Monday - January 31, 2011

Eat While You Can

I read an article in the Telegraph that suggested that the political turmoil across northern Africa was driven by empty stomachs. With the surge in the commodity price of staple foods this year, the rise in the price of corn from the American silliness to turn grain into gasahol, the crop failures in Russia and several keys areas of the Middle East and Asia, plus the rising demand for actual protein in the newly middle class China, food prices are up everywhere. When prices rise, the poor suffer first. And, outside of Haiti, you can’t get much poorer than the regular people along the southern coast of the Mediterranean. Thus the article, which is partly conjectural, wonders if this is a sign of things to come. Of course the author throws in Global Warming, and I’m rather glad that the rioting Tunisians and Egyptians weren’t also making demands for GameBoys, Nintendos, and another Miley Cyrus tour, or else the article would have been all about Bread And Circuses, Round II. It’s something to think about.



But while you’re thinking, let’s have something to eat. Here’s a very simple yet elegant meal to chase away winter’s chill.  You can impress your guests and yourself and call it crème vichyssoise glacée chaud avec rondes de jambon, gruyere, et les asperges, or you can call it hot farmer’s soup with nibblies. It’s the same either way, and it tastes great. The French eat this soup cold. Good for them, and maybe you’ll want to try it that way if you make it in July. Right now it’s 23°F outside, so I’ll be damned if I’m serving cold anything.

So let’s get to it.

Creamy Farmer’s Soup, aka Cream of Potato Leek Soup, aka crème vichyssoise glacée, served hot (chaud)

1 stick unsalted butter (8 tbs)
12 leeks
6 medium clean skinned potatoes - Yukon Golds are perfect - skinned, halved, and cut into thin slices, about 1/8”
6 cups of chicken stock
1 large yellow onion, skinned and roughly chopped
1 pint heavy cream
2 tbs salt
fresh ground pepper

Take out a whole stick of sweet butter and let it warm up. Cut the root end off the leaks but try to save as much of the white stalk as you can. Cut off the green leaves leaving just the white stems with just a small amount of the green transitional area. Halve these stems lengthwise, then slice them into 1/4” pieces. Rinse thoroughly under cold water in a colander, breaking the chunks apart. Leeks are often dirty, so rinse them well. Let drain.

Melt half a stick of butter in a large soup pot. Add the drained chopped leaks and the chopped onion. Under medium high heat, stir them around for about 9 minutes until the leeks have started to soften. Do not have the heat so high that the leeks or the onions start to brown. They will steam, and the aroma is heavenly. Pour in the chicken stock and add the potato slices. Add the salt and a generous grind of black pepper. Bring to a boil while stirring, then reduce to a strong simmer and let cook for half an hour. Now go make the nibblies.

Nibblies, aka rondes de jambon, gruyere, et les asperges

1 long loaf of fresh French or Italian bread, or 2 shorter loaves
several (4 or so) 1/4” slabs of tasty ham from the deli, or slices off of a nice bone in ham, brought up to room temperature
12 stalks of asparagus
8 slices of Swiss cheese, or actual Gruyere

Clean the asparagus and start it steaming or boiling. You want to remove it just before it’s done.

Cut the bread into 3/8” slices. Take a knife and lightly butter one side of each slice. Try to get 2 dozen slices from each loaf, but don’t fret about it. You want to be able to serve 6-8 of these to each person.

Put all the slices on a cookie sheet, butter side up. Set the oven to medium, about 350-375°F. Cut the ham and the cheese into bread slice sized pieces. Put a ham piece on each bread slice. Drain off the asparagus and blot it dry with a kitchen towel, and let it cool a little. Cut the asparagus into short pieces, and put 2 of them onto each ham slice. Swiss cheese on top, then into the oven for 5 minutes to melt and just lightly brown the cheese.

Now let’s get back to the soup. When half an hour is up, taste the soup and add a little more salt if necessary. The soup is done when the potato slices break easily against the side of the pot when pressed with a wooden spoon. Turn off the heat. Get out a medium saucepan (3 qt size) and your blender. Add a cup of heavy cream to the soup and stir it in. Add a bit more. Call it a cup and a half total. Ladle the hot soup into your blender, getting the bowl about 3/4 full. Put the cover on and set the speed to maximum. 15 seconds of blending will create a smooth creamy mixture. Pour it into the 3 quart saucepan, refill the blender with the raw soup, and repeat. Repeat until all the soup has been processed.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Pull the jambon nibblies tray from the oven and give it a quick grind of black pepper. Put half a dozen on each plate and serve.

There ya go. A light dinner for 3 or 4, start to finish, in less than 45 minutes. Start off by pouring your guests a nice large glass of a crisp fruity white wine, maybe have some raw veg with a gently seasoned dip on the side ... there will be no leftovers, but there is enough here for seconds for most. Plus, making more of the nibblies is dead easy. The aromas of the steaming leeks and onions will have everyone drooling, and then when the ham and cheese start to wake up in your oven ... let’s just say this meal usually never makes it to the dining table.

afternoon dinner at the golden lion in front of a warm fire. nice change from everyday blahs.

Wife and I had a great pub dinner this afternoon since we had to be out and about anyway.
The portions they give you here are ENORMOUS!  Brits are always saying how surprised they are when visiting the states and how overly large our portions are. Well, based on this place we have nothing on them.

The Golden Lion is only about 15 minutes from our house.  We’ve been spending a bit too much time indoors and haven’t eaten out together in a year or so. That’s cos I’m lazy and addicted to this machine and if not here then I’m buried in a book. So anyway ... I thought I would share this very nice experience.

If you click the link, be sure to see the links on their site. Beer garden and Welcome page especially. Of course, the front didn’t look like this today, being Feb. 1st and not flower power weather. But it was still inviting.  We got a table near the fireplace. Very cozy it was.

Click on the photo and step inside for a look.

REFERRING TO SOME PEOPLE AS …."IT” … CAN GET YA SUED. WHAT A WORLD

I posted some comments yesterday that didn’t seem to garnish much interest but am doing a follow up today anyway.
I have to in order to highlight just how screwed up the culture is and the USA isn’t exempt either. But this takes a prize of some kind in the areas greed, self delusion and I just forgot what the other one is. Hopefully it won’t even see a courtroom.

First of all, after posting a story about Pakistani gangs using girls (white) as young as 12 and passing them around, and one of the reasons being fielded that they were unhappy at home due to forced marriages between cousins, which is crap and we all know it, I then mentioned the sacking of two football announcers who made some “sexist” remarks and the sky has fallen on them.

These two guys apparently weren’t well thought of and stories surfacing accuse them of being bullies etc. So, my opinion was that there seemed to be far more outrage by all the usual suspects over sexist remarks (made in private conversation) then the stories about the sex gangs. No surprise tho, right?

I also said that it would be interesting to see if today’s media coverage would reflect new if any outrage about those gangs, given the reasoning by one Mr. Ahmed.
If you guessed none, you get a star. Cos there ain’t any.

BUT

While reading the morning paper I only got to page 13 when I had to stop everything and boot this puter and post.

Must be my age guys cos I never heard of the term “smash” used in place of the ‘F’ word or the term ‘screw.’ Have you?  Is that a new word now in common use back home as well? Smash?  It sounds stupid. I can’t understand anyone thinking that sounds ‘cool.’ I’ve heard shag and bonk. Bonk at least sounds funny and I’m not too sure about shag.  But the point here isn’t even the word “smash.” The word we’re concerned with is ...

IT

Which has nothing at all to do with our former head of state. 
No,no.  This time it has to do with a very pretty young woman who says she’s going to sue SKY SPORTS because one of those announcers who she never met, has caused her grief beyond measure, and if you want to believe her, have ruined her life because one of the men once asked a guy she was dating if he had
“smashed it yet.”

Stay with me ,,,, she says she was reduced to an .... “IT.” Not even a person.

Here ya go.  Read this and let us know what you’re thinking. 

I’m suing Sky, says ex-girlfriend of Jamie Redknapp called ‘it’ by Richard Keys

By COLIN FERNANDEZ

A woman who was the subject of crude remarks by Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys plans to sue the company for breach of privacy and defamation of character.

Louise Glass, 38, said she was stunned when footage was released of Keys asking her ex-boyfriend Jamie Redknapp if he had ‘smashed it’ - slang for slept with her.

‘Richard Keys spoke of me like I was some old whore, like I was nothing,’ said the married mother of twins.
‘I’m not a prude, I’ve got a sense of humour, but the level of aggression in there was awful.

‘I wasn’t even a whore. I was an “it”. My life has turned upside down and now I’m paying the price for their slapstick.’

Keys, 53, resigned from his £500,000-a-year job over what he described as his ‘prehistoric’ comments - shortly after his colleague Andy Gray was sacked following the release of footage showing him asking presenter Charlotte Jackson to tuck a microphone down his trousers.

Sky News broadcast the ‘smash it’ exchange after it was mysteriously leaked on YouTube.
Mrs Glass’s husband Jimmy, a former goalkeeper with Carlisle United, immediately rang the broadcaster to ensure his wife’s name was bleeped out of the clip.

In the sexist conversation, which was filmed last year but not transmitted, Keys is in the studio with Redknapp and fellow ex-footballers Graeme Souness and Ruud Gullit. A friend of Souness who is off camera mentions that he knows Redknapp’s ex-girlfriend Louise. Keys asks Redknapp: ‘Did you smash it?’
An embarrassed Redknapp says: ‘I used to go out with her.’

Keys adds: ‘Mind you, that’s a stupid question. If you were anywhere near it you’d definitely smash it,’ and goes on: ‘You’d have gone round there any night of the week and found Redknapp hanging out the back of it.’

FOLLOW THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING

   Sunday - January 30, 2011

Pun For Everyone

Obama: Caught Between Mubarak and a hard place




Hey, I was busy shoveling snow all afternoon, and I haven’t had a chance to catch the news. Perhaps a miracle has happened in either Cairo or Washington DC and the whole almost-revolution has settled down and it’s status quo as usual. But if not ...

Obama has a really tough decision to make about Egypt and the nascent revolutions all across northern Africa. But in Egypt, what makes it the “wurst” is that this really is a “chickens coming home to roost” situation. Because Obama is Carter II. But this time it’s like he’s possessed. And what was Carter I most famous for? Why, golly gosh and y’all, for brokering the Camp David Accords, which developed some kind of peace and mutual recognition between Egypt and Israel, and lead directly to the Eqypt - Israel Peace Treaty shortly thereafter. It was a pretty monumental bit of diplomacy, getting former freedom fighter Menachim Begin to make an agreement with former freedom fighter Anwar El Sadat, when just a few years before their two countries had been at war with each other. For a few memorable days at any rate. I seem to recall that a whole boxful of Nobel Peace Prizes got handed out over that agreement. But all was not roses. When Sadat signed the Accord and the Treaty, Egypt got kicked out of the Arab League. Your average fellah in Egypt was not too happy either; just two years later Sadat was dead, gunned down on live international television by “radical fundamentalists”. ie, the Muslim Brotherhood. And then Hosni Mubarak stepped in and took over as Rais; President for life of Egypt.

How did Carter get these two to the table? How did he make Egypt our nominal ally forevermore? Mad skills I suppose. Or you could consider that Egypt has pretty much nothing in the way of resources. Seriously. What they have is mud, which is what they’ve had since the days of Nemer, who was Pharoah 1. Mud grows food much better than sand, but at best they can do little more than feed themselves. While Israel does have some resources, and I count the ingenuity of her people as a viable resource, they aren’t exactly Finland, which has a nickel mine under every other reindeer. So, how? Well, hmm ... could it be that Israel is the country that receives the largest amount of foreign aid from the USA, and Egypt is the second largest country? When did that start, or when did it really ramp up? Could it be that ol Jimmah just bought them both off? I hear that Egypt gets $1.5 Billion a year from us. So that’s the chicken.

The roosting part is that Mubarak is pretty much a dictator. Stifling dissent, jailing the opposition, gagging the press, those jackboots kicking in doors in the middle of the night. Somewhere there are electrodes making sparks in the darkest nights. I wouldn’t call him Mr. Popular. But he’s been our dictator, always. Bought and paid for, and we’ll just turn a blind eye as long as he keeps the islamaloonies under his thumb, keeps the Suez Canal open, and manages to not shoot any missiles into Israel. But the typical Egyptian in his galabeya and rope sandals does not see us as any kind of buddy. Not much of the 1.5 Bil seems to filter down to his level.

Weevil #1: If Obama throws his hat in the ring and comes out swinging for old Hosni, then the USA is once again a total hypocrite. The land of freedom supporting a harsh dictator? Not cool. What’s next, hiring their government torturers to restaff Abu Graib and bring it back to it’s “glory days”? Huge win for radical pisslam.

Weevil #2: If Obama turns his back on Mubarak, he’s abandoning a key ally due to his rough treatment of his own citizens. Which is EXACTLY the same reason why Carter twisted the jambiya in the Shah of Iran’s back, and will have exactly the same consequnce: the only real opposition in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood. Oh sure, they’re not an Official Terrorist Group. Shades of difference. Can you say “intifada” boys and girls? How about “hamas”? I knew that you could. At the very best, the Muslim Brotherhood are enablers of violent fundamentalists. Jihad Joe with Kung Fu grip and his turbo camel of doom. Suicide belt sold separately. Sure, Obama could try and bend the world press to making it look like he was backing freedom, but that backing would give the people the freedom to become another rabid national mullah run mob like Iran. Bad scene. It’s taken 30 years for the regular folks in Iran to figure out that we aren’t the Great Satan after all; we’re not the real enemy, their own government is. And that crazy squad is nowhere even close to stepping down from power. They’re too busy stoning women and hanging homosexuals and making laws about men getting whipped for having too tidy a beard. Huge win for radical pisslam.

Yes, I could do a Princess Bride segue here, because the whole situation reminds me of Vizzini’s battle of wits with the Man In Black to figure out which wine goblet has the iocaine powder in it. And the truth is the same: they both do. There is no win in this for us.

Instead, I’ll take the obvious path: As you can see in the above images, both weevils are the same size, so Obama can’t even choose the lesser of two weevils. And to push that metaphor further along, it really bolls me over that Obama is probably going to do what he’s best at, which is to Vote Present and let the chips fall where they may. And that really galls me.

Alas, the upside will be that, no matter which way he does turn, the media will be 1000.37% sympathetic and supportive. Had Bush been in this no-win position, the press would be building crosses and heating the branding irons white hot even before he made a single statement.

Stay tuned.

Today’s Demotivators

Greatest Moments in Liberal History

Greatest Moments in Liberal History Part 1 from RightChange on Vimeo.

how it feels to be a foreigner in your own country

The sorry state of the nation.  There’s more at the link. I hope you’ll read it all. Hope this isn’t happening in the USA as well.

this is Britain’s brave new world. By surrendering the control of our borders, we have become the policed instead.

I’m British born and bred. So why do I now have to keep proving it?

By Eileen Fairweather

Last week I had a strange experience - I was treated as a foreigner in my own country.

I was ordered to submit my passport to an organisation I believe has no ethical right to police my identity. Yet I learned that it does have the right, thanks to a Labour initiative spinelessly reinforced by the Coalition.

So far it has escaped publicity but it represents a sea change in British identity and rights - or lack of them. Supposedly we must now counter racism by treating every Briton as an alien and potential fraudster until proven otherwise.

Late last year I was invited to a university conference about the media. I submitted an invoice for travel expenses and the agreed modest fee. When no payment arrived, I was told I had failed to submit adequate documentation to prove my right to work in the UK. In short, I had to hand over my passport or whistle for my money.

When I called the university’s human resources department, staff confirmed that monitoring UK work rights was now routine practice. But surely the university lawyers who had invited me could vouch that they’d heard me speak as fluently as a native?

I am clearly not a Latvian people-trafficker or a Colombian drug baron. I have a national profile as a journalist and just wanted back my £78 train fare.

But common sense be damned. The university insisted I must fill in the forms sent to me - including one on ethnic monitoring - and staff would scan my passport. If I had no passport, I was told to submit my birth certificate.

When I dared to query the demands, a jobsworth said: ‘This is what every employer should be doing now.’

I don’t just object because this is a massive waste of my time and a rude way to treat a guest speaker. Nor do I object solely on civil liberty grounds or because I increase the risk of my identity being stolen every time I share these precious documents. I am angry because I am British born and bred.

Having lived abroad myself, I know being an outsider is not easy. But I don’t believe the solution is to treat an entire native population as aliens, or that this stands a chance of improving race relations, as the UK Border Agency apparently believes.

No one at the university would explain what new diktat they were following or why, so I decided to investigate. Surely it couldn’t be because the open borders lobby don’t want any foreigners to feel unwelcome? As bizarre as it sounds, this is exactly the explanation.

‘The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 requires that employers take steps to ensure the people they employ have right to work in UK,’ said Demetrious Panton, an employment discrimination adviser.

‘Home Office guidance on the avoidance of unlawful discrimination advises employers not to restrict checks on illegal working to particular ethnic or racial groups. If they did so they could fall foul of discrimination law and unlimited exposure to compensation claims. In short, you as an Englishwoman have to show you are entitled to work in your own country.’

Millions of self-employed Britons could be particularly badly affected. Some can invoice hundreds of different employers each year. Will they be expected to submit their passports every time?

As for bosses, Mr Panton said that if they fail to conduct the necessary checks and knowingly employ someone who doesn’t have the legal right to work in the UK, they can be fined up to £10,000 and be jailed for up to two years.

a foreigner in my own country

unhappy at home, latest excuse for muslim sex abuse of young white girls. kid u not.

Covered this story last month or the beginning of this one. For those late to the story, briefly, an Asian gang ( Pakistani ) was broken up by the police.  They targeted very young white girls, some as young as 12, gave em booze and drugs and passed them among their friends. That’s as short as I can make it.

Now here’s an update and … a new wrinkle.  The men were just unhappy at home.

Just keep in mind before you pull out your hair, these are new times we live in and a new set of excuses to keep up with the times.
See how easy that is?  Once it’s explained ……

Grooming of girls by Asian gangs fuelled by unhappy arranged marriages to cousins claims Muslim peer
By Abul Taher
Last updated at 8:46 AM on 30th January 2011

A senior Muslim politician has blamed unhappy arranged marriages to cousins for leading some Pakistani men to prey on vulnerable young white girls to fulfil their sexual needs.
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Britain’s first Muslim peer, is the first politician to make a link between first-cousin marriages and sex crimes by Pakistani men.
He has spoken out after a spate of high-profile court cases where groups of Asian men have been sentenced for grooming white girls as young as 12 in Derby, Blackburn and Lord Ahmed’s home town of Rotherham.

No point in my posting all of it because the major reason for this post is the brief editorial comment by the Mail.
I know I have missed something somewhere. So read it all and then let me know.

The Mail called his comment above in their editorial,

A BRAVE FIRST STEP

Lets please keep in mind that these upstanding and misunderstood pillars of the ROP
were targeting young girls.  Race should make no difference but of course it does.  Because they were white, we identify more. I’m not sure that’s right but I am sure it’s human nature. I do think we’d all agree that no matter what race the girls belonged to, guys who play this game are shits. Period.
But the mail sees Mr. Ahmed’s reasoning as …..

A BRAVE FIRST STEP

The practise of cousin marriage, common among British Pakistanis, has many regrettable consequences – especially for the offspring of such unions, but also in some cases for husbands and wives in unhappy relationships.

But it will not end until leaders of that community themselves speak out strongly against it.
Lord Ahmed is to be congratulated for bravely doing so.
-30-

I also want you to know that for the last 4 or five days the media has been all over the case of two football play by play announcers who made … gasp …. sexist comments PRIVATELY but were somehow recorded and the tapes released to the press.
They thought they were just talking to each other, they’re critical of women in what they believe to be a male domain and were caustic and made fun of a female ref. who called a play they didn’t agree with. One of em said women just didn’t understand offside rules.  It was not out on the air. Keep that in mind. Also, it turns out that on video reply of her call, turns out she was correct and they were wrong.
Well … both have now been canned by Sky Sports and almost everyone has been crucifying these two for their anti female, sexist remarks. Then another private tape was released and guess what other social outrage these jerks committed?  You won’t believe this. A couple of guys talking about whether or not some girl is attractive.
Can you just imagine that?  Guys never do that. Right?  Men and women NEVER make comments to each other about how attractive or not their opposites are. Right?
So now there’s talk the rope and rack may be put to use again.

This story is even the subject of radio talk and interview programs. Probably TV as well.
Be interesting to see how much “outrage” there will be in tomorrow’s press over the excuse offered by Mr. Ahmed, on behalf of a gang of muslim scum.

   Saturday - January 29, 2011

Judge Silberman on the Right to Bear Arms

Excerpt of an interview of Judge Laurence Silberman, who wrote the opinion striking down the D. C. gun ban. He is interviewed by Peter Robinson, one-time speech writer for Vice-President George H. W. Bush and later for President Ronald Reagan. I’m familiar with Peter Robinson from the Ricochet podcasts. Indeed, I found this on Ricochet.com

Not What You Expected

via comments at Rachel Lucas, from the post after the one linked to by Rich K

Welcome to the wonderful new world of Mash-Ups, twisting musical reality through an alternate universe to prove that oil and vinegar can mix after all.

Boost Your Career - Put Some Sheen On Your Resume

The Sheen Index
Being a ho for Charlie Sheen good for your career if you are a porn actress




[ Best scam ever: a professional journalist got paid to “research” porn to create this news article. ]

Kacey Jordan, the porn star who smoked crack with Charlie Sheen shortly before his hospitalization, shared some good news today: Her “babe rank” just skyrocketed! How good is a Charlie Sheen scandal for a porn star’s career? A quantitative investigation.

FreeOnes.com, an aggregator of adult photos and videos, quantifies (NSFW) the demand for each “babe” on its site by tabulating how many views her images and videos accumulate in any given 24-hour period. On the day that Kacey Jordan’s name made headlines and she gave an interview about smoking crack with Charlie Sheen, Jordan skyrocketed into the top 10.

That’s nothing, though. The porn star Charlie Sheen locked in the bathroom during last year’s hotel rampage, Capri Anderson (FreeOnes prefers her other porn name, Alexis Capri), spiked several times in the weeks following her Sheen scandal.

You can visit the article, they’ve even got graphs.



Perhaps I should redefine “professional journalist”. This article seems to be written by Maureen O’Conner for Gawker, an online magazine. She is the Gossip Editor there, even though a link to her work is under the name “Azaria Jagger”. Other great pieces by her include Unexpected Plot Twist Turns Sue Sylvester Into Mary Kay LeTourneau, whatever that means, but nearly the whole article consists of a picture of some actor (whom she misidentified) being allowed to win at the children’s game Connect Four by his girlfriend, who is making a deliberately wrong move. So she may not be a contender for the latest Pullet Surprise, but if she draws a paycheck for writing and publishing that makes her an official professional journalist, right?

The press is having a field day with Mr. Sheen, as he heads off to rehab yet again. If they aren’t making a fortune from his antics, they are at least reaping the publicity benefits of his notoriety.  And so are his whores. I mean actresses. None of whom seem to be charged with prostitution. I guess they can skirt that law if they set up a video camera and their trick is already a member of the SAG? Why not? - “No your honor, I was not turning tricks. I was playing a hooker in this new indie film we shot in a hotel room and the front seat of a car”!

Is there any benefit in this for Charlie Sheen? He’s become the latest Lindsay Lohan. Charlie don’t surf care. He makes $1.8 million per episode on his hit TV show, playing himself. He’s the Goose that laid the Golden Egg for his network. They aren’t going to do a thing to him. And the more publicity, the more people that will tune in to watch his show. Until he ODs and dies I guess.

Am I getting in on it too? I’m not trying to. A couple of Sheen’s “party friends” have appeared here in the past as Eye Candy, but that was before we knew that he knew that they knew that he had “known” them. Also because certain photographers and makeup artists can work magic, and spin straw into gold. And I’ve avoided the whole Denise Richards thing, even though I’ve had a warm spot for her ever since Starship Troopers and Wild Things. More than warm. And I only posted this one to show the absurdity of what lengths “journalists” go to to have something to publish. Just like bloggers!

Mom Got Schooled

Fake Your Address
Send Your Kids To A Better School
Go To Jail


Ohio mother convicted of felony because she said her kids lived with their father so that they could attend a better, safer public school. Now she’s a felon, and her career as an aspiring teacher is over.

Kelley Williams-Bolar, a 40-year-old mother of two, was convicted of a felony last week and sent to jail for 10 days. Her crime? Falsifying records so her kids could attend a safer school in the district where her father lives.

Uh-oh! Sounds like two little girls were trying to get a free education off the back of hard-working tax payers, and if that’s not worth a felony charge, I don’t know what is. Williams-Bolar, according to the prosecution, lives in subsidized housing in Akron, Ohio, and not with her father in Copley Township—as she claimed on several official school forms when she enrolled her two daughters. The Copley schools are, it seems, better and safer than the schools in Akron. (They are also whiter. Williams-Bolar is black. But obviously race has nothing to do with this case!)

The school district grew suspicious enough about the Williams-Bolar kids to, apparently, hire a private detective, who filmed Williams-Bolar dropping her children off at a bus stop near her parents’ house.

According to the presiding judge, Patricia Cosgrove, who spoke with The Akron Beacon-Journal, “the state would not move, would not budge, and offer Ms. Williams-Bolar to plead to a misdemeanor,” despite several pretrial hearings.

Williams-Bolar, a teaching assistant, is working towards a teaching degree, but her felony conviction will likely derail that.

Looks like the father and grandfather are also in a bit of trouble over this. Williams-Bolar was released early from jail and is now making a big fuss and demanding complete exoneration.

A whole bushel of links on the story can be found here.

Interesting situation. A black woman wants her kids out of the lousy and dangerous local black school, so she says they live with the other parent, who has an address in the better, whiter school district. Both districts are within the city of Akron, so it isn’t like neither parent was paying school taxes into the city system. Or were they? I would assume Mom is on some level of public assistance, since she lives in subsidized housing, but she works at least part-time. Does the father work? He lives elsewhere, with his father, but everyone still seems to be on speaking terms. Are they married? Were they ever married? Is he working but living with his father only so that she and the girls can get rent free housing? Did the Copley Township schools only push this case to court because she’s black? (a dozen cases a year like this come up, but none ever go to trial, much less conviction). Had Williams-Bolar tried for a waiver before this, or did she just decide to falsify things from the get-go?

If you try to make things better for your children by following the rules and get nowhere, is it Ok to bend or break the rules to get what you want? This case is a victimless crime, isn’t it?

Or perhaps the whole thing is a big miscarriage of justice. According to one article I read,

The effect of divorce on a student’s residence also is a factor for districts. A child in joint custody with parents in different districts has a right to go to either, said Russell Chaboudy, superintendent of Coventry school.

Any $2 lawyer could get “divorce” interpreted as “living separately” considering how rare actual marriage is these days. If Chaboudy is paraphrasing actual law, then this case may have been really poorly handled if certain legal priorities exist. By which I mean the “divorce” rule overrides the “actual residency of the child” rule, which it certainly could if parental custody was exactly 50-50.

I read several articles about the case, but not all of them, and it does not look like she is overtly playing the race card. That in itself is interesting, because a quick look at the other dozen cases per year that come up would point out any racial bias, and you’ve got to wonder about it, since the Copley school board hired a private detective to make their case, which is something they’ve never done before. And with all the other cases clogging up the court system, and plea bargains buzzing around like mayflies, the prosecutors were 100% unwilling to make any kind of deal on this case? So maybe she ought to be playing it for all it’s worth. Or maybe it’s in play just by having her picture in the paper. Or maybe, just for once, race is merely coincidental to the case.

h/t to careyb

   Friday - January 28, 2011

Cairo Capitulates?

Breaking News:

Mubarak: There Will Be A New Government Tomorrow

By JPOST.COM STAFF
01/29/2011 00:44 [ 5:44pm Eastern Time ]

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made his first public statement since anti-government protests began four days ago. He said he is aware of the problems faced by Egyptian people, called for order and announced that the government will be replaced on Saturday.

Mubarak said that the Egyptian people’s goals cannot be achieved through violence or chaos, they can only be achieved by national dialogue and concerted efforts.

“In my capacity as president of the republic, I always stressed and continue to reiterate that sovereignty belongs to the people.” However, he continued, “There is a fine line separating freedom from chaos.”

He said that he has been monitoring the protests and the demands of the people, adding that he “regrets the innocent casualties and victims,” both civilians and policemen.

However, the Egyptian president warned that “our plans to combat unemployment and provide more educational services, healthcare and housing, will remain conditional on our efforts to maintain Egypt’s security.”

That ought to hold things down for a few hours I would think. Let’s see what happens.

Or maybe not. Turns out that “a new government” merely means “a new cabinet”, with good old Mubarak still in charge! Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

[Updated 5:31 p.m. (0031 in Egypt)] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says he has asked the government to resign, and that he will appoint a new government Saturday. He gave no indication that he would step down or leave the country.

[Updated 5:27 p.m. (0027 in Egypt)] President Hosni Mubarak said he is “on the side of the people” and vowed to take steps to guarantee the rights and freedom of Egyptians, develop job opportunities and to “stand by the poor.”

He said early Saturday he sees a fine line “between freedom and chaos” and that he would work to secure both freedom and security in Egypt.

“I assure you that I’m working for the people and giving freedom… as long as you’re respecting the law,” he said.

“I am absolutely on the side of the freedom of each citizen and at the same time I am on the side of the security of Egypt, and I would not let anything dangerous happen that would threaten the peace and the law and the future of the country.”

Protesters in the streets of Cairo are calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave, chanting in unison “we don’t want him.” The people in the streets represent all walks of life, from young people to families with children, CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen reports.

CAIRO—Embattled President Hosni Mubarak says he has asked his Cabinet to resign in his first appearance on television since protests erupted demanding his ouster.

He says he will press ahead with social, economic and political reforms. He calls anti-government protests part of plot to destabilize Egypt and destroy the legitimacy of his regime.

He is defending security forces’ crackdown on protesters.

Protesters have seized the streets of Cairo, battling police with stones and firebombs, burning down the ruling party headquarters, and defying a night curfew enforced by a military deployment. It is the peak of unrest posing the most dire threat to Mubarak in his three decades of authoritarian rule.

Hmm, if you’ve ever wondered what the sound was of a lead balloon going over, I’d suggest turning on the TV and listening in.

Hey, Egypt Us!

Kemet, the black land, this very Egypt, going to hell in a hand basket AFAP. TV, radio, and internet shut down by Mubarak government. Bloggers trying to stay on top of situation. Some info getting out via stock exchange and international banking wires, perhaps some ham radio.

unintended hilarity on Malkin comment thread missed in all the excitement:

I’d do a [crickets chirping] but that would be a mute point to this moot point.

Anyway, try and stay abreast if you can. Most of the info is now in the Rinse/Repeat cycle, since the lid has been firmly put on things going on over there.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/28/clashes-erupt-in-cairo-elbaradei-told-to-stay-put-cnn-camera-confiscated
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/28/uprising-in-egypt

The White House on Friday urged the Egyptian government to “immediately” address the “legitimate grievances” of protesters surging through the streets, saying it’s not too late for President Hosni Mubarak to respond to the unrest with needed political reforms.

“Their grievances have reached a boiling point, and they have to be addressed,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Suggesting the administration is trying to keep an arm’s length from the turmoil engulfing one of its most important Middle East allies, Gibbs declared,” This will be solved by the Egyptian people.” He also said President Obama has not yet spoken with Mubarak, though the administration is closely monitoring developments.

But Gibbs described the situation as “fluid” and issued several stern warnings for the leadership in Cairo.

He repeatedly said the administration will review its “assistance posture” based on the events of the next few days—a reference to the $1.5 billion in U.S. aid that goes to Egypt. He urged both protesters and security forces to show restraint. And echoing comments earlier by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gibbs urged the Egyptian government to “turn the Internet and social networking sites back on.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/28/state-department-egypt-unrest-deep-concern

I’m not sure what the US should be doing about this, so maybe for once it’s a good thing we’ve got a leader who is best at voting “present”.

Is Hosni Mubarak Barak Obama’s Mohammad Pahlavi?  Are we seeing Jimmah 2.0? We all know what happened then, after Jimmah gave the Shah the Shiv - he got the Shove. And we got Ayatollah Assahola, and 444 days of malaise. The US has supported this Mubarak guy since Reagen, and we supported his predecessor Sadat right up until the islamists killed him. No, he isn’t Prince Charming. He’s a despot. That’s the choice you get in the Turd World, especially in islamic piss bucket cuntries like Egypt: you can have a despotic strongman, or you can have a despotic religious strongman. The more of this situation I see on TV, the less I am inclined to believe that peace, freedom, equality, financial reform, capitalism, or any kind of populist movement for positive opportunity has anything to do with it any more. This is an attempted takeover by the forces of darkness. And they will win.

UPDATE: Is it already a done deal? Reports of soldiers and police joining in with the protesters.

But there was little sign that Egypt was listening. Riot police fired endless of salvos of tear gas and rubber bullet fire over the course of the day. Plainclothes secret policemen dragged protesters out of the crowd, kicking and beating them as they were loaded into lorries and driven away.

Yet no matter how hard they tried, the crowds kept coming.

In one of many astonishing scenes on the streets, thousands of anti-government protesters wielding rocks, glass and sticks chased hundreds of riot police away from the main square in downtown Cairo. Several of the policemen stripped off their uniforms and badges and joined the demonstrators.

When the guys with guns turn against their own junta, it’s over. Rumors of talks of “transitional government”.

Arabic media sources on Friday night reported that Egyptian authorities are holding talks to establish a “transitional government,” following a series of protests against President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

Meanwhile, the head of the Egyptian opposition Wafd party said Egypt needs a period of transitional rule, new parliamentary elections and amendments to the constitution limiting presidential terms, Reuters reported.

Has Mubarak already fled the country?

3 private jets leave Cairo airport under heavy security; Egypt parliament speaker to make major announcement - NBC

It could be some rich folks running away at the last minute. Doesn’t have to be the Boss Man.

Other bits:

One thing I learned while working retail was to always rotate your stock! Egyptian protesters not stopped by out of code US made teargas.

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