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.

Liberal Fraud

By now everyone who has not had their head in the sand has heard that the current data on weather change indicate that we are not only not in global warming but may, in fact, be headed toward a mini ice age. That’s a definite maybe - we don’t yet have enough info to form a good picture.

This has proven to be one of the coldest winters on record and the ice caps are not only up to where they were previously, but are larger. It seems that the sun does have more to do with earth’s climate than does human activity. No matter what the environuts have put out they are not qualified weather scientists.

It is worthy of note that John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, and eminently more qualified than 99% of the populous to render an opinion on the subject has written extensively debunking the global warming myth. He has even advocated suing Al Gore and all those involved in the “carbon credits” scam. An article worth reading is http://media.kusi.clickability.com/documents/Comments+on+Global+Warming1.pdf

I will be willing to bet that none of the true believers of the church of global warming are likely to examine their beliefs in light of the current data. Sort of - “Don’t confuse me with facts, my minds already made up”. The only problem with this nutty religion is that these people have taken over the Democrat party and a good many Republicans - and they are making law based on emotion rather than science. We are wasting resources that could be better spent on other things that are of consequence.

Another current news story from the environazis is the eco-terrorist firebombing of the million dollar homes in Seattle. These homes were being built to all the latest green standards. In showing their “love for mother earth” these idiots have damaged the environment far more than the contractor, who was being as careful as possible to be a good environmental citizen. Their activity has dumped all the products of combustion that they decry into the air. I wonder how many phony carbon offsets they need to buy to wash the soot off their hands? Would these people care if human lives were lost in their terrorist activities. Would carbon offsets wash the blood from their hands? Or does their “purity of belief” exempt them from the condemnation they heap on everyone else. And just think of all the poisons that were washed into the water table. Yeah, they really showed love for mama earth. That’s like killing your mother to prove that you love her. Not rational logic.

I do not see any difference between these people who would force their will on everyone else, either by force of law - with the implied threat of punishment if we do not accede to their world view - and any other dictatorial madman. The Moslem terrorists, the IRA terrorists, the Eco-Terrorists, the Spanish Inquisition, Hitlerian Germany. All samey-samey. Any of the above will destroy, torture, kill, jail, fine, or whatever if you disagree with their agenda and do not bow to their will.

It is high time to reject the forces of the left in this country and tell them to go away, we will not surrender our freedom in the name of junk science.

This does not mean that we should not be responsible stewards of the environment. But we are stewards, not slaves, and should act as such.

Pithy Comments -

Pacifists:

A pacifist is a coward. It depends on the individual whether it is physical cowardice or moral cowardice - or both. It is most certainly intellectual cowardice. The pacifist enjoys all the benefits of group membership without any of the responsibilities.

I find it of interest that the majority of the American pacifist groups are of the extremely aggressive terrorist mentality. “I will kill you if you do not give up your violent ways” seems to be the ideology that they espouse. I also find it of interest that they are willing to commit all kinds of indignities upon our people to keep us from defending ourselves. They do not seem willing to get in the way of those who attack us. If they were honest in their goals they would work to stop aggressors, not defenders. It is one thing to do their protesting where the force of law protects their lunatic behavior. It would be quite another thing to protest in the Middle East. Like I said - cowards.

The pacifists of the past used their cowardice to exempt themselves from the responsibilities and dangers of protecting themselves and their loved ones in time of danger. The current crop seems to not only dislike themselves - an excellent judgment - but they seem to hate this country enough to want no one to be able to protect himself or his family. Not only cowards but traitors as well. Know a leopard by his spots.

Morals:

We’ve lost any concept of morality. I’m not just talking about the lack of judgment in screwing anyone, anywhere, anytime, such that half the populous has HPV or some other form of venereal disease. I’m talking about any sense of personal integrity. People no longer seem to understand that lying diminishes their personal worth. They do not seem to base their lives on anything but expediency of the moment and the currently accepted ideas of the herd. Having warm, fuzzy concern for polar bears seems to be more important than forming a firm set of personal mores built on intense self-examination and careful thought. I’m not talking about kowtowing to Mrs. Grundy, but a careful evaluation and thoughtful formation of the standards guiding one’s conduct is a requisite for any rational human.

Politics:

Political positions should be formed after careful examination of the issues and people involved. If the people that line up with your particular prejudices seem to be good and moral people you are probably on the right track. It the people who align with your beliefs seem to be bums, criminals, adulterers, thieves and so forth, it might be a good idea to re-examine your position. You are judged by the company you keep.

Opinions:

Form opinions after careful examination of the facts. Not some nutcase group’s personal blowhard bogus information. Search out the facts. It is ok to take an expert’s evaluation in a field that you do not understand. But if it is a matter that you can comprehend with a little skull sweat, then you have the obligation to learn. Currently people argue from emotion and bias and tend to make up bogus facts and statistics to bolster their precious biases. Do not be swayed by emotional arguments. Get the facts. Be like Sgt. Friday - “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts”.

Low self-esteem:

This is one of the biggest crocks there ever was. If you do not think much of yourself then it is not up to me to give you worth. It is up to you to become a functional and useful member of society. I can provide you with the opportunity to improve yourself, but I cannot do it for you. Don’t worry about how you feel about yourself, worry about developing some useful skills. Worry about treating others with courtesy and consideration. Worry about becoming useful. Others will recognize your worth. You will then have a decent opinion of yourself. Low self-esteem will not be part of your life. Liberals like to attack symptoms. Low self-esteem is a symptom. Don’t tackle the symptom. It may be that you are not worth much. Attack the cause. Become a worthwhile human. Cure the cause and the symptom will go away.

Respect:

I do not “give” you respect. You earn it. I acknowledge the respect that you have earned. This does not mean that you should feel free to affront the dignity of those who have not earned your respect.

Manners:

Manners are not an unnecessary phoniness. Manners are the little things that enable us to live together without unnecessarily causing anger and offense. Manners enable us to help make each other feel appreciated and good. This does not mean that we should be phony in our daily relationships. Not at all, but courtesy and consideration of others will go a long way toward making your daily life and the lives of those around you pleasant.

Life:

We cannot always control external events. We can control our reactions to those external events. 90% of how we are treated is determined by how we treat others. The golden rule is alive and well. It is a jim-dandy life rule whether you are a Christian or something else. If you are uncomfortable with a Christian concept then what goes around comes around or karma will do just about as well.

You have to respect other’s beliefs:

Nonsense. If someone chooses to believe that the earth is flat, the sun circles the earth, or the moon is made of green cheese it is crap. I don’t have to respect that. I will state that anyone is free to believe any preposterous crap that they like. But I don’t have to respect stupidity. Rosie may believe that the Twin Towers were brought down by our own government if she likes. But that is a really stupid position and I will say so. If someone wants to believe that the earth is supported on the back of a giant turtle, then that’s what they believe, but I don’t have to treat it with any degree of seriousness. I don’t have to ridicule it either. If someone is a Hindu with umpteen-eleven gods, fine. But don’t ask me to act as though that were some kind of truth. Neither will I denigrate them for that belief. Looks like we’ve got a couple of different cases here. There is reasonable religious belief, which, unless it is harmful, we must allow and not denigrate. If someone believes that anyone not of his faith will go to hell, fine. If the belief is that he should send anyone who does not share his faith to hell himself, there is a problem here. Then there are secular and/or political beliefs, which I feel totally comfortable ridiculing. Conspiracy theory, UFO nuts, or some of the wackier cults come to mind.

Environment:

You should keep your house clean. The same goes for the world that we live in. Responsible stewardship is good. This means sensible use of resources. Just as you should not throw your money down a cesspool so you should be frugal in the use of the earth’s resources. This means you should not trash the environment. Stewardship also means that it is perfectly fine to use the resources for our own reasonable uses. Contrary to some of the wilder-eyed nuts, the earth is not a goddess. The earth is our home and the home of future generations. We should use sensibly and pass it on to the next generations in good shape. A good steward passes things on in better shape than when he began.

Children:

Children are not miniature adults. They are incomplete adults. They require care, feeding, love, training, and discipline before they can become successful human beings. Discipline is just as important as any of the other factors. I’m not talking about beating a child. However, some children will require the occasional spanking. Some do not. You must carefully judge what each individual child needs at the time - and your responsibility is to provide what the child needs. Food, shelter, clothes, love, hugs, talking, spanking, medical, whatever. If you do not feed your child you are guilty of child abuse. If you beat your child you are guilty of child abuse. If you do not correctly (and dispassionately) discipline your child you are guilty of child abuse. That includes spanking where indicated and necessary. If you do not love and hug your child you are guilty of child abuse. If you do not impart a system of moral behavior to your child you are guilty of child abuse. If you do not teach your child how to function and earn a living you are guilty of child abuse. It is almost impossible to become a self-disciplined adult if discipline is not part of the growing and learning process.

I do favor spanking where needed. Discipline should be swift, dispassionate (don’t discipline when you are angry), and over quickly. The child’s mind does not work the same way as the adult. Prolonged punishment is not good. I’m always saddened when adults are afraid to discipline their children and let anger and resentment build up to a prolonged time. “You are grounded for a week” is crueler than a quick swat on the butt. A spanking will get the child’s attention, show the disapproval, and unless it is way too harsh, be over in a few minutes. At that time a loving hug can be beneficial. If you do elect to use spanking, be sure that when the discipline is over that the lectures and blame are over. If you are going to drag the emotional blackmail out then don’t use spanking, it is not fair to the child. You also cannot use spanking if there has been a significant period of time between the crime and the punishment. Spanking must be immediate to be of any use.

There are people who do not believe in spanking. That is also ok - if their children are disciplined in some other appropriate way. My observation is that the majority of those who do not believe in spanking raise self-centered, undisciplined brats. Not spanking should not be equated with not disciplining. Not spanking might well be considered child abuse in these circumstances.

Incidentally - giving the child what is needed is NOT giving what is wanted. Denying material junk may be what is best. It is not necessary for a child to have $150.00 shoes. It may, in fact, be quite detrimental to character development. Giving a kid a car on the 16^th birthday may be the worst possible thing. Or it may be necessary. Personalities and circumstances determine the correct move at every turn. You gotta’ be smart to be a good parent. Smart and intelligent are not always the same thing. Sitting a kid in front of a TV or a computer may keep him quiet and be quite bad for him. Taking the time to have a family Monopoly game may be more beneficial. Reading to the kid may take some of your valuable time and energy. But it is worth it.

If you are not responsible enough to think all this through you should not procreate. If you are not willing to give the child anything needed - including your precious time and attention when the child needs it, not when it is convenient for you - then you should not procreate. If you cannot sacrifice 20+ years of your life to grow a successful human then you should not procreate. If you are not smart enough and tough enough to be your child’s parent, not his friend, then you should not procreate.

Southern Sweet Cornbread -

The staple of the South for many years was cornbread. The Southern wheat flours are not really very good for bread. They are super fine for pies and such. Therefore the South developed the tradition of cornbread. This is what I use when I am in the mood for cornbread. Kind of a variation of the way my mother made it. Actually, the very best cornbread I ever had was made by my best friend’s mother, but I have never been able to get the same results, even with her recipe. But this one works very nicely.

150 grams unbleached all-purpose flour (1 cup)
166 grams yellow cornmeal (1 cup) (Aunt Jemima or Perkerson’s yellow)
65 grams sugar (5 Tbs)
8 grams baking powder (2 tsp)
4 grams salt (1/2 tsp)
244 grams milk (1 cup)
65 grams bacon drippings (1/3 cup)
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly grease an iron skillet with bacon grease.

Roughly mix everything up. Should have flour clumps about the size of BBs.

Bake for 26 to 30 minutes, the edges should be brown, the top golden, and a toothpick in the center should come out clean.

Serve hot with good butter. Dandy for soaking up pot likker.

I suppose that it is possible to do some substitutions to make a food nazi happy, but why bother. The flavor is the name of the game. Same with the pan. You could use a square or rectangular pan, but the purist uses an iron skillet.

Herself sez: Welllll, there is a slightly different recipe for every Southern cook!! Some people use self-rising corn meal mixes, others use white cornmeal. Some don’t add sugar, some add less sugar, some add more. Some add more shortening, some add less. Some will add “cracklins” to their cornbread. These are bits of crispy pork fat - not quite as crispy as the pork rinds you see in the grocery, but gently rendered to a slightly crispy texture. Some people use bits of “chittlins” - chicken intestines cleaned, chopped up and fried. I’m not as fond of the cornbread with cracklins or chittlins it. The daughter-person and her husband like white cornmeal mix with little or no sugar added for making their cornbread. I prefer a sweeter, yellow cornbread, and the Ol’ Curmudgeon’s recipe suits me just fine!

Are these guys nuts -

I saw a very earnest black gentleman on TV proclaiming that the newest and fastest growing religion in America, particularly in the black community, was Islam.

Interesting. The perception among many American blacks is that their ancestors were enslaved and persecuted by Christians, and that Moslems do not have any racial phobias. Not exactly true, by a long shot.

The problem is that the people of this country look at things through the prism of their emotional prejudices and do not check the facts.

So, let’s check some facts. The official dates for American slavery were 1700 to 1865. Even from the very beginning there are records of Christian protests against the slave trade. It was the Christian Abolitionists that brought about the end of the English slave trade. The Civil War was not started nor fought over slavery, but the abolitionist movement managed to sway public opinion and the end result was the total rejection of slavery and the freeing of all the slaves. There were approximately 400,000 slaves brought to America. Look around at the number of black people descended from these 400,000 still in America. Something around 36 million in 2000.

The book and TV blockbuster Roots portrayed the American slave traders as landing from boats and then rushing inland to capture the inhabitants of a peaceful village. That may have occasionally happened, but there are some disadvantages. First off, there is no guarantee that you can get the people that you want, age, sex, health and so on are just pot luck. Secondly, even though you have rifles, some indignant primitive with a spear is likely to object to being killed or captured. Getting a spear though your guts is usually considered a bad economic proposition.

Fact is, the American and English slave traders bought their slaves from the Arab traders who had been dealing in African slaves for centuries.

For the record, one of my ancestors is Captain James Reilly, who was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa, captured and held slave for many years by Arab slave traders. His book Reilly’s Narrative, the story of his slavery and escape, was very popular in the mid 1800s and was one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorites. And may have had some small influence on his decision to draft the Emancipation Proclamation.

Herself Sez: And let us not forget the “Underground Railroad,” operated by Christian households who believed that slavery was wrong, that helped close to 100,000 slaves find freedom in Canada, New Mexico and in non-slave states in the US.

Nowadays, “according to 1993 U.S. State Department estimates, up to 90,000 blacks are owned by North African Arabs, and often sold as property in a thriving slave trade for as little as $15 per human being.” Slavery in the Modern World.

I do not excuse the conduct of slavery under any conditions, and the thousands who died in the European slave ships are a true horror. But let’s remember the basic numbers: less than 200 years, 400,000 slaves, over 36 million descendants. And the countless Christian Abolitionists who protested from the beginning because the fundamental nature of Christianity is love for all mankind.

Now let’s look at the Moslem track record. You know, the Peace-Loving Religion that so many blacks are turning to so that they can say to hell with America.

Mohammed owned black slaves up until his death. The word for slave in Arabic became the common word for black person. “Abd” is the Arabic equivalent for “nigger” in modern America. Except there is no politically correct movement in Islam to keep people from using it. Let us quote Mohammed himself “Do not bring black into your pedigree”.

Moslems still practice slavery to this day. The Moslem Arabs began slaving in Africa from the very beginning. The last public slave auction of African blacks in Mecca was in the 1960s. This is fourteen centuries of trading in African black slaves. There was not and has never been any abolitionist movement in Islam. Slavery is still considered quite proper and meritorious under Sharia Law.

Now for a few numbers. There were an estimated 19 to 20 million African slaves over the centuries. This does not count the probably 50 to 80 million who died before they made it to the Moslem slave markets.

Look at those numbers compared to the American black slave descendants. Look around the Middle East - how many blacks do you see? Damn near none. African male slaves were usually castrated. Not likely to leave many descendants. Also the treatment of the slaves was so brutal that most died young, necessitating a constant flow of new slaves since most did not live to procreate.

Now - you want to explain to me just why Islam is the “natural religion of the black man”? If you really want to go back to the original religion of Africa then you need to look at Orthodox Christianity! I assure you that the Early Christian Church was quite active all through North and Central Africa. Many of the early saints were black. There is not and has never been any anti-black discrimination in the Orthodox Church. One of the most beloved saints on any calendar, Russian, Greek, Syrian, or whatever is St. Moses the Black, who is celebrated in all Orthodox Churches every year.

If you want to get away from the culture that you grew up in try visiting the Orthodox, the native Church of Africa before the Moslems came in murdering, raping, burning, and enslaving.

But do check some facts for yourselves. I would encourage you to read The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa: A Quest for Inter-religious Dialogue by Dr. John Azumah. At the very least think several times before you act out and commit yourself to a religion which is ridiculously false, and in which the black is always a fourth class citizen in the view of the racist Arabs who are the real top dogs. Or maybe you think that the Iranians - who are really Persians - and who despise everyone else, including the Arabs, do not think that you are fourth class. Why fourth class? Check out the facts of Moslem ranking of slave desirability: First - Middle Eastern, second - white, third - Ethiopian, fourth - black.

“The ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro” - Nasir al-Din Tusi, very famous, influential and respected 13^th century Moslem Persian theologian and scientist. So much for the love of Moslems for blacks. They only want you as tools, fools, and slaves. This is not something that I would call “the natural religion of the black man”.

Japanese Rice – Sort of –

Rice is one of the major sources of food for the world. It originated somewhere in the area of China and spread throughout the world. We have been cultivating it for about 5,000 years or so. Americans don’t really know about rice. We look for instant rice that has little character and flavor. I don’t know why, since the real deal is so easy and so versatile. Real rice is going to be a little bit sticky and can be eaten with chopsticks quite easily. (Chopstick and rice manners vary by region).

Chopsticks appear to have originated around 5,000 years ago in China, and spread all over the Orient. One of the reasons that they work so well is that the food has already been cut into bite size before preparation, which means that cooking requires less fuel and time. The Chinese chopsticks are usually rectangular, about 10 inches or so, and blunt ended. Japanese chopsticks are generally rounded, about 8 inches, and pointed. The snazzy lacquered wooden chopsticks were developed about the 17^th century in Japan and are somewhat slicker and harder to use than plain wooden chopsticks. Hereself likes to takes our own very fancy chopsticks in their snazzy carrying case to Oriental restaurants. Ours are Japanese. I don’t generally care one way or the other. The disposable type in restaurants (wari-bashi) are easier to hold and to pick up food than the lacquered type, but the finer lacquered finish has better mouth feel. Life is a bunch of trade-offs.

Incidentally, there is nothing in the Oriental gene pool that makes them instinctive chopstick users. It is a skill that has to be learned like any other. If you want to see something hysterical, look at a video of any Oriental mother teaching her baby the proper use of chopsticks. It is delightfully funny – and quite messy.

Now to business. Get a good grade of some kind of Oriental rice. If nothing else the Mahatma Jasmine rice is better than most grocery store rice. If you can find some real Oriental rice at a specialty store try it – you will be amazed at the flavor difference. Anyway, for the most part follow the directions on the package, if any. If no directions then use this general way to cook the stuff. 2 parts water liquid measure to 1 part rice dry measure. That is 2 cups water to 1 cup rice for 4 people. 1 cup water to ½ cup rice for 2 people. (It doesn’t hurt to have rice left over). Stir the rice and put on the heat. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. You may have to reduce the cooking time if your stovetop doesn’t get low enough heat. I have to use the smallest burner on the lowest setting. Turn off the heat and let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Do not lift the lid at any time! That’s it. Most people goof by lifting the lid to look and that will ruin it. Experiment a time or two. If you burn it then reduce the heat or time the next time – but DON’T lift the lid to see. If you’ve got a good lid you can use a wok for the rice, or any proportionally sized pot with a good lid.

We like rice with butter, soy sauce, or in other dishes. A nice, easy dish is a Japanese sort of thing. Oh yeah, this works very well with leftover rice. If you have a wok and know how to use it this is a good wok recipe.

2 cups cooked Japanese rice (Leftover is even better)
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped carrot
½ cup broccoli flowers
½ cup diced meat of some kind – we like shrimp. Pork, ham, and chicken also work well.
2 eggs
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 cube chicken bouillon dissolved in a little hot water
2 Tbs Japanese soy sauce (We like Kikkoman)
vegetable oil
sesame oil

Whip up the eggs and scramble them quickly in hot oil. Set aside in a dish. High heat, add more oil and a bit of sesame oil for flavor. Sauté the vegetables until they are tender. Ham or pork goes in at the same time. If shrimp, add just before vegetables are done. Add the garlic just before the vegetables are done. Add chicken bouillon and rice and mix together. Lower heat and add soy sauce and mix it all up quickly. Add the scrambled egg, mix quickly. Get it off the heat, serve and eat immediately.

As a variation you can add a small bit of honey to the soy sauce over heat and stir it well. There is nothing sacred about the ingredients. You can use any veggies or meat that you have on hand, just add them in the order that they need to all come done together.

Disney hypocrisy -

Hollyweird is hypocritical to the core of its bones, but danged if Disney doesn’t take the Oscar for butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths.The first example that I can remember is the Fantasia debacle. The 1940 Fantasia had a minor centaur character named Sunflower. This was a little black centaur who acted as maid to one of the white centaurs. The two or three scenes that I can remember with this little character were cut from the 1960 version. I suppose that being a maid was a “negative stereotype” and might hurt some tender feelings. Well, Disney has not only cut those scenes but is now denying that they ever existed. If you tell the lie loud, long, and with enough conviction, it becomes accepted as true.

Well, I can tell you that there were many black people working as servants in the 1950’s when I grew up. There was nothing demeaning in these people doing dignified work to support themselves and their families. Damn sight more dignified than taking the dole. I was raised by a “mammy”, and this was one of the finest women I have ever met. My Grandparents had a married couple who worked for them. The wife did mostly housework and cooking, the husband took care of the yard, the garden, and outside of the house. These fine people were a shining example of love and human dignity at its best. There is no stereotype of shame here unless it is the eye of some bigoted revisionist.

The other “we never did it” (sounds like your kids lying denials!) that I can remember is in the 1948 Melody Time. The Pecos Bill scenes have had all the smoking scenes excised in the DVD release.

Now, the interesting thing is that smoking cigarettes is banned only in flagship Disney films, complete with anti-smoking ads. This ban does not affect Miramax and Touchstone films that aimed specifically at the kiddy and teeny markets. Mother Disney also intends to launch a propaganda war against transfats and anything else THEY deem to be unhealthy. I thought that parents were responsible for teaching their kids and regulating their diets, not a bunch from Hollyweird. What a naïve notion. I believe I’d rather Disney cut flippant sexuality, cruelty, violence and other such. ‘Course that wouldn’t sell near as many movies, but might be more morally correct than politically correct. Believe it, if cigarettes would raise their revenues, they would be back in an instant.

I also find it interesting that Disney seems to have no problem with young boys idolizing and emulating a flitting Johnny Depp character - make no mistake, I think Depp is hysterically funny. I do have a problem with encouraging nelly behavior in the young. (This does happen. One of my grandsons is a bit of a wuss and loves to play Captain Jack Sparrow. I worry about that boy sometimes.) This is inappropriate role modeling as four is a bit young for any overtly sexual behavior. Of course, I am somewhat out of step since the so-called “progressives” seem to want sex ed in kindergarten.

Now, I don’t have a problem with smoking or not smoking onscreen. If it does not advance the plot or the mood, don’t do it. However, if making a period piece set in a smoking era, it may be artistically false not to show it.

People never seem to learn. The current anti-smoking hysteria and the efforts to outlaw same have their counterpart in history. Prohibition of alcohol leads to more drinking, less respect for the law and ultimately was the impetus for the growth and strength of organized crime. Congress made the Mafia what it is today. Thanks, guys! Keep it up Disney - we really need you to tell us all how to live!