RELEASE THE BATS!

"Ahhh, Doctor, my preliminary readings seem to indicate that the project is reacting in an erratic manner. There seem to be certain vital functions that are not performing satisfactorily..." the technician looked at the readout on his monitor with alarm. Dials were spinning rapidly, red lights were blinking with gay abandon.
The doctor studied the readings for a few seconds and sighed...."It was only to be expected. You get inferior equipment and materials, the Republican Party has trouble raising the neccessary funds for the project and then this...."
The Doctor looked disdainfully at the large glowing hunk of mismatched parts slowly ambulating across the room with what could be considered strident shuffle toward a plate of Dunkin Donuts on a table in the corner.
"Do....nuts...." the creature mumbled.
The doctor laughed silently with a sneer ot derision, "Can it remember anything it said more than 5 minutes ago?"
The technician moaned and started to say something about it's tendency to say the reverse of any statement it made when questioned about it....
"I don't know how to get it to stop. I've tried reversing it's polarity, but then it starts serial flipflopping and the meter goes into the red and there is a funny smell...."
The Doctor glumly muttered, "When we got that shipment from Cheney's supplier, we should have known better.....but still, it's almost actually...uhhhh...alive. At least that's something!"
A strange glow of realization began to grow in the Doctors eyes as the readout from the screen illuminated his fevered face. "It reverses it's position on any given subject instantly, it can't remember what it said for more than 5 minutes...why, this is crazy, but..."
The technician looked with a new appreciation at the doctor and the the strange pile of protoplasm slithering towards the donut tray..."You know, doctor, you're right! I do believe we have a candidate!"
The doctors hand trembled as he reached for the toggle switch that would beam the power blast that would make the creature fully operational. Beads of sweat glistened on his forhead as he hit the switch, cackling almost insanely, "RELEASE THE BATS!!"

Louignac

I am a little lazy this evening. I have been taking longer and longer bike rides lately and planning out trips with local maps. I found a reference to a Merovingian Era Cemetary outside the village of Louignac a few weeks ago and being passionately interested in vestiges of that era, the early middle ages, I began researching a trip.
Today was perfect, a little hot, but I left about 11 am and rode to the village of Coubjours, which is at the limit of the Dordogne and crossed over into the department of the Correze. It's quite hilly here and as you head east, the hills get bigger, but when I turned off of the D31, I headed straight down hill into a region called the Basine d'Objat. The Basine is a long valley that extends for perhaps 30 kilometers, threading its way between the hills. Many of the bigger villages are on the hilltops, but some very important old places are along the small rivers and streams that thread their way through this lush agricultural and forested region.
Around 1:15, I made it to Louignac, then found the dead end road out of town that went to the Merovingian site. When I finally found it, I was pretty unimpressed. It was more like the place that the stones for the graves were quarried from and if you didn't know what you were looking at, you would never know.
I stayed about a half hour then headed back to Louignac. When I got back, I decided to investigate the church, L'eglise de St. Julien. It was a curious structure, as I looked at it, I realized that it was a very old romanesque structure from the 12th century and it had been modernized around 1900 with the rather bizarre cloche.

Entering, I was taken by surprise by the baptismal font. There was a paper under plastic on the wall by the door that stated that it was definitely from the pre Merovingian era...it was a surviving object from Gaullic Roman France. This doesn't surprise me. My local village, Badefols d'Ans has been around since before 600 ad and the church, l'eglise de St. Cloud was supposedly founded by a son of Clovis. The present structure was built in the 11th century.
So, by this time, it was getting pretty hot, around 30 Celsius and I had a long uphill ride no matter which way I decided to return. I was able to fill my water bottle and I took off for Villac. Here is a picture of the 12 Century church in Villac, where incidentally, one of the very best local boulangeries is! Then, uphill, out of the Basine d'Objat through the cool forest road and I was home by 4. It was an adventure and the mysterious baptismal font of Louignac kept me occupied for a while as I tried to find out more about it. I still actually had enough energy to take the dog for a hike, make guacamole and barbecue hamburgers. My wife made dessert, a creation called Framboises en neige......Raspberries in snow!
Perhaps I will post the recipe tomorrow...it was incredible.
It's raspberry season here again and I have more than ever.
Today, I picked over 2 kilos!

Can we get a mop in here?

Yesterday, McCain campaign strategist, Charlie Black managed to piss all over the Senators Thom McAnn Hushpuppies with his comment in Harpers Magazine "that a terrorist attack on America before the election would be a real asset to McCains Campaign...it would certainly give us a boost."
It made some shock waves in America, but today on all the French Television Networks, there was editorial shock as analysists tried to figure out what possible sense it made for the McCain to sink to such ridiculous depths of fearmongering already.
The analysist on France 2 used the term "a desparate senility".
I chalk it up to sheer mental incontinence.

George Carlin

I was deeply saddened to hear that George Carlin died today. He inspired a generation of comedians with his political and social comedy. He deliberately pushed the limits of language and his comedy was about language and ideas.
In the 70's, much of his comedy was head trips, playing with language and drug references. He challenged the FCC with his routine about the 7 little words that were forbidden. No matter how silly his work somettimes appeared on the surface, it was always rooted in an intellectual paradox and he used language to reveal the absurdities.
In the last 10 years of his life, his monologues became more of a lecture on government, society and the banality of oppression. He used his fame as a platform and never was a hypocrite. He fought a heroic fight of ideas with humor.
Just this week it was announced that he was to recieve the Mark Twain Lifetime Acheivment Award for humor.
This is just one of many routines I considered posting, but it is typical late Carlin, brilliant, hilarious and deadly!
Long may his memory and influence create extreme discomfort!

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

This is a very powerful rap piece based on an folk song written in 1931 by Florence Reese during a bloody coal miners strike.
The original song pretty much lays it on the line honestly and directly. Which Side Are You On? Repression or Freedom? There's no in between.
This is an updated version by the Bronx Hispanic Group REBEL DIAZ. They take the same message and illustrate it forcefully in todays terms. They show how all struggles for human rights are part of the same struggle.
These guys live their ideas. The entire group was beat up by the NYC Police last week for interfering with a questionable arrest in the South Bronx.
If you like this, check out their very political selection of videos on YouTube!
Thanks to my friend, Suze for the link.

More Bling Bling!

This week, a very low profile announcement was made that the Elie Weisel Foundation is awarding it's Human Rights Award to Nicolas Sarkozy on the 22nd of November in New York City.
The award, along with conferring the illusion that the honoree has been instrumental in forwarding the struggle for Human Rights, also brings the recipient a $150,000 bonus.
I would be very curious to know what Mr. Sarkozy has specifically done to merit this honor.
He has advanced the cause of DNA Testing to determine nationality. An idea that was shot down, but went a long way to gather him favor with the Far Right Front National.
His policies have resulted in the deportation of thousands of people with improper documentation from France. His policies have separated families and allowed children to be held in detention centers after they were pulled out of school.
These policies have been almost exclusively aimed at minorities.
The response in France is almost like a resistance movement which has resulted in an underground network to protect these families to keep his policies from tearing them apart.
He openly expresses his admiration and friendship for his very fascist fellow leader, Silvio Berlesconi of Italy, who is following the same racist anti immigration policies except, the Italian fascists are actually violently persecuting minorities whether they are in the country legaly or not!
He wants to use his current term as president of the European Union to push an agenda of harsh anti immigration laws that would be binding in all EU Countries.
(We can only thank the Irish for putting the damper on his term by their rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon!)
He is doing business with dictators all over the Middle East and Africa.

I think that awarding him this honor cheapens and devalues the meaning of it.
It reduces it to just another piece of bling bling to adorn the ego of a vain and cruel man.
Is this simply a reward for pandering to the Israeli Lobby? Just a benefit of social connections? Is that all it takes to be a Champion of Human Rights?

Orchis Bouc

Here is a close up photo of the flowers of oneof my very favorite wild orchids, the Orchis Bouc. The Goat Orchid or Himantoglossum hircinum.
This particular specimen is about 2 and a half feet tall and is growing next to my lilac near the vegetable garden. It took about 5 years for the soil to lose the fertility from being a cow pasture and allow this plant to florish and flower.
This year, I also noticed a bee orchid beginning to come up next to the house.
The Goat Orchid was totally unexpected and quite spectacular. I noticed some unusual leaves coming up iin the grass earlier this year and did not mow around it.
Now that the soil is losing its over fertility, I think I have to be very careful in the spring when I start to mow as there seem to be a lot of wild plants beginning to appear.
The flowers of the goat orchid are very unusual. They are hooded, and if you look carefully, you can see the typical orchid structure, but the sepals are incredible!
Long crazy twirly appendages give the plant a slightly deranged look. There is a strong spicy smell, very apparent if you bring the flower spike into a closed room.
I was very pleased to find this in my own property, perhaps in the next few years, more wild orchids will make their appearance. The plants will grow but remain flowerless and near dormant waiting for the soil chemistry to agree with it
Orchids need the proper soil chemistry to germinate and most of the species have evolved a relationship with a specific fungus to achieve germination of the seeds.
Here is a photo of the entire plant.
I have some friends across the valley who bought a property 10 years ago that had been used as a sheep pasture. About 5 years ago, wild orchids began to make their appearance and today, there are at least 8 species, including some of the tiniest. Some of the plants are lest than 3 inches tall. They have hundreds of a specie called Serapia, the form is not supposed to be common in this region, but for some reason, the conditions are perfect. This year, they found one of the vanilla scented rarities that hide here.

hedgerry and shruberry

Mr. Politeness has submitted this image of creative topiary for your consideration, he is available to transform your shrubbery into his inimitable witty ecologically humorous works of hedge art as soon as he recovers from the beating his wife gave him..........
Thank you Mr. Politeness.......

Buckethead

A few posts ago, I featured a group called Praxis, a project by Bill Laswell that over the last 12 years or so has featured an eclectic line up of musicians and encompassed many styles. One of the main stays of the group is a guitarist who goes by the name Buckethead. He is an enigmatic figure, a brilliant multi instrument player who rarely has allowed his face to be photographed. He usually appears with an expressionless blank mask and a Kentucky Fried Chicken Bucket on his head.
He has released 38 cds and played on many other cds.
This is one of his compositions called Soothsayer and The Buckethead shreds!

Republican Pride!

This item is on sale at The Republican Market...check out their entire line of snazzy products designed to incite racial fear, ethnic hatred and destroy the social fabric of America so a Senile Narcissistic Power Crazed Old Coot can despotically continue their noble destruction of your freedom and trashing the Constitution.

I'm Voting Republican This Fall!

No Comment...................

Jes' Like Us Common Folks

Here we have America's Jes' Plain Folks first couple wanna bees, the McCains posing in front of one of their three Arizona residences and some of Cindy's inherited 20 Million Dollars. John McCain recently stated that if you aren't making over $200,000 a year, then you are still middle class, not really rich.

His proposed tax cut plan again favors those who make more than $500,000 a year.
Economists have called his plan fiscally irresponsible and in reality, his proposed benifits to the middle class would be three times less than those proposed by Barack Obama.

John McCain’s new Senate Financial Disclosure Form, look like he was either running his campaign off the American Express Platinum Card his wife gave him (Honey, I think I maxed out the American Express Card), or they have one hell of a high living lifestyle.

The bulk of the McCains’ obligations stemmed from a pair of American Express credit cards that are held in Cindy McCain’s name. According to the disclosure reports, which present information on debts in a range rather than providing a precise figure, Mrs. McCain owed $100,000 to $250,000 on each card. Hey! That's just like the majority of Americans! Maxed out credit cards and paying interest through the nose just to keep afloat! That's the same economic policy of the Bush Administration! Who cares what it cost? Charge it! Jes' Like Us Common Folks!

But then again, who's counting? Economics were never John McCains forte.

I know what American Express charges for interest on a Platinum Card. A fiscally responsible household should probably sell some of the million of Anheuser-Busch stock they own and stop paying that 17% ARP on $500,000 worth of Amex charges. There are some stark contrasts between the McCains and the Obamas. The McCains have a net worth around $40 million, almost all of it from Cindy’s holdings. The Obama’s net worth is closer to $4 million, most of it earned from Barack’s two recent books. Instead of going into debt they have managed to put $250,000 in a college savings account for their two daughters.

McCain Debates Himself And Loses!

Thanks again to the JedReport for another all too much reality video.

While we are on the subject of all too much reality, John McCain actually admitted in an interview today "Sometimes it is rally hard to be proud of America."
This would seenm to take the air out of the overinflated retreads of the Conservative noise machine with their criticism of Michelle Obamna on patriotism and pride.

FOX Celebrates Americas Rich Legacy of Hate!

Today, Pat Buchanan, in analyzing the sagging political fortunes of the Republican Party said that the Republicans only strategy could be one which emphasized the exoticness of Barack Obama. Exotic? Is this Mr. Buchanans new code word for race?
It's very sad and extremely depressing that a political party in America has decided that their only chance to hold on to power is to try to turn back the clock and deny the progress America has made in the last 50 years in coming to terms with its legacy of racism.
Already, the anti Obama forces are selling Obama in 2008 "Curious George" t shirts and cute little Obama sock monkey puppets.
You would think that the Republican Party would be ashamed to be associated with such backwards, borderline senile hateful idiocy. You would think that they should be able to see the writing on the wall and tht to engage in such behavior is only self destructive in the long run.
But, no, and the proof is the fact that the party has been taken hostage by an cruelly ambitious, amoral and impossibly vain aging narcissisist who will use any tactic that catches his shortening attention span in last gasp at personal glorification.
John McCain pompously hides behind his smoke screen of surrogates who spread rumors, innuendo, hate and lies while he acts as if he is shocked by the fact that anyone in America could listen to such idiocy.
Hillary engaged in it in her campaign. Her staff was caught spreading racist emails and even when pressed for her stance on the "Obama is a Secret Muslim" rumor, she very coyly refused to deny it.
We saw FOX News get censured last week for the insinuation that a photo of Barack and his wife making the joyful gesture of hitting fists was some kind of secret terrorist signal. Yesterday, FOX ran the caption over a picture of Michelle Obama saying "Obama's Baby's Mama". Without even going into the trash talk definition of my baby's Mama...implying that the relationship between Barack and his wife was somehow illicit, the terminology is something they would never use in describing the relationship of a white couple.
FOX has crossed the line ethically by hiring Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee as political commentators. Both men are working for the McCain Campaign.
The FOX Network has never missed an opportunity to inject racial fear into this campaign. Their commentators have been responsible for spreading every lie, distortion and rumor they can fabricate or dig up. When the heat gets too much for them to bear, they issue a half assed apology, but the slime has already spread.

That's why I would like to take this opportunity to direct you to a website called
Fight The Smears. This was set up by the Obama Campaign to take each rumor as it appears and give the truth, photographic, an entire quote in context or the actual news item from which the smears and distortions originated.

Fight The Smears, Fight Lies with the Truth! Let sunlight into all of the dark corners where hate and racism festers, because that's what it is and that's all they have in their empty arsenal this time.

COUNT SMOKULA

The most recent aparition of Count Smokula, the 496 year old accordion playing bluegrass/blues rock vampire from Smokesylvania.
I am a great fan of this guy, he inhabits the vanishing nether world of freak shows, topless bars and cabaret/vaudeville and seems to be carrying on a tradition that bridges centuries of sleazy entertainment. His tongue is longer than Gene Simmon's.

The High Road

The Republican PAC, National Campaign Fund headed by Floyd Brown released this ad today. I picked it up from You Tube where comments on the content have been disabled.
Floyd Brown is the man who created the infamous Willie Horton ad and has always used racism as a tool for his smears and slime.

It's not even worth it here to go into debunking the claims and insinuations in the ad. I would hope you have the sense to see how utterly ridiculous it is, but the target is the ignorant fear filled masses of Americans who are still easily manipulated by the unresolved xenophobic and racial fears that lurk in their closets.

I said in the previous post that all John McCain has to run on is lies. He admitted today that he was probably going to lose his own home district in Arizona.

Cottage Cheese in Lime Jello

The Swiftboating season has officially begun as in todays press:
The conservative Regnery Publishing just announced two books for August: David Freddoso’s “The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate,” and Thomas Blood’s “The Clinton Collapse: How Bill Clinton Lost Hillary Her ‘Sure Thing’ Nomination (And Might Even Make Obama Lose Too).”
“We intend to put him under the microscope, and we think readers will be very interested to learn what we uncover,” says Marji Ross, president and publisher of Regnery, which in 2004 released “Unfit for Command,” the best-selling attack against Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry.

As you remember, the Kerry book was a slash and burn collection of fabrications and gross exagerations proven false, but at the time provided fuel for the conservative talking heads. Kerry was accused at the time of not fighting back and trying to ignore the slander.
The smears against Obama started long ago and the exagerations have taken on a life of their own.. Just check the John McCains Blog or even the posts on Hillarys blog and you will see trolls insisting that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, the focus on the style of his Pastor, Reverend Wright and using his rhetoric as a portrayal being anti American
Obama on the other hand is able to confront his detractors and has been able to use their negative energy against them. He is able to inspire in a way that Kerry could never dream of. The fervor of idealism that he has been able to tap, the ability to inspire hope and enable people to dream of a better future is positively threatening to the bland anti ideal conservative movement stuck in a corrupt past and trying futilely to control a future they cannot even begin to envision. Lies are all they have.

That seems to be the level of McCains campaign. He has nothing to run on, so he makes a mistatement and lets his supporters elaborate it.
He seems to be counting on the xenophobic racism that is a real unresolved issue in America to do most of his work.
His campaign seems to feel confident that they can count on the fact that most Americans would rather listen to whast they would like to believe rather than the truth.
As in the lead in to the Iraq War, I personally felt the frustration of trying to talk to friends and family and state facts and instead be countered with statements that began,"My friend Debbie said....." And of course Debbie knew for a fact that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center, because her husband told her.

And who is McCain? Why should he be president of the United States? Why should Americans want to give this man their votes and trust? he has demonstrated over and over again that he is totally out of touch with the realities of economics and has flip flopped all over the place about Iraq. He has no personal grasp of issues. He has no working knowlege of constitutional law.
He offers no vision for the future or real plans or understanding the problems Americans face today. He has never had to pay for health care or insurance. He was covered, free of charge from birth as the son of an Admiral. He is covered today as a United States Senator.
He has voted against bills to assist the military re entering civilian life and the amount of medical aid they recieve...yet, because of his sacred status as a war hero and an insider who knows how to play the system, recieves $58,000.00 a year as compensation since the 1970's. That makes over 2 million dollars in compensation.
He has played fast and loose with the campaign financing laws and is technically in violation. He is surrounded by lobbyists who run his campaign and tell him what his opinion is on economic and business related issues.
We hear so much about his character. It seems that every incident of his temper is swept under the rug. His wife's legal problems with her charity and drugs have been made into untouchable issues.
Recently, his first wife, Carol has talked about her relationship with John McCain.
While he was a prisoner of war, she was in a tragic auto accident which almost killed her and left her an invalid.
When John came back to the US, a hero, he was given much assistance and support.
He was reunited with Carol and his 2 children and they had a new house built with assistance from those who wanted to honor him. One of the main benefactors was H. Ross Perot, who paid for all of Carols medical bills and helped John McCain regain his health and stability.
According to Carol, out of the blue, he told her he wanted to end the marriage. He had been aggressively courting the Heiress, Cindy and wanted to marry her. He told Carol if she agreed, he would see that she would have her bills taken care of for the rest of her life. She said at the time, it was a complete shock and that she was in no position to fight him. McCain told her that he was disappointed that he would never have a career in the Navy and now this was his big chance to get into politics.

‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’...

But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.

‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

This is a great video to lose your mind to on a Sunday night. An unbelievable band, my personal role model, Bootsy Collins on bass, or as he puts it, Space Bass and vocals, the master, Bernie Worrell on keyboards, AF Man Flip on turntable, Brain on drums and the enigma known as Buckethead playing guitar.
This was produced by Bill Lazwell.

If you are familiar with Buckethead, you know he is an ultimate performance artist. He is a great experimental Jazz/Rock guitarist and visual artist, but he is an art work. He has never let his human countenance be photographed.
Bootsy is one of the seminal bass players, he started playing with James Brown when he was 18 and then formed a band with his Brother Catfish Collins and gradually became a performance artist in a classs by himself. He was part of Funkadelic and had many hits with his own Rubber Band. He invented the beats and the grooves that still are fueling funk and hip hop today. Bootsy's sense of style, humor and art and sheer talent still inspire me.
Bernie Worrell is the guy on all the records, he crosses all barriers. He was in Funkadelic and Talking Heads at the same time. He is brilliant.
This band recorded in the early 90's and made great visual art and music at the same time...
Bill Laswell is still performing with his long time project, Material in which all these musicians have been a part of as well.

Basic Garbage Skills.....

Last week, I posted a piece that related my extreme uneasiness with the prospect that Nicolas Sarkozy was negotiating a deal with Berlusconi to restart the Italian Nuclear Energy program. Under Berlusconi's previous administration, the present Italian garbage crisis began to grow to the insanity of the present situation. The Mafia is allowed to controll the garbage industry and the country is fast choking on the illegal and inefficient non disposal of the waste.
I mentioned that the Mafia Companies were able to devise a scheme by which they hired old boats, took out insurance policies on them, filled them with garbage and then the boats have accidents and the garbage and the boat is lost at sea and the company gets paid for the disposal of the trash and then collects the insurance from the accident.
I also mentioned that the famous buffalo mozzarella cheese is now unfiit for exportation because of the dioxin contamination from illegal and uncontrolled dumping.
Now, as of Friday, Germany has refused to accept garbage from Italy for recycling and landfill. Why? Because the levels of radiation in the waste is over 80 times the acceptable level! The nuclear waste from hospitals is not being properly dealt with.

Until, Italy demonstrates that it can deal with such a basic operating skill as proper waste disposal, without corruption and endangering the welfare of its neighbors, it would be improper and immoral to help them start a nuclear energy program. It would be a criminal and obscene act to provide them with the technological assistance and materials to produce deadly nuclear waste.

Celeri Remoulade

This rather intimidating looking object which is larger than a softball is a celery root.
It is a specific type of celery grown for the root rather than the stalks and leaves called
celeriac. I have been able to find them in American vegetable markets and bought them regularly at the Farmers Market at Union Square in New York City.
Celeriac can be prepared many different ways, I've had it cut into matchstick sixed slivers and friend crisp. It can be pureed like a potato and a good way to enjoy it is to mix pureed celeriac and mashed potatoes together. It has a nutty fresh flavor when cooked.
The best way in my opinion to enjoy celeriac is raw in the classic French Celeri Remoulade.
This is a salad which is always available in charcuteries and a classic bistro side dish.
I love it and had it for lunch today with a slice of ham.
It's fairly simple, grate a celery root. The salad will keep for a day in the refrigerator.
I use a hand Moulinex with a crank.
Then you make a mayonaise. I take an egg and emulsify it with some oil and add mustard and vinegar. To make mayonaise, all the ingredients must be at room temperature. Break the egg in a bowl, use a hand whip and add oil, a little at a time until the mixture emulsifies and get s quite thick. Add a nice tablespoon of Dijon Mustard and a little vinegar to taste and thin it a little. Home made mayonaise is very easy and takes only a few minutes.
Mix the mayonaise with the grated celery root and perhaps a few branches of chopped parsley........
One of my favorite things.

By The Company They Keep

ABC News reports on the humorous story of Gaith Pharaon, a Saudi financier who is wanted by the FBI for alleged bank fraud that cost US taxpayer $1.7 billion. The funny part is that the US military just awarded him an $80 million contract to supply jet fuel to US military bases in Afghanistan.

The US military has awarded an $80 million contract to a prominent Saudi financier who has been indicted by the US Justice Department. The contract to supply jet fuel to American bases in Afghanistan was awarded to the Attock Refinery Ltd, a Pakistani-based refinery owned by Gaith Pharaon. Pharaon is wanted in connection with his alleged role at the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and the CenTrust savings and loan scandal, which cost US tax payers $1.7 billion.

As a purely coincidental aside: "Pharaon was also an investor in President George W. Bush's first business venture, Arbusto Energy."

I wrote an extensive history of George Bush and his dealings with the BCCI Bank in a post called
Cheney Was Right which explains how the true link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein ran right through Crawford, Texas. Pharaon might be wanted by the FBI, but for the Bush Family, the business of screwing the American Public is just plain Business!

Poulet Saute aux Girolles

Another cloudy and rather chilly day...I spent the morning digging drainage for the garden. We still haven't been able to get it cultivated because of all the ground water.
I made the rather disappointing discovery that during the night, slugs had eaten half the lettuce. Still, in spite of the unseasonable gloom, the first raspberries were turning red. This is going to be my biggest raspberry haul yet. In celebration, Janet thawed out some of last years and a package of rhubarb and made a crumble.
I decided to make the main course, I thawed some chicken legs and duuring the late afternoon, I went on a walk in the woods with J.J., the dog.
I was sure that the girolles were over. Luckily, I had a plastic bag in my pocket...
I suddenly was aware of hints of gold beneath the leaf litter and in no time, I had managed to find another kilo of very nice girolles.
On the way home, the wheels began to turn and here is what I made for dinner.

Poulet Saute aux Girolles

Take a cut up chicken, or as I did today, chicken legs and thighs cut up and fry them in a pot which you can cover and put in the oven. I lightly salted them. Fry them in oil and a little butter and let them get golden.
Cover the pan and put it into a 220 degree oven for 20 minutes or so. When they are done, take the pan out of the oven, remove the chicken pieces and keep them warm.
You can pour off some of the grease if there is too much, but you will need some to saute 500 grams of girolles and a chopped shallot on the stove top. Cook them quickly. The girolles will give off a bit of liquid. Make sure to scrape the pan as the girolles cook to get the crusty chicken bits off the bottom and incorporate it into the liquid.
When the liquid almost evaporates, add a splash of cognac or armagnac and flame it.
When the flame is out, only a few seconds of terror...add 30 cl of cream and stir over the heat until the cream thickens. This only takes a few short minutes.
Put the chicken back in the pot and coat with the sauce and serve!
This is really good with Pureed potaotes.

You can saute chicken breasts with out putting them into the oven and do basicly the same sauce on the stove top.
You could use regular mushrooms, but girolles are especially good like this and a rare seasonal treat!

MICROGENERATION!

An interesting report this week from the British Department of Business, Energy and Regulatory Reform states that even with existing technology, a proposed program to subsidize the microgeneration of electricity, could generate 5% of Britain's power by 2020. This represents 5 nuclear power plants. It also would represent a cut of 30 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.
This would entail the use of photovotaic panels, biomass boilers, solar water heaters, heat pumps and small scale wind and water generators.
Private owners are already going ahead with the installation of these units, but with government funding, it is estimated that one in five buildings could be self sufficient in 5 years.

If no action is taken, says the report, Britain can expect about 500,000 microunits to be installed by 2015 and 2-3m by 2020. But, with the right incentives, nearly one in five buildings in Britain would effectively become mini power stations, feeding electricity into the grid, or generating enough to be largely self-sufficient. Some of the greatest gains would be in combined heat and power units which are suitable for large blocks of flats, estates and businesses.

Britain has been widely criticised for not doing as much as other countries to encourage a mass market for small-scale renewables. The few existing schemes have failed to kick-start the industry. But the report says this could be swiftly changed: Germany has invested nearly 1o Billion in photovoltaic technology and Sweden has made it very attractive for consumers to install heat pumps.

The numbers which are the most interesting is the number of nuclear reactors that this kind of passive technology could replace. The amount of money invested in passive energy research by big corporations and government is a drop in the ocean compared to the incalculable amounts wasted on nuclear technology. If there was a "Manhattan Project" for passive energy to develop the existing ideas into practical solutions to solve the worlds energy problems, we would have workable, practical answers in a few short years.

Nuclear Technology is a dead end. It is a money pit in which we shovel our future. The real dangers of nuclear technology will be with humans for thousands of years. There is obviously a lot to be learned from the pursuit of atomic energy, but the present direction and state of an industry that generates electric power with it is a clear present deadsly threat to our planet.

Time For A Change

John McCain boldly declares himself as the real "candidate for change". I have no problem with that, in fact the sooner the better! Grampa McSame is starting to smell a little funny these days. Remember, don't compare him to George Bush, it makes his blood pressure take off like a Palestinian home made rocket!
Great speech last night, gramps!

HEY BO DIDDLEY!

The TAMI Show, 1966. Bo Diddley and the Bo-ettes show the kids how it's done!
Bo Diddley died today at the age of 79. He was an unstopable force. He forged the beat and beat the shit out of his unique square guitars!
The original Bo Diddley Beat never stopped, it goes on and on!

Democracy's Skull Crushed and Shot In The Back

There is no reason to think Robert Mugabe is going to give up power without a bloody fight. Compare this to Iraq, where they are rolling in petro-dollars and US taxpayer dollars and yet, nobody really cares about democracy. Iraqi soldiers abandon their position, money constantly disappears and nobody cares much about democracy other than repeating a few words to the US in order to keep the money flowing. Meanwhile, the people of Zimbabwe are actually risking their lives to promote democracy with very little help from the outside world. To hell with Iraq, we should be supporting people like this who really give a damn.
Tonderai Ndira was an activist campaigning against Mugabe. He was very active in his neighborhood in Harare in the last election when Mugabe was in reality defeated. He will not be campaigning in the "run off" because he is dead.
His body was found by accident in a morgue about 2 weeks ago with his tongue cut out and his eyes gouged out. He was so badly beaten, that his father had trouble identifying his body and was only able to confirm it was him by the ring he always wore.
Ndira has been compared to South Africa's Steve Biko. He had been arrested over 30 times but kept up his resistance to the Mugabe government. His body, with a crushed skull, bullet wound in the chest and blood stained shorts are a depressing silent testimony to the violent repression of the Mugabe's forces. Now the Mugabe Government wants to disinter his body. His family and supporters are sure it is to destroy all evidence of the murder.
This June 27, this bankrupt and terrorized country will will go back to the polls. A wave of murders and beatings of activists is surging as the government tries to crush all hints of opposition. At least 50 organizers have died, 1500 are in hospitals and 25,000 have been driven from their homes and countless more have lost their livelihoods.
In spite of all this, the opposition, led by Mr. Tsvangirai, still believe that the people will triumph in the election. The head of the army has decreed that all the soldiers had better vote for Mugabe or quit the army. Perhaps, finally, some of the soldiers will realize that life might be better without Mugabe?
Would it be too much for the rest of the world to show real support for the opposition in Zimbawe, instead of simple lip service? Would it be too much to ask for some real assistance in helping these oppressed people get rid of this murderous tyrant? Will the death of Tonderai
Ndira and other brave individuals like him forever be in vain because there was nothing to be gained by assisting them?