Several people have wondered, “Where the hell’s the art pottery and food?”
Well, as is obvious from these posts, world and national events do tend to grab my attention.

Here are some beans worthy of similar scrutiny:

Red Beans

1 14oz can Northern Beans, rinsed
1 14oz can Diced Tomatoes, drained
1 14-15oz can Chicken Broth
2 Tbsp Butter
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 large Yellow Onion, chopped
2 medium stalks Celery, chopped
1 Bay Leaf
¼ Tsp Cumin
¼ Tsp Coriander
½ Tsp Sea Salt
¼ Tsp White Pepper

Melt Butter and Olive Oil in deep pan. Add Garlic, Onion and Celery. Sauté one minute. Add Tomato, Beans, Chicken Broth and seasonings. Gently stir and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

White Beans

Omit Tomatoes, Cumin and Coriander. Add ¼ Cup of heavy Cream with Chicken Broth and ¼ Tsp Savory with seasonings.

Great sides for steak or chicken.

Another clever reader suggested I start another blog called Politics, Politics and Politics where I could discuss art pottery and food!
In addition to sputtering, this remark, also, caused me to stamp my little foot in that Shirley Templesque way that, while Presidential, can be frightening to the uninitiated.

Allow me to hide my chagrin behind this massive piece of Rookwood from the new Cincinnati Wing of the Cincinnati Art Museum. This beautiful 15” pot was made by Rookwood’s first Art Director Albert Valentian in 1883 and has a Dull Finish exterior glaze and a Limoges interior glaze. This vase was given to the CAM by the Women’s Art Museum Association in 1885. Like most pictures of Rookwood this photo just doesn’t do justice to the pot’s colors and texture.




- posted by Sean @ 1:11 AM  

 
Happy Birthday America!

Three Flags, Jasper Johns, 1958





- posted by Sean @ 8:26 AM  

 

This morning the Washington Post’s Howie Kurtz joined the rest of establishment punditry in hopping onto the large “flopped” pile currently steaming on the verdant lawns of the NBC compound at the Ward Circle end of Nebraska Avenue, N.W.
With Stalinesque lockstep the blight of corporate punditry assures us that Governor Howard Dean of Vermont failed miserably before Tim Russert’s Meet the Press barrage of questions:

Waffling and evasive.
--Washington Post, editorial, large media holdings benefit from Powell/FCC rules

The former Vermont governor repeatedly stumbled during a Tim Russert grilling nine days ago on "Meet the Press."
--Howard Kurtz, columnist, Washington Post, see above

It was perhaps the worst performance by a presidential candidate in the history of television.
--Zev Chafets, columnist, Murdock-owned NY Daily News

The politico-media establishment continues to look at him as an antiwar pipsqueak…decidedly not ready for prime time.
--The Note, ABCNews.com, Disney-owned

It was a disaster.
--Craig Hines, Houston Chronicle, and need I say more

Never for a minute forget, boys and girls, that the editorial slant of the mainstream corporate press is a major issue in this upcoming Presidential election. The media will use deception, smears and omission to further a Bush agenda that strengthens corporate monopolies and insures obscene profit to the detriment of their Constitutional responsibilities.
Here’s a selection of interesting and related links:

Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler has an excellent 3 part series on Governor Dean’s Meet appearance.

David Podvin from MakeThemAccountable.com explains why Tim did what he did.

The Meet the Press transcript including the Governor’s unreported money quote about Republican election goals:

I believe their purpose is essentially to defund the federal government so that Medicare and Social Security, the icons of the New Deal, will be undone. Karl Rove and others have talked about going back to the McKinley era before there was any kind of social safety net in this country. Really that’s what the campaign’s about. It’s to undo what I consider radical Republicanism.

Neil Pollack’s hysterical post:

But then I watched Howard Dean's appearance on Meet the Press yesterday morning, and all other smears were off.

And, from billmon.org, Day of the Jackals:

It strikes me that the political press really has descended to a new low -- leaving it on an evolutionary plane only slightly higher than bread mold. The boys (and girls) on the bus now seem to think it's OK for them to try to destroy candidates based on whether they like them or not...slamming a candidate because you disagree with his or her ideas...amount to "protecting the game"...And that [game] is abuse of power.

Photo: Ann Heisenfelt-AP

- posted by Sean @ 7:07 PM  

 
Since last week’s Supreme Court decision overturning the Texas anti-sodomy laws elements of the right wing have reminded me of Comedy Channel’s Up All Night host Dave Atell’s story of a guy’s horrible gardening accident where he slips and a cucumber accidentally slides up his ass.

As reported in this morning’s Washington Post, limelight loving Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, seemingly fresh from his own gardening accident, was ironically trotted before Disney-owned cameras in Washington where the pain from that lodged proto pickle was very evident:

"I have this fear that this zone of privacy that we all want protected in our own homes is gradually -- or I'm concerned about the potential for it gradually being encroached upon, where criminal activity within the home would in some way be condoned," Frist told ABC's "This Week”… "I very much feel that marriage is a sacrament, and that sacrament should extend and can extend to that legal entity of a union between -- what is traditionally in our Western values has been defined -- as between a man and a woman. So I would support the [constitutional proposal to ban gay marriages in the United States] amendment."

What “criminal activity” do you think the in-over-his-head amateur theologian has in mind as a potential privacy encroacher? I can’t imagine but I know Senator Rick Santorum and former Congressman Bob Dornan could regale the good Doctor Frist with their personally revealing and orifice-widening expertise on privacy protected consensual anal excess.
Yes, America, the Church Ladies of the right are attempting to again grind America to a halt with the anti-American blurring of Church and State distinctions. A report in this morning’s New York Times would suggest Frist’s remarks are part of coordinated campaign positioning:

Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council, said, "There are two issues that are nonnegotiable for the base: the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage."

I’ve said it before and Ill say it again; this is going to be one viciously ugly Presidential campaign.

I would like to draw your attention to a curious column in Sunday’s Washington Post by ombudsman Michael Getler on the paper’s coverage of PFC Jessica Lynch. Mr. Getler has been left wondering about the same unanswered questions that have puzzled so many readers:

Why did the information in that first story, which was wrong in its most compelling aspects, remain unchallenged for so long? What were the motivations (and even the identities) of the leakers and sustainers of this myth, and why didn't reporters dig deeper into it more quickly... How do these unnamed sources explain putting out this information and not correcting it sooner? Did the government intend to manipulate the press? Was The Post itself reluctant to revisit this episode?

I’m guessing Mr. Getler is somehow prevented from picking up the phone to ask reporters in his paper’s employ a question or two about a story so vital to that newpaper’s reputation. Perhaps if he runs into Sue Schmidt or Dana Priest at the hot cocoa machine this week he could get some answers.

- posted by Sean @ 2:39 AM