Open Threads

Because I care.

Open ThreadPost + Comments (70)

The following should be more widely available, beginning immediately.

* Bleu de Brebis. Whole Foods had this cheese once in 2005 for something like a week. Thus, as with Tartufello Pecorino, hope lives.
* Chipirons en encre (squid cooked in ink).
* Gateau Basque. If the Obama Socialist Food Rationing Board can only squeeze in one dessert cake from the Pyrenees, local consensus holds that the cream kind beats the one made with cherries.
* Dorade or similar fish cooked whole.
* Serrano ham. You can actually get American versions of this in specialty markets these days, but here it is as ubiquitous as watery, tasteless sliced ham in the States. I would love for someone with an economics degree to explain how a Serrano jambon beurre here costs less than crappo-brand ham on wonderbread with American cheese and mustard-like processed food product.

I understand better how customs officers keep their eyes on the Spanish and the Basque more than almost anyone else. One can easily imagine how much happiness can be squeezed into the secret(ish) parts of a suitcase, and I’m not even talking about the impressive pot plant that my neighbor has on his balcony.

Visiting the family is uneventful, thank the heavens.

Finally, for whichever readers recommended The Discovery of France in my book thread, many many thanks. The book makes an extremely useful travel guide while touring the stubbornly unassimilated pays.

France UpdatePost + Comments (37)

Parlez.

Fil OuvertPost + Comments (20)

I think this is the third weekend I have made it without watching the Sunday shows and instead have done something different in the morning. Today I just went to the rails to trails with the dog, then worked on stuff I would normally do on Monday while watching the history channel. I felt better for it, although I may have wondered what President McCain thought once or twice.

Spent the afternoon working, and went to Petco with Tammy and Sam and Lily, because that is where the pets go. Everyone behaved and I got Lily a new collar. I am gonna keep the Steelers collar for game day, but I think the new one looks better for everyday. The new collar:

For dinner, I went to Brian and Tammy’s again, and we had a spectacular meal. My uncle (who was a WWII navy vet and is super cool) and my cousin went fishing in Alaska last week, and they caught several hundred pounds of halibut and salmon, and a bit of it found its way to my house, so Brian cooked up a feast. So delicious, and the difference is just unbelievable. The salmon was cooked with a beurre blanc, and the halibut was served on a bed of spinach with mushrooms and tomatoes. It was to die for, and the texture was unbelievable. The fact that the meat was so perfect is a testament to how flash-freezing fish as it is caught preserves the cell structure. Probably one of the best pieces of fish I have ever had. The chef deserves mad props, too.

After that, for fun, we chilled with the dogs and watched Goodfellas. The temperature outside was perfect.

Today was a good day. I got work done, I hung out with my dog, I hung out with my friends, I just got off the phone with mom and dad and they are doing well after spending the week in Pittsburgh celebrating the 41st anniversary, and sitting here right now before I got to bed, I just realize how damned good it all is.

This really is a good thing we humans have going.

Sunday Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (202)

Regent in the governor’s hizouse, or running for it anyway. I don’t think there’s too much value in holding a 20 year-old master’s thesis against anyone (I skipped reading the article til TPM excerpted it and I saw the Regent connection), but this one is radical enough that McDonnell should have to go through and explain exactly which right-wing extremist things he still believes and which ones he doesn’t.

The thesis wasn’t so much a case against government as a blueprint to change what he saw as a liberal model into one that actively promoted conservative, faith-based principles through tax policy, the public schools, welfare reform and other avenues.

“Leaders must correct the conventional folklore about the separation of church and state,” he wrote. “Historically, the religious liberty guarantees of the First Amendment were intended to prevent government encroachment upon the free church, not eliminate the impact of religion on society.”

He argued for covenant marriage, a legally distinct type of marriage intended to make it more difficult to obtain a divorce. He advocated character education programs in public schools to teach “traditional Judeo-Christian values” and other principles that he thought many youths were not learning in their homes. He called for less government encroachment on parental authority, for example, redefining child abuse to “exclude parental spanking.” He lamented the “purging of religious influence” from public schools. And he criticized federal tax credits for child care expenditures because they encouraged women to enter the workforce.

It always come down to spanking, doesn’t it?

In complete fairness, McDonnell has been less of a whack as a public servant than that thesis suggests. Nevertheless, after reading about his thesis and contemplating the possibility (however unlikely) of Republicans running the country again, I was ready to go home to take pain pills and die.

Move over Monica GoodlingPost + Comments (49)

I wonder what the topic will be…

CBS Sunday MorningPost + Comments (107)