Ultimate UO Blogging
By Thoreau
1) Obama is going down a very wrong path on civil liberties: He’ll give suspects a trial, but only if he thinks he can get a conviction. Haven’t had some good Obama-bashing over civil liberties for a while.
2) Comic book writer detained by brave defenders of the rodina because he had a draft story describing government abuses in the name of fighting terror. Comics + TSA Hate = Doubleplus UO!
3) Chad Orzel laments pitiful high school math requirements, and links to classic post on how it’s somehow OK to not know math and science but it isn’t OK to not know history, literature, philosophy, art, etc. Fiziks, education, it’s all there.
4) I’m thinking of grilling some cruelty-free chicken on July 4 and serving it with grilled organic eggplant, asparagus, and pepppers. I need some marinade ideas for the chicken.
Comment by hf —
June 27, 2009 @ 2:09 pm
Explaining the irony of the situation is not a particularly effective strategy when dealing with the TSA.
Comment by hf —
June 27, 2009 @ 2:28 pm
Iranian-solidarity chicken marinades:
1. Yogurt and saffron
2. Naranja agria (sour orange) and ground sumac
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 27, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
Seen this?
We’re ending poppy eradication efforts in Afghanistan.
Meet the new…uh….uh…
Comment by sasob —
June 27, 2009 @ 7:02 pm
I need some marinade ideas for the chicken.
I never marinate chicken. Instead I skin it, then lightly season it. Brown or sear it on the grill, and then roast gently over a slow fire, basting it with a warmed butter and wine sauce full of various spices. I’ve never had any complaints or leftovers.
Comment by Kolohe —
June 27, 2009 @ 7:03 pm
@ para 3. The two hyperlinks are to the same page.
Comment by Thoreau —
June 27, 2009 @ 7:38 pm
Item 3 is fixed.
And ending eradication efforts is awesome. Still won’t address the heart of the problem, of course (because there’s still a lucrative black market) but it will probably drive prices down slightly on the margin, and alienate fewer farmers.
Comment by Ken Shultz —
June 27, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
“I need some marinade ideas for the chicken.”
I just had a barbecue and kabobed all that stuff. Marinaded the chicken with a honey-mustard dressing and hot sauce combination, and it was over the top.
You could go all natural, I suppose, and just add some chili pepper and paprika, and if you’ve got some people who like it hot, add some habanero. …although that’s usually too hot even for the adventurous.
Maybe do some with habanero oil, which is easy enough to make if you can’t find it.
Comment by Jim Henley —
June 27, 2009 @ 10:18 pm
As far as marinades go, I did hot wings last week by squirting olive oil, rice vinegar, Sriracha and water into a ziploc bag, shaking it all up, then adding a bunch of wing pieces. I only refrigerated them for a couple hours but the flavor still penetrated pretty thoroughly. I grilled them over direct heat with the lid down.
For more substantial components of chicken, I’m a huge fan of brining now, wet or dry. As for grilling, I am getting awesome results butterflying my brined whole chicken and cooking it covered on indirect heat. (I bought the movable coal trays for my Weber kettle grill.)
A general principle is that rice vinegar makes everything better!
Also, forget marinades, the other thing I’m discovering is the joy of throwing things directly on the coals. Like, for last night’s chicken, soaked bay leaves and spring onions. Other people use dried whole roasemary or fennel too, apparently.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
June 28, 2009 @ 3:25 am
You gotta understand, Thoreau – if Obama does anything differently from Bush, it means he’s doing everything right. Don’t be all ideological and deny that.
Comment by chris y —
June 28, 2009 @ 5:12 am
Yogurt and crushed garlic. Leave the garlic in the yogurt overnight, then skin the chicken and paint it on about two hours before you grill.
Comment by Dr. Kenneth Noisewater —
June 28, 2009 @ 9:15 am
We’re ending poppy eradication efforts in Afghanistan.
Good news.
Responding to an item about Obama’s shoddy stance on civil liberties with a, “Yeah, but look over here!” can be considered a sort of progress, I suppose. Ignoring his disgusting position on that subject is better than active defense of it.
I realize actual condemnation is probably asking a bit much, though.
Comment by dhex —
June 28, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
i really don’t think there’s anything wrong with mr. orzel not knowing much about literature or “the arts” or classical music. i also don’t think it’s so bad for my wife to be shitty at math. not everyone is going to be interested in everything.
blaming loan kerfluffles on a lack of shame for not knowing advanced maths, however, is pushing it.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 10:09 am
Bad joe!
Not allowed to post good news!
Cuz…you know…Democrats and stuff.
Soooooooooooooooooooooooo boring.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 10:15 am
I like to wait until there’s an actual story to comment on.
You didn’t learn a damn thing from the premature hyperventilating about the torture memos that Obama was never going to release, did you?
Comment by Dr. Kenneth Noisewater —
June 29, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
I like to wait until there’s an actual story to comment on.
The speech at the National Archives and the Admin’s trial balloons about their desire for an EO implementing indefinite detention aren’t stories?
You didn’t learn a damn thing from the premature hyperventilating about the torture memos that Obama was never going to release, did you?
…and I’ll re-raise: torture photos.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
The speech at the National Archives a couple months ago was a story…a couple months ago. I remember commenting on it at the time.
These leaks about the Obama administration considering continued detention for the hardest cases in Guantanamo – the people against whom there is solid evidence of guilt for terrorist crimes, that can’t be admitted in our criminal court system because of the “fruit of the poison tree” doctrine – is not a story, since we’ve known about that for months. Did you forget the thread about “POW status?” If there’s a proposal or a policy released, that will be a story.
Re-raise? How sad for you that you think of things this way. What is this supposed to mean, anyway: it’s ok for you to spout off before you have enough evidence to go on, because Obama did something bad?
Try to get this through your thick skull: there are actual issues and problems in the world. Proving how totally right you are, singing Who songs, and trying to save face against some guy you’ve never met on a blog comment thread need to play less of a role in your political thought.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
June 29, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
Yeah, why don’t you defeatist guys at this blog ever tell the GOOD news that’s coming out of D.C.?
Comment by Thoreau —
June 29, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
Painted schools!
Comment by The Angry Optimist —
June 29, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
joe, if you want a thought experiment, ask yourself this: what would Obama do if Jose Padilla is released during his term?
My bet is with “detention”. yours is with “he’ll let him walk around free in America”.
Comment by Dr. Kenneth Noisewater —
June 29, 2009 @ 4:28 pm
Re-raise? How sad for you that you think of things this way. What is this supposed to mean, anyway: it’s ok for you to spout off before you have enough evidence to go on, because Obama did something bad?
It’s supposed to mean that those who criticize Obama’s commitment to undoing some of previous administration’s worst excesses in the area of executive power are right to be suspicious, ESPECIALLY in light of the news stories that have appeared over the weekend. But, hey… “LOOK OVER THERE!!!”
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 5:21 pm
By a court? After being tried?
Can you name any terrorism suspects who were detained after being acquitted in court?
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 5:21 pm
Shorter Eric:
THAT’S NOT THE PARTY LINE!
Sorry to intrude on your little world with news about a subject you used to pretend to be interested in.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 5:22 pm
I trust Eric is now off to berate Jim Henley for blogging the story.
Not.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 5:53 pm
Jim did, upthread. You don’t seem to have a problem when he does it.
Comment by joe from Lowell —
June 29, 2009 @ 7:04 pm
So the thought process is…I’m suspicious of Obama’s commitment to civil liberties, so I object to your story about ending poppy eradication.
Hokay, d00d.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
June 29, 2009 @ 7:40 pm
I’ll note that there is no mention of any serial TV or of running. Those would seem to be necessary for an “ultimate” UO post.
Comment by The Angry Optimist —
June 29, 2009 @ 7:49 pm
joe, he’s already been convicted, but the appeal is pending. If his conviction is reversed and he’s released, I’m laying good odds the Administration picks him up under “indefinite detention” despite all that.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
June 29, 2009 @ 8:32 pm
As per joe’s remarks here, I’ll reiterate my response in that thread here:
I apologize for reading #3 by you uncharitably and giving you a hard time about it, joe. I will give you a greater benefit of the doubt while reading your comments, and if I can’t or fail to for some remark of yours, I’ll do better to hew to my previous promise to not respond to such a remark.
Comment by derek —
June 30, 2009 @ 6:29 am
#1 reminds me of the scene I saw in the more-recent remake of The Count of Monte Cristo (the one with Jim Caveziel).
The prison governor says something to the effect of “you needn’t bother protesting your innocence: we know you’re innocent. You would not have been sent to this particular prison if you weren’t.”
Comment by dhex —
June 30, 2009 @ 9:55 am
“I need some marinade ideas for the chicken.”
i made an habanero paste for chicken once and grilled that in a grillpan. sadly, i’d forgotten to keep my eyes away from the initial sizzle, but the chicken itself was great. very simple – just some veggie oil and pureed habaneros (or jamaican red hots or whatever kind of hot pepper you like) slathered onto the chicken like a crust.
Comment by Gene Callahan —
July 1, 2009 @ 1:40 am
Marinade: jerk sauce. Make your own, with fresh limes. (Recipes galore via Google.) Can’t be beat for a barbecue.
Comment by mpowell —
July 1, 2009 @ 9:15 am
This feud between Joe and the rest of this blog is kind of weird, but I think a lot of the problem is seeing a different big picture. A lot of the people around here are libertarians or former who, historically have had some sympathy for the Republican party. As a liberal, my view is that the Democratic party is very unsatisfying on civil liberties, but better than the Republicans. But also, there is simply no space for a civic discourse on civil liberties in this country until the Republican party has been destroyed. I don’t mind criticism of Obama’s policy on the matter, but to the extent that it undermines that more important objective, I do.
Comment by Thoreau —
July 1, 2009 @ 11:03 am
And when do you think that happy day will arrive?
I suspect it’s a long way off, unfortunately, and I’d kind of like to start talking about civil liberties before then. I mean, I didn’t join the ACLU just so I could stay quiet until the GOP withers away.
BTW, though I may have sympathy for some positions that the Republican Party has claimed to espouse, I never had any sympathy for more than a handful of Republican candidates. Given the GOP’s hypocrisy on things that I happen to care about, I probably want to see them destroyed even more than you do. But I’m not going to postpone talking about civil liberties until that happens.
Comment by Timothy —
July 1, 2009 @ 11:21 am
Right, because that would be stupid.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
July 1, 2009 @ 1:20 pm
And Part of the Problem leaves a comment.
Comment by Stevo Darkly —
July 1, 2009 @ 6:26 pm
I’m afraid this sounds kind of familiar.
Same gore, different ox, my friend.