9/30/2005
Teriyaki
by Matt Singer on 4:38 pm.
Recipe time!
After experimenting for months, I’ve finally come upon a teriyaki recipe that I thought was good enough to use as the base for further experimentation.
For a while, I was using ones that include aji mirin, which is an Asian cooking wine. When I went to the Albertson’s on 27th today, though, I couldn’t find any. So I turned to simple plum takari instead.
Here’s what else I used:
1 cup soy sauceI thought it turned out pretty decently, all things considered. Just marinate the meat for several hours and then grill it. If you’re pan frying, put the extra marinade in for the last 4-5 minutes of cooking so it can be used as sauce.
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 inch ginger root, finely shredded
3 cloves garlic, finely shredded
1 splash of plum takari
2 splashes of pineapple juice
Not much else doing in the personal food world lately.
| Comments (4) | Permanent Link | Categories: food |
Counter-intuitive
by Matt Singer on 2:07 pm.
Garance Franke-Ruta says that the pundits who saw Bill Bennett’s exercise in bigoted idiocy yesterday as an opportunity to discuss how interesting of an argument it was were wrong both substantively and politically. She’s spot-on.
As she points out later, Bush moved to distance himself quickly on this one.
Why doesn’t Brad DeLong do the same?
| Comments (20) | Permanent Link | Categories: policy, political |
End of the Quarter Reminder
by Matt Singer on 8:37 am.
I know I sound like a broken record on this issue. And that may even be funny after my recent post about the economics of elections.
But simply put, political giving is important. It’s partly how small donors maintain control of the political system. A politician who has thousands of small donors has to spend more time listening to thousands of little voices. That can make it easier to ignore the big money interests. Unfortunately, our government is in the middle of something of a hostile takeover. If we want to stop that, part of the solution is buying it back.
And that takes hundreds of thousands of small donations.
That said, donate to your favorite candidates. As always, here are the ones I recommend:
- Jon Tester for U.S. Senate — See the disclosure above, but know that I’m doing some worn on the campaign because I think Jon both is doing a great job in the legislature and because I think he’s a real team player inside the party. I respect that. He’s also frank and willing to stand up on important issues. You can read more about that in the diary he wrote for , Daily Kos, and New West.
Donate to Jon today - Monica Lindeen for U.S. House — For years in Montana, Monica has been pretty forward-thinking. She went into the internet business and succeeded when many people thought it was a passing fad. And she worked for years on economic development bills, in the minority and now in the majority. This is going to be a serious race next year.
Donate to Monica today - John Engen for Mayor of Missoula — John is the kind of progressive who is also getting serious backing the business world because of his commitment to honesty and fair decision making. I backed him early for the same reason I backed Jon Tester early. I have little negative to say about his opponents. I support John because the depth of my respect for his character.
Donate to John today
Please, though, invest in your government again. Who will do it if we don’t?
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: general |
9/29/2005
No One Running Against Blunt
by Matt Singer on 4:11 pm.
But there should be a Democrat running in the Missouri 7th. We gave Tom DeLay a run for his money in ‘04. We should be able to hold Roy down in Missouri in ‘06.
Especially with the nastiness in his record.
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: political |
Whoa, MediaMatters Finds Alan Colmes’ Spine
by Matt Singer on 3:12 pm.
Via Jeff:
MediaMatters has the story. Alan Colmes went after Ann Coulter, who, it is worth noting, just made some crap up.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: political |
Racial Exploitation and Historical Fact
by Matt Singer on 2:01 pm.
My friend Ezra has written one of most important media analyses I’ve read in some time about an unpublished op-ed that also ranks among the more important pieces of writing to come about in the last year.
Go read both pieces.
| Comments (6) | Permanent Link | Categories: general |
What’s With These Republicans and the Eugenics Talk?
by Matt Singer on 1:02 pm.
MediaMatters (”We listen to wingnuts, so you don’t have to.”) has caught William Bennett, formerly Reagan’s Secretary of Education, raising the idea of aborting black fetuses in order to lower the crime rate, an idea he nominally attributes to Freakonomics (no such racial ideas are put forth in Freakonomics).
And then I discovered Bill Frist’s book Good People Beget Good People: A Geneology of the Frist Family. Who knew goodness was inherited?
| Comments (5) | Permanent Link | Categories: policy, political, republicans |
Good news and bad news in Tennessee
by Matt Singer on 11:51 am.
Rep. Stacey Campfield of Tennessee has come under some fair fire recently for arguing that his legislature’s Black Caucus is more racist than the KKK.
My friend Diego called him out on it and asked Rep. Campfield straight up how he knows so much about the KKK and whether he’s a member.
Diego got a response. The good news is that Rep. Campfield is not a member of the KKK and says that he has deep respect for the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
The bad news is that the man seems to be barely literate.
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: political |
Chief Justice Roberts
by V on 11:12 am.
The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Roberts _ a 50-year-old U.S. Appeals judge from the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Md. _ as the successor to the late William H. Rehnquist, who died earlier this month.
I wonder what the vote will be on the next apointee. I am hoping for a 98 or 99 majority, but I am also doubting that it is possible.
Letters to the editor in the Missoulian today note concern at the lack of information presented both by the candidate and the administration. I would be interested to see a case revolving a legislative sub poena of information that the administration withheld. It may turn out to be a fundamental breach of the separation of powers, which tends to disfavor one branch stopping another branch from doing its job effectively.
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: John Roberts, law |
When Will DeLay Primary Challenger Emerge?
by Matt Singer on 10:59 am.
Ellen Miller points out that indicted Congressmen don’t often win re-election and everyone and their dog is saying that the tea leaves clearly show the Republican Caucus is through with DeLay.
A capable Democrat is running for the seat. The Republicans have to be worried about losing it. That only raises the question: when do they turn against their leader completely and run a primary opponent against him?
| Comments (2) | Permanent Link | Categories: political, republicans |
Bluntly Speaking, We Still Got Ethics Problems
by Matt Singer on 10:06 am.
David Sirota has nicely summed up the ethics problems with Roy Blunt. There’s an old expression in Texas about how “If you can’t eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women, and vote against them the next day, then you don’t belong in the statehouse.” It looks like Roy forgot about the part where you vote against them:
BLUNT DOES FAVORS FOR SON-TURNED-TOBACCO-LOBBYIST: “Only hours after Rep. Roy Blunt was named to the House’s third-highest leadership job” he tried “to quietly insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA into the 475-page bill creating a Department of Homeland Security…The new majority whip, who has close personal and political ties to the company… Blunt has received large campaign donations from Philip Morris, his son works for the company in Missouri and the House member has a close personal relationship with a Washington lobbyist for the firm.” Blunt later married Philip Morris’s lobbyist. – Washington Post, 6/11/03Republicans in Washington often deny that any of this is pay-for-play, which reminds me of what came out of the mouth of a man on trial here in Montana recently:BLUNT DOES FAVORS FOR SON-TURNED-LOBBYIST, PART II: “In April, for instance, Blunt managed to have a provision inserted into a Senate bill, without debate, on behalf of United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. The two companies were seeking to block the expansion of a foreign rival’s U.S. operations. Blunt’s son Andrew also represents UPS in Missouri, as the Wall Street Journal first reported, and the two companies have contributed a total of $120,000 to Blunt since 2001, according to Federal Election Commission data.” – Washington Post, 6/11/03
BLUNT SECURES ETHICS WAIVER AFTER MARRYING TOBACCO LOBBYIST: “Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) had a happier year, marrying a prominent lobbyist and obtaining the House ethics committee’s permission not to report their wedding gifts.” – Washington Post, 6/17/04
BLUNT USES LOBBYISTS AS DE FACTO WHIPS TO PASS CORPORATE TAX CUT: “Blunt’s mobilization of the lobbying community proved crucial in winning passage” of a massive special-interest tax cut bill in 2004. Though the public opposed the bill, Blunt had a “solution to breaking the logjam: Every major lobbying interest got something… The task of rounding up the votes was delegated by Blunt’s whip operation to a coalition of lobbyists, all of whom had clients with huge stakes in the outcome.” – Washington Post, 5/17/05
BLUNT USES SAME CONSULTANT UNDER INDICTMENT WITH DELAY: “The political committee of Rep. Roy Blunt, who is temporarily replacing Rep. Tom DeLay as House majority leader, has paid roughly $88,000 in fees since 2003 to a consultant under indictment in Texas with DeLay, according to federal records… Records on file with the Federal Election Commission show the fund linked to Blunt retains Ellis’ firm, J.W. Ellis Co., and has made periodic payments for services. Political Money Line, a nonpartisan Internet tracking service, places the total at about $88,000.” – AP, 9/29/05
BLUNT HAS CLOSE TIES TO LOBBYIST UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION: “Rep. Blunt and his staff have close connections to uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is the subject of criminal and congressional probes. In June 2003, Mr. Abramoff persuaded Majority Leader Tom DeLay to organize a letter, co-signed by Speaker Hastert, Whip Roy Blunt, and Deputy Whip Eric Cantor, that endorsed a view of gambling law benefitting Mr. Abramoff’s client, the Louisiana Coushatta, by blocking gambling competition by another tribe. Mr. Abramoff has donated $8,500 to Rep. Blunt’s leadership PAC, Rely on Your Beliefs. If, as it appears, Rep. Blunt was accepting campaign contributions from Mr. Abramoff in exchange for using his official position so support a view of gambling law that would benefit Mr. Abramoff’s client, he would be in violation of the law.” – Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, 9/27/05
BLUNT TRIES TO GIVE “ONE-OF-A-KIND” EXEMPTION TO COMPANY UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION: “Westar, the biggest electric utility in Kansas, is seeking an exemption that would free it from new oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission…The company wanted the one-of-a-kind exemption inserted in a wide-ranging energy bill. It was criticized as the kind of loophole that contributed to the failure of Enron Corp….House Republicans were pushing the provision at the request of two Missourians, GOP Reps. Sam Graves and Roy Blunt… state regulators [had] barred the company from splitting off its unregulated business [and] a congressional exemption ‘would have the effect of removing an important obstacle to Westar splitting its companies and leaving non-utility debt with the utility companies,’ Kansas Corporation Commission chairman John Wine wrote” on the same day Westar disclosed it was the target of a federal investigation. – AP, 10/1/02
Dick Dasen took the witness stand in his sex-crimes trial on Tuesday and asserted that the many women he had sex with over the years were not doing it for the money. Rather, he testified, the encounters were a “pleasant experience” for all involved and entirely unrelated to the many thousands of dollars he paid to the women.There have been a few too many “pleasant experiences” for lobbyists and Congressmen in Washington recently.
| Comments (2) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, corrupt, political, republicans |
One Republican Returns DeLay Money
by Matt Singer on 9:38 am.
It’s not Rehberg or Cubin (who have both said they won’t). It’s Rep. Jeb Bradley of New Hampshire. That must have been tough for him to do, as I’d imagine that there’s a fair amount of pressure in the caucus right now for no one to make this move. Once someone does the right thing, it’s tougher to refuse to follow suit.
| Comments (2) | Permanent Link | Categories: political, republicans |
Two Independents in the Senate?
by Matt Singer on 9:28 am.
Liberal-Republican-turned-Independe nt Lowell Weicker is possibly eyeing a run against Joe Lieberman. Combine that with Bernie Sanders and it looks like there is some chance of a net increase in the number of Independents in the Senate.
Crazy, but quite possibly good for the country. Who knows? With an independent set of Senators, maybe Snowe, Collins, and Chafee will stop seeing the point in being Republicans.
| Comments (5) | Permanent Link | Categories: political |
9/28/2005
Jim Farrell Says Rehberg Should Return Money
by Matt Singer on 4:51 pm.
Now that Tom DeLay has been indicted, Jim Farrell is calling on Montana Representative Dennis Rehberg to return money he raised DeLay’s fundraising vehicles.
Atrios is musing that DeLay is gone. The evidence is that Roy Blunt, originally kept out of the Majority Leadership out of deference to DeLay, is now taking DeLay’s slot. David Brooks is also badmouthing DeLay, saying conservatives had lost their faith in him, that Bush didn’t want him.
It looks like Tom is being left out to hang alone, much as the White House left Trent Lott to hang alone. Of course, the White House has enough problems right now that they don’t exactly have the time to try to sort out the ethics problems in their House caucus.
That said, the question really is how long it will be before Roy Blunt ends up in some serious trouble. CREW has the details on Roy Blunt’s sketchy record.
| Comments (7) | Permanent Link | Categories: montana, montucky, republicans |
That Scientism Committee Should Have Invited Dahlia Lithwick
by Matt Singer on 4:10 pm.
She’s certainly funnier than Michael Crichton.
But the critics are missing the beauty of this new theory. Because the really great thing about intelligent design is that it takes all the awkward uncertainty out of science. It says, “You know those damn theoretical gaps and conundrums that send microbiology graduate students into dank basement laboratories at 3 a.m.? They don’t need to be resolved at all. Go back to bed, sleepy little grad students. God fills those gaps.”It’s a good one.
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: law, scientism |
There Isn’t a Controversy to Teach
by Liesa on 3:12 pm.
So why can’t the mainstream media realize it?
Philadelphia, it appears, is not the city of brotherly love, rather, it is the city of frighteningly flat-earth ideas. “Phil†taken from the name of a possible flat-headed caveman, and “adelphia†which is Latin for “I don’t care if my kid don’t get a good enough education to qualify ‘im to install cable.â€
Teaching “intelligent design†as science is truly for people who leave windows open when they leave the house and wonder why it’s cold when they get back. It’s for those who don’t close the potato chip bag and wonder why all the chips are stale. It’s for those who watch Dr. Phil and wonder why they got bogus weight loss advice. It’s for those who read the mainstream news and expect to get a balanced picture of this supposed “debate.”
Focus on the Family says that 64 percent of the American public favors teaching creationism along with evolution. Still, I’m not impressed.
Eighty-three percent of the population believes in UFO abductions. Seventy-nine percent say they have had, or know someone who has had a Close Encounter of this kind. And 58 percent of us believe that the government is hiding information from us about this.
So why aren’t school boards rushing to pack this into the curriculum, and why aren’t the media covering this?
| Comments (3) | Permanent Link | Categories: books, censorship, ideologues, philosophy, republicans, scientism |
DeLay Furiously Spinning
by Matt Singer on 2:31 pm.
Am I the only one who thought DeLay went a little too far in criticizing the DA behind the indictment?
“I have done nothing wrong … I am innocent,” DeLay told a Capitol Hill news conference in which he criticized the Texas prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, repeatedly. DeLay called Earle a “unabashed partisan zealot,” and “fanatic,” and described the charges as “one of the weakest and most baseless indictments in American history.”It really is too bad that this charge is so easily deflated by even cursory research. The DA, Ronnie Earle, actually has quite a bipartisan history when it comes to political investigations, having “prosecuted many more Democratic officials than Republicans,” according to The Houston Chronicle. In fact, Earle once prosecuted himself for a campaign finance slip-up.
If anything, his record could portray him as prone to being a zealot about enforcing campaign finance law. But a partisan zealot? That’s unfair.
| Comments (14) | Permanent Link | Categories: political |
Lowering the Price Tag with Free Trade
by Matt Singer on 11:42 am.
Corporations are fighting as hard as they can against trade pacts right now. Sound bizarre?
Well, let’s just say that it looks like the Chamber of Commerce isn’t quite as free trade as they want us to believe and they don’t like the pretty obvious theory that government subsidies to companies violate trade rules.
Chris Kromm of Facing South wrote about this issue this morning. The Supreme Court is taking up DaimlerChrysler v. Cuno — where the company was sued over a tax break granted by local government to build a plant in Ohio. The 6th Circuit Court found that such a tax break consists of a violation of the Commerce Clause because it creates an uneven playing field between the states.
As a result, the Chamber of Commerce and other leading business groups are now fighting, arguing that local governments should be free to subsidize business to their hearts content — something that simply doesn’t fly under most trade agreements.
Beyond that, it’s simply stupid policy. I could explain more about why it’s stupid policy, but I’m running low on time.
That said, this is an important decision.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: law |
Delay Indicted
by Matt Singer on 11:24 am.
He’ll have to step down from leadership. I’d assume that will happen in name only.
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: political, republicans |
On Imagery
by Matt Singer on 11:23 am.
The Gallatin County Democrats have paired up with organized labor in Gallatin County in an effort called “labor for labor” to help clean up the union hall and raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief.
This morning, FREE’s Pete Geddes took to criticizing the organization’s invitation to the event for what he termed the use of “Socialist Realism” imagery that was used to promote Stalin.
Elizabeth Darrow, who is responsible for the invitation, is also a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Washington and says that the piece actually predates the “Socialist Realism” movement and represents late farm folk art. Now I haven’t seen the piece and as a Ph.D. in nothing, I’d be hardly qualified to judge what exactly it represents.
I do know that I am more likely to defer to the art historian than the economist on such matters.
But I raise Geddes piece for another reason. Geddes quotes Robert Kaplan as a method of criticizing the use of the piece:
What explanations are there for this inconsistency? Here’s one from Robert Kaplan, writing in the Atlantic Monthly: “Post industrial Western democracy has made people incapable of imagining life inside a totalitarian system. With affluence comes not only the loss of imagination, but also the loss of historical memory.”Affluence also, it seems, makes it possible for us to forget that the communist revolutions that set in around the world typically did not happen within Western democracies, but within other dictatorial systems. The Czarist system was far from perfect.
And, as Elizabeth Darrow notes, the artwork she used was actually from the very early period in the Bolshevik Revolution. It is artwork from a period of hope, from before the Stalinist purges, fom before totalitarianism.
One of the other cautions that Robert D. Kaplan has laid at our feet is not only that affluence causes us to forget the lessons of the past (lessons, some might say, that our President never learned), but that it also causes us to be blind to the trajectory of the future.
For more on that, please read his The Coming Anarchy and Was Democracy Only a Moment?
Regardless, I have before accused Geddes of making factual errors in his columns. This time, it seems Elizabeth Darrow is saying he has promoted inaccuracies once again. I’m not sure how long it will take the Bozeman Chronicle to realize this, but regular opinion columnists also need editors.
Update – A copy of the art is now included. Geddes emailed it to me and suggested I post it, which I am more than happy to do. I still don’t know much about the imagery. But feel free to judge for yourselves.
| Comments (10) | Permanent Link | Categories: montucky |
