August On The Road

H.L. Mencken, quoted in the 9/04 "Funny Times":

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobogblins, most of them imaginary."

A tip of the hat to Bill Watson, aka "Bob Cratchett"

You know how you will check out the books on the shelf when visiting a home?

I don't know if I should have been concerned tonight when my hostess had "Meditations For Women Who Do Too Much" right next to "The Encyclopedia Of Serial Killers."

From a chain of private schools which enrolls a large number of immigrants:

"... the curriculum consisted of a slim workbook riddled with errors, including:

_The United States has 53 states but the "flag has not yet been updated to reflect the addition of the last three states" ? Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

_World War II began in 1938 and ended in 1942.

_There are two houses of Congress ? the Senate and the House, and "one is for Democrats and the other is for the Republicans, respectively."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=4&u=/ap/20040809/ap_on_re_us/private_school_investigation

"You ever do any ropin', boy?"

"No, sir."

"When I first came here, I was about the only one that could do it. Used to make some money now and again, when someone had an animal they needed to get a rope on."

"Where did you learn to rope?"

"My daddy taught me. In Amarillo. You ever been in Amarillo?" He looked at me with a hopeful expression. "That's in Texas. You ever worked any spreads out there?"

"When I was in Texas, I was just passing through. I never worked in Texas."

"I taught David to ride and rope. He wasn't that good at ropin', but he did alright. Rode pretty good. I started him out riding at 6 weeks old. Still had to hold on to him then, though."

"In Texas, the ones that was the best would have schools on ridin' and ropin'. That's the way to learn it, from them's that's best at it. They'll have something to show you."

"I used to be pretty good at it. Used to compete in rodeos, in the SRA and all. Got to bother me when they'a announce, 'and now the oldest competitor.' I was still competing when I was 71. I'm 80-something now." He gave me an appraising glance, apparently thinking that a boy this size must have done something worthwhile. "You ever wrestle any steers?"

"No, sir, I never did."

"You grab ahold of some of them steers, it doesn't shake them up at all. You can get your boot heels drug a long ways."

At this point I realize that I abandoned my lunch at the communal table some time ago, but this is a conversation I don't get to have every day.

(e-mailed again to beat the system timing out, more installments later)

I was at lunch at Dee's, in Fincastle, Virginia.

Dee's is a phenomenon worthy of several stories of it's own. It is pretty much the only viable lunch place in town. On days when the county court is in session, several of the lawyers may be in attendance. On other days, the table is ruled by those who have found honest work. The conversations range far and wide, and the slow cadence of southern accents disguises sharp wits and a love of verebal rough and tumble.

Today's treat was unexpected. While I was eating my lunch, Alice Crowder called me over to meet an elderly man standing in the middle of the small restaraunt floor. He was a tall man, whose spine was no longer quite straight, either front to back or side to side. He wore a Stetson which had some dirt on the brim but still appeared to be cared for. He supported himself with a cane in his right hand, and frequently steadied himself by holding my upper arm with is left.

Alice beamed. "Patrick, do you remember this man?"

I did not. "You're going to have to help me."

"This is Bruce Friend." She deemed this sufficient introduction, and disappeared back into the kitchen, her mission accomplished.

I scrolled through my memories of Fincastle. David Friend, the catcher on my Little League baseball team, lived out on the Blacksburg Road, on the north side of the road before you got to the Wheatland Road.

"I played Little League baseball with David Friend. That your boy?"

"My boy David is 50 years old now." Shakes his head. "Lives far away from here. Calls me every year. He's a good boy."

"My girl lives in Hawaii. She calls me twice a year. I haven't been to see her. Can't swim, I just know how to wade, and I reckon it would get too deep."

"You do any ropin', boy?"

It really made me feel good to be called "boy". It isn't every day that I am viewed as young, and it was said in an affectionate manner rather than as a diminutive.

(e-mail system warns me it is timing out -- I will send this to capture it and begin the next installment)

People note that Bush and Kerry frequently campaign in close proximity to each other.

Here is an e-mail from Portland Oregon about the duplication there:


Hi Folks,

I am so proud of the folks in Portland!!!!!

President Bush scheduled a visit to PDX on the same day as John Kerry's planned visit to our fair city. He did so after knowing of Kerry's schedule and kept his itinerary secret until 24 hours of his arrival. His two functions were not open to the public, they were behind closed doors by special invitation ONLY to the rich of the Republican party. They made a point to schedule his major speech at the same time as John Kerry's speech at Water Front Park Rally; so local T.V. and radio covered the president live and they had to do a tape delay of John Kerry's speech.

This kind of action reminds me of Fascist Europe of 60 plus years ago!!

John Kerry's Rally was free, open to the public and 50,000 plus Portlanders showed up at Water Front Part to support John Kerry. I am proud to have been one of them.

Mu sister-in-law, a Southern woman, requested a birthday dinner of Chicken & Dumplings while vacationing with her husband's Boston relatives. We used this recipe:

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
4 pounds chicken parts
1 cup all-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 leeks (white and pale green parts only), sliced thin crosswise and washed thoroughly (about 2 cups)
6 shallots, sliced thin (about 1 cup)
6 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced
2 celery ribs with leaves, sliced
1 small bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
3 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup apple cider or juice


For dumplings
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons half-and-half


1 cup green peas, defrosted if frozen

Dredge chicken parts in seasoned flour, shaking off excess, and put on a rack.

In a large heavy kettle melt butter with oil over moderately high heat until foam subsides and brown chicken in batches (do not crowd), transferring it to a plate as done, about 5 minutes on each side.

Stir in leeks and shallots and cook 3 minutes, scraping the bottom and stirring occasionally. Stir in carrots, celery, bay leaf, and thyme and cook 3 minutes. Stir in broth, cider, and chicken and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered partially, until chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes.

Make dumplings while chicken is cooking:
Into a bowl sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and stir in dill. With a fork stir in half-and-half until dough is just blended.

With a large soup spoon scoop out 12 dumplings and arrange over chicken mixture. Simmer chicken and dumplings, covered, 9 minutes. Sprinkle in peas and cook until dumplings are done, about 3 minutes more. (Dumplings are done when a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.) Discard bay leaf.

Serves 6.


Gourmet
February 1994

My sister-in-law, a Southern woman, had requested a birthday dinner of Chicken & Dumplings while vacationing in Boston. We used this recipe:

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
4 pounds chicken parts
1 cup all-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 leeks (white and pale green parts only), sliced thin crosswise and washed thoroughly (about 2 cups)
6 shallots, sliced thin (about 1 cup)
6 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced
2 celery ribs with leaves, sliced
1 small bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
3 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup apple cider or juice


For dumplings
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons half-and-half


1 cup green peas, defrosted if frozen

Dredge chicken parts in seasoned flour, shaking off excess, and put on a rack.

In a large heavy kettle melt butter with oil over moderately high heat until foam subsides and brown chicken in batches (do not crowd), transferring it to a plate as done, about 5 minutes on each side.

Stir in leeks and shallots and cook 3 minutes, scraping the bottom and stirring occasionally. Stir in carrots, celery, bay leaf, and thyme and cook 3 minutes. Stir in broth, cider, and chicken and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered partially, until chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes.

Make dumplings while chicken is cooking:
Into a bowl sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and stir in dill. With a fork stir in half-and-half until dough is just blended.

With a large soup spoon scoop out 12 dumplings and arrange over chicken mixture. Simmer chicken and dumplings, covered, 9 minutes. Sprinkle in peas and cook until dumplings are done, about 3 minutes more. (Dumplings are done when a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.) Discard bay leaf.

Serves 6.


Gourmet
February 1994


********************

Comments:

1) Would have worked better with boneless chicken parts. A lot of people wanted less chicken than a whole piece, and found it a bit unwieldy to wrestle with.

2) The vegetables and broth left at the end of the whole process would make a great soup base.

For the first time in 3 years, Northwest Airlines didn't strand us in Minneapolis or Detroit for the night. We actually arrived in Boston on time.

Notable events so far have included the birthday dinner of chicken and dumplings for Aunt Beth. Most of the Yankee relatives looked at it uncertainly, rather like tourists in Asia viewing fish or shellfish that they have never seen before in their life. To their credit, there were no leftovers.

The Red Sox game at Fenway was a treat. The Sox beat up on the Devil Rays, with both coaches clearing their benches by the 5th or 6th inning.

Now we are in Maine, reducing the lobster population.

It is kind of nice to go several days in a row without being outraged by national politics. Ignorance can be bliss, until the bill comes due.

Based on intelligence from the Pacific Rim, the Department of Homeland Security has raised the threat level to Orange for the state of Hawaii.

Special attention is being given to the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor, on Oahu. Senior officials noted concerns about an air attack, based on some Japanese files speaking of a "divine wind"  which would strike those bases. The officials indicated that the files were contained in a public library computer which had been used by an Islamic man.

For those who read movie reviews to decide which movies to see, let's cut to the chase. This movie is worth seeing.

This Jonathan Demme film is the best sort of remake. The John Frankenheimer film told a chilling story. Demme avoided the trap of reshooting the same film. He molded the story to fit modern times and politics. The acting is excellent. Meryl Streep may see an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress in her role. It is amusing to note how many reviewers are referring to her performance as "channeling for Angela Lansbury," transmogrifying Mrs. Iselin from the 1962 film to the Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw of Demme's film. Demme lays the visuals out very effectively.

The only problem I am having is keeping Manchurian Global and Halliburton straight.

Published on my home blog page 5/24/2004:

There is little political discourse today. Everyone speaks to those who agree with them. I thought I would pull up something from the other ideological bunker, and consider what was said.

For that purpose, I went to the National Review Online. The column Impromptus by NR Managing Editor Jay Nordlinger looked interesting, touching on a number of topics.

The first is to argue that because of same-sex marriage, “the Salvation Army may have to leave New York. Why? Because the city may force it to offer employee benefits to gay partners, and the Salvation Army is . . . well, a religious organization (and a traditionally religious one).”

Set aside whether the Salvation Army’s threat to leave New York is political posturing. See first the language of compulsion, not choice. This is used selectively. Welfare mothers choose not to work, in the conservative formulation. The Salvation Army may threaten to leave New York, may choose to leave New York, but are they forced to leave New York?

Let’s back up a step. The issue is employee benefits for partners of homosexual employees. Is the Salvation Army forced to have homosexual employees? Is that a violation of their religious beliefs? Why is that less onerous than providing benefits? It couldn’t be about … money, could it?

This segues to:

“I have said before in this column that the gay-marriage debate seems to be lost (i.e., that the anti side seems to have lost). For one thing, all the elites support gay marriage, no matter what the majority may think (and the majority is not aroused). Virtually every employee of the big media supports it; virtually every Hollywood actor; virtually every pop singer; virtually every professor — etc. And what the elites want, the elites usually get, in my observation. (They haven't yet stopped the war, have they? But they may be getting close.)”

When last I checked, conservatives controlled both houses of Congress, the White House and with it the Justice Department, the military, and the intelligence community. The Supreme Court is certainly no enemy to conservatives.

Note carefully the description of the political opposition to conservatives as “all the elites.”
Let’s talk about elites.

George Herbert Walker was one of the most important investment bankers in the Mississippi Valley. His ties to Robert Brookings and Averell Harriman led to his installation as president of the new Wall Street investment banking firm W. A. Harriman and Company, which invested heavily in German industry until Hitler made things difficult.

Samuel Bush’s father was the first Bush to attend Yale. Samuel went to Yale. Samuel was the head of Buckeye Steel Castings, and through this had ties to the Rockefellers, Standard Oil, and National City Bank.

Samuel’s son. Prescott Bush , went to Yale, where he was in Skull and Bones. Prescott Bush married George Herbert Walker’s daughter. He was brought in as a vice president at W.A. Harriman and Company in 1926. He ultimately became a managing partner of Brown Brothers Harriman, and sat on the boards of CBS, Prudential Insurance, Pan American Airlines, Dresser Industries, and others.

Their son, George Herbert Walker Bush, went to Yale, where he was in Skull and Bones. After graduation he was placed in Dresser Industries, where his father had been on the board for eighteen years, and whose chairman was also Yale grad and Skull and Bones member.

His son, George Walker Bush, went to Yale, where he was in Skull and Bones. After his Air National Guard stint, he went to work for an agribusiness company run by a fellow Yale Skull and Bones member who had worked with his father at Zapata Petroleum.

Elites?

Gee, this has been fun. Let's do it again soon.

Like France, I will be on the road for most of August. My regular blog will not be accessible, so I am creating this site for blogging while on the road.