Okay, the first thing to tell everyone is we'll be using a microwave for today's recipe. That's only a microwave -- not a microwave in addition to other things. (However, I just remembered when my oldest son moved out, he didn't have a microwave until we, my husband and I learned of that, in his apartment and bought him one. So everyone probably doesn't have a microwave. For those who don't, I'll provide directions on how to cook the recipe without one.)
Community member Keesha's nine-year-old son e-mailed me asking about snacks he could fix himself. It was a wonderful e-mail and I called Keesha after (we've served on the blog selection committees for The Common Ills permalinks before) to discuss what sort of things she was comfortable with him using and if he had any allergies. So this recipe is for Andre and for anyone who wants something easy to make.
Here's what we need:
tortillas
a can of refried beans
That's it.
Here's extras if you have them on hand:
cheese
a container of salsa
a jar of jalapeno peppers
lettuce
tomatoe
For microwave users:
Put a tortilla on a plate flat. Spoon a spoonful of refried beans onto the tortilla. Repeat for two. Microwave for 2 minutes. (You can probably fit three comfortable on one plate through careful arrangment. Note that you do not stack them on top of each other, you place them side by side. However, when you try for three, you end up with a big dab in the center of the tortilla -- big dab of refried beans -- so just go for two.)
For those without a microwave:
Heat a can of refried beans on the stove over a medium temperature, stirring frequently, until the beans are warm. For the tortilla, you can heat it, on both sides, in a warm skillet. You do not need butter or any butter bustitute. Put the burner on low, allow a minute for the skillet to warm, then place the tortilla in it for no more than thirty seconds on each side.
For everyone:
If that's all you're doing, you're done. Roll it up and enjoy. For those who have other things on hand, you can add the ingredients now. A lot of people like to microwave the cheese. If you do, go for it. However, if you add cheese after you take the plate from the microwave, it will melt on top of the beans. I think it tastes better that way but, more importantly, Andre won't have to worry about burning the roof of his mouth.
After you add the cheese, you can add whatever else you're using. The 'rule' I have is salsa goes on top. I usually add a little lettuce first, then some tomatoes, then two jalapeno peppers and then salsa. I'll sprinkle some pepper on top, roll up the tortilla and call it a burrito.
Tomtatoes can be sliced or chopped. Andre has been helping his mother with salads this year so he knows how to slice a tomato into rounds, that's fine. If he thinks the tomatoe round is too big, he can slice one round in half and use a half on each burrito. For lettuce, you can chop it or you can tear it from the lettuce head. With all vegetables, remember to rinse them before using them.
Keesha's teaching Andre to grate carrots. With grated carrots, you could add them to the tortilla at any point but they may test best if you put them on the tortilla after you'd smoothed out the refried beans on them with a spoon. They would warm with the beans and you could have them that way or you could add as a sprinkling at any point.
If you come home from school and you think you're starving, you may be tempted to crowd the plate with more tortillas or to fix a second plate to pop into the microwave as soon as the first is done. Don't do that. Keep two on the plate because you want room to smooth out the refried beans. If you just leave them in a clump, they're not cooking through and sections will be hard while others are cold. Eat the one or two burritos you've fixed and, if you're still hungry and dinner is a ways off, fix another one after you've eaten the first (or the first two).
Lettuce and tomatoes can be prepared ahead of time and kept in containers or a bag in the fridge. If you go with just the tortilla and the beans, you've at least prepared one vegetable (beans). If you go all out, you've gotten several vegetables and a fruit (tomatoes are fruits) into your diet. You can play with the recipe and see what works. (My son Mike always prefers spinach to iceberg lettuce. If he's making this or a sandwich and there's nothing but iceberg lettuce in the kitchen, he'll pull some spinach out of the fridge and use it instead.)
That was for Andre and, hopefully, something everyone else can use as well.
So this week? In the United States, we saw another revelation of an unchecked Bully Boy spying on the American people. Only this time, it turns out that he's claiming the right to rifle through all of our finances on a whim as opposed to under a court order. With a nod to Mike's commentary on this yesterday, I'll add that, at this rate, his next stop will be my panty drawer.
Whether he was ever elected or not, he has become the nation's First Peppeing Tom.
Instead of focusing on that, the media has whipped itself into a frenzy that a group of young men who appear to have serious problems (though not problems that make them a danger to anyone but themselves) have been dubbed "terrorists" and arrested. Well, November's not that far away and it's been awhile since they used the color coded terror alerts so that's probably the next step.
In the Senate? The Democrats presented two "plans." One was actually a plan and one was a plea, a non-binding plea. The plan was put forward by John Kerry and Russ Feingold. It would have combat troops out of Iraq by July 2007 -- basically one year from now. This plan won only the support of thirteen. (Including my other senator, Ted Kennedy, whose vote on this wasn't surprising but I was still glad to see.) The plea proved more popular and won 39 votes.
To put it in kitchen terms, Senators Kerry and Feingold said, "Come on over next year on the Fourth of July and we'll have some steaks." Harry Reid and the other do-noting Dems proposed, "I fix dinner all the time, every night. If you stop over sometime, I'd really like you to, I can whip up something for you, if you'd like. I'm a really good cook and maybe some time, if you want, you can come over and I'll show you."
So the war drags on.
And in Iraq? I'm posting C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" from Friday below. But I will note that even the heavily fortified Green Zone is no longer safe from the threat of mass violence. Not just a bomb now but an actual invasion. That almost happened on Friday.
So since only thirteen Senators (twelve Democrats and one Independent, Jim Jeffords) had the guts to say the illegal war needs to come to an end, we've got no end in sight. Iraqis, Americans and anyone with a government foolish enough to stay in the so-called coalition of the willing (following Italy's announcement last week that they'd be pulling out by year's end, Japan made a similar announcement this wekk) will continue to be wounded and die because the Bully Boy upended all notions of right and wrong.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" from yesterday:
Chaos and violence continue.
The ten day old "crackdown" in Baghdad, which has had little measurable impact on stopping violence, sprouted a new development today: "State of emergency." As Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted this morning, "Earlier today, insurgents set up roadblocks and opened fire on U.S. and Iraqi troops close to the US-run Green Zone." The Associated Press reports this was done as fighting forces seemed intent on breaching "the heavily fortified Green Zone." As Sandra Lupien noted on KPFA's The Morning Show, amidst the violence, US troops "rushed to the area." Current prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has "ordered everyone off the streets" of Baghdad, provided "broader arrest powers" and placed "a ban on carrying weapons."
Iraq last declared a state of emergency (or martial law) in November of 2004 for the entire country (exempting only Kurdish areas in the north).
Then prime minister Iyad Allawi declared it when violence broke out through much of the country as US forces geared up for their attack on/slaughter of Falluja. Current prime minister al-Maliki has declared a state of emergency for Baghdad only. A state of emergency was declared for the city of Basra in May of this year. Euronews notes that the Basra state of emergency "has not deterred militants." Omar al-Ibadi and Haider Salahaddin (Reuters) report that today in Basra a car bomb went off (police say ten killed, hospital says five).
Sam Knight (Times of London) reports that "the 5 million inhabitants of the Iraqi capital [were] given just two hours notice of a curfew" (started at 2:00 pm in Baghdad, as Knight notes, but it was set to end at 5:00 pm and not, as Knight reports, on Saturday -- since Knight filed, al-Maliki shortened the curfew). Knight notes the paper's Baghdad correspondent Ned Parker terming the "extended gun battle . . . just north of the fortified Green Zone" a "free-for-all." Along with gunfire and mortars, Reuters reports that two US troops died today "when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb southeast of Baghdad."
In Hibhib, the Associated Press notes the bombing of a Sunni mosque resulted in at least ten dead and fifteen wounded. Reuters notes two police officers shot to death in Hilla. The AFP reports that five corpses were found in Mishada.
In peace news, Will Hoover (The Honolulu Advertiser) reports on Ehren Watada's refusal to ship to Iraq when his unit left Fort Lewis, Washington yesterday (6:45 am), he refused to board. Ehren's father Bob Watada tells Hoover of the three officers that spent hours on Wednesday trying to convince Ehren to change his mind: "They put the full-court press on him. They were telling him, 'You know, you're facing 10 to 15 years in jail, and do you want to do all of that?'" The Army issued a statement saying that charges wouldn't be filed "until the commander has had a chance to review all of the facts of the case and consult with the Staff Judge Advocate." Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports that the gag order placed on Watada has been "rescinded . . . allowing Watada to talk to anyone." As Alex Fryer (Seattle Times) notes, "Peace groups around the nation plan a day of protests and vigils in support of Watada on Tuesday." For more information, click here.
Elsewhere, Australia's ABC reports that the Australian government "is playing down reports" of a threat to future trade arrangments with Iraq as a result of Australian troops shooting bodyguards of Abdel Falah al-Sudany (Iraqi Trade Minister) -- one died "at least three others [were] injured." Despite John Howard (prime minister of Australia) continuing to downplay the issue (he won't apologize at present), ABC notes "reports [that] the Iraqi Trade Minister is threatening to ditch all trade deals".
The AFP reports that the United States Senate "unanimously approved a $707 billion defence bill for the next financial year that includes almost $70 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
In news of future wars, Col. Dan Smith reports, for CounterPunch, on a little known development from June 20, 2006. As the 2007 Defense Department Appropriations bill was being addressed, Representative Maurice Hinchey attempted to attach the following amendment: "None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to initiate military operations against Iran except in accordance with Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States." Though the amendment was only underscoring the true powers of the U.S. Congress, it failed on a 215/47 vote. Unlike Michael R. Gordon, war pornographer, and his "Iran Aiding Shiite Attacks Inside Iraq, General Says" (New York Times), the AFP notes of George W. Casey's allegations against Iran: "The White House and Pentagon have repeatedly accused elements in Tehran of arming Iraqi insurgent groups. But they concede they have no clear proof that the Iranian government is sponsoring the activities."
Last night, we had Elaine and the gentleman she's seeing over for dinner and then attended the Iraq study group that my son Mike, his girlfriend Nina and Tony (who's Mike's best friend and my husband and I are Tony's godparents, we grew up with Tony's parents so it seems minimizing to refer to Tony simply as "Mike's best friend) started. That was a wonderful idea on the three's part (Mike, Nina and Tony). Tonight's meeting was at our house and they meet every Friday at nine p.m. It lasted until midnight and that's a bit late for me if I'm at someone else's home. (Because there's still the trip back home.) However, it was more than worth it and I plan on attending future ones as well. The Congress is obviously not going to lead on a discussion about Iraq so it will be up to us. When the three kids (I've been asked by all eight of my children to stop referring to them as "children") came up with the idea, they thought it would be a small group and it's blossomed into a large group. (It was like an extended family get together on a holiday last night and we hauled every folding chair we had out of the closets and still didn't have enough for everyone. A sure sign that people want to discuss this topic.)
I am going to close with some highlights but I want to comment on what Rebecca's "mid-party post" from last night. She had a miscarriage last Saturday and some people (she's responding to an e-mail) seem to think she needs to either explain it in detail or post something downbeat. I only had one miscarriage but that was more than enough. You don't forget that you had it because you can't. I still remember mine. But you do get on with your life and discuss the miscarriage with people you trust. Someone wrote her and seems to think that if she writes about something pleasant in her day, she's avoiding dealing with her miscarriage. A miscarriage isn't like doing your taxes, you can't go months saying, "I'll do it and mail it in when April rolls around." You know it happened. You think about it throughout the day. If someone's unhappy with what she's written, they need to not look to her but ask themselves what is about themselves that makes them so eager to see a woman torn down and grieving. Let Rebecca be Rebecca and worry about your own life.
Somethings worth reading:
"NYT: Striving for tabloid (again)" (I agree with C.I., there's no need to print rumors of beheading that you can't confirm when families are still attempt to find out what happened)
"NYT: What to do when your p.r. is in conflict with facts? Dump the facts! Dexy's back""NYT: Zernike's drive-by taxi ride to nowhere" (Kate Zernike did one drive-by after another all week)
"Repubes: The delicate flowers" (Kat made me laugh with her response to some e-mails from Republicans)
"nancy keenan, rick hertzberg (the useless 1s)" (Rebecca showing on Monday that she's still going to be herself)
"Law and Disorder on tasers" (Mike)
"WBAI's Law and Disorder covered Mumia Abu-Jamal and David Gilbert" (Cedric. I always mean to listen to the radio program Law and Disorder but never find the time. I'm saying "This coming week." I've said it before. If you read Cedric and Mikes' commentaries, you'll join me in feeling you need to make time to listen.)
"White House thumbs its nose at the Supreme Court (Bully Boy Press & Cedric's Big Mix)" (Cedric)
"THIS JUST IN! THE WHITE HOUSE THUMBS ITS NOSE AT THE SUPREME COURT!" (Wally. The two are joint posts that Cedric and Wally did on Friday.)
"THIS JUST IN! PSYCHIC CASEY SAYS "HONEY, THEY SHRUNK THE ARMY!"" (Wally on the laughable General Casey announcing that troops will begin coming home)
"TV Review: There's always a platform for some" (Ava and C.I. with the best thing I read Sunday, in print or online.)
"Army Lies to Mother of Slain Guardsman for Two Years, Says Killed by Insurgents Instead of Allied Iraqi Soldiers" (Powerful story from Democracy Now with Amy Goodman interviewing Nadia McCaffrey who lost her son in Iraq and was lied to by the military)
"Access of Evil" (What's wrong with the corporate media? Amy Goodman tells you.)
"Tears of a Clown: Al Franken's War" (Al Franken is disgusting -- if you agree, you'll enjoy John Walsh's article, I did)
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Potato Casserole in the Kitchen
I didn't post last weekend but intended to. What happened was that one of my children had gotten themselves into a jam. It was the sort of thing that was a minor detail when it happened and, if it had been taken care of then, it wouldn't have been as big a problem as it was. By the time it was brought to the "folks," it was a very huge problem. These things happen and are part of the growing process. (We continue to grow and learn, I know I still do.) So addressing that wiped me out. I did attempt a post but couldn't log in. I only tried once, I was too tired.
So that's my explanation.
Now we'll pick up where we left off, with Lila. She was proclaimed a cook when she wasn't and left in a jam that she needed out of quickly.
Potato Casserole
4 medium potatoes, sliced thin
2 cups of diced ham*
1 onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 1/4 cup of milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a casserole dish (a pie dish will also work). Take the potato slices, ham* and onion slices and layer them in the dish, one on top of the other making the last layer potatoes. If that's not clear, you're layering potatoes, ham*, onions, poatatoes, ham*, onion, potatoes . . . and ending with potatoes. You need the potatoes on top. If you like pepper, you can pepper the layers as you go along. (I wouldn't recommend salting them because we all have too much sodium in our diet as it is, but it's your life, do what you want.) After you've finished the last layer (remember, potatoes need to be the last layer), add a dash of salt and pepper.
We're not putting the dish in the oven but I want to stop here to add a few notes.
*You don't have to use ham. I don't mean you can use another meat, though I'm sure you can. I mean that you can make this without meat.
I've needed a side dish before and had nothing but potatoes, onions, milk and cheese left in the kitchen. If you don't eat meat, don't eat pork, or don't have it in your kitchen, the casserole will turn out nicely without ham.
If you don't use ham, you can just use the other ingredients. If you want to add to it, Lila added a small can of mushrooms as she tried the recipe out a variety of ways. She did it using the mushrooms as she did ham. A word of caution, you need to drain the can. Beyond that, you should then set the mushrooms on a clean hand towel or paper towel so that they are not moist when you begin layering. You don't want a saggy casserole.
Before you put it in the oven, you pour the milk over the top. Then you put the dish into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.
Wally's mother has used a recipe similar to this one for years. However, she skips the milk and instead uses a can of cream of chicken soup which she dilutes with a half can of water. I didn't have time to try that step because I was trying Lila's mushrooms. So to combine both their suggestions, I used a small (6 oz.) can of mushrooms and a can of mushroom soup (diluted). That was used instead of ham and it turned out very tasty. You can also (and I usually do) top it with cheese. I honestly prefer it without cheese and only add it (on top of the last layer of potatoes, after the dash of salt and pepper and before I add the milk) because little kids will often run from a dish of vegetables -- add cheese and suddenly they want to taste it. (That's actually true of many grown ups -- check the frozen food section of your grocery store and notice how many frozen vegetables have cheese added to them these days.)
If I'm making it for myself, and this is a dish I have made for just me -- many times, I'll skip the ham and the cheese and just use the potatoes, onions, salt and pepper and milk.
However you make it, you'll find that it doesn't last long.
In any form, it's expensive and it will fill you up. I had planned to do this recipe last week and then move on to a different staple but there were so many e-mails from people saying that they wish they knew what to do with potatoes that I'll offer another potato recipe next week before moving on. Potatoes are inexpensive and there's much more you can do with them besides tossing them into the mircowave. If this recipe makes you nervous, attempt it and you'll be pleased with the results. There was a wonderful recipe that Zoe sent in but it's a complicated one. I enjoyed it and maybe in time, we can share it here. But it's been a bit of surprise to hear from so many about what I'll call "oven & stove top fear." I expected that from those who'd just moved out because I've seen that phase in my own children. (Parents, if you're wondering if your adult child may suffer from "oven & stove top fear," here's a clue. When you visit, is every area 'lived in' except the kitchen? If so, the kitchen's probably not being used.)
I think that's because we're so used to using microwaves now. That wasn't always the case. I have nothing against a microwave (and actually have two in the kitchen because I may be using one to melt something while I'm preparing dinner and someone may need a quick snack heated up) but I think it's allowed us to raise a generation far from the kitchen and the stove. That's wonderful if someone has the money to eat out or bring in take out every night. Most people don't have that option. When I was a kid, even TV dinners had to go in the oven (regular, not microwave). So we got used to using it even for the quick meals. My oldest daughter (who is no longer suffers from "oven & stove top fear" -- though she did when she first moved out) brought home the changes last Sunday. (Obviously, if you read Mike's entry on last weekend's difficulty, you know she's not the one who had the problem last Saturday because Mike noted that the one with the problem did not show on Sunday.) She wanted some popcorn and went to the kitchen for a few minutes then came back to the living room and sat down.
I asked her if she changed her mind and she explained that the box of popcorn was empty. (Someone forgot to throw it out.) What about the bag of kernals? It was as though I was speaking another language. (And she's had popcorn prepared for her that way.) So we went into the kitchen and I showed her how to make pop corn without a microwave bag. At the end of which, she remarked how great this 'new' method was because now she could pop what she wanted and not worry about being wasteful (she usually can't finish a microwave bag by herself).
She has seen me make pop corn in a pan before. All the children have. But there's a difference between seeing and doing it yourself. We're very proud of our children when they're able to pop something into the microwave (and should be, it's a sign of growing up) but I think we all (including myself) assume that since they see or saw us using the oven and stove, they grasp how it's done. (My oldest son had a revelation with the stove top shortly after he moved out -- "Ma, it's just like using the fire in a camp out." Yes, it is. And yes, I laughed when he told me that.)
I don't know if toaster ovens are still popular. I doubt it because anything I'd use one for, I now use my microwave. But using the microwave is like using the toaster oven and being able to use one doesn't mean the person is able to use the stove or oven.
I enjoy all the e-mails and never think, "Well why are you so scared of the oven?" I know that exists because I've seen it in my own kids. That's why, after it happened with both the two oldest after they moved out, I made sure the younger ones were using the stove and oven. (And if you do that and think you have the bases covered, you may not. Be prepared to hear, "Oh sure, I can cook in your oven but I don't know a thing about mine.") It's normal and nothing to be ashamed of.
The only surprise for me has been hearing from so many who do suffer from "oven and stove top fear." I appreciate the sharing and the honesty and we'll continue to move slowly and try to get you more comfortable. But for those who have children, whether you're comfortable yourself or not, start thinking about including your children in the process. (Or be prepared for the Thanksgiving dinner, when you're much older, that one of them prepares which features a turkey dinner.)
To me, using your stove and oven regularly isn't a requirement. But I do think knowing how should be. No one should be chained to the oven (metaphorically women once were) and anyone who hates cooking shouldn't cook. But it does provide you with another avenue for food.
Matt wrote a wonderful e-mail about how he was addressing his "oven and stove top fear" with the recipes. He takes little breaks when he prepares a meal. He only has time on Saturday to cook and he says at first he was rushing through it like it was a race.
I think that's the biggest turn off to cooking. When I was starting out, I thought the dinner had to go on the table at a certain time. I would freak out and get so angry with myself. The truth is dinner doesn't have to be on the table by any set time. If you usually eat at six o'clock and dinner's not ready until six-thirty, no one died and no one starved from waiting a half-hour more. Betty is someone with a small window of time because she has young children. She loves the oven recipes because she's not standing at the stove, listening with one ear to make sure nothing's gone wrong in the living room. With the exception of having to cook and guard over small children at the same time, there's no reason to rush. (I told Betty what she needs is a tattle tale. I had two in the family and though I'd always say "Now you shouldn't tattle" as I turned the stove off, I secretly appreciated it. With more than one child, the odds are that she'll have a tattle tale shortly.)
So what Matt does is put on some music before he goes into the kitchen. (He says if he used the TV, especially during a ball game, he'd be going back and forth and burn something.) Then he slices and dices what he needs. As he preheats the oven, he sits down, reviews the recipe and just relaxes for a few minutes. Then he goes back to cooking with additional breaks as needed. He says that sometimes means what should be ready in less than an hour takes two but it's the only time when he's not rushing. He wrote that he got the idea while he was at the gym and on a break between sets. You're apparently supposed to rest muscle groups when working out with weights. While he was resting a muscle, he realized that those rests were the only time he wasn't rushing (rushing to work, rushing at work) and thought he might enjoy learning to cook more if he wasn't looking at it as some sort of race.
It shouldn't be a race. (Racing leads to people thinking, "I know the temperature is supposed to be X, but if I double it, it will be ready twice as fast!" No, it will burn in half the time.) If you can, invite a friend over (or speak on the phone). It can be a social time. It can be a quiet time. But if you're seeing it as one more deadline, it's going to be a very aggrevating time.
There are enough of those already. Such as the fact that we passed the 2,500 mark on American soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq in Bully Boy's illegal war. I was very disappointed with the coverage and spoke with C.I. about that. C.I.'s comment didn't make it up at The Common Ills so, with permission, I'll share it here:
The Pentagon announces Thursday that we've hit the 2,500 mark and the press pretty much stays silent. It may be the only official statement they haven't glommed on in the last few years.
Our paper either didn't get tossed this morning or 'walked off.' My daughter was going out so I gave her money to pick up a paper and she came back in the afternoon with the New York Times. Our paper runs stories from the Times (I assume most do) but I'm not a regular reader of it. (Our paper is actually owned by the New York Times, by the way.) On page A7 of the New York Times is a small box with the headline "Names of the Dead." It lists a Michael A. Estrella, twenty-years old, from Hemet, California who was with the Third Marine Division. Before that, it tells you: "The Department of Defense has identified 2,492 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the death of the following American yesterday." Yes, and it confirmed the death of 2,500 earlier this week. But apparently readers of the reporting in the paper will have to wait for eight more names to be released before they do a story on the fact that 2,500 Americans have died. (C.I.'s noted the lack of coverage in Friday's paper in "NYT: Dexy puts on the redlight (yet again).")
Apparently, we're all supposed to look the other way. The New York Times, which has a bad reputation for running with official sources and with anonymous plants. The Pentagon annouces that 2,500 troops have died in Iraq and the paper's suddenly waiting for all the names to be released?
Michael A. Estrella shouldn't have died, none of the 2,491 before him should have died. (Nor any troops from other countries or Iraqis.) The illegal war should have never been launched. Acting as though the Pentagon didn't announce 2,500 doesn't change the fact that they did. But sitting on it, waiting to report it, may be an attempt to minimize the shock some who will learn it from the New York Times when the paper finally gets around to covering it.
I'm with Ruth, people need to get real about the war. Shrugged shoulders won't bring anyone home alive.
Recommended: "War Hawks in America, War Cheerleaders in the Green Zone"
"The 'revolutionary' Thomas Friedman"
"Hillary and The Beat of Black Wings"
"Iraqis protest, Take Back America silences protest"
"THIS JUST IN! JOHN BOEHNER HEADED FOR THE FRONT LINES IN IRAQ!"
"TV Review: Windfallen Perry and Gedrick "
"extra "
"Editorial: Administration attacks the American Way of Life "
"Guns & Butter, the war hawk Hillary"
"Law and Disorder, Dahr Jamail & Amy Goodman on Falluja, the death of two Iraqi women, Ramadi and more, and Jason Leopold"
"THIS JUST IN! A BULLY BABY IS BORN! "
"Law and Disorder discussed Tasers plus some other stuff "
"'the way i see it,' he said 'you just can't win it'"
"The American people are demanding answers" (Barbara Lee)
So that's my explanation.
Now we'll pick up where we left off, with Lila. She was proclaimed a cook when she wasn't and left in a jam that she needed out of quickly.
Potato Casserole
4 medium potatoes, sliced thin
2 cups of diced ham*
1 onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 1/4 cup of milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a casserole dish (a pie dish will also work). Take the potato slices, ham* and onion slices and layer them in the dish, one on top of the other making the last layer potatoes. If that's not clear, you're layering potatoes, ham*, onions, poatatoes, ham*, onion, potatoes . . . and ending with potatoes. You need the potatoes on top. If you like pepper, you can pepper the layers as you go along. (I wouldn't recommend salting them because we all have too much sodium in our diet as it is, but it's your life, do what you want.) After you've finished the last layer (remember, potatoes need to be the last layer), add a dash of salt and pepper.
We're not putting the dish in the oven but I want to stop here to add a few notes.
*You don't have to use ham. I don't mean you can use another meat, though I'm sure you can. I mean that you can make this without meat.
I've needed a side dish before and had nothing but potatoes, onions, milk and cheese left in the kitchen. If you don't eat meat, don't eat pork, or don't have it in your kitchen, the casserole will turn out nicely without ham.
If you don't use ham, you can just use the other ingredients. If you want to add to it, Lila added a small can of mushrooms as she tried the recipe out a variety of ways. She did it using the mushrooms as she did ham. A word of caution, you need to drain the can. Beyond that, you should then set the mushrooms on a clean hand towel or paper towel so that they are not moist when you begin layering. You don't want a saggy casserole.
Before you put it in the oven, you pour the milk over the top. Then you put the dish into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.
Wally's mother has used a recipe similar to this one for years. However, she skips the milk and instead uses a can of cream of chicken soup which she dilutes with a half can of water. I didn't have time to try that step because I was trying Lila's mushrooms. So to combine both their suggestions, I used a small (6 oz.) can of mushrooms and a can of mushroom soup (diluted). That was used instead of ham and it turned out very tasty. You can also (and I usually do) top it with cheese. I honestly prefer it without cheese and only add it (on top of the last layer of potatoes, after the dash of salt and pepper and before I add the milk) because little kids will often run from a dish of vegetables -- add cheese and suddenly they want to taste it. (That's actually true of many grown ups -- check the frozen food section of your grocery store and notice how many frozen vegetables have cheese added to them these days.)
If I'm making it for myself, and this is a dish I have made for just me -- many times, I'll skip the ham and the cheese and just use the potatoes, onions, salt and pepper and milk.
However you make it, you'll find that it doesn't last long.
In any form, it's expensive and it will fill you up. I had planned to do this recipe last week and then move on to a different staple but there were so many e-mails from people saying that they wish they knew what to do with potatoes that I'll offer another potato recipe next week before moving on. Potatoes are inexpensive and there's much more you can do with them besides tossing them into the mircowave. If this recipe makes you nervous, attempt it and you'll be pleased with the results. There was a wonderful recipe that Zoe sent in but it's a complicated one. I enjoyed it and maybe in time, we can share it here. But it's been a bit of surprise to hear from so many about what I'll call "oven & stove top fear." I expected that from those who'd just moved out because I've seen that phase in my own children. (Parents, if you're wondering if your adult child may suffer from "oven & stove top fear," here's a clue. When you visit, is every area 'lived in' except the kitchen? If so, the kitchen's probably not being used.)
I think that's because we're so used to using microwaves now. That wasn't always the case. I have nothing against a microwave (and actually have two in the kitchen because I may be using one to melt something while I'm preparing dinner and someone may need a quick snack heated up) but I think it's allowed us to raise a generation far from the kitchen and the stove. That's wonderful if someone has the money to eat out or bring in take out every night. Most people don't have that option. When I was a kid, even TV dinners had to go in the oven (regular, not microwave). So we got used to using it even for the quick meals. My oldest daughter (who is no longer suffers from "oven & stove top fear" -- though she did when she first moved out) brought home the changes last Sunday. (Obviously, if you read Mike's entry on last weekend's difficulty, you know she's not the one who had the problem last Saturday because Mike noted that the one with the problem did not show on Sunday.) She wanted some popcorn and went to the kitchen for a few minutes then came back to the living room and sat down.
I asked her if she changed her mind and she explained that the box of popcorn was empty. (Someone forgot to throw it out.) What about the bag of kernals? It was as though I was speaking another language. (And she's had popcorn prepared for her that way.) So we went into the kitchen and I showed her how to make pop corn without a microwave bag. At the end of which, she remarked how great this 'new' method was because now she could pop what she wanted and not worry about being wasteful (she usually can't finish a microwave bag by herself).
She has seen me make pop corn in a pan before. All the children have. But there's a difference between seeing and doing it yourself. We're very proud of our children when they're able to pop something into the microwave (and should be, it's a sign of growing up) but I think we all (including myself) assume that since they see or saw us using the oven and stove, they grasp how it's done. (My oldest son had a revelation with the stove top shortly after he moved out -- "Ma, it's just like using the fire in a camp out." Yes, it is. And yes, I laughed when he told me that.)
I don't know if toaster ovens are still popular. I doubt it because anything I'd use one for, I now use my microwave. But using the microwave is like using the toaster oven and being able to use one doesn't mean the person is able to use the stove or oven.
I enjoy all the e-mails and never think, "Well why are you so scared of the oven?" I know that exists because I've seen it in my own kids. That's why, after it happened with both the two oldest after they moved out, I made sure the younger ones were using the stove and oven. (And if you do that and think you have the bases covered, you may not. Be prepared to hear, "Oh sure, I can cook in your oven but I don't know a thing about mine.") It's normal and nothing to be ashamed of.
The only surprise for me has been hearing from so many who do suffer from "oven and stove top fear." I appreciate the sharing and the honesty and we'll continue to move slowly and try to get you more comfortable. But for those who have children, whether you're comfortable yourself or not, start thinking about including your children in the process. (Or be prepared for the Thanksgiving dinner, when you're much older, that one of them prepares which features a turkey dinner.)
To me, using your stove and oven regularly isn't a requirement. But I do think knowing how should be. No one should be chained to the oven (metaphorically women once were) and anyone who hates cooking shouldn't cook. But it does provide you with another avenue for food.
Matt wrote a wonderful e-mail about how he was addressing his "oven and stove top fear" with the recipes. He takes little breaks when he prepares a meal. He only has time on Saturday to cook and he says at first he was rushing through it like it was a race.
I think that's the biggest turn off to cooking. When I was starting out, I thought the dinner had to go on the table at a certain time. I would freak out and get so angry with myself. The truth is dinner doesn't have to be on the table by any set time. If you usually eat at six o'clock and dinner's not ready until six-thirty, no one died and no one starved from waiting a half-hour more. Betty is someone with a small window of time because she has young children. She loves the oven recipes because she's not standing at the stove, listening with one ear to make sure nothing's gone wrong in the living room. With the exception of having to cook and guard over small children at the same time, there's no reason to rush. (I told Betty what she needs is a tattle tale. I had two in the family and though I'd always say "Now you shouldn't tattle" as I turned the stove off, I secretly appreciated it. With more than one child, the odds are that she'll have a tattle tale shortly.)
So what Matt does is put on some music before he goes into the kitchen. (He says if he used the TV, especially during a ball game, he'd be going back and forth and burn something.) Then he slices and dices what he needs. As he preheats the oven, he sits down, reviews the recipe and just relaxes for a few minutes. Then he goes back to cooking with additional breaks as needed. He says that sometimes means what should be ready in less than an hour takes two but it's the only time when he's not rushing. He wrote that he got the idea while he was at the gym and on a break between sets. You're apparently supposed to rest muscle groups when working out with weights. While he was resting a muscle, he realized that those rests were the only time he wasn't rushing (rushing to work, rushing at work) and thought he might enjoy learning to cook more if he wasn't looking at it as some sort of race.
It shouldn't be a race. (Racing leads to people thinking, "I know the temperature is supposed to be X, but if I double it, it will be ready twice as fast!" No, it will burn in half the time.) If you can, invite a friend over (or speak on the phone). It can be a social time. It can be a quiet time. But if you're seeing it as one more deadline, it's going to be a very aggrevating time.
There are enough of those already. Such as the fact that we passed the 2,500 mark on American soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq in Bully Boy's illegal war. I was very disappointed with the coverage and spoke with C.I. about that. C.I.'s comment didn't make it up at The Common Ills so, with permission, I'll share it here:
The Pentagon announces Thursday that we've hit the 2,500 mark and the press pretty much stays silent. It may be the only official statement they haven't glommed on in the last few years.
Our paper either didn't get tossed this morning or 'walked off.' My daughter was going out so I gave her money to pick up a paper and she came back in the afternoon with the New York Times. Our paper runs stories from the Times (I assume most do) but I'm not a regular reader of it. (Our paper is actually owned by the New York Times, by the way.) On page A7 of the New York Times is a small box with the headline "Names of the Dead." It lists a Michael A. Estrella, twenty-years old, from Hemet, California who was with the Third Marine Division. Before that, it tells you: "The Department of Defense has identified 2,492 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the death of the following American yesterday." Yes, and it confirmed the death of 2,500 earlier this week. But apparently readers of the reporting in the paper will have to wait for eight more names to be released before they do a story on the fact that 2,500 Americans have died. (C.I.'s noted the lack of coverage in Friday's paper in "NYT: Dexy puts on the redlight (yet again).")
Apparently, we're all supposed to look the other way. The New York Times, which has a bad reputation for running with official sources and with anonymous plants. The Pentagon annouces that 2,500 troops have died in Iraq and the paper's suddenly waiting for all the names to be released?
Michael A. Estrella shouldn't have died, none of the 2,491 before him should have died. (Nor any troops from other countries or Iraqis.) The illegal war should have never been launched. Acting as though the Pentagon didn't announce 2,500 doesn't change the fact that they did. But sitting on it, waiting to report it, may be an attempt to minimize the shock some who will learn it from the New York Times when the paper finally gets around to covering it.
I'm with Ruth, people need to get real about the war. Shrugged shoulders won't bring anyone home alive.
Recommended: "War Hawks in America, War Cheerleaders in the Green Zone"
"The 'revolutionary' Thomas Friedman"
"Hillary and The Beat of Black Wings"
"Iraqis protest, Take Back America silences protest"
"THIS JUST IN! JOHN BOEHNER HEADED FOR THE FRONT LINES IN IRAQ!"
"TV Review: Windfallen Perry and Gedrick "
"extra "
"Editorial: Administration attacks the American Way of Life "
"Guns & Butter, the war hawk Hillary"
"Law and Disorder, Dahr Jamail & Amy Goodman on Falluja, the death of two Iraqi women, Ramadi and more, and Jason Leopold"
"THIS JUST IN! A BULLY BABY IS BORN! "
"Law and Disorder discussed Tasers plus some other stuff "
"'the way i see it,' he said 'you just can't win it'"
"The American people are demanding answers" (Barbara Lee)
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Potatoes Anna in the Kitchen
It started Wednesday when an e-mail arrived with the heading "911 -- Help!" Lila had a problem. Her boyfriend (they told his parents they were engaged Friday evening) had been talking her up to his parents. Talking her up and inflating her with regards to cooking. Lila was told to bring a dish to Friday's dinner. Though he'd played down the big news on the way, he'd raved and raved over Lila's cooking.
Lila wrote, "I asked him, 'Nachos? That's your idea of cooking?' That's the only thing I've ever cooked for him." She didn't know what to do. She felt it would compound the dishonesty to haul some takeout over and pass it off as her own. "I can slice," she wrote, "and that may be about it. I skipped Home Ec in high school, don't regret it, and don't know what I can cook. I can't do anything fancy but I've got to take something."
I wrote back, "Are you scared of the oven?" She wasn't. So I suggested this recipe.
Potatoes Anna
6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup of butter
Salt and pepper
Peel the potatoes, then slice them into round pieces 1/6 to 1/8 inch thick. (Thinner will make them even more crisp.) Use the butter to grease a casserole or pie dish. Take the potato slices and lay them down, overlapping, spiral-like. Do this in layers, building each layer upon the previous with. With each layer season lightly with salt and pepper while adding bits of butter. When you've completed the layers, cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes. If the potatoes are not brown and crisp, bake for an additional five minutes. Once the baking is completed, place a plate (serving side down) on top of the dish, then invert so that the potatoes are now on the plate. It's now ready to eat. If you're bringing it as a dish to a get together, cover it immediately with foil so that it will keep warm.
Lila made the dish as a test run on Thursday and invited two of her best friends over to sample with the advice that they be as critical as possible. She was advised she needed to use more pepper and less salt but otherwise, everyone thought it turned out well.
Friday evening, she made the dish for the second time. She was nervous but it turned out well and, at her then-boyfriend's parent's home, everyone found it delightful. We're working on a casserole right now and that will be next week's recipe. (Tomorrow, there's a pot luck get together where they'll be informing his brothers and sister of the engagement.) She's already informed her future mother-in-law that she'd just learned to make Potatoes Anna and that her cooking abilities had been highly inflated. Her mother-in-law-to-be thinks she's modest. But as Lila pointed out, "I told the truth so no one can come back later and accuse me of lying."
Lila thought she had a "cooking crisis" on her hand. To my way of thinking, there are two cooking times you're faced with actual emergencies, not enough food on hand or something burned beyond a quick scrape. When I'd asked her how she felt about potatoes, her immediate response was that she couldn't take mashed potatoes because that was "too much work" and baked potatoes were out because that really "wasn't cooking." But there are many things you can do with potatoes and tonight's recipe is one example. Aong with mashing, baking and boiling, there are very simple recipes that will produce very tasteful food. So if you look through the kitchen one evening and find nothing but potatoes, don't despair.
Kat just posted her latest review: "Kat's Korner: Janis Ian blows in on a gentle breeze." I'd mentioned to her how much I liked the CD Folk Is The New Black and asked her to let me know when she posted her review of it. If you missed it, my son Mike spoke with her for "My interview with Kat" so please check that out. And you can read her seven previous reviews as well:
1) "Kat's Korner: Pink's not dead or silent"
2) "Kat's Korner: Pearl Jam does Pearl Jam"
3) "Kat's Korner: Need deeper? Check out Josh Ritter's The Animal Years"
4) "Kat's Korner: Richie Havens: The Economical Collection"
5) "Kat's Korner: Neil Young's Living With War -- key word 'Living'"
6) "Kat's Korner: Springsteen's Seeger Sessions"
7) "Kat's Korner: Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way home while NYT gets lost along the way"
Another thing you have may have missed is a wonderful roundtable featuring Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man, C.I. of The Common Ills and of The Third Estate Sunday Review, and Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix:
"roundtable with cedric, betty, c.i. and myself participating"
"news via Democracy Now and a conversation in three parts"
"A conversation in three parts"
"Focusing on the paper to avoid my husband"
C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" Friday ran down the basics on the three investigations into American troops activities in Iraq:
There are at least three alleged incidents in Iraq that are under some form of investigation. (Remember that The Christian Science Monitor asked mid-week whether or not the military could investigation itself.) For two who were confused by the new ones noted last night, there is Haditha. Haditha took place November 19, 2005 and resulted in the deaths of twenty-four civilians. This is the one Rep. John Murtha has spoken of and that has had the most attention and media focus. Next, there is Ishaqi which took place in March 15th of this year. For background refer to Democracy Now!'s March report as well as the BBC's report on a tape that has turned up which appears to refute the US military claims. In that incident, the official version is that "four people died during a military operation" when a building that was on fire collapsed on them while the version put foward by Iraqi police is that "US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people." The third incident under attention currently took place on April 26th of this year in Hamandiya this is where one man died and US troops are accused of planting a shovel and gun on him while insisting that he was attempting to plant a roadside bomb. This is the incident that David S. Cloud (NYT) reported "[m]ilitary prosecutors are preparing murder, kidnapping and conspiracy chargs against seven marines and a Navy corpsman" for. Kidnapping? When Jim Miklaszewski reported it for NBC Sunday, he noted that the allegations included taking the man from his home, murdering him and then attempting to hide their own actions by planting the shovel and gun on him.
Those are the three incidents currently under some form of investigation and media light.
On the middle item, Jonathan Karl of ABC News (ABC, United States) is reporting that with regards to the events in Ishaqi, "military officials have completed their investigation and have concluded U.S. forces followed the rules of engagement." Which one is that? This is the one that BBC only recently reported having a tape of. One might argue far too recently for "military officials" to have "completed" anything that could pass for a full investigation. Or, as Australia's ABC puts it, "But a video obtained by the BBC shows evidence that the people were shot." Among the dead so-called insurgents in this incident that alleged followed "the rules of engagement," Australia's ABC reports were "a 65 year old grandmother and a six-month old baby." The Independent of London summarizes thusly: "But the BBC said its tape, which comes in the wake of the alleged massacre in Haditha in November, showed a number of dead adults and children at the site with gunshot wounds."
Pressure on the Iraqi prime minister and puppet of the occupation, Nuri al-Maliki, has led to his announcing that Iraq will launch their own investigation. As Ferry Biedermann notes in the Financial Times of London, this investigation is supposed to "look into other allegations of misconduct by the US-led forces in Iraq and the way troops behave toward the civilian population after they have come under attack." The Guardian of London reports that al-Maliki informed US ambassador to Iraq (and puppet master) Zalmay Khalilzad of this decision "during a visit to a power station."
I think about the above and my stomach just goes into knots. The roundtable I highlighted earlier does a wonderful job of addressing the topic. (Your stomach won't go into knots reading that.) But when I think about any of the three, and, I guess more importantly, the reaction in this country which is to disavow accountability on all except the Bully Boy, it just makes me feel ill.
Truthout has posted a wonderful excerpt from a new book. This is from Peter Laufer's new book, Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq:
"We was going along the Euphrates River," says Joshua Key, a 27-year-old former U.S. soldier from Oklahoma, detailing a recurring nightmare - a scene he stumbled on shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. "It's a road right in the city of Ramadi. We turned a real sharp right and all I seen was decapitated bodies. The heads laying over here and the bodies over here and U.S. troops in between them. I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, what in the hell happened here? What's caused this? Why in the hell did this happen?' We get out and somebody was screaming, 'We f**king lost it here!' I'm thinking, 'Oh, yes, somebody definitely lost it here.'"
Joshua says he was ordered to look around for evidence of a firefight, for something to rationalize the beheaded Iraqis. "I look around just for a few seconds and I don't see anything." But then he noticed the sight that now triggers his nightmares. "I see two soldiers kicking the heads around like a soccer ball. I just shut my mouth, walked back, got inside the tank, shut the door, and it was like, I can't be no part of this. This is crazy. I came here to fight and be prepared for war but this is outrageous. Why did it happen? That's just my question: Why did that happen?"
He's convinced there was no firefight that led to the beheading orgy - there were no spent shells to indicate a battle. "A lot of my friends stayed on the ground, looking to see if there was any shells. There was never no shells, except for what we shot. I'm thinking, Okay, so they just did that because they wanted to do it. They got trigger happy and they did it. That's what made me mad in Iraq. You can take human lives at a fast rate and all you have to say is, say, 'Oh, I thought they threw a grenade. I thought I seen this, I thought I seen that.' You could mow down 20 people each time and nobody's going to ask you, 'Are you sure?' They're going to give you a high five and tell you that you was doing a good job."
That's going to be it from me tonight. I'm depressed by the reported war crimes and more depressed that the only blame seems to be laid at the Bully Boy's door step. If the reports are accurate, war crimes were committed and the criminals aren't just the ones at the top, they're the ones who did the killing with their own hands.
Stealing from Wally's way of noting highlights, recommended:
"THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY ALMOST READY FOR BIKINI SEASON!"
"NYT: Re: Haditha, ask the Times for a correction"
"Mini-essay"
"Iraq"
"And the war drags on . . . (Indymedia Roundup)"
"My interview with Kat"
"more marine news and talking about my grandmother"
"Quick post"
"TV commentary: About the women"
"Kat's Korner: Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way home while NYT gets lost along the way"
"TV commentary: About the women."
Lila wrote, "I asked him, 'Nachos? That's your idea of cooking?' That's the only thing I've ever cooked for him." She didn't know what to do. She felt it would compound the dishonesty to haul some takeout over and pass it off as her own. "I can slice," she wrote, "and that may be about it. I skipped Home Ec in high school, don't regret it, and don't know what I can cook. I can't do anything fancy but I've got to take something."
I wrote back, "Are you scared of the oven?" She wasn't. So I suggested this recipe.
Potatoes Anna
6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup of butter
Salt and pepper
Peel the potatoes, then slice them into round pieces 1/6 to 1/8 inch thick. (Thinner will make them even more crisp.) Use the butter to grease a casserole or pie dish. Take the potato slices and lay them down, overlapping, spiral-like. Do this in layers, building each layer upon the previous with. With each layer season lightly with salt and pepper while adding bits of butter. When you've completed the layers, cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes. If the potatoes are not brown and crisp, bake for an additional five minutes. Once the baking is completed, place a plate (serving side down) on top of the dish, then invert so that the potatoes are now on the plate. It's now ready to eat. If you're bringing it as a dish to a get together, cover it immediately with foil so that it will keep warm.
Lila made the dish as a test run on Thursday and invited two of her best friends over to sample with the advice that they be as critical as possible. She was advised she needed to use more pepper and less salt but otherwise, everyone thought it turned out well.
Friday evening, she made the dish for the second time. She was nervous but it turned out well and, at her then-boyfriend's parent's home, everyone found it delightful. We're working on a casserole right now and that will be next week's recipe. (Tomorrow, there's a pot luck get together where they'll be informing his brothers and sister of the engagement.) She's already informed her future mother-in-law that she'd just learned to make Potatoes Anna and that her cooking abilities had been highly inflated. Her mother-in-law-to-be thinks she's modest. But as Lila pointed out, "I told the truth so no one can come back later and accuse me of lying."
Lila thought she had a "cooking crisis" on her hand. To my way of thinking, there are two cooking times you're faced with actual emergencies, not enough food on hand or something burned beyond a quick scrape. When I'd asked her how she felt about potatoes, her immediate response was that she couldn't take mashed potatoes because that was "too much work" and baked potatoes were out because that really "wasn't cooking." But there are many things you can do with potatoes and tonight's recipe is one example. Aong with mashing, baking and boiling, there are very simple recipes that will produce very tasteful food. So if you look through the kitchen one evening and find nothing but potatoes, don't despair.
Kat just posted her latest review: "Kat's Korner: Janis Ian blows in on a gentle breeze." I'd mentioned to her how much I liked the CD Folk Is The New Black and asked her to let me know when she posted her review of it. If you missed it, my son Mike spoke with her for "My interview with Kat" so please check that out. And you can read her seven previous reviews as well:
1) "Kat's Korner: Pink's not dead or silent"
2) "Kat's Korner: Pearl Jam does Pearl Jam"
3) "Kat's Korner: Need deeper? Check out Josh Ritter's The Animal Years"
4) "Kat's Korner: Richie Havens: The Economical Collection"
5) "Kat's Korner: Neil Young's Living With War -- key word 'Living'"
6) "Kat's Korner: Springsteen's Seeger Sessions"
7) "Kat's Korner: Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way home while NYT gets lost along the way"
Another thing you have may have missed is a wonderful roundtable featuring Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man, C.I. of The Common Ills and of The Third Estate Sunday Review, and Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix:
"roundtable with cedric, betty, c.i. and myself participating"
"news via Democracy Now and a conversation in three parts"
"A conversation in three parts"
"Focusing on the paper to avoid my husband"
C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" Friday ran down the basics on the three investigations into American troops activities in Iraq:
There are at least three alleged incidents in Iraq that are under some form of investigation. (Remember that The Christian Science Monitor asked mid-week whether or not the military could investigation itself.) For two who were confused by the new ones noted last night, there is Haditha. Haditha took place November 19, 2005 and resulted in the deaths of twenty-four civilians. This is the one Rep. John Murtha has spoken of and that has had the most attention and media focus. Next, there is Ishaqi which took place in March 15th of this year. For background refer to Democracy Now!'s March report as well as the BBC's report on a tape that has turned up which appears to refute the US military claims. In that incident, the official version is that "four people died during a military operation" when a building that was on fire collapsed on them while the version put foward by Iraqi police is that "US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people." The third incident under attention currently took place on April 26th of this year in Hamandiya this is where one man died and US troops are accused of planting a shovel and gun on him while insisting that he was attempting to plant a roadside bomb. This is the incident that David S. Cloud (NYT) reported "[m]ilitary prosecutors are preparing murder, kidnapping and conspiracy chargs against seven marines and a Navy corpsman" for. Kidnapping? When Jim Miklaszewski reported it for NBC Sunday, he noted that the allegations included taking the man from his home, murdering him and then attempting to hide their own actions by planting the shovel and gun on him.
Those are the three incidents currently under some form of investigation and media light.
On the middle item, Jonathan Karl of ABC News (ABC, United States) is reporting that with regards to the events in Ishaqi, "military officials have completed their investigation and have concluded U.S. forces followed the rules of engagement." Which one is that? This is the one that BBC only recently reported having a tape of. One might argue far too recently for "military officials" to have "completed" anything that could pass for a full investigation. Or, as Australia's ABC puts it, "But a video obtained by the BBC shows evidence that the people were shot." Among the dead so-called insurgents in this incident that alleged followed "the rules of engagement," Australia's ABC reports were "a 65 year old grandmother and a six-month old baby." The Independent of London summarizes thusly: "But the BBC said its tape, which comes in the wake of the alleged massacre in Haditha in November, showed a number of dead adults and children at the site with gunshot wounds."
Pressure on the Iraqi prime minister and puppet of the occupation, Nuri al-Maliki, has led to his announcing that Iraq will launch their own investigation. As Ferry Biedermann notes in the Financial Times of London, this investigation is supposed to "look into other allegations of misconduct by the US-led forces in Iraq and the way troops behave toward the civilian population after they have come under attack." The Guardian of London reports that al-Maliki informed US ambassador to Iraq (and puppet master) Zalmay Khalilzad of this decision "during a visit to a power station."
I think about the above and my stomach just goes into knots. The roundtable I highlighted earlier does a wonderful job of addressing the topic. (Your stomach won't go into knots reading that.) But when I think about any of the three, and, I guess more importantly, the reaction in this country which is to disavow accountability on all except the Bully Boy, it just makes me feel ill.
Truthout has posted a wonderful excerpt from a new book. This is from Peter Laufer's new book, Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq:
"We was going along the Euphrates River," says Joshua Key, a 27-year-old former U.S. soldier from Oklahoma, detailing a recurring nightmare - a scene he stumbled on shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. "It's a road right in the city of Ramadi. We turned a real sharp right and all I seen was decapitated bodies. The heads laying over here and the bodies over here and U.S. troops in between them. I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, what in the hell happened here? What's caused this? Why in the hell did this happen?' We get out and somebody was screaming, 'We f**king lost it here!' I'm thinking, 'Oh, yes, somebody definitely lost it here.'"
Joshua says he was ordered to look around for evidence of a firefight, for something to rationalize the beheaded Iraqis. "I look around just for a few seconds and I don't see anything." But then he noticed the sight that now triggers his nightmares. "I see two soldiers kicking the heads around like a soccer ball. I just shut my mouth, walked back, got inside the tank, shut the door, and it was like, I can't be no part of this. This is crazy. I came here to fight and be prepared for war but this is outrageous. Why did it happen? That's just my question: Why did that happen?"
He's convinced there was no firefight that led to the beheading orgy - there were no spent shells to indicate a battle. "A lot of my friends stayed on the ground, looking to see if there was any shells. There was never no shells, except for what we shot. I'm thinking, Okay, so they just did that because they wanted to do it. They got trigger happy and they did it. That's what made me mad in Iraq. You can take human lives at a fast rate and all you have to say is, say, 'Oh, I thought they threw a grenade. I thought I seen this, I thought I seen that.' You could mow down 20 people each time and nobody's going to ask you, 'Are you sure?' They're going to give you a high five and tell you that you was doing a good job."
That's going to be it from me tonight. I'm depressed by the reported war crimes and more depressed that the only blame seems to be laid at the Bully Boy's door step. If the reports are accurate, war crimes were committed and the criminals aren't just the ones at the top, they're the ones who did the killing with their own hands.
Stealing from Wally's way of noting highlights, recommended:
"THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY ALMOST READY FOR BIKINI SEASON!"
"NYT: Re: Haditha, ask the Times for a correction"
"Mini-essay"
"Iraq"
"And the war drags on . . . (Indymedia Roundup)"
"My interview with Kat"
"more marine news and talking about my grandmother"
"Quick post"
"TV commentary: About the women"
"Kat's Korner: Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way home while NYT gets lost along the way"
"TV commentary: About the women."
Monday, May 29, 2006
Some news for Memorial Day
Good morning, it's Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, 2006. Here are a collection of news stories put together by The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz; Wally of The Daily Jot, Trina of Trina's Kitchen and Dallas.
Starting with the Iraq snapshot.
In Baghdad Sunday, Sheik Osama al-Jadaan and at least one of his bodyguards is dead as a result of an ambush. al-Jadaan had been seen by some as an ally with the US administration. al-Jadaan and the bodyguard were among the at least nine Iraqis who were killed on Sunday, roadside bombs continued to be a party of Iraqi daily life and another daily feature continued as at least ten more corpses were found in Baghdad. There have been sixty American military deaths for the month of May bringing the fatality count to 2464 since the illegal invasion in March of 2003. In addition to American military helicopter pilots are missing, the AFP reports, after the helicopter crashed on Saturday. In Baquba, a new feature to the occupation emerged as three severed heads were flung out of a moving vehicle. Near Baquba, Monday has already seen eleven die from a bombing, Reuters reports. This as the United States Pentagon believes their investigation into the apparent slaughter of civilians in Haditha is winding down -- the estimated 24 civilians died in November. United States House Representative John Mutha maintains that what happened in November is as important as apparent attempts to cover up the events and to stall an investigation into them. United States Senator John Warner has stated that the Senate Arms Committee, which he chairs, will hold a full investigation into "what happened . . . when it happened . . . what was the immediate reaction of the senior officers."
Meanwhile Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, has failed to meet another one of his predicitions. He set a date for himself to establish his cabinet and he didn't meet it. He just managed to meet the constitutional deadline (May 22) for the cabinet but did so only by leaving posts vacant. Last week, he announced that he would be fill the vacant posts this weekend. Unless Iraq's having a three day weekend, he's again failed another of his own predicitions -- there remains no heads for the interior, defense and homeland security ministries.
This as Andy McSmith reports (Independent of London) that British troops in Iraq are now being attacked attacked sixty times a month since the start of the year, an increase of 26% since last year. This as the BBC reports that at least 1,000 British troops have deserted since the start of the illegal war.
In Indonesia, an earthquake on Saturday has now claimed the lives of at least 5115. Heavy rains are preventing some attempts at rescue. This as the Phillipines have been hit with an earthquake that measured 5.3 on the Richter scale -- no injuries or deaths are reported. The Indonesian earthquake was measured 6.2 on the Richter scale and the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) immediately went on alert with news of the quake. Aid agencies, including the Indonesian Red Cross, began providing assistance on Saturday including foods; however, as noted earlier, heavy rains are preventing some attempts at rescue and relief. IPS reports that this is Indonesia's worst disaster since the tsunami in December 2004 and that doctors and medical supplies are in short supply. "The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is launching an emergency appeal for 12 million Swiss francs ($9.79 million USD/ €7.68 million) to support the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in providing assistance to the survivors of the earthquake." As noted on KPFA's Evening News Sunday, people are sleeping in the streets as they await emergency assistance and the United States government has pledged 2.5 million dollars while the Euopean Union has pledged 3.8 million dollars.
In the United States, fire fighters have discovered the body of another victim of last fall's Hurricane Katrina "in the rear laundry room" of a New Orleans house they were searching. The current official count of those killed by Hurricane Katrina is 1577.
In Afghanistan, a demonstration was held following a traffic incident. The BBC reports that four died when a US convoy entered rush hour traffic. The AP reports that three humvees were involved on the US side and quotes eye witness Mohammad Wali, "The American convoy hit all the vehicles which were in their way. They didn't care about the civilians at all." At least four demonstrators have died, shot by "U.S. and Afghan security forces."
Meanwhile, as the situation on the ground in East Timor grows more dangerous and deadly, the United Nations is relocating UN family members and non-essential staff to Darwin Australia. Last week, East Timor handed over security duties to Australian forces following shootings, houses being set on fire and other violence. East Timor's president and prime minister are holding talks to discuss resolutions to the current situation while crowds have gathered outside the presidential palace calling for the resignation of the prime minister. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Screscent Socities trace the current wave of violence to March of this year and are attempting to assist over 25,000 displaced persons. The IFRCRSS's estimates that 50,000 have left their homes due to the current violence. As the violence continues Australia's Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison has been quoted as saying,"The United Nations, though, was the lead agency in all of this and the United Nations was, it had planned to pull out in a month's time. So I think really it's a question of the United Nations in this issue of whether people pulled out or not. It was the lead agency, not Australia." Peter Lewis reports that the New Zealand embassy in East Timor had to temporarily relocate the the Australian embassay due to threats from "armed thugs."
Yesterday, though the San Francisco Giants lost to the Colorado Rockies, Barry Bonds broke Babe Ruth's record for home runs. Bonds' 715 home runs now leaves him ahead of Ruth but behind Hank Aaron (755).
Though it seems long ago that Harriet Miers was in the running for the United States Supreme Court, those who remember the media coverage will remember Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. The media friendly Hecht has received an admonishment from the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct for "improperly using his position" to promote Miers in an estimated "120 newspaper, TV and radio interviews" after he offered his services to the White House as some sort of go-to-guy for the media. Hecht is appealing the admonishment. In other United States governmental news, Feminist Wire Daily reports Brett Kavanaugh confirmation to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia "by a 57-36 vote." The Washington Post once described Kavanaugh as "a protege" of Kenneth Starr. In The Clinton Wars, Sidney Blumenthal recounts David Brock's statement that while watching the 1998 State of the Union address, Kavanaugh hissed "b*tch" at the TV when Hillary Clinton was shown onscreen. The co-author of the Starr Report now holds a lifetime seat on the court.
In news on the NSA warrantless, illegal spying on American citizens, Bully Boy is attempting to invoke the "state secrets privilege" to stop legal actions. The Center for Constitutional Rights Shayna Kadidal notes, "The Bush Administration is trying to crush a very strong case against domestic spying without any evidence or argument. This is a mysterious and undemocratic request, since the administration says the reason the court is being asked to drop the case is a secret. I think it's a clear choice: can the President tell the courts which cases they can rule on? If so, the courts will never be able to hold the President accountable for breaking the law. If the Executive Branch can secretly squash legal challenges to its conduct like this, then American democracy as we know it is in danger." The administration filed papers Friday arguing that "New York and Michigan to dismiss a pair of lawsuits filed over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, saying litigating them would jeopardize state secrets." Also attempting to quash legal actions that might lead to further embarrasment is AT&T "which filed a 25-page legal brief" arguing that the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class action suit should be dismissed. The AT&T brief had contained redactions but a few simple computer steps allowed the redactions to be made visible. The brief does not confirm the existance of the secret room (reported on in Wired's "Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut" and "AT&T's Implementation of NSA Spying on American Citizens, 31 December 2005") but argues that "'the same physical equipment could be utilized exclusively for other surveillance in full compliance with' the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."
In other news, Amnesty is launching Irrepressible.info to highlight "governments using the net to suppress dissent."
In Cannes, director Ken Loach has won the prestigious Palme d'Or for his film on Ireland's fight for independence from England -- The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Reuters reports "The 69-year-old film maker told Reuters in an interview earlier in the festival that the Irish fight for independence against an empire imposing its will on a foreign people had resonances with the US occupation of Iraq today."
Amy Goodman noted the scheduled topic for today's Democracy Now! (noted on Thursday's Democracy Now!):
On Monday, we bring you an exclusive interview with British Lieutenant Commander Steve Tatham, former head of the British Royal Navy's Media Operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf during the Iraq invasion. He’s author of Losing Arab Hearts and Minds.
In addition to being able to watch it on TV or listen to it on the radio, remember that you can listen, watch or read (transcripts) online at Democracy Now!
This morning on KPFK (time given is PST):
Uprising! --Weekday Mornings from 8:00 to 9:00 am
Coming up on Uprising on Monday May 29th: A memorial day special with Stephen Kinzer on Overthrow : America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.
This evening on WBAI (time given is EST):
7:00 p.m. - midnight: Building Bridges - Your Community and Labor Report
With Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash, a five-hour marathon special feature Greg Palast's latest investigative book, Armed Madhouse : Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War.
Thought for the day from the Mamas and the Papas's "Too Late" (off the album The Papas & the Mamas) : "Cause when the mind that once was open shuts / And you knock on the door, nobody answers anymore/ When the love and trust has turned to dust/ When the mind that once was open shuts . . ." ("and no one can get in").
barry bonds
ken loach
east timor
indonesia
democracy now
amy goodman
afghanistan
wbai
mimi rosenberg
ken nash
building bridges
greg palast
kpfk
uprising
stephen kinzer
harriet miers
nathan hecht
feminist wire daily
the center for constitutional rights
amnesty international
kpfa
kpfa evening news
the mamas and the papas
the papas and the mamas
too late
the daily jot
cedrics big mix
trinas kitchen
thomas friedman is a great man
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
the third estate sunday review
the common ills
wired
Starting with the Iraq snapshot.
In Baghdad Sunday, Sheik Osama al-Jadaan and at least one of his bodyguards is dead as a result of an ambush. al-Jadaan had been seen by some as an ally with the US administration. al-Jadaan and the bodyguard were among the at least nine Iraqis who were killed on Sunday, roadside bombs continued to be a party of Iraqi daily life and another daily feature continued as at least ten more corpses were found in Baghdad. There have been sixty American military deaths for the month of May bringing the fatality count to 2464 since the illegal invasion in March of 2003. In addition to American military helicopter pilots are missing, the AFP reports, after the helicopter crashed on Saturday. In Baquba, a new feature to the occupation emerged as three severed heads were flung out of a moving vehicle. Near Baquba, Monday has already seen eleven die from a bombing, Reuters reports. This as the United States Pentagon believes their investigation into the apparent slaughter of civilians in Haditha is winding down -- the estimated 24 civilians died in November. United States House Representative John Mutha maintains that what happened in November is as important as apparent attempts to cover up the events and to stall an investigation into them. United States Senator John Warner has stated that the Senate Arms Committee, which he chairs, will hold a full investigation into "what happened . . . when it happened . . . what was the immediate reaction of the senior officers."
Meanwhile Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, has failed to meet another one of his predicitions. He set a date for himself to establish his cabinet and he didn't meet it. He just managed to meet the constitutional deadline (May 22) for the cabinet but did so only by leaving posts vacant. Last week, he announced that he would be fill the vacant posts this weekend. Unless Iraq's having a three day weekend, he's again failed another of his own predicitions -- there remains no heads for the interior, defense and homeland security ministries.
This as Andy McSmith reports (Independent of London) that British troops in Iraq are now being attacked attacked sixty times a month since the start of the year, an increase of 26% since last year. This as the BBC reports that at least 1,000 British troops have deserted since the start of the illegal war.
In Indonesia, an earthquake on Saturday has now claimed the lives of at least 5115. Heavy rains are preventing some attempts at rescue. This as the Phillipines have been hit with an earthquake that measured 5.3 on the Richter scale -- no injuries or deaths are reported. The Indonesian earthquake was measured 6.2 on the Richter scale and the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) immediately went on alert with news of the quake. Aid agencies, including the Indonesian Red Cross, began providing assistance on Saturday including foods; however, as noted earlier, heavy rains are preventing some attempts at rescue and relief. IPS reports that this is Indonesia's worst disaster since the tsunami in December 2004 and that doctors and medical supplies are in short supply. "The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is launching an emergency appeal for 12 million Swiss francs ($9.79 million USD/ €7.68 million) to support the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) in providing assistance to the survivors of the earthquake." As noted on KPFA's Evening News Sunday, people are sleeping in the streets as they await emergency assistance and the United States government has pledged 2.5 million dollars while the Euopean Union has pledged 3.8 million dollars.
In the United States, fire fighters have discovered the body of another victim of last fall's Hurricane Katrina "in the rear laundry room" of a New Orleans house they were searching. The current official count of those killed by Hurricane Katrina is 1577.
In Afghanistan, a demonstration was held following a traffic incident. The BBC reports that four died when a US convoy entered rush hour traffic. The AP reports that three humvees were involved on the US side and quotes eye witness Mohammad Wali, "The American convoy hit all the vehicles which were in their way. They didn't care about the civilians at all." At least four demonstrators have died, shot by "U.S. and Afghan security forces."
Meanwhile, as the situation on the ground in East Timor grows more dangerous and deadly, the United Nations is relocating UN family members and non-essential staff to Darwin Australia. Last week, East Timor handed over security duties to Australian forces following shootings, houses being set on fire and other violence. East Timor's president and prime minister are holding talks to discuss resolutions to the current situation while crowds have gathered outside the presidential palace calling for the resignation of the prime minister. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Screscent Socities trace the current wave of violence to March of this year and are attempting to assist over 25,000 displaced persons. The IFRCRSS's estimates that 50,000 have left their homes due to the current violence. As the violence continues Australia's Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison has been quoted as saying,"The United Nations, though, was the lead agency in all of this and the United Nations was, it had planned to pull out in a month's time. So I think really it's a question of the United Nations in this issue of whether people pulled out or not. It was the lead agency, not Australia." Peter Lewis reports that the New Zealand embassy in East Timor had to temporarily relocate the the Australian embassay due to threats from "armed thugs."
Yesterday, though the San Francisco Giants lost to the Colorado Rockies, Barry Bonds broke Babe Ruth's record for home runs. Bonds' 715 home runs now leaves him ahead of Ruth but behind Hank Aaron (755).
Though it seems long ago that Harriet Miers was in the running for the United States Supreme Court, those who remember the media coverage will remember Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. The media friendly Hecht has received an admonishment from the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct for "improperly using his position" to promote Miers in an estimated "120 newspaper, TV and radio interviews" after he offered his services to the White House as some sort of go-to-guy for the media. Hecht is appealing the admonishment. In other United States governmental news, Feminist Wire Daily reports Brett Kavanaugh confirmation to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia "by a 57-36 vote." The Washington Post once described Kavanaugh as "a protege" of Kenneth Starr. In The Clinton Wars, Sidney Blumenthal recounts David Brock's statement that while watching the 1998 State of the Union address, Kavanaugh hissed "b*tch" at the TV when Hillary Clinton was shown onscreen. The co-author of the Starr Report now holds a lifetime seat on the court.
In news on the NSA warrantless, illegal spying on American citizens, Bully Boy is attempting to invoke the "state secrets privilege" to stop legal actions. The Center for Constitutional Rights Shayna Kadidal notes, "The Bush Administration is trying to crush a very strong case against domestic spying without any evidence or argument. This is a mysterious and undemocratic request, since the administration says the reason the court is being asked to drop the case is a secret. I think it's a clear choice: can the President tell the courts which cases they can rule on? If so, the courts will never be able to hold the President accountable for breaking the law. If the Executive Branch can secretly squash legal challenges to its conduct like this, then American democracy as we know it is in danger." The administration filed papers Friday arguing that "New York and Michigan to dismiss a pair of lawsuits filed over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, saying litigating them would jeopardize state secrets." Also attempting to quash legal actions that might lead to further embarrasment is AT&T "which filed a 25-page legal brief" arguing that the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class action suit should be dismissed. The AT&T brief had contained redactions but a few simple computer steps allowed the redactions to be made visible. The brief does not confirm the existance of the secret room (reported on in Wired's "Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut" and "AT&T's Implementation of NSA Spying on American Citizens, 31 December 2005") but argues that "'the same physical equipment could be utilized exclusively for other surveillance in full compliance with' the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."
In other news, Amnesty is launching Irrepressible.info to highlight "governments using the net to suppress dissent."
In Cannes, director Ken Loach has won the prestigious Palme d'Or for his film on Ireland's fight for independence from England -- The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Reuters reports "The 69-year-old film maker told Reuters in an interview earlier in the festival that the Irish fight for independence against an empire imposing its will on a foreign people had resonances with the US occupation of Iraq today."
Amy Goodman noted the scheduled topic for today's Democracy Now! (noted on Thursday's Democracy Now!):
On Monday, we bring you an exclusive interview with British Lieutenant Commander Steve Tatham, former head of the British Royal Navy's Media Operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf during the Iraq invasion. He’s author of Losing Arab Hearts and Minds.
In addition to being able to watch it on TV or listen to it on the radio, remember that you can listen, watch or read (transcripts) online at Democracy Now!
This morning on KPFK (time given is PST):
Uprising! --Weekday Mornings from 8:00 to 9:00 am
Coming up on Uprising on Monday May 29th: A memorial day special with Stephen Kinzer on Overthrow : America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.
This evening on WBAI (time given is EST):
7:00 p.m. - midnight: Building Bridges - Your Community and Labor Report
With Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash, a five-hour marathon special feature Greg Palast's latest investigative book, Armed Madhouse : Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War.
Thought for the day from the Mamas and the Papas's "Too Late" (off the album The Papas & the Mamas) : "Cause when the mind that once was open shuts / And you knock on the door, nobody answers anymore/ When the love and trust has turned to dust/ When the mind that once was open shuts . . ." ("and no one can get in").
barry bonds
ken loach
east timor
indonesia
democracy now
amy goodman
afghanistan
wbai
mimi rosenberg
ken nash
building bridges
greg palast
kpfk
uprising
stephen kinzer
harriet miers
nathan hecht
feminist wire daily
the center for constitutional rights
amnesty international
kpfa
kpfa evening news
the mamas and the papas
the papas and the mamas
too late
the daily jot
cedrics big mix
trinas kitchen
thomas friedman is a great man
kats korner
mikey likes it
like maria said paz
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
the third estate sunday review
the common ills
wired
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Cole slaw in the Kitchen
Memorial Day is coming up and, for many, that means gatherings. There were a few e-mails asking for a recipe of a dish they could take -- always great to plan ahead. Samantha wrote to say she wanted to take cole slaw because it wouldn't require cooking.
Here's the problem I had, I really don't care for most cole slaw. Most of the time, you're dealing with some cabbage smothered in mayo. I mentioned to Wally's mother and Krista how I'd be providing a recipe but didn't really care for cole slaw and they both ended up providing recipes for cole slaw "you'll love!" This is a combination of two of their best recipes and it's actually very good.
I e-mailed Samantha to make sure she hadn't signed up to bring cole slaw and she wrote back that her family was "way too casual" for signing up. Which makes this dish even better. Why's that?
Picture cole slaw. You probably see green cabbage. This recipe uses red cabbage. So if you show up with the dish, it's different enough that if four people brought cole slaw, yours will still stand out. Krista told a horror story, it's why she uses red cabbage, that Wally's mother and I still can't get over. At a July 4th gathering on her father's side, one of her aunts ("who just took charge") was quite rude about the dishes brought. There were a number of cole slaw dishes and a number of baked beans. The aunt dumped all the baked beans dishes into one pot and all the cole slaw dishes into one container. Why? "They're all the same."
That is so insulting to anyone who brought the dish and since everyone has their own favorite ingredients, I can't imagine the combined dishes of either baked beans or cole slaw tasting anything but generic (unless they just ended up tasting bad).
The only one that didn't get combined, Krista said, was the red cabbage cole slaw that a cousin had brought. Both Krista and Wally's mother report that red cabbage cole slaw usually gets a little more attention if there are several cole slaws present -- just due to its color and the fact that everyone's expecting green cabbage.
Like green cabbage, red cabbage if packed with vitamins, minerals and a good source of fiber. In addition to that, red cabbage is also a source of anthocyanins which is an antioxidants. The jury may not have come back with the final verdict on antioxidants but it's thought that it might be able to slow the cross-linking that occurs within our cells as we age.
Thanks to my family, who are not fans of cole slaw either, for tasting variations and to Krista and Wally's mother for making their own version of the final recipe we're going with to make sure they, cole slaw lovers, enjoyed it as well.
Here's what you need:
2 medium red cabbages, shredded
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced or diced
4 medium stalks celery, thinly sliced and chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced and diced or strips
Two medium red cabbages? If you're an expert at shredding and see a large cabbage that's perfect, grab it. But for someone who may not be used to using cabbage, I think they'll be able to shred the medium ones easier. Krista worried about that as well and said for anyone who's confused, just do this: slice a head of cabbage into strips, then chop the strips into smaller pieces.
Bell peppers really bring a new taste to the dish. (Both Wally's mother and Krista use bell peppers.) In terms of appearance, they're shinier than carrots and give the dish a nice look as well as a wonderful taste.
Celery should be simple enough. Carrots? With all ingredients remember to rinse them first. In addition, you'll need to peel the outer layer off the carrots. You can buy carrots that are peeled but they're often smaller carrots. If you go with the already peeled carrots (still remember to rinse them off) buy eight of the small ones. Then chop them into small pieces or use a peeler to get strips.
That's the dry dish. Cole slaw requires a dressing. If you're pulling this together for the first time and your mind is reeling, Krista recommends Kraft's Cole Slaw Dressing which you buy in the bottle and then just follow the recommended directions on the back of the bottle for how much to use.
If you'd like to make your own dressing, here's an easy one that will bring out the taste of the dish:
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
dash of salt
dash of pepper
Combine the above in a small bowl and then stir until it has a smooth texture. Add to the cole slaw ingredients and toss to spread the dressing. Now you can use low fat or no fat sour cream and mayo. If you're worried about sugar intake or have diabetes (or you know someone attending does), you can use a sugar substitute. You can even substitute red wine vinegar if you prefer.
If you've done all the above, you're done. But, if you'd like to do a little extra, bring a container of raisins or cranberries (or both). Don't add them to the dish. Not everyone likes them and you'll end up with at least one person complaining, "Raisins!" Just provide them on the side and people can add them to their portion if they choose.
My family enjoyed adding them and the cranberries was the only thing that convinced my son Mike to eat Friday's round of cole slaw. None of them are big fans and we had cole slaw all week as I attempted to find a recipe that everyone could enjoy.
By bringing the dish, with or without raisins and/or cranberries, chances are that even if others bring cole slaw, your dish will be different enough due to the red cabbage that there won't be an attitude of "Another cole slaw dish."
I'd thought there would be something to pull from this morning's Boston Globe but there isn't anything that really reached me. (My son has highlighted which is a nice op-ed, but I was hoping for some news in the news section.) So instead, I'm offering up three headlines from Democracy Now! which can be expected to highlight the stories we need to know about. I'm pulling from the best of Maria offers each week at The Common Ills (sometimes Miguel or Francisco does the selection and they'll be doing it this summer when Maria takes a vacation with her family to Mexico). If you've never looked over the summary, please do because the point of it, the reason all three take the time to highlight it, is because Democracy Now! is providing daily headlines in Spanish and English.
"Senate Vote Makes English US "National Language" (Democracy Now!):
On Capitol Hill, the Senate voted Thursday to make English the "national language" of the United States. The measure affirms that that no one has a right to federal communications or services in a language other than English except those already guaranteed by law. Immigrant-rights activists called the vote a major defeat.
"Senate Votes To Build 370-Mile Border Fence" (Democracy Now!):
The Senate has voted to build a fence along parts of the Mexico border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country. In total, 370 miles of triple-layered barriers would be added near San Diego and in the Arizona desert. Senators also approved a provision that would prevent illegal immigrants from petitioning for a guest-worker permit without the sponsorship an employer. And in a unanimous vote, Senate accepted an amendment that would bar granting work permits to undocumented immigrants convicted of either a felony or at least three misdemeanors. The measure would effect even those who ignored a court-deportation order.
"Bush: 6,000 National Guard Troops to Be Deployed to Border" (Democracy Now!):
President Bush has called for 6,000 National Guard troops to be deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border. Bush's proposal came during a rare prime-time address during which he also called on Congress to find a way to agree on immigration reform.
President Bush: "The United States must secure its borders. This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign nation. It is also an urgent requirement of our national security. Our objective is straightforward: the border should be open to trade and lawful immigration and shut to illegal immigrants, as well as criminals, drug dealers and terrorists." President Bush's call for National Guard troops on the Mexican border has already been widely criticized. Mexican President Vicente Fox called the White House on Sunday to express concern over the increased militarization of the border. In Washington numerous politicians said the National Guard is already stretched too thin.
Democratic Senator Richard Durbin: "How much more are we going to ask our National Guard? They have shown they will do everything asked of them to protect and defend this nation. They have demonstrated that in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Gulf Coast after Katrina, but our Guards and reserves are stretched dangerously thin."
According to the Los Angeles Times, members of the Guard will be deployed to the border for two-week shifts during a period when they would normally be in training. By losing two weeks of training, Bush's plan might result in Guard troops being less prepared for their primary roles -- responding to natural and other disasters.
Read all three of those and you see that the most pressing issue on the mind of Bully Boy and his supporters is attacking and scapegoating. The war must be going so well, I guess. (It's not, read C.I.'s "Democracy Now: Eduardo Galeano" for the details from Friday.) The economy must be booming, right? Wrong. But apparently attacking gays and lesbians might not fuel election hopes for 2006 so they need something to add to the mix. When you have nothing to offer the nation, you find someone to attack, in this case immigrants, so it's look like you're actually addressing the most pressing issues.
I'll add that I've always voted for Ted Kennedy and I'm glad to have him as my senator but he's dead wrong on the immigration bill. It really saddens me to see him, hear him or read of him endorsing the bill the Senate passed that does not provide any help to immigrants but does create a new hurdle for them. (Read C.I.'s "NYT: Carl Hulse provides the primer on advocacy journalism.")
Some of the things I enjoyed online this week:
"THIS JUST IN! NO BULLY BOY LEFT BEHIND!"
"Surprise interview"
"rebecca winters has a warning"
"Leather Prada pumps and tears"
"NYT: Like an unnamed Dem is all excited and giddy about being invited!"
"NYT continues to play silent and stupid on the NSA scandals""Leather Prada pumps and tears"
"Helen Reddy, Burger King, Music"
"Church Committee Counsel Frederick Schwarz on Corporate Involvement in Government Spying"
"We hold the Iraqi government and the occupiers responsible for this brutal atrocity"
"Pearl Jam does Pearl Jam"
"Who exactly are the outlaws?"
Here's the problem I had, I really don't care for most cole slaw. Most of the time, you're dealing with some cabbage smothered in mayo. I mentioned to Wally's mother and Krista how I'd be providing a recipe but didn't really care for cole slaw and they both ended up providing recipes for cole slaw "you'll love!" This is a combination of two of their best recipes and it's actually very good.
I e-mailed Samantha to make sure she hadn't signed up to bring cole slaw and she wrote back that her family was "way too casual" for signing up. Which makes this dish even better. Why's that?
Picture cole slaw. You probably see green cabbage. This recipe uses red cabbage. So if you show up with the dish, it's different enough that if four people brought cole slaw, yours will still stand out. Krista told a horror story, it's why she uses red cabbage, that Wally's mother and I still can't get over. At a July 4th gathering on her father's side, one of her aunts ("who just took charge") was quite rude about the dishes brought. There were a number of cole slaw dishes and a number of baked beans. The aunt dumped all the baked beans dishes into one pot and all the cole slaw dishes into one container. Why? "They're all the same."
That is so insulting to anyone who brought the dish and since everyone has their own favorite ingredients, I can't imagine the combined dishes of either baked beans or cole slaw tasting anything but generic (unless they just ended up tasting bad).
The only one that didn't get combined, Krista said, was the red cabbage cole slaw that a cousin had brought. Both Krista and Wally's mother report that red cabbage cole slaw usually gets a little more attention if there are several cole slaws present -- just due to its color and the fact that everyone's expecting green cabbage.
Like green cabbage, red cabbage if packed with vitamins, minerals and a good source of fiber. In addition to that, red cabbage is also a source of anthocyanins which is an antioxidants. The jury may not have come back with the final verdict on antioxidants but it's thought that it might be able to slow the cross-linking that occurs within our cells as we age.
Thanks to my family, who are not fans of cole slaw either, for tasting variations and to Krista and Wally's mother for making their own version of the final recipe we're going with to make sure they, cole slaw lovers, enjoyed it as well.
Here's what you need:
2 medium red cabbages, shredded
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced or diced
4 medium stalks celery, thinly sliced and chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced and diced or strips
Two medium red cabbages? If you're an expert at shredding and see a large cabbage that's perfect, grab it. But for someone who may not be used to using cabbage, I think they'll be able to shred the medium ones easier. Krista worried about that as well and said for anyone who's confused, just do this: slice a head of cabbage into strips, then chop the strips into smaller pieces.
Bell peppers really bring a new taste to the dish. (Both Wally's mother and Krista use bell peppers.) In terms of appearance, they're shinier than carrots and give the dish a nice look as well as a wonderful taste.
Celery should be simple enough. Carrots? With all ingredients remember to rinse them first. In addition, you'll need to peel the outer layer off the carrots. You can buy carrots that are peeled but they're often smaller carrots. If you go with the already peeled carrots (still remember to rinse them off) buy eight of the small ones. Then chop them into small pieces or use a peeler to get strips.
That's the dry dish. Cole slaw requires a dressing. If you're pulling this together for the first time and your mind is reeling, Krista recommends Kraft's Cole Slaw Dressing which you buy in the bottle and then just follow the recommended directions on the back of the bottle for how much to use.
If you'd like to make your own dressing, here's an easy one that will bring out the taste of the dish:
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
dash of salt
dash of pepper
Combine the above in a small bowl and then stir until it has a smooth texture. Add to the cole slaw ingredients and toss to spread the dressing. Now you can use low fat or no fat sour cream and mayo. If you're worried about sugar intake or have diabetes (or you know someone attending does), you can use a sugar substitute. You can even substitute red wine vinegar if you prefer.
If you've done all the above, you're done. But, if you'd like to do a little extra, bring a container of raisins or cranberries (or both). Don't add them to the dish. Not everyone likes them and you'll end up with at least one person complaining, "Raisins!" Just provide them on the side and people can add them to their portion if they choose.
My family enjoyed adding them and the cranberries was the only thing that convinced my son Mike to eat Friday's round of cole slaw. None of them are big fans and we had cole slaw all week as I attempted to find a recipe that everyone could enjoy.
By bringing the dish, with or without raisins and/or cranberries, chances are that even if others bring cole slaw, your dish will be different enough due to the red cabbage that there won't be an attitude of "Another cole slaw dish."
I'd thought there would be something to pull from this morning's Boston Globe but there isn't anything that really reached me. (My son has highlighted which is a nice op-ed, but I was hoping for some news in the news section.) So instead, I'm offering up three headlines from Democracy Now! which can be expected to highlight the stories we need to know about. I'm pulling from the best of Maria offers each week at The Common Ills (sometimes Miguel or Francisco does the selection and they'll be doing it this summer when Maria takes a vacation with her family to Mexico). If you've never looked over the summary, please do because the point of it, the reason all three take the time to highlight it, is because Democracy Now! is providing daily headlines in Spanish and English.
"Senate Vote Makes English US "National Language" (Democracy Now!):
On Capitol Hill, the Senate voted Thursday to make English the "national language" of the United States. The measure affirms that that no one has a right to federal communications or services in a language other than English except those already guaranteed by law. Immigrant-rights activists called the vote a major defeat.
"Senate Votes To Build 370-Mile Border Fence" (Democracy Now!):
The Senate has voted to build a fence along parts of the Mexico border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country. In total, 370 miles of triple-layered barriers would be added near San Diego and in the Arizona desert. Senators also approved a provision that would prevent illegal immigrants from petitioning for a guest-worker permit without the sponsorship an employer. And in a unanimous vote, Senate accepted an amendment that would bar granting work permits to undocumented immigrants convicted of either a felony or at least three misdemeanors. The measure would effect even those who ignored a court-deportation order.
"Bush: 6,000 National Guard Troops to Be Deployed to Border" (Democracy Now!):
President Bush has called for 6,000 National Guard troops to be deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border. Bush's proposal came during a rare prime-time address during which he also called on Congress to find a way to agree on immigration reform.
President Bush: "The United States must secure its borders. This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign nation. It is also an urgent requirement of our national security. Our objective is straightforward: the border should be open to trade and lawful immigration and shut to illegal immigrants, as well as criminals, drug dealers and terrorists." President Bush's call for National Guard troops on the Mexican border has already been widely criticized. Mexican President Vicente Fox called the White House on Sunday to express concern over the increased militarization of the border. In Washington numerous politicians said the National Guard is already stretched too thin.
Democratic Senator Richard Durbin: "How much more are we going to ask our National Guard? They have shown they will do everything asked of them to protect and defend this nation. They have demonstrated that in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Gulf Coast after Katrina, but our Guards and reserves are stretched dangerously thin."
According to the Los Angeles Times, members of the Guard will be deployed to the border for two-week shifts during a period when they would normally be in training. By losing two weeks of training, Bush's plan might result in Guard troops being less prepared for their primary roles -- responding to natural and other disasters.
Read all three of those and you see that the most pressing issue on the mind of Bully Boy and his supporters is attacking and scapegoating. The war must be going so well, I guess. (It's not, read C.I.'s "Democracy Now: Eduardo Galeano" for the details from Friday.) The economy must be booming, right? Wrong. But apparently attacking gays and lesbians might not fuel election hopes for 2006 so they need something to add to the mix. When you have nothing to offer the nation, you find someone to attack, in this case immigrants, so it's look like you're actually addressing the most pressing issues.
I'll add that I've always voted for Ted Kennedy and I'm glad to have him as my senator but he's dead wrong on the immigration bill. It really saddens me to see him, hear him or read of him endorsing the bill the Senate passed that does not provide any help to immigrants but does create a new hurdle for them. (Read C.I.'s "NYT: Carl Hulse provides the primer on advocacy journalism.")
Some of the things I enjoyed online this week:
"THIS JUST IN! NO BULLY BOY LEFT BEHIND!"
"Surprise interview"
"rebecca winters has a warning"
"Leather Prada pumps and tears"
"NYT: Like an unnamed Dem is all excited and giddy about being invited!"
"NYT continues to play silent and stupid on the NSA scandals""Leather Prada pumps and tears"
"Helen Reddy, Burger King, Music"
"Church Committee Counsel Frederick Schwarz on Corporate Involvement in Government Spying"
"We hold the Iraqi government and the occupiers responsible for this brutal atrocity"
"Pearl Jam does Pearl Jam"
"Who exactly are the outlaws?"
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Popcorn in the Kitchen
A tough recipe for this week.
It requires a few minutes, some seasonings and a microwave.
Take the microwave popcorn of your choice and place a bag in the microwave. Pop until the timer goes off. Open bag, being careful not to let the escaping heat burn you, pour into a bowl and then add seasonings. You may want to use salt -- table salt or sea salt. I prefer sea salt. Or you may with to add some cheese such as parmesan.
If you have children, eat the popcorn with them while sharing details of the week or details you wished had happened in the week.
The point of this? Tomorrow is Mother's Day. C.I. noted something during "And the war drags on . . . (Indymedia Roundup)" that echoed my own thoughts. It's time to trot out another middle-class worry for the state of motherhood, apparently.
Mothers are overworked, just about everyone in our country is -- everyone except our vacationing Bully Boy. But women with partners need to get serious. If you have a partner and you're pulling all the weight, well, as Rebecca said on the phone last night, the sex must be good.
Why else would you put it up with it?
But there's an idea being pushed of a put upon woman who's just so busy doing it all. I read the magazine article (as did Rebecca and C.I. who may have also read the book the article was based upon -- I haven't read the book) and reading of the mother being the first one up to fix breakfast, get the child to school, do this and do that, I wondered exactly why she had a partner?
I've given birth eight times. Maybe that makes mine a no-frills approach? I didn't have the luxury of aspiring towards perfection. I did what I could and everyone pitched in. While I was fortunate to have parents and siblings and grandparents living nearby, the person who pitched in as much as me was my husband. (He still does pitch in equally.)
Forget raising eight children, I couldn't have raised one without help. But, to me, help always came from outside of our home. I never considered it "help" when my husband did his part. They were, after all, his children as well.
I also never suffered from the belief that I was less a woman if I didn't do it all or if the house wasn't just right. In pregnancy, we know we're not going to be able to wear that beautiful dress that looks just perfect and always earns compliments. That's because you're carrying a child even though it looks as though you've swallowed a water mellon. You have to be practical, or really brave, in those last months especially.
I always saw raising children as an extension of pregnancy. Just as you settled for pracitcal when choosing maternity clothes, you settled for practical in terms of the house once kids were a part of it. The fantasy of an white living room was on hold. A white sofa and kids do not co-exist naturally.
Some people raising children by themselves don't have the luxury of another person to do their share. They may also not have friends or family who can help out. If that's you, stop reading. It's Saturday and you already do enough so if you've got the time to read right now, use it instead to do something fun for yourself.
But if you're reading and you have children and a partner, I'll share a few things that you can take to heart or dismiss.
If you're taking your child (or children) to school every day, why is that? Your partner can't find the school? Is he (or she) banned from school property?
You're making breakfast every morning shortly after you rise, why is that? No one else can work the stove?
My point here is to ask: why?
In some cases it's because we buy into this notion that if we don't everything we're supposedly supposed to do, we're somehow failing. (As "mothers" for women -- but this may apply to some men, both straight and gay, raising children as well.) That's cultural learning, not practical experience.
With eight children, there were always multiple needs. If I was dealing with one child's crisis when another child needed my attention, I learned quickly my limitations as one person. "Go talk to your father." It's one sentence, you can say it. (Or "Go talk to your mother" for some people.) If it couldn't wait and I was already dealing with one issue, then I couldn't deal with two, or three, or four, or five, or . . .
Our son Mike has written about how all the children were expected to pitch in. That's a necessacity in a big family. It should be the case in any family. One person cannot and should not carry the burden or the bulk of the burden.
The children knew they were responsible for making up their own beds, to give one example. That didn't mean, and this is a point that had me nodding when I read C.I.'s entry, that I then went back and said, "That's not good enough for me, I'll remake that bed." I wasn't sleeping in it. If it was a little sloppy, to steal from Cedric, "Oh well." I had enough work without making additional work for myself by deciding that everything would be perfection.
Mike was the worst about making his bed. He knew his oldest sister would come along and straighten his attempt for him. When she moved out, he suddenly had to face that his bed wouldn't be fixed by her and he started making it correctly. All knew how to do that. They were shown that and then, however, they made it up was their business. (They did, however, have to make it up. It might just mean pulling the bed spread up, as was the case with Mike, but they had to make it.)
I thought of an aunt when I read C.I.'s comment a sociology professor had made. I called C.I. and aksed, "Is the woman talking about her mother having a problem with the beds?" She was. I knew it because that was my aunt. The bed had to be made just so, with the corners just so, the pillows just so, everything just so. Her husband would make it and she would rip everything apart and remake it herself.
If it was her hang up and gave her peace, more power to her, but everyone in my family felt she was making more work for herself.
So that's a piece of advice, don't make more work for yourself.
Children forget things. That includes making beds, so you send them back to their rooms to make up their beds. But I'm actually thinking of "I need . . ." It may be a practice or game that they've forgotten. In that case, Cedric again, "Oh well." If they waited until the last minute to inform me of a practice or a game, they didn't go. Even if I had the time or my husband had the time to take them. If they were old enough and able to get their own (walking or taking the bus), then they could go. Otherwise, they missed it. They quickly learned that if they wanted a ride, they needed to say something ahead of time. I came up with that rule early on and both my husband and I followed it with only the exception of a special practice or rehearsal being called at the last minute. If that happened, it certainly wasn't the fault of any child but of an adult who couldn't plan.
What about school projects? An assignment is due the next day and you hear "I need . . ." Due to that being something that's academic and graded, that meant going out at the last minute for it. But not without consequences. If it took us an hour to get ready for the store, go to the store, buy the item and come back home, that was an hour the child who had the need was giving the next day to something around the house. (Usually dusting because things always need dusting.) I said that upfront. "We'll run to the store now, but tomorrow, you're dusting."
As with missing a game or a practice, they learned quickly that they needed to be more on the ball and not wait until the last minute.
With the first child, I had all these dreams and probably would have tried to be Martha Stewart (or my concept of her) for several years had the second child not quickly followed. I also benifitted from the fact that I was raised after the second wave of feminism and was aware, from my own mother and her sisters, of the critiques that came before.
Maybe other women haven't been as lucky. But once you have children, regardless of what you know about feminism going in, you have real life experience. You can learn from it or you can live in a fantasy world.
If playing Joan of Arc is your idea of happy, go for it, by all means. And if listing all the duties you've grabbed is your way of feeling better about yourself, continue sharing. But most women I know aren't going to be listening and thinking, "You're awesome!" Hopefully, if it makes you happy, they'll be happy for you. But other than that, you're asking for something you're not going to get: sympathy.
Our second oldest son and our daughter Kelley (Kelley and Mike are the only ones who don't mind if I use their names here) was the worst about needing something cleaned. He was the first to be put on laundy duty as a result. After I taught him how to use the washer and dryer, he could wash anything of his whenever he wanted. He also took care of the wash period. That's a huge job in any family, especially one of our size. My husband and I would help him at least once a week and during spring cleaning, but we always let him know, "We're here to help, you're calling the shots." He took a lot of pride in the task. Before that, it was split between his older brother and sister with my husband and I on back up duties and we were forever running behind. When all he had to focus on was his own bedroom and the laundry, he took to it with such enthusiasm that we were all shocked. (He'll say to this day that he was so glad not to have different tasks each week but the same ones.) He made up his own schedule and, as we did with the kids on other things, he enforced it. If he did laundy Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and someone needed something, just had to have it, cleaned Wednesday night, "Oh well."
Cooking meals was always my task. The kids, as they grew older, would often make their own snacks. But when you're cooking for so many children and at least two adults, it really is a task, not just in terms of the amount of work but in terms of knowing how much to fix. I'm sure I've done my share of complaing to friends and family about having to stagger half-awake into the kitchen each morning. But meals were the only task I made my own. And, as I've written before, the thought of several courses, went out of the marriage early on. (My husband would usually bring home chicken or pizza whenever we could afford it. However, with a large family, if something burned -- and it often did, burned beyond eating -- you were looking at throwing out a sizeable portion of food so it just wasn't worth it.)
If one of the children wanted to watch TV in after school and had passed the "Have you done your homework?" quiz, great. While they watched, they could pick up the living room or dust. There was always a number of things needing to be done and by spreading it out, it was done. That's not to say the house was spotless, it is to say it's always been liveable.
Except when a cold or flu was running through the family. When that happened, as a parent, I did pick up the slack. But when everyone was healthy, everyone did their part.
Mike's youngest sister, the baby of the family, has grown through life with the statement/threat that when she gets married, she's making all of her children do everything. As the baby of the family, she wasn't old enough to see what a team we really were. (She also doesn't grasp that what she does now, such as cleaning the living room, isn't as difficult as it was for her siblings when there were eight of them living in the home. There is much less to pick up now.)
But when she makes that vow/threat today, I'm not hurt. I think it's great that if she has children (she may not, not everyone has children, it's not a requirement though the article may make you think it is), she's already realized that she's not going to have to do it all.
Reading the article, and I'm being nice and not mentioning it, I felt I was reading about some with actual problems (such as single mothers with no support network) and some who had decided they were Joan of the Hearth willing to burn at the stake to be Super Mom. If that's your fantasy, go for it. But don't plan on having a large family unless you've got good insurance that will pay for your lengthy, hospitalized rest.
I kept thinking, "She needs an Alice." Remember The Brady Bunch. Did Carol Brady ever do anything besides read in bed and occassionally help Alice carry in the groceries? I'm not remembering it. I'm remembering Alice serving dinner at the table and Alice cleaning and Alice doing pretty much everything. If you can afford help, go for it.
But most of us can't. Which is why, I argue, you have to realize that a family is not a group of people you are there to serve. A family is group of people who all pitch in.
That's not one person and reading the tale of the first woman, I thought, "Give her two more years tops and she'll either be institutionalized or she's going to wise up." Nudge your partner in bed, and tell him/her to get up and make up toast. Toast can be a breakfast meal. If you're that stressed out, toast can be all that is cooked. It can be rounded out with a piece of fruit and/or cereal. And that shower the woman was rushing to take and get her make up on? She could have done that fifteen to twenty minutes later while her husband and child were in the kitchen.
I didn't dislike the woman, but I didn't sympathize with her. I felt she was taking on everything and that she needed to decide whether she got her kicks doing that or not. If she does, complain for fun, many people do. If she doesn't, she needs to stop trying to do it all.
That may be harder to grasp when it's just you, a partner and one child. You may think, "Well I should do everything." But I showed the article to my friends and we were all, sad to say, laughing at the woman. Not at the difficulties she had, but at the fact that she was making her life more difficult. She might get sympathy in some eager beaver Mommies & Me class. But among working class women, she just received a lot of laughs. She was trying to be Carol Brady and Alice rolled into one. Someone needs to tell her, "The Brady Bunch was a TV show."
Times are hard. Everyone has to work these days. That's adults (inside the home and often out) and children. No one can do it alone and, a point of feminism, no one should have to.
But what most bothered me about the article, timed to celebrate Mother's Day, was this notion of Mother's Day as a holiday. That's a nice little TV movie, it's not reality. There is never Mother's Day that is an off day. Quit kidding yourself. Once you have children, you are always "on." Even when they leave home, they often choose Mother's Day as the day to break some news, usually not, "I got a raise, Ma!"
But that's life. There's no holiday in life, either. You get together and celebrate the holidays you celebrate and they're as messy as any other day with someone breaking bad news or working through some perceived sleight from years ago. (I have an older sister who has to, has to, bring up the fact that our youngest sister got a wonderful coat, years after we'd left the house, when she never got her dream coat, always had to have a cloth coat, and how much that hurt her, at 23, to come home and see our youngest sister in that rabbit fur coat -- you'd think it was a mink stole. We've all heard the story a million times and know we'll continue to hear it a million more.)
I was also bothered by another thing and I was glad to hear from C.I. and Rebecca that they were as well. They felt the article was written for Young Bride and not for our current world. I'll agree with that. Reading over and over about "maternity leave" (sometimes the authors tossed in "paterntiy leave"), I did have to wonder exactly how well off the authors were? Reality is that these days, FAMILY LEAVE is much more likely to be used to care for an ailing parent. With the baby boom hitting the golden years, that's only going to become more common. Parents are going to have to deal with not only children but their own parents. The world portrayed in the article struck me as highly simplistic in many cases.
For all the sympathies to single mothers, the article struck me as something written by and for White, upper-middle-class women. It was divorced from reality.
Whether those with partners were taking on every duty or not, there wasn't a thing in the article that hadn't been written by second wave feminists and that women haven't been dealing with for many years. But the article didn't seem to have any appreciation for feminism. After the first story (the woman trying to do it all), it should have been pointed out, "You don't have to do it all." Feminist writing I grew up on would have made the point then if not opening with it.
It seemed to glorify in the notion of "Oh the work we do." Considering the state of the world, not present in the article, I was not impressed.
There was no discussion of the value of the work that goes unpaid, no suggestion, as Gloria Steinem has often made, that all this unapid work (essential to society) should be factored in the GDP (as is done in Canada). It was two women writing about women with no feminist perspective beyond "wages!" Wages are important and a huge body of work already exists on that topic that addresses the topic much better.
I imagined some good soul reading the article and making the mistake of making it a Mother's Day gift to their own mother. That's about as useful as the multitude of ties many fathers get every Father's Day. There's nothing in the article that should be news to most women. It read like a make-work project that was done between luncheons.
Is that harsh? So is life right now. We're a nation at war, not noted in the article, and they want to share a bunch of stories and a few facts (on wages) that aren't news to any but the most sheltered. Considering that the organization responsible for the book is the same organization that goes through periods of ignoring the war, that's really not surprising.
But if anyone's purchased the book as a Mother's Day gift, let me help you out and possibly salvage tomorrow, don't give it. No mother needs that book as a gift. She's probably quite aware of her life without a hastily put together book telling her about it. Give her something useful like CODEPINK's Stop The Next War Now. Or, as C.I. suggested, Judith Stacey, Susan Bereadu and Dan Daniels' wonderful And Jill Came Tumbling After: Sexism in American Education. (A great book that my mother gave me when I had my first child. At a time when I was getting various child care books, all with soothing language and soggy 'theories,' this was the only book worth the time of reading.)
Semi-soulful explorations on the state of motherhood may be news to some, but not to mothers. Possibly, those as well off as the authors appear to be may read it and be shocked that not everyone has all the benefits they do but working women have no use for this book. If they want to know about wages, they want to know about them at length and this article's factoids don't indicate that there's anything in it that addresses the structured system in the United States, merely notes it and proposes some hand wringing.
My husband wondered if the book might offer more than the article? If so, that the authors' problems. They got several pages to make their case (promote their book) and only served to waste time and kill any interest in their book.
I'll note this from CODEPINK:
Declare peace on Mother's Day with CODEPINK! We will be gathering in Washington DC for a 24-hour vigil outside the White House on May 13-14, and will be joined by amazing celebrity actresses, singers, writers, and moms, including Cindy Sheehan, Patch Adams, and Susan Sarandon! Bring your mother, children, grandmothers, friends, and loved ones. We will be honoring the mothers of the fallen by sending them organic roses. Click here to send your rose! We're also writing letters to Laura Bush to appeal to her own mother-heart, turning them into a book, "Letters to Laura." For event info click here, read our blogs and check out our online store for gift ideas.
I think you should know about it. Why? You can see how much attention it gets from the media. That's women honoring Mother's Day which isn't about, as intended, taking a "break" from the world. And most mothers tomorrow won't get a break from the world. Maybe, if they're of a certain economic bracket and they've martyered themselves all year, their spouses will take a little pity on them and give them breakfast in bed. Maybe even take them out for a nice lunch or dinner. But in the real world that most of us live in, we'll be doing what we usually do while hopefully getting a hug from our kids. That's reality.
So instead of trying to fix something wonderful this week, let's all just make a point to pop some pop corn and, if we're lucky, share it with the people in our lives. Have a nice conversation about what's going in our lives and in the world around us. Be part of the world around you.
Some things worth reading:
"The joke is always Thomas Friedman. Always."
"THIS JUST IN! HILLARY CLINTON LOVES THE BOYZ WHO CHEAT ON HER!"
"preaching to the converted"
"Different stuff"
"Guns & Butter and the crappy 1000th issue of Rolling Stone"
"Bully Boy caught lying & spying again"
"NYT: The intentionally blind and the willfully useless (yes, Dexy's back in print)"
"hud run by a liar"
"more on hud's lead liar alphonso jackson"
"The news is not good."
"Chaos and violence continue"
"TV: The Urine Stains of David Mamet"
"Darfur"
"Head on Home (a musical in four scenes)"
"TV commentary takes a back seat this week to Colbert"
"Shame of the Week (Musical)"
"NYT: Says nah-nah, we did in December, though they really didn't (Shane & Lichtblau)"
"Kat's Korner: Pink's not dead or silent"
"Kat's Korner: Need deeper? Check out Josh Ritter's The Animal Years."
"Kat's Korner: Richie Havens: The Economical Collection"
"Kat's Korner: Neil Young's Living With War -- key word 'Living'"
It requires a few minutes, some seasonings and a microwave.
Take the microwave popcorn of your choice and place a bag in the microwave. Pop until the timer goes off. Open bag, being careful not to let the escaping heat burn you, pour into a bowl and then add seasonings. You may want to use salt -- table salt or sea salt. I prefer sea salt. Or you may with to add some cheese such as parmesan.
If you have children, eat the popcorn with them while sharing details of the week or details you wished had happened in the week.
The point of this? Tomorrow is Mother's Day. C.I. noted something during "And the war drags on . . . (Indymedia Roundup)" that echoed my own thoughts. It's time to trot out another middle-class worry for the state of motherhood, apparently.
Mothers are overworked, just about everyone in our country is -- everyone except our vacationing Bully Boy. But women with partners need to get serious. If you have a partner and you're pulling all the weight, well, as Rebecca said on the phone last night, the sex must be good.
Why else would you put it up with it?
But there's an idea being pushed of a put upon woman who's just so busy doing it all. I read the magazine article (as did Rebecca and C.I. who may have also read the book the article was based upon -- I haven't read the book) and reading of the mother being the first one up to fix breakfast, get the child to school, do this and do that, I wondered exactly why she had a partner?
I've given birth eight times. Maybe that makes mine a no-frills approach? I didn't have the luxury of aspiring towards perfection. I did what I could and everyone pitched in. While I was fortunate to have parents and siblings and grandparents living nearby, the person who pitched in as much as me was my husband. (He still does pitch in equally.)
Forget raising eight children, I couldn't have raised one without help. But, to me, help always came from outside of our home. I never considered it "help" when my husband did his part. They were, after all, his children as well.
I also never suffered from the belief that I was less a woman if I didn't do it all or if the house wasn't just right. In pregnancy, we know we're not going to be able to wear that beautiful dress that looks just perfect and always earns compliments. That's because you're carrying a child even though it looks as though you've swallowed a water mellon. You have to be practical, or really brave, in those last months especially.
I always saw raising children as an extension of pregnancy. Just as you settled for pracitcal when choosing maternity clothes, you settled for practical in terms of the house once kids were a part of it. The fantasy of an white living room was on hold. A white sofa and kids do not co-exist naturally.
Some people raising children by themselves don't have the luxury of another person to do their share. They may also not have friends or family who can help out. If that's you, stop reading. It's Saturday and you already do enough so if you've got the time to read right now, use it instead to do something fun for yourself.
But if you're reading and you have children and a partner, I'll share a few things that you can take to heart or dismiss.
If you're taking your child (or children) to school every day, why is that? Your partner can't find the school? Is he (or she) banned from school property?
You're making breakfast every morning shortly after you rise, why is that? No one else can work the stove?
My point here is to ask: why?
In some cases it's because we buy into this notion that if we don't everything we're supposedly supposed to do, we're somehow failing. (As "mothers" for women -- but this may apply to some men, both straight and gay, raising children as well.) That's cultural learning, not practical experience.
With eight children, there were always multiple needs. If I was dealing with one child's crisis when another child needed my attention, I learned quickly my limitations as one person. "Go talk to your father." It's one sentence, you can say it. (Or "Go talk to your mother" for some people.) If it couldn't wait and I was already dealing with one issue, then I couldn't deal with two, or three, or four, or five, or . . .
Our son Mike has written about how all the children were expected to pitch in. That's a necessacity in a big family. It should be the case in any family. One person cannot and should not carry the burden or the bulk of the burden.
The children knew they were responsible for making up their own beds, to give one example. That didn't mean, and this is a point that had me nodding when I read C.I.'s entry, that I then went back and said, "That's not good enough for me, I'll remake that bed." I wasn't sleeping in it. If it was a little sloppy, to steal from Cedric, "Oh well." I had enough work without making additional work for myself by deciding that everything would be perfection.
Mike was the worst about making his bed. He knew his oldest sister would come along and straighten his attempt for him. When she moved out, he suddenly had to face that his bed wouldn't be fixed by her and he started making it correctly. All knew how to do that. They were shown that and then, however, they made it up was their business. (They did, however, have to make it up. It might just mean pulling the bed spread up, as was the case with Mike, but they had to make it.)
I thought of an aunt when I read C.I.'s comment a sociology professor had made. I called C.I. and aksed, "Is the woman talking about her mother having a problem with the beds?" She was. I knew it because that was my aunt. The bed had to be made just so, with the corners just so, the pillows just so, everything just so. Her husband would make it and she would rip everything apart and remake it herself.
If it was her hang up and gave her peace, more power to her, but everyone in my family felt she was making more work for herself.
So that's a piece of advice, don't make more work for yourself.
Children forget things. That includes making beds, so you send them back to their rooms to make up their beds. But I'm actually thinking of "I need . . ." It may be a practice or game that they've forgotten. In that case, Cedric again, "Oh well." If they waited until the last minute to inform me of a practice or a game, they didn't go. Even if I had the time or my husband had the time to take them. If they were old enough and able to get their own (walking or taking the bus), then they could go. Otherwise, they missed it. They quickly learned that if they wanted a ride, they needed to say something ahead of time. I came up with that rule early on and both my husband and I followed it with only the exception of a special practice or rehearsal being called at the last minute. If that happened, it certainly wasn't the fault of any child but of an adult who couldn't plan.
What about school projects? An assignment is due the next day and you hear "I need . . ." Due to that being something that's academic and graded, that meant going out at the last minute for it. But not without consequences. If it took us an hour to get ready for the store, go to the store, buy the item and come back home, that was an hour the child who had the need was giving the next day to something around the house. (Usually dusting because things always need dusting.) I said that upfront. "We'll run to the store now, but tomorrow, you're dusting."
As with missing a game or a practice, they learned quickly that they needed to be more on the ball and not wait until the last minute.
With the first child, I had all these dreams and probably would have tried to be Martha Stewart (or my concept of her) for several years had the second child not quickly followed. I also benifitted from the fact that I was raised after the second wave of feminism and was aware, from my own mother and her sisters, of the critiques that came before.
Maybe other women haven't been as lucky. But once you have children, regardless of what you know about feminism going in, you have real life experience. You can learn from it or you can live in a fantasy world.
If playing Joan of Arc is your idea of happy, go for it, by all means. And if listing all the duties you've grabbed is your way of feeling better about yourself, continue sharing. But most women I know aren't going to be listening and thinking, "You're awesome!" Hopefully, if it makes you happy, they'll be happy for you. But other than that, you're asking for something you're not going to get: sympathy.
Our second oldest son and our daughter Kelley (Kelley and Mike are the only ones who don't mind if I use their names here) was the worst about needing something cleaned. He was the first to be put on laundy duty as a result. After I taught him how to use the washer and dryer, he could wash anything of his whenever he wanted. He also took care of the wash period. That's a huge job in any family, especially one of our size. My husband and I would help him at least once a week and during spring cleaning, but we always let him know, "We're here to help, you're calling the shots." He took a lot of pride in the task. Before that, it was split between his older brother and sister with my husband and I on back up duties and we were forever running behind. When all he had to focus on was his own bedroom and the laundry, he took to it with such enthusiasm that we were all shocked. (He'll say to this day that he was so glad not to have different tasks each week but the same ones.) He made up his own schedule and, as we did with the kids on other things, he enforced it. If he did laundy Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and someone needed something, just had to have it, cleaned Wednesday night, "Oh well."
Cooking meals was always my task. The kids, as they grew older, would often make their own snacks. But when you're cooking for so many children and at least two adults, it really is a task, not just in terms of the amount of work but in terms of knowing how much to fix. I'm sure I've done my share of complaing to friends and family about having to stagger half-awake into the kitchen each morning. But meals were the only task I made my own. And, as I've written before, the thought of several courses, went out of the marriage early on. (My husband would usually bring home chicken or pizza whenever we could afford it. However, with a large family, if something burned -- and it often did, burned beyond eating -- you were looking at throwing out a sizeable portion of food so it just wasn't worth it.)
If one of the children wanted to watch TV in after school and had passed the "Have you done your homework?" quiz, great. While they watched, they could pick up the living room or dust. There was always a number of things needing to be done and by spreading it out, it was done. That's not to say the house was spotless, it is to say it's always been liveable.
Except when a cold or flu was running through the family. When that happened, as a parent, I did pick up the slack. But when everyone was healthy, everyone did their part.
Mike's youngest sister, the baby of the family, has grown through life with the statement/threat that when she gets married, she's making all of her children do everything. As the baby of the family, she wasn't old enough to see what a team we really were. (She also doesn't grasp that what she does now, such as cleaning the living room, isn't as difficult as it was for her siblings when there were eight of them living in the home. There is much less to pick up now.)
But when she makes that vow/threat today, I'm not hurt. I think it's great that if she has children (she may not, not everyone has children, it's not a requirement though the article may make you think it is), she's already realized that she's not going to have to do it all.
Reading the article, and I'm being nice and not mentioning it, I felt I was reading about some with actual problems (such as single mothers with no support network) and some who had decided they were Joan of the Hearth willing to burn at the stake to be Super Mom. If that's your fantasy, go for it. But don't plan on having a large family unless you've got good insurance that will pay for your lengthy, hospitalized rest.
I kept thinking, "She needs an Alice." Remember The Brady Bunch. Did Carol Brady ever do anything besides read in bed and occassionally help Alice carry in the groceries? I'm not remembering it. I'm remembering Alice serving dinner at the table and Alice cleaning and Alice doing pretty much everything. If you can afford help, go for it.
But most of us can't. Which is why, I argue, you have to realize that a family is not a group of people you are there to serve. A family is group of people who all pitch in.
That's not one person and reading the tale of the first woman, I thought, "Give her two more years tops and she'll either be institutionalized or she's going to wise up." Nudge your partner in bed, and tell him/her to get up and make up toast. Toast can be a breakfast meal. If you're that stressed out, toast can be all that is cooked. It can be rounded out with a piece of fruit and/or cereal. And that shower the woman was rushing to take and get her make up on? She could have done that fifteen to twenty minutes later while her husband and child were in the kitchen.
I didn't dislike the woman, but I didn't sympathize with her. I felt she was taking on everything and that she needed to decide whether she got her kicks doing that or not. If she does, complain for fun, many people do. If she doesn't, she needs to stop trying to do it all.
That may be harder to grasp when it's just you, a partner and one child. You may think, "Well I should do everything." But I showed the article to my friends and we were all, sad to say, laughing at the woman. Not at the difficulties she had, but at the fact that she was making her life more difficult. She might get sympathy in some eager beaver Mommies & Me class. But among working class women, she just received a lot of laughs. She was trying to be Carol Brady and Alice rolled into one. Someone needs to tell her, "The Brady Bunch was a TV show."
Times are hard. Everyone has to work these days. That's adults (inside the home and often out) and children. No one can do it alone and, a point of feminism, no one should have to.
But what most bothered me about the article, timed to celebrate Mother's Day, was this notion of Mother's Day as a holiday. That's a nice little TV movie, it's not reality. There is never Mother's Day that is an off day. Quit kidding yourself. Once you have children, you are always "on." Even when they leave home, they often choose Mother's Day as the day to break some news, usually not, "I got a raise, Ma!"
But that's life. There's no holiday in life, either. You get together and celebrate the holidays you celebrate and they're as messy as any other day with someone breaking bad news or working through some perceived sleight from years ago. (I have an older sister who has to, has to, bring up the fact that our youngest sister got a wonderful coat, years after we'd left the house, when she never got her dream coat, always had to have a cloth coat, and how much that hurt her, at 23, to come home and see our youngest sister in that rabbit fur coat -- you'd think it was a mink stole. We've all heard the story a million times and know we'll continue to hear it a million more.)
I was also bothered by another thing and I was glad to hear from C.I. and Rebecca that they were as well. They felt the article was written for Young Bride and not for our current world. I'll agree with that. Reading over and over about "maternity leave" (sometimes the authors tossed in "paterntiy leave"), I did have to wonder exactly how well off the authors were? Reality is that these days, FAMILY LEAVE is much more likely to be used to care for an ailing parent. With the baby boom hitting the golden years, that's only going to become more common. Parents are going to have to deal with not only children but their own parents. The world portrayed in the article struck me as highly simplistic in many cases.
For all the sympathies to single mothers, the article struck me as something written by and for White, upper-middle-class women. It was divorced from reality.
Whether those with partners were taking on every duty or not, there wasn't a thing in the article that hadn't been written by second wave feminists and that women haven't been dealing with for many years. But the article didn't seem to have any appreciation for feminism. After the first story (the woman trying to do it all), it should have been pointed out, "You don't have to do it all." Feminist writing I grew up on would have made the point then if not opening with it.
It seemed to glorify in the notion of "Oh the work we do." Considering the state of the world, not present in the article, I was not impressed.
There was no discussion of the value of the work that goes unpaid, no suggestion, as Gloria Steinem has often made, that all this unapid work (essential to society) should be factored in the GDP (as is done in Canada). It was two women writing about women with no feminist perspective beyond "wages!" Wages are important and a huge body of work already exists on that topic that addresses the topic much better.
I imagined some good soul reading the article and making the mistake of making it a Mother's Day gift to their own mother. That's about as useful as the multitude of ties many fathers get every Father's Day. There's nothing in the article that should be news to most women. It read like a make-work project that was done between luncheons.
Is that harsh? So is life right now. We're a nation at war, not noted in the article, and they want to share a bunch of stories and a few facts (on wages) that aren't news to any but the most sheltered. Considering that the organization responsible for the book is the same organization that goes through periods of ignoring the war, that's really not surprising.
But if anyone's purchased the book as a Mother's Day gift, let me help you out and possibly salvage tomorrow, don't give it. No mother needs that book as a gift. She's probably quite aware of her life without a hastily put together book telling her about it. Give her something useful like CODEPINK's Stop The Next War Now. Or, as C.I. suggested, Judith Stacey, Susan Bereadu and Dan Daniels' wonderful And Jill Came Tumbling After: Sexism in American Education. (A great book that my mother gave me when I had my first child. At a time when I was getting various child care books, all with soothing language and soggy 'theories,' this was the only book worth the time of reading.)
Semi-soulful explorations on the state of motherhood may be news to some, but not to mothers. Possibly, those as well off as the authors appear to be may read it and be shocked that not everyone has all the benefits they do but working women have no use for this book. If they want to know about wages, they want to know about them at length and this article's factoids don't indicate that there's anything in it that addresses the structured system in the United States, merely notes it and proposes some hand wringing.
My husband wondered if the book might offer more than the article? If so, that the authors' problems. They got several pages to make their case (promote their book) and only served to waste time and kill any interest in their book.
I'll note this from CODEPINK:
Declare peace on Mother's Day with CODEPINK! We will be gathering in Washington DC for a 24-hour vigil outside the White House on May 13-14, and will be joined by amazing celebrity actresses, singers, writers, and moms, including Cindy Sheehan, Patch Adams, and Susan Sarandon! Bring your mother, children, grandmothers, friends, and loved ones. We will be honoring the mothers of the fallen by sending them organic roses. Click here to send your rose! We're also writing letters to Laura Bush to appeal to her own mother-heart, turning them into a book, "Letters to Laura." For event info click here, read our blogs and check out our online store for gift ideas.
I think you should know about it. Why? You can see how much attention it gets from the media. That's women honoring Mother's Day which isn't about, as intended, taking a "break" from the world. And most mothers tomorrow won't get a break from the world. Maybe, if they're of a certain economic bracket and they've martyered themselves all year, their spouses will take a little pity on them and give them breakfast in bed. Maybe even take them out for a nice lunch or dinner. But in the real world that most of us live in, we'll be doing what we usually do while hopefully getting a hug from our kids. That's reality.
So instead of trying to fix something wonderful this week, let's all just make a point to pop some pop corn and, if we're lucky, share it with the people in our lives. Have a nice conversation about what's going in our lives and in the world around us. Be part of the world around you.
Some things worth reading:
"The joke is always Thomas Friedman. Always."
"THIS JUST IN! HILLARY CLINTON LOVES THE BOYZ WHO CHEAT ON HER!"
"preaching to the converted"
"Different stuff"
"Guns & Butter and the crappy 1000th issue of Rolling Stone"
"Bully Boy caught lying & spying again"
"NYT: The intentionally blind and the willfully useless (yes, Dexy's back in print)"
"hud run by a liar"
"more on hud's lead liar alphonso jackson"
"The news is not good."
"Chaos and violence continue"
"TV: The Urine Stains of David Mamet"
"Darfur"
"Head on Home (a musical in four scenes)"
"TV commentary takes a back seat this week to Colbert"
"Shame of the Week (Musical)"
"NYT: Says nah-nah, we did in December, though they really didn't (Shane & Lichtblau)"
"Kat's Korner: Pink's not dead or silent"
"Kat's Korner: Need deeper? Check out Josh Ritter's The Animal Years."
"Kat's Korner: Richie Havens: The Economical Collection"
"Kat's Korner: Neil Young's Living With War -- key word 'Living'"
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