Wednesday night

Was at gym tonight after a brief nap. Weighed 169 lbs.

Tried of politics; watching "Man v. Food." Speaking of which, I have to vary my breakfast food. I've been eating a lot of canned roast beef hash, which is high in protein and tasty but also highly caloric and high in saturated fat. I'll get back to eating low-fat cottage cheese (on melba toast) and tuna. I used to order a lot of egg-white omelets but I'm trying to save some money.

This guy can eat.

Tiger Woods crash photos here at The Smoking Gun. Florida Highway Patrol final report here.

"Man vs. Food" in L.A. now. One of my favorite sandwiches is the French Dip (roast beef). Said to originate here in L.A. (Philippe's, which also makes them with pork, ham, lamb and turkey). I first had one in the '70s at a hotel restaurant when I lived in Helena, Montana. Haven't had a really good one in years. Had an excellent one maybe 10 years ago in North Miami when I was staying in a Best Western on U.S. 1 while my apartment building was being fumigated for termites. Then I ordered it the next night and it was horrible. (Apparently they had two different cooks.)

Arby's had them for a while -- not bad if you imagined you were eating the real thing. I would add salt and pepper to the au jus and was pretty satisfied. Too bad they discontinued them. (Maybe people didn't understand them if they'd never tasted the real thing.) Quizno's has or had them -- OK, but none of their onion sauce for me. (The sandwich is not supposed to be sweet. It's supposed to be savory.)

More on the Tiger Woods drama -- from China

No translation necessary. From Digby here

Charles Foster Johnson Won't Drive off a Cliff

From MyDD here.

The conservative blogger Charles Foster Johnson, founder of Little Green Footballs and co-founder of Pajamas Media, has parted ways with the right. Tonight he blogged on the matter outlining his rationale:

1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)

6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)

7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)

8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)

10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)

And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.

I won't be going over the cliff with them. . . .

The Reconciliation Dance

From Talk Left here.

In private, Reid is still alluding to the use of reconciliation on HCR reports The Hill:

During a Nov. 19 news conference, Reid told reporters: “I am not using reconciliation.” But centrists are skeptical that Reid’s public stance means the threat of reconciliation has passed. “Some, citing comments from Sen. Reid, say reconciliation is off the table,” [Nebraska Senator Ben] Nelson wrote [in a Omaha newspaper Op-Ed]. “But it will be right back on the table if we allow the normal Senate parliamentary procedures to break down.”

Perhaps Reid is playing this properly. As Roland Hedley, Jr. says, time will tell.

Tuesday night

Watching Obama's speech on Afghanistan. Sounds right to me.

Cooking the cubed steaks with the picadillo flavoring. Accidentally dumped in too much oregano, so it's a little bitter. Maybe that'll cook away. It isn't that noticeable, but I notice it since I did it. Otherwise it's delicious.

Walked my mile home and no nap. Napped a little on the bus. Tomorrow I'll take a nap before the gym.

I'm so pissed at what the credit card companies are doing that I'm paying off my main card, which I'd let get up there a bit (includes the electricians' work for the kitchen remodel). It's still not anywhere near my limit. Today I got this from Consumers Union:

A bill that would put credit card reforms in place now rather than in three months was just blocked in the Senate. So it's time to take the fight straight to the banks!

Tell the credit card companies exactly what you think of them, and that they won’t get your business until they stop raising interest rates, adding new fees and penalties, and other tricks prior to the credit card rules going into effect in February.

What better way to tell the banks "bah, humbug!" than to stop charging on their cards during the holidays. Use this link to directly tell the credit card companies what you think of them. We can put the pressure on at the corporate level now if we all speak out together!

(Didn't send out the query letter today. No need to act hastily. I'll sit on it for a couple of days and then re-read it.)

The steak came out great. No bitterness. I used olives plus capers, and tomato sauce plus a can of diced tomatoes, along some white vermouth. (Click on photo to enlarge.) Now I'm cooking a cup of rice in two cups of the liquid. We'll see how that turns out.

Turned out good. Needs to steam a little longer. Tastes like -- who would have guessed -- Spanish Rice. (I'll spare you a picture.)

Monday night

Tired. Got off the bus down the road tonight after work and had a fish sandwich at BK before walking home. No nap. I'm trying to minimize those now. They just make me stay up later. I'll take one if I'm tired and have to go to the gym, however.

Spent a lot of time tonight working on the query letter for the article I've been working on. I'll probably send that out tomorrow. I'd already written a draft over the weekend.

Sunday night

Got a lot done today. Laundry, cooking, gym, grocery-shopping and dish-washing. Watching "Desperate Housewives" now. Better than the last two shows.

Was good. Next week sounds good, too. Now I'm watching "The 650-lb. Virgin." (Lost his virginity.)

I almost gave myself a day off from the gym but I'm glad I didn't. I'd been in a bit of a funk and snapped right out of it. Writing that piece over the holiday dredged up a lot of painful memories.

So, Tiger Woods is or is not having an affair, which got reported in the National Enquirer, and then in the middle of the night he got into his SUV and drove into a tree and a fire hydrant next door (in a suburb of Orlando). And then his wife busted in the back window of the SUV with golf clubs. Wow.

Made a big pot of chili today (taking some for lunch tomorrow). Also bought meat on sale at Publix: cubed steaks, stew beef, and ground sirloin. Also got a plain rotisserie chicken and had some of that for dinner with watermelon, which wasn't sweet. :-( Bootsy shared chicken breast with me. I'll stick with the plain rotisserie chicken since it doesn't have a whole paragraph of chemical ingredients.

Will make soup with the stew beef. I think I'll cook the cubed steaks in tomato sauce with the Cuban picadillo flavorings. (Something different.)

Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill Linked to US Christian Group

From MyDD here.

Peter Tachell writing in The Guardian finds the British Commonwealth of Nations is but a Commonwealth of homophobes. Indeed, apart from perhaps Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, gay men are most severely persecuted in the former British colonies now independent that make up the Commonwealth. Of the 53 current members of the Commonwealth, more than 40 still criminalize same-sex relations, mostly under anti-sodomy laws that were originally imposed by the British government in the 19th century, during the period of colonial rule. The most draconian laws are found in The Gambia, Nigeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and Jamaica. But these pale in comparison to a bill now making its way through the Ugandan Parliament that makes sodomy a capital offense. That's shocking enough, but the bill has ties to a conservative US Christian group whose members includes the high and mighty of American politics of both political parties.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 is going through Uganda's Parliament after receiving its first reading last month. According to Clause 2 of the Bill, a person who is convicted of gay sex is liable to life imprisonment. But if that person is also HIV positive the penalty - under the heading "aggravated homosexuality" - is death. The mere touching of another person with the intent to have gay sex is punishable by life in prison. The bill also criminalizes advocacy of LGBT issues. Membership of LGBT organizations and funding for them, advocacy of LGBT human rights and the provision of condoms or safer sex advice to LGBT people will result in a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of seven years for "promoting" homosexuality. Nor are gay Ugandans who flee their country safe. The bill has provisions for extra-territorial jurisdiction. The law, if passed, will also apply to Ugandans who engage in homosexual behavior while living abroad. Violators overseas will be subjected to extradition, trial and punishment in Uganda. There are estimated to be 500,000 gay people in Uganda, from a population of about 31 million, according to gay rights groups.

This weekend on the margins of the Commonwealth Conference being held in Port of Spain, Trinidad, both British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told President Museveni of Uganda that legislation was "unacceptable." They might also have a chat with Senator John Ensign, Senator Tom Coburn, Senator Charles Grassley, Governor Mark Sanford, Representative Bart Stupak and Representative Joe Pitts among others because they are all members of a radical Christian group called The Family. The group which dates back to the 1930s more recently came to our attention for the shenanigans surrounding the affair of Nevada Senator John Ensign and the Congressional boarding house on C Street, but according to Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, The Family is connected to the proposed anti-gay legislation in Uganda. . . .

GROSS: Let's talk about The Family's connection to Uganda, where there's a, really a draconian anti-gay bill that has been introduced into parliament. Uganda already punishes the practice of homosexuality with life in prison. What would the new legislation do?

Mr. SHARLET: Well, the new legislation adds to this something called aggravated homosexuality. And this can include, for instance, if a gay man has sex with another man who is disabled, that's aggravated homosexuality, and that man can be - I suppose both, actually, could be put to death for this. The use of any drugs or any intoxicants in seeking gay sex - in other words, you go to a bar and you buy a guy a drink, you're subject to the death penalty if you go home and sleep together after that. What it also does is it extends this outward, so that if you know a gay person and you don't report it, that could mean - you don't report your son or daughter, you can go to prison.

And it goes further, to say that any kind of promotion of these ideas of homosexuality, including by foreigners, can result in prison terms. Talking about same sex-marriage positively can lead you to imprisonment for life. And it's really kind of a perfect case study in the export of a lot of American, largely evangelical ideas about homosexuality exported to Uganda, which then takes them to their logical end. . . .

What would Jesus say?

Saturday night really late

Been talking for hours with my friends in Canada and FTL/STL. Just got off the phone with friend in FTL. Time to chill.

Got a lot of rest today and walked down to Flanigan's for dinner. Had appetizers: Steak House Soup, mozzarella sticks and dolphin fingers. Then to Starbucks for a coffee. Got absolutely nothing done today, but that's OK.

Huffington Post: Palin Tricked By Comedian Again, Says Canada Should Drop Public Health Care (VIDEO)

At a recent stop on her "Going Rogue" book tour, Sarah Palin told Canadian comedian Mary Walsh that Canada should get rid of its public health care system.

Walsh is the co-creator and star of This Hour Has 22 Minutes -- a nightly news parody show in the same vein as The Daily Show -- and she arrived in character, as the conservative Marg Delahunty, to the Borders where Palin (the "Alaskan Aphrodite") was signing books.

"I just wanted to ask you if you have any words of encouragement for Canadian conservatives who have worked so hard to try to diminish the kind of socialized medicine we have up there." Walsh shouted to Palin as she approached the table.

Palin's handlers tried to help her by ushering Walsh out of the Borders, but Palin could not be deterred. When Palin left the signing, Walsh caught up with her in the parking lot, where Palin suggested that Canada should get rid of its public health care system. "Keep the faith" Palin said, "because common sense conservatism can be plugged in there in Canada too. In fact, Canada needs to reform its health care system and let the private sector take over some of what the government has absorbed."

Raw Story points out that it is unlikely this plan will go over well among Canadians -- even among conservatives.

A recent study found that 90 percent of Canadians support universal, single-payer health care. A poll taken last summer shows 82 percent of Canadians believe their health care system to be better than the US's, despite constant grumbling about waiting times for treatment of non-life-threatening conditions.

This is Palin's second brush with Canadian comedians. Last November a comedian from Montreal convinced the former governor she was speaking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Watch the video below.

Later, Walsh remarked to the Canadian Press that "It was great fun, but also very strange."

Walsh said, she found it equally bizarre that no one was allowed to ask Palin any questions at the book-signing....

"We're in a bookstore, at a public event, in a place one would think was a bastion of free speech. And no one was allowed to ask questions. What are they afraid of?"

Friday night

Project is done. Got cleaned up and am having Starkist SeaSations for dinner. Trying the new Thai with Basil now. Good (different, I would say) but not as good as the Savory Lemon & Herb.

Burned out on the project, but I'm glad I got it done on holiday days off (fortunately, as planned), since I have things to do around here this weekend, like wash clothes and cook. The project is a 7900-word non-fiction story. I hope I can submit it to a magazine. (Wrote query letter tonight.) I bared my soul on this one. (All names changed to protect privacy and it would be submitted under a fictitious name, so there's no glory in it for me.) (Just some healing, maybe.)

Thursday night

Just finished working on the project. Almost done. Finished off the chicken salad today, with melba toast. That and a yogurt were enough. Now to chill.

Tonight it's supposed to get down in the 50s. It's cool already. The A/C has cycled off and I have windows and the slider open.

Nelson Reconciles?

From Digby here. Interesting.

Maybe I'm just drunk on cranberry fumes, but at first blush it actually looks as if Ben Nelson is actually helping keep the public option alive, (although he may not know it):

Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, has offered up an interesting explanation for his vote to move forward with debate of major health care legislation: he stopped his fellow Democrats from playing parliamentary hardball that he said would have led to a fast-tracked bill and “sidelined” centrists like himself.

In an op-ed in The Omaha World-Herald newspaper, Mr. Nelson suggested that had he not agreed to start formal debate on the health care bill, Senate Democratic leaders would have employed a tactic known as reconciliation to pass the legislation with a simple majority of 51 votes.

To bring the bill to the floor for formal debate, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, needed the votes of all 60 members of his caucus, 58 Democrats and two independents, including Mr. Nelson. Republicans voted unanimously against starting debate.

“This past Saturday evening, I voted for the Senate to proceed to a full and open debate on health care reform with two goals in mind,” Mr. Nelson wrote in the Omaha paper. “The first goal is that the Senate, now able to follow normal parliamentary procedures, will produce a bipartisan bill cutting the cost of health care for Nebraskans and all Americans. The second goal is that by following normal procedures — allowing much debate, many amendments and even an opportunity to consider a complete alternative to the new bill offered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — we have avoided for now bringing up health care legislation by using the tactic known as budget reconciliation.”

Mr. Nelson said the road ahead would not be easy. “There are partisans on both sides who will try to undermine efforts toward the first goal,” he wrote. “However, if we don’t let the normal procedures prevail, it is likely reconciliation will prevail.”

Mr. Reid has suggested that reconciliation is off the table. But Mr. Nelson said that would not hold firm if the Senate deadlocks over procedural issues. “It will be right back on the table if we allow the normal Senate parliamentary procedures to break down,” he wrote.

He also noted that Republicans who have warned against the use of budget reconciliation to pass health care legislation had themselves used the reconciliation process to pass big bills when they were in the majority. “Some who discount the possibility of reconciliation have used it to avoid a filibuster in the past,” Mr. Nelson wrote. “They were against filibusters before they were for them.”

I realize this is all self-serving bipartisan tripe for the hometown crowd, but still, by saying that reconciliation isn't off the table he's keeping his most despised piece of the legislation viable. The public option has long been thought to be the piece most likely to be broken off for a reconciliation vote. He's saying that Reid hasn't made any real committment to keeping it off the table which means Reid's still got the threat in hand, which I kind of doubted after last Saturday. (Indeed, I assumed he'd committed to taking it off the table in order to get Nelson on board for the first vote.) It looks like Nelson didn't extract that promise after all and he's using the threat himself as an excuse not to filibuster. It ain't much, but it's something.

For more on reconciliation, and what it means, Kagro X has a nice explanation of it today at Congress Matters.

Obama's Thanksgiving address

Biden Pardons Single Yam In Vice Presidential Thanksgiving Ritual

From The Onion.

WASHINGTON—In keeping with a longstanding Thanksgiving tradition, Vice President Joe Biden ceremonially pardoned a 4-pound yam today at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. "Under my authority as vice president of the United States of America, I hereby grant this yam full and unconditional clemency," a smiling Biden declared as he gently patted "Spud," a Beauregard sweet potato grown in Louisiana and selected from millions of candidates yielded by this year’s harvest. "May he never find himself in a casserole. Right, little guy?" Like yams reprieved before him, Spud will ride as an honored guest aboard the second float of the Disneyland Thanksgiving Day Parade before spending the rest of his life in the comfort and safety of a tuber petting zoo.

Dare Them To Filibuster

From Turkana here. (And definitely threaten to relieve Lieberman of his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship and any other privileges he enjoys as part of the Democratic caucus. He's a piece of work.)

So, some are suggesting that the Democrats are willing to punt the public option, under threat of filibuster, in the Senate. If so, that would be absurd. The Democratic leadership's response to those threatening a filibuster should be simple: we dare you to try. Because if the Democrats stand their ground, they will win. Even if the bill temporarily fails, those key senators responsible for its failure will be done, in politics. And then we can get on with the business of reforming and repairing this broken nation.

Let's look at some easy facts. The public option continues to poll consistently extremely well. Even in Connecticut. Even in Arkansas. Even in Maine. Even in Nebraska and North Carolina. Anyone notice a pattern, here? And key Senators from those states want to be responsible for derailing the public option? And because of that threat, the leadership may decide not even to try?

It's time for the Democratic leadership to stop playing games. Move the bill forward. With the public option. Dare those senators to make good on their threats. Get our very popular president back on the airwaves. When he speaks, people listen. And support for his issues improves. Because people support him. And because he's superb at selling an issue. So, send him to some of those key states. Force some of those recalcitrant senators to debate him. In public. Force them to explain to their constituents why they are opposing a bill those constituents support.

By even wavering on what to do, the Democratic leadership sends a message that they don't really believe in the public option, or that their belief is not strong. Taking a stand would send a very different message. It would prove that the leadership knows they are doing what is right, knows that the public supports doing what is right, and is ready to stand down those who oppose doing what is right and what the public supports.

It's not complicated. Press forward. Don't waver. Act as if this matters. Dare those threatening to filibuster to do so. Force them to decide whether they want to be on the wrong side of history. Do it very publicly. Put their careers and their legacies on the line. Buckling to a threat is the definition of weakness. The Democrats are in a position of strength. It's time they started acting like it.

Wednesday night

Just got off the phone with my friend in Canada. Was at the gym and store earlier after a nap. Then I was hungry and made a load of chicken salad out of the barbecued Publix rotisserie chicken from the other day (had picked up some celery at the store for that). Ate it on melba toast. A few barbecue notes here and there but still excellent. Hadn't made chicken salad in a while and have been craving it lately.

An old friend of my friend's is experiencing something of a Madame Bovary moment in her marriage. My friend unfortunately has been dragged into it. Now it's become extremely complicated and keeps my friend up at night. (My friend likes the guy.) "What a tangled web we weave . . . ." (*) I just think it's probably always a mistake to get involved with a married person. (I just wish more gays had the protection of legal marriage--or the equivalent--for their relationships.)

A good segue to one of my favorite poems:

Her Reply
(WRITTEN BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH)

IF all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy Love.

But Time drives flocks from field to fold;
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward Winter reckoning yields:
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Soon break, soon wither—soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy-buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,—
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy Love.

But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joys no date, nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy Love.

Here's Christopher Marlowe's poem, to which she is replying:

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

COME live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

There will we sit upon the rocks
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

There will I make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
Fair linèd slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold.

A belt of straw and ivy buds
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my Love.

Thy silver dishes for thy meat
As precious as the gods do eat,
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepared each day for thee and me.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my Love.

The ill-conceived project at work was back today. :-(