Charlotte Russe Cream Custard Dessert Cake
Submitted by trailing wife
Recipe Note:
Charlotte Russe is a dessert invented by the French chef Marie Antoine Carême (1784-1833), who named it in honor of his Russian employer Czar Alexander I. It is a cold dessert of bavarian cream set in a mold lined with ladyfingers. [1] One etymology of the word charlotte suggests it is a corruption of the Old English word charlyt meaning "a dish of custard." There is a lot of doubt surrounding the origins of the name "charlotte." Meat dishes that were known as charlets were popular in the 15th century. Other historians say that this sweet dish took its name from Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of George III. [2]
#1
Carnitas Mexican Style Seared Pork
Submitted by Zenster
Preparation time: ~1 2 hours
Serves: 6 10 People
Ingredients:
2-3 Pounds Streaky Unsmoked Pork Picnic, Boston Butt or Boneless Ribs
2 Dozen Fresh White Corn Tortillas
1-2 TSP Sea Salt (or Kosher salt)
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil or Lard
Optional Toppings:
Fresh Salsa
Guacamole
Chopped Tomato
Grated Cotija Cheese
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Wedges of Lemon or Lime
Grated Monterey Jack Cheese
Chopped White Onions and Cilantro (do not substitute other color onions)
Preparation:
Start warming the oil or lard in a medium cook pot over low heat. Bone out the pork shoulder (or other cuts), starting with the skin first. Be sure to leave a lot of the feathery fat on the meat as you remove the skin. Turn up the heat to medium high and start frying the skin in the hot oil or fat. Be sure to add some salt as the skin crisps if you want to make cracklings. Continue to bone out the meat in large chunks. Once all of the skin is fried, remove it and drain on paper towels.
Bring the pot back up to high heat and slowly add the chunks of meat. Wait for the pot to sizzle before adding another piece, otherwise you will release too much liquid into the fat and begin stewing the meat in its juices. Beware of spatters as you do this. Very slowly add all of the chunks of meat and turn them occasionally. The chunks of meat should have a good crust before you remove them from the fat. Reserve the fat for later use.
Here is where your options begin. For a more tender type of meat, take the fried chunks and cut them into one-inch cubes. Place them in a small pot and add enough water or chicken stock to barely cover them and then bring to a simmer. After about an hour they will fall apart when you merely look at them. This is closer to pulled pork than real carnitas, but the resulting meat will still make superior tacos, tostadas and burritos.
For crispier authentic carnitas style fare, simmer the small cut up chunks for about half an hour, drain them completely until dry and then return them to the hot fat for another round of browning. You will be sampling this often enough to find the exact peak of perfection, trust me on this. Look for a nicely tanned exterior with moist meat in the center. Add some extra salt to this batch if you did not crisp any skin beforehand. Drain the cooked pork on paper towels before serving.
Heat a flat iron (comal) over medium to high heat and, one by one, warm the tortillas. When they begin to bubble, turn them over and heat the other side. Place each warmed tortilla on a plate with a lid or bowl over them to keep in the heat. Periodically turn the entire stack over as you add a heated tortilla to keep the whole pile of them warm. You can also interleave one of the hot tortillas into the middle of the pile as well.
For the most authentic flavor, I strongly recommend using either homemade salsa (recipe to follow), or please try the Herdez brand of Salsa Casera, available in small or large cans that are imported from Mexico. This is hands-down one of the finest prepared salsas anywhere. Sadly, the same brand in glass jars has been hit or miss, so I stick with the cans.
If you are unable to find fresh white corn tortillas, use yellow corn tortillas and deep-fry them in oil to get a good hard shell (called tacos dorado). If you are using flour tortillas dont expect too authentic of a flavor. Look for Tortillas Harina Para Comal, these are uncooked white flour tortillas that you must heat up just before serving, according to the instructions above. They will be the best of all white flour tortillas. Use two slightly overlapping white corn tortillas to make you taco. Otherwise, a single yellow corn or white flour tortilla should do.The "Guerrero", "El Aguila" and "Tia Rosa" brands are among the very best on the Pacific West coast. Avoid the "Mission" label if possible.
Use any of the optional toppings mentioned above for a delicious flavor. If you cannot find true Mexican Cotija cheese, use grated Parmesan for a very close and decent second. Chopped white onion and minced cilantro remains one of the most essential garnishes there is in Mexican cooking. Add some guacamole for a rich and authentic accent.
I will provide a recipe for Salsa Casera later in this thread. Further on in this series, I will post my Salsa 101 which will give instructions on how to construct many of the nearly thirty different kinds of salsa that I make. Mexican food is among some of the finest in the entire world. Dedicated culinary authors like Diane Kennedy and others have diligently traveled throughout Mexico to archive truly authentic recipes from this worthy cuisine. Due to their tireless efforts, Mexican cooking has finally been accepted on a par with world-class foods like French and Italian cuisine. Those of you who have not had freshly prepared authentic Mexican food are in for a tremendous surprise. It is healthy, nutritious and immensely satisfying fare that has no equal anywhere in the world.
Parrathas (variously spelled) are one of the great undiscovered convenience foods. We eat them all the time in my house. You can buy them frozen in Asian stores (I prefer the plain).
In a large dry fry pan, add 2 to 4 slices of back bacon (the stuff the poms and the Aussies eat). Fry two or three minutes.
Separately heat some kind of curry sauce. In SE Asia this is traditionally the sauce from the night befores chicken curry, but any spicy sauce will do.
Move the bacon to the side of the pan and add a frozen paratha. Fry on both side till well browned (2 or 3 minutes).
Move the paratha to a plate. Add a little oil to the pan and fry one or two eggs to your taste.
Spread curry sauce on paratha, then top with egg and bacon.
A breakfast to get any Jihadi going in the morning.
#4
Since it is Ramadan I suggest we concentrate on pork.
Here it is a very simple recipe who will delight your guests.
A chunk of pork filet about 2 and half pounds, oil (1), a tiny onion (optional), a glass of dry white wine, laurel, thyme, rosemary.
Take a cooking pot, quickly saute the pork, then put it away and saute the onion, then put back the pork, add the wine, crush the laurel and sprinkle it on the pork along with the thime and rosemary. Then cover your pot and let the pork cook for at least one hour. After half an hour turn the pork and add some wine in case the former one has evaporated. The pork will end with the consistency of roasted pork but less dry
I recommend not using salt since unlike cereals meat has naturally enough of it: animals cannot live without salt.
(1) Olive of course. Other oils are both unedible and unamerican: let's remind Mayflower pilgrims brought OLIVE oil. :-)
#5
Translation note (this is critical -- it took me six months to figure out what cinnamon is called in Belgium; in the meantime I had a jar sent to me from Germany, because I knew that it's Zimt in German). In the US we call we use the term bay leaf instead of laurel for JFM's recipe.
Second, while the classical Charlotte Russe is a cream custard cake and quite complicated to make, my inherited, clearly fiddled-with recipe is not. There is no baking involved, nor fiddly measures over the double boiler, and it can be assembled from start to finish in half an hour if all the materials are assembled first. Nor would freezing be wise when cream custard is involved.
Finally, for those of us who do not eat pork, comments on the advisability or impossibility of substituting beef or chicken for these mouthwatering recipes would be much appreciated. This is, clearly, one of Rantburg University's distribution courses, to ensure that we graduate well rounded students. *ducks the flying cleavers and shoes without any remorse whatsoever, even if clearly some of the audience have serious Little League and cricket training*
#6
Traling wife, I don't think my recipe would work with beef. Perhaps with lamb or with veal provided in the later case that you have a light hand on herbs. Also a possibility would be to use one of those rolled chunks of turkey who have about the same size and shape of your typical ready to roast piece of beef (1 kg) but turkey has a slightly acidic taste
BTW; my recipe is called Porc Cote d'Azur or more exactly Porc Cote d'Azur a la JFM
#7
tw -- thanks for the translation. Enjoying cooking, I was wondering about JFM and that laurel as this sounds to me, like my kind of recipe! It will be cooked, and soon. With bay leaves. Thanks JKM
#8
It's not dinner without dessert, so here's light, moist chocolate cake with yummy butter frosting. I bake this up as cupcakes.
Best Chocolate Cake
2 oz baking chocolate (3 oz if you're a chocoholic and don't mind a heavier cake)
1/2 c. canola or other light oil (again, you can substitute a stick of soft butter but that makes a heavier cake)
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 c. flour (cake flour is best, general purpose unbleached is okay)
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup cold strong coffee (even from freeze dried works fine)
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two cake pans or set up cupcake pans (with paper liners or butter/flour).
Measure the oil and pour it into your mixing bowl. If you have glass measuring cups, use one for this purpose and for the next step as well.
Melt the chocolate in a heavy glass dish or measuring cup, using a microwave oven or over boiling water. Stir in the sugar and scrape this into the bowl containing the oil (a good way to get up all the melted chocolate).
Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat lightly.
Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour. Alternately add coffee and flour mixture to the batter, stirring well to avoid lumps. When it's all added, beat 20 strokes or so with a large spoon.
Divide equally between two cake pans or among 22-24 cupcakes. Bake for 20 min. or until the top of the cakes are still soft, but rebound when you press lightly on them.
Set the cakes to cool. Frost with chocolate butter frosting:
Chocolate Butter Frosting
1/4 lb soft butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa
1+ cup powdered (confectioner's) sugar
Beat the butter, sour cream and vanilla extract together until well blended and smooth. Slowly add the cocoa and blend well. Add the sugar, continuing to beat well. Add additional sugar to reach the texture you prefer. Add additional cocoa to reach the intensity of chocolate flavor you prefer.
You can also adjust the proportion of butter to sour cream, adding more butter for a richer flavor.
#9
What size chunks are we talking for the first browning? 'Large' covers a lot.
Thank you for asking, JSU. Large chunks should be a few inches on each side. This recipe also allows for beginning with small cubes less than inch on each side and giving them the same treatment all the way through.
Second, while the classical Charlotte Russe is a cream custard cake and quite complicated to make, my inherited, clearly fiddled-with recipe is not. There is no baking involved, nor fiddly measures over the double boiler, and it can be assembled from start to finish in half an hour if all the materials are assembled first. Nor would freezing be wise when cream custard is involved.
Dahling, say the word and I will alter the nomenclature. Merely tell me how you would like it described and I will change it in all future index listings. Would "Easy Cream Torte" be acceptable?
Finally, for those of us who do not eat pork, comments on the advisability or impossibility of substituting beef or chicken for these mouthwatering recipes would be much appreciated.
Rest assured that I will eventually be posting some tasty beef and chicken recipes, including ones for ribs and classic Mexican shredded beef for tacos, enchiladas, burritos and tostadas. It's just that during this Pork Festival* Ramadan season, it's going to be all about the pork.
#10
Salsa Casera Homestyle Mexican Salsa
Submitted by Zenster
Preparation Time: 30 Minutes
Serves: 5-10 People
Ingredients:
4-8 Serrano Chile Peppers
3-6 Large Ripe Salad Tomatoes (no plum or Roma, beefsteak is fine)
2-3 White Onions (not red or yellow)
2-4 TSP Chopped Cilantro (also called Chinese parsley)
1 TSP Salt
1 TSP Vegetable Oil
Note: Use only white onions and salad tomatoes, do not substitute these ingredients. During the winter season, canned whole tomatoes may be of better quality. If your vegetables do not release a lot of liquids, it may be necessary to add a small amount of water. When using canned tomatoes, the juice can add extra flavor.
Preparation:
Warm the oil in a medium size saucepan over low heat. Holding the Serrano peppers by their stems, chop them into thin coins or rings. Regulate the heat of this salsa by using more or less chile peppers. Place the thinly sliced peppers in the pot. Peel and dice the white onion into rather small pieces and add to the pot. The onions should be transparent before adding more ingredients. Do not allow the onions to brown! Dice the tomatoes into small pieces and add to the pot. Add the salt one quarter of a teaspoon at a time and taste for flavor before adding more. Wash well and remove most of the stems from the cilantro. Chop fine and add cilantro to the pot in increments while checking for taste. Bring the pot to a low simmer and taste for balance between the onions and tomatoes. Check for saltiness, the salsa should have a decent degree of salt to it and should not be sweet. Avoid adding too much cilantro as it will give the salsa a bitter or soapy flavor that so many people object to. Cook until all of the ingredients are tender and serve at room temperature. Remember that the longer your salsa rests the more its heat and cilantro flavors will bloom. Refrigerate any left over salsa and use within five days.
Warning: When handling chile peppers, use extreme caution. The oils released are very persistent and can cause significant chemical burns. DO NOT rub your eyes, touch your face or anywhere where else you wouldnt want to be sunburned. Immediately wash your hands with soap and hot running water after processing chile peppers. Wear latex gloves if you are uncertain about these precautions.
Note: Serve your salsa with yellow corn tortilla chips. This salsa also works well as a shortcut when making guacamole. Try it over scambled eggs or with your favorite fish. It is an excellent all around condiment and is one of my very favorites. To see what this salsa should taste like, try a small can of Herdez brand Salsa Casera that is made in Mexico. After a few tries you should be able to control the exact flavor and heat to your liking.
#13
Stick around, Angie, when our Pork Festival Ramadan celebration is over, I'll be posting a totally whupass enchilada recipe for both beef and chicken styles. Got any recipes you'd care to share?
#14
I can attest. NEVER rub your eyes after cutting chilis
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2006 20:51 Comments ||
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#15
Zenster, I realize that as a professional the correct nomenclature is a critical item for you. However, it's clear that technically my little cake is not a Charlotte Russe, as really the only items that meets the description are the ladyfinger exterior and the use of a mold. Would you be able to sleep at night were it re-labelled "trailing wife's 'Charlotte Russe' ", thus making clear that the fault is mine, and that you actually know better? I don't mean to be in any way mocking or sarcastic, but my family has been calling it a Charlotte Russe for fortyfive years -- and obviously the family of the nurse who gave my mother the recipe for some years previouslto that -- and I am concerned they haven't the fortitude for a name change at this late date. Or perhaps, "trailing wife's ersatz Charlotte Russe" would work for you? At this point I am clear on what the darn thing isn't, but I haven't a clue as to what it is, besides easy to make, rich and delicious. ;-)
Agreed about the necessity for the Ramadan recipes to be pork, I just wondered if one could substitute, eg X number of chickens for the pork ribs in yesterday's recipe -- I positively mourned my refusal to eat pig meat!
#16
A thought for those who like to do little scientific experiments: handling a chopped tomato neutralizes the odor of onion on hands. Would it also (or perhaps rubbing a bit of tomato juice on the skin) do the same for the capsicum irritant in hot peppers? Please report back on your results to the group. ;-)
#17
lol, TW! Always nominating someone else to be the "guinea pig". Personally, I nominate Frank to try it (in a Hawaiian shirt, no less).
On a serious note, is there a way one of the mods can collect ALL of these delicious receipes (once Ramadan is over, of course) and post them as a Word (or some other form) document? We could have our First Annual Rantburg Ramadan Cookbook! Maybe even sell it (for a small fee) to supply Fred's tip jar!
Posted by: BA ||
09/27/2006 21:51 Comments ||
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#18
BA, that's been my intent from the get-go.
tw, I give not a fig if your recipe's main title stands as Charlotte Russe, I'd just like to know what to put underneath it. I've already suggested "Easy Cream Torte", if that meets with your approval. I'm more than glad to change the main title to "trailing wife's 'Charlotte Russe'", if that suits your fancy as well. Please let me know. I'm just glad I've got a domestic goddess like yourself contributing recipes to this series of threads.
#19
I just don't want to be under false pretenses for fancy cookery, Zenster, and somehow I seemed to be heading in that direction. Just as I wouldn't dare claim full scale domestic goddessery, when I can make my way around the kitchen and the tea table, but need to consult a book to clean under the sink after. Regardless, please put me down for three copies of the first printing -- the trailing daughters want copies for when they get kitchens (and the attached homes, their mother most devoutly hopes!) of their own.
BA, merely allowing others to make of themselves guinia pigs. Not at all the same thing, surely!
Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu has warned that South Africa is in danger of losing its moral direction. He said it had failed to sustain the idealism that ended apartheid and warned of growing ethnic divisions.
Referring to South Africa's high murder rate and the rape of children as young as nine months, he said the African reverence for life had been lost.
The retired Anglican archbishop opposes ex-Vice President Jacob Zuma becoming president due to his "moral failings". Mr Zuma's presidential aspirations received a major boost earlier this month after corruption charges were dropped against him. He was acquitted earlier his year on a rape charge.
Archbishop Tutu said the country had achieved a remarkable degree of stability in 12 years of democracy despite problems poverty, Aids, corruption and crime. But delivering the Steve Biko memorial lecture at University of Cape Town, he questioned why a respect for the law, environment and even life, were missing in South Africa. "What has happened to us? It seems as if we have perverted our freedom, our rights into licence, into being irresponsible. Rights go hand in hand with responsibility, with dignity, with respect for oneself and for the other.
"The fact of the matter is we still depressingly do not respect one another. I have often said black consciousness did not finish the work it set out to do," he said.
Zuma's comments on HIV during his rape trial shocked Aids activists. He said government officials often acted like former officials during the apartheid era - treating people rudely. He said South Africa should oppose xenophobia and act sensitively when place names were being changed rather that appearing to gloat and ride roughshod over the feelings of others.
He also made a plea for people to pick up litter, to care for their own environments and for their fellow citizens. "Perhaps we did not realise just how apartheid has damaged us so that we seem to have lost our sense of right and wrong, so that when we go on strike as is our right to do, we are not appalled that some of us can chuck people out of moving trains because they did not join the strike, or why is it common practice now to trash, to go on the rampage?
He said that South Africa remained a wonderful country that had produced outstanding people - such as Steve Biko, the anti-apartheid leader who died in police custody in 1977. "The best memorial to Steve Biko would be a South Africa where everyone respects themselves, has a positive self image filled with a proper self esteem and holds others in high regard." "Perhaps we did not realise just how apartheid has damaged us" ..... never too late to blame someone else.
#1
What did he expect from the triumph of a communist movement? The failure of the whites to remove apartheid properly in good time has left them with the disaster they now face. Hard to tell for whom to have less sympathy.
#3
The failure of the whites to remove apartheid properly in good time
Yes, of course... precisely white Dutch and English failure, always the cause. Colonization appears to have worked somewhat favorably in American, Australia, New Zealand... but for some reason, well, need I go on?
#6
The damage inflicted by apartheid is not unique. The same pattern can be found in many places that were under communist rule for decades.
Where people have little or no control over their lives, they soon decide they have no responsibility either. Where they have a corrupt and oppressive government, the first generation may will rebel, if only silently in their hearts. By the 3rd generation, corruption, veniality and violence are accepted as the way things are.
It takes time to undo that. I am no fan of the current SA government, nor of Tutu (whom I've met). But on this point he is absolutely correct.
The question is, how to change this. And the answer includes holding people accountable for their actions going forward.
#11
The question is, how to change this. And the answer includes holding people accountable for their actions going forward.
There is nothing so depressing as the prospects of SA. It is headed to regression to the pre-European state. This is well advanced in Zim-bob-way. Perhaps after they hit bottom, they can start to rise again, but there is little to indicate that we can do much to change things for the better there.
Rick Moran of RightWing Nuthouse rises from his sickbed to take on Keith Olbermann, the sanctimonious unhinged commentator on MSNBC who has been drawing viewers to MSNBC and a lot of flak lately for the extremely abusive tone of his denunciations of President Bush. Olbermann is now charging that the far more widely-view FNC is in cahoots with president Bush to rewrite history.
It wasnt until he realized that his bread was buttered by liberal bloggers did he begin to demonstrate some traction with his show. In fact, it is eerie how like a liberal blog his show has become; wildly accusatory with no evidence to back up outrageous charges; sophomoric flights of logic and reason; an unhinged whining that causes the viewer to actually recoil in disgust at some of the self-pitying woe is us rhetoric; and a breathtaking shallowness that outlaws context and substitutes emotion for rational thought.
In this respect, Olbermans shtick is reminiscent of the high school know-it-all who used to drive everyone nuts by trying to prove he was smart by using a large vocabulary invariably misusing terms willy nilly while taking on a professorial air of superiority that attracted every bully in the school like flies to rotting meat. Loud, insufferable, and laughably incoherent at times, the know-it-all was able to gather around him the witless, the woebegone, and the wasted where he would hold forth every day in the lunchroom, his sycophants hanging on every word.
Reading this transcript of his remarks last night, it is clear that Olberman has slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of idiocy. To call a fellow journalist [FNCs Chris Wallace] a monkey is so far beyond what passes for rational discourse that even a lefty blog should find such rhetoric disturbing.
I never watch Olbermann, but from the snippets I have seen of his rants, he strikes me as a man with a highly inflated view of his own intelligence and importance.
#4
"Bread was buttered" - awww, don't write it this way, as I'm recovering from serious stomach flu myself at the moment. *THE WEEK WHEN SPINACH THREATENED THE WORLD.
Last week the press, discreet as always, published a nugget mined from the top secret National Intelligence Estimate. The banner headlines suggested that our intelligence experts believe the war in Iraq to be an impediment in the war on terror because it stimulates al Qaedas recruitment.
Democrats pounced.
They seemed to believe that they had finally discovered their Holy Grail. At last they had official sanction for the view that fighting in Iraq hurts our cause. Maybe now they could oppose the war without alienating an electorate that rarely votes for poltroons during a war.
The excitement didnt last long. George W. Bush shut the party down by declassifying the Key Judgments from the NIE. Now the world knows that the press got the story wrong. The NIE doesnt say that the war in Iraq is an impediment to our war on terror. Its like a palm reading, it doesnt really say anything at all. Heres the relevant bit:
The Iraq conflict has become the cause celebre for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.
Americas leftists and their sympathizers dont understand the utility of fighting in Iraq because they dont understand the utility of fighting anywhere.
..."They domesticate the terrorist threat by treating it as a particularly dramatic form of protest against American policy."
Yes, they do. They validate what no civilized person could validate. They see terrorism as "dramatic protest." What about BEYOND THE PALE?
#2
Universal US-West only geopol retreat, fallback, isolationism, and concession = "PEACE IN OUR TIME". Ala Jimbo Carter, "The Commies/USSR promise they won't invade Afghanistan. There will be no killing fields in Laos and Cambodia". Tens of 000's of Polish soldiers went into the KATYN FOREST for a donut and friendly anti-Nazi chat wid Stalin's boyz, and dem dar Roswellian aliens kidnapped the lot the 'em.
Amid Clinton-Wallace babble, 2 words get lost
Within 24 hours of Bill Clinton's public paddling on Sunday of Chris Wallace on the Fox News Channel, pundits, politicians and a salivating army of miked-and-ready windbags had already meticulously sliced and diced the conversation to within an inch of its life, exercising the kind of analytic fervor customarily reserved for the text of a newly uncovered gospel.
Hard-core conservatives claimed that Clinton's meltdown was carefully preplanned and cagily calculated, a September Surprise orchestrated solely to pump up the Democratic Party while setting the stage for his wife's much-rumored run for the White House.
Perennial presidential adviser David Gergen, meanwhile, couldn't restrain a slight smile as he told CNN's Anderson Cooper that Clinton's touchiness was understandable, given Wallace's insinuation that Sept. 11, 2001, could be laid at Clinton's feet. Gergen also noted that Clinton's performance in the Fox faceoff was just the kind of lesson in counterpunching that could inspire Democrats this campaign season.
And over in the blogosphere, Arianna Huffington split the difference. Applauding Clinton for tossing obvious Republican National Committee talking points back in Wallace's face, she also gave the 42nd president a nice "it's-about-time" jab in the ribs. "That bipartisan love-in he's been engaged in over the last several years," wrote Huffington, "has resulted in jack-squat."
#3
He's right, He failed. He failed all the Americans lost on 911. He failed the 2700 dead soldiers, and the countless crippled for life. He failed our national deficite fighting this war. He's the leader of the free world where second place send us down this road. He does not get a pass from me on this because he hung his head down and cried. My sone will fight in this war, and about half the RB'rs are fighting or have loved ones fighting it. Being the president is no sport, he get no sympathy from me.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/27/2006 16:37 Comments ||
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#4
Spitting mad and no spell check. Sorry.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/27/2006 16:38 Comments ||
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#5
HHHHHHMMMMMMM, so BUSH 1, i.e. "Herbert/Herbie", is blamed by Bill for US troops being in Somalia ala "BlackHawk Down" months after Bush 1 became EX-POTUS BUSH and Clinton was formally in office; whilst Texas State Governor Bush, aka BUSH 2, i.e. Dubya, is responsible for econ downturns during Bill's 2nd Term [(State Governor) Bush's economy of 1998-2000] + stealing Y2000 elex from Gore + 9-11 + not doing enuff to get Osama in his first 8 months while the Dems in Congress challenged each and every of Dubya's Cabinet appointees. ALL THE ABOVE IS EXCLUSIVE AND SEPARATE from Clinton himself saying he's POTUS twice by elex fraud + saying the US economy was expanding before he entered office andor left office. NOW ALL AMERICANS ARE IN A WOT = IS ALSO A WAR FOR CONTROL OF THE WORLD WHETHER AMERS WANT SAID WAR OR NOT, WHETHER AMERS WANT GLOBAL EMPIRE OR NOT, BECUZ IF WE DON'T AMERICA'S ENEMIES WILL DESTROY HER. NOT JUST ATTACK AND DEFEAT/SUBORN US, BUT TO DESTROY US ONCE AND FOREVER. Neither the Radical Islamists nor the Commies-Chicoms make any distinction between Repub vs Democrat vs. Independent-Moderate, White vs. Black vs. Brown vs Yellow, Right vs Left vs Center, etal. as to which America gets to live or die. *MOSNEWS.com [2004/5?] > RUSSIA testing its mil systems agz US stealth technology via pieces of the the F117 shot down by SERBIA during Clinton's BALKANS escapade. Serbia gave Russia US stealth tech to test, evaluate, and compare [re-engineer].
I've been reading the blogs, the transcript and some comments from some well-meaning and some irrational folks about the Generals' Revolt and their comments in front of a panel of Dhimmicrats in Congress. Many comments, and all the Dhimmicrats miss the point.
These Generals have gone to a partisan group and demanded action to remove the leadership of the Dept of Defense. Fine. Your points are noted with interest. If you read their transcripts they demand a dramatic increase in the commitment of troops, resources and money to the fight, and commitment to the conflict for the long haul. Again, fine.
There is nothing 145,000 American troops in Iraq and 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan couldn't do and do better with twice or three times the on ground manpower, resources, and money than is already committed. So let's see the Dhimmicrats insist on that. When they insist on raising the size of America's military from 1.4 Million on active duty to 2.5 Million on active duty, add the required armor, intelligence, air, and naval assets required to meet that task, including raising the Defense budget from $400 Billion to $1.2 Trillion annually, THEN and ONLY THEN, will I believe they are serious about defense and intend to actually fight the Long War.
#3
. . . the Republicans deserve to lose - but the democrats don't deserve to win . . .
That's life in the two-party system, kids. There is usually no candidate on the ballot named "Your Theoretical Ideal." You vote for the best available on Election Day.
If you want to see Theo Rheticalideal on the ballot someday, you've got to play the long game of persuasion in the op-eds and the blogs and the primaries--always realizing and accepting that you'll never get everything you want.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/27/2006 13:47 Comments ||
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#4
HHHHHHHMMMMMMMM Part Tres > the Dems, or many of them, may be inclined to support a Manpower-intensive, Govt-intensive, MIC/Costs-intensive NATIONAL MILITARY DRAFT which they promise can be done without raising taxes + will only be used for Afghanistan, AND ONLY IN AFGHANISTAN becuz Amer will withdraw from Dubya's alleged
"quagmire" in Iraq + leave Iran alone to dev its peaceful domestic nuke energy programs. Plus, the USA will go on feeding NORTH KOREA + leave Cuba's CASTRO alone to eat his imported black hams while the rest of Cuba starves due to insufficient US funding of UNO Intern Dev Progs. KIMMIE WILL STOP THREATENING ASIA IFF ONLY AMERICA WOULD ONLY WITHDRAW FROM ASIA-PACIFIC BACK TO CONUS WHILE INCREASING ITS $$$ PAYOUT TO THE UNO WITHOUT ASKING THE UNO OR ANY NATION TO ENSURE THAT US $$$ IS USED FOR ITS INTENDED OR ALLOCATED PURPOSES. America needs a massive Draft so that US troops can be used to destroy = protect the drug fields of Afghanistan and Asia. JUst waiting for the day when the MSM will officially substitute CONSERVATIVE in PALEOCONSERVATIVE + NEOCONSERVATIVE, etc, wid STALINIST/SOVIET/
MARXISTS/COMMUNIST/GOVERNMENTIST, which in reality is how the Left interpretes these labels, directly or indirectly, anyways. America can war for global empire as long as it doesn't rule or control its own said empire, i.e. AMERICA = FASCIST AMERIKA CAN WAR FOR EMPIRE AS LONG AS IT WAGES WAR TO LOSE.
Its time to discuss torture, and just what exactly isnt.
by Jonah Goldberg, National Review
When confronted with the assertion that the Soviet Union and the United States were moral equivalents, William F. Buckley responded that if one man pushes an old lady into an oncoming bus and another man pushes an old lady out of the way of a bus, we should not denounce them both as men who push old ladies around. In other words, context matters.
Not according to some. Led by Time magazines Andrew Sullivan, opponents of the CIAs harsh treatment of high-value terrorists have grown comfortable comparing Bushs America to, among other evils, Stalins Russia. . . .
Comparing CIA facilities to Stalins gulag may sound righteous, but it is a species of the same moral relativism that denounces all pushers of old ladies equally.
Consider killing. In every society in the world, murder is punished more harshly than non-lethal torture. If I waterboard you, or lock you in my basement with Duran Duran blasting at you 24/7, even if I beat you for hours with a rubber hose, my punishment will be less severe than if I murder you, simply because it is worse to take a life deliberately than to cause pain, even sadistically. We all understand this. Would you rather take some lumps in a dungeon for a month, or take a dirt nap forever?
Yet, according to the torture prohibitionists, there must be a complete ban on anything that even looks like torture, regardless of context, even though wed never dream of a blanket ban on killing.
One reason for this disconnect is that weve thought a lot about killing and barely at all about torture. Almost no one opposes killing in all circumstances; wars sometimes need to be fought the hopelessly suffering may require relief; we reserve the right to self-defense. Indeed, the law recognizes a host of nuances when it comes to homicide, and the place where everybody draws an unambiguous line on killing is at something we call murder.
But there is no equivalent word for murder when it comes to torture. Its always evil. Yet thats not our universal reaction. In movies and on TV, good men force evil men to give up information via methods no nicer than what the CIA is allegedly employing. If torture is a categorical evil, shouldnt we boo Jack Bauer on Foxs 24? Theres a reason we keep hearing about the ticking time bomb scenario in the torture debate: Is abuse justified in getting a prisoner to reveal the location of a bomb that would kill many when detonated? We understand that in such a situation, Americans would expect to be protected. Thats why human-rights activists have tried to declare this scenario a red herring.
Sullivan complains that calling torture aggressive interrogation techniques doesnt make torture any better. Fair enough. But calling aggressive interrogation techniques torture when theyre not doesnt make such techniques any worse.
Still, there is a danger that over time we may not be able to tell the difference.
Taboos are the glue of civilization because they define what is beyond the pale in ways mere reason cannot. A nation that frets about violating the rights of murder-plotters when the bomb is ticking is unlikely to violate the rights of decent citizens when the bomb is defused.
I suspect this is what motivates so many human-rights activists to exaggerate the abuses and minimize their effectiveness. Slippery-slope arguments arent as powerful as moral bullying. Still, their fears arent unfounded. Once taboos have been broken, a chaotic search ensues for where to draw the new line, and that line, burdened with precedent and manufactured by politics, rarely holds as firmly as the last. But that is where history has brought us.
In the recent debate over torture, everybody decided to kick the can down the road on what torture is and isnt. This argument will be forced on us again, no matter how much we try to avoid it. Well be sorry we didnt take the debate more seriously when we had the chance.
As in so many other things, the Angry Left's insistence on using apocalyptic rhetoric ("Bush = Hitler!" "Abu Grahib is the worst war crime in history!" "Anti-choice Baptists are a greater threat to liberty than al-Qaida!" "Michael Steele hates puppies!" "Bush is an idiot, but he's manipulating the price of oil!" "The Jews run everything!") instead of intelligent critique reduces the quality of the debate. We need a loyal opposition to keep ourselves sharp. The problem is that the opposition isn't all that loyal--to the integrity of free debate, to truth, or (it seems) to the country.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/27/2006 12:19 ||
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HHHHHMMMMMMMMM, Gitmo detainees being served Glazed Chicken + "forced" to watch Christina videos, versus America being attacked + destroyed in the name of the GLOBAL CALIPHATE = OWG = GLOBAL SOCIALISM versus Commie/Chicom plan to exterminate Milyuhns and Zigluns of Americans = Amerikans, ERGO GLAZED CHICKEN + CHRISTINA, ETAL. IS THE MOTHER OF ALL THREATS, THE HORROR OF HORROS, THE UNDENIABLE UNCONDITIONAL UNEQUIVOCAL ABSOLUTE 1000% THREAT ABOVE ALL THREATS AND DON'T YOU FERGIT IT!
With little reporting, and almost without media or governmental comment, the United States has suffered a substantial defeat in the war against radical Islam. Three weeks ago, Pakistan signed the terms of the Waziristan Accord with the northern region of its country called North Waziristan. It was, effectively, the terms of surrender by Pakistan to the Taliban and al Qaeda, which dominate North Waziristan. Pakistan has negotiated a separate peace -- the eternal danger to any wartime alliance.
The event itself was reported by the major newspapers, but the abject nature of the surrender passed with almost no comment. But surrender it was.
Moreover, according to intelligence sources, Pakistan is negotiating similar terms with agencies in the Khyber, Tank, Dera Ismail Kahn and Bajaur regions of western Pakistan. If those negotiations are realized, the Taliban and al Qaeda will essentially have their own country again. With Waziristan they already have an excellent base of operations against our forces in Afghanistan.
#3
This will not be just a bunch of stone agers who want ot be left alone with their stone age cult. Afghanistan was pretty primitive when it was taken over by the Taliban. What these takeovers provide is the ability to set up substantial training, financial and support infrastructure for operations anywhere.
#6
"Substantially increase the size of our army and Marines" > IOW, A DRAFT, which the Welfare- and Govt-happy, etc. RINO CINO DemoLefties will support as long as they don't get the blame for it. The Left doesn't have to give anything back to the Amer people iff America = Amerika, USA = USSA/USR, etal. does NOT win the WOT = WAR FOR CONTROL OF THE WORLD, now do they!? * OTOH, PC/PDeniability > GOOD "EMPIRE" = also GOOD OWG/GOVT - OOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSS!
#7
We don't need a draft! We had twice as many men under arms in 1992 as we do today : the draft ended in 1973/74. We just need to add another $150 billion a year to the defense budget for increased wages, and another $100 billion a year for increased equipment purchases, and we can double the size of the military without a stinking draft. Congress's refusal to increase the defense budget for those two items is all that is holding back a massive increase in the size of the American military.
U.S. counterintelligence and security officials are upset that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, were silent on the case of former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ronald Montaperto. Montaperto was sentenced to three months in prison last week for illegally keeping classified documents and passing sensitive intelligence to Chinese agents.
Apparently, Mr. Rumsfeld, who has publicly criticized the disclosure of classified information to the press, is less concerned when classified data is passed to foreign intelligence services by a Defense Department employee. By contrast, 12 current and former government and military officials wrote to the judge in the case to defend Montaperto. Among the letter writers was Lonnie Henley, the U.S. intelligence community's second-most senior intelligence analyst on China.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman disagrees. Although Mr. Whitman would not say why no one from the Pentagon wrote to the judge, he said that "the severity of the sentence rests with the judge." "Protecting information vital to our national security is the responsibility of every employee of the U.S. government," he said. "It is a sacred trust that the American people expect and deserve to have upheld."
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Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2006 00:00 ||
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POLIPUNDIT.com has an article on how detrimentally POLITICIZED the US CIA had become over the years, to the point of where that agency's PC has actually become a de facto danger to America and the USG.
#2
The artical said that he applied for a CIA job but failed the screening so badly that the CIA notified DIA that they better take a look at what he was doing... so they didn't.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2006 0:44 Comments ||
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#3
The short sentence raises the questions:
1) was the gentleman in question a double agent, deliberately planting false information?
2)was the gentleman in question a known agent, and duped into taking false information to his Chinese masters?
No doubt those who've read more spy novels can think of other questions this raises. ;-)
The people who rained Lebanon with more than a million cluster bombs are projecting their murderous zeal onto their victims and even onto their victims to come, argues Gilad Atzmon.
It is hard to believe, but only 60 years after the Holocaust the Jewish people is once again in danger of being destroyed - at least in its own state, where 40 percent of the world's Jews are concentrated. Evidence of the severity of the danger can be found not only in the explicit threats by Iran's president, which are backed up by an arms program that would provide the means to carry them out. It can also be found in recent articles in the European press that discuss the possibility of Israel's 'disappearance' as a reasonable 'working assumption.' Additional evidence regarding the threat level exists in the fact that not only is Israel the only country in the world that is threatened with destruction, it is also the only state whose right to exist is the focus of international polls, with many respondents answering negatively. That is an honor that even Iran, North Korea and apartheid-era South Africa were never granted. - Yair Sheleg, Haaretz.
While many may find it heartening or amusing that even an Israeli right winger cannot see a ray of light at the end of the Zionist tunnel, it is rather disconcerting to read that Israelis are already seriously contemplating their next Shoah. I would argue here that it is exactly this form of deadly meditation that turns Israel, Israelis, global Zionists and Neocons into the gravest enemies of world peace.
Continued on Page 49
#1
The man trained as a musician, then escaped to England to study philosophy. He's made a successful career there making ethnic fusion music, and writing articles that make it clear how deeply he resents the twin stains of Judaism and Zionism on his soul, preening himself for having escaped the clutches of the inhuman horde. Here he presents his psychiatric diagnosis, which he is singularly unqualified to make.
Mr. Atzmon, you were hired to amuse us by playing the sax. Please give up your pretensions and bloody well play.
#1
Civilized people issue apologies to admit wrong doing and usually feel varying degrees of shame and regret depending on the transgression. Despite all of the bloody evidence to the contrary, this guy makes the mistake of thinking we're dealing with a civilization and not a mob of barbarians.
#3
I can speak for myself here - I graduated from high school and college without having a clue how a bill passed, barely knew the difference between the Senate and the House or the State government v/s Fed. Was an adult before I took it upon myself to look it up in an encyclopedia so I wouldn't be such an ignoramus anymore. Learned more in an afternoon than I ever learned in school.
#6
Motivation counts most in every field of human endeavour.
Not quite, NS. Students, especially college students, expect to be presented with what they need to know. The professors and instructors are giving them pablum when they should be getting meat. I took college courses from 1964 through 1988. I experienced the "dumbing down" - some of the 300 and 400 level classes I took after about 1975 were easier than the 100 and 200 level classes I took before.
Self-education works, but IT does take motiviation. I'd love to see classroom work posted for free on the internet, from grade K through early PhD work. Let those who WILL learn what they want to know. One would still have to register and take classes to graduate, but knowledge itself would be freely available (it is now, but it's difficult to weed out from all the garbage that one would get along with it).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/27/2006 20:05 Comments ||
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Ditto Anon. Though God Bless my High School Gov't teacher (a Syrian born immigrant) who tried is darndest to teach me about our system of gov't. I learned more on my own as well. Also, I've learned more on the 'burg in a couple hours than I did in a whole semester of college.
#8
Motivation still counts most. If you want to learn, you don't just take what you're spoon fed in class. Most do, but they aren't really motivated to learn; they're motivated to get their ticket punched. Big difference.
#9
Motivation is important, but still I wonder what the results of the same questionnaire would have been for a similar cohort of college students in the 1950's, at that same institutions as were polled in the cited studies. Think they would have shown "negative learning" way back then?
#10
I've personally come to believe that if we want to win our (internal) war against the LLL, this is the "precious" to winning....Education. It's all about "feelings" and "self-esteem" nowadays in schools, not the "3 R's" (and I went to school in the 80's/early 90's). I've gotta hope that some of the UPSWING of the freshmen polled was 9/11 and a will to learn about this gosh-darn country of ours. But the realist/cynic in me realizes that it probably now starts in kindergarten. Of course, it actually reflects badly on the Universities themselves, whom as we all know spew complete BS in their "Political Science" and "History" classes. The best I've heard it summed up is this....there was NO Federal Dept. of Education until the late 70's (created under Carter, I believe). Could it be (/sarcasm off/) that the "dumbing down" began (or accelerated as OP states) then? Coincidence? Nowadays (mostly because of lawsuits) you can't discipline kids, you can't make them say the Pledge, you can't even teach TRUE history, but you CAN make them feel good about themselves (and, be used by many parents as free childcare). This comes from just one poster here at RB, whose wife, mom, dad and sister were ALL teachers (mom and dad are retired now, and my wife and my sister are both doing the most important job on the planet....raising young 'uns, and teaching them at home, before they get shipped off to "gubmint" schools).
Posted by: BA ||
09/27/2006 22:04 Comments ||
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Max Boot turns the tables on a hackneyed concept that has bedeviled the West whenever discussing strategies to fight terror. Instead of writing another warning about the "Arab street", Boot warns Muslims about their relative silence in the age of Islamist terrorism and its effect on the "Western street". He writes in the Los Angeles Times that unless moderate Muslims start taking a much more active role against Islamism, the West will have no choice but to conclude that Islam is incompatible with peace:
EVER SINCE 9/11, a dark view of Islam has been gaining currency on what might be called the Western street. This view holds that, contrary to the protestations of our political leaders who claim that acts of terrorism are being carried out by a minority of extremists the real problem lies with Islam itself. In this interpretation, Islam is not a religion of peace but of war, and its 1.2 billion adherents will never rest until all of humanity is either converted, subjugated or simply annihilated.
Is the war on terrorism really a "clash of civilizations"? The overreaction to Pope Benedict XVI's relatively innocuous remarks at the University of Regensburg on Sept. 12 would seem to lend weight to this alarming notion. ...
Muslim spokesmen claim that these are unconscionable slurs. Yet, while demanding respect for their own religion, too many Muslims accord too little respect to competing faiths or even to competing brands of their own faith.
Where are the demonstrations in the Muslim street when the president of Iran denies the Holocaust and calls for the destruction of Israel? Or when Palestinian kidnappers force two Western journalists to convert to Islam at gunpoint? Or when Sunni terrorists in Iraq bomb Shiite mosques and slaughter hundreds of worshipers? All too many Islamic leaders prefer to harp on the supposed sins of the "infidels," however exaggerated or even fictionalized (no, the CIA didn't bomb the World Trade Center to create an excuse for invading Afghanistan), rather than focusing on the problems within their own umma (community).
Boot focuses on an aspect of the war on terror that too often gets dismissed in a drizzle of political correctness. People rush to excuse Muslims from the war by emphasizing that Islam is a "religion of peace", a phrase that finds so much repetition that some are now tempted to put it into title caps and stick a trademark notation on it. This comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of the faith; it does not value peace as much as it values submission, and even its prophet insisted that his mandate included gaining that submission by force.
As Boot points out, though, that does not translate to every Muslim being a fanatic and a purveyor of violence in pursuit of religion. Islam had its Golden Age at the height of its expansion. Muslims allowed people of other faiths to live relatively unmolested, certainly more so than did the Christians of the same era, although they still had to submit< to the authority of Islam, at least publicly. Upon capturing Jerusalem, the Crusaders committed a ghastly genocide, killing almost all of the non-Christians in the city. When Saladin recaptured the city, he refrained from returning the favor.
Since then, the two cultures have moved in opposite directions. While Christianity eventually reformed itself, Islam grew more moribund. The Renaissance and Reformation allowed Christendom to pursue scientific and political reforms that greatly expanded the knowledge of man and the liberty of the individual. Islam, which had led scientific progress for an age, grew hidebound and refused to look past the Qur'an for answers, an impulse that continues to this day. Islam has never experienced a Reformation, nor Arab cultures a Renaissance, and the difference has created the "clash of civilizations" of which Huntingdon warned the West.
The West has to demand that Reformation, and we have to quit relying on passive-aggressive PC platitudes to do it. The Pope's Regensburg speech, the Danish Prophet cartoons, and the Mozart opera cancellation all comprise symptoms of the same disease. Until Muslims publicly demand freedom of speech and thought, then the West will consider them complicit with the Islamist impulse to smother freedom and liberty under a wave of violence and intimidation. After five years, we should have realized that repeating mantras like "religion of peace" does not transform submission into tolerance. If we want tolerance, we have to be more straightforward in demanding it.
#1
And we've seen that transformation here at Rantburg, from that idea that it's a few fringe radicals to the idea that the fringe is those who disagree with and oppose such actions. Cyber Sarge made a critical point yesterday, when he wrote that of course Bill Clinton did nothing serious about Osama bin Laden because the country did not understand the seriousness of the risk. Had a 9/11 occurred on Clinton's watch, then he might have been able to do something serious in response.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2006 14:31 Comments ||
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People rush to excuse Muslims from the war by emphasizing that Islam is a "religion of peace", a phrase that finds so much repetition that some are now tempted to put it into title caps and stick a trademark notation on it.
I know, Steve, it's like, like ... this guy's been reading ... well, Rantburg or something.
Instead of writing another warning about the "Arab street", Boot warns Muslims about their relative silence in the age of Islamist terrorism and its effect on the "Western street". He writes in the Los Angeles Times that unless moderate Muslims start taking a much more active role against Islamism, the West will have no choice but to conclude that Islam is incompatible with peace
Which is what I've been yelling to the rafters ever since I got here. The old Thundering Silence thingy.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Rick Moran of RightWing Nuthouse rises from his sickbed to 
Its time to discuss torture, and just what exactly isnt.
