runs good; needs work
Things are likely to get worse before they get better. Millions of Americans, especially the most disenfranchised among us, children, the unemployed, and the elderly, are likely to suffer even more in the wake of the deepening economic crisis. Generally, they have little if any cushion to protect them and what cushion exists, is in danger.
It's not just the country as a whole that is ailing financially; a number of states are projecting huge deficits for the current fiscal year. Unprecedented ones. California, 11 billion dollar shortfall; New York, 2 billion dollars. And next year's budgets look even bleaker than the current ones. The solution for states is frequently narrow. In Missouri, for example, 90 percent of state revenues go to 3 programs: education, prisons, and health-care. In a Republican controlled legislature, one adverse to raising taxes and reducing prisons, it pretty much leaves education and health-care to take the brunt of the cuts.
Cities are seeing the fallout as well. The City of New York is looking at a 2 billion shortfall over the next 2 years. Kansas City recently announced that an additional 300 million in cuts could be needed this fiscal year (on top of previous cuts) as revenues continue to fall below projections.
In light of these troubles, the Obama transition team must begin to order the business of the upcoming administration. The economy? Global climate change? Dependence on foreign oil? Growing Russian hegemony? What should be addressed first?
It's still the economy, stupid. It's what brought the O-man to the office and if we can right it fairly quickly, we can more easily solve the other issues. Closely tied to any economic fix is the health of the auto industry. But if renewed growth in the auto industry isn't greener, and much greener than past growth, we'll have squandered a huge opportunity. The new administration must require quick and forceful changes in production models and increased mileage-standards. We must quickly move to very efficient automobiles. This helps to reduce greenhouse gases, create jobs, and move the country away from dependence on the our elixir of death known as oil.
The US economy is still one of the most robust economies in the world. We have an opportunity in the near term to once again lead the world but we must insist that the people's way, and not the lobbyist way, paves the road ahead.
It's not just the country as a whole that is ailing financially; a number of states are projecting huge deficits for the current fiscal year. Unprecedented ones. California, 11 billion dollar shortfall; New York, 2 billion dollars. And next year's budgets look even bleaker than the current ones. The solution for states is frequently narrow. In Missouri, for example, 90 percent of state revenues go to 3 programs: education, prisons, and health-care. In a Republican controlled legislature, one adverse to raising taxes and reducing prisons, it pretty much leaves education and health-care to take the brunt of the cuts.
Cities are seeing the fallout as well. The City of New York is looking at a 2 billion shortfall over the next 2 years. Kansas City recently announced that an additional 300 million in cuts could be needed this fiscal year (on top of previous cuts) as revenues continue to fall below projections.
In light of these troubles, the Obama transition team must begin to order the business of the upcoming administration. The economy? Global climate change? Dependence on foreign oil? Growing Russian hegemony? What should be addressed first?
It's still the economy, stupid. It's what brought the O-man to the office and if we can right it fairly quickly, we can more easily solve the other issues. Closely tied to any economic fix is the health of the auto industry. But if renewed growth in the auto industry isn't greener, and much greener than past growth, we'll have squandered a huge opportunity. The new administration must require quick and forceful changes in production models and increased mileage-standards. We must quickly move to very efficient automobiles. This helps to reduce greenhouse gases, create jobs, and move the country away from dependence on the our elixir of death known as oil.The US economy is still one of the most robust economies in the world. We have an opportunity in the near term to once again lead the world but we must insist that the people's way, and not the lobbyist way, paves the road ahead.
you've earned that puppy
Having you been using the words unprecedented, historical, and ground-breaking a lot this week? Stop. I'm pretty sure that this won't be the first vice-President to take the train to work.Puppies. Puppies. Puppies. There's nothing like that new puppy smell. It's even better than the new car smell. And a lot less toxic. But face it. Puppies are a lot of work. And they demand lot's of attention. The puppy can't be part of the family if you don't do your job as well. Feed the puppy. Water the puppy. Love the puppy.
In Arkansas they call puppies 'hounds.' Earlier this week, voters in Arkansas, by a 57% margin of approval, enacted the Unmarried Couple Adoption Ban. It makes it illegal for any individual cohabiting outside of a valid marriage to adopt or provide foster care to minors. We've known for quite some time that they don't like gay people in Arkansas but apparently they also don't like kids that much. Fifty-eight percent is about the same level of support that Arkansans gave to John McCain. I'd say the state is pretty out-of-touch with the rest of the nation. Seems like it might be time for some White-Housing training.
signs, signs, nowhere are there signs
The political detritus from an election has never disappeared from the landscape faster. I'd heard rumors of Obama signs being lifted before the election; someone told me it was their second sign to be stolen from the front of their yard in a week - but I don't think the problem was widespread or endorsed by McGruff. At the time, I surmised that it could just as easily have been folks who were trying to grab history-in-a-sign.Yes, there were the few McCain supporters who engaged in yelling socialiste! and there was the large Obama sign with the hammer and sickle painted on it that graced the grand boulevard throughout October. However, it was just hard to imagine that desperate Republicans, regardless of the pending landslide, would drive en masse around in the middle of the night plucking yard signs as though they were opponent's eyes. The zealotry of pranking teenagers, yes, or college students who wanted signs for their dorm rooms, makes more sense for the trickle loss of O signs.
In contrast, after the primaries, the Ron Paul signs were left in street medians and on busy corners for weeks. WEEKS. Maybe Paul's meager 2 percent draw sucked all the energy from his campaign and no one had the wherewithal to pull his trash.
But come November 5th, the ubiqitous Obama and McCain (even the light rail signs) were gone from the landscape. I suspect the Obama supporters wanted to hang on to a piece of history and that the McCain and Light Rail proponents were just embarrassed by the significant pasting they'd just received at the polls. Wednesday, did feel a bit like New Year's Day, as though the country was ready to move forward FROM THIS DAY ON. Let's hope we are.
profit-taking fridays
Wow! Things are getting weird. I just sold the URL of the Nov. 5th NY Times Online Edition to a former McCain supporter for $25 and some change.
republican terrorists
Lot's of conservative pundits are throwing Bobby Jindal's name around as the future of the Republican Party, but isn't he a Muslim? Oh well, that's OK, look how it worked out for the Dems.
plumber's crack derailed mccain's campaign
As gracious as John McCain was in his concession speech, you may have noted that he left the analysis of what went wrong to the pundits. Herewith we take up the challenge of the Big Dog with the Bad Attitude. The weakness, it turns out, was something Warrior Ant Press likes to call, Plumber's crack. There was a huge plumber's crack running right through the middle of the campaign and it caused too many people, even his handlers, to turn away and not see the problem with their approach. 
Back in 2000 the US Census Bureau asked folks to self-identify their ancestry. These results are shown on a county-by-county basis for the entire USA in the above map. Clicking on the map will allow you to explore it in greater detail. Here's the important story in the map. The light tan counties on the map are where the majority of a county identifies itself as being of American ancestry (whatever that is). This swatch, this plumber's crack runs from Texas through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Southern Missouri, and on into Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. These areas were heavily Republican in the 2008 election; even more so than in the 2004 election.
However troubling the crack may be for some, the good news is that it continues to shrink. The problem with the Republicans was that they didn't see it as a crack in the first place. Or else they had their head in it and couldn't see out. More and more folks are referring to themselves as being of a different ancestory than American. I suspect an American ancestry means your family has been in the country long enough to forget, or not focus too heavily, on your ancestral heritage, but my guess if you ask these folks who they think they are what they'll mostly say is that they're white. The rest of the country identifies with an ancestory other than that of the nebulous American and sees itself outside of this issue of who is white and who is black, brown, or any other color. The Obama camp understood this simple demographic aspect and worked to unify the rest of the country.
If you look at a map of party voting shifts from 2004 to 2008, the only places that became more Republican in 2008 are the same places where the self-labeled Americans reside. This gets to several things. It speaks to the McCain/Palin idea of labeling their ardent supporters as being the real America. This same broad swatch has frequently been called the bible belt, still evident today but shrinking in influence for the country as a whole save the Republican Party base. Geographically, these areas represent but a small part of the country as a whole. A big problem with the McCain/Palin campaign was that they let themselves be high-jacked by a very small percentage of America - the conservative Christian base of the Republican party, les Americanos. It's not that big a place anymore. And it's not going to get bigger. Not in it's current iteration. In order for the Republicans to survive, they'll have to rethink what they're doing. Lose the Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage blow-hard approach to yelling at people and find something else to focus on.
I suggest the GOP begin to focus on domestic issues that matter to a much larger audience than just the top 1 percent who contribute so much to the RNC coffers. Instead they should be focusing on living wages, affordable housing and health-care, and helping small businesses grow. This is what Country First could mean and until it does, the Republicans will be playing on the sidelines and watching the Democrats try and make the world a better place. Let's hope they can make it happen.
vote early and wait
Lines stretched around the block for early voting in Wyandotte Co., Kansas with waits running 2 hours or more for the last 4 days.
Street preacher preaching the end-of-the-world to early voters in Wyandotte Co., Kansas.
Vicki and Michael Richmond, Kansas City, MO voting absentee at the Plaza Library so they can work the polls tomorrow. Waits were approximately 2 hours.
something's happening here
...what it is ain't exactly clear.
If things go really bad on Tuesday, we'll still have satire.
If things go really bad on Tuesday, we'll still have satire.
ass-whupping
Republican bullies, those annoying blow-hards with their lies and dumb-ass rhetoric are about the get a long-deserved ass-whupping at the polls on the Tuesday. It's not going to be close. It'll be rout as millions of Americans stand up and finally shout back to Dick "the Dick" Cheney's his own words, "no, sir, fuck you."
Tuesday will be one of those cathartic moments, like when the humans finally take back Planet Earth from the zombies and the whole audience gasps a sigh of relief and spontaneous applause breaks out in the theater. On Tuesday night folks will be kissing strangers and whopping and hollering in the streets just as the red-necks slink back into the dim lights of their water-downed beer and limited world view and wonder how they could have been so stupid as to believe in Bush and that skipping school was a solid plan for a future of getting-ahead and providing for your family.
What's weird is just how long we will have waited for this moment. Seems like 40 years since we've been allowed to dream. There were brief moments of promise such as when Clinton got elected but then he had to get all white trash on us and blow a whole bunch of good vibes with a cheap intern beneath the Resolute Desk.
This time though, when the neo-cons start whining, the blue-staters will be able to proudly say, "you fat-bastard ass-wipes had it coming. While you were sitting on your duff, driving your overloaded SUV to the mall, complaining about the Hispanic help at the McDonald's drive-through, we were out working our asses off for a new and better nation. And now guess what Repugs? It's not socialism we expect from you. But hard work. Time to get busy with the rebuilding. So get busy or leave!"
november is squashed month
We haven't posted recipes in a long time. We're still cooking, we've just been eating on the run a lot. No more. Now that the nation's long tribulation is about to run it's course, and NO, we don't mean the war in Iraq, we'll be offering up some recipes for your enjoyment.
And to kick this off we're declaring November - Squashed Month. As in 'Squashed.' We can only HOPE. Squash is a great fall food. It keeps for a long time. It has a mild flavor, which means it lends itself to coloration with many other scents and flavors. It's inexpensive. It can serve to extend many other dishes to feed larger crowds. And casseroles made with squash can serve as a main course just as easily as they do a side course. So let's get squashy!
Here's a variant of a dish my pal a. bitterman frequently makes for holiday gatherings. I like to color up this dish with red peppers, and intensify the flavors with a layer of portabella mushrooms sauteed in lots of garlic, a hint of tarragon, and an American Pale Ale reduction. The squash itself is flavored with chevre, olive oil, and a nice fig-flavored balsamic vinegar. This gives the dish several layers of color and flavor.
This a great main dish and reheats quite well.
Squashed Casserole (in memory of McCain/Palin). Serves 4-6.
Ingredients:
1 medium spaghetti squash.
3 sprigs fresh tarragon, minced finely.
3 cups portabella mushrooms, coarsely chopped.
1/2 sweet onion, chopped.
3 cloves garlic, diced.
1/2 red bell pepper (or substitute 1/2 cup roasted red peppers).
1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds.
Dash of balsamic vinegar.
Dash of toasted sesame oil.
1/2 cup of American Pale Ale (suggest Schafly brand; substitute IPA.)
Freshly grated Pecorino cheese.
Saute the onions in olive oil on high heat. After a few minutes, add the portabella mushrooms and sauteed until the onions are translucent and mushrooms begin to brown. Then cover to release all moisture in the mixture. Once the moisture has been released, add the tarragon and garlic. Cook covered for 5 minutes, then remove the lid. Once about 1/2 the liquid has evaporated, then add a 1/2 cup of bitter ale (suggest Schafly IPA) and continue to reduce the liquid stirring as needed. Once you have a paste, turn off the heat and let stand uncovered.
Split the squash in half. De-seed. Then place the halves in a casserole dish with a 1/2 cup of water, cover, and bake in a slow oven for approximately 1 hour or until a knife easily pierces the skin. Cool. Then fork the spaghetti squash into a bowl. Toss with sea salt, cracked pepper, paprika, oil olive, a high quality balsamic vinegar, and a dash of toasted sesame oil. [This can be done the night before and then refrigerated until ready to assemble the dish].
Now the fun part. Layer in an oiled casserole dish. First the pumpkin seeds. Then the mushroom paste, then the red peppers, then the squash mixture. Cook covered in a slow oven, (325 F) for about 1/2 hour or until you can begin to smell the dish. Remove the cover, sprinkle the grated Pecorino cheese over the top, and return to a 425 F for 10-12 minutes until brown.
Remove and let stand for 10 minutes to firm up. Cut and serve with locally grown, tart jonathan apples and an American Pale Ale.
And to kick this off we're declaring November - SquashHere's a variant of a dish my pal a. bitterman frequently makes for holiday gatherings. I like to color up this dish with red peppers, and intensify the flavors with a layer of portabella mushrooms sauteed in lots of garlic, a hint of tarragon, and an American Pale Ale reduction. The squash itself is flavored with chevre, olive oil, and a nice fig-flavored balsamic vinegar. This gives the dish several layers of color and flavor.
This a great main dish and reheats quite well.
Squash
Ingredients:
1 medium spaghetti squash.
3 sprigs fresh tarragon, minced finely.
3 cups portabella mushrooms, coarsely chopped.
1/2 sweet onion, chopped.
3 cloves garlic, diced.
1/2 red bell pepper (or substitute 1/2 cup roasted red peppers).
1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds.
Dash of balsamic vinegar.
Dash of toasted sesame oil.
1/2 cup of American Pale Ale (suggest Schafly brand; substitute IPA.)
Freshly grated Pecorino cheese.
Saute the onions in olive oil on high heat. After a few minutes, add the portabella mushrooms and sauteed until the onions are translucent and mushrooms begin to brown. Then cover to release all moisture in the mixture. Once the moisture has been released, add the tarragon and garlic. Cook covered for 5 minutes, then remove the lid. Once about 1/2 the liquid has evaporated, then add a 1/2 cup of bitter ale (suggest Schafly IPA) and continue to reduce the liquid stirring as needed. Once you have a paste, turn off the heat and let stand uncovered.
Split the squash in half. De-seed. Then place the halves in a casserole dish with a 1/2 cup of water, cover, and bake in a slow oven for approximately 1 hour or until a knife easily pierces the skin. Cool. Then fork the spaghetti squash into a bowl. Toss with sea salt, cracked pepper, paprika, oil olive, a high quality balsamic vinegar, and a dash of toasted sesame oil. [This can be done the night before and then refrigerated until ready to assemble the dish].
Now the fun part. Layer in an oiled casserole dish. First the pumpkin seeds. Then the mushroom paste, then the red peppers, then the squash mixture. Cook covered in a slow oven, (325 F) for about 1/2 hour or until you can begin to smell the dish. Remove the cover, sprinkle the grated Pecorino cheese over the top, and return to a 425 F for 10-12 minutes until brown.
Remove and let stand for 10 minutes to firm up. Cut and serve with locally grown, tart jonathan apples and an American Pale Ale.
warrior ant press asks, can you spare some change?
WARRIOR ANT PRESS TO SPONSOR m.o.i's Please HOPE! Change?
For immediate release:
m.o.i., a Kansas City based artist, offers Please HOPE! Change? in the final days leading up to the November 4th election. For Please HOPE! Change? m.o.i. utilizes simple props such as street signs, his trusty dog, Trex the-rare-West-Tibetan-Mountain Dog, and the world's largest to-go cup to examine the intersection of electioneering, endless campaign fundraising, the financial crisis, voter fraud, campaign dirty tricks, panhandling, and street theater. The work will be performed on various street corners throughout Kansas City through Nov. 3rd.
During the 2008 election cycle, inordinate amounts of money have been raised by both campaigns. Some estimates indicate that as much as 1 billion dollars will be spent to elect the 44th President of the United States. This huge influx of cash has been happening even as the economic outlook continues to be uncertain. More and more people are losing their jobs and homes, a number of U.S banks and financial institutions have recently collapsed or been propped up by the government, and credit has become increasingly more difficult to obtain. Yet cash continues to flow into the election process with no signs of slowing.
The Obama campaign in particular has set numerous records for campaign fund-raising, much of it in small donations and from first-time givers. Both campaigns (in particular the Obama campaign) have mobilized many new voters and volunteers to work on each campaign's behalf although for many new to the process of actively supporting a candidate or cause, the expectations of what this support might personally mean remains largely undefined and unexplored. Artists have also spontaneously used both the Ron Paul and Obama campaigns to engage in hand-made signage, posters, and other forms of propaganda. However, these works have typically been designed to sway voters to align with a particular candidate. Few, if any, of these artists have examined the process of raising campaign funds.
Please HOPE! Change? challenges what it means for citizens to be actively involved in electioneering and solicitation. Additionally, the work exposes the vulnerability of many citizens during a difficult economic time while simultaneously exploring campaign dirty tricks.Please HOPE! Change? takes place on various street corners throughout Kansas City Sunday, October 26th through Monday, November 3rd.
Media inquiries should be addressed m.o.i. c/o Warrior Ant Press via email.
elsewhere:
m.o.i.: more things to do with ron paul signs left by the side of the road
m.o.i.: make it rain
For immediate release:
m.o.i., a Kansas City based artist, offers Please HOPE! Change? in the final days leading up to the November 4th election. For Please HOPE! Change? m.o.i. utilizes simple props such as street signs, his trusty dog, Trex the-rare-West-Tibetan-Mountain Dog, and the world's largest to-go cup to examine the intersection of electioneering, endless campaign fundraising, the financial crisis, voter fraud, campaign dirty tricks, panhandling, and street theater. The work will be performed on various street corners throughout Kansas City through Nov. 3rd.During the 2008 election cycle, inordinate amounts of money have been raised by both campaigns. Some estimates indicate that as much as 1 billion dollars will be spent to elect the 44th President of the United States. This huge influx of cash has been happening even as the economic outlook continues to be uncertain. More and more people are losing their jobs and homes, a number of U.S banks and financial institutions have recently collapsed or been propped up by the government, and credit has become increasingly more difficult to obtain. Yet cash continues to flow into the election process with no signs of slowing.
The Obama campaign in particular has set numerous records for campaign fund-raising, much of it in small donations and from first-time givers. Both campaigns (in particular the Obama campaign) have mobilized many new voters and volunteers to work on each campaign's behalf although for many new to the process of actively supporting a candidate or cause, the expectations of what this support might personally mean remains largely undefined and unexplored. Artists have also spontaneously used both the Ron Paul and Obama campaigns to engage in hand-made signage, posters, and other forms of propaganda. However, these works have typically been designed to sway voters to align with a particular candidate. Few, if any, of these artists have examined the process of raising campaign funds.
Please HOPE! Change? challenges what it means for citizens to be actively involved in electioneering and solicitation. Additionally, the work exposes the vulnerability of many citizens during a difficult economic time while simultaneously exploring campaign dirty tricks.Please HOPE! Change? takes place on various street corners throughout Kansas City Sunday, October 26th through Monday, November 3rd.Media inquiries should be addressed m.o.i. c/o Warrior Ant Press via email.
elsewhere:
m.o.i.: more things to do with ron paul signs left by the side of the road
m.o.i.: make it rain
plumber overturns straight-talk express
The so-called Straight Talk Express, driving like mad to get McGruff the Crime Dog to his designated appointment with a large block of ice, skidded on a highway today and overturned. Interestingly, the bus had just stopped to pick up Joe-da-Plumber to serve as an economic advisor to the campaign. According to a McCain campaign spokesperson, Joe's (neither a plumber nor a business owner he) ideas were so far from the center that they caused the campaign to further lose its balance and slide deeper into a tailspin.
mccain to freeze solid over the weekend
In an effort to prove that even though he doesn't have the intellectual curiosity to be President, but still has the mettle, McGruff the Crime Dog will freeze himself in a block of ice over the weekend. The cube is expected to melt in time for McCain to at least vote for himself on Tuesday even as independents continue to abandon his campaign. His VP-candidate, Sarah America, has agreed to campaign in McCain's stead and to occasionally stop, check the geezer's pulse, and feed him fresh-killed meat. Campaign insider's suggest that this event will only partial fulfill one of the Senator's fantasies - the one that includes an igloo, a bear-skin rug, and a sharply-dressed young woman.
say goodbye to your little friend
Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, mentor to VP-candidate Sarah Palin, and the longest serving Republican member of the Senate was unanimously endorsed Monday by a jury of twelve. Next Tuesday, Stevens' Democrat opponent in the convicted-on-all-7-felony counts attempt to gain a 8th term in the US Congress will most assuredly be endorsed by the majority of people from the Last Great Wilderness of America.
Stevens, who joins the ranks of such venerable Republicans this year as Larry "I just wanted to wash your sock" Craig, spells more doom and gloom for the flailing McCain campaign and embarrassment for the party that will soon find itself in a major rebuilding mode. Both Stevens and McCain are old enough to know the origins of "say it ain't so Joe", but the bad news for the both of them and the good news for the rest of America is that it is so.
Stevens, who joins the ranks of such venerable Republicans this year as Larry "I just wanted to wash your sock" Craig, spells more doom and gloom for the flailing McCain campaign and embarrassment for the party that will soon find itself in a major rebuilding mode. Both Stevens and McCain are old enough to know the origins of "say it ain't so Joe", but the bad news for the both of them and the good news for the rest of America is that it is so.
operatic influences
Last Saturday evening another permutation of WaterFire was lit on Brush Creek, proving that if you pull out the braziers and start a fire, then surely white folks will appear from all directions once they smell wood smoke.
This version of WaterFire, sponsored by Karen Holland, the woman who brought plastic cows on concrete bases to Kansas City and had the temerity to call it art, was replacing a washed-out version of the a fore-mentioned installation of braziers filled with 5 cords of hickory, oak, and ash. The previous incarnation of Water Fire was taken away by a flood, an indication that artists who purport to be environmentalists don't always know how to read a hydrograph, may also build their homes in a flood plain, and leave huge carbon foot prints.
Upwind of the smoke and on the bright side, most Plaza businesses celebrated the event. Given the overflow crowds, which normally would have been gawking in the Power and Light District on a Saturday evening, tour buses were forced to park 3 blocks away along Mill Creek Parkway as out-of-towners and suburbanites flocked to view art which asked the probing question, "has opera, or new-age music, most influenced the resurgence of bonfires in America?"
zealots for zealots
You'll be happy to note that although we have yet to endorse John McCain for President of the United States others have stepped in to offer support. Joining the likes of rabble-rousers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and Bill O'Reilly, members of Al Queda last week offered their ringing endorsement of McGruff the Crime Dog for President.
Why? Al Queda knows that the world-wide instability generated by having the largest military in the world governed by zealots whose ideology is peppered with the irrational thought processes allows the terrorists an opportunity to continue to foment their own brand of ideology peppered with irrational thought processes on the rest of the world.
Why? Al Queda knows that the world-wide instability generated by having the largest military in the world governed by zealots whose ideology is peppered with the irrational thought processes allows the terrorists an opportunity to continue to foment their own brand of ideology peppered with irrational thought processes on the rest of the world.