Sunday, August 10. 2014
 I like cooked potherbs, aka a "mess o' greens" -of any sort: collards, turnip tops, dandelion, kale, chard, spinach, cabbage. Especially fond of collard greens, even though they are far from typical Yankee cookin'. The Romans got their collards from the Greeks (along with everything else), so collards have a long history as food.
I will not prepare raw greens, such as salad, but have been known to eat that rodent food when placed in front of me. My theory is that greens are meant to be cooked, either with a bit of meat, or with garlic and olive oil. But collards require meat.
If there are no spare ham hocks in the fridge, I cook them with bacon or a couple of slices of ham, and I like them with bits of bacon and/or chopped onion on top. Collards are in the cabbage family, and I love cabbage in any form due to my northern European peasant roots (I'll try to remember to post my favorite cabbage recipes in the fall). Collards do not smell good when cooking, and you just have to put up with it.
Here's some collard history, and a basic Southern collard recipe. It's a given that collards and their juice have to be served with corn bread, even if you live north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Gimme some smoked short ribs or pulled pork, a bowl of collards, some corn bread, and a couple of beers, and this New England Yankee is close to heaven.
Photo: Collards
Addendum: Re raw greens, I forgot to mention cole slaw, known as "ragbag" among old timey Yankees. Home-made ragbag is a wonderful thing. I guess it's a salad, of sorts, and it works well with barbecue and just about anything else, including fresh fried codfish or a plate of fried oysters. Which reminds me that fried oysters were once food for the poor - hence the "poor boy" fried oyster sandwich. Yum.
One of my favorite chefs in town makes cucumber slaw. Slivered cucumber with slivered carrot with a vinaigrette.
Does the "Libertarian attitude" have any political power? Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Finally Arrived?
Comment on the above from Williamson (who is on a roll these days): The Man Who Wouldn’t Be King -Rand Paul becomes an object of liberal curiosity.
If you're interested in how the Lectionary came to be, a reader sent in this article about it. The Common Lectionary is now used in many if not most Christian sects in the US.
Matthew 14:22-33
14:22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
14:23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
14:24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.
14:25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.
14:26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.
14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."
14:28 Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."
14:29 He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.
14:30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"
14:31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
14:32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
14:33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Saturday, August 9. 2014
A big moon in Manhattan tonight. Summer evenings in NYC are the best. Everybody out for a stroll - a passagiatta worthy of Italy. That pic is from the steps of the Met Museum, which was packed with people today all of them friendly and polite and many speaking strange languages.
Not everybody is in the Hamptons, and international tourists are everywhere taking photos of everything. Same as I do. I can recommend it as a summer vacation destination.
-Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
-The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.
Douglas Adams
 If you grew up in Yankeeland, along the coast, clam and fish chowders have been one of your staples. They are seafood cooked with milk or cream, and whatever else. Real simple comfort food, served with hunks of good bread or those cute little Oyster Crackers.
Everybody knows Clam Chowder, for which there are 54,612 different recipes (not including the revolting "Manhattan Clam Chowder" which is poisoned with tomato. A good Yankee Fish Chowder is very similar to clam chowder. One of the best ones I ever had was on Grand Manan Island, where the chunks were huge - quartered potatoes, big chunks of onion, and 4" square hunks of fresh Cod.
The key for chowder is the stock: fish heads and bones, a few lobster shells are good, low-simmered for a couple of hours with some chopped onion and celery, pepper, etc. You do need to use the salt pork. The actual fish (like clams in clam chowder), you only add at the last minute and cook briefly - just until it flakes. Haddock or Cod are the only fish you can use. Scrod is just small Cod. Some use Monkfish, but I disagree: Monkfish is not a tasty fish, and it has a poor, chewy texture. Bacala - salt cod - works fine for any cod dish if it is handled properly. I prefer fresh.
Here's a Maine recipe. Here's another version.
Bermuda Fish Chowder bears no relationship to the Yankee version. It is from England, has no milk, but is wonderful in its own way. I have never tried to cook it, but have enjoyed in on countless occasions on lovely Bermuda. FYI, Bermuda Fish Chower's history here, and recipe here.
Image: Atlantic Cod. Overfishing has been a major problem - the wonderful Atlantic Cod is in trouble, and has been for many years.
Recommendation from a friend who just returned from a vacation trip: Crillon Le Brave.
Looks pleasant enough to me. I'd prefer to rent a villa with a cook and housemaid, though, get a few rental cars and bikes, and invite everybody to visit.
 An easy and tough plant for the perennial border, mid-summer bloomer. Comes in many varietals (races).
Since I learned this week that talking about gardening is racist and classist (but is it sexist too?), I need to do more of it to offend our sensitive readers.
 Wellesley Gives Honest Grading a Try
Is aging a disease?
I do not want that disease. Does Obamacare cover it?
A short sermon
Drone Records Muslims Going at It With Goats
Midnight at the oasis
Split infinitives are sort-of OK
A Deadly Strain of PMS
Trailer Homes Aren't Just for Millionaires
In 1997, the FDA Set Out to Regulate Tic Tacs. They're Still at It.
Gotta stock up before they are illegal
Minnesota Cafe Charges “Minimum Wage Fee,” Liberals Outraged
Re-posted because it is so intelligent: Washington’s Perfect Storm Of Policy Failure: On The Folly Of Massive Money Printing And America’s Collapsing Imperium
Dead Broke Clintons Downsizing August Vacation To $100K
Super Party-Boy Has Advice for Young People with "Right-Wing *ssholes" for Parents
Cool music, too - if you can term it music
The shocking discovery about evangelical Christianity that I made after becoming a father
Sheesh
Welcome to Wal-Mart, the Doctor Will See You Now
I use the eye man at Costco. He's great. Complete exam, dilation, retina, pressure, etc.
Big gender split: WSJ poll shows women and men disagree on the economy, minimum wage and mid-term elections
Obama's Amnesty Would Be Like Lincoln's Emancipation
What is Israel up against? Amazing video
Kerry: Starving Africa Shouldn’t Build More Farms Because It Would Contribute to Global Warming
Thornton: The failure of the EU:
The E.U. is just the latest example of the powerful Enlightenment idea that human nature and civilization, through the expansion of scientific knowledge, are progressing away from the cruelty, oppression, and collective violence created by irrational superstition, religion, and ethnic or nationalist loyalties. Once liberated from this destructive ignorance, people can create political and social orders that will promote peace, social justice, political freedom, and prosperity. Most important will be what Immanuel Kant, in his influential 1795 essay “Perpetual Peace,” called a “federation of free states” that would form a “pacific alliance . . . different from a treaty of peace, . . . inasmuch as it would forever terminate all wars.” Kant predicated the possibility of such global peace on “the uniformity of the progress of the human mind.” A universal human nature progressively becoming more rational and possessing more knowledge about itself and the world can craft a global order that would lessen if not eliminate the evils that had afflicted the human race for all of its previous history.
Hamas Executes One of Its Leaders - Then Blames Israel
"We Don't Understand Real Evil, Organized Evil, Very Well. This is Evil Incarnate."
The U.N. Handmaiden of Hamas
Washington Opened The Gates Of Hell In Iraq: Now Come The Furies
I basically agree with Tyler's view (wait, it's David Stockman again, via Tyler). Iraq is not a real nation.
 The Gods of the Copybook Headings is an annually-reposted Saturday Verse, but it comes to mind now because so many have been posting or linking this poem lately. A little background here. Many do not know that Kipling lived for many years in Vermont. After his son was killed in WW 1, and a daughter died of illness, he sought the eternal verities. The kids today do not have copybooks.
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four —
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man —
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began: —
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
My first "firearms" were BB guns and pellet guns, not counting bows and arrows. I was shooting BBs at targets when I was 7. My first real firearm was this old 20 ga. Iver Johnson single shot which my Grandpa gave me. It was an oldie then.
Friday, August 8. 2014
Are there any limits to what is in America's interest, diplomatically or militarily? Leader of The Free World (not that there is much of that to lead). I do understand that in a globalized new world, everything affects everything else so everything directly or indirectly affects the US, but nasty and wicked things happen everywhere all the time, and always have since the Fall of Man.
Where to draw the line? Some thoughts: How To Mind America’s Business
"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
John Adams, 1814
 Updated list of 29 – Actually 30 – excuses
for the 18 year ‘pause’ in global warming – ‘If you can’t explain the
‘pause’, you can’t explain the cause…’
Porn production plummets in Los Angeles
Bones from Ur
Where Did All the Entry-Level Jobs Go?
Why Technology Won’t Shorten Your Work Week
An atheist contemplates the death of a bug
Fitness May Help Ward Off Depression in Girls - Being in good physical condition likely to help boys avoid the blues too, expert says
Schools for Scandal - The astounding waste, corruption, and self-dealing of university student governments
Amnesty as Impeachment Bait -- The president’s breathtakingly cynical plan to ward off a midterm shellacking
Talkin' Obama Blues - Obama's words can move factions, but not a people.
Americans worry that illegal migrants threaten way of life, economy
Tough talk from the Swedish Democrat party (video)
Hamas warns of more rocket attacks unless all demands are met
At Mead:
The modern territorial state, as a post-imperial era expression of nationalist ideology in the West, does not so well fit the Arabs (and many other non-Western ethno-linguistic groups) whose history supplied none of the predicates.
Archbishop: Hamas Fired Out of Our Church in Gaza (VIDEO)
Hamas' Phony Statistics on Civilian Deaths
Three Men, A Tent and Some Shrubs: The Backstory of Our Hamas Report
Thursday, August 7. 2014
Produced, we believe, by the Martis. On our lands at our summer place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains:
Who could? The UN, the UK, Germany, France, the US, Israel, the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, Italy, the Saudis, Turkey, Quatar, Iran, Russia, Iraq, etc. - all could help easily, within hours. Who will step up today?
All they need is water, food, tents, shovels, and maybe some machine guns air-dropped to them prevent a Biblical-style genocide. Where is everybody? On vacation?
 August is not the right season, but for fall or spring, good ideas.
In August you can practice your casting, and might get lucky but the fish are not hungry.
I see no reason for Americans to give a darn about Ukrainian politics. Putin may be a lowlife, but he is simply pursuing his national interests as he sees them, and that is fine with me. Trade wars are juvenile. It seems as if at least half of Ukrainians want to be affiliated with Russia. Who cares?
Let the Europeans deal with their own problems: Putin Responds to U.S., EU Sanctions by Blocking Agricultural Imports
Wednesday, August 6. 2014
Somebody found the Hamas game plan. A devastating article: The Media’s Role in Hamas’ War Strategy
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