Peace and Joy to you...

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukha, Happy Kwanza, Happy Boxing Day, and any other Happies and Merries I may have left out. But most of all I wish you peace and joy.

I wish you peace that expands from your very center like a bubble and pushes out all fear and negativity and then that the bubble be filled with joy.





I'm stoked with how my ham came out.















And with how my cookies came out.








Christmas Day is going great so far. I started my day with coffee in bed courtesy of my wife.

And we got right to the business of opening presents.

We started with the puppies who opened their own presents this year.



Here's Jake with his big presents. A stereo and a video game Rocker chair. The chair rules! And Rachel sat in it and her back felt great. So we might have to get a couple of more of those for watching movies downstairs. I played Jake's Tony Hawk game and it was awesome - there's speakers in the head rest and a sub-woofer in the back. So when you biff on what would have been a sick 80,00 point trick, the controller vibrates and the chair thumps you in the back.





Here's Rachel opening a gift. I wrapped the heck out of it. She had to get through wrapping paper to a heater box. Inside of that was a big plastic tub full of glass beads from her mosaics. And inside of that was a bubble wrapped, taped, and sealed cardboard tattoo from a gumball machine. Inside of that was cash to get the tattoo she's been wanting forever. It was great watching her finally realize what it was.







As for me - well, I got spoiled. I got great manly gifts! Which was perfect, because I was starting to feel a bit feminine with all of the baking and cooking and artsy crafty stuff I've been doing. I got this great goofy T-shirt with a velcro strip and a bunch of Velcro letters. You know, so I can make it say different things on different days. It says "Peace and Joy to you!" today. I also got - get this - it's like a syringe full of testosterone - a heavy clay poker chip set -AND- a gorgeous humidor! Woo fricking hoo! You can see the humidor in that first picture of Rachel above.

Now I have to go shave shower and shine. I already took care of that other 'sh' word. Shortly after the coffee. Then it's load up the car and head on down to Petalumer for Christmas ala Adrianne.

Oh, wait, one more picture...



Again, peace and joy to you!

Could you bring a ham?

Has anyone ever said that to you? We're going to the McNaught's house for Christmas dinner and we asked what we could bring. Adrianne said she like the yams I made at Thanksgiving, and, "this might be too much to ask, but John really liked that ham."

So I am making Herb Crusted Rotisserie Ham with a Southern Comfort mop again. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. Partly because our deck is leaking in to our sun room. And it would suck to be out working the grill in the rain for two or three hours. Somebody must make a grill umbrella.

Anyway, here's the recipe:



Herb-Rubbed Rotisserie Ham with Southern Comfort Mop BBQ Recipe
This Southern-inspired ham is loaded with fragrant fresh herbs and basted with a deliciously sweet concoction. For best results, pick a round ham so it cooks evenly on the rotisserie. Don’t have a rotisserie? You can still grill this with great results.

For the rub:
3 tablespoons mixed peppercorns
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons fresh chopped marjoram
2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage
1 sugar-cured smoked ham, butt end, 6 to 8 pounds

For the mop:
2 cups Southern Comfort
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup prepared mustard


To make the rub: Using a spice grinder, mill the peppercorns, mustard seeds, and fennel seeds. In a small bowl, combine the ground spices with the cinnamon, salt, sugar, marjoram, and sage.
Rub the mixture thoroughly into the ham, especially the fat, and refrigerate, covered, overnight.
To prepare the mop: Whisk together the mop ingredients. Set aside

Center the ham lengthways on the spit and adjust on the rotisserie. Score the fat if desired. Let the ham rotate over Direct Low heat, for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until internal temperature registers 140ºF (60ºC). If you do not have a rotisserie, grill the ham over Indirect Low heat for 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Baste the ham three times with the mop during the last 30 minutes of grilling time. Remove from rotisserie or grill and let stand 15 minutes before carving.

Serve any remaining mop with the ham, if desired.

Makes 8 to 12 servings.


Here's a picture of all of the ingredients and the ham all wrapped up like a cellophane mummy. It sits in the fridge until tomorrow. I'm a little worried about how heavy it is and if the rotisserie can handle it. It's ten pounds and the last two I did were seven or so.




And I finished up my baking today. I did Peanut Butter Blossoms and brownies.

Now the brownies - was it actually baking? There were ingredients - eggs, oil, and water. But it was a packaged brownie mix. With caramel sauce. I did add frosting. But it was from a can - well, a plastic cup, actually. So I did enhance it a bit. I made them frosted turtle brownies. But it still feels like cheating.

But I did make the rest from scratch, including the reindeer poop cookies.

I have been really dilligent about keeping my kitchen immaculate every day for about two weeks now. But I am just too tired to clean up tonight. And half of the mess is flats of cookies and such. So tomorrow I'll face a messy kitchen, but it will clean up quickly as I put the cookies in tins to bring to neighbors.

I'm going to change topics here before I have to change my blog name to Mind Blogging Recipes.




Rachel was the Wrapping Queen today. She went nuts - have you ever used a hammer and a hot glue gun to wrap presents? She did. She made these custom gift tags with a cute little rivet to string ribbon through. I'm not sure what the glue gun was for. But they all look great under the tree.





Oh, that reminds me. I still need to wrap her gifts. Crap, when am I going to sleep?

Oh, one more thing - I didn't think it was possible, but I actually got a little sick of Jack Johnson today. I listened to his albums on my iPod while I braved the Clear Lake Safeway again today. And then I listened on the way home. And then I let it play while I was baking and rubbing the ham. And I realized I'd gone through all three of his albums twice and was in the middle of a third go. He's awesome, and he got me through the day. But I think we need a little time apart.

Baking, Wrapping and other ing things...

So my plan was to work on a baked item, pop it in the oven , and then come blog about it. It just didn't work out that way. Timing is the hardest part of cooking, and I'm getting pretty good at timing all parts of a meal so they all come to the table together. But throwing blogging in to the mix, well, that's gonna take a little time to get all sorted out.

Since my initial holiday baking post, Rachel and I have done a whole big bunch, and I've also found ot that, weather and butcher shop permitting, in addition to all of the cookies you are about to see, I will be doing a Southern Comfort rotisserie ham on Sunday.

In the mean time, here's how the evening went.

Rachel checked out the baking shelf in the pantry...






I got my grin on...














...and then chopped some nuts.
















Rachel, whom I am nuts about, and whose fudge was done first, went to wrapping presents. And she got blurry somehow. Perhaps it was the camera. Anyway, while she wrapped...















I mixed...















And then she grated chocolate for the chocolate Mexican wedding cookies. She's good, my wife. She is.













Here's some of the results so far. The Reindeer Poop cookies...
















And the chocolate and straight up Mexican Wedding Cookies.















So, you know, don't make fun of my outfit. I got it on eBay back when eBay was cool. And aside from being stylish and giving me confidence, the black is slimming.

The Triplechocolate whatever I'm gonna call 'em cookies are cooling on another rack. Visually, they aren't worth the hassle of taking another picture, reducing it in Photoshop, uploading, and tagging it. But they taste really good. Anyway, there is a slight chance that you are one of the very few people who will both read this blog about the cookie creating process and receive some of the cookies as well. Ted and Laurie are the top candidates. We'll see how it all shakes out. Maybe Brad, but it's a bit of a drive.

Anyway, here's the mess I have to go deal with now.

So if it takes me a while to post again, that's the reason.

Tomorrow it's frosted brownies, and possibly these wicked good chocolate filled pillow sugar cookies Rachel makes.

There were six or eight things Rachel and I decided I should blog about tonight. These include:

-My first book will be called, "Does Your Wife Know You're Gay?"

-The common origins of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers

-The genius of Repo Man - "It happens somtimes, people just explode. Natural causes."

I'm sure there were others. Maybe they'll come to me. Or maybe I won't ever get to the above items I listed, even. We'll see. Give me a break. I'm on vacation sort of. And I have dishes to do.

So while my beautiful, sexy, loving, kind and ever so supportive wife sleeps, I'm going to do dishes for a while and then go snuggle up next to her.

And please know that I will receive a mighty smack, a robust pinch, or possibly both when my beautiful, sexy, loving, kind, and ever so supportive wife sees I snapped a picture of her while she was sleeping and posted it.

Peace to you and yours and those around you, and those around them and so on, and so on around this great big world of ours.

Holiday Baking...

So it's Thursday night. Rachel doesn't have to work tomorrow. So we're having a couple of cocktails and baking up a storm. Rachel's already made fudge. I'm gonna do Mexican wedding cookies, chocolate Mexican wedding cookies, My triple chocolate oatmeal disaster cookies (I'm still working on the name of those), Reindeer Poop, and Peanut Butter Blossoms (with the Hershey's kiss on top). Pictures and updates to follow.

Cooking or just heating things up...

I spent Sunday afternoon flipping back and forth between ESPN and the Food Network.

ESPN is dedicated to all things sports. Football was on ESPN. There were plenty of commercials for cars - big trucks, beefy Hemi engines, sexy sports cars. There were also ads for beer, jewelry, deodorant, financial planning, and of course various cures for male erectile dysfunction. That all makes sense, the target audience for these products likely tunes in.

Now, the Food Network is a channel dedicated to food and cooking, right? So you would think that most people who watch the shows on that channel enjoy cooking and are looking to learn more about it. I'd expect to see ads for things like Kitchen Aid mixers, Le Crueset cook ware, knives, spices, and such. Nope.

There were lots of Wendy's ads. Are these for slackers? "You know hon, I was gonna try making Emeril's herb crusted chicken tonight, but that Wendy's bacon double looks mighty good - get the keys, let's go."

Another ad was for Cambell's Cream of Mushroom soup. I guess I'm OK with this product as many people consider it an "ingredient" in some recipes. And I've used it myself in a pork chop recipe. I think the odds are pretty good that the commercial will some day air during a show where the host is actually making Cream of Mushroom soup.

The worst, though, was a commercial for Boston Market. This is a cooking channel, renmember? The Food Network. The show that was on was showing how to make a holiday meal, including a standing rib roast. But the commercial for Boston Market (with music by what sounds like The Reverend Horton Heat) says:

Food Makes The Holidays.
Let Us Make The Food. (Click to hear the song)

Sure, just pick up the whole thing and put it in your serving dishes and let everyone think you made it.

This got me to thinking about the difference between cooking and merely heating things up. I remembered this great piece in The Onion called I Make THE Best Spaghetti.


Now, my 12-year old son likes to "cook." His specialty is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. He's gotten pretty good at it. And he's made spaghetti for us before, too. Boil the water, heat up the jar of sauce, combine the two and it's dinner.

When I was young, my Mom would make spaghetti dinners fairly often. It was always the same - Golden Grain spaghetti, ground beef added to Ragu spaghetti sauce, and usually garlic bread. It was consistent, reliable, and fairly nutritious. And we had it every Friday before my sister's Saturday swim meets. Usually, the next night was T-Bone steak, broiled, and raviolis with the left over spaghetti sauce.

When I make spaghetti, I make my own sauce. Spaghetti sauce is incredibly easy to make. It is also cheaper in the long run than buying sauce in jars. I start with a little olive oil in the pot. I saute some garlic and diced onions and whatever spices call to me from the rack- Usually some "Itallian Seasoning," basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, some parsley, and maybe a dash of cumin. I float a couple of bay leaves. I add tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, a bit of wine, and some brown sugar. It always tastes a little different, and it is always better than anything I've had straight from the jar.

I also make garlic bread. My Mom used to use this garlic spread mixed with margarine. It was tasty. I did mine the same way for a long time. But I've learned a better way. I crush fresh garlic, mix it with butter and melt it in the microwave. I slice the sourdough loaf lengthwise and then cut individual slices leaving them still connected at the crust. I pour the melted garlic and butter over the bread and work it in between slices and all across the top. I spread a couple of spoonfuls of my sauce on top of that followed by some spices, a little paprika, some grated parmesan, and maybe a little mozzarella. It takes a little longer, but it is worth it, in my opinion.

So what am I getting at here? I guess I think there should be some rules about the difference betwen cooking and just heating things up. Mac and Cheese is clearly just heating things up. I would say Mom's spaghetti is still just heating things up, although it borders on cooking since she had to brown the meat. My spaghetti is clearly cooking, but borders on just heating things up. I will try to learn how to make pasta from scratch.

My rules:

1.) If you follow directions on a box, can, or jar, you are heating things up.

2.) If you follow a recipe, with actual ingredients, not just products, you are cooking.

And beyond that:

3.) If you start with a meal in mind, follow some basic principles, use ingredients, and insert some creativity, and it actually tastes good - it can be art.

Examples:

1.) Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake and Boboli Crust pizzas are just heating things up.

2.) Making the crust yourself (flour, water, sugar, olive oil, yeast, salt, spices), spreading the sauce (I will allow even canned pizza sauce, but it's better if you make it yourself), adding the cheese and toppings and baking it is cooking.

3.) Crock pizza is art.

(I'll post the recipe and some pictures the next time I make it.)

Visual examples:


This
is
heating
things up...



This is cooking...



Cream of Mushroom Soup
From Food Network Kitchens
Ingredients
1-1/2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms, or other dried mushrooms
7 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
10 ounces button mushrooms, chopped
2 leeks (white part only), thinly sliced
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 parsley sprigs
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon Madeira
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Place the dried mushrooms in a large bowl. Bring the broth to a boil and
pour over the dried mushrooms. Set aside to rehydrate for about 20 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the mushrooms and reserve the broth. Roughly chop the mushrooms.
Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the button and rehydrated mushrooms and
cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and somewhat dry, about 6 minutes. Add the leek and shallot
and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the flour and
cook, stirring, for 2 minutes more.
Pour in the reserved mushroom broth, taking care not to add any grit or dirt that may have fallen to
the bottom of the boil, and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Tie the parsley sprigs, fresh
thyme, and bay leaf together with a piece of kitchen twine and add to the soup. Lower the heat and
simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Remove and discard the herb bundle. Working in batches, transfer the mixture to a blender and puree
until smooth. Using a sieve over a large bowl, strain the mushroom puree. Return the puree to the
pot and reheat over medium heat.
Whisk the heavy cream, Madeira, and salt into the soup and season with pepper to taste. Divide among
warm soup bowls and serve immediately.

And this...


...is art!

Two Things I Hate and a Red Hot Date...

I did two things I hate tonight. We had some Christmas shopping to do. So we took Jake down for a weekend with his Bio-Dad. Commute traffic. That's the first thing I hate. I don't mind the drive - it's actually quite pretty. And with the new tires on the Trooper, the twisty bits are almost fun. But once I hit 101, it drives me nuts. I don't have to do it very often, but every time I do, it seems worse than it ever was. I'm not sure if it is actually getting worse and worse or if I forget how bad it is when I don't do it for a while. We dropped off Jake in Petaluma and then headed back North to THE MALL. 101 again, and the worst part was jerk wads who know the lanes go three to two but pull out and ride that lane as far as they can and then cut back in. Do these people think they are clever? More important than everyone else?

Then there was the mall. Which actually wasn't that bad. I've had much worse experiences. And we got some shopping done. We almost bought a treadmill and an elliptical, but they wouldn't deliver to our house. So, you know, I think it is fair to blame the weight I gain this Holiday season on Sears. And we had fun at some of the stores. Bed, Bath, and Beyond was a hoot. Oh, and we ate at Fresh Choice. I used to love Fresh Choice because they had Hawaiian Punch on tap. Not anymore. And the softy machine ran out. But the salad was good and I had a yummy baked potato.

So after braving the traffic and surviving the mall and getting some grub, I got to go on a hot date. With this hot chick.

We saw Syriana. I look forward to that DVD so I can watch it a few dozen times, pause, rewind, etc. And not have anyone kicking Rachel's seat. Somehow, she always gets someone behind her with the jimmy legs. Oh, and I love the Roxy theater because you can get ice cream and a decent latte at the cafe connected to the theater.

The drive home was OK. Really foggy in some spots, but it wasn't too bad. We got home and there was a Fed Ex package on the doorstep. I opened it up and it was a Christmas Card and gift from one of our customers. It almost made me cry.
They are my favorite customer and theirs is one of the most successful speech rec projects I've worked on. They thanked me for helping their business and for being a business partner and friend. That's the best when you can support your family while doing good work for good people who become friends. It's great to feel appreciated and they sent the perfect gift - a key chain. For years, I've used a pewter key chain my sister got me from Disneyland with Winnie-The-Pooh on it - classic Pooh, not the crappy Disney version. Pooh fell off a few years ago. I soldered him back on, but he fell off again about a year ago. He' lives on my dresser now, but I couldn't bring myself to get a new key chain. But now I have one.

And I am listening to the last episode of Morning Sedition. It's sad to see it go. I hope it comes back after a management shakeup at Air America.

Crock Pizza and Ginger Bread Houses...

We had our neighbors over for dinner last night. Nothing works like having company over to motivate you to clean your house. It was a really fun evening. I made crock pizza with a corn meal crust. The neighbors brought over an amazing chocolate marshmallow cake. After dinner, we sat around and talked while the kids made ginger bread houses. Good food, good company, good conversation, and fun for the kids. What more could you ask for? It was great to do something like that on a weeknight.

This didn't take long...

I bet the new offers were in the mail before the ink dried on the bankruptcy bill...

-------------
Newly Bankrupt Raking In Piles of Credit Offers

By TIMOTHY EGAN
New York Times
Published: December 11, 2005
TACOMA, Wash., Dec. 9 - As one of more than two million Americans who rushed to a courthouse this year to file for bankruptcy before a tough new law took effect, Laura Fogle is glad for her chance at a fresh start. A nurse and single mother of two, she blames her use of credit cards after cancer surgery for falling into deep debt.

Ms. Fogle is broke, and may not seem to be the kind of person to whom banks would want to offer credit cards. But she said she had no sooner filed for bankruptcy, and sworn off plastic, than she was hit with a flurry of solicitations from major banks.

"Every day, I get at least two or three new credit card offers - Citibank, MasterCard, you name it - they want to give me a credit card, at pretty high interest rates," said Ms. Fogle, who is 41 and lives here. "I've got a stack of these things on my table. It's tempting, but I've sworn them off."

If it seems odd to Ms. Fogle that banks would want to lend money to the newly bankrupt, it is no mystery to the financial community, which charges some of the highest interest rates to these newly available customers.

Under the new law, which the banking industry spent more than $100 million lobbying for, they may be even more attractive because it makes it harder for them to escape new credit card debt and extends to eight years from six the time before which they could liquidate their debts through bankruptcy again...

..."The whole business model of the credit card industry is built around outstanding debt," said Ellen Schloemer, a researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit group that tracks lower-middle-class financial issues, based in Durham, N.C. "This is the only industry that calls people deadbeats when they pay all their bills every month."
----------------
I learned this when I worked on a project for a credit card company about 8 years ago. At the time, since I had never paid my balance all the way down to zero, I was technically still paying for a pizza I ordered in college 7 years before that.

The worst thing about credit card debt is that you don't even realize how awful it is. It wasn't until Rachel and I finally paid off all of our credit card debt and our cars. At one time, we were paying something like $1,700 a month between our two cars and all of our credit cards. And we were just paying the minimum on the cards. That's money paid with post-tax dollars. We were essentially bleeding $20,000 a year. So when we finally got it all paid off, it was like getting a $29,000 raise to our annual salaries. All of a sudden we had money left over in our bank account at the end of the month. It was a huge struggle to get out from under, and we didn't realize how bad it was until we were out from under it.

It's nice to have credit when you need it. But it's tough sometimes to differentiate between need and want. And it's easy to run them up quick.

What's worse, to me, is how quickly they jack up your rates. That stupid Classmates.com web site charged my credit card $39 without my knowing. Apparently when you sing up once you somehow "authorize" them to renew each year. And since I never use my card, I didn't check my bill. And then I got a call. I was charged a late fee that was more than the original charge and my rate was instantly jacked up to 24% or so. I spent probably 9 hours trying to get Classmates to reverse the charge and complaining to Citibank.

The commercials make it sound so easy - a charge you didn't pay for? No problem sir, we'll take care of it. It ain't that easy. I finally did get the charge reversed and my rate lowered back to 12% or whatever. But I bet you it still shows up on my credit report as a "late" payment.

Big Energy, Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, Big Chemical, and Big Banks. I hate them all. They are wicked big, unassailable institutions.

I hate Big Energy. They pollute the Earth and people die because of their toxins. And they are responsible for violence against native people in 3rd world countries. But I heat my house and drive my car.

I hate Big Pharma. They advertise every imaginable illness and prescribe the cure. They claim that drugs are expensive because of the costs of research and development. But what about Vioxx? They falsified tests to pass FDA regulations and get approval to sell their drug. And people died because of it. So they lobby congress to protect themselves from "frivolous" lawsuits. But I take medicine when I'm sick. And Remicaid sure works like a miracle drug. But why does it cost $30,000 per infusion? Jake needs 9 infusions per year. That's the only reason Insurance companies aren't on my hate list.

I hate big agriculture - they too are ruining the Earth. And genetically modifying crops. But I eat food.

I hate Big Chemical. They pollute and have ruined the world's fresh water supply. Ever wonder why cancer has become so common in our generation? But I use cleaning products.

And I hate Big Banks. They charge unfair interest rates. I remember when ATMs came out and we were all encouraged to use them for free. Then they started charging for their use. And you can complain all you want, you aren't getting your money back. Pull $20 from an ATM at a convenience store. You'll get charged $1.50 from the ATM company and another $2.50 from you own bank. That's a 20% charge just to get your own money. It's sick. So I always pull the maximum available at the machine so it only works out to 2%. But it's still wicked. But there is just no way you can get by without a bank account, and in reality, you really need a credit card too. Try renting a car without one. Or flying.

And now I am dangerously close to going off on a Homeland Security rant - but it's late so I'll wrap this one up.

I think the problem with all of those industries that I hate is their size. They are too big. Too big. If they were smaller, and if there were more, smaller companies instead of fewer and fewer giant ones with subsidiaries, the free market might work. There would be competition and industries would police themselves out of self-interest.

My friend Gary is a rabid Libertarian and I think he thinks my progressive utopian ideal is impossible. I agree. But so is his Libertarian utopia. As individuals, all humans are good at heart - I believe that. Or at least there is some good in everyone. But put too many of them together and they somehow turn evil. This is why the Free Market will never work and we NEED government legislation to regulate and try to keep the playing field level. Unfortunately, our government has taken the side of big industry more and more - here's two recent examples:

- The prescription drug bill that makes it illegal for the government to negotiate bulk pricing from the drug companies.

- The bankruptcy bill that makes it harder for people to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors who target the recently bankrupt.

We need a government to protect us from large corporations. And if they don't protect us, it's time for a new government. Fortunately, in our country, we can vote them out instead of using violence.

Asian Food and Cornbread...

You probably wouldn't think of having Asian food with cornbread. But try Googling "Asian Food Corn Bread" some time. You will find that your instincts were correct. Tonight I made teryaki skewers (Chicken, beef, and mushrooms), rice, and some wicked stir-fry vegetables. And I decided to make corn bread as well. Rachel melted some butter and honey for it. It went great with the rest of the meal. Try it some time.

Also, in the past, I never thought of enjoying a nice bottle of wine with "Chinese food." But then I went out to P.F. Chang's one night with some business associates. A nice dry white wine goes great with a moderately spicy asian meal - it really pulls the flavor out of the food and the spice opens up the taste buds to make the wine more enjoyable.

It's only a matter of degree...

From the AP
China Town Sealed After Protesters Slain
By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
Sat Dec 10, 1:19 AM ET

BEIJING - Armed with guns and shields, hundreds of riot police sealed off a southern Chinese village after fatally shooting as many as 20 demonstrators and were searching for the protest organizers, according to villagers and a newspaper report Saturday.

If that death toll is confirmed it would be the deadliest known use of force by security forces against Chinese civilians since the killings around Tiananmen Square in 1989, and marked an escalation in the social protests that have convulsed the Chinese countryside.

During the demonstration Tuesday in Dongzhou, a village in southern Guangdong province, thousands of people gathered to protest the amount of money offered by the government as compensation for land to be used to construct a wind power plant.

Police fired into the crowd and killed a handful of people, mostly men, villagers reached by telephone said Friday. Villagers' accounts of the death toll ranged from two and 10, with many missing.

From Truthout.org
ACLU: Protesters placed in terror files
By ANSLEE WILLETT THE GAZETTE
December 09, 2005

The names and licenseplate numbers of about 30 people who protested three years ago in Colorado Springs were put into FBI domestic-terrorism files, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado said Thursday.

The Denver-based ACLU obtained federal documents on a 2002 Colorado Springs protest and a 2003 anti-war rally under the Freedom of Information Act.

ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein said the documents show the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force wastes resources generating files on “nonviolent protest.”

“These documents confirm that the names and license plate numbers of several dozen peaceful protesters who committed no crime are now in a JTTF file marked ‘counterterrorism,’” he said.

“This kind of surveillance of First Amendment activities has serious consequences. Law-abiding Americans may be reluctant to speak out when doing so means that their names will wind up in an FBI file.”

...Dozens of police officers used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

Which is "more" wrong? As a human being, I think the China story is worse because people died and all life is sacred. As a patriotic American, the Colorado Springs story is worse because, well, because it happened here, in our United States.

Terorists? Toxic Spill? Gas Leak? No, it's just Santa.

This is our second Christmas Season in our house down by the lake. Today at the mailboxes, I met a nice man named Paul who is retired and moved here a couple of months ago with his wife. I told him the story of how last year around this time, Rachel and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie. Jake was with Bio-Dad that weekend. We heard sirens, which is a pretty rare around here. Then we heard them again. And again. We went outside, and with the acoustics of the hill and houses, we couldn't pin point where they were coming from. They got louder and louder and sounded like they were coming from all around us. I ran and turned on the scanner (we got a scanner for fire season - it's a little freaky when you see smoke and can't tell how close it is). Nothing on the scanner. But it sounded like they were going street to street, the way they would if there was an evacuation or something.

It turns out it is something they do every year. A big long light parade of emergency vehicles with Santa on top of the fire truck. I heard them tonight and tried to motivate my family, but it's cold out and they were in jammies already. But I hopped in the car and went looking for them. And I snapped a couple of pictures.





Here's a picture of me and Sparky.












It's pretty cool. My camera doesn't do very well at night. But it's really pretty. Lots of lights and Christmas music blaring, and the sirens going off. I got home and the parade was going down Stonegate behind my house. So Rachel and Jake got to see it too from our deck.

And hopefully I saved Paul and his wife from a minor freakout tonight.

Blue Meme's Law...

I came across this on the Blue Meme blog...

In any situation, the craziest person in the room controls the agenda...Reasonable people tend to try to accomodate, find common ground and compromise. Those with limited capacity for reason tend to take harder and more extreme positions, and take more extreme actions to defend those positions. And, sadly, the dynamics of such a conflict tend to favor the crazy.

Imagine

25 years ago tonight, John Lennon was killed. I didn't know much about him when it happened. My Mom had a mono album of "Meet The Beatles" and that was about all I'd heard. She was a teenager when all that happened. That record might be worth something now, but unfortunately, she wrote "Oddone" (her maiden name) on all of her records and covers. Apparently they would have parties where everyone would bring records. Anyway, I think I remember hearing about it from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football, but I can't be sure now. I do remember my Mom saying that the Beatles were such clean kids but they all became hippies.

I would call this a confession, but I was too young at the time to really be responsible for my own actions. So maybe I was more of a victim. And I can't really blame my parents since my Mom was a good little Catholic girl and my Dad was a cop in San Francisco in the 60's.

Anyway - my first real exposure to the Beatless' music was the 2 record soundtrack album with the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton from the awful Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie. It's really cheesy now, but some of it still holds up - Aerosmith doing Come Together, Steve Martin doing Maxwell's Silver Hammer, and Alice Cooper covering Because. Anyway, from then on, when I heard the Beatles on the radio, it never sounded right to me since I was used to the soundtrack album and that was all I knew.

My first real Beatles experience was when Travis played the Beatle's Sgt. Pepper disc for me in his room at the Sanitarium on Ashby after a night of debauchery. There's another story I'll tell some other time. Maybe. Anyway - he put on Sgt. Pepper and I'd say it blew my mind, but my mind was already pretty blown that night. Maybe it put my mind back together. The thing I remember the most is all of the little things on the album going on in the background - the "Hi, there!" and how Ringo lags behind on the beat while Paul is running late on A Day In The Life and then he catches up. Brilliant! And on a 4-track? Are you kidding me? And I remember actually liking Within You Without You - my least favorite song on that album - but the song that I now feel completes the album.

That all happened at Berkeley. That's also where I came across this eccentric nut named Steven Lightfoot who claims to this day that it wasn't Mark David Chapman, but actually the novelist, (and CIA operative?) Stephen King, who killed John. He used to drive around in this wacky white van, but now he has a website.

www.lennonmurdertruth.com If you've got some time to kill, it's a fun read. And it's amazing to me that this guy is out and about and not strapped to a bed somewhere with a Lithium drip. He clings to an incredibly complex and convoluted delusion and supports it with some pretty detailed "evidence."

Now I don't know what to say. So much of what he believed and sang about and spoke about makes so much sense to me now. And there's no one like him today. Nobody. If anyone staged a bed-in today, it just wouldn't fly. And nobody's doing anything even remotely like that. We need someone like him today. Someone with his vision, his beliefs, his conviction, and his talent. I don't like everything he's done, and I can't sit through "Oh, Yoko." But I respect that everything he did was genuine. And, oh, this hurts a little, he certainly wasn't a phony.

The fact that he was murdered makes it hurt more. Mark David Chapman (or Stephen King) killed the man. And this may sound like an editorial in a high school newspaper, but here goes - John Lennon's spirit lives on in a lot of people and through his music. And music aside, I am certain that had he lived, he would have done much more for our nation and the world in the 25 years since his death than he did before it. And I don't think Nike would have used "Revolution" to sell shoes.

Progressive Dilemmas

I am struggling with shopping at Wal-Mart. Take Dog Food - I can buy a ten pound bag of dog food at the local grocery store for about $12. I can buy a forty pound bag at Wal-Mart for about $22. I can drive an hour over the hill each way and go to PetSmart in Santa Rosa and get the forty pound bag for $32. And that's about $15.00 in gas, so I might as well go to the grocery store four times.

I know it is wrong to shop at Wal-Mart knowing what I know about their business practices and how they treat their employees. But it's a waste of gas to drive over the hill just for dog food. And it pollutes. And I can't afford to feed my dogs at the grocery store prices. And anyway, PetSmart is a giant chain as well. And then I like to support my local economy, and technically, shopping at Wal-Mart supports the local economy more than shopping in Santa Rosa (Lake County versus Sonoma County). But if I drive over the hill, I can visit my sister, and there's value in that. But if I have to go to the bank in Clearlake anyway, I can hit Wal-Mart on the way back and not waste any gas or pollute any more than I am already anyway.

Then there's the fact that I own an SUV. Some of my friends give me grief about that. But I say, if I can take five people on a long drive to the beach in my car instead of going in two cars, that's better in the long run. And if I bring a plastic bag with me and pick up garbage, I'm doing more good than harm, I think. And besides, I work at home. So my Trooper sitting in the driveway while I work is better than anyone's Prius.

A plastic bag to the beach? How about the grocery store? Paper or plastic? Hmmm, cutting down a tree versus plastic that (maybe) takes forever to bio-degrade. Are the bags made from recycled plastic? Are the paper bags made from post-consumer waste? Buy canvas bags?

Speaking of cutting down trees - Real Christmas tree or Fake Christmas tree? Rachel hates the "tree graveyard lots." I say, they are cut down already, so it's more wasteful to let it sit on the lot and die. And we could go to a tree farm, but that's another drive over the hill. But then a fake tree is made out of plastic. I'm leaning towards fake now since it will last longer than me. Maybe we will pass it down to our kids.

It's tough, man. And no matter what I do, my friends like Ted and Kimra will always be better than me at this stuff. But then, I'll always be better than my parents. Maybe if we work on Jake he'll be better than us and keep making things better in the future.

But then maybe the Earth's core will cool and we'll lose our magnetic field and all die anyway.

Bill O'Reilly's War and the Iraq War...

Tonight, during my self-inflicted mandatory "know thine enemy" time watching Fox News, O'Reilly was taking up valuable air time with another segment on his struggle against his invented "War On Christmas."

Tonight he said that ten years ago, this wasn't a problem and wonders why it changed. While I no longer attend Church regularly, ten years ago, I did. And I was very active. And there was a big push in the Christian Community against "Christmas" displays in the stores. It was considered offensive for stores to associate massive shopping and consumerism with the birth of Jesus. So that's part of the reason for changing to "holiday" displays. Add to that that you see Christmas themed displays before Thanksgiving in stores now, it truly is a "Season of Conspicuous Consumption."

He's at it again with one of his "boycotts" and had a poll on his website. According to him, the poll showed that 80% of people will not shop at stores that don't promote Christmas by name. I have no way of proving this allegation, but then he has no way of proving the opposite - but I am fairly certain the numbers are bogus.

The greatest part of this story is that Fox News was selling O'Reilly Factor "Holiday Ornaments." Right up until one of those left-wing smear websites pointed it out. The website was quickly changed without comment to "Christmas Ornaments." I love the fact that web pages can be cached to point out outrageous hypocrisy.

I look forward to when he claims a victory in this war and gives some inflated approximation of how much money he has cost the stores on the wrong side of his crusade. Then he can get back to misleading us about how we are supposedly winning that other War.

Note to Al Queda - don't bomb Coit Tower, bomb Fox News while O'Reilly's in the building. Al Franken is right, this guy is a lying liar who tells lies.