Got an ulcer? Want one?

Very interesting read. Recheck your supplies and gear.

"Debtor Nation: The Hijacking of America's Economy" by Dr. Michael Hudson

http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/Jan08_Hudson.pdf

Sue

I can't open your link, Sue.

i can.

good article.

thanks.

OK. I got it to work. A lengthy read and I'm not nearly finished, but it's interesting so far..... scary, in fact.

Yeah, scary!

Vote for the crook of your choice, but vote!

After reading the article above, I wondered what would happen if there were a sort-of revolt in the U.S. and the Libertarian candidate was elected.

What would happen? Would he be assassinated by the CIA right away? Would he be totally shunned and obstructed by Congress? Would he be able to do anything constructive?

And the next question: would he stick to his guns or be seduced by the power and money?

Sue

This is my cup of tea. I could get this thread locked up so fast it would be "scary".

But I'm really tired of all this lockdown. I can;t muster the energy Sue. This thread certainly has potential, though... hehehe

This wouldn't necessarily take a Libertarian to correct.

Remember that a 'tax-and-spend' liberal, Clinton, did pretty well at bringing things back into line. Correcting the slide the other way that resulted when the 'conservatives', who ran on a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility (Remember the 'contract on America'?) took over.

Fact - The the two greatest expansions in the federal deficit have been with people who claimed to be for a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility.

Hint - Claim to be for one thing and then to do everything possible against the cause is pretty much par for the GOP. Go figure.

Hint - This is standard propaganda technique. Hitler claimed to be protecting the German nation from the predations of the Jews. He also claimed to be preventing a war. The left hand distracts while the right hand does the dirty work.

In fact I don't have a whole lot of faith in anyone on the Libertarians ideological side. Elected a Libertarian would have little or no traction with either side. An isolated and hostile president might gridlock a legislative process when there are many things that really need to be done in a short amount of time.

So, anyone read a good western lately? I recently finished "Lonesome Dove" and thought it was pretty lame. It seemed like the author just wanted to see how many wacky characters he could come up with rather than actually write an engrossing book. I can't believe how much attention the book received!

Or we could talk about soup.

-Blast

Having an interest in these things, and seeing that the thread has managed to survive so far, I'd like to know more about this "Contract on America". Could you tell me, accurately, what exactly that was? Was it itemized? Were there specific goals that an assembly was trying to reach? Did they achieve them? Was it a "contract" as in something gangsters do?

Thanks in advance.

Made a good one right after Thanksgiving. Boiled down the Turkey bones with some chicken, carrots, celery, and a turnip, pretty much a classic French style "Pot-a-fer" (sp?). Got to freeze 2-3 containers - I take the turnip out - I don't like eating them, but the taste they give the broth is fairly nice. I think tonight I'll fire up a container, add some fine egg noodles to it - Yum. Even my kids who hate turkey (there is no accounting for kids) like this soup

For what its worth, I went to graduate school (early 90's) with the wife of a congressman from the mid-west. State/Party doesn't matter. She told me that the "conventional wisdom" for both partys on the hill was that "you can't do anything to pursue your agenda if you don't get elected, therefore, say/do anything to get elected, then you can pursue your agenda. . .". Somehow, I have a small problem with that.

Blast:

I read the book a few years ago and thought it was fairly good. Also a local store has the DVD on sale for $7.99, I have never seen the movie so I may buy it today.

Have you read The Streets of Laredo? Talk about wacky characters...

I guess you meant "Pot-au-feu" ...

Yes - My French has gotten REALLY bad - and I'm of French descent - in fact Dad's nickname is the same as your forum handle - He was born in St Remy

I had left-over Turkey Soup for supper tomight, the DW had made it up in the fall and froze about a gallon. No Turnips in it though but lots of carrots and celery, it tasted even better the second time around. That a funny thing about soup?

Mike

I suppose if a Libertarian or some other independent of similar bias were elected, they'd be approached with a choice, conform or be involuntarily removed.

Reading articles like this, I am reminded of the last 20 minutes of the movie "Fight Club". Imagine what could happen if, across the country, all the financial institutions were obliterated?

Personally, I would welcome someone mashing that big reset switch and putting us all back to a level playing field again.

More and more, I am inclined to believe that my retirement plan will consist of locating the most luxurious, safe and inmate friendly prison in the US, moving into it's jurisdiction, and committing a major non-violent felony, like setting up a bogus meth lab then turning myself in. Otherwise I believe I will be working till I drop. Besides, I know no one who has been able to walk away from their work routine and not have to get some form of financial aid, or otherwise seriously curtail their lifestyle choices. Even those with government pensions end up mostly going back to work as door greeters or some such.

We've been into soups since our Xmas party yielded so many leftovers. Good ole split pea with ham and rice, prime rib beef and barley, and turkey noodle soups. Next up is a spanish chorizo, chicken and lentil scratch recipe soup for later this week. Then a really good Sopa de Albondigas and maybe a nice Thai Beef Panang type soup.

Cheese tortillini and sausage soup is also very good. I like adding some chopped celery leaves to it.

As for "Streets of Larado", I have it on my bookcase but I'll probably need to be pretty desperate to read it. Lonsome Dove drove me away from that author.

-Blast, as directed by Thumper's mom.

Say it isn't so! My hero, Blast, is dissing "Lonesome Dove"?!?

Actually I agree about the book - average at best.

The "Lonesome Dove Miniseries (1989)" with Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Duval, Danny Glover, Frederick Forrest, Diane Lane, Rick Schroeder, Angelica Houston et al. however, is completely different. One of the best things I've ever watched on TV. They'd never be able to gather a cast with today's TV budgets. Don't waste a moment of time with the sequals.

PM me the recipe! I've been dying to learn how to make that!

-Blast

What kind of Chorizo? I use Mexican, Spanish and Portugese, but each are distinctively different (the spanish and Portugese less so) and get used in quite different ways.

Dried Spanish and Portugese chorizo broths out about like any other seasoned dried meat will. Mexican chorizo is best for frying in a pan with eggs.

Here's my mexican chorizo recipe. I abstained from adding the typical ingredients and went for meat products cityfolk would be able to swallow:

Big Ben’s Boosted Chorizo

2 lbs lean ground pork
4 tablespoons mexican chili powder
1 1/2 tsp Cayenne and 1 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika (if you like to step on it). Or 1 tablespoon smoked paprika (if you are feeling tender)
½ tsp Green or Chipotle Tabasco sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Olive oil
1 ounce tequila (don’t waste the good stuff unless that’s all ya got)

In a bowl big enough to handle it, combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly (a large wooden spoon is good, bare hands are better). When well blended, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (the longer the better, overnight is the usual). When ready to use, remove as much as you need, cover the rest and refrigerate or freeze if need be. Break the sausage up in a medium hot skillet and add a jigger or so of water to induce the rendering process. Once the sausage starts rendering reduce heat to medium and continue to fry up until the water is gone and it is cooked through (this may be hard to tell, as the chili powder keeps the meat red, so judge by the sizzle). When the sausage is cooked through, serve onto warm tortillas burrito style. Usually I scramble in some eggs (usually more egg than sausage) to give it more character and stretch the sausage out amongst more servings. You can add any type of mexican style toppings, like grated cheese, sour cream, even guacamole and black olives to make the dish more robust. This is premium cowboy breakfast food, the kind I’d serve at the ranch house on Sunday after a full week’s worth of hard work, were I in the cattle business. In New Mexico they’d serve refried beans and rice on the side, but I think fried taters are a better “acouterment” (my Irish blood I suppose).
Alternatively, I will add some flour to the cooked sausage (enough to bind the fat into a roux) and water to make a gravy for my bisuits instead of using a country breakfast sausage and milk based gravy. Adding a few slices of jalapenos or some chipotle to the dish will only make it better, unless you can’t stand the heat. Otherwise it is pretty mild, but flavorful.

Alternatively, here's my Portugese Chorizo stew recipe:

Big Ben’s Chorizo Chicken Lentil Stew

This Chorizo isn’t the same as the breakfast kind and you can’t really subsitute the other without dramatically altering the outcome.

1 lb Portugese or dried Spanish Chorizo, skin removed
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, diced coarse
1 medium onion, diced
3 Tbs minced garlic
1 large can fire roasted diced tomatoes(regular diced if you can't get the fire roasted ones is fine)
1 lb lentils
3 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs ground Cumin
1 Tbs mixed dried minced herbs (thyme, sage, oregano)
2 quarts water
4 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper


In a large dutch oven over medium heat, add two Tbs of the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the chorizo and break up fine(smaller than bite sized). Add the chicken and stir until chicken and chorizo are nearly done. Add the rest of the olive oil, the onion and the garlic. Stir until onion is clear. Add remaining ingredients and reduce heat to simmer. Cook covered for two hours, or until thickened well.

Benjammin,

Oh great, now I have to explain to my boss why he caught me licking the computer screen.

However, Saturday morning breakfasts at the Blast household will never be the same.

-Blast

That there first recipe's plenty authentic Texas food too. It's an original from out somewhere south of Midland/Odessa. Y'all enjoy that one.

The other is one of my personal creations from my time in Jersey here a couple years ago.

*whimper* I'm so hungry right now...

-Blast

Blast - Last I looked this isn't your site and your not a moderator. You have no right to decide what "we" are going to do or not do. Your legitimate options are to participate and/or comment in a thread or not. Hijacking a thread isn't a sound or civil option. It is insulting and rude. It may, in fact, be a violation of the TOS in and of itself.

IMO a post was made and I answered in a civil and respectful manner. The legitimacy of the initial post remains to be determined and isn't my call. If the site owner or designated moderator objects he/she can do as they please in line with what, if any, violation or contribution a poster has made. I don't think my post crossed any line and, worse case, I'm old enough not to fear being barred if it came to that.

Unless and until you are revealed as a moderator or owner/operator I will thank you to abide by the simple rules of civil discourse and not hijack any thread I am participating in.

I asked that you attempt to legitimize part of your post. He'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I don;t think Blast was attempting to hijack...rather, he was "steering" the thread. Additionally, civil discourse could become impossible if willy-nilly political and social opinions are belched out as "fact"....with reckless disregard for facts.

According to the rules of this board, political dicussions are to be avoided. Politics leads disagreement, disagreement leads to anger, anger leads to chaos. Chaos leads nowhere.

No I'm not a moderator. I'm a guy who has watched this site grow from a small town to a big city over the last five years. This growth brings new blood and new ideas. It also bring a greater chance to burn down, usually with politics lighting the match.

There are plenty of sight for people to spout politics. This is not one of them and by golly I'll try my damnest to steer threads away from hot topics into something at least useful to this site. As further defense of my actions let me quote the moderator Martin Foczio in this thread:

-Blast, who does know the rules.

Basque Chorizo is one of several Spanish varieties that work in a number of different dishes. I've yet to find a Chorizo I didn't like.

Now as for Billy boy and his ridiculous presidency, I'd say most of his economic windfalls were inherited more from the Reagan era than of his own making. Of course, his foreign policy is really what has us in the mess we've been in since his senseless meddling in Kosovo and Somalia. His legacy is right up there with the longevity of Homer Simpson. I guess the whole world needed a good laugh at our expense for 8 years. He shoulda stuck to playing the sax. Had it not been for all the criminal mischief his domestic partner has gotten away with, they would not be sitting in the lap of luxury they enjoy now. Of course, she is the biggest sellout after being such a devout feminist and then letting him do what he did.

Nope, Bill's biggest saving grace is that he was too simple-minded to understand how all the politico-economic mess boils out. Thank God too.

Sorry, folks, I just thought it was an interesting article, and more easily understood than many of the type.

Although I can't quite figure why people would think that political decisions don't affect our survival.

Sue

They do..... they even affect our recipes ((( )))

No need to apologize Sue, this has been a most entertaining thread, and yet another opportunity for me to share some good recipes. Yippee!

In my opinion, you can't trust anyone running for office anymore. At least that way I can't be disappointed.

In the world of politics and economics, I am just a microbe on a grain of sand. What is happening and being done by those wielding the power is so far removed from my daily action item list that I've no hope of things changing, or even getting simple enough to keep track of. Even were I to devote every waking moment to trying to effect even the smallest of changes, it'll never be anything close to what I would want in any sort of timeline I could be concerned over (my children's children's children, to quote Hook).

Call me a cynnic, but I reckon we really quit being a government for the people, by the people and of the people about 120 years ago. We sold our freedom for a little security, and have allowed those with vast personal and social agendas determine our fate from then on. It may be better to go along through our lives in blissful ignorance of how things truly work at the top, for there is no hope we can ever change the way things are without suffering great turmoil and sacrificing all that we hold so precious now.