Negotiation -

We were watching The Patriot with director’s commentary. For a fellow who made a movie about the American Revolution he had the standard liberal’s misunderstanding of what war is and what negotiation is.

Deep sigh. First off, negotiation requires that the parties at hand be willing to sit down at a table and discuss the issue(s) at hand. Secondly, in the liberal understanding of things they seems to think that both parties will each give a little bit and arrive at a mutually satisfactory settlement.

If the parties hold diametrically opposed views and/or one will not sit down to discuss the matter, then what? Kosovo comes to mind. The liberal view is that the parties should have just sat down and talked out their differences. Fact is, you had Moslem invaders that had been systematically persecuting native Christians for 400 years, and wanted to keep on doing so. You had native Christians (the Serbians) who wanted these invaders and persecutors out. As usual, the libs leading this country had us siding with the Moslems and bombing the Christians. But anyway, where is the negotiating room here? The Moslems weren’t going to leave peaceably. They were not going to stop persecuting the Christians. The Moslems had (as usual) no intention of giving any on that position. The Christians wanted freedom and the Moslems out of their hereditary lands. There was no give in their position.

Liberals seem to think that war is the same thing as a fist fight, and if everyone just went home and slept it off everything would be fine. That is a fundamental misunderstanding of war. War is not testosterone gone amuck. War is an instrument of national policy. War takes place when negotiations and diplomats have failed. If a nation has a goal which can not be achieved by diplomatic means it must either give up that goal or resort to war as the final choice.

For instance, the Germans of the 1930s entered into all kinds of negotiations and signed all kinds of agreements, which they happily broke and then entered into more negotiations and treaties, buying all kinds of time. Chamberlain was the liberal of his day and proudly proclaimed “peace for our time” after entering into the Munich Agreement which gave a chunk of Czechoslovakia to Germany in return for the German’s promise to be good boys and not do it again. After digesting the big bite for a year and consolidating their position, the Germans invaded Poland. The only way to stop a nation that will not negotiate honorably is war. Otherwise they will do what they please.

The Korean War took place when North Korea invaded South Korea. South Korea appealed to the United Nations for help. North Korea’s position was that they had conquered and would hold South Korea as theirs and would not give it up. The United Nations declared war upon North Korea and invaded to free the South Koreans. The United States troops sent to Korea were part of the UN forces. The United States did not declare a separate war upon North Korea. Contrary to the TV show MASH with its frequent soulful “why are we here” dialogs, most people understood quite well why we were there. It had nothing to do with “stopping the red stain” as Frank Burns so stupidly and piously intoned. Notice the standard Hollywierd liberal ploy of making all liberals reasonable and intelligent and all conservative positions stupid and ridiculous? It had everything to do with honoring the UN resolution to protect an ally who was being systematically conquered and pillaged. That is the same UN which the current crop of liberals wants to have running the planet nowadays. Especially if it puts the US in a bad position. BTW - if that had been a US war and we had finished it, instead of pulling out when the UN said to, we would not have the North Korean problem today. The people of North Korea would not be starving, they would be just as fat, sassy, and wealthy as the South Koreans are today.

Anyone who thinks that negotiation can be successful when one of the parties will not make treaties or hold to honorable terms will deserve what they get. Conquered. Or should we continue to let aggressors do as they damn well please until there is no freedom in the world? A nation that will not fight will not continue to exist. A people that will not fight will not keep freedom.

If we take war off the table, then there is nothing to make rogue nations such as Iran, North Korea, etc. even come to the table. We have to no reason to expect them to even go through the motions of negotiation, much less keep their word if there is no expectation of retaliation and punishment through war.

While no one in his right mind considers war desirable, it is still an instrument of policy that must be available. No pantywaist liberal abhors and hates war as much as the military does. The difference is that our military accepts the role of protector of freedom. The loudmouth pacifistic types seem only to protest those who protect freedom. I never see them protesting those who would take freedom away. When was the last time you saw the Code Pink people protest radical Islam? When was the last time you saw the peaceniks protest an aggressive dictatorship such as North Korea? When was the last time you saw protests against the murderous bombing of innocent civilians by Moslem terrorists such as we see every day on the news?

Them’s the facts, ma’am.

Children Need to be Children -

I agree. But I part company with the majority of wishy-washy parents who use that phrase as an excuse to either ignore or spoil their children (or both).

The majority of people in this country seem to think that children should be engaged in perpetual play, preferably of the politically correct kind. Nonsense. The majority of history has the role of children helping with the daily work of the family from the time they can stand and walk. Children worked on the farm in rural areas and worked in the family business in urban areas. They bonded quite closely with the rest of the family, learned valuable life skills, and generally loved their parents and extended family fiercely. This is quite a contrast with the current crop of spoiled darlings that gets away from their families as fast as possible.

In order to correct the horrors of early industrialization and child sweat-shop labor we passed laws to prevent the exploitation of minors and to enable them to stay in school long enough to get a decent education. We swung the pendulum too far, as usual. Most of the kiddies now don’t have any reasonable chores to do around the house, and, even if they do (and they actually do them), they are usually solo without participation of the rest of the family. Most parents are content to let their little darlings sit in front of a TV or a computer soaking up porn (either of the mind or the body). Then later the kids are mall rats with nothing to keep them out of trouble. The parents would be better served by not sitting down after dinner to watch their own boob-tube, but rather to do meal cleanup and household chores as a family unit and then help/supervise with all the kiddies homework - every night. And to develop a hobby which would involve the whole family in something involving constructive activities, preferably with a learning curve involving useful skills that can be passed on to the kidlets.

The idea that life is constant play and that we have to be entertained every waking moment of the day does not produce rational, balanced, loving adults. It produces totally selfish, weak individuals who look for someone else to do the providing. It produces people who cannot successfully relate to others, resulting in failed marriages and damaged children. It results in people who cannot make and hold to the commitment required to be a successful and loving partner and parent. In short, look around at the products of this type of poor parenting. What you see is what you will get if you raise your children this way. Not a pretty picture, is it?

Everyone Knows That -

There’s a scene in Cabaret where the landlord is listening to the Nazi propaganda on the radio and one of the characters tries to show him that hatred of Jews is irrational. His response is that everyone knows that there is a conspiracy of Jewish bankers to take over all of Europe, and anyway, all the communists are Jewish. It does not matter to him that this is totally irrational since “everyone knows these things”. History has shown the consequences of this “everyone knows”.

Just about anytime “everyone knows” something it should be a danger signal to anyone who has any intelligence at all. At one time the “everyone knows” in this country was that black people were quite inferior and not capable of any intelligent action. This in spite of the many black artisans such as Cesar Chelor, the celebrated wooden plane maker of Wrentham, Massachusetts. He was freed on the death of his master in 1752. His master, Francis Nicholson said in his will ” . . .As to my Negro Man Cesar Chelor, considering his faithful Service, his tender Care & kind & Christian carriage, I do set him free to Act for himself in the world . . .” Chelor plane are highly prized collectables as they are some of the finest examples of Colonial wooden planes in existence. This in spite of people of great intellectual accomplishments such as Frederick Douglas. And in spite of the great scientific strides made by George Washington Carver. And a ton of others.

At one time “everyone knows” that women are intellectually substandard. Guess they never met anyone like my mother. Extraordinary woman. Or my wife. Plenty of gray cells, and knows how to use them.

At one time everyone knew that the earth was flat.

Just about any time an “everyone knows” is grasped by the majority of people who do not or cannot think for themselves the consequences are not good.

The current “everyone knows” is the global warming business. We see the Congress pass laws based on this “everyone knows” instead of rationally considered consequences. This is so ingrained in the minds of the average citizen that even if evidence shows up contrary to that “everyone knows”. There is the silly idea that the next ice age will be caused by global warming. And of course “everyone knows” that this is the fault of the people of the United States. I suppose that the last several ice ages were the fault of the mammoths on this continent, since there was no US to beat up on back then.

“Everyone knows” that the ice caps are disappearing. Except that they aren’t. Of course, the “everyone knows” crowd says that the fact that the ice caps are back up to size is also a result of global warming, which “everyone knows” is cause by the evil humans.

Nuts. Better check your “everyone knows” meter. It will surely be a disastrous set of consequences as much as any other “everyone knows” in history.

Comments on the dance -

Now you may wonder what an old grump like me could say about dancing. Well, brace yourselves. For about two years in my late twenties I made my living as a dancer and a ballroom dance teacher.

Obviously, my bias is towards what the ballet types sneeringly refer to as “social dancing”. Ah yes, I lead, female follows. Good old atavistic, fun stuff. Ballet types do not seem to regard ballroom or tap or folk as “serious” dancing. On the other paw, I do not regard ballet as dancing. No, I am not disparaging same. What it is, to me, is quite beautiful gymnastics. Extremely difficult, but usually carefully choreographed. Relying more on careful counting and memorization than free-form and rhythm.

What has brought on these musings is watching the Michael Flatley Irish dance DVDs. It seems that every third or fourth generation rediscovers some form of tap, and Irish hard-shoe dancing is certainly one of the genetic ancestors of tap. Irish, tap, folk are almost always exuberant expressions of joyful music with a strong, driving beat and a happy melodic line.

The early Shirley Temple/Bill Robinson (Bojangles) collaborations were sheer joy to watch. Especially, see any of the routines involving stairs. Bill Robinson invented the up and down stairs tap routines back in his Vaudeville days. The reason that his taps sound a bit different than others you may have heard is that his taps are wooden rather than metal. Another one of his innovations.

For tap raised to high art, see any of the Eleanor Powell movies. Gorgeous woman. Also any of Frederick Austerlitz’s movies. Oh yeah, you know him as Fred Astair. For a special treat see the collaboration Broadway Melody of 1940. The dances in that are as near perfection as you will ever see.

Ann Miller’s Too Darn Hot routine in Kiss Me Kate is also superb.

The problem is that by the 1950s MGM trended toward ballet type routines in their musicals. See Gene Kelly’s later works, or even Fred Astair’s later movies and you will see what I mean. Great dancing, but not the joyous fusions of music and exuberant movement of the earlier stuff. Ballet is great, but it is not and cannot be the supremely stimulating rush of a tap or ballroom routine.

I am vaguely surprised that some movie mogul has not tried to incorporate Irish dance into a musical. And I’m not so sure it would work, anyway. It will be interesting to see what the next craze is, not that I’ll live long enough to find out if it takes another generation or so.

Lamb Chops –

When it’s spring and the birds are blooming and the trees are singing, or something like that, and a young man’s fancy turns to… Well, never mind, we know what young men’s fancy is. But an old guy’s fancy may turn to - Lamb Chops! And yes, Shari Lewis was nice for that other fancy.

Yeah, I know, we always thought of lamb as the overdone leg that mama would have sometimes. And only sissies eat lamb and I don’t like lamb. Guys, grow up, get over it. Real men eat whatever they damn well please. I know in the South manly-men don’t eat lamb. But the rest of the world does, and lamb is mighty fine eating. And yes, good lamb chops are expensive. But, if you have a Costco or something similar that does wholesale pricing, and you keep a serious lookout for sales, you just might be able to afford them. You want at least double-cut, and preferably triple-cut. The bigger the cut number, the thicker the meat. Now single-cut (about ½”) is ok for pork chops, but just will not do for lamb. Double-cut is twice as thick. Triple cut is 3 times thicker.

Set the oven for 450°.

Lamb chops, about 2 per person if you are having a good, filling, side dish or two. 3 per if they’re only double-cut. I’m talking about the small sized chops here. About ½ the size of pork chops. You’ll know them when you see them. You won’t usually see the pork chop size. They get reserved for restaurants. Or they come from sheep, not lambs. You don’t want sheep.
Now, you want some good, fresh mint. Yeah, you can use dried, but fresh is better.
You also want a good grade of mint sauce. Cross & Blackwell is the very best. You can make your own if you really want to. Mint sauce is nothing more than an infusion of mint leaves in a sweet leaching liquid. Oh, all right, a herbal vinegar, if you please:
½ cup finely chopped mint
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup English malt vinegar
Mix it up in a saucepan, simmer for about 20 minutes, let it cool, decant into airtight containers (old condiment bottles work well).
Take some butter, cold from the refrigerator. Add about 1 ½ tablespoons per chop.
1 clove of fresh garlic per chop, minced. Yes, they’re garlicky. Goes nicely with lamb.
Small bowl food processor or lots of elbow grease.

Put the butter in, add the garlic and get it mixed in. Add just enough mint sauce for flavor and work it in. Don’t put so much sauce in that the mixture becomes liquid. You want this to be rather stiff. That’s why we use cold butter. Work in a good amount of mint. I put in about as much as the mix will hold. Your taste may call for some less. Put the chops in a pan with a grill rack. I always line the pan with aluminum foil, otherwise it’s a mess to clean up. Set the chops on the rack, getting each as close to level as possible. Now, for each chop, dig down with your fingers beside each bone, making a little pocket. Fill the pockets with the butter mixture and keep heaping it on the chops until you run out of topping. Really mound it up. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes for triple-cut. The cooking time can be varied to suit your taste. This should get you done with very little pink. If you like your lamb a bit rarer, reduce the time. I do like mine about medium, but Herself can’t stand underdone lamb.

Of course, you can always pan-fry them. Just treat them like any other kind of meat. You know the drill - Add some olive oil, add some butter. Get the pan hot to where the mix shimmers slightly and the butter is no longer foaming. Ease the flame down between medium and medium-high depending on your range-top. Slide a little crushed garlic in and cook until it is brown, then remove the debris. Add the chops that you have salted and peppered, both sides. Try about 5 minutes a side for double-cut. This should be about medium. If this is too rare for you, just add a bit more time, but be careful of burning. You may need to reduce the heat and go for a little longer time. Anyway, garnish with some chopped mint. Serve with mint sauce.

You can also grill lamb chops, the rules are the same as for any red meat. You might try grilled with some kind of rosemary marinade. The Greeks really like rosemary with their lamb, and they are the experts. Actually, most all the Middle East types deal quite well with lamb. Look for Greek, Lebanese, and so on recipes. They are all the same basic culture, though they will all deny it. And may want to cut your throat for saying so. Alexander had the policy of mingling the cultures. Not to mention the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire - need I go on?

But I’ll get more into Middle Eastern lamb recipes at a later time. Oh hell, I might as well talk a little about kibbe - there are a million spellings. The basic kibbe is:

1 lb. Finely minced lamb. It mostly gets ground in this country - but that is not right. Keep the fat content down low.
1 medium onion, finely minced. Or more, to taste. You can also puree, but I like fine mince better.
2 teaspoons good kosher salt, or less, to taste
1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
Pepper to taste (optional)
½ cup fine burghul - cracked bulghar wheat - soaked for 30 minutes and pressed dry.

Mix the whole mess together. If it is too sticky, try adding a little water.

Now you can bake it or fry it (make that 1 cup burghul for cooked). Deep dish, patties, whatever. Don’t overcook it dry.

But the absolute best way to eat it is raw, like steak tartar. It is called kibbe naeya. I can just see the queasy looks out there. Raw lamb, yech! But it really is delicious. And I wouldn’t lie to you about something as important as food! Of course, you have to have a supply of meat that you can absolutely trust, and that may be hard. If you get clean meat, skim off the surface 1/8″ or so with a clean sharp knife and do your own grinding or mincing you are pretty safe. Anyway, get (or bake) some good fresh pita bread. Get a really good grade of extra virgin olive oil. Greek or Lebanese is better than Italian for this. Put some spicy veggies in the olive oil if you like. Now, tear off a strip of bread, get some kibbe and some olive oil on it. If you’re going to be authentic, use a central communal bowl, and only use your right hand to tear and roll the bread. Depending on the place and local custom, you might have a central dish of olive oil or one per side of the main dish, or even individual dipping bowls. All samey-samey. Chow down and enjoy - it is wonderful!

Marriage and Morals -

The current climate in this country at this time (America, early 21^st century) is anything goes, the kinkier, the better. Plain old heterosexuals are regarded as somewhat second class, and/or persecutors of whichever minority is protesting. This is somewhat contrary to the historical rules of most of human existance. Inherent in the human is the drive to procreate, and, speaking for the male, to spread his seed as far and as wide as possible. Societies have evolved rules that are designed to protect women and children so that the society and the species may prosper. Most have developed the one man, one woman, and their children pattern. Where one sex is conspicuously scarce other patterns have been used. In many war torn societies where the men were killed off polygamy was considered ok. The reverse was true in early Polynesian expansion (and other places), when the women were rare, and polyandry was occasionally practiced. Even in those societies where the multiple spouses were ok the standard one woman, one man was the norm. Look around at Moslem societies today. Even though up to four wives are allowed and as many concubines as can be supported, the normal family unit in Moslem countries is still the one woman, one man pattern.

I can only really be an authority on heterosexuality. Yes, I am that square. Monogamy may or may not be natural by our current social lights, but it is the norm over most societies throughout history. Why has this evolved? According to Eastern Orthodox Christian thinking, God does not make souls. God finished creation and then rested. What He did, rather than creating each new soul, was set up a mechanism whereby the parents create the soul in the act of procreation. This is somewhat at odds with Western thought, particularly Protestant. However, this does explain some otherwise puzzling things. If there is a merging of soul-stuff with the sex act, then it becomes apparent that one night stands and irresponsible sex with various partners is dangerous to the soul. If there is a sharing on a real level then there is some shredding of the soul when indiscriminate partners come and go. On the other hand, a monogamous long-term relationship leads to the strengthening of the soul bond. This sounds somewhat preposterous until we have actually experienced this merging and sharing. It takes several years for this to become apparent to us - somewhere between seven and fifteen years is what I observe with most couples. It seems to take thirty to fifty years to fully mature. Check around you. Observe the people that you know that are in a long and satisfying marriage. You can see the external effects of this blending, which takes place over many years. These couples tend to be more satisfied with life in general than those who have never taken the time and effort to develop this long term merging. Also observe those who have not been in a long and faithful relationship. They tend to be much more bitter and cynical about life. I do not know if this soul-bonding is possible in a homosexual relationship. The homosexuals that I have known over the past several years do not seem to exhibit this. It may be out there, but I have not observed it.

It is an interesting phenomenon worth noting that, while birth control is readily available and cheap, the majority of children born in this country are illegitimate. The general dumbing down of our society is nowhere more evident than in our stupid and ignorant disregard of natural law where our own lives and offspring are concerned. There is more venereal disease in the population than at any other time in history. In spite of the current worship of nature, we do not seem to want to learn about or deal with our own nature. Our society seems more interested in brain controlling our children to care more about “Mother Nature” as goddess than about human nature and the proper control of same. People seem more interested in the government taking control of everyone’s life than they are about taking control of their own lives.

The conclusion that I can draw is that there is more to the standard Christian doctrine of fidelity than the do your own thing crowd seems to want to admit. There seem to be good and practical reasons for the morals that have developed and preached for centuries. Not to mention that in my observation the people who lead an immoral life seem to be pretty much less than happy, productive people.

It may be observed that the statement that is made is Exodus 20:5 about visiting the sins of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation is not a statement of a harsh and vengeful God, as many would have it. Genetic damage shows up in subsequent generations. This seems to hold for hateful and abusive behavior as well. Children reflect the genes of their parents. Children reflect the emotional and spiritual damage of parents also. It can take several generations to clear up this damage. Looks to me like Exodus 20:5 is just a flat statement of fact about human life.

Where am I going with this? Not necessarily anywhere in particular. However, if your moral code is “do your own thing” or “whatever feels good” or “I do what I want when I want” I would suggest that you have not formed an adult and informed set of personal morals. If you have rejected any constraints on your behavior then your moral code is that of a child. I do not necessarily suggest that all people need to follow the traditional Judeo/Christian moral code blindly, just because papa said so. However, to reject that set of morals without careful and informed consideration is really quite stupid. One’s moral code should enable one to live with oneself and one’s neighbors in some sort of sane balance.

We have swung the pendulum too far (as usual). We have gone from a society that would condemn and persecute (and perhaps prosecute) anyone who did not adhere (at least publicly) to the standard puritanical set of morals and behaviors of the time to a society that is totally afraid to say that anyone’s behavior is unacceptable, unless one of the political hot topics has been violated. Look at the difference in the treatment of Don Imus and known carriers of venereal disease. Imus was hounded out of his job for making one stupid (but poitically insensitive) remark. Our public health departments are not allowed to make a community aware of a known and active spreader of venereal diseases, much less stop the individual from continuing to infect (and kill) unknowing victims. Look at the difficult time we have with known sexual predators, who could be stopped rather easily if we decided to do so.

Old Fashioned Sourdough Pancakes (and Waffles) -

The old Western and Alaskan sourdoughs (as the miners and trappers were called) used sourdough for just about everything that had to do with wheat flour. It was a necessary and integral part of life in the wilderness. Sourdough pancakes were a frequent menu item. It is one of the simple pleasures of life.

500 grams of fed sourdough starter (about 2 cups)
25 grams of sugar or 30 grams of honey (about 2 Tbs)
30 grams of olive oil or other oil of choice (4 Tbs) - You can also use butter
1 large egg
4 grams salt (1/2 tsp)
5 grams baking soda (1 tsp)
10 grams warm water (1 Tbs)

A bit of historical note here: About the time of Alaskan exploration by the Americans and Canadians baking powder became available. The sourdoughs were deeply suspicious of baking powder and there was a rumor that if suppressed sexual desire (the salt-peter of its day). A prostitute (so the story goes) wintered at one of the gold mining camps. Unfortunately for her the men had made no strikes and had no money, so they stayed away from her in droves. As the spring thaw opened the adjacent river she hopped one of the first boats out. As she pulled away from the shore she shouted back, “Goodbye - you baking powder eating sons of bitches”. Anyway, use baking soda for the authentic historical kind of pancakes.

Let the sourdough starter sit overnight at room temp and get built up nicely. The next morning add the sugar, salt, egg and oil or butter. Mix this up well and let sit as long as you like while you get the rest of breakfast together. Just before cooking dissolve the baking soda in the warm water and gently fold it into the mixture.

Heat up a cast iron skillet or griddle (or whatever you use). Brush oil lightly onto the skillet with a silicon brush (regular brushes melt). When the heat and oil are just right it only takes seconds to cook each side of the pancake golden brown. You only want pancakes the size of silver dollars or so. Do not make them very big or they won’t cook through before burning. I find that a 1/8c measuring cup is just right. Drop the batter onto the hot skillet with a kind of swirling motion and when bubbles form on the top they are ready to be flipped. It will only take a few before you get the rhythm just right.

Serve them buttered with jam or honey or maple syrup or whatever you like. I like mine just plain buttered with over medium eggs and bacon.

You can also use this same batter with your waffle iron. It will probably take a bit of experimentation to figure which setting gives you the best results with your particular iron.

AIDS is a government plot -

- to bring about the complete genocide of people of color.

So speaks Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s beloved pastor.

Let’s look at this rationally. There are three ways to get AIDS that I know of:

1. Blood transfusion or dirty infected medical instruments
2. Sharing dirty needles of infected people while injecting drugs
3. Sex with infected partner

OK. So we are going to give AIDS transfusions to all the people of color in the world and keep the blood supply for white people clean. Yeah, right. What kind of paranoid kook thinks that would work? What kind of rational US Senator and presidential hopeful sits there and listens to this kind of insanity every week?

Dirty needles and indiscriminate sex. Yeah, right. We all know that those black people are druggies and have no morals and screw anything in sight.

Deep sigh. If a white man had said those kinds of things he would correctly be branded as an idiot, an asshole, a racial bigot, and every other derogatory term in the left’s limited vocabulary. Since it is a black man (and a preacher at that), he gets a pass from the mainstream media and the libs who support Obama. Mr. Obama soft-pedals and dodges any questions on why he has not repudiated this kook,

People, wake up. Stupidity and bigotry do not belong to any particular race. Actually, that’s wrong. They belong to the human race.

If a Republican had intimated that the AIDS epidemic would be effective in the black communities because blacks are less moral than whites said Republican would have been fried by the media and the race baiters of this country. If a presidential candidate of the Republican persuasion were even remotely associated with such a pastor the press would be crucifying him. Why does Obama get a pass? Didn’t we fight the fight to get equal treatment for all people? Why do the libs get passes for outrageous and unacceptable behavior?

Wake up people. Equality means just that - treat all fairly and equitably. If you will fry the right - then apply the same standards to the left.

Seems to me that if Mr. Wright were a Christian of the type I’m familiar with he’d be telling his people not to participate in immoral conduct. If you don’t do drugs or have sex outside marriage the odds of getting AIDS are pretty well non-existent. Just a thought to consider.

By the way, this is only one of the lunatic statements of Mr. Wright. There are many, many more. One must question the integrity of Mr. Obama for having followed this man for 20 years, and for accepting his support until the story of this gentleman’s crazy statements was outed. Says more about Obama and the libs than it does about Mr. Wright - who is so very wrong.

Tempura -

Like anything else that they do the Japanese take something relatively simple, spend a lifetime doing it elegantly, and produce something magical that will drive you nuts trying to duplicate it.

Tempura was introduced into Japan by the Portuguese in the 16^th century. The Japanese took the concept, filed the serial numbers off, redesigned the body style, changed the paint color and came up with something totally wonderful and uniquely Japanese.

Tempura is battered and fried food. Usually with a nice dipping sauce. Since this is Japanese the order is backward from what you might expect. Make the dipping sauce first, have everything ready to serve, get the oil just right, then fry and eat immediately.

So, the dipping sauce. For each two or three people:

1 tablespoon of mirin
1 tablespoon of sake
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon dashi no moto (soup stock, optional)
fresh grated ginger to taste (optional)
wasabi powder to taste (optional)

There are about a million and one other dipping sauces that you can whip up, but the basic jobbie is the first 3 or 4 ingredients. If you can’t find dashi no moto don’t freak, it’s rather optional.

The batter:

Stick your water in the refrigerator for a good while. You want the water to be ice-cold, but you don’t want to use ice water. You will get better results from a soft flour of the Southern persuasion than a bread flour, so use Martha White, White Lily or some other Southern flour.

1 egg, beaten
1 cup ice-cold water
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sake

The normal Japanese method is to use chopsticks to mix up the batter and to mix it just before using. They are right, it works best. Beat the egg, mix in the water, then quickly and lightly mix in the flour. You do want some small lumps, you do not want a completely smooth paste. As a side note, you can spend a good bit of time and money looking for special tempura batter. If you get it, follow the directions. You really don’t need to as this batter works fine. There are also some fairly elaborate batters out there. Experiment as you like.

Two schools of thought on the battering. One school is just batter and fry. The other school is batter, roll in dry flour, then fry. Try both ways and see which one you prefer. You could also do a flour, then batter approach. Do not think that you need to get a thick coat, you don’t. In fact, you generally don’t want to completely cover the object with batter. A thin coat with about 50% exposure of the food is about right. The Japanese don’t overdo anything and this is not like the thick American breading.

Frying temp is 340°F to 350°F. Now a purist will use a mix of sesame and vegetable oil. A true tempura fanatic can tell the difference. I mostly just use canola or peanut oil. This can be strained, cleaned, and reused two or three times. If it smells a bit off, get some fresh.

Anyway, fry for two or three minutes or until golden brown. What to tempura? Just about anything. Shrimp, vegetables cut into thin strips about 1-1/2″ long, anything else that you have on hand. About any seafood or vegetable can be done, just keep the pieces bite size. Broccoli is outstanding.

Like I said, typically Japanese. Simple and elegant. Any fool can learn to do it just by following these simple directions. Any fool can spend a lifetime perfecting this to the high art of a true tempura chef. The results are worth the effort.

The myth of the bomb -

One of the myths that liberals seem to believe that gives them comfort as they try to portray the US as an evil country is that the atomic bombing of Japan was totally unnecessary and evil.

Let us look at some historical fact. Not myth. Fact.

All prior Allied battle experience with the Japanese forces showed that they would fight like madmen and would rarely surrender. The Allies had learned to respect this fierce and implacable foe. And they had learned that Japanese territory could only be conquered with great cost in men and material. The Battle of Okinawa only confirmed the Allies worst views.

The Battle of Okinawa was fought as the prelude to and the staging point for the invasion of Japan proper. It must be realized that the oath of a Japanese soldier was to fight to the death and never to embarrass his family by surrender. The Battle of Okinawa lasted from late March to June of 1945.

The battle has been called the “rain of steel” because of the intensity of the fighting, the gunfire, and the sheer volume of men and material the battle cost. US losses were somewhere around 70,000 men. The Japanese losses were somewhat similar. The civilian deaths were somewhere between 70,000 to 140,000. Almost the entire infrastructure of the island was destroyed and the remaining civilian populous would have died of starvation if not for Allied relief  efforts. We are looking at somewhere between 200,000 to 250,000 casualties for the conquest of this island.

The Battle of Okinawa saw heavy use of the Kamikaze tactics. The Japanese would not surrender. The US High Command estimated that the conquest of Japan proper would cost over 1,000,000 US casualties, probably another million of other Allied troops, several millions Japanese military, and tens of millions estimated Japanese civilian deaths. We are probably talking about 15 million casualties to subdue the Japanese Empire.

There was no way to deal with the Japanese other than defeating them. They would not surrender without defeat. They would not come to a bargaining table and promise to be good boys in the future.

It must be remembered that the US had been bombing Japanese cities since1942, with great destruction and somewhere around 500,000 civilian casualties and some 5 million rendered homeless. The Japanese will to fight had not been weakened in the least.

The High Command decided that possibly the atomic bomb could get through the Japanese will to fight to the end and might result in millions of lives saved. On August 6, 1945 Hiroshima was bombed with casualties around 70,000. The Japanese did not immediately surrender so the city of Nagasaki was bombed on August 9, with casualties around 40,000. The Japanese finally understood that total destruction would be their lot if they continued to fight. It is true that many more people died later of radiation poisoning, bringing the totals to 140,000 for Hiroshima and 80,000 for Nagasaki. However, 220,000 is better than 15 million by a long shot.

Herself Sez: So many people are convinced that the Atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima caused millions of deaths that I wanted to add just a touch of reality here. This is the researched and documented numbers of dead from the final statistics:

TABLE A: Estimates of Casualties

	Hiroshima	Nagasaki
Pre-raid population	255,000	195,000
Dead	66,000	39,000
Injured	69,000	25,000
Total Casualties	135,000	64,000

So in this case, Himself actually overestimated the deaths and injuries. Now, back to Himself’s rantings!

Now, libs, please explain to me why the US is so evil for using a weapon that saved 14-3/4 million lives and kept the Allies from having to completely destroy the infrastructure of Japan, which would have resulted in the complete obliteration of the country.