A ths Picture Primer for the Etiquette Cretins in the Obama White House

LOOK at the face of the next fellow you’re tempted to ask for a glass of wine. If he looks anything like the guy on the left here [Four-star Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli — the No. 2 general in the U.S. Army ]…

…do something else extraordinary: hold your tongue.

About That Game…

Whew!

I slept like a baby.

ALL is right with the world.

Suzette’s Opinion Must Carry Greater Weight

…that I suspect even SHE knows, since it appears the errant newlywed snow-coner has scuttled back like a land crab knocked out of a coconut tree.

However: the Daily Mail suggestion to “Get the Look”?

I’ll…um…

…have to take a pass, k?

It’s 32º. It’s Raining. It’s Saturday.

My Bride has not expressed any clear dinner hints. A dangerous situation. I’d best start the feijoada.

And you just know what that’s gonna involve.

I Give The Queen An iPod Filled With My Speeches

And I give the Russians an iPad filled with data on every Trident missile we sold to Britain

Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week.

…A series of classified messages sent to Washington by US negotiators show how information on Britain’s nuclear capability was crucial to securing Russia’s support for the “New START” deal.

Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact on Britain, the leaked cables show that Russia used the talks to demand more information about the UK’s Trident missiles, which are manufactured and maintained in the US.

Washington lobbied London in 2009 for permission to supply Moscow with detailed data about the performance of UK missiles. The UK refused, but the US agreed to hand over the serial numbers of Trident missiles it transfers to Britain.

This is “smart diplomacy” in action: Acceding to your rival’s every demand while at the same time betraying your closest ally.

Just TRY to TELL Me Your Gut Reaction on Viewing This

…isn’t the same as mine was a couple nights ago…

“Jeez! He’s seen your show, too!”

(A warm Swill Salute to Colonel Milquetoast for the clip.)

Superbowl Ad Sneak Peek

A Swilling Exclusive!

Our Correspondent manages a quick question to Mubarak

How I Get My Minimum Daily Vitamin C Requirement

Life is stressful. I don’t want you, Dear Readers, to fall under the weather, especially since the weather we’re having contains lots of snow and ice. So I say “fight ice with ice” and get your healthy nutrients too!

And what better way to get essential healthy nutrients than with a caipirinha? My original caipirinha post from many years ago has lost it’s photos in the transition to WP, so as a Public Service I made several of them until I got the Perfect Photos.

I did this for You.

Cachaca, limes, sugar, ice.

Cut the ends off the lime and then take as much skin off (note: of the lime, not your fingers) as you can, as the skin has bitter oils

cut the naked lime into 8 pieces and place in the cachaca delivery device and add a few teaspoons of sugar to taste (I use sugar from Paraguay which is the closest I can find here to the taste and grind of Brazilian sugar, and it’s Fair Trade so I am superior to all you family farmer h8rs)

Muddle Mania!

add cachaca to about a thumb below the rim (as with the amount of sugar YMWV depending upon your preferred taste, and I always “somehow” make the first one a little bit off so that I have to make another to get it right…) and stir to mix

add ice and stir yet again and

DAMN! How’d that happen?

Ah weel, back to the salt mines

Now where was i?

That last one makes me cry every time.

Searching through the WayBack Machine I found a couple of the photos from the post in 2005

My Gawd am I glad we redid the kitchen.

I muddled with a wooden spoon?!?

How barbaric.

Semper Fi

…puppy.

The parents of a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanistan are adopting the bomb-sniffing dog who the military says loyally rushed to their son’s side when he was fatally shot.

Darrell and Kathy Rusk were expected to take home Eli on Thursday. The black Labrador is being retired from military service following the death of Pfc. Colton Rusk

Wasn’t he a beautiful boy? God bless Colton. Semper Fi, Marine.
Good dog, Eli. God bless you.

Because, You Know, It’s Such A Bastion Of Calm And Serenity Now

I have to admit this made me laugh

[Update 9:45 p.m. in Cairo, 2:45 p.m. ET] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that he is fed up and wants to resign but fears the country will descend into chaos, the reporter said Thursday after an exclusive interview with Mubarak.

Dude

seriously?

This Never Gets Old

SANDMONKEY!!! Oh, NOES!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, let this be wrong…

12.57pm:CloseLink to this update: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/feb/03/egypt-protests-live-updates#block-40 We reported earlier (11.59am) that the prominent Egyptian blogger and activist sandmonkey had been arrested. Now his blog has been taken offline.

We reported his defiant last post, earlier today at 7.42am.

Via the Guardian, his last post:

Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey urges fellow protesters not to give up:

If you are in Egypt, I am calling on all of you to head down to Tahrir today and Friday. It is imperative to show them that the battle for the soul of Egypt isn’t over and done with. I am calling you to bring your friends, to bring medical supplies, to go and see what Mubarak’s gurantees look like in real life. Egypt needs you. Be Heroes.

He had this to say about the violence:

You watched on TV as “Pro-Mubarak Protesters” – thugs who were paid money by NDP members by admission of High NDP officials- started attacking the peaceful unarmed protesters in Tahrir square.

They attacked them with sticks, threw stones at them, brought in men riding horses and camels- in what must be the most surreal scene ever shown on TV- and carrying whips to beat up the protesters. And then the Bullets started getting fired and Molotov cocktails started getting thrown at the Anti-Mubarak Protesters as the Army standing idly by, allowing it all to happen and not doing anything about it.

Dozens were killed, hundreds injured, and there was no help sent by ambulances. The Police never showed up to stop those attacking because the ones who were captured by the Anti-mubarak people had police ID’s on them. They were the police and they were there to shoot and kill people and even tried to set the Egyptian Museum on Fire.

The Aim was clear: Use the clashes as pretext to ban such demonstrations under pretexts of concern for public safety and order, and to prevent disunity amongst the people of Egypt.

Oh, dear God.
(Via Instapundit.)

LATE UPDATE: ( I’m at work, sorry) He’s been freed, but I guess everyone’s far worse for wear. Bastards.

“Then Blow Ye Winds Westerly, Westerly Blow!”

(Hey, Dallas Cowboy! It’s FOUR degrees and not a breath of air! How’s that whole “WIND FARM” thing working out for ya??)
GULP! Second Stanza:

“Or it’s gonna be DARK and MIGHTY F*CKING COLD around here….” – Texas Wind Farm Shanty

Comfort Food

As y’all know, I like to spend time in the kitchen; I find it very relaxing and also a good excuse to drink a lot of wine. Heck, after enough wine I even don’t mind doing the dishes. But the main reason is that I like food. I lurves it, in fact. I like playing with different flavor combinations, I like the smells and textures and I like wine. Oops, already mentioned that. I also enjoy making things up as I go in the kitchen (my Beloved Bride and Daughter are not so keen on this last point).

But as with all things, one has to be grounded and occasionally circle back to the base from which one sprung. Our folks were basic 50s parents in the kitchen: mom covered day-to-day meals and dad would grill things mostly. They each had their share of hits and misses, as we all do, but one of our mom’s recipes is, for me, enshrined in the Comfort Food Hall of Fame. It covers all the required bases: meat, starch, canned fat, dairy. On a cold winter’s night, well, it’s hard to beat, and as with all true Comfort Foods the leftovers a few days later are divine.

So here’s “Mom’s Chicken”

In a decent-sized roasting pan put 4 split skinless Pamelas chicken breasts, top each with pats of butter, salt and pepper and place in a pre-heated 350 deg oven.

As Pamelas these days run over a pound each these will need to cook for, oh, at least 75 minutes total, so plan accordingly; Code Pink chicken is right out.

Take a nice sized red onion

and chop it fairly well (hurray for Cuisinart!). Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a 2 qt sauce pan and dump the onions in and let them sizzle for a little bit

and then get your Murderer’s Row of chicken gravy ready

dump those babies into the pan with the onion and add some pepper and set it over med-low heat so that it will simmer

take oh 4 or 5 goodly sized potatoes and cut them in to 1″ cubes and set those suckers a’boiling

until they’re done and drain

then poor the simmered oniony chickeny gray goo into the pot and let it meld

check the Pamelas and make sure they’re done

and carefully pour the spud/gravy mix atop them into the pan

and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes or so at a slightly lower 325 and get out the sour cream! Don’t worry: it’s “All Natural”

schplop the sour cream onto the exposed areas of the Pamelas and then artistically array it around the rest of the pan thusly

and then put that sucker back in for another 10 minutes of enwarmening

then give each person a Pamela and a big steaming plate of salty-creamy-oniony-chickeny-gravy-y comfort

and save the leftovers for some most satisfying later-in-the-week consumption

True home-style Happiness, Friends.

Happy Birthday To Us

The Swilling is 6 years old today. Wow.

A big sloppy kiss to all of you who have made it such fun for us.

Thanks.

ths adds: A festive birthday picture with MUCH love to ALL of youse!

Trust Me, Rocket Man

This goofy little stunt ain’t gonna help no way, no how, and it ain’t rocket science why.

A Democratic senator who faces a potentially tough re-election battle in a political swing state wants the Senate to approve a non-binding resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to decide quickly if the new health care law is constitutional.

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who voted for the law when it was approved last year, announced his proposal Wednesday as the Senate debated a Republican resolution to repeal the health care law, which gets mixed reviews in opinion polls…

…”Why don’t we expedite that?” Nelson asked on the Senate floor Wednesday. “Why don’t we express our intent to have an expedited review by the Supreme Court?”

“Its passage might prevent people from arguing back and forth over this law for the next several years and everybody in this country that’s going to be affected would have an answer and they deserve an answer,” Nelson said.

If the court upholds the law, it could provide political cover for Nelson against critics of the law in his state as he seeks a third term next year.

Boy, do they have THAT wrong. If the Supremes uphold it, I’m gonna be TWICE AS PISSED that the sonofabitch VOTED for IT, when I, as HIS CONSTITUENT, blistered his phone lines fifty times begging him NOT to.

You are so gonna be grounded, my man.
That countdown commenced with his “aye”.

UPDATE: As if his original ‘yes’ vote wasn’t enough, it’s surpassing strange that his SECOND vote yesterday, in support of ObamaCare, has just now elicited some information that NEVER trickled back to his employment/business challenged constituents…

…Senate Democrats flat-out defended the provision. When Mr. Johanns got a September vote on repeal, he lured just seven Democrats—not enough for passage. In truth, many Democrats simply liked the provision, as evidenced by their votes for Florida Democrat Bill Nelson’s amendment to keep 1099 but to raise the threshold to $5,000. (That, too, failed.) The White House remained opposed to repeal.

REALLY? OUR Senator offered a work-around amendment to KEEP the 1099 LAST YEAR?
OUR SENATOR?

When Florida was falling apart before his squinty eyes?!?!?!?!

But he sure jumped on the Repeal the Damn Thing QUICK! bandwagon THIS time.

Turd.

What a Shame the Kid Isn’t a Sikh or Something

…In December, bored and craving attention, the 14-year-old used a plastic tube to blow small plastic pellets at fellow students in Spotsylvania High School. In one lunch period, he scored three hits.

“They flinched. They looked annoyed,” Mikel said.

The school district saw it as more than a childish prank. School officials expelled him for possession and use of a weapon, and they called a deputy sheriff to the scene, said Mikel and his father, Andrew Mikel Sr.

The younger Mikel, a freshman, said he was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault.

Schools and the people who run them could be classified “weapons of mass disruption” with their hysteria and complete lack of common sense any more. Has the kid been a perpetual pain-in-the-ass or was this a one time thing?

…Mikel will be cleared of the misdemeanor criminal charges if he participates in a year-long diversion program, he said. The county sheriff’s office did not return messages seeking comment.

That’s not addressed, granted. But on its face, this is pretty sad.

*BREAKING NEWS*

Finally, what we’ve been waiting for

Punxsutawney Phil fails to see shadow, predicting early spring in 125th Groundhog Day forecast

we are saved.

Quote Of The Day

Allah gives it to 3 Branch Chuck

In one corner: An obnoxious camera whore who represents everything that’s wrong with America. In the other corner: Snooki.

That Itty-Bitty Cross Will Get You Locked in the Principal’s Office in Most School Districts

And you get SUSPENDED FOR LIFE if you bring an aspirin to school by mistake and get caught with that sucker.

But “ZERO TOLERANCE” just got the oddest sort of religious waiver in Michigan…

Michigan School District Allows Sikh Students to Wear Religious Dagger to School

A Detroit-area district says it’s allowing Sikh students to wear a small, religious dagger to school, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.

The decision by the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools reverses a ban put in place in December after a fourth-grader at a Canton Township elementary school was found with a dull, 3- to 5-inch kirpan.

The kirpan represents a commitment to fight evil in the Sikh tradition. The dagger is a religious symbol that baptized Sikh males are expected to carry.

As Anne Coulter notes below, baptized conservatives are “expected” to cling to carry guns and Bibles, but that argument hasn’t worked so well for them.

This Is One Domino the Ball-less Clueless Wonder in the White House

…needs standing.

Jordan’s King Abdullah Dissolves Government

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s Royal Palace says the king has sacked his government in the wake of street protests and has asked an ex-army general to form a new Cabinet.

King Abdullah’s move comes after thousands of Jordanians took to the streets — inspired by the regime ouster in Tunisia and the turmoil in Egypt — and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.

Quote Of The Day

From the ever-quotable Ann Coulter

I must say, there are two court opinions on each side. Obviously, I find the two that find the two that call it unconstitutional more compelling for logical reasons. There’s no point in having any limits on Congress’s authority if they can force all citizens to buy a product. And, by the way, if this is constitutional then Republicans should turn around and mandate that all citizens be forced to purchase a gun and a Bible. And, there’s a lot more evidence that owning a gun and a Bible is better for society than everyone having to buy health insurance.

Cling away, Sister!

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Asked my girl what she wanted from me,
She said “Bingley: ‘lectricity!”
“I wanna have credits
For carbon galore
And live in a mansion Like Al Gore”

Baby your can drive my car
So long as it’s more “near” than “far”
Baby you can drive my car
Yes, baby, we’re all screwed.