I ♥ Swine

from Photo Basement

Less comfort, more decorum please…

How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?

Every time I see this, it cracks me up.  I guess I’m just a simpleton…

from failblog.org

“You were wrong.”

Well, there didn’t appear to be any “home runs” and consensus seems to be that the debate was pretty much a draw.  The good news is that the pundits seem to agree that a tie leaves Obama in the stronger position post-debate.

And I did especially like Obama’s response to McCain talking about the success of “the surge.”

Cats on Treadmills

A delightful respite from imploding economies, venal Republicans and my obsessive worrying over the upcoming election.  I may just watch this video 24/7 until November 5, if only to prevent the multiple near-aneurysms I suffer each day as I navigate the blogosphere, reading about the latest disaster to befall the country…

from omg blog

Well, I posted the first one…

So here’s part two of Katie Couric’s interview with Sarah Palin.  Inexplicably, Ms. Palin seems both less coherent and more insane than yesterday. Seriously, she is not sane…

As sezme commented on Wonkette: “… Couric has to ask every question twice, because obviously she hasn’t got a fucking clue what Palin’s talking about either.”

from Wonkette

Laugh? Cry? Both? Help us Obi-Wan, you’re our only hope?

Chris just suggested that this video be run 24/7 in every major city in the U.S. from now until Election Day.  I laughed my ass off while watching this – because the prospect of this unqualified charlatan actually being elected to national office is so frightening that I have to force myself to laugh at the impossibility of it…

I came very close to not posting this, because John McCain’s consistent support for deregulation over the last 26 years should be sufficient to keep him out of the White House – and he’s really what voters and the media should be focused on, not this terrible woman.

But this interview is so horrible – and yet fantastic.  It’s a combination of memorized talking points and various buzzwords strung together, essentially incoherently.  I really am both laughing and sobbing when I watch…

“Some decisions that have been made poorly should not be rewarded, of course.”  This is in reference to homeowners – not to those leading the investment banks who we’re supposed to be writing a check for $700 billion to.  Though I love her inclusion of  the “predator lenders” – because we all know how concerned the Republicans have been over predatory lending for the last eight years…

Ooh, snap, Mary… Or should that be “Congressman Mary?”

Jesus Christ! $700 billion? Are they meshuggah?

Rep. Barney Frank (chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and also a known Mary) on John McCain’s stunt recommendation to “suspend” the presidential campaign while Congress deals with the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion blank check bail out plan for Wall St. investment firms:

“I think it’s the longest Hail Mary in the history of football or Marys.”

And Miss Frank knows a thing or two about Marys, OK?

from The Hill

Well, OK – as long as there’s a reasonable explanation…

So, why $700 billion to bail out Wall St.?  I mean, Henry Paulson must know what he’s doing, right?  He ran Goldman-Sachs – and they’re doing just fine, aren’t they?

But, anyhoo, why not ask for $100 billion and go back to Congress if more is needed?

Fortunately, there is a good and thoughtful reason behind the $700 billion request:

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

from Forbes.com via DailyKos

Did you need to get through? Well, tough shit…

As a long-time misanthrope, it should come as no surprise that I find many, even most, people to be annoying a-holes, oblivious to their surroundings and operating under the assumption that the entire universe revolves around them.

That being said, I don’t always take the time to rail against such behavior (well except to Chris, who really loves to hear me ranting about the injustice of it all… And of course to myself.  I spend virtually all of my time in public muttering obscenities under my breath as I curse those around me), if only for its very commonplace nature.  However, I do take an extra dose of umbrage when I see my fellow bicyclists behaving like jerks, as I’m weary of being tarred with the same brush…

This type of behavior is typically fleeting and difficult to document: flying through a stop light; speeding down the sidewalk amongst the hapless pedestrians (how I long to be carrying a broomstick when this happens…); riding in the wrong direction (especially alarming to see a bike fast approaching head-on while I’m in the bike lane); and just generally being confrontational, entitled self-righteous bastards.

This book is so fascinating! I can't wait to try out some of these techniques... Oh wait - I already am!

Or, as was the case on BART over the weekend, there was this fellow (I assume he’s reading “How To Be a Giant Tool”).  Now I may be a self-righteous bastard (as evidenced by the very fact that I’m posting this) – but I do actually try my best not to inconvenience those around me…

For example, were I to take my bike onto BART, I would not park it in such a manner as to block nearly the entire aisle. And do note the added bit of douchebaggery – the bike is also blocking the active door.  Needless to say, Mr. A.H. remained absorbed in his book as passengers struggled to navigate past the obstruction.

If only everyone could be as sensible and courteous as I – the world would be perfect… We can only dream of such a utopia.

Too much bloodletting…

Despite trying to adhere to my “one post per weekday”, I failed yesterday.  But why would I miss a day?  There was certainly enough going on in the world, what with the impending financial meltdown, the Emmy Awards and the fact that none of you ingrates who read my blog could be bothered to click through to donate to the No on 8 campaign, as requested (unlike Stephen Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, who just coughed up $100K).

So what then was the problem?  Simple really: sangria + margaritas + bourbon + Sunday evening = unable to blog on Monday.

Actually, there was quite a bit more than blogging that I was unable to do on Monday – though I did manage to drag myself into work.  Sorry, co-workers!  I’m sure I smelled like a distillery…

Anyhoo, Chris and I tried a new place for dinner on Sunday…  Regalito over on 18th & Valencia.  It’s a Mexican place serving dishes that are a bit more traditionally Mexican than tacos and burritos.  The place is small-ish, but cute.  Our waitress was quite nice, though we weren’t overly fond of her habit of twirling and playing with her hair while she was pouring drinks and placing orders…  Kinda yucky.

I had sangria – it was just OK.  Rather sweet for my taste – I prefer to be able to taste the wine a bit more.  Of course, this didn’t stop me from drinking three of them…

Lamb Sopes with Red Chile Sauce

Started off with the special sopes – lamb shoulder braised in a red chile sauce.  We enjoyed them – though Chris thought there was too much sauce.  And I didn’t really understand why they’d used lamb.  The flavor of the sauce, while good, meant that the meat could’ve been anything – beef, pork or lamb.  I guess I would’ve liked something that showcased the lamb.

Tamales

For dinner, I had tamales (another special that night) – one with pork, the other with chiles and cheese.  Well-executed and tasty, though the pork filling was just about identical to the lamb in the sopes.  Made me wish I had ordered the pozole, the other special that night.

Beef Machaca

Chris had the beef machaca, shredded beef in a tangy sauce with chiles, tomatoes and onions, served with beans and tortillas.  I just got a taste, but found it to be delicious.  Spicy and savory, along with some smokiness; fresh lime brightened the dish.

We skipped dessert (we contemplated swinging by Bi-Rite Creamery until we remembered that we’re fatties) and decided to have a nightcap at the Midnight Sun.  After having a couple of drinks here, it seemed silly not to continue on the up the street to Badlands…  where I forced got Chris to dance with me!  Then, off we went home – where Chris demanded asked me to make him a Manhattan.  And, not wanting to be rude and make him drink alone, I poured myself a bourbon…

So, that’s why I couldn’t blog on Monday.

Good riddance!

From Thursday’s Chron:

It was business as usual at the Cala Foods supermarket on Nob Hill this week. Customers lined up six deep at the cashiers and shoppers crowded the well-stocked aisles.

So why is the store closing in 2010?

C.W. Nevius then goes on about how the value of the land is worth more to develop, the thin profit margins for supermarkets, blah, blah, blah…  which may be true in the case of some other supermarkets in the City.

But as for this Cala, it sucks.  Seriously, it has long been one of the worst supermarkets ever (I think the only one worse was the Associated Market on 14th and 8th in Manhattan…  they used to take the rotting produce, shrinkwrap it and then throw it all into a big markdown bin…  I quickly learned to only buy pre-packaged goods here…).

Cala’s prices are insanely high (I used to be able to get Pepperidge Farms cookies for $1.50 less at the Sutter Fine Foods on Hyde and Sutter – which is essentially a “superette”…  A complete outrage, if ever there was one!). They have crappy produce.  You have to check every package, since they regularly keep stuff on the shelves long past the expiration date.  The lines are insanely long and move at a snail’s pace.  And the employees are nasty, slow and unhelpful.

Honestly, I never understood why anyone would shop at this dump.  It’s the closest supermarket to our apartment, but I avoid it like the plague – save for the occasional emergency toilet paper run…  Though I think last time we did this, it was a big bust, since they only had Cottonelle, a brand that is banned from our household due to its H.D.Q. (high dingleberry quotient).  But I digress…

So, to sum up, screw you Cala.  You will not be missed…

Vote No on 8

I’m pretty sure that I’m preaching to the choir when I ask my readers (yes, all three of you) to vote no on proposition 8, the proposed amendment to California’s constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.

Right now, foes of marriage equality have raised over $16 million, versus $10 million for the “No on 8″ campaign.  We need to be sure that the majority of Californians remain convinced to vote no – and that means responding to the slew of TV ads coming down the pike from the other side…

So, won’t you join me in making a donation to the No on 8 campaign?  If not for me, then for Brad Pitt…

And can I just rant for a minute?  The goal of this proposition is to alter the constitution of California to make discrimination the law of the land…  Think about that for a minute – changing the the constitution to implicitly state, “Hey all you fags and dykes – fuck you! You’re not the same as we heteros and your icky relationships aren’t the same as our normal ones…  Separate but equal is good enough – see, it’s separate but it’s also equal.  So no harm, no foul right?  It’s equal.”

Not to mention the fact that the whole argument over marriage is always couched in terms of religion, tradition, children, blah, blah, blah…  When in fact, civil marriage is a contract into which two people enter; a contract that grants them specific rights and responsibilities under the law – that’s pretty much it.

The two people are not required to procreate; to participate in any type of religious service; or, for that matter, to be in love.  One would surely hope otherwise, but if two people who hate each other’s guts want to get married, they can!  Up until a few months ago, all they had to be was unmarried and of the opposite sex…

Of course, in a few years, as is always sagely and correctly pointed out by opponents of same-sex marriage, we’ll have to address all of the “slippery slope” issues – you know, like mothers marrying their sons, brothers marrying sisters and, of course, man-on-goat marriage – because same-sex marriage will assuredly usher in the era of man-on-goat marriage…

What is it with the man-on-goat?  It’s always presented as the inevitable next step.  Apparently, the God-botherers believe I’m likely to wake up one morning, find myself bored with the whole homosexual “lifestyle” I’ve “chosen” and just move on to goats…  Which makes no sense at all…  Goats totally never get my jokes and they have a notorious fear of flying – so where would we go on vacation?  Bakersfield?

If done correctly, that is…

Again, so very true.  I love this guy…

Obama Loses Crucial “Toffee-Nosed Git” Demographic

Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a former Hillary Clinton supporter, will endorse John McCain.

“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don’t like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”

Lady de Rothschild is married to British financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, whose net worth is estimated at $1 billion. They divide their time between New York, London and Ascott House, a 3200-acre estate in Buckinghamshire, England.  They are active members of the Illuminati and work tirelessly supporting the establishment of the New World Order. Lady de Rothschild enjoys cake, collects jewel-encrusted objets and is completely unfamiliar with the concept of irony.

from CNN via Gawker

When will their nightmares end?

Unintentionally hilarious headline from CNN.  Be sure to also note the fantastic alt-tag that Wonkette used with  with the image…

from Wonkette

Lehman Bros. Workers Console Each Other While Cameras Roll…

from Gawker

“An issue which I am frankly surprised to hear people suddenly care about.”

Just in case anyone missed it…

Food, Glorious Food

Canelés des Bourdeaux

Picked up some canelés at La Boulange.  Frankly, I don’t even really understand what they are, other than the work of the devil and/or the angels.  Little cakes, baked until crispy and caramelized on the outside, with an interior like a cakey custard…  or a custardy cake…  Eh, who really cares?  They are freakin’ delicious and I could have easily eaten a half-dozen of them, though I demurely only ate two (actually, 1½ – I traded the other half for a bit of my friend’s bread pudding – which was just OK…)  Though I did also get a banana-caramel mini-muffin – a tender little morsel of banana-y goodness…

Eggs-and-Toast

Of course, this (plus another corned beef sandwich from The Sentinel) meant I wasn’t so hungry later that evening, so Chris and I forewent our usual date-night dinner-out.  Instead, I whipped up some eggs-and-toast – which, if I do say so myself, were excellent (I was sooo tempted to refer them as “eggs-cellent”, but chose to exercise some restraint).  Added a bit of sautéed spinach, chives and garlic to the eggs, then topped them off with some quickly-cooked cherry tomatoes and Parmigiano. Quite the nice late night supper… Buon appetito!

This is what it sounds like when eagles cry…

Wonkette ran a post today on hideously creepy 9/11 tributes and imagery.  It was both funny and offensive (my favorite combination!).  If you visit the post, be sure to hover over the images so you can read the alt-tags…

At any rate, “sati demise” posted the following comment:

I was in Mexico that day. All the gringos were watching CNN, the Mexicans stopped me on the street to give me condolences – and the local Catholic priest gave a special ceremony for Americans where he talked about Jefferson and Adams.

So, when people say Bush squandered all the world wide good will, I know what they are talking about. A Catholic priest in a small Mexican town knew more about our American Constitution than Bush, and thats a fact.

I still remember the shock of those days – but also the unity we felt as a people, as a country and as a part of the world community …  A sad reminder of the destruction wrought by Bush and his cronies over these last seven years, all in the name of “freedom.” Sigh…