A Shell Game

I was at a county fair this weekend, and in one of the animal barns I saw something that reminded me to Max Baucus and his relationship with the Insurance lobby (see photo). He and his cronies are so attached to the Great Insurance teat that they will never enact serious reform. That is not news. Two amendments introducing the option (something the majority of regular, non-lobbied Americans, and doctors, want) were shot down in Baucus’ finance committee yesterday. Dems favoring real reform played down their disappointment, while Max continued to play hide the walnut by saying that he had seen some attractive things in some of the proposals. Really?

What will create some stir is when you see the headline: Insurance Companies Back Public Option. Why would they do that? The groundwork is already laid. First, one of the proposed so-called public options would not kick in until a trigger is squeezed.That is, under an arcane set of circumstances, if the Insurance companies are not performing up to a determined level of expectation, the public option is enabled. This doesn’t even happen until 2013, under the proposed approach.

Then, people who are in another insurance option at the time, are not allowed to avail themselves of the government-sponsored plan. What kind of option is that? It will be defined so tightly that only a small number will allowed to participate, and they will be very sick indeed. A guaranteed death spiral will commence on the very day that the option becomes operable, ensuring its early demise. By 2016 it will be history.

However, its brief life will allow Max, other blue dogs, and the Insurance giants to say that they did in fact support a public option, but gosh darn it, the government just can’t run anything! Score another one for the private sector, which never fucked up anything, ever.

And where are the Republicans during all of this? I mean, beside laughing their asses off? Well, to a large extent the various bills are already their handiwork. They just keep complaining about this and that detail, and Harry “the weasel” Reid sees to it that the changes get put in. Then, they criticize it and vote against it. That’s their job in this scenario. Does anyone doubt that if they wrote the entire thing, I mean every word, every punctuation mark, and that if it matched in every respect their legislative wet dreams, but that it was supported by Barack Obama, that they would unanimously vote against it?

We Never Did It

During war, terrible things happen. People are at their worst, acting worse than animals. Once, this country was invaded. The army included mercenaries who thought the slaughter of surrendering soldiers was acceptable. Towns were burned to the ground. Fellow citizens betrayed their neighbors and atrocities abounded. The fledgling nation teetered close to obliteration, much closer than it has ever been since. Yet, George Washington and the new Congress never considered the use of torture, either as a means of obtaining information, or in the pursuit of revenge.

Three decades later, we were invaded again, by the same nation. Our capitol was burned to ashes. And yet the idea of initiating torture as a policy was never discussed.

It is common wisdom that the worst sort of war is civil war. We suffered the most war deaths, 600,000, in that contest, that this country has ever experienced. Innumerable evil deeds were perpetrated by both sides, extending for years before and after the conflict. Individual soldiers and commanders used loathsome means to pursue their ends. It took a campaign though the heart of the South to end that war. Still, the use of torture never became policy. It was simply unthinkable. We never did it.

In the First World War, whatever our soldiers may have done in the heat of battle, however misguided or ignorant our policies may have been, at least the stated intention of our involvement was the hope that the world would be made a better place for our effort.

For America, the Second World War began because we were attacked in the Hawaiian Islands. Over three thousand men were killed in a surprise assault. People literally believed that another attack on our west coast was imminent. The Japanese seemed to be everywhere, and there were many false reports of invasions sightings, which many people held to be true. And there were over one hundred thousand American citizens of Japanese descent living among them. They did the cowardly, unnecessary thing. They sent them off to camps to live out the war. Even then, they never considered the use of torture. As scared as they were, as infused with racial hatred of the kind that contemplates all manner of atrocity, they never resorted to torture as a policy against their enemy. It was against our core beliefs. It was what the other side did. It was something that set us apart, and something we would never do.

Even in Viet Nam, where we shamed ourselves, torture was off the table, at least as far as what was allowable by our government. In fact, a soldier who waterboarded a Viet Cong suspect, was tried and convicted of a war crime.

Then, in September of 2001, nineteen men of Saudi, Egyptian and Yemeni descent, flew planes into buildings and over three thousand people died. Our government immediately panicked, or allowed themselves to be consumed by their impotent rage, or decided to put into place what had been in their black hearts all along. They made torture American policy. And with that, they blithely tossed aside centuries of honor and rectitude. They felt that it was necessary, that it worked, that it was good.

We may never be able to wash away the stain. But we can hold them accountable. We can drag them howling from their dark little holes and hold them up to the light of scrutiny, make them reveal all of their wickedness.

Because it’s in the past doesn’t mean that it is over. We do not do these things. We do not agree with them. But they were done in our name. We can’t distract them away with the scandal of today. We must address them clear-eyed and make the amends that history requires. To do less perpetuates the shame.

Eat It

Now, I’m not someone who thinks that high fructose corn syrup is deadly and evil, though it is largely unnecessary and pretty bad for you. I mean, is it just coincidental that the rise of easily affordable, cheap food heavily laden with the stuff has tracked along with a stunning growth in obesity over the last few decades? Do you know how many food items have it in there? Seriously, check out the label sometimes. Ingredients are listed from top to bottom, beginning with the highest percentage present in the item, then the second highest, etc. So for example, if you look at ingredient list in a box of cereal, the first is usually corn, wheat or rice, followed by sugar or fructose corn syrup.

Perhaps that is to be expected, for a cereal. But check out how high on the list syrup is in other, supposedly savory products. Why is it in there at all? Do we really need to have corn syrup in a potato chip, a vegetable, or in spaghetti sauce? Well, no, but it’s there. We’ve been trained to expect both salt and sugar in most of our foods. And our collective waistlines are showing the results. I’m not even talking about all of the other additives, such as human growth hormone, steroids, heroin, and enough salt to start your own lick out back. OK, one of those ingredients may not be found in large quantities.

But do we really need to eat them at all, just because producers put them in? Is there an alternative (this is not the time to get into the economic and political reasons for their being there at all - that’s for another posting)? I happen to think there is.

Now, the most often given reason for buying pre-made food products is because there is not enough time to do it the old fashioned way - from scratch. I respectfully disagree. There is never a good reason for purchasing a bottled pasta sauce, That junk is so loaded with sweeteners, it’s almost like liquid candy. Even in some restaurants, you can detect the telltale taste of sugar where none ought to be. No self-respecting Italian grandmother would be caught dead eating a syrupy sauce (for that matter she wouldn’t be caught eating someone else’s sauce, or be in a restaurant - not when she knows that she can make it better herself).

So I’m going to make it easy for you. This is going to be a quick and awesome pasta sauce that has only what you want in it, with absolutely no sugar or syrup added, and can be made in 45 minutes or less.

If 45 minutes is still too long for you to allot to meal preparation, if you don’t particularly care what you put down your neck, if you can’t tear yourself away from the TV for even that long, go read Perez Hilton or something, and come back when I’m blogging something else.

OK, is it just us now? OK then, here’s what you do (and by the way, you can still turn on the TV you have in your kitchen, because that’s what I do when I’m cooking). First thing, go to the market and buy these things:

a single 1/2 lb. piece of pancetta - it’s Italian cured bacon, not smoked.

an onion

some fresh garlic

crushed tomatoes in a can - get good quality ones - I happen to like Pomi in a box.

a can of tomato paste

a decent, dry red wine

dried oregano

red pepper flakes

a chunk of parmesan cheese

any kind of pasta that you like

Set up a heavy bottomed skillet on the stove and get it hot. Start a pot of salted water boiling on the burner in back of the skillet. With a sharp knife, cut 2 1/4” slices from the pancetta and dice it. Save the remaining pancetta, because you can use it (like bacon) in a hundred ways to make things taste better! Put the pancetta into the skillet and render out the fat. While that is happening, dice about 1/2 cup of onion and mince one clove of garlic. Once the fat is rendered and the pancetta is looking like little pieces of bacon, put the onion and garlic right in here with it, and give it a good stir. Doesn’t that smell amazing?

When the onion has become translucent, add the tomatoes. Then, add the oregano and red pepper flakes - according to your own taste. If your taste hasn’t encompassed something like this yet, I would suggest a tablespoon of oregano and 2 or 3 shakes of flakes. Then pour in a half cup or more of wine. Give it a good stir and if it seems a bit thin, add some tomato paste.Tomato paste is one of the great ingredients. It can rescue dishes that have otherwise gone wrong, and give a nice depth of flavor. Check the label though. Sometimes the bastards sneak some hight fructose corn syrup into it.

By this time the water is beginning to boil. If your sauce has been cooking for 20 minutes or more, you can go ahead and drop the pasta (into the water, that is). While the pasta is cooking, feel free to check your sauce for taste, Add whatever will make it taste better. Maybe some more wine. Have a glass yourself while you’re waiting. Isn’t this better than opening a jar of mystery sauce?

When your pasta is nearly done (like, 3-4 minutes before normally done), use a pasta fork or tongs to remove the pasta and put it directly into the skillet with the sauce. Let it finish cooking in the sauce, so that the flavor of the sauce permeates the pasta. When done, pile it into 2 plates, grate lots of cheese on top, and have another glass of wine, congratulating yourself on having produced a satisfying, delicious, no-additives added meal.

You can do this!

Why Shine a Light

Barely 36 hours have passed since Rep. Joe Wilson’s shout out to the President during his speech on healthcare reform. He has been vilified in the media and by the general public, and has made a speedy apology to the subject of his outburst. Now, the same media urges us to move on. He has been punished in the court of public opinion. He did the right thing afterward, and any continued examination of his action takes away from the real issue, which is how to resolve the healthcare mess. He has paid for his mistake, and we should not dwell on what he did, or why he did it.

FUCK HIM. I say, let’s kick the can down the road some more.

First, his apology was a non-apology. He said that he had been told by his overlords to say that his statement had been ill-considered. He never said that he agreed that they were wrong. Then, he went on to justify his remarks, citing non-existent portions of the proposed bill to support his contention. There is no remorse in him, no suggestion that he had been an unpardonable ass. Why is this? What kind of climate could there be that would make this hunnish antics acceptable in his eyes?

Just look at the behavior we’ve seen in the Republican party since the election. Hell, it started way before then. There you have Eric Kantor, twittering away while his President speaks. You have another congressman getting up and stalking out of the chamber to show his fake disgust. Since Wilson’s outburst, with the exception of McCain’s condemnation right after the speech (and before the right’s talking points were solidified), EVERY Republican has defended Wilson, continuing the myth that somehow the bill would allow for coverage of illegal aliens. Many have even suggested that the President is somehow to blame for the congressman’s actions. Not a one, after Wednesday night, said that this is unacceptable. But this is not an isolated incident.

Scant days before, their panties were in a twist because he dared to speak to the nation’s schoolchildren about the importance of staying in school. How outrageous! To expose their innocent ears to the unspeakable notions of their elected leader. Of course, most of the truly vitriolic spewings came from their pack of hyenas, Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, Malkin, Ingalls, et al, with their apocalyptic, end of civilization, eeek-a-mouse rantings. And no Republican repudiated them, when they said these things against their President.

No Republican has (bravely) stood up to condemn the incessant references to the President as being a socialist, or a communist, or a fascist (don’t they know that a communist and a fascist are, you know, opposite things?).

No Republican has stood up to say, just stop it already with the lunatic birther junk! Who is writing their talking points? The Daily Star?

Their entire goal has been to delegitimize this President by any means necessary. They are trying to cobble together a scenario whereby the American people can say, “Yes, this man whom we elected with an overwhelming majority, and supported over and over again in public polls, and provided with a majority in both houses of congress, so that he could do the job of changing the direction of the country, and whom we have told must enact healthcare reform as a priority, must have come by his election via some form of fluke. He’s in there, but he couldn’t have gotten there legitimately. It’s just unthinkable. I mean, look at him.

And there it is. They look at him, and they see a black man in the highest office the country has to offer. They may wrap it in the garb of policy differences, or of ideological conflict, but it comes down to Joe Wilson, that son of a Confederate soldier, and his antebellum longings.

So, let’s not move on just yet. Let’s not be too hasty to play nice, because you know they won’t. Rather, let’s shine a light on what they’re really up to, until the vermin scuttle back under the sink.

Hungry, Mother?

My wife & I are what you'd call foodies, if you wanted to put a name to it. I prefer to think that we have well-developed tastes, honed after years of close study. Our favorite people to experience good food and wine with are our son and daughter-in-law, who get it like we do. We recently dined at a place called Hungry Mother, a new establishment in Cambridge, to celebrate the table and their third anniversary. It's a place featuring a Southern sensibility with a heavy reliance on local products and solid French techniques.

We entered and were immediately, pleasantly assaulted by the warm, ham and bacon and sorghum-like aromas of the kitchen. So inviting were they that I easily overlooked the somewhat trite use of mason jars as water glasses, in an otherwise fine dining establishment. Believe me, that's the last criticism you'll hear from me.

We ordered drinks and a pre-appetizer bite while running down the menu. I had a smoked beef tongue canape served on a toast with pickled ramps, a juicy and not overly smoked morsel that got me ready for some serious eating. A plate of boiled and salted peanuts remained on the tale after the first plates were removed, as we continued to pick at them throughout the dinner.

For the appetizer course, along with my son and daughter-in-law, I had a perfectly poached egg atop hominy, fresh roasted corn kernels and wild mushrooms recently picked in Maine. The whole thing was wisely thought out and perfectly executed. Usually, in a restaurant, when you see "wild mushrooms" on a menu, they mean shitake and cremini. Not bad, but not what I think of when I hear "wild". This had what I felt were wood ear and chanterelles, along with the usual suspects. Simply outstanding. My wife had a beautifully presented deviled egg with a cup of tomato aspic. The aspic was light, bright and crisp, like you leaned over a plant full of ripe tomatoes and inhaled deeply. By this point we were all looking at each other happily, like we had discovered something special.

It often happens in a good restaurant that the main course fails to rise to the challenge of a really fine appetizer. I think I even voiced this concern before the next plate arrived. Not to worry. My French gnocchi with summer squashes, corn, and cherry tomatoes was amazing in its simplicity and execution, with a suggestion of some citrus and shaved parmesan. It was light, as a proper gnocchi must be. I don't recall sampling my daughter-in-law's scallops, which may say something about how good they were. It was the only thing I failed to taste that evening. The star of the course, however, may have been the meatloaf, which Amy and Jesse both ordered. A smoky, mostly veal slab (referred to by our waitress as "our secret gem") was staggering. I ate a bite and decided that one would have to be enough. So assertive was the flavor that I knew any more and my gnocchi's taste would be entirely lost. More statements like "one of the nest things I ever eaten" were heard.

Neither my son nor I eat desserts, as a rule, when eating out. However, having experienced three courses of such skill, we felt obligated to take this thing to its logical conclusion. This time we took care to order four different items, and tried them all. My pot de creme, of chamomile and honey, with a toasted benne seed tuile, was light and so subtle. Leah had a peach cobbler with creme fresh, a perfect conclusion to the night's fare, while my son enjoyed a chocolate bundt cake with chocolate ice cream. Nothing like its dry namesake, this was moist and rich. This time, though, Amy's green tomato layer cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, took the, you'll excuse me, cake.

I have said little of the service, because it was unobtrusive, though always responsive, as it should be. If you're going to Boston, or live there, you can do worse, though probably not better, than eating at Hungry Mother. It's though to get a table, so reserve your well in advance.

These are frustrating times. Morons insist on their relevance, gobble up all available media attention, and set the agenda. Common sense has been replaced by public whining.

Why, when the majority of Americans want actual, substantial healthcare reform (have, in fact, elected a corps of officials specifically to enact such) are we pandering to the losers of Fall '08? Why do we allow them to dominate the message? Can it be that their sincerity is so profound that their position must blow all others away?

That's a joke, of course. There is nothing sincere about abject cynicism. They don't even really care about healthcare per se. It's really all about beating Obama. I swear, if he were to push for renaming every major public facility Reagan something-or-other, they would unanimously fight against it. They don't care about healthcare, just like they don't care about the people they are supposed to represent. If they did, they would damn sure try to get them adequate protection against the ravages of a catastrophic medical event, which many millions in this country lack.

And their supporters (other than the monied interests), the blue collar screamers we get to enjoy every night at fake town hall meetings? As is usual for their ilk, they continue to fight hard against their own best interest. Unless I'm mistaken, a lot of them do not appear to be wealthy people. Nothing wrong with that, but they are just the type of people who might be one little auto accident or one outsourced job away from financial hell.

It's really simple, when someone wants to get into it with you and throws a lot of numbers around to support their position (and there are a lot of numbers out there). There's only one number that matters, only one number that settles the debate and underlines the looming social catastrophy waiting for us all.

47 million and rising.

Get it done. Get it done soon, and do it right.