Administrativia

"Satanic" duck at Sam Houston Park, Downtown Houston. Better part of valor and all that, I retreated.

A bit of an inside joke, but this sign is outside an actual (real) Tea Room run by the Houston Historical Society at Sam Houston Park.

Walnuts wins on the GOP side, no news yet as to whether or not 9/11 Nellie will bow out tomorrow (rumored) or wait until after the California debate later this week. Hillary pulls out what I consider a decisive and impressive win -- even though no delegates have been awared (yet). Why is it impressive? Because the news cycles have been constant on the Obama surge and the Billary plunge. Add regular Obama political ads (yes, a "national buy" but included in all Florida cable markets) and just the general temperature in the blogosphere after Teddy's endorsement, the table was set for this "beauty contest" to be much tighter. But it wasn't. Two things bode well for the Dems -- overall turnout still seems to favor the Dems... even without active campaigns for the top of the ticket. And Hillary's win means Super Tuesday looms even larger. More than that, it also means that states like Texas can actually look forward to at least having some sort of Democr...

Q: Does Focus on the Family lie and distort as a matter of practice? A: Yes. Note to the folks at Time's Blog, Swampland... or wherein, blogger Michael Scherer is surprised to find that not only does FOF lie , it refuses to acknowledge that lie and keeps on lying . Had he done any research on gay issues over the last decade, it might have occurred to him that this possibility existed. Unfortunately, we're still often confronted with the so-called "balance" reporting where somehow it is required to have two "sides" of an issue represented, even though one side is lying... and pointing that out becomes the responsibility of the other "side" rather than having the reporter doing minimal due diligence (try Googling for a change!).

I normally would have posted something about the SC primary or other thoughts over the weekend, but frankly, I was too tired. Last weekend was sandwiched in between trips to California -- and last week's trip was VERY trying. Between flight delays of 1 (Friday) to 4 hours (Monday), luggage problems, car rental problems, no sun -- just grey, rain & cold, and getting rear-ended by a blonde East-bay girl in a TransAm (and probably on her cell phone), I couldn't muster much energy for anything except sleep. The real irritation about last week's drama is the paperwork I have to do this week with our safety reps. Talk about administrativia. Oh well, that was then, this is now. This week, I'm back in Cali again -- and the sun is shining for a change! I just hope that the cadence of travel back and forth this year isn't quite the hectic pace I had last year... (I'm fine with maintaining Silver Elite on Continental -- getting Gold this last year nearly killed me....

This Week: Cheeseburger Macaroni Bake 1 pound lean ground beef 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni or rotini pasta 1 medium tomato, chopped 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1 - 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan; set aside. Brown ground beef and onion in large skillet. Drain. Cook macaroni or pasta according to package directions (boil until tender). Drain well. Spoon macaroni into prepared pan. Top with beef, onions and chopped tomato. Pour tomato sauce evenly, then season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese and cover pan loosely with foil. Bake @ 350 for 35 minutes or until cheese is completely melted and edges of casserole are bubbling. Note: Prep and cook time (including making a salad for "balance") is only about an hour, all told. For a flavorful change of pace, instead of chopped tomato use a can of Rotel tomatos and chiles -- or if you want ...

As usual, the story behind the Shrub's " favorite painting " -- what he calls "A Charge to Keep" -- doesn't mesh with reality or the truth. Rather than being a picture of a gallant evangelical riding forth to spread Methodism, it's actually an illustration for a Saturday Evening Post story about a horse thief. The kicker and the caption from the Post illustration: "Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught" h/t Rod Dreher / Eyeteeth via