non-ecumenical ramblings

Trip home - 6 years Post-K

2012-01-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

Here are photos of where we graduated; where i took one of my entrance exams for Franklin; and where my step-brother attended high school. A very thorough demolition of JFK.

Made me wonder if there's some web page that lists the notable entities in New Orleans that have been torn down plus those that did not re-open. I know that wikipedia has a list of schools that did not reopen, but it does not list which ones have been demolished. My other step-brother has a brick from Jean Gordon, and he showed me his archaeological investigation: the outer layer is painted blue, but below that you could still see the beige paint from his era. I know that Charity Hospital and the Municipal Auditorium have not re-opened and will not for the foreseeable future, but the Performing Arts center has been back for a couple of years.

Actually i stumbled across JFK's rubble after I spent most of the day visiting Bywater - I was unsuccessfully trying to cross the Florida Avenue bridge, and noticed a new housing development to the west of Poland Avenue. I knew that Desire Projects had been torn down, but had no idea that they had been replaced by a Metarie looking housing development.

in large part because my first cousin once removed had an art showing at The Front. Unfortunately the front is only open from noon to five on weekends, and the establishment is so arty that it posts neither days nor hours that it is open. Even the website itself does not make it easy to find its hours - thankfully there's always Gambit.

Still I would recommend the journey to bywater, if for no other reason than to visit the Healing Center: a combination art gallery, Maple Leaf Book store (guess once Franklin moved they had to branch out), yoga studio, green business, and Mediterranean restaurant (can highly recommend Fatoush).

As an example of their art, here's their exhibit for the one million bones collaborative art installation - installed on the roof.

Of course no trip home is complete without the obligatory drive through ravaged areas to see how they are recovering. Obviously no surprise to see still abandoned houses in the Upper 9th,

and lower 9th

but it is surprising to see an obviously unlived in though still wanted (?) house in Gentilly - this is from Mirabeau Avenue near the London Avenue canal.

On the brighter side, City Park itself is doing well, especially NOMA's sculpture garden.

Trip to china impressions

2011-11-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

work sent me on a very anti-climactic trip to china, so did not get to see any of the famous sites - will have to go back for them - instead experienced outsourcing and mall ratting china style.

We (co-worker & I) went searching for some nasal spray - was just not to be found, but did stumble across a UCLA store. Wasn't sure if it was legit or just another faux Apple store (they do name it iPhone to avoid a strict violation). Turns out it was real - had no idea especially since very little of the clothing had Bruin logos.

their Starbucks are actually more expensive than ours and do not accept the gold Starbucks cards "USA only" was the manager's comment.

Otherwise, my dominant impression was the 50 minute ride to go 20-25 kilometers.

Fortunately we could take ferry from Shenzhen to Hong Kong airport - you do not have to cross customs so never actually (legally?) enter Hong Kong as the ferry drops you off right at the airport (the only US airport that i know of with ferry service is laguardia and that's just on weekdays....just ran a google search and it appears that ferry is defunct, so do not know any ferry to airport services in the US).

Hong Kong - truly world class airport, though it seemed that sports bars were on the other side of security & did not feel like passing through twice. easily found nasal spray - a real savings for the descent - at a store there. Guess no one on the mainland gets clogged nasal passages.

HWM - out of the country posting

2011-10-12T21:15:00.001-07:00

HMW - a trio never to be topped

2011-10-12T20:35:00.001-07:00

HMW - Hummel trumpet concerto

2011-10-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Believe that Wynton is more suited to classical music than jazz, but would not have become as famous playing Hummel nor would he have won the Pulitzer prize.

Bonus feature - trumpet instruction for the same piece

HMW - Trombone Shorty...playing the trombone no less

2011-09-27T21:49:00.001-07:00

Oddly, i've never actually seen video of him play the trombone. On Tremé, he just sang his grandfather's song & the first youtube i saw of him was his trumpet duet vs. Wynton (hat tip League of Ordinary Gentlemen). Oh, there is also trombone duel that frankly isn't as good as the trumpet duel.)

HWM - first posting attempt

2011-09-14T19:30:00.001-07:00

It could never have been as good as 'The Wire'

2011-06-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

I can promise you that there will never be "Tremé- 100 Greatest Quotes" as there was for the Wire.

Part of the issue of course is that Simon was born in DC, raised in Maryland & worked Baltimore for decades and had such a fine feel for the city.

By contrast, Tremé comes off too much of a cliche too often. Our main characters are:

two street musicians
wanna be musician & girlfriend who owns a restaurant
Indian chief & son who is a trumpet player in New York
trombonist & ex-wife who owns a bar
Tulane professor & pro bono lawyer wife

Yes, i understand why having an ophthalmologist from Lakeview whose house had to be gutted or a clinical psychologist living in Lakeshore west whose house had minimal damage would not have been a compelling story, but are 80% of Tremé residents really musicians or restaurant/bar owners?

And why not give more jobs to locals? Of the 10 major characters (six of whom are supposed to be New Orleans natives), only Bunk is a native, and while it's nice to see another Franklin grad do well, when three of the major actors from Simon's previous two shows the impression is that Bunk was hired because he was part of Simon's posse & not because he was a New Orleans native. I mean couldn't they at least find a local 10 year old girl to play the daughter instead of a young actress from New York? At least the Dutch & Alabama characters are actually from Holland and Huntsville.

Given that season 4 of the wire covered schools, perhaps next season, they'll introduce a teacher from Jean Gordon or JFK wondering if their school will re-open - hey, that would be a good New Orleans story. A teacher returning to be part of the charter school movement improvement.

Saturday Night Wine Blogging

2011-04-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Merlot 2006 (Geyser Peak). Left over Valentine's Day pasta casserole & a fine beet salad.

Apple oats bars a la mode.

Valentine's day wine blogging - belated edition

2011-02-21T22:48:00.000-08:00

you can't go wrong with broiled tofu as the ginger haired yank proved once again

Saturday Night Wine Blogging - Valentine's Day edition

2011-02-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

For my annual repast, i prepared pesto & shells - only mistake was not saving ½ the mozarella for a baked cheese layer on top (will remember that for next time).

Pear, pecan & blue cheese salad

a nice chianti

and some peanut butter brownies

with lots left over for another day

Evaluation metrics from a previous post

2010-12-19T17:02:00.000-08:00

Seems to be a standard parlor game, so here was my criteria for next president:

cut deficit in ½ as measured by % of GDP. Must be for last year in office or 2 consecutive years is top of list.
closing Gitmo.
over riding Bush's executive order sealing past presidential papers.
ending DADT.
rescinding Bush's Cuba restrictions.
enacting some sensible policy for medical marijuana.
sensible withdrawal from Iraq.

Obvious no's are: 1, 2, 6. If we do eventually bankrupt our nation or end up like Japan then both Bush & Obama will go down in history as failed presidents.
Obvious yes as of yesterday is 4. Overall satisfied with 7.
Believe that 3 & 5 are complete - haven't looked up #3.

Biggest disappointment is continuation of too much of Bush's civil liberties policies (right to assassinate an american on executive authority only, state's secrets, stating that even if someone is acquitted it won't make a difference). Afghanistan is probably #2.

A good day for America

2010-12-18T17:04:00.001-08:00

Jonathan Franzen really hates his characters

2010-11-15T23:06:00.000-08:00

or at the very least, he enjoys being cruel to them.

Trip Home report - 5 years post-K

2010-11-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

It's funny how you can grow up in a town and never hear of certain sections - possibly never even visited them. Had never heard Faubourg-Marigny called Faubourg-Marigny until the 80's even though the library my elementary school used was in Faubourg-Marigny across the street from Washington Square. Had never heard of Lakeview or Bywater or Tremé, or Broadmoor until Post-Katrina, and did not know of Pontchartrain Park until a recent episode of the Tavis Smiley show, so decided to visit on Halloween. As the photos show, the area's still pretty badly damaged - ballpark estimate would be 20-25% of the lots are uninhabited, either vacant lots or abandoned houses.

Driving around the area, I noticed that the Shell station at Paris & Robert E Lee (first college summer job) is no more. Lakeshore drive is annoyingly 1 way on weekends for certain sections & closed for other sections & 2 way for other portions (frustratingly, I kept ending up back at the traffic circle at the end of Paris Avenue). Lakefront airport appeared to be on the mend, though I did not try to enter the art deco building - I lived within walking distance of the airport during most of my Franklin years, but never tried to visit.

The sliver by the river looked great. The maddening construction that shut off half of St. Charles by Audubon Park and along Carrollton along the streetcar portion have been finished since last Mardi Gras - huge hassle getting around that area during last visit. Visiting uptown & the insectarium you would have no idea that Katrina had ever hit the city.

Halloween itself, trick-or-treating in Lakeshore, was fun & made better by folks having big screen TV's in a carport & Harlequin Park showing the Saints game, even though the first half gave the locals little to cheer about.

Final note - New Orleans does still have its sense of humor.

Friday Night Wine blogging - a somewhat return

2010-09-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Cajun pasta & carrots. The Syrah was too rough.

Decided not to flog myself through Infinite Jest

2010-07-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

There comes a point in everyone's life when they realize there's only so many remaining books they'll have time to read in their life. Having realized that, i'm limiting myself to either good books or at least enjoyable ones; unfortunately Infinite Jest counts as neither.

You cannot care about the characters; the entire plot of the 983 page tome (+ footnotes) was summed by Wikipedia in one medium sized paragraph. Unlike Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that footnotes add little as either entertainment or illumination.

The tennis sections were covered in a far superior (and shorter) fashion in A Supposedly fun thing i'll never do again.

I would recommend the first chapter only - a well written good hook contrasting the interior monologue of the protagonist with the reaction by outsiders; sadly the remaining novel does not live up to that chapter. The title object - Infinite Jest video tape - was too reminiscent of Monty Python's killer joke.

The novel isn't hard to read in the sense that Proust or Joyce or Burroughs - i did make it through 100+ pages, but then my mother gave me Zeitoun about Katrina & i realized how much more i was enjoying reading it. The only reason to finish Infinite Jest is to be able to say that i made it through, and i've passed that stage in my life.

It could be that Wallace & Rushdie were both far superior non-fiction than novel writers as their essays were superior to Infinite Jest, Midnight's Children & Satanic Verses.

Flogging myself through Infinite Jest

2010-06-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm past 100 pages, and it's not that hard to pick up the book after a couple of days off - it did help at the beginning to read Amazon reviews or I might not have picked up that Chapter 1 takes place 1 year after Chapter 2.

It's not a very satisfying novel though - don't care about the characters; don't care about the plot - lots of tennis info because the author used to play tennis, but i enjoyed his essay in a supposedly fun thing..... better than the tennis sections here. Much more concise and there was an emotional connection since the author was describing his personal experience.

Otherwise the Infinite Jest itself just seems a rip-off of Monte Python's killer joke.

Friday Night Wine Blogging - Father's Day edition

2010-06-18T23:44:00.001-07:00

camera battery died during upload, so remaining photos will have to wait for re-charge.

remains of some scrumptous pecan pie & armagnac.

Bridesmaids no more

2010-06-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

The first pro teams i rooted for were the Lakers & Blackhawks - the perenniel bridesmaids. The first NBA finals i watched was the Lakers losing in 7 back in 1970; the first Stanley Cup finals was the Blackhawks losing in 6 back in 1971. The Lakers have won 10 championships since then, but the Blackhawks had to wait another 39 years after the Lakers finally broke the string to be bridesmaids no more.

Can i flog myself through Infinite Jest

2010-06-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

that is the question

What do I do with a computer

2010-04-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

With the launch of the iPad and my sometimes usage of the ginger haired yank's iPod Touch, I started thinking through what my actual usage is outside of work.

PC:

Internet usage: primarily Email & reading blogs
Download music & transfer to iPod
Upload photos & transfer to memory stick for work
Misc.

The Touch i use mainly for games, but this weekend, did use to look up nearby bowling alleys. Neat to be able to perform a search without the annoyance of booting up PC.....waiting.....launching web browser...waiting...putting in search term. By contrast, it took a few seconds to type in bowling alleys - zip code into Google (iTouch default).

My #1 complaint with the Touch is its lack of 3G capability, so all connectivity is Wi-Fi which is a hassle outside of the house, so functionality is very limited once I leave home (at work, i linked to the Wi-Fi, but twice now have been booted off so how many times do i really want to re-connect?). #2 is the lack of a stylus - fingers too often end up in the wrong place which has cost me too many games of connect four. #3 is screen size - in battleship i have to keep shrinking & enlarging and frequently have to change cells (can do that before i hit fire, so don't lose games because of it, but still can be very annoying sometimes when it takes 4-5 tries to hit the correct square in the grid.

#1 complaint with phone is text messages are a hassle to type with usual 1-9 keyboard. #2 is Vcast is such a hassle that it's never worth the trouble - very very poorly designed UI. #1 characteristic i like vs. SmartPhone is size - pretty easy to put into pocket.

My Palm is getting quite old now - no backlight (#1 gripe) and the power management has some issues (performance sometimes turns molasses slow) so someday i will have to upgrade, but to what? I really like the Palm's to-do list better than the default App on the Touch, but is that still true with a current Palm.

Ok, guess that sums up gripes/likes with the various devices. Guess will take a look at the iPad (I have noticed that only some books are good on DailyLit.com so dubious that i'd ever give up printed books) and the two Palm phones (1 looked blackberry style & 1 looked iPhone style), but any commenters are welcome to chime in with their advice.

Trip home report - 4½ years post-Katrina

2010-02-22T19:39:00.001-08:00

Four years ago, the ginger haired yank took me to a University of California Irvine basketball game - the halftime entertainment was a student singing "UCI - Under Construction Indefinitely" and that's the feel in New Orleans. I expected construction in Lakeview & the 9th ward, but did not expect it to be impossible to turn from Carrollton towards Tulane on many streets near Oak or to have St. Charles be closed near Audubon Park on the lake side, so the river side was made into a two-way street.

Decided to drive through Broadmoor since it's an area I rarely see. My eye ball estimate was 1 out of each 6 houses was uninhabited; if you wanted to count lots, then 1 out of 5 lots had no occupants.

It's somewhat obligatory now to see the Brad Pitt Houses, and any review has to be prefaced with the usual disclaimers - it's a well meaning endevour and the idea of a house using "lightweight concrete foundation anchored by two pylons, like a pier, which would buoy the house if floodwaters rise" is intriguing for the lower ninth ward, but the houses just aren't appealing - angles for the sake of angles, lacking in aesthetics, somewhat ugly to be honest.

By contrast the Musicians' village did it right in the Upper Ninth Ward. There's a classical appeal to the shotgun style houses and they did a nice job with the colours - eye catching without being too over stated.

Other sections of the ninth ward are about what you'd expect, but it's still jarring to see the area in person.

In summary:

Performing Arts center has re-opened, but Municipal Auditorium has not
Camellia Grill has re-opened, but Bruning’s will not
Hôtel-Dieu has re-opened, but Charity Hospital may be closed for a very long time

birthday night wine blogging

2010-01-23T15:17:00.001-08:00

amuse bouche - aged balsamic (sadly much of the vinegar evaporated after the bottle was left open)

looked for a Prosecco split, but none to be had at winehouse, but ended up with Moet Imperial 1/8th bottleroasted tofu & cauliflower w/romesco sauce

amaronne - a fine bottle that complimented the meal well.

banana cake made in the shape of a house (baker's coconut cookbook shape)

Things to do in Denver when you're dead

2010-01-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

I watched this film when licking my wounds on a snow boarding trip (hoped for relationship that did not pan out). The post itself has nothing to do with the movie, but the standout line was from a video gravestone - an old lady philosophizing about the start of relationships, discovering each other's bodies.

I'm not that old or that close to death - another 32 years - but still had the compulsion to create of list of things to do before i die - will limit this to places to visit. The list hasn't gotten any shorter recently, which has created some angst on my part, so decided to create it in writing so that I can see it shrink when I do get back to knocking off items on it. Has made me feel somewhat better seeing this list in writing now.

Here is first cut

Places to see US:
Alaska (will be my 50th)

National Parks
Everglades

Places to see OUS:
Taj Mahal
Machu Picchu
Sphinx & Grand Pyramids & Abu Simbel
Easter Island
Antarctica (will be my 5th and final continent)
Stonehenge
China - Terra Cotta warriors

Paintings to see (only Uber famous ones I have not seen in person)
Scream - Oslo
Last Supper - Milan

Those are definitely the top of my list. A bit lower - would like to see, but would not look back on my life in regret:

US
Hike to bottom of Grand Canyon

Maui (including NP)

Niagara Falls

Grizzly National Park

Isle Royale National Park
Dry Tortuga National Park

Denali National Park
Andersonville
Kitty Hawk

OUS

South Pole
Angkor Wat
Carnival in Rio - to see how it compares with Mardi Gras
Auschwitz
Jerusalem
Istanbul

Forbidden City & Great Wall

St. Petersburg

Updated 8/15/11 - decided to lower a number of items, e.g. Maui falls to lower list. Devil's Tower is removed. This is partly based on a dinner conversation concerning what places are on lists - PM stated that his list keeps growing & I asked if he didn't have a "must see" vs. "like to see list". Realized that some of my must-sees were not that. So 11 on that list.

Saturday Night wine blogging

2009-12-26T22:48:00.001-08:00

Syrah courtesy Trader Joe
Macaroni & cheeseblueberry strudel w/Remy XO

Anniversary Wine Blogging

2009-12-16T21:43:00.001-08:00

The ginger haired yank & i just celebrated our 7th anniversary with a bottle that i won in a silent JDRF fund raiser at work. A worthy charitable contribution.

2006 Duckhorn Decoy:
Aroma: currant, stewed plum, smoke and vanilla
flavour: currant and tobacco. fairly dry and full body
broiled tofu with fennel tomato sauce on top of farfalle plus peas with a creamy walnut sauce

preparing butterscotch bread pudding with a vanilla rum cream saucewashed down with some Armagnac

Altogether a fine repast to accompany a happy event.

The return of Friday Night Wine Blogging

2009-10-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Not sure why besides personal issues (foot surgery & death in the family), but time to return to wine blogging. The wine i won in a fund raising silent auction at work. Enjoyed the bottle even though the description did not match the taste.
Huge fan of goat cheese tarts. not as fond of the haricots vert w/pesto & pine nuts (pesto was too subdued).

some classics (125th anniversary Grand Marnier & strawberry short cake) never get old.

2009-08-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

nicolas feuillatte premier cru rose

roasted tofu w/citrus cranberry dijon. peas & pine nuts w/creamy pesto sauce

peanut butter pie

friday night wine blogging - vegetarian pitas & hot dogs

2009-07-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Pink sparking wine

sun dried tomato tofu salad

cherry pie topped with chocolate ganache

last week - vegetarian chili dogs

2009-07-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

4th of july celebratory bottle - went well with sky divers

friday night wine blogging - ginger haired yank birthday edition

2009-06-27T01:13:00.000-07:00

the last bottle of the regnum - strong pepper taste

poor man's cake - a Great depression specialty from ginger haired yank's great grand-mother. the cloves make it a tasty morsel (icing probably added post-WWII).

friday night wine blogging - very past due edition

2009-06-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

haven't done a very good job with my wine blogging - so here is a huge data dump.
haven't been motivated enough to put out a political posting, but hopefully will feel the urge soon.

morrocan veggie chicked w/pasta

roasted tofu (tangerine dijon sauce) & pecan rice

friday night wine blogging - post easter edition

2009-04-19T21:48:00.001-07:00

still not a fan of Ravenswood wines

broiled tofu w/honey blackberry shallot sauce (quite scrumptous)

friday night wine blogging - belated sunday edition

2009-03-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

due to family health issues, we had our wine for sunday lunch with take out from Bella Roma SQVR. fine pesto for me & gnocchi for the ginger haired yank.

Friday Night Wine Blogging - going home edition

2009-03-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

perhaps it's my age or the fact that i'm going home for an elementary school reunion, but have had strong feelings of "what if my plane crashes on the way back home.

excellent dinner - pesto lasagna, peas. for desert, a lemon cake and oranges marinated in port.

if this turns out to be my last wine blogging - it was a very fine repast.

Valentine's Night Dinner Blogging - 2009

2009-02-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

Not sure why, but have largely lost my taste for cooking. at one time i did have 2 stock recipes from laurel's kitchen (spinach lasagna & some soup - cauliflower?), but haven't made them in years. after i purchased 365 ways to cook pasta i did my best to try most of the vegetarian recipes - once again haven't made them in some years. now i only cook 1 meal a year.

Some lost friends gave me the Green's cookbook for my birthday 1990 and i've been intimidated from making the 4 page, 3-4 part vegetarian Shepard's Pie for the past 19 years and with good reason. It took the better part of 2 saturdays (cooked the stock the weekend before thankfully) to make the dish. If i were ever to attempt it again, some modifications are in order - no celery root, parsnips are unnecessary and will continue to add veggie ground round as the original recipe isn't very high in protein.

Was it worth it? Only to say that i finally made it after all these years, but comparing benefit to effort it clearly wasn't worth the energy. Left me with almost nothing for salad & desert and that's a high price to pay.

Open to suggestions for the next meal that I plan to cook some 11 months from now.

while cooking the parsnips

coming out of oven

on the plate

wine & desert

Friday Night Wine Blogging - birthday edition

2009-01-26T22:15:00.000-08:00

the cork was rotten but the wine was fine.

The sweet potato au gratin (w/mushrooms & marinated veet) with roasted carrots was sublime as was the blueberry cobbler. A wonderful repast to celebrate my 51st.

Savoring political wagers

2009-01-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

Have never lost a political wager & this year I hit the quinfecta winning two bottle of scotch, 1 bottle of Drambuie, a dinner at Spago, a night at Dave & Buster's plus beignets at Cafe Du Monde. JJ being the gracious loser treated me to 20-year old BenRiach.

It is amazing the wager folks will make. 4 years ago, a woman at work wagered that we'd capture Bin Laden in October just before the election. I'm far from a Bush fan, but if Bush ever had a chance to capture Bin Laden, he'd have taken it & never stopped crowing about bringing the man behind September 11th to justice. We had 1 chance at Tora Bora, but once Bin Laden slipped through our fingers, he was too wily for us to ever capture or kill.

My sister also wagered that Bush would reinstitute the draft - no way. For all his flaws he was too shrewd a pol to ever take such a political disastrous position that really had no upside to it. The draft will certainly never come back in my lifetime.

I also managed to brow beat a friend to own up on the wager that Bush would never have pardoned Ken Lay based on Bush's lack of final pardons. I knew that commuting Libby was as far as he'd go, but even I thought that Bush would not be so parsimonious.

Going forward, I have three remaining political wagers. One is a gimme - Kurdistan will not be recognized as a nation by the UN by August 11th, 2011. The other two are not slam dunks - Israel will not attack Iran by the end of Obama's first term and two years afterwards. Still for all the bluster by Israel, in the end, they have their hands full with bi-annual battles with their neighbors, and adding another direct (i.e. non-proxy) war would be too much for them.

Friday Night Wine Blogging - aggregate edition

2008-12-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

Not sure if it's the slow Internet connection or just slacking, but have had several Friday Night Wine Bloggings sitting in EvalPics for weeks now. The macaroni & cheese and Croque Monsieur are two of my favorite faux meals.

DECEMBER 19th

Rosenbloom Zinfandel XXX

Croque monsieur & peas

ANNIVERSARY WINE

Lancaster Cabernet Sauvignon - 2004

DECEMBER 12th - wine and desert

DECEMBER 5th

Macaroni & cheese w/veggie meatballs (a bit soggy)

THANKSGIVING 2008

NOVEMBER 14th

Mondavi Reisling 2006

sweet & sour tofu with sauteed mushrooms & red peppers

Friday Night Wine blogging - rose edition

2008-11-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

Rose from Mike

Seitan with caper and lemons

Didn't think i'd see it in my lifetime

2008-11-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

There was a novel back in the 60's about a black man becoming president, albeit only after the president, vice-president and speaker of the house died - we still haven't had a black Senate pro tempore, but we do finally have a black president-elect. It does bring renewed hope that America would elect someone who started with nothing - living on food stamps, no son & grandson of admirals. No son of a president & grandson of a senator privileged life. It is amazing that someone who started with no advantages in life and several dis-advantages - odd lifestyle, odd name, lack of funds, mixed heritage, absentee father - could someday be president.

While Obama will make mistakes & i will fault him for voting for FISA or some similar act, it is heartening to see a black man elected president. I'm certain the next 4 years will be better for our nation than the past 8 years have been.

Golan Heights Tierra Salvaje victory champagne

Sukkot wine blogging

2008-11-02T17:34:00.001-08:00

sukkot setting

hill family pinot from mike

which went down nicely
zinfandel port

accompanying a lemon cream pie with blackberry sauce

halloween night wine blogging

2008-10-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

st. michele winery

roated tofu & potatoes O'brien

jack o'lantern cookie

blueberry pie

finally finished the cognac i purchased at Schipol airport to finish off my euros (was actually a bit disappointed - my taste runs much more to Armagnac these days)

New Orleans - three years on

2008-10-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

Always nice to see some classic features of my hometown re-open. St. Charles streetcar of course now running its entire route and Chalmette Battlefield has also opened its gates again. Chalmette itself was surprisingly re-inhabited; given that St. Bernard parish has minimal defences against another stalled hurricane raising a storm surge in Lake Borgne, I'm surprised that so many would return. St. Bernard Highway seemed mostly back to normal and the Chalmette ferry to lower Algiers had a good amount of traffic for an early Monday afternoon.

My last trip home, i stayed mostly in the sliver by the river so did not get much sense of how the city was recovering. This time, I made a point of driving through both the 9th ward (upper & lower) and Gentilly. The montage below is Pratt Drive at ground zero - Robert E. Lee to Fillmore. It must be psychological, but the side near the flood wall breech had 1 inhabited house (right by Fillmore) while the opposite side of Pratt appeared to be at least half inhabited. If there is another breech, I cannot image one side of the street faring that much better than the other. Another oddity that I didn't understand is why the Robert E. Lee bridge across the London Avenue canal is closed while the Fillmore and Leon C Simon bridges have re-opened.

Beyond New Orleans

Not sure why, but I've never actually seen the mouth of the Mississippi, so we drove down to Venice to where highway 23 turns and becomes a small two lane road with no shoulder and swamp on both sides. We were the only car on the road - fair number of big rigs and SUV type vehicles - everyone else had enough sense not to try driving a car on a road that is several inches underwater. Finally at the turn for the harbor, there was enough space to reverse directions and head back. Was too anxious to take a photo which I really regret now, but we did stop for lunch at Ft. Jackson on the way back. They still mow the lawn, but don't allow visitors - not quite sure why since the brick wall and moat seemed appeared to be doing just fine.

In summary:

Chalmette battlefield has re-opened, but the Beauregard house has not.

The St. Charles streetcar has re-opened, but Six Flags New Orleans has not.

Camellia Grill has re-opened (and still serves fine chocolate freezes), but Ft. Jackson has not.

Lusher has re-opened but Jean Gordon has not, and

Franklin has re-opened but Kennedy will not.

Saturday Night Wine Blogging

2008-09-27T23:04:00.001-07:00

Shiraz 2005 - estancia
pasta & seitan in cajun sauce

cauliflower with dried tomato sauce

desert was strawberries & ice cream w/shortnin' bread (alas camera battery is currently recharging)

44 down - 4 to go

2008-09-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Bush has certainly done his best to bankrupt our nation - we'll be paying the bills for years to come. Too drained right now to blog in depth, so topics for next post shall include:

Criteria for next president - cut deficit in ½ as measured by % of GDP. Must be for last year in office or 2 consecutive years is top of list. closing Gitmo. over riding Bush's executive order sealing past presidential papers. ending DADT. rescinding Bush's Cuba restrictions. enacting some sensible policy for medical marijuana. sensible withdrawal from Iraq.
Lies - all candidates lie, but which one(s) are beyond the pale.
Long term fixes to suggest - end the mortgage tax deduction for the interest; kill Freddie & Fannie in their current form; limit Fed chief to 2 terms max (8 years like presidents).

Saturday Night Wine Blogging - belated edition

2008-09-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

chilled to 16°C
Vegetarian Monte Cristos are divine. Carrots w/romano sauce made a nice complement.
taryl jr's desert
ginger haired yank's finely aesthetic desert presentation

friday night wine blogging - double edition

2008-08-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

previous friday - pasta al fredo which...

just cannot compete with broiled tofu and peanut sauce

43 down - 5 to go

2008-08-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Bush is the lamest duck that I recall from any president I've followed since coming of age. As a positive that means the fears of his attacking Iran are groundless....actually as a positive it means no additional damage from his administration.

Perhaps part of the reason is his actual desire to help McCain by staying out of site as much as possible to try blunting some of the "third term" - a bit surprising that he is trying to help, but perhaps this is his effort at salvaging his GOP legacy. Otherwise he has helped damage the GOP considerably - Profligate spending, nanny state initiatives, Great Society Expansion...the list would go on too long, but at the least his policies have been a huge opportunity cost to our nation.

So will the next president be better? OK that's too easy a question.

Economics: McCain favors tax cuts and only wants to cut earmarks (while obscene only amount to 1-2% of the budget). Obama wants some minor tax increases and some moderate spending increases. Probably the one tax issue I agree with the GOP is corporate tax rates - too many companies make stupid decisions based on looking only at tax rates (would name mine, but....). For the estate tax, i'd be willing to support something reasonable - $10M exemption with indexing & then 33% tax rate. Current law was too stupid by half - even conservatives have to be disappointed with the gimmicky 1 year repeal instead of some politically acceptable compromise - a true opportunity lost by Bush.

War with ______: Have to say that there really isn't a good name. None of the common terms - war on terror or war on islamofascists or war with fundamentalists or war in the Koran-zone really conveys the struggle. Beyond that quibble, Obama will start withdrawing our troops quicker from Iraq. Neither will cut off aid to Israel or Egypt. Both will likely close Gitmo. Probably some very minor rollback of privacy intrusions. Less apparent use of torture.

Addiction to oil: Obama will be better on support for alternative energy.

Trade: Probably give the nod to McCain - not that he's an ardent supporter, but he hasn't made anti-NAFTA comments either.

Lagniappe: Obama will reverse Bush's cuba visit restrictions, perhaps overturn DADT, but not DOMA. Marginally better on teh drug war.

On the campaign itself: Obama or his strategist has been very very shrewd about their electoral path. Against Clinton, they out organized her to obtain enough caucus delegates to negate her name brand/image of inevitability. Now he seems to have fixed on winning the 21 Gore/Kerry states and then just pick up 1 or more others. Looks like it will work as I feel pretty confident he will take the 21 states which leaves McCain with the challenge of drawing to an inside straight - possible as the Dems showed in winning the Senate, but low probability.

Thursday night wine blogging

2008-08-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

very fine roasted tofu with ginger cherry dijon sauce
short'nin' bread, strawberries & whipped cream

friday night wine & meal blogging

2008-08-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

august 1st sumptous repast

previous friday's sparkling - nice combination

back to under rated presidents

2008-07-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

having recently finished Oxford History of the United States (1815-1848), I cannot understand how Reason could rate Martin Van Buren as under rated. Trail of tears was enacted under him. Clueless on the economy. Can't think of any positive accomplishments - he came across as your classic, great backroom operator who wasn't ready to be top dog.

Will be curious to read more about Warren G. Harding (could be a long time before that volume comes out). Commuting Deb's sentence is clearly a positive, but is that enough to make up for Teapot Dome?

42 down - 6 to go

2008-07-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

It's getting hard to motivate myself to continue this series - guess like most of us, i'd just like to hit the FF button at least until election night & then to the end of the Bush presidency. Looking at his overall record instead of the specifics:

Domestic - deficit spending & energy dependency. Obviously Bush's borrow-and-spend mentality has caused long term harm to our nation including the debasement of our currency. His Medicare Plan D will be a huge drain on our treasury for decades. Energy - can only think of opportunity lost and the blindness of this administration. Their view was clearly summarized in Cheney's notable "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue" speech.

Foreign - the violence has impressively decreased in Iraq (choose your combination of factors: ethnic cleansing, Anbar awakening, but clearly the change in counterinsurgency techniques has helped), but once again Iraq is an opportunity lost. A friend of a friend calculated how much $1T would have benefited our country if devoted to solar energy instead of war. For remaking the middle east that's obviously a failure. Dictators of various flavours still rule the countries in the area and will continue to do so for years to come. US death toll in Afghanistan has turned surprisingly high & will exceed the US death toll in Iraq again this month.

Rule-of-law - fortunately signing statements are transitory, but a clear violation of law. In essence he's asserting the right to disobey any law he doesn't like. How bad of a role model for future presidents remains to be seen, but congress was foolish to cow tow to him & here the Dems should have more aggressively challenged him.

Evaluating the 2 candidates. Both will be better for rule of law - a law bar i realize but still somewhat hopeful. Economics? Both of them have their hands pretty much tied by a confluence of events, but Bush's abysmal performance on fiscal responsibility has certainly hurt. Obama wants to add more programs and allow the sunset clauses to expire on Bush's tax cut (politically stupid that he didn't make more of them permanent). McCain wants to extend the tax cuts and continue our occupation of Iraq indefinitely. Obama is anti-free trade, while McCain appears to have no opinion. Guess I still have to decide whether to vote for Bob Barr - a sign of support for the libertarian ideals & not for either the party or the man.

Friday Night Wine blogging - cleaning out the aggregator edition

2008-07-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

not wine, but july 4th on sunset blvd. rest of wine photos are varying vintage over the past 1½ months.

Obvious hat tip to Kip Esquire, but i've been letting my wine blogging (& food) photos pile up, so tie to clean out the aggregator.

41 down - 7 to go

2008-06-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

Bush certainly seems AWOL these days. Don't believe he'll be missed by many including many conservatives for his insouciant destruction of the GOP brand. To his scorecard:

Iraq - 36/month dead over the past 3 months (i use 21st of March through 20th of June). This is about the level I expect it to continue for the foreseeable future. Death toll has been low enough to keep Iraq from being the top campaign item. It's actually easy to tell the future of Iraq - something between Somalia & ex-Yugoslavia. There will be no helicopter evacuation from a faux embassy, neither will there be some S. Korean success story decades from now. Atlantic Monthly had several speculations on the future, but the accurate one was the Seinfeld scenario - a war about nothing. The status quo survived just fine - Mubarak's still in power. Syria is still ruled by thugs who meddle in Lebanon.

Trade - overall a disappointing record.

Deficit - can't care anymore.

Friday Night Wine Blogging - Father's day edition

2008-06-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

a bit slow on this posting, but

the meal was scumptous

as was the desert. Finished off the Armagnac, but Martell made for a respectable second option.

40 down - 8 to go

2008-05-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

now even Bush's party is deserting him over pork barrel items & should over ride his veto on farm bill & probably on the war funding. His one remaining victory is continued funding for the war. Will predict that he will veto the funding and then $10B of pork will be removed and then he'll sign "win-win" as they say.

Iraq - deaths have averaged 36.67 over the past 3 months (February 23-May 22). Will that be low enough for McCain to make a compelling argument to stay the course argument in the run-up to election?

Deficit - $200 billion budget deficits as far as the eye can see

Trade - doesn't look good for the future as none of the 3 remaining candidates is a strong proponent of free trade.

Recently Hit & Run had a overrated underrated presidents posting (inspired by 3 or 4 other bloggers) so decided to make my list:

Over rated -

Ike Why he gets placed in the "near great" category is beyond me.

Positives: negotiated a truce in Korea (fighting had been a stalemate for over a year before he took office). didn't send combat troops into Vietnam. appointed Earl Warren. Paid off the war debt & coined the "Military-Industrial Complex" term (not that he fought against it as president). Did send troops against Orval Faubus and integrated the DC schools. Fine handling of the Suez Crises.
Negatives: paid for 80% of french effort in Vietnam & "recognized" the south after the geneva conference. Supported the over throw of Mossadeq (his most costly presidential blunder) and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán and Lumumba (how much better the Congo would have turned out with Patrice instead of Mobutu). Tepid support for civil rights movement - though he did comply with Supreme Court's ruling.

Overall rating would be a C+/B-.

Jackson - reading "What God Hath Wrought" now, which clearly spells out what a bastard Jackson was. Ethnic cleansing of the Cherokees. Defiance of the Supreme Court. Corruption of the civil service (destructive effects of his "Spoils system" lasted over ½ century). Illegal withdrawal of funds from the Second Bank of the United States. Strong supporter of slavery including allowing the postal system to not send abolitionist material. Only positives were trade treaties with Great Britain. How he gets rated as "near great" is also beyond me. Overall rating of C-/D+.

Wilson has been classified "Over rated" by so many recently (as hit&Run pointed out), but i still wonder "what if Wilson had kept us out of WWI". European powers would have kept bleeding themselves to the point of ending colonialism sooner and whatever peace treaty they eventually reached would have avoided WWII. Once again - how he was ever rated "near great" is mind boggling.

Friday Night Wine blogging - seitan edition

2008-05-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

shiraz & sun dried tomato (mine was on sandwich)

Saturday Night Wine Blogging - new wine opener edi

2008-05-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

The Pinot Grigio was nothing special (we poured out the las), but the birthday gift wine opener from Germany rocked!

Friday Night Wine Blogging - (vegetarian) meat & potatoes edition

2008-05-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

a pleasant rose

complemented by pelligrino & yogurt

with (seitan) meat & potatoes O'brien!

Friday Night Wine Blogging - multiple delayed edition

2008-05-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

guess the moral is wine blogging should be blogged that evening - waiting days diminishes the impact.

5/9

Belated wine & beer blogging

2008-05-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

39 down - 9 to go

2008-04-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

It must be a standard presidential obsession to try for that one last bit of glory as both Clinton & Bush have attempted to broker some Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Bush's attempt truly seems half hearted though, a bit going through the motions.

Metrics:

The US deaths have remained static in the ~35/month range. There's no reason to believe that there will be much variation for the remainder of Bush's term as the troop levels will remain roughly where they are 140,000 for the rest of his term.
Deficit - any fiscal conservative out there has to be disappointed with Bush's approach to the deficit. Shell out $160,000,000,000 to hopefully Keynesian goose the economy out of its doldrums. Does this mean that every recession from now on, we help ourselves to the government trough to buy our way out? The estimates i've read for this fiscal year's deficit are roughly $400B or roughly the highest deficit in nominal terms of Bush's presidency. Obviously my metric was poorly written - not specifying %GDP or what time frame - but it's hard to view Bush as a success fiscally as the deficits will be quite high for years to come.
Trade - CAFTA was the best Bush could produce and now the country clearly has a protectionist bent, albeit mostly against Mexico and not Saudi Arabia or China (believe our worst deficits are with those 2 nations, but too tired & unsuccessful to find the correct link tonight).

Obama & Wright - given how calculating politicians are, I'm a bit surprised that Obama stayed with Wright so long. Seems like it would have dawned on him that being with a bombastic and outlandish "spiritual mentor" would hurt his political chances. Hit & Run wrote a defence - who doesn't have a friend with loony beliefs ("U.S. government had created AIDS") - and that's true. I work with one fellow who 'has doubts' about whether we landed on the moon, but I'm not running for president and usually someone running for president creates a facade that will hold up well enough while running for office. At this point, Obama doesn't have any good options - you can't really dis your 'spiritual mentor' but he's back dominating another few news cycles meaning that anything else you have to offer is being drowned out.

Would still give the Dems 55% probability of winning - McCain is basically below the radar now, but once the general campaign starts, his negatives (basically no domestic policy beyond "veto ear marks") will increase as he gets more scrutiny.

friday night wine blogging

2008-04-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Shiraz

Why I didn't get Iraq wrong

2008-04-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

Have read a number of mea culpas five years on, and thought it was worth posting why I was right.

It made no sense. We were attacked by a bunch of (mostly) Saudi Arabians lead by an Egyptian, inspired/trained by a Saudi Arabian. You attack who attacked you, and Saddam was not responsible for September 11th or the embassy bombings or the Cole or the Khobar Towers or the Beirut Embassy or...
Containment was working. Saddam was a minor threat who had been contained successfully for over a decade. Once the UN inspectors returned to Iraq and found nothing working off of our best intelligence that should have been a warning bell for all that our best intelligence wasn't very good.
It was obvious that Saddam had no nukes. Unlike Biological or Chemical weapons, you cannot easily hide radiation/nuclear weapons. The detection equipment is too sensitive and the infrastructure to support a nuclear program could not have been hidden from extensive inspections.
The fear button (conflating September 11th) didn't work with me. Noticed that Bush continually conflated Iraq and September 11th. Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. ....Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans, this time armed by Saddam Hussein.
I remembered the Gulf of Tonkin though I didn't believe the US populace would be conned again so easily in my lifetime. Anyone with passing knowledge of the Gulf of Tonkin would not easily trust any US president with a suspect case to get us into war.
We hadn't caught Bin Laden yet. Why take our resources away from our known enemy?
We weren't changing the status quo. The status quo has long been - friend dictators we support/ un-friendly we over throw. Cutting off foreign aid to benign dictators like Mubarak would be changing the status quo.

Guess that's enough. I can remember futile arguments in a Yahoo group of folks comparing Saddam to Hitler or stating that we were attacked. I can remember reading other salient bits - the only successful nation building exercises by the US were Grenada & Panama (both small, nearby, speaking languages that we spoke English/Spanish, and in the case of Panama a nation with a nearly a century of close ties) - never had people been so sure of the outcome of a war and so unsure of the aftermath (NYT just before the war). But all that is side issues. Now it's history's judgement and it won't be kind. You don't go into war lightly and without very good reasons - reasons we lacked.

friday night wine blogging - 2 days later

2008-03-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

Moonshadow Reishling - 2006

38 down - 10 to go

2008-03-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

there's something comforting about the knowledge that Bush has less than 10 months remaining in office. a knowledge that he'll soon be swept up on the dust bin of history. whoever comes next cannot damage the country as much & hopefully will repair some of his mistakes.

must be time to review McCain to see what he offers.

for the positives

he's in favor of amnesty
he wants to close Gitmo
he called falwell/robertson 'agents of intolerance"
he's opposed to torture
he's requested no ear marks
he voted 'no' to Bush's tax cuts

negatives

he appears to have no domestic policy plans beyond veto-ing ear marks.caved in on torture too easily to Bush
sucked up to Falwell at the end
he's delusional to believe that "don't think Americans are concerned if we're there for a hundred years, or a thousand years, or ten thousand years". 10,000 years ago would be 7,992 B.C.E. just for the record.
it's pathetic that any major politician would not know the difference now between Shiite & Sunni. if you do believe that our battle with jihadists is the battle of our lifetime, then how can you not know your enemy? truly pathetic to be that ignorant 5 years after the war started.

friday night wine blogging - 1 day later

2008-03-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

friday night wine blogging - 8 days late

2008-03-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

last of the banana cup cakes

friday night wine blogging - zinfandel edition

2008-03-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

zindanfel port - belated birthday gift from sister

Friday Night Wine Blogging - OTBN

2008-02-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

first bottle i've had since i left Seattle (1988)

roast tofu w/mustard sauce. peas.

lemon tart w/Port or Armagnac.

37 down - 11 to go

2008-02-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

there's a certain satisfaction knowing that Bush has less than 1 year left in office. all of the focus now is on the next president & outside of a FISA extension, there's really no more damage he can do.

Metrics:

Fiscal: It's very obvious now that I did not do a good job creating a SMART metric for deficits. "Deficit: Keep the promise of cutting the deficit in half ($220B)" , but no mention of whether that's anytime during his presidency or at the end. Also, absolute dollars are a poor unit of measure. In hindsight, I should have used % GDP (accepted standard) and specified either the year or made an additional requirement. FY '07 the deficit was below $200B, but next year, the projections are all that it will burst up above $400B or about back to its height under Bush (nominal dollars nor % GDP). By the letter of the law, Bush meets this criterion.

Iraq: The death toll appears to be steady state 30-40 and I would expect it to stay their until the point that we start withdrawing sizable numbers of troops. My actual prediction if Hillary/Obama wins is that ½ the troops will be out within 2 years, but not much more than that.

Wagers: I was quite worried that I would lose my first ever political wager - Hillary winning the nomination. Today, I'd give Obama 3:2 odds that he'll win the nomination, so feeling much better about that prediction. Looks like my statement Now Hillary has snared the nomination months before Iowa, over 1 year before the election itself. Obama has shown his lack of seasoning has proven to be fallacious. Clearly Hillary did not snare the nomination that early and in the GOP, McCain, for all practical purposes, locked up the nomination, a bit after Bush did in '88. I am surprised/impressed that Obama with <4>

Valentine's Night Dinner Blogging

2008-02-20T21:21:00.001-08:00

Spanish wine to go with the paella - marques de caceres 2004

artichoke hearts & tomatoes

vegetarian paella - used veggie chicken & chick peas & green/red bell peppers

friday night wine blogging

2008-02-12T21:38:00.001-08:00

Friday Night Wine Blogging - a bit delayed posting

2008-02-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Shiraz from Kalbarri - 2004

friday night wine blogging - roasted tofu edition

2008-01-25T22:49:00.000-08:00

Beringer Pinot Noir 2005

nicely accompanied by the Brandenburg Concertos - disks 1-2 from the 155 CD set "complete Bach"

3 down - 1 to go

2008-01-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

Bush's second term has actually gone by quite quickly, perhaps he has that same feeling. So now we're left with:

How many troops will be left in Iraq at the end of his term (125k would be my guess today & of course our mercenaries).
How strong will the recession be and will the stimuli make much difference?

Given that my 401k is taking a beating now, I would hope for some effective lifeline, but the world markets are still tanking. Historically when the economy is doing poorly (80, 92) or iffy (00) the incumbent party loses. Will predict that if a recession has hit/is hitting/is about to hit then history will hold course given that the past 2 recessions were followed by 2 year jobless recoveries.

My only hesitation in that prediction concerns whether the US electorate will actually elect a non-white male. England & Germany have both elected a female, but for whatever reasons the closest we've come is Ferraro's nomination as VP in one of the greatest electoral routs in our history.

Otherwise, this past month Bush has been low key. I know I know there was the trip to the Mideast but that was clearly a nothing burger from the start, but the focus has clearly left him & now that he's trying supply-side Keynesian ism again, he needs the Dems.

GOALS:

Oh, honesty compels me to point out that the deficit was $163B for FY 2007, so Bush clearly met that goal.

Iraq - US military death toll remains <40/month>

New Year's Resolution

2008-01-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

Can't ever recall actually making any formal ones in the past, but luigi asked if i had any this year & "get healthy" just off my fingertips. So to set metric:

Baseline metric
8 chiro trips/month

Sub-metrics
204 lbs.
pain medication 1/fortnight

Goal
decrease chiro visits to 1/fortnight by end of the year. That would mean decrease 1 visit/month every 2 months.

requirements
stretch 2x/day

will update as appropriate

Friday Night Wine Blogging

2008-01-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

Shiraz - Fetzer 2005

Vegetarian chicken en papillote over quinoa with peas & cauliflower with creamy oregano sauce

35 down - 13 to go

2007-12-21T23:24:00.000-08:00

I had always credited Bush with being a skillful pol and recent events have proven that out. He's won on Iraq and more importantly the narrative. In large part, the GOP has shown much greater party loyalty than the Dems are showing as the majority party or for that matter when in the minority. Some blogger that Jane Galt linked to probably had it right - at heart the Dems agree with the GOP on expanding government power, which is why the Dems approved the temporary FISA expansion (I will be curious how FISA will play out. Will the Dems cave again - in all liklihood yes which is disappointing), and generally approve of militaristic response to threats which is why they can't cut Iraq funding. What's a shame is that there's no libertarian coalition of small government types from the right and anti-government types from the left to counterbalance the expansion - guess there's a reason why Paul & Kucinich combined probably aren't at 10% of the vote.

Upcoming election - given the internecine fighting within the GOP, it's obvious the Dems are going to win the next election. In the legislature, the GOP will hang together to stymie whatever the Dems propose, but in the general election, the splinters shown in the 2006 election are showing again. The Theo-cons are pushing for Huckabee now having settled on him as their candidate, while the money-cons will not support him, but will support Giuliani, Romney or Thompson. Without those two key members of their coalition in agreement, they can't win the presidency, and this time, there is no candidate like Reagan or W to bridge that difference.

Side note - i've read the Club for Growth's "No Tax Pledge" and read Norquist's "Shrink the government until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub", but have never read that any of those groups presenting a "No more Farm Subsidies" pledge. The pledge all centre on taxes, not spending and the obsession on taxes only paints them as just another borrow-and-spend group.

Friday Night Solstice Blogging

2007-12-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

Vegetarian chicken & sausage gumbo from Tuesday night family Christmas

Tonight's Zinfandel (great aroma of tobacco & pepper but needs more more aging or decanting)

arugula salad with maple almond yams and oranges in honey mustard dressing topped with brazil nuts

tasty left over broccoli salad & pop-over pizza casserole

plated raspberry wine trifle

Friday Night Cocktail & Armagnac Blogging

2007-12-14T22:20:00.000-08:00

rusty nail. pop-over pizza casserole. peas w/sun dried tomato pesto & oregano garnish.

Armagnac. buttermilk donut with vanilla ice cream and mango triple sec sauce with walnuts pieces on top

Anniversary dinner blogging

2007-12-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Regnum Proprietor's Reserve 2003 (aroma of roasted plum; subtle coffee & cocoa flavors mixed with plum)

Spinach salad with honey dijon dressing (including oranges from our garden).

Lake Cuomo Pasta and green beans with romesco sauce

Pound cake with drunken strawberry sauce, vanilla bean ice cream & chocolate ganache.
Milat Zivio 2002

the aftermath

34 down - 14 to go

2007-11-26T22:39:00.000-08:00

Well first prediction came true - Mukasey was approved.

The FY2007 deficit should be official soon & should be below $200B.

Time to start predictions & metrics for next president. I'll view the next president as a success if the president:

Shuts down Gitmo.
Cuts troop strength in Iraq to below 50,000
Legalizes Medical Marijuana.
Ends "Don't Ask. Don't Tell."
Repeals Executive Order 13233

If a Dem is elected, i have high hopes for 4, 5. Medium hope for 1. As far as Iraq, i'd prefer us to leave just a token force, but have no hopes for any candidate to remove much more than ½ of our troops in the next term, so setting the bar lower than it should be.

Time to query others for their standards.

33 down - 15 to go

2007-10-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Predictions for the rest of Bush's term:

We will not go to war with Iran.
FY 2007's deficit will be the lowest for many years to come (% GDP).
The Dems will continue to fund Iraq with minimal strings attached.
FISA will be extended with minimal modifications when the 6 months runs out.
Gitmo will not complete a single trial, but some more plea bargains/arrangements will be worked out with some of the prisoners.
Latest AG nominee will be approved.

Guess that covers the biggies.

For the 2008 election, the choice is vote GOP to keep 100,000 troops in Iraq vs. vote Dem to keep 50,000 troops in Iraq. The evil of two lessors.

Friday Night Cocktail Blogging

2007-10-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Swiss cheese sandwiches with veggie turkey & white truffle olive oil. Rusty nails & vodka complement well.

friday night wine blogging - permanent return edition

2007-10-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

BODEGAS CASA DE LA ERMITA Jumilla 2001 (88 points, $11)
Here's a fine value from Spain, made from a blend of Monastrell (Mourvèdre), Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo. Rich, offering ripe plum, coffee, chocolate and mineral flavors in a well-integrated package. Thick, with firm, round tannins, traditional flavors and international structure. Drink now through 2010 while still pungent, fruity, and somewhat astringent

perfect for the post-nursing era

32 down - 16 to go

2007-09-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

political time seems to dilate now. how the endgame of the Bush presidency will play out is pretty obvious now, so there's a sense of "can we push the fast forward button" to get to the next election.

as expected, Petreus stated we have made progress but there are difficulties ahead, and as expected the GOP stood behind Bush and as expected, the Dems will not end funding. little doubt that i'll easily win my wager that we'll have 50k troops (heck, it will be closer to 100k) when Bush leaves office.

The fiscal year will be over soon - today's NYT had the projected deficit as $170B, which sounds lower than other numbers that i've read, but sometime in November an official number will be released & it will be roughly 50% of the peak of $413B.

I read one blogger state that all the major candidates in both parties are basically continuing Bush's policy. I can agree that we'll have tens of thousands of troops by the end of 2009, but i would expect the US to keep >100k troops with a GOP president & ~50,000 troops with a Dem president. Not what I would hope for, but still a noticeable difference.

Finished the book, but lost interest in the characters

2007-08-30T21:18:00.001-07:00

the immortals survive
the mortal dies

The Wrong films won

2007-08-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

I can understand why An Inconvenient Truth & Das Leben der Anderen won - au courant topics, but in both cases they were not the best choice. For documentaries, the two religious films were the best of the nominees with Deliver us from evil being the best documentary of the year. However global warming is the hot topic so Gore's PowerPoint presentation received the nod. In international affairs, Stasi is an in topic, but the protagonists actions defy belief - impossible to believe that a career Stasi agent would feel so much sympathy for an artist as to cover for him repeatedly to the point of destroying his career & risking imprisonment. By contrast the characters' actions in Efter brylluppet were compelling, sad & believable and contained my favourite line of the year "I don't care if he fucked a goat."

Chapters 15-16

2007-08-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

moderately entertaining with more "will the immortals be discovered?" tension. Still books work better when the protagonists are slightly weaker & have to overcome some challenge - Vernor Vinge understands that well which is why he's a better author than Baker.

the Sex has started

2007-08-26T17:03:00.001-07:00

so the next 2 chapters provide dramatic tension that the mortals may figure out that our hero (an companions) is an immortal.

½ review of "The Garden of Iden"

2007-08-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

a bit of sexual tension finally has enlivened the book. otherwise, there's no conflict - the immortals are so powerful & so knowledgeable the mortals could never challenge them. There's no competing group of immortals & no insurrection against Dr. Zeus. perhaps later books in the series develop those plot points - otherwise, continued trips to the ignorant past would have to grow old.

Friday Night Beer & Pelligrino Blogging w/roasted tofu

2007-08-25T12:58:00.001-07:00

Roasted tofu with Iberian spiced honey marinade

Could time travelers save Greed & Gilgamesh?

2007-08-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

Started reading In the Garden of Iden, which both Timothy Sandefur & kk recommended. After 7 chapters, the jury's clearly still out (all intro so far - a real void of dramatic tension), but as i tried to describe the basic conceit to the Ginger Haired Yank i tried to come up with examples of works of arts that time travelers are hopefully saving now. First one that came to mind was Greed. Next Gilgamesh & Satyricon. But finally i came up with the key cultural artifact time travelers should save - the master BBC tapes of 21st Century Schizoid Man.

31 down - 17 to go

2007-08-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well Bush showed that for GWOT issues, he can still get his way by playing the fear card. Both the FISA extension & the renewed funding prove that Bush can continue our occupation of Iraq throughout his term. Come September, there's no way the GOP will jump ship and the Dems have proven that they lack both a coherent strategy and the spine to actually pull the plug on funding.

Domestically Bush lacks the clout and the political capital to pass any laws or make any substantive changes for the remainder of his term.

There's periodic saber rattling concerning Iran, but neither Congress nor Britain is going to provide any support or cover for an attack on Iran so I'm sanguine that we will not be attacked another nation while Bush is in office.

Given how front loaded the nomination process is now - seemingly weekly debates by one party or the other - Bush's lame duck status beyond Iraq and domestic spying seems to stretch for eons.

feeling nostalgic for Prog-rock pond scum set to bum me out

2007-08-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

taryl: i can't tell if it was just the period in my life or if there was something about the times listening to the old King Crimson
Ginger Haired Yank: it's you. the songs all sound the same!
taryl: that's because i was playing 3 different versions of epitaph.
Ginger Haired Yank: i knew they all sounded the same.

My step-brother thumbed his nose at "21st century schizoid man" as a bunch of negative words strung together meaning nothing (he was also critical of many of Dylan's songs for similar reason). As an adult i'd have to agree with his critique, but the song does kick ass. My other step-brother looked down his nose at "21st century schizoid man" and tried to remember a superior song about "20th century man". Years later when we had lost contact, I purchased Muswell Hillbillies, and realized that the song was 20th Century Man - far superior lyrics that have aged extremely well "i was born in a welfare state. ruled by bureaucracy & controlled by civil servants and people dressed in grey. got no privacy. got no liberty. cause the 20th century people took them all away from me". When i come across smart modern writers such as Eggers or DeLillo the line "you keep all your smart modern writers" always comes to mind.

But i digress. Recently a friend lent me Epitaph Vol 1-2. McDonald later regretted leaving & wondered if they might have put out better music, but my suspicion is that their first album would have been the high water mark for the group even if McDonald & Giles had stayed. That effort managed to capture some zeitgeist & while other songs such as "Sheltering Sky" are musically superb, the emotional connection that existed with "In the Court of the Crimson King" just doesn't exist with any of their other albums. As an adult I can discern more of what makes the album work - sax/guitar duels, flute following power cords. A unique sound that also kicked ass.

Will agree with my step-brother that Sinfield's lyrics were never that good, but after all these years it is easy to answer the best lyric from the best song he ever wrote - no no one will lay a laurel wreath no matter how often silence drowns the screams.

a blogging reply to Byron York's blogging head

2007-08-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Just watched Byron York's discussion on Iraq with Daniel Drezner, in which Byron implies that the left wants the US to lose in Iraq out of anger with Bush and ignors America's national interests. Not sure if conservatives, such as York really believe this (in York's case I believe he does) or just parroting GOP talking points, but it is a false accusation. We on the left want us out of Iraq because staying is not in our nation's best interest - in the interest of honesty, smearing Bush as one of the great presidential failures in history isn't absent from his opponents hearts & minds.

Byron's other statement that struck me concerned how he would base his future support for our occupation of Iraq David Petraeus's September testimony. I do not need Salvor Hardin to distill the essence of Petraeus's testimony "We have made progress, but there are still tough times ahead." Additionally, you do not need to be clairvoyant to know Byron's reaction will be "There are tough times ahead, but we have made progress so I will continue to support our occupation of Iraq." While I expect Petraeus's testimony to provide the political cover to continue funding through Bush's term in office, no Op-Ed no pundit no testimony will alter our failure in Iraq, merely protract it.

Friday Night Wine Blogging - long awaited return edition

2007-08-04T13:06:00.001-07:00

not an exceptional bottle, but still a nice return to a fine custom.2003 Shiraz Jacob's Creek