Cooking School

I’m going to open a cooking school and call it, “Fork University.”

That way, the shirts will read “Fork U.”

One of the fraternities could be “ata pie.”*

No hazing would be allowed. Glazing, on the other hand, would be encouraged.

*”ata pie” coined by a friend of mine.

Unfair Labor Practices

There is a sign at my work that says, “SAFETY HAS NO QUITTING TIME.”

I find this totally unfair to Safety! Maybe Safety has breaks, but that is not enough!

Safety deserves some time off!

Joshua Frank: Ron Paul from the Left

An Open Letter to the Antiwar Left

Ron Paul’s Campaign Deserves Our Attention

By JOSHUA FRANK

The left wing of the antiwar movement has some very serious problems, mainly our inability to recognize that the antiwar sentiment in the United States is resonating far beyond the confines of the so-called “left.”

We cannot step back and effectively analyze the failures of the antiwar movement without peering under the hood of John Kerry’s campaign in 2004. In essence, I think the majority of the left made a huge mistake on this issue by not opposing the Democrats; the movement supported a pro-war position by not opposing Sen. Kerry, who promised to continue the occupation of Iraq. There was no pressure on Kerry to alter his position on the war. No bird-dogging protests along the campaign trail. No outrage over his flip-flopping-let’s-send-more-troops-into-battle rhetoric. Silence during election season is complicity. So let’s be loud.

Despite his good intentions, Dennis Kucinich also failed us four years ago as well by abandoning his antiwar platform in favor of Kerry’s pro-war candidacy. There is little reason to believe ol’ Dennis won’t do the same thing again this year if Hillary is the nominee. It was party politics before issues. Kucinich, unfortunately, wasn’t an activist but a pawn in the Democrat’s game. And the antiwar movement, or at least those who supported his bid, felt the damaging tremors for months afterward. Kucinich has been running in Iowa for almost nine years and is barely pulling in 1% of the vote. So what’s the point?

The backlash to the Iraq war in this country is much larger than Kucinich’s fan club, yet there is no real visible “moving” movement on the ground to end it. In many ways this is our fault as we are not willing to reach out to antiwar folks across the lines. A movement will never move forward with archaic sectarian factions or unyielding adherence to entrenched political philosophies. We must overcome our unwillingness to collaborate and collectively organize.

Case in point being the most visible and enthusiastic antiwar candidate in the country, which we consistently ignore: Rep. Ron Paul. Whether we agree or disagree with Paul’s libertarian solution to every problem, we cannot disregard that his campaign is exploding owing to a broad coalition of people who oppose the war on terror. Paul has built a viable campaign, one that must move beyond the Republican primaries and into the general election. We can’t let Paul become Kucinich of ’04. The more independent antiwar voices we have running against the war machine the better we’ll all be. And Paul has millions in his coffers to push an antiwar agenda.

This is not about Rep. Paul as an individual per se, but about his grassroots following. He’s exciting many newcomers to the movement and that must be welcomed. We certainly don’t share the same views with all who have latched on to his campaign, but on the issue of the Iraq war we are in total agreement. One doesn’t not have to be a member of the left to oppose empire.

As a movement that allegedly grew out of WTO protests in Seattle, which was an unimaginable coalition of interests (labor, environmental, protectionist), one would think the left would be at the forefront in calling for such an alliance again today.

Whether we’re beer-drinking rednecks from Tennessee or pot smokin’ hippies from Oregon, we need to come together. And working to keep the movement away from supporting a pro-war candidate like Hillary Clinton is an important endeavor. One we shouldn’t shy away from over the course of the next 11 months.

Rep. Paul’s call to end the war needs to be supported. We need to monkeywrench the war issue so the media and the big party candidates cannot ignore it. There is a lot of work that must be done and we cannot be locked in the logic of old if we are to succeed.

Ending the war in Iraq will take substantial pressure from all sides of the political spectrum. From conservative veterans to radical peaceniks. Let’s embrace this new reality. The antiwar movement is larger than the left, in fact so much so that we may be at the whim of a real grassroots resistance instead of at its forefront. And if that means bringing this ugly war to a screeching halt, I’m all for it.

Joshua Frank is co-editor of DissidentVoice.org and author of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush (Common Courage Press, 2005), and along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the forthcoming Red State Rebels, to be published by AK Press in March 2008.

source: http://www.counterpunch.org/frank12122007.html

What Do We Really Expose Ourselves To When Eating Out?

First there was Hell’s Kitchen. Did you ever watch that?

Now there is Kitchen Nightmares. Have you watched that? It is where Chef Ramsay basically takes over a real restaurant and yells at the owner(s) and chef(s) until he’s red in the face. Only to eventually break down whomever is standing in the way of progress and then Ramsay gets the job done. Well, I haven’t seen any follow-up shows, so who really knows if he gets the job done?

Both shows feature Chef Gordon Ramsay, probably a really nice guy as long as you never have to deal with anything food related with him.

Anyhow, to get to my point…

I’ve watched this show, Kitchen Nightmares, only twice thus far. Both kitchens in question were quite terribly disgusting. I mean Nasty!

Mostly it was in the walk-in refrigerator. Old containers with mold growing in them, some food decomposed beyond recognition. Water was dripping from a ceiling in one of the refrigerators! Simply nasty!

These two restaurants were pretty nice dining establishments. They both looked pretty nice in the dining area. And I imagine their prices were in the upper end of the average spectrum. Maybe they were considered 3-star? 4-star? I dunno.

Now I’ve always heard and believed that “if you knew what went on in the kitchen of a restaurant, you wouldn’t even eat there.” Or simply, “you don’t even want to know what goes on back there.” Watching Kitchen Nightmares, it certainly seems pretty bad.

These restaurant owners must have known they were going to be on TV, right? Didn’t they have to sign something in advance? And they still don’t clean things up before the camera crews get there? Are they forbidden to clean up via contract or something?

Anyhow, I’ve worked at McDonald’s years ago and I can honestly say the cleanliness of the McDonald’s I worked at was way better than these “dining establishments.” Food was rotated first-in first-out. Items beyond there expiration date were thrown out promptly. Everything was sanitized every night. Granted some employees may not have followed procedure to the T every time, and I even saw a few things that “you don’t want to know.” But it was not systemic and they were exceptions to the rule.

In these kitchens on TV it appears that it is normal to have mold gardens in the walk-in. Of course I’ve only watched two episodes, but I have a sneaky suspicion that most (non-fast-food, non-franchise) restaurants are like this.

Be that as it may, I do believe that society has become a bit overly sensitive to “cleanliness” issues and we have probably been eating at least semi-nasty or partially contaminated food since forever. However, how often do you get indigestion after eating out? Do you suppose a restaurant owner/manager would let you examine their walk-in refrigerator before you order?

Oh well, just thinking out loud.

Rate The Candidates Matrix

MSNBC.com has an interesting matrix located at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21116732.

Just thought it was interesting enough to mention.

Quotes

‘…there’s something I want to say that’s always been very difficult for me to say. “I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.” There. I’ve never been relaxed enough around anyone to say that.’

Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin) in The Jerk

My wifes gas mileage

For the last 100 miles my wife got 55.7 miles per gallon – what energy crisis?

Ohio State vs. Michigan

OK, it’s been 10 days since we have posted anything new, so I thought I’d post about the big game tomorrow.

I hope Michigan wins, of course, but I have my doubts about it.

I think Ohio State is a stronger team overall and their single loss last week has probably got them steamed. They dropped like 9 places in the polls and now have no real chance at a national championship, so I think the Rose Bowl is in their sights.

Michigan, on the other hand, lost their first 2 games and last week’s game, so their recent loss probably will not be as much as a motivator as Ohio State’s loss.

Again, I hope Michigan emerge victorious and I’ll be rooting them on.

But if I were a betting man, my money would be on Ohio State even if giving up 4 points.

GO BLUE!

HAIL TO THE VICTORS!

HAIL TO THE CONQUERING HEROES!

Solar Panels on Every Roof

I am not for government regulation beyond the authority granted by the Constitution, however, if the government can mandate things like catalytic converters for automobiles and the like, couldn’t they also mandate that all homes have solar panels on their rooftops? I’m sure there would be millions of square acres of panels generating trillions of kilowatts of energy, wouldn’t there?

So, why not?

What’s For Brinner?

OK, I was having a discussion with a friend of mine and I decided to define what eating times are which. I’m certain thousands of other people have already decided about these things, but since they haven’t informed me thus far, I decided to decide for myself . . . except I couldn’t quite decide on one time-frame.

This is what I have so far:

~11:00 P.M. ~4:00 A.M. = Midnight Snack

~4:00 A.M.~11:00 A.M. = Brunch

~11:00 A.M.~2:00 P.M. = Lunch

~2:00 P.M.~5:00 P.M. = Linner/Lupper

~5:00 P.M~8:00 P.M = Dinner/Supper

Here’s where I need some help:

~8:00 P.M~11:00 P.M.= ??????????????

So, what is it called between 8 and 11 pm?

I’d like to squeeze Brinner in there too, a word I think I thought up because I never heard of it before. But Brinner (and perhaps even Brupper) has to do with the content of the meal, not just the timeframe. Brinner: you know, like having scrambled eggs, pancakes, toast and bacon for Brinner/Brupper.

Of course this could mean that T-bone steak with a baked potato and green beens between 4 and 11 am would be Dinfast or Sukfast.