Open Thread - 15 April 2012

I confess to boredome with today's news and its predictability.  Have at it.  pl

Comments

[Lee Gardner]

time to cook pizza on the bbq!

[turcopolier]

Lee Gardner

Good idea, I finidshed off an eye round roast out there today that SWMBO insisted on cooking in a big toaster oven just to see...

Yummy when the spit stopped turning. pl

[Tyler]

I just bought a large mix of shrimp, rock lobster, and scallops harvested yesterday in Mexico. What should I do with them?

Ideas?

[The Twisted Genius]

On Saturday morning I sat on my new deck drinking a mug of tea while reading the Fredericksburg Free Lance Star. I take the time to feed the local gang of squirrels and my murder of crows while reading the paper. They reward me with an entertaining show.

Often the editors of my local paper publish a piece of international interest just for the hell of of. This Saturday, the guest writer was Gorby. It was an article entitled, "Is the World Really Safer Without the Soviet Union?" He argued that the Cold War was over in December 1989 when he and Bush the Elder announced that their two nations no longer regarded each other as enemies at the Malta conference. He then lamented that the Soviet Union was destroyed from within two years later. He further lamented that our neocons took this event as the end of the Cold War leaving the United States as the sole remaining superpower. Without the Soviet Union as a super power partner, or at least as a counterpoint, Gorby argues that America set out on a two decade long road to perdition.

I was privy to some of the undercurrents and secret goings on in Eastern europe and the Soviet union at the time. I think there's something to what Gorby had to say.

The article is available online at The Nation, but you have to provide info to read the whole article. You can read the whole article for free and anonymously (if you so desire) at Gorby's own site.

http://www.gorby.ru/en/presscenter/publication/show_29059/

[J]

"Soon, Congress will begin drafting legislation reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which serves as the legal framework for domestic espionage against external threats. And while FISA doesn't affect spy activities overseas, the attention it generates will shift scrutiny to the National Security Agency and its growing and astonishing capabilities. "

"In the coming months, as FISA is reconsidered and pointed questions are rightfully asked of the National Security Agency — about what its quantum computers can and cannot do, and what its massive data centers do and do not store — it's worth remembering that signals intelligence is not collected entirely from a Panopticon in Maryland. Don't forget the daring, intimate work of the Special Collection Service, and the men and women secretly in the field around the world."

The Special Collection Service: Inside the secret world of America’s top eavesdropping spies
http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/226723/inside-the-secret-world-of-americas-super-sophisticated-eavesdropping-spies

[J]

Seems that SS duty and prostitutes don't go well together (when it's discovered in the public light anyway). Now the President is calling for a 'rigorous probe' of his body guard elite.

Obama calls for 'rigorous' probe into Secret Service prostitution allegations
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/15/world/americas/colombia-secret-service-obama/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

I wonder how much those boys were charged for services rendered? Hmmm......

[The Twisted Genius]

A friend of mine just sent me this obituary for Michael "Flathead" Blanchard. Sounds like he was a hoot.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/denverpost/obituary.aspx?n=michael-blanchard-flathead&pid=156944598

[The Twisted Genius]

Tyler,

Do a variation on a New England lobster bake. Partially cook the items that need extra cooking. Cook everything together in a big pan on a grill. You have different ingredients than traditional lobster bakes so use your imagination for a southwestern take on it. Do it fast, obviously. Seafood doesn't keep. Use something like this as a guide.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/summer-lobster-bake-10000001995737/

And Tyler, chill out a little. Packing heat in Zombieland is a righteous way to go, but it's not the only place and not the only way to go.

[steve g]

J: Read it is legal and the boys
were charged 47.00. One refused to
pay and the ruckus brought the
house down. So much for per diem.
Shades of Hangover III?

[Tyler]

I've got a few bags that are in the freezer. I'll have to give that a shot though. We had our own variety of that back on the Eastern Shore with blue crabs replacing lobsters though.

As far as chilling out goes, I am indeed in Zombieland.

[Tyler]

I just got back from the gym and was thinking on this, TTG, but why is it always the Right that needs to "chill out" when it comes to Zeal? Why is the Left allowed full throated LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME displays ala Slutwalk, Occupy, and gay "pride" parades but the minute the Right shows any emotion it's immediately "Woah you're going too far!"

We've got plenty of people on the Alternative Right side of things who want to sit and speculate about IQ studies, Evola and Heidegger, and write long winded articles about the logical fallacies involved with the philosophies of liberalism. I don't think passion and fervor are bad things, TTG, especially in defense of a culture and way of life that's being attacked on all sides.

It certainly hasn't hurt the left, afterall.

[William R. Cumming]

The USA went from August 1914 to spring 1917 to get into WWI. It took the USA from September 1939 to December 1941 to get into WWII. You may wish to count the lapsed time for WWII from Japan's invasion of Manchuria. It is now from 2008 to 2012 for the USA assistance [actual amounts still largely secret]to the EU and Eurobanks to hold together those insitutions, organizations and nation states. But now push has come to shove and an even that may have more economic impact that WWI or WWII on the USA is on the horizon. Follow the pleas of the IMF and ECB leadership for more efforts by the USA to support Europe. If Obama does this he will NOT repeat NOT be president in 2013. And if he does not do this expect the largest economic crisis world wide since the two World Wars and depression of the 20's and 30's. All IMO of course.

The currency wars are getting brutal and now appears that Japan will soon fall out of major currency baskets. Chinese FDI in Japan skyrocketing. FDI equals Foreign Direct Investment. Also in the Western Hemisphere.

[Morocco Bama]

I wouldn't touch a shrimp, or any seafood, coming out of the GOM. That body of water is now a veritable cesspool. I'm amazed that people still do it. I understand now why cholera is so endemic in certain parts of the world. People will eat their own feces when you get right down to it. In their case, they can't help it...it's the only source of water they have. In the case of GOM seafood, it's still an avoidable choice.

[Tyler]

Its out of Rocky Point/Puerto Penasco, so the water is kept pretty clean. Your concern is noted though.

[Nancy K]

Tyler, with some of the shrimp, scallops and lobster make a seafood risotto and/or a paella, using a big pinch of saffron in both of the.

[Morocco Bama]

I wonder if this is covered by the Obama Healthcare Plan? It's a matter of women's health, afterall.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/diet-brides-feeding-tubes-rapidly-shed-pounds/story?id=16146271#.T4wgftkuiSo

Why not call it the Terri Schiavo diet? It seems a more appropriate name.

[Fred]

Any good restaurant recommendations for the valley? I'll be doing some camping, and hopefully a bit of canoeing, late in May. Lexington is on my list as well.

[turcopolier]

Fred

Try "The Red Hen" in Lexington. Reserve a table. Other than that I usually eat breakfast at the truck stop on US 11 north of Lexington. Country ham, red eye gravy, etc. In Middletown on US 11 north of Strasburg there is "The Wayside Inn." This is in the midst of the Cedar Creek battlefield (1864). Just in front of the colonial era inn is the road junction where in 1862 Stonewall broke Banks' column of retreat in half and destroyed all that was south of the junction capturing many wagons and a lot of supplies in the process. In this action Jackson had the four Napoleons of the Rockbridge Artillery nearly at the head of his column. he put one section of two in the road firing south and the other two gun section in the road fifty yards away firing north while the Valley Army's infantry came into the road between the two sections and formed perpendicular to the road. When that was done the two halves of his force advanced north and south away from each other. "Old Jack" at work. pl

[Fred]

Thanks' for the recommendations! It's a good thing I'll be hiking, otherwise I think I'd be putting on a few pounds with some real Southern cooking.

[The Twisted Genius]

Tyler,

Passion is a good thing, especially in defense of one's beliefs. I can even appreciate raw emotion. I've been guilty of that plenty of times. I've appreciated your recent defense of all things Zimmerman. It makes for a much more balanced, interesting and sometimes enlightening discussion. However, it has not gotten us any closer to the truth of what happened that night. I haven't participated in this slugfest because I can't figure out what really happened. There are enough snippets of information, maps, reconstructed timelines, character sketches and surmised motives out there to support any agenda. Evidence can be created and manipulated. I don't accept anyone's account of the events. They can all be deliberately lying or inadvertently misremembering. Some are just plain full of shit and are eager to prove so.

I share your ardent support for defending oneself, one's family and friends, and one's property. Firearms can be an effective way of doing this. I believe that maintaining good situational awareness and exercising good judgement is more effective. They are especially important if one decides to carry a firearm. I don't carry, but I'm better at using the other two tools than most people. If I lived in Zombieland like you do, I might carry. This is an issue worth discussing. I still remember an ad in an old National Geographic magazine for the Thompson submachine gun being used by a rancher firing from his front porch at some would be rustlers. I'd love to have one of those. I'd also like to be able to carry a claymore bag full of mini grenades if I so desired. The Australian SAS taught me how effective they were in a night fight.

As far as our culture being under assault by slutwalks and gay pride parades, I don't buy it. Just live your life boldly like Michael "Flathead" Blanchard, who's obituary I linked to above, and our culture will weather the storm.

[Mark Logan]

Tyler, with a variety like that consider a cioppino.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/cioppino-recipe/index.html

Be sure to get some fresh french or sourdough bread to dip in the sauce. That's where the addiction really gets rolling.

[J]

steve g,

Looks like some clearances have been jerked for both the SS boys and ancillary Military support personnel. That $47 you speak of is going to cost those involved a lot more than that in the end, from the way it's unfolding.

Secret Service clearances yanked in Colombia probe
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/16/us/secret-service-colombia/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

[J]

TTG, Fred,

Looks like this one has a few people upset to put it mildly. From the Independent Journal Review:
Obama Can Now Control Food, Energy, Health Resources… At Any Time
http://www.ijreview.com/2012/04/3427-obama-can-now-control-food-energy-health-resources-at-any-time/

"in Section 201(b) the words “under both emergency and non-emergency conditions” have been added."

This one also seems to be causing some consternation as well:
Video: Obama in Colombia Scouting Out Potential Vacation Spots
http://www.ijreview.com/2012/04/3450-obama-in-colombia-scouting-out-potential-vacation-spots/

[Tyler]

Thank you all for the advice. I might have to get another load of seafood with the ideas coming my way!

TTG if you're reading this ill respond when I get home. I appreciate your response for its even handidness and rational tone, though.

[turcopolier]

Tyler

You might want to add some "court bouillon" or stock to either of my poaching ideas. pl