October 25, 2006
Riverbend on Iraqi casualties.
Long-time Iraqi blogger Riverbend over at Baghdad Burning comments on the recent Lancet study indicating that between 400,000 and 800,000 Iraqis have probably died since the American invasion. She's lived in Baghdad the entire time and finds the figures very plausible.
We literally do not know a single Iraqi family that has not seen the violent death of a first or second-degree relative these last three years. Abductions, militias, sectarian violence, revenge killings, assassinations, car-bombs, suicide bombers, American military strikes, Iraqi military raids, death squads, extremists, armed robberies, executions, detentions, secret prisons, torture, mysterious weapons – with so many different ways to die, is the number so far fetched?
There are Iraqi women who have not shed their black mourning robes since 2003 because each time the end of the proper mourning period comes around, some other relative dies and the countdown begins once again.
Let's pretend the 600,000+ number is all wrong and that the minimum is the correct number: nearly 400,000. Is that better? Prior to the war, the Bush administration kept claiming that Saddam killed 300,000 Iraqis over 24 years. After this latest report published in The Lancet, 300,000 is looking quite modest and tame. Congratulations Bush et al.
Everyone knows the 'official numbers' about Iraqi deaths as a direct result of the war and occupation are far less than reality (yes- even you war hawks know this, in your minuscule heart of hearts). This latest report is probably closer to the truth than anything that's been published yet. And what about American military deaths? When will someone do a study on the actual number of those? If the Bush administration is lying so vehemently about the number of dead Iraqis, one can only imagine the extent of lying about dead Americans…
The comment at the end about the number of dead Americans is interesting. I too believe that they're not reporting the full extent of American (or coalition) casualties. They're lying about everything: the number of Iraqi casualties, the number of American ones, the numbers in the detention centers, all of it. In fact, the only thing we know for sure is that they're lying. :)
As far as I can tell, the only reason people are denying these figures is simply because they can't accept or acknowledge the horror, a horror that they've been a part of. I think it's probably even greater than this. This study doesn't include the many deaths to come over the next few years from disease, bad water, exposure, malnutrition, depleted uranium dust, mental illness, stress and a thousand other things. Most of these will be children too. And regardless of what happens it will be years before they'll be able to clean up the water, feed everyone and rebuild their health care system. At the moment no one knows any way to clean up the uranium dust, so that's a gift that will be giving for a long time to come. The nightmare is just beginning...
Massive war profiteering by Bush family members.
Via Common Dreams is this excellent round-up by Heather Wokusch of the various ways the Bush family is profiteering from their wars, How the Bush Family Makes a Killing from George's Presidency. I can't believe that people are just turning their eyes from this level of corruption and perfidy, not when it's so widespread and so very, very well documented. And it's everyone in the family, not just a few of them. That's what's so disgusting. It's worth reading the whole thing, about Neil and Marvin and Uncle Bucky, but I guess the most interesting is on what the senior George Bush has been up to.
Bush's dad has strong connections to the Carlyle Group, a massive private equity investment firm whose Chairman Emeritus is Frank Carlucci, a former college roommate of Donald Rumsfeld's and former Defense Secretary under Ronald Reagan. Imagine the pull Carlucci has with today's White House.
But Carlucci has another secret weapon - Bush Sr. Amid conflict-of-interest allegations, the elder Bush resigned from the Carlyle Group in 2003, but reportedly remains on retainer, opening doors to lucrative profits in the Middle East and elsewhere. Bush Sr.'s specialty is Saudi Arabia; in fact, he was at a Carlyle investment conference with Osama bin Laden's estranged brother, Shafiq bin Laden, when the 9/11 attacks took place.
Carlyle specializes in military and security investments, and with Bush Jr. in office, the company's profits have soared; it received $677 million in contracts in 2002, then a whopping $2.1 billion in 2003. Carlyle's investors currently enjoy an equity capital pool of over 44 billion dollars.
In January 2006, Bush Sr. wrote China's Foreign Affairs Ministry that it would be "beneficial to the comprehensive development of Sino-US relations" if Beijing approved the sale of a Chinese bank to a consortium which included Carlyle. Bluntly put, Bush Sr. asked China to grant Carlyle a lucrative business deal or risk his son's wrath. Foreign policy at its finest.
I did not realize that at the moment of the 9/11 attacks, while George Jr. was reading 'My Pet Goat' to the kids, Bush Sr. was actually in a meeting with a bin Laden. Unbelievable.
I also think that people should know that Vice President Cheney continues to hold over 400,000 options on shares in Haliburton, while openly steering them all the business they can handle. It's beyond scandalous that a sitting vice president should be openly making so much money war profiteering at such a critical time.
But what she's talking about is just the tip of the iceberg. She's just discussing current profit making activities, not those from the larger investments that the Bush family and their many relatives and retainers have in the larger military-industrial-financial-legal-media complex. It's spread out and shielded and well hidden, but they own staggering chunks of the world. They are making tens of billiions out of this war, if not more. This is the most massive war profteering in world history. By far.
Hatred of America growing rapidly.
Found this great news site, Watching America, which gathers together articles about the US from other countries. A good source for the views that aren't being represented in the American media. For instance, I found this article from Al-Ray Al-Aam in Kuwait
'The Iraqi Razor in America's Throat, apparently from a Kuwaiti woman, who notes the growing hatred of America in the region.
The American administration doesn't want to put an end to that which has created these problems, nor does it want to pause and review where its policies are weak or defective. Rather, it continues to blindly rush ahead, desperate to achieve anything that would allow it to continue boasting to the world of its "achievements". By continuing to do this, day after day, it is instead stoking greater and greater hatred against it, at a time when America's enemies, whether they are labeled extremists or resistance fighters, are increasingly powerful and well-practiced in confronting American abuses.
This widespread hatred of America is attributable to the lengthening of Washington's time frame for imposing its imperial project on the region, and the huge and continuing failure of American policy in every land that U.S. forces fight or are harbored.
[...]
Perhaps it's time for America to acknowledge that the same mentality that led it into the swamp of Vietnam decades ago has led it into a new and far more damaging quagmire in Iraq. These are issues that may in fact threaten America's very existence.
Such thinking also resulted in the American-Israeli mistake [in Lebanon], when by being widely seen as an aggressive entity, the State of Israel fell into a trap set by the Islamists. From this, disastrous consequences will appear in the very, very near future.
All points of views are represented there, not just anti-American ones. Although most of them are anti-American these days, even from those who love the US. And not just from Muslim countries either. It's noteworthy that she mentions that America's very "existence" is at stake; the very fact that she can conceive of a world without America is rather disconcerting, to say the least.
October 24, 2006
Roast capon or chicken with chile-cilantro rub.
The previous entry was for a slow cooked chicken. Via Bribe Me With a Muffin is a recipe for a quicker roasting one, roast capon with chile-cilantro rub. This uses a two-step roasting process, first at a lower temperature and then a short time at a higher heat. Sounds delicious and fairly easy.
ROAST CAPON WITH CHILE-CILANTRO RUB
(from Gourmet with my modifications)
Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 hr
1 (4-lb) capon or roasting chicken
4 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon pure mild red chile powder such as ground ancho
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
Butter as needed
Rinse capon and snip away any excess fat from cavity using kitchen shears. Pat capon dry and season with salt inside and out. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
While capon is standing, mash garlic to a paste with salt using a mortar and pestle. Add cilantro, chile powder, cumin, and butter and mash to a paste again.
Arrange capon, breast side up, with neck toward you, and gently work your fingers between skin and flesh of breast, working your way down to thighs. Rub one third of spice mixture under skin of breast and thighs. Rub another third of butter mixture in cavity of bird, then tie legs together with kitchen string (or not - this is done to ensure even cooking with bigger birds usually, or for aesthetic purposes).
Put capon in a buttered roasting pan. Roast in middle of oven 30 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set oven to 450 degrees. Brush top and sides of bird with remaining mixture then return to oven (tent capon with foil if it gets too brown), until a thermometer inserted 2 inches into fleshy part of a thigh registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.
Let capon stand 20 minutes before carving.
Slow cooked chicken, French style
Via Chocolate and Zucchini is this recipe for Le Poulet de Muriel, Murie's Chicken, a French recipe for slow-cooked chicken. From the Perche region, two hours south-west of Paris.
The chicken came from a nearby farm, where one buys the chicks at birth and pays for their food, lodging, and education until they are plump enough to return the favor, at least for the food part. Muriel, the lady of the house, had slow-baked it in one of those clay pots from Alsace and Germany called Römertopf with whole garlic cloves, a quartered lemon, and fresh herbs from the garden. Maxence took care of the carving (he seems to be the appointed chicken carver wherever we go, it is such a useful skill to possess) and the platter of chicken parts was brought to the garden table with sides of mashed potatoes and green beans, and a saucière (gravy boat) of golden brown cooking juices, in which the softened garlic cloves were paddling about, ready to have their pungent-sweet pulp smooched out and used as a condiment.
* These recipes are quoted from a book called Recettes gourmandes du Poitou-Charentes by Francis Lucquiaud, a collection of the author's grandmothers' recipes.
Le Poulet de Muriel
1 large free-range chicken, about 2 kilos (4 pounds)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Fine sea salt, freshly ground pepper
1 large head garlic
1 organic lemon, cut in four quarters
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Rub the skin of the chicken with olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and pepper on all sides, and place it, breasts-side up, in a clay pot or cast-iron cocotte large enough to accomodate it. Peel the outer layers off the head of garlic to separate the individual cloves -- don't peel the cloves themselves. Arrange the cloves, lemon, and herbs around the chicken.
Put the lid on, slip the pot in the cold (not preheated) oven, and turn the oven on to 150°C (300°F). Bake for three hours, or until cooked through (if you have a meat thermometer, insert it in the inner part of a thigh: the chicken is done when the thermometer registers 82°C / 180°F), basting the chicken with its own juices every 45 minutes or so.
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, carve the different serving parts, and transfer to a warm serving dish (pour very hot water from the kettle into it and let stand as you cut the chicken). Transfer the juices, herbs, and cloves to a gravy boat, and serve immediately, with green beans and mashed potatoes.
October 23, 2006
Devastating attack on US base in Iraq.
There was what appears to have been a "devastating" attack on the American "Falcon" base last week which was destroyed, but it's not being reported very much. Apparently it was the main ammunition dump for the US. When it was attacked all of the ammo went up, causing extensive casualities and damages, and absolutely incredible fires. Reports are very sketchy. It appears that as many as 300 Americans may have been killed, along with an enormous store of equipment of all types. This report from SF IndyMedia is the most complete account I've seen yet. If it was as bad as they claim I can understand why they're not reporting it. They quote this Arab report:
The US Falcon base, now described as burned out wasteland with no buildings was the scene of American helicopters dumping water on the site Wednesday to extinguish the last flames after resistance fighters managed to carry out a devastating attack that completely destroyed the American base.
They further report:
Iraqi Resistance forces attacked the largest US weapons arsenal depot in the American General Headquarters in the south of Baghdad late Tuesday evening. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the arsenal, located in the as-Saqr Base in the south of Baghdad is the main supplier of equipment to the US forces. At the time of reporting, mountains of American arms and ammunition were continuing to explode in the sky in a huge fire unprecedented in Baghdads history.
In response, US aircraft hysterically rocketed and bombed various parts of the city, the correspondent reported, trying to knock out the launch sites of the rockets that blasted into the American arsenal.
A source in the Iraqi puppet regime told Mafkarat al-Islam that the Resistance blasted the American arsenal, known as Camp Falcon, with Grad and Katyusha rockets. The source admitted that dozens of Americans had been killed or wounded in the blasts that were still ripping the American arsenal apart. The source said that the US forces were unable to do anything to stop the massive inferno of flame and explosions that was lighting up the Baghdad sky like fireworks.
[...]
General al-Ithawi said that the Falcon base was the biggest US arsenal in central Iraq and was the launching point for US military operations. The arsenal contained more than 50 tanks; numerous artillery pieces; a landing strip for Chinook helicopters, some of which were parked there when the place exploded in addition to armories containing weapons and ammunition. He said that all the buildings and furnishings of the base had been totally destroyed along with the archive records.
It's quite striking that they're trying to suppress news of the destruction of an entire base, not to mention possibly hundreds of deaths. They're also reporting that the damages may total more than a billion dollars, including lots of tanks, helicopters and other expensive items. There are some fascinating details in their report, well worth reading. If it really was the main operational hq for the US, then presumably it was well defended. Sounds like things are going downhill fast.
Republicans are "Advertising Terrorism".
Keith Olberman over at MSNBC's "Countdown" has been doing some amazing editorials attacking the Bush administration lately. The latest is a vicious assault on the Republican use of terrorism and fear to gain control, occasioned by their latest election ads featuring Osama, Zawahari and the picture of a mushroom cloud. Go see the video or read the transcript, it's quite amazing.
Commercials!
You have adopted bin Laden and Zawahiri as spokesmen for the Republican National Committee!
“To fill or overpower with terror; terrify. To coerce by intimidation or fear.”
By this definition, the people who put these videos together—first the terrorists and then the administration—whose shared goal is to scare you into panicking instead of thinking—they are the ones terrorizing you.
By this definition, the leading terrorist group in this world right now is al Qaida.
But the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the Republican Party.
Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle.
Via The Brass Blog is this delightful recipe for Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle. Makes me hungry just to read it. Time to start thinking about holiday cooking I guess.
Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
The first thing you must do is to make a gingerbread. This is an extra spicy version that has flavor enough to stand up to the other flavors that will be flying around the room.
Ingredients for the Gingerbread:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup apple juice
2 eggs
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
Butter and flour a 10" Springform pan. Heat oven to 350°.
Stir together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt in a container. (I use a plastic measuring pitcher because it comes in handy later)
In a large bowl, mix sugar with oil, juice, molasses, eggs, and fresh ginger in a large bowl. Mix in crystallized ginger. Stir in flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Then bake for an hour. Cool this for ten minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely. (You could actually even stop right here and serve this warm with some whipped cream or a nice little Creme Anglais but resist my friends resist this is only going to get better)
Pumpkin Custard Ingredients
3 cups half-and-half
6 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups puréed pumpkin, or about 1 1/2 cans
Scald the half & half in a heavy saucepan (by scalding we mean to take it right up to the edge of boiling then remove it from the heat). In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Mix in pumpkin and warm half-and-half. When it is smooth and thoroughly mixed put it into a buttered baking dish which you then set into a larger baking dish. Fill the larger dish with hot water to about 1" below the rim of the custard dish. This is called a Bain Marie and will ensure that your custard bakes evenly all the way through. Bake this at 325° for 50 minutes and start to check it. You want a set, firm custard and a knife inserted into the center should come out clean. Cool and refrigerate overnight.
To assemble your trifle get your trifle bowl out (visuals are important with this, so don't be a barbarian, get a trifle bowl) and make sure it is sparkling clean.
Whip one quart heavy cream with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and set aside.
You will also want about 1/2 cup of gingersnap crumbs.
Spoon 1/2 of the Pumpkin Custard into the bowl and layer 1/2 of the gingerbread over that and 1/2 of the whipped cream over that. Do it again. Top the final layer of whipped cream with the gingersnap crumbs (optional for you folks that aren't into the whole sobriety thing is to also drizzle the gingerbread layer with a little Grand Marnier or a nice Calvados, not drench you libertine, drizzle).
When you make your entrance with this, remember, be gracious in accepting your accolades. You never have to tell them how easy it was. I never will.
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May 25, 2003
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CATEGORIES
LINKS / BLOGROLL
THE BLOGOSPHERE
Group blogs and centers
Wood s Lot. Maybe the most consistently interesting weblog out there. Superb selections on all sorts of topics, especially art and literature. Tons of links too.
Blog Sisters, a group blog, with a-z links to individuals. More by the ladies at Blogs by Women.
Good community blogs at Boing Boing, Metafilter and Kuro5hin.
The Wibsite, wiblog.com. British bloggers.
Fairvue Central hosts the Bloggies, awards for best weblogs in different categories from all over the world. See the nominees for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 (in progress).
Iraqi blogs
Today in Iraq.
A Family in Baghdad.
Baghdad Burning.
Healing Iraq.
Salam Pax.
G in Baghdad.
Ishtar talking.
The Mesopotamian.
Iraq at a glance.
Hammorabi.
Nabil's blog.
Baghdadee.
Fayrouz.
Iraq the model.
Iraq and Iraqis.
Road of a nation.
Ihath - Losing myself.
Sun of Iraq.
Back to Iraq.
Individual blogs
Robert Hunter's journal.
Follow Me Here.
Caterina.net.
Avram's journal.
Rebecca's Pocket.
Alas, a Blog.
Weblog Wannabe.
The Rittenhouse Review.
Margaret Cho Blog.
The Oregon Blog.
Angry Bear.
Brad DeLong.
Dohiyi Mir.
Eschaton.
Hullabaloo.
Nathan Newman.
Orcinus.
Steve Gilliard's News Blog.
Tapped.
Tbogg.
Blogging communities
Lists of bloggers in these areas.
Austin, Texas.
Beltway Bloggers, Washington, DC.
Boston, Massachusetts.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Chicago, Illinois.
Dallas Ft. Worth, Texas.
London, United Kingdom.
New York, New York.
San Diego, California.
Seattle, Washington.
St. Louis, Missouri.
Washington, DC.
GENERAL LINKS, NOT BLOGS
News, magazines, reference
The sites where I do my usual news browsing, and get most of my articles and links.
Common Dreams.
Refdesk, info on absolutely everything. A comprehensive newspaper page, listed by US states and countries, and an encyclopedia.
BBC News, BBCi Home, BBC Radio, categories, history topics.
The World News Network, wn.com, gathers news sites from all over the world, country by country.
Wikipedia, online encyclopedia.
The Asian Times.
The Scotsman.
The Moscow Times. Russian perspectives and news. The Russia Post is a World News site with links to other Russian sites.
The Black Commentator.
Aljazeera Net in English.
Outlook India.
GENERAL INTEREST
History, literature, philosophy and other subjects, mostly related to the works in the Galileo Library.
Online Clarity. An I Ching community. Newsletter, readings, etc.
Sacred Books of the East. A 19th century project of eastern literature.
Bartleby.com. Great books online.
Bibliomania. Free online literature and study guides. Lots of classics and reading resources.
THE ARTS
Vincent van Gogh Gallery. Complete paintings and writings, and a nice arts links page. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Bob Dylan, live performances.
Grateful Dead, GD Radio.
David Byrne, radio station.
New Pages. Book and reading related center, lots of alternative publishing links and weblog.
Reading Rat. Reading center with lots of links.
Avid reader web ring.
The Louvre. Other Parisian museums.
The Web Museum, index of artists. Extremely high quality images.
August Rodin web org.
Mark Harden's Artchive.
Emile Kren's Web Gallery of Art.
Artcyclopedia. A fine art search engine. Historical and current, with a nice museum list.
Plagiarist.com poetry archive. Classic and modern plus news, articles, forums, etc. View a random poem.
Rotten Tomatoes. Film center, with collected reviews, ratings and forums.
Aint It Cool News. Movie reviews and previews from a fan's perspective.
Roger Ebert's film reviews.
Scott McCloud. The latest in the world of cartoonists.
YouTube. Video center.
MILD EROTICA
Domai.com. Eolake Stobblehouse's extraordinary, and extremely tasteful, paean to pretty girls, updated daily. Nudity yes, sex definitely not. Nice general purpose links too.
Simple nudes. Lots of links.
Vintage nudes. Pin-ups and other classics.
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