

Ya see, we are by all accounts just pre-adolescents, here in the New World. I mean, sure the continent is as old as the others, but humans have not walked it until the last few tens of thousands of years, whereas in Europe at least man has skipped along the hillsides to the sound of music for hundreds of thousands of years.

Stay with me here.

Europeans, have had a loooooonggggg history to contemplate; one filled with wars, numerous transfers of power, and plagues. Death, for centuries was a near constant companion. Life was not usually all that good for most people, most of the time. As the psalmist said:

The span of our life is seventy years–eighty for those who are strong–but their whole extent is anxiety and trouble, they are over in a moment and we are gone. (Ps 90: 9-10)

Change for the better for most of the world came slowly and with great effort.

In the Americas, humans arrived by tortuous means, first across Alaska when a land bridge existed, and by some accounts parts of the western coastlands of South America were visited by great seafaring Polynesians. Whether by geography or pure bounty, there wasn’t nearly the issue of land scarcity. There was room to evade  conquerors.

When Europeans arrived upon the North American continent, they found it relatively uninhabited, and even where it was, there was enough for everyone. As the white hordes increased, Native peoples were nudged, often not gently, out the of the way.

As we started to offend each other, there was always space to move onward and Westward. And, every immigrant who arrived learned that they could remake themselves with little effort. One chose one’s field of interest and apprenticed oneself, and in a few years, one was himself a blacksmith, a printer, a lawyer. It was easy, it only took determination, time, and effort.

In other words, one could improve one’s lot in life in one’s own lifetime, whereas in Europe, even a whole lifetime might not secure much better for one’s offspring. One was limited by class, something that for a good period of American history did not exist.

In our adolescence, we succeeded at most everything. We have all the resources that were now becoming scarce in Europe, we had the will. We could create our destiny. We expected and expect to succeed, and we somehow feel most entitled to do so. We are pretty much willing to do what we need to, to gain what we wish.

In a word, we are still prepubescent. We are the kid with a decoder ring in one hand and the nuclear codes in the other. That is how the world sees us. They have right to fear us. We are indeed like a shaken bottle of champagne, ready to explode when the cork is pulled. No one knows who will get doused.

At home, it explains so much.

Virtually everyone from Washington on down through Dubya has had reason to warn the American people that this or that would take patience and TIME. We don’t hear that. Ever. We are used to instant gratification, or we still desire it, much as the babe in crib screams to be fed or changed. No explanations about “heating milk” or “going for diapers” will quell the howling. There is no logic to the babe, and there is none to us.

The GOP has learned to exploit our desire for everything NOW. When it doesn’t come, they are quick to point the finger at the “failed” policies of the Democrats. Fear that we will never get what we want if we don’t turn to them, is a powerful seduction. It works.

Europe can look at problems and see solutions that will take years to accomplish. Individual countries can unite under a banner of being oil free or having  free education through college, and work steadily for that goal, often taking a generation to attain. But they get some where.

We give our politicians about two years to give us what we claim we want. We are brats, bullies, touting our “exceptionalism” all the while being mostly unlettered and intellectual duds.We are slipping badly on almost all indices.  But we are as dangerous as any bull in a china shop always is.

We only know what we want, and that we want it now. We have no clue about the intricacies of global economics, global political realities, and global pandemic. We sit on our little cushions of superiority and glare at a world that increasingly won’t do our bidding, and we shake our fist in both defiance and warning.

And we hate, and we fear, and we are, it seems, about to do some very stupid things in about three weeks. And the world waits. . . .and too many of us it seems are too busy smoking behind the barn, to notice or care. 

Related Articles

• Eugene Robinson: These spoiled-brat voters are having quite the temper tantrum, aren’t they? (hotair.com)
• Darrell B. Nelson’s Temper Tantrum Tuesday: Jobs (grantlawrence.blogspot.com)
• Bob Cesca: Despite America’s Temper Tantrum, It’s Still a Center-Left Nation (huffingtonpost.com)