In This Run-Up To Valentine’s Day

I thought you, Dear Readers, would appreciate knowing that the True Love Poetry has not faded from this cruel world.

Someone deserves the Noble Prize for verse, methinks.

Yo Quiero Taco Bell

Carne

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) – A law firm claims in a lawsuit that Taco Bell is using false advertising when it refers to using “seasoned ground beef” or “seasoned beef” in its products.

The meat mixture sold by Taco Bell restaurants contains binders and extenders and does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labeled as “beef,” according to the legal complaint.

…Attorney Dee Miles said attorneys had Taco Bell’s “meat mixture” tested and found it contained less that 35 percent beef.

…The lawsuit says that Taco Bell’s “seasoned beef” contains other ingredients, including water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch.

Key staples in my kitchen, every one.

It’s Called a “Pitching Deck”

“You have two choices.
Land ON the deck or land alongside the deck.”

Ladies and gentlemen ~ Naval Aviation.

Full screen these.

Artsy And They Spared Us the Speedos

“I Hope Congress Comes Down On the EPA Like a F*#KING TON of BRICKS“, Says…

….my poor 1992 BMW 525i.

EPA Permits 15% Ethanol for Cars Made After 2001

The Environmental Protection Agency granted a request from ethanol producers to raise the amount of the corn-based additive in gasoline for vehicles made for the 2001 model year and later.

…“EPA continues to move in the right direction with respect to increasing ethanol blends, but challenges still remain,” Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, said in an e-mailed statement.

“The RFA continues to urge EPA to extend the waiver for E-15 use to all cars and pickups.”

She also has a related and unrepeatable message for the ethanol lobby/”Renewable Fuels Association”.

Does that make her a h8r?

UPDATE: WHOA NELLIE!!!

Obama’s Climate-Change Czar Leaving White House.

Sadie Bimmer’s pointed little bumper sticker claims a scalp not four hours later?!?!

Holy CRAP! Don’t piss my car off…

For those of you looking for REAL gas, I found one of two pumps ~ PUMPS, mind you, not “STATIONS” ~ in all of Pensacola yesterday, and have slaked her thoroughbred thirst, via this website:
pure-gas.org

Fortunately, the one closest to us was also the one that was the 93 octane. Baby bro crusader, alas, went to IL stations listed at the site and still had to call “no joy”.

He is whining piteously in the Land of Hand Over More Lincolns.

Well, I’ll Stop Kvetching About The Weather In Jersey

Because just a few hours north…

Temp:-28.0°F
Wind: 68.6 mph
Gust: 84.0 mph
Wind Chill: -75.5°F

One of these days I’ll have to go there in the Winter.

Or maybe I’ll sit in the library at Bingley Manor, in my leather chair next to the fireplace, Claude lying at my feet and a nice glass of claret in my hand as I read a book about someone else going to Mt. Washington in January.

Yes, a much more appealing scenario.

He’s Taken His Last Swim To Alcatraz

RIP, Jack LaLanne

(Reuters) – Jack LaLanne, a one-time sugar-holic who became a television fitness guru preaching exercise and healthy diet to a generation of American housewives, died on Sunday at age 96, his daughter said.

LaLanne, who became U.S. television fixture in his close-fitting jumpsuit starting in 1959 and came to be regarded as the father of the modern fitness movement, succumbed to pneumonia following a brief illness at his home in Morro Bay, along the California’s central coast.

“He was surrounded by his family and passed very peacefully and in no distress … and with the football game on Sunday, so everything was normal,” Yvonne LaLanne, 66, told Reuters.

…”I can’t die,” Jack LaLanne would say. “It would ruin my image.”

I’d Take Six Degrees Of Separation This Morning

Since it’s only 1 degree outside…

A Warning

Be afraid of Jims bearing gifts

Be very afraid.

This message brought to you by the throbbing pain between my ears.

Thank you.

Working With Dummies

Rush Reads Poetry

Okay, okay. It’s, in fact, Professor Jacobson’s magnificent Palin post from the other day. But it’s what he says afterward to the intelligentsia of the Conservative/Republican Party that’s beautiful in its truthiness. Or would be, if only the Krauthammers and Frums listened to people/gave any credence to opinions…which are…how you say…not in their self-designated sphere of pulling aside the heavy oxblood-red velvet curtains, to issue eloquent, mournful opinings and rock-of-ages wisdom to the lesser intellectual refuse of society scattered patiently about the base of their opera carriage. “Caribou? No, I said ‘carry through’. We have spoken ~ all depart.” And the equipage moves smartly away into the night.

Rush doesn’t live there. Neither, I suspect, does 90% of those who voted GOP/Tea Party in the last election.

We can do without witches in 2012, but we could sure use a little intra-conservative “she may be a witch, but she’s OUR witch” sense of unity. How COULD they ~ and I do mean every last conservative/GOP columnist ~ not rise up IMMEDIATELY and give rise to a vociferous, continuous, FEROCIOUS defense? Sarah Palin’s presidential qualifications/aspirations (or lack thereof) aside: can the party withstand it’s own pundits allowing their vested self interest to override truth and decency itself, if it means a potential rival may have her kneecaps bludgeoned as a party to mass murder? How despicable!

And I know Palin just singes the hair on poor Krauthammer’s nose, among others, but, BY GOD. For all that these yammering, cerebral, cultured, white-gloved conservative icons of the upper echelons of the nation’s social strata deride incivility, character assassination and crude discourse?

What happened to Sarah Palin ~ and is still happening ~ IS AN ABOMINATION.

And these “gentlemen” belie the very word.

(Via Instapundit.)

Spam Of The Day

From THS’s dear friend “Fly Rod”

Whats hattnin, yeuh dis blog right heur is ill, big ups PAAAATNAAAA.

I Wonder If Obama Talked To Him About Our 57 States?

He must have given him a case of “smart power.” What else explains Sakozy’s “gaffe” about a rather sensitive part of the country he’s President of

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was jeered after an embarrassing gaffe in which he suggested the historically disputed Alsace region was still in Germany.

Mr Sarkozy made the slip during a speech in the Alsatian town of Truchtersheim, less than 20 miles from the German border.

Speaking to representatives of the agricultural industry, Mr Sarkozy said he could accepted unfair competition between China and India, but not between Germany and France.

“I’m not saying that simply because I’m in Germany,” he said, before correcting himself to say: “I’m in Alsace.”

The crowd immediately began jeering and then booing Mr Sarkozy, who appeared shocked by what he had said ” putting his hands up in the air as if surrender.

They are all part of one greater country now in the EU, right?

As Vallejo, We Go

Via Ace, remember those Halcyon Days of Yore when Muni Bonds meant all was safe and good in the world for your nest egg?

Er, now, not so much

But, but, munis always pay back almost 100 cents on the dollar, even in bankruptcy, right? Wrong. Bankrupt Vallejo just filed a POR to pay back unsecured creditors between 5 and 20 cents. “The city regrets that it cannot pay a higher percentage,” Vallejo officials said in the court filings.

Yes, those Muni bonds backed by the full faith and credit of, er, well, they seemingly lack both faith and credit.

The uncontrolled, unchecked, un-reined-in spending by corrupt and incompetent public officials (it’s awfully hard to tell the difference between them) is starting to boomerang back with a vengeance, and if interest rates start to rise then the cost of financing the US’ debt will bankrupt us fairly quickly. We must cut spending, not merely “reduce the rate of increase” but actually cut spending, deeply and immediately and start paying down the debt.

Also do make sure to read the Prodigal Meep at Dan’s Place for much more data and analysis.

You know, I seem to remember reading some where about seven fat and happy cows who were like totally eaten up and consumed by the seven thin and scrawny cows that came after them. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth was also involved, iirc.

Reuters and Drudge Amazed: “Scientists Fight Bugs With Poo”

(Reuters) – Once a year, every year, Professor Thomas Borody receives a single-stem rose from one of his most grateful patients. She is, he says, thanking him for restoring her bowel flora.

It’s a distasteful cure for a problem that’s increasingly widespread: the Clostridium difficile bug, typically caught by patients in hospitals and nursing homes, can be hard to treat with antibiotics. But Borody is one of a group of scientists who believe the answer is a faecal transplant.

“Pffft!”, we say.

That’s old news to anyone who ever watched a RIVETING MEDICAL DRAMA called…”Scrubs“.

You Know, Sometimes I Despair About The Future

I look at today’s youth and I often don’t see the spunk or the resilience needed to face many of the challenges that they will face.

But just when I’m feeling my lowest along comes my dear friend Paco with this inspiring tale of two teens that restores my hope and confidence that our future is in good hands

Two teenagers were rescued from the Australian flood waters after they tried to use a blow-up doll as a flotation device.

The couple, both aged 19, were found by rescuers clinging to a tree after falling off the doll on Victoria’s Yarra River.

They were told off by police who warned that the blow-up toy was “not a recognised flotation device”.

I’m not sure I really want to hear their explanation for how they got into this particular predicament.

What’s Up, Baby Doc?

Not that I’ve spent too much time pondering it, but I still haven’t figured out quite what Baby Doc was thinking by going back to Haiti

AFP – Haitian prosecutors on Tuesday slapped a slew of corruption charges on Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, less than 48 hours after the former dictator’s unexpected return to his homeland.

Duvalier stands accused of corruption, theft and misappropriation of funds related to the siphoning off of hundreds of millions of dollars during a 1971-1986 rule allegedly marked by widespread human rights abuses.

Did he think he’d be welcomed home like some returning hero? He’s never been known as the sharpest knife in the drawer.

You Think Only Presidents Get That Sort of Treatment?!?!?!

Only the BEST for MY little brother!! NO expense spared!

UPDATE: Awwww, jeez. That’s unfortunate.

Meanwhile, Back In Vulgaria

Well Duh

These “Super Storms” have happened many times in the past

The threat of a cataclysmic California storm has been dormant for the past 150 years. Geological Survey director Marcia K. McNutt told the New York Times that a 300-mile stretch of the Central Valley was inundated from 1861-62. The floods were so bad that the state capital had to be moved to San Francisco, and Governor Leland Stanford had to take a rowboat to his own inauguration, the report notes. Even larger storms happened in past centuries, over the dates 212, 440, 603, 1029, 1418, and 1605, according to geological evidence.

So, of course, they are caused by Gerbil Warmening

The risk is gathering momentum now, scientists say, due to rising temperatures in the atmosphere, which has generally made weather patterns more volatile.

You know, it’s almost as if these scientists sit around and say “okay, guys. How can we trash our credibility today?”

Someone Tied One On Last Night

We won’t get any work out of him today!

The usual cast of wonderful characters showed up last night…Suzette, Fausta, Jim, Gregor and special guest RealJeffS. What to serve these fine folks?

Well, use the peppers from below, fill them with a mixture of cream cheese, shredded cheddar, minced onion and chopped chorizo; wrap them in bacon and on to the grill for about an hour for the bacon to get crisp…ah, ABTs

and to compliment the ABTs I made some moinks: little meatloaves wrapped in more bacon

served with two sauces for dipping (finger by Gregor)

one is a vinegary barbecue sauce and the other is Orange Marmalade Sriracha, which is a nice combination of sweetness and heat.

Oh, and there was cow

I took a whole NY Strip, 13ish pounds or so, trimmed off a lot of the fat, and let it sit out for an hour

gave it a good coating of Montreal seasoning and put it on the smoker (using both cherry and birch for flavor) at 300º or so. It took about 2 hours for it to come up to 127º internally, brought it in, foiled it and let it rest while I grilled the asparagus and got the crashed spuds ready

then sliced that Mooing Beauty up

It was pretty darn yum. A nice soft smokiness throughout, and the strip had the consistency of fine roast beef. A neat change from just grilling up a bunch of steaks!

Then there were a variety of desserts found near the just-about-empty gin bottle

Jim brought his guitar, a few more bottles somehow emptied

and a wonderful evening with great folks drew to a close about six hours after it began.

And I’m off to put the few leftover ABTs and moinks into a skillet to be re-heated for my brunch…

Just Waiting For The Cheese And The Bacon

ABTs.

Yum.

Why It’s Nice Not To Be A Dog

What I Drank Last Night

Not a bad little Chilean Carménère

Chile produces several of these, and they usually run from $10 to $19 a bottle. This one was about $11, and was a very smooth, medium bodied wine with soft tannins and nice sweet fruit. A keeper.

The label says its flavor has “damson fruit.”

I must confess that I can not vouch either way for that.

The Reader Comment Instapundit Just Posted

…begins with…

“I was amused to hear on one of the NPR talking head shows this morning…”

Got me smiling, doncha know. Because THAT’S how major dad caught Daisy Hernandez’s hateful little brown pity party. As I said in the comments:

And for the Krugmans of the world ~ please note: major dad, my wonderful, mostly conservative, half-Hispanic, gun-owning husband and the person who came in the door from work snorting indignant fire after hearing this on the ride home…listens not to Rush or Beck, but to NPR.
EVERY day.

As the good professor says, I think that’s called a “narrative fail”.

There’s millions of us and they’re too smart to know it. How delicious.