Prime Time Thread

WooHoo.I’ll be back after I watch a movie.

all things politics and media.Say, does that mean we shouldn’t talk about all the other random-ass shit we usually discuss?

Hmm looks like we need a topic up in this bitch.Soup: Delicious, or Earth’s Greatest Enemy?!

Mama’s soup surprise…..

And ElMyst brings the random-ass topic. I love it.Soup: Delicious.But I probably wouldn’t think so if Chris was my Mama.

“Oh, chicken lips and lizard hipsAnd alligator eyesMonkey legs and buzzard eggsAnd salamander thighsRabbit ears and camel rearsAnd tasty toenail piesStir ‘em all togetherAnd it’s mama’s soup surprise”Mmm, mmm, delish!(actually, Kat,I’m a decent cook, but soup defeats me every time)

It’s often said that the talent of a chef is found in his soup.Soup is awesome…

It’s often said that the talent of a chef is found in his soup.Soup is awesome…

I thought the talent of a chef was in his brain. Mmm…Chef’s brain soup…

soups are my specialty. esp. chilled summer soups.just to add, elmys…you always bring up food! hahaha…i guess the old talk about weather and the young talk about food! i could talk about fish tacos all day errday…

Bush and Cheney were planning torture before they even had (bad) legal opinions and before there was any detainees to torture?Those sick fucks

Gypsy, you could talk about tacos all day… big surprise there. That’s like me extolling the virtues of friend chicken. mmmm… chicken.

Mmmmm…chicken lips….mmmmm

Yeah, Ashby. They tortured in order to get evidence to justify the actions they’d already taken….like linking Saddam and 9/11.

Are stews considered soup? Because I’m a really good stew person.But my speciality is dessert. Fav dessert?

So can we lock up Rumsfeld now?I hope whatever special prosecutor is hired is just a hair shy of the Terminator.

Kat : Fav dessert – Blackberry Cobbler. Not the kind made with biscuits though, thats disgusting.

Angel Food cake with mocha whipped cream frosting. Yum.or strawberry shortcake.

Did someone say “tacos”?

I’d argue that a stew is essentially a condensed soup. Grandmother was Jamaican so I’ve learned how to make some stupidly awesome stews.I’m not a dessert person myself but not bad at whipping up some interesting ones (especially with alcohol). I am partial to cheesecake though. You?

So rumsfeld approved the interogation techniques to be used and then said it was some bad apples when those carrying out the techniques were busted….I remember his bad apples comments from years back and I figured at that time he was dirty too, but now this is just beyond damning.

caesar, i’m with you on only liking desserty alcohols.and what is up with the innuendo’ed “taco” comments?! should i urban dick’ it? don’t ruin fish tacos for me guys!!!

My fav dessert would depend upon my mood, but I do love tiramisu. And I like to make baklava during the holidays.

I made this chocolate ganache once with vodka that was all kinds of amazing.Also… she said urban dick. Heh.

Dark chocolate covered strawberries! And frog eye salad!

Speaking of Jamaica…how awesome are patties? In cocoa bread? I totally would de-vegetarian for an authentic, from the islands, Jamaican pattie. They aren’t quite the same in the states.

So, Gyps, how different is urban dick from rural dick?

Kat – I live in a location that is somewhere in between urban and rural, I could educate you.

kat, big difference! HUGE! keke… but latin dick has been the most beneficial to me.

Oh…I love bakalava….Ashby – and he let the bad apples go to jail for doing things he authorized. Disgusting piece of tarantula turd.Why aren’t more people absolutely livid over this shit??

Patties + cocoa bread = total motherfucking win…My grandmother made them and when I lived in Brooklyn there were places that made them authentically. Haven’t been able to find it since.

Favorite desserts: B&B, Grand Marnier, and Irish Mist, Single Malt Islay Scotch, or boutique bourbon such as Bookers. Alternate based on dinner entre.

Here are some comments from our close neighbors the Canadians……”Regina RonSelf-absorbed, self-centered, out of touch, misinformed. The Obama crew is no different than Bush’s crew – they just smile more as they make fools of themselves.”"Anne BérubéIn a very short time, if not already, I would bet that at least 75% of Canadians will miss George W. Bush. And for all kinds of reasons, just wait.”"MFHow very typically American. Open mouth and with no knowledge whatsoever, change feet.Where does Obama get people like this.Making excuses for her just isn’t going to cut it”"williamI watched this interview and I was outraged by Napolitano’s comments, but more incredulous that how obtuse she seemed!”Read them all if you want to see how others are viewing us without the bias of the US media.http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090421/USA_Border_090421/20090421?hub=TopStories

The answer is simple really… they aren’t livid because they don’t care. They happily drank the American exceptionalism Kool-Aid

I’ll go with tres leches…yummy.

no, the best is the patty filled with conch salad. holy jesus balls, that shit is unbelievable! i am convinced the only reason i am a land dwelling being is so i can deep fry my seafood. hehe…

oooo…and gulab jamun!Can’t forget that one.

Blasphemy, Ash!!!! Patties are meant to be filled with random mystery meat and lots of spices. And curry in the crust….now I’m craving one.And I need your opinion. Would redneck dick that lives in an city be considered urban or rural?

We can’t even get conch here cant wait until I go back to Tampa for a week in October for some food.

ceu -I keep asking the same question.Another question I keep asking is why do people keep confusing the legal definition of marriage with the religious definition of marriage. Two distinctly separate things with only slight relationship to one another. How a church defines marriage is completely irrelevant to a government’s legal definition of marriage.

Would redneck dick that lives in an city be considered urban or rural?It doesn’t matter – you don’t want it.

Why should I care what Canadian Torries think? They are the offspring of the loyalists that fled the U.S. rather than revolt against King George.Fuck ‘em. They are ultraconservative twatwaffles. And yet they have socialized medicine. Ask them about it sometime.

I had to Google Galub Jamun, space – I’ve never heard of it. But it sounds delish! I’m going to have to try and make it one of these days.

Git – People confuse that because our dollar bills say in god we trust and the pledge says one nation under god. Its premptively woven into the fabric of peoples minds that are too dumb to think outside the box.Kat – I would say rural unless they are originally from someplace urban. Me for example.

@ Kat…it is delicious. Trouble is establishing a good baseline for how it should be prepared. I’ve had it at many different Indian places and they vary greatly.I’m sure you’ll do just fine though!

Oh and im not a redneck!

Alright!Fineman gets it. On Countdown regarding why the Bush/Cheney boys tortured. To get false info to justify the GWOT.It was never meant to get actual actionable intel.Why are so many people believing these GOPers and some Dems who say they did it to get info on possible attacks.

had the word “redneck” not been involved i would say it had to be judged on a dick’ to dick’ basis but it was and my conclusion is “you can take the accent out of the country but you can’t take the “rebel yell” out of their accent. run girl!we are talking about regional diction, right?! wink, wink…

Yes, Rob56, I’m sure they’ll all be crying for Bush to come back soon.You do know that wingnuts exist in other countries as well, don’t you? I guess you forgot to read this part of the article and just went straight to the comments:

…Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan downplayed the comments and said that Napolitano is well aware that Canada was not the source of the 9-11 terrorists.

“We spoke about it back in March, and we were sharing a chuckle at the fact that the urban myth does circulate,” he told CTV’s Power Play.

“Ms. Napolitano understood quite clearly, then and now, that none of the September 11 terrorists came through Canada, as the 9-11 Commission found.”

You could also sample some liberal and progrssive Canadian blogs and you would discover that the people there sound pretty much exactly like the people here. Since you only bother with self-servative sites you are not fair and balanced.BTW, I comment at liberal CA blogs so I know of what I speak.The self-servatives in CA are as delusional and misinformed as the self-servatives here.

Git-Canadian socialized medicine…”The Canadian public health system is often put forward as an ideal for Americans to emulate.”" Several lessons can be drawn from the Canadian experience with socialized medicine.First of all, socialized medicine, although of poor quality, is very expensive.”The most visible consequence of socialized medicine in Canada is in the poor quality of services.”You can have it if you want it. I don’t.http://www.theadvocates.org/freeman/8903lemi.html

Man, now I’m getting hungry, haha.Oh and in response to the questions… People are idiots.

caeser, you like la fonda’s?

I’m actually off work tonight, so I’m taking the opportunity to actually comment in the PTT for once.Working on a new short story, “The Torture of Rush Limbaugh.”

I got hungry too Ceaser, so I reheated some sesame stirfry I made.

“People confuse that because our dollar bills say in god we trust and the pledge says one nation under god.”In Invisible Pink Unicorn was added to money in the 1930s.One Nation, “under Invisible Pink Unicorn,” indivisible, …was added to the pledge in the 50s. I refused to say the pledge because it contained that line.Perhaps the secessionists should be reminded about “One Nation, indivisible.”The founding fathers would never have approved of these changes.And by the way, it is: One Nation, under …”The comma is significant.

Gypsy,Yeah, there’s one in the heart of me and my associates stomping ground. It has a bomb ass patio that drink margaritas on until we’re trashed, haha.

Oh, Matt, I simply can NOT wait to read that. Awesome.

Maybe it’s regional, because the redneck dick here isn’t so bad. Of course, they have to keep their mouths shut. Or, at least not say anything.Working on a new short story, “The Torture of Rush Limbaugh.”That sounds like a glorious vision of the future, Matt. Please give me a cameo!! Doing something really depraved.

@ Rob56 – Excellent article with 20+ year old data.

wouldn’t happen to be ponce would it? because ponce, little five, va highlands that was my turf. if that’s your spot i got one word for you…okay three…the fucking clermont!!!!!!!!!!

Broadway Carl-Yes, you’re right…there was a few sentences, for balance, that were not negative. That however, does not represent the overall thrust of the article, and you know it.

Git – Yes I agree, just sayin thats why people have things confused.Who put that in there? Wasn’t it during the cold war when everyone was afraid of being melted and then going to hell and they thought the pledge of allegiance wasnt adequately comforting?

By popular demand:Rush Limbaugh withstood the procedure well…for about three seconds. Then he went into a fit, convulsing and nearly overturning the board. He gagged, coughed, and shook until the twenty seconds were up. This short interval seemed an eternity to me, and I was only watching. Our victim alternately sobbed and coughed for several minutes afterward.“According to the Geneva Convention,” the Colonel explained, “you have just been tortured. By your own prescient analysis on the air, however, this was not torture at all. Do you wish to revise your statement at this time?”Limbaugh spluttered “No.” After a wracking fit of coughing, he refused to say more.“You are one determined fatass,” the Colonel observed. “Forced, for the first time in your miserable existence, to display any sort of personal courage, you have chosen to do so. This is good. You will need your courage, because we have scheduled this treatment one-hundred and eighty-two times over the next thirty days.”Rush Limbaugh made the sound of an immense ego being ripped from the human soul.“Why do you despair?” The Colonel asked. “It’s not like we are actually torturing you.” He turned to us. “Begin the next experiment!”I ripped the first strip of duct-tape from Rush Limbaugh’s chest. He howled in agony.“It’s a free spa treatment,” the Colonel declared. “We’re giving you a chest-wax.”

Rob56 -You may listen to all of the misleading bullshit propaganda that you wish. I never use the Canadian system as an example. I prefer to use the French system as an example of what we should have.However the largest socialized medicine program that exactly demonstrates how it can work in the U.S. is already in place in the U.S. It is called Medicare. It works well and is directly responsible for reducing health care costs. All we need to do is extend it to everyone, not just everyone over 65.I’m sorry if socialized medicine frightens you. I find socialized law enforcement far more frightening. Those assholes carry guns. The worse thing a Doctor Nurse have ever threatened me with was a thermometer.

Broadway Carl-@ Rob56 – Excellent article with 20+ year old data.That’s the time lag between seeing your Dr. and getting treatment, so I thought it counted.Blame Google, just responding to Git.

After five minutes of Walling, Rush Limbaugh declared that we were not doing this right. We were engaged, he said, in actual torture; we were sadists, getting off on this. The bold CIA agents, he said, did it differently.“We have done our research,” the Colonel replied. “We were quite thorough. Shall I quote to you from the US Army Field Manual on interrogations? It says ‘the use of force is a poor technique, as it yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can induce the source to say whatever he thinks the interrogator wants to hear.’ But you hold that this is not true, that torture works. We want to know how that can be true, especially if you say that this is not torture.” He signaled us to begin another five-minute round of Walling. “Why, my associate here isn’t striking your head any harder than a pat on the back. We are not your pre-screened callers, Mr. Limbaugh – we find your arguments flawed and unconvincing.”Rush Limbaugh pleaded. As we slapped him, he offered money. When we used two-by-fours to give him a pinkbelly, he offered to make a statement on our behalf. We offered him water and the wall, taking turns with the laborious task of levering his three-hundred pound mass.A month of NutriSystem meals and a high-stress existence would make him far easier to deal with, the Colonel observed. Surprisingly, this – and not the torture – is what broke the supine sophist, who began to babble a confession.Rush Limbaugh confessed to being a craven coward and a racist. He admitted his drug problem. He even told us of his attempted sex-tourism in the Dominican Republic, and explained his lifelong difficulties with arousal and ejaculation.“But we already know about this, Mister Limbaugh,” the Colonel finally said. “All of it is available in the blogosphere. I have a browser folder with thousands of bookmarks. Our great experiment must aim for greater results than these. We will try again tomorrow.”

Git” The worse thing a Doctor Nurse have ever threatened me with was a thermometer.”Especially if they mix up the Oral and the Rectal.

Rob56 -Hehe. I was thinking rectal and decided to let it go. The new electronic thermometers they use read your temp from your eardrum. I haven’t seen a spirit thermometer in a coon’s age.

Wasn’t it during the cold war when everyone was afraid of being melted and then going to hell…It was during the beginning of the Cold War, but…it was to make the US better than the godless, heathen Soviets.Do any of you young’uns remember seeing/hearing any congressional in-depth inquiries? I remember a number of them – Watergate, Iran-contra, the Committee on Assassinations – they’re really fascinating….boring followed by spurts of excitement when real information comes out.At this point, I’d prefer to have Congress investigate the torture shit* and recommend prosecution, rather than having the DoJ do it. Much more info would be public and it would happen in a much shorter time. The testimony would be recorded where anyone could see it unfiltered. If the DoJ investigates, there will be tons of info that will never see sunshine. And what we do find out will be leaked & distorted. We will never know the full truth…and that’s something we need to know so that it doesn’t happen again.(makes me gag even imagine that my country has gotten to the point where whether to investigate war crimes is even open to debate)

Matt, have I ever told you how hott you are? (all apologies to your lovely chicken-frying girlfriend)

Gypsy,Yup… Right on Ponce. Highlands, Ponce, East Atlanta, Little Five and (some) of Midtown is where I roam the streets.Clairmont… Heh. That’s only for the really drunken nights you don’t want to remember.

Matt -Excellent stuff.

addendum – i’d prefer congressional hearings as long as lawyers are asking the questions and it isn’t the critters making hyperbolic speeches.

Ceu – I think there would be way too much political grandstanding for that.

I remember Iran-Contra, Chris. And then Ollie North was a speaker at my college years later. My hippie freshman studies prof got up and gave him hell, and we all cheered for him.And I agree. I would like to see weeks and weeks of hearings, to truly get the information out to the public and to show everyone exactly what has gone on in our names.

Addendum – we cheered for our prof…not Ollie.

Rob56 – It completely changes the whole tone of the article, especially where it concerns health care costs. An average family with 2 children paying $5,000 annually? Try finding a health insurance plan in the US, a real plan that will actually cover your condition, for $5,000 for an individual let alone a family of four. It doesn’t exist.As far as the Canadian system, do you mean to tell me that you don’t think anything might have improved in the last 20 years? Here’s an article that’s only two years old, so it may be a little more relevant:

The US health care system ranks last among other major rich countries for quality, access and efficiency, according to two studies released Tuesday by a health care think tank.

The studies by the Commonwealth Fund found that the United States, which has the most expensive health system in the world, underperforms consistently relative to other countries and differs most notably in the fact that Americans have no universal health insurance coverage.

…The US ranked last in most areas, including access to health care, patient safety, timeliness of care, efficiency and equity. Americans were also last in terms of whether they had a regular physician.

“The US spends twice what the average industrialized country spends on health care but we’re clearly not getting value for the money,” [Commonwealth Fund president Karen] Davis told AFP.

She also noted that 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the US population, have no health insurance, which contributes to the country’s medical woes.

…The second study delves into why health costs in the United States are so much higher than in eight other countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

The study, “Multinational Comparisons of Health Systems Data,” found that even though the US spends the most on publicly and privately financed health insurance, its citizens had the most potential years of life lost due to circulatory and respiratory diseases as well as diabetes.

“This study blows a lot of myths about the US health system,” Davis said. “We spend three times what the average country spends on a day of hospital care and we also spend twice what the average country spends on prescription medication.”

i need to come to atl, caesar! i can’t let you play in my sandbox without me! dude, that place is my love! at the taco bell i saw one of the “local ladies” getting busted giving a b.j. and the film crew for cops was taping it! haha…jeez, the crazy memories are flooding my brain lobes right now! =) dude, i for real have to come!

“An average family with 2 children paying $5,000 annually?”My health insurance is only $75 per month, but im 24, single, and healthy. I believe my parents health insurance is more around the area of $1200 per month or nearly $15K per year. In other words; insane. And at that price, my mother is still constantly denied coverage for her heart medication.

Radio thread!!

Ashby, that’s why they have the committee counsel asking the questions rather than the critters.Almost all* congressional investigations are inherently political, but they are also the most effective way to get information public. And they can be riveting.*I don’t remember the investigation into assassinations being overly political. We listened to it all day, every day for weeks on the radio at work. Some amazing shit…

Consider the following scenario:Your daughter is late coming home from school. Concerned, you ask the children playing in the street if they have seen your daughter and they tell you that she was last seen walking with your next door neighbor, a male who is a registered sex offender, into his house.Frantic, you run over to your neighbor’s house, but not before grabbing a taser that was given to you as a gift by your sister for your protection since your work night shifts .You pound on your neighbor’s door and a disheveled sweaty man answers. You ask him if he has seen your daughter. He says no, but behind him you see your daughter’s sweater on the floor in his living room.Panicked, you push him aside ,enter the house, and call your daughter’s name. No answer. You see her undergarments in the kitchen. You scream her name and again no answer.The neighbor tells you to leave the house or he will call the police. You push him down into a chair and ask him where your daugher is and he casually smiles and says “wouldn’t you like to know? Now get out before I have you arrested for trespassing!”Do you:A). leave and call the police who will take 6 hours to get a search warrant, orB). Taser the bastard until you find out where your daughter is.

JM, is that your own healthcare or through an employer? What’s your deductable? And what does it cover (or not cover)?Your parents’ healthcare is more the norm. At my wife’s office, if you decide to leave or are fired, you can elect to continue your coverage through COBRA… at $650.00 per month. Almost $8,000 for the year, just for an individual. Depends on the plan, depends on the coverage.

Thanks Carl -The Health Care System (& Insurance Cos.) that robs people has done an excellent job of propagandizing people into insisting that no changes be made to the system that robs people and denies them care.Keep them voting against their own best interests.

Mike, if you taser the bastard, there’s a good chance you’ll be standing trial for something – probably more than one something. You’d certainly be investigated.

Gypsy,Make it happen. You’ll probably have to catch up as you might have a little ring rust.

Mike, I’m gonna go with neither because when the police arrive they sure as shit don’t need to wait 6 hours for a warrant given those circumstances…..

Carl – Its my own personal healthcare through Anthem. It covers everything from physical to mental and prescriptions. My deductable is pretty low on most things. 25 dollars on a doctors visit for example. Somewhere around 35 on scripts. I dont have my med card sitting in front of me. Couldn’t tell you the last time I needed it.

I would fry the bastard and escalate as necessary. My child’s welfare is surpasses any crimes that I may be committed of.

Mike, your personal passion or fears won’t make your actions legal. You would still be investigated, probably prosecuted, and possibly punished.If your argument is that any/all actions on your part are LEGALLY justified because you are concerned about your daughter’s safety, you are wrong. That’s not how our society operates and you will face consequences for ignoring those laws. Everyone should, hence the oft-repeated (in the late 1990′s by the GOP) phrase that NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

oh no you did’ent caesar! i will party like it’s 1999 around yo ass!

Dear Mike the Lurker:Given your incredible scenario, I would first call the neighbor by name. For our purposes, I’ll call him “Jack.”"Jack, if you don’t tell me, then I’m going to hurt you until you stop fighting. Then I’m going to duct-tape you to a chair while I search every part of this house. Then I’m calling the police.”If at any point Jack makes a move or tries to interrupt, I’d taser him and do exactly what I just outlined.But the fatal flaw of your scenario is that I have to take control of the situation. What America has been doing is torturing people over whom they had perfect control at secret locations. The “black sites” were created so we could get away with whatever we wanted, and they tried to get away with torture.Not one. Single. Ticking time bomb. was defused through torture.

Mike, I will comment on your fictional tableau:Same scenario, but instead of the distraught private citizen parent searching for their child, you are the police officer called by that parent to help find their child.Does wearing the badge give you authority to taser and/or torture a potential suspect in order to get him divulge information to you?ANY good police officer will tell you “hell no.” He knows is NOT allowed to go beyond the law. If he does so (beside the fact that the information may be bullshit), the chance of a successful prosecution of the dirtbag being interrogated go right into the shitter.The persons who engaged in torture to acquire information from suspected terrorists are very much like police officers. They, too, are sworn to uphold the law.They knew goddamned well that what they were doing was illegal. Now, they are now getting a pass for “relying on legal advice at the time” that they also knew was bullshit.Any “opinions” authorizing torture was misconstrued crap from Bush administration, delivered by sycophant attorneys whose sole purpose was to legitimize criminal activity.We’re the good guys, for crissake. We should be setting an example for the rest of the world to emulate. Instead, we’ve shown that we are no different than those we condemn.American was founded with basic human rights and civil liberties being considered inalienable. As such , those rights are guaranteed by our Constitution.Torturing flies in the face of everything America IS.Here’s an idea, Mike:If you approve of torture so much, then perhaps you should move to some country where it’s legal.Be sure to write.