Don't tease me now....(dogblogging too)

For the last few days, amidst all the justified doom and gloom, there's been a ray of hope, at least for many local residents. Yesterday, the Senate has passed a D.C. voting rights measure, which is expected to go to the floor of Congress early next week. This matter has been moving along quickly since President Obama took office. What a difference a few days make!

This bit of good news being dangled in front of our faces is almost too good to be true--because you know someone's going to introduce a challenge to it. In the meantime, the near possibility of D.C. residents having a full vote on the floor of the House almost has me looking like poor Stains the dog of Animal Planet fame, as the object of desire is so near, yet so far...

Wasting no time...

Downtown today the requisite piece of D.C. street theater, a protest, took place, albeit with modifications.

The difference in tactics this time was that traffic was not stalled and the protesters themselves were silent. Perhaps this is what caused us onlookers to actually pay attention to what was being protested, the continuing embarrassment and atrocity that is Gitmo.

This protest, coming on the heels of Attorney General Holder's visit to Guantanamo Bay, is timely, and an admirable example of Americans exercising our constitutional rights.

* * *

Now, if only D.C. residents could get their full right of representation. That dream is coming closer to a reality, but a roadblock has been thrown in. A Nevada senator, John Ensign, wants to amend the bill that would grant D.C. a representative by weakening D.C.'s current gun control regulations. Huh? What is it with congressmen who are not from the Washington region--why do some of them seem to have a need to screw D.C.? Oh, aren't Republicans the ones usually complaining that voting in Congress has become too complicated, that they should be able to vote straight up or down on bills without riders? Hypocrites!

Metro matters...

What a coincidence--Lena Sun must have been working on one of her periodic Post articles on the continuing failure of the Metro board to be accountable when Thursday's monster orange and blue line delay was taking place.

While area commuters should consider as many different forms of transportation as possible, we shouldn't all be pushed to the following mode because of bureaucratic incompetence and indifference:
Yet again, it is exposed that half of the Metro board is a kitchen will not eat its own soup, so why are these people on the board? Particularly insulting is the statement that "taking transit is inconvenient for their jobs." What do they think of fellow board member Catherine Hudgins, who got caught in Thursday's delay on her way to a Metro meeting--that she and other Metro riders take transit for entertainment purposes only? Sheese!

Also sickening is that many of these people don't even bother to pay for their parking spaces. This is a "problem" that's easy to fix, if board members were so inclined; when I had reserved parking at a Metro lot, the fee was charged to my credit card. Payment quandary solved. Next!

Most disgusting of all, and related to the fact that so many Metro board members do not take public transit on a regular basis, is that when there is a budget shortfall, their first instinct is to propose service cuts, instead of first attempting to find ways to make other cuts and raise additional funds. Service cuts are risky in that they undermine the reason for public transit's existence in the first place, to offer an alternative to relying on the car.

Now, raising additional funds need not mean raising the fare. As a first resort, how about the board doing something it's been criticized for not doing in the past--upping the fee for its deal with the wireless carrier Verizon, which is paltry compared to the fees other cities receive for similar deals? I suppose broaching such options involves too much mental creativity. Sigh.

Up in a down time...

Finally, a bit of good news for these gloomy times...Obama signed the economic stimulus package into law in Denver yesterday. Woo hoo! While he cautioned that it's not an instant panacea to our economic plight, it's a good start.

Even before he signed the package into law, Obama's coming to office has itself been an unofficial economic stimulus program, keeping the economy from sliding even lower. Certainly, his presence has been a boon to area businesses, and to other entrepeneurs looking to make a quick buck, from this...

to this...

Argggghhh...

* * *

More good news...D.C. is closer than ever to obtaining a vote in Congress, legislation that Obama co-sponsored in the Senate in 2007. (Perhaps even more shocking is that yesterday's New York Times editorialized in favor of the measure.) Change we can believe in, indeed.

Not again...the tragedy in Buffalo

Those frightening scenes from Buffalo, all those lives gone aflame, literally, make me sad and angry. Sad for obvious reasons, but also angry because yet again, another commuter plane goes down, with fatal results.

A Continental Connection plane, from the commuter plane arm of Continental Airlines, made the fatal collision into a home, killing one of its occupants, as well as all on board the plane.

While many tout statistics that air travel is the safest form of travel (which is comparing apples and oranges, if you're comparing air travel with traveling on the road, as airplanes are really for intercontinental travel), they often ignore the seemingly obvious--that a disproportionate amount of the fatal air collisions involve a commuter plane. Many people may have noticed this sad trend because it seems to be celebrities that are often affected by such crashes--Aaliyah, Buddy Holly (whose fans recently celebrated the 30th year of his death by tinker plane), and the list goes on, regrettably.

I'm inclined to agree with P.A.'s comments in today's New York Times regarding the collision:

The airlines should not be permitted to use smaller planes to fill gaps...

The fliers purchased tickets on a major airline and were put on a two propeller plan
in a high wind area to save the airline money...

Buffalo in winter is a known dangerarea [sic] for two propeller plane. This should be illigeal [sic] if it is not.

Not the airline for which people signed on.

Wrong, on every level.

* * *

Thinking of Aaliyah...

Warm days, colds stay?

Getting a bit spoiled by this recent streak of warm weather, and plan to take advantage of it again today.

Unfortunately, just because we get a few days of spring preview weather like today's...

(Flickr photo by Vicky Brock)

doesn't mean you can't fall prey to nasty microbes. Yesterday, my sinuses were plaguing me something awful--the air is still dry, so with the roller-coaster temperatures, it can be prime time for developing an upper respiratory infection. Yuck!

Thus, I was intrigued by a health feature in yesterday's New York Times, "The Claim: Never Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold," if only because it confirmed my own experience--blowing my nose when I had a cold only made me more stuffed up and miserable! However, the "proper method" mentioned near the end of the article is odd, to blow one nostril at a time. Huh? How is that even possible? No thank you, I'd rather rely on nasal irrigation methods, which keep me uncongested, and often even ward off infections. (Using neti pots is one of several methods of nasal irrigation.)

Super stew for a super day...

I really don't care about either of the teams playing in today's Super Bowl, so I can't get that excited over it. However, the weather was something to be happy about, as the temp is currently over 50 degrees F, making scenes with snow increasingly rare (at least until Tuesday).



On the other hand, Super Bowl or not, a nice bowl of chili, which can be whipped together in record time, is always a tasty meal choice which can be made with ingredients that you may already have on hand.

Quick Meaty Veggie Chili (serves 4)

1 tsp. canola or other vegetable oil
half a green bell pepper, chopped
one small onion, chopped
another tsp. canola oil
6 oz. (half a bag) of Morningstar brand veggie crumblies
1 tsp. chili powder, plus more if desired
dash chipotle powder (optional)
dash smoked paprika (optional)
16 oz. can pinto or black beans, opened (but not drained)
16 oz. can diced tomatoes, opened (but not drained)
salt to taste

In a small pan, heat the first teaspoon oil over medium heat, then add green bell pepper and stir around until softened, then add the onion. Stir over the heat until it, too, is soft. Microwave the crumblies for 60 seconds, then set aside.

In a dutch oven or other large casserole, heat the second tsp. oil over medium heat, then add the crumblies, bell pepper, onion, and the chili powder (and the other two spices, if using), then stir for a minute. Dump the beans and their liquid into the mixture, stir, then add the diced tomatoes with their liquid and stir. Add salt if desired, and/or more chili powder, if stew still needs a kick. Stir occasionally, until heated through.

Serving suggestion: Nice with chopped avocado on top. Serve alongside corn-based carbohydrates such as cornbread or tortilla chips/strips.

Watershed moment?

I thought I might faint while participating in the Sunday morning pastime of watching the public affairs programs, Meet the Press and such, after seeing an ad from the SEIU in favor of promoting healthcare reform which was co-sponsored by such diverse organizations as PhRMA and the AMA. Apparently, President Obama's not the only one demonstrating a willingness to reach across the aisle to get things done.

The ad, To Help the Economy, Fix Health Care.



Wonders never cease!

Tone deaf?

The impact of President Obama at this, the beginning of his term, makes me optimistic about what's in store for the future. After all, he just signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, and, with Vice President Biden, is taking steps to strengthen organized labor, which has been badly battered as of late (and, as a consequence, also battered are the salaries of ordinary Americans).

The economic stimulus package has passed the House is more good news, but it may have a tougher time in the Senate, as Republicans are still jabbering about only cutting taxes, but are still clueless that this moribund economy needs the jolt provided by getting funds in the hands of the non-wealthy, via jobs and such.

So, the Republicans' response to Obama's proposals is akin to....



...even if the Republican National Committee has selected Michael Steele as its new chair.

Mmm, good (cornbread to go with beans)...

There's nothing better than hearty comfort food in cold wintry weather. Last night's edition included black-eyed peas (pre-soaked) and cooked with kale, which took less than an hour to cook (and that's using a regular saucepot, not a pressure cooker).

Making the beans stick to your ribs is easy when eating them with their natural sidekick, cornbread. The cornbread was particularly good last night, as I modified a recipe that I use often, the all corn cornbread from Bryanna Clark Grogan; I modified the order of preparation, not the ingredients. As it does not use flour, it's acceptable for gluten-free diets, and is delicious to boot, light in texture, with an intense corn flavor.

Vegan All-Corn Cornbread
makes a 9" square panful

1 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal (preferably stoneground)

2 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. (8 tsp.) sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbs. ground flax seed

another 2/3 cup (stoneground) cornmeal

2/3 cup boiling water

1 Tbs. lemon juice, plus

soymilk or nut milk to make 2 cups

2 Tbs. melted Earth Balance spread

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. (Spread the baking pan with extra Earth Spread, then a little cornmeal, and shake the cornmeal around the pan. Set pan aside.)

Mix together the first cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flax seed in a medium bowl.

In another bowl, mix together the 2/3 cup cornmeal and the boiling water and mix well (preferably with a whisk). Stir in the melted Earth Spread, also with the whisk, then the lemon juice/soymilk mixture, with the same whisk.

Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, then add the batter into the prepared 9" pan. Bake for 25 minutes. When done, the top should have cracks, and the tines of a fork stuck in its center should come up clean.

* * *

Just like cornbread itself, this song by Louis Jordan, Beans and Cornbread, is an oldie but goodie.

Everything is beautiful, on a snow day

OK, so this is not some whopper of a snow squall--just some steady fluffy stuff coming down today, which is fine by me. Not so great will be tomorrow's mess, that nasty precip mix of sleet, freezing rain, etc. The sooner that stuff turns to rain (and the sooner the rain stops before freezing over) the better.

Nonetheless, today is to enjoy as much as possible, before and after you're done driving through it.

Cell phone use while riding a bike? What in the ***?

There are some things you hope never to see. Like today, I had to swerve to avoid hitting a guy on his bike when I turned into a parking lot, because he was chatting on his cell phone while riding!

At least the guys in the photo above had the sense to wear a helmet, unlike today's doofus. However, it's scary that these are cops blabbing on cell phones while riding!

I haven't heard of a jurisdiction banning cell phone use while riding a bike (which you'd think was challenging enough without that distraction), but if anyone on the Prince George's County Council would like to propose one, that would be a very good thing. Let's hope it doesn't take someone being killed or seriously injured before such a bill is put before a legislative body (but I'm not holding my breath).

Some inauguration week highlights (with dog blogging)

Will wonders never cease? The city was packed from last Sunday through Wednesday. My miracle story: on a packed train Sunday, a young boy and his mother were traveling, and the little guy offered me a seat--I could have fainted from the shock. So, I wasn't so surprised to hear that there were no arrests on the Mall Tuesday--meaning that there weren't incidents serious enough for the police to bother getting micro-bureaucratic with the public.

Later that Sunday, the 1st Baptist Church of Glenarden had a regular Sunday evening service, with a few songs from Kirk Franklin, so the place was packed. Of course, we all assumed that he would blow in, do a couple of songs, then blow out. Ha! It turned out to be a two-hour+ concert (I left before he was completely done!), and, of course, Kirk knows how to put on a show!

Other surprises included a white/multiracial "go-go" band (for want of a better term, as their musical skills sounded basic, but they were enthusiastic) playing on the sidewalk outside the Verizon Center Wednesday night.

I knew go-go music was popular with Washingtonians of all stripes, but never witnessed nonblack folk playing any. You go guys!

The New York Times reports that some social scientists (don't laugh just yet-perhaps bigger studies are in the pipeline) have noted an Obama effect on some black youngsters taking tests, showing that near the election showed less anxiety while taking tests, doing as well as whites. Let's hope the results can be replicated, and the effects are not temporary.

* * *
Woo hoo! Good to see that President Obama is serious about undoing some of Shrub's damage, by signing an Executive Order to shut down Guatanamo Bay and secret prisons on his first day in office.

The details of that decision, laudable as it is, will naturally take time, as will other policies. Trouble is rearing its ugly head in the form of opposition to the nominee for Secretary of Labor, Rep. Hilda Solis, and the continuing mess over the peanut butter recall (it's unclear what other type of federal action will need to take place to sort that out).

Meanwhile, you're unlikely to see many scenes like this at home in the near future, because of the peanut scare:

Food, American style (inauguration edition)

The following recipe is for a delicious appetizer, a strata (pictured above, being prepared). It's a good dish to bring to a gathering when, like me, you have an aversion to transporting cooked food (and the resultant sloshing of food inside your car or on the subway), which does not need to be reheated, and is not a dessert.

It's best made the night before an event, so that it can "set" completely, making it easy to cut into squares. Like inauguration week, this dish is colorful, packed with flavor, and easygoing.

Vegetarian strata (savory bread pudding)

11 ounces day-old bread, torn into bite-size pieces (I used most of a sesame semolina loaf from Firehook Bakery, but any crusty bread will work)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon dried porcini
1/2 cup whole flax seeds
1 cup water
1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons canola or other vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy milk (oat or rice milk are good substitutes)
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
1 or 2 green onions, finely chopped (white and green parts)
1 sprig fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 package veggie shrimp, thawed, OR 2 links veggie chorizo, finely chopped*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, pour the boiling water over the dried porcini and let soak.

In a small saucepan, add the flax seeds and one cup water, bring to a simmer, and let simmer for five minutes. While flax mixture is simmering, in a small frypan, heat the oil over a medium flame, then add the red bell pepper and cook for two or three minutes, until softened.

After five minutes, strain the flax seeds and let the liquid drip into a small bowl. (The liquid should be clear yet thickened, akin to raw eggs in texture.) Add the soy milk, porcini water (use the leftover mushrooms in another dish), salt, and pepper. Gently mix.

Place the torn bread pieces into a casserole dish, then pour the flax seed/milk mixture over the bread and combine thoroughly. Mash mixture around with either a fork or a potato masher, so that the bread becomes mushy. Add all remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly in the casserole dish.

Cover casserole dish with foil, then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After removing the strata from the oven, let cool, then refrigerate overnight.

To serve, cut into squares. (The pieces are easiest to pick up, after cutting, with toothpicks.) Yum!

*The veggie shrimp is available at area health food stores and co-ops, as is the veggie chorizo, which is also available at supermarkets and Whole Foods.

History, Continued

History continues to be made, today, with the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. As he's being sworn in, this beautiful song by Deniece Williams will be on my mind:

(The image at top is from MoveOn.org)

Martin Luther King Jr.--A man of, and before, his time

There's always something new, even in history. As we've been reminded today how rhetoric can inspire and uplift by listening to Martin Luther King Jr.'s most reknowned oration, I Have a Dream, the BBC has unearthed a 1964 video of Dr. King in which he predicted that in less than 40 years, a Negro would become President of the United States. (He actually said that it could happen in 25 years.) Optimism, confidence, and ability to take the long view are what made King a visionary.


(Full-length video of Dr. King giving his speech, I Have a Dream.)

King believed that the struggle for racial justice in the United States was related to other struggles worldwide, and correctly noted that apartheid would end when Western nations decided to stop economic relations with South Africa. (Text via the ANC's site, although I originally read it years ago from the excellent compilation of Dr. King's speeches and writings, A Testament of Hope.)

Dreamer that he was, King knew that dreams take hard work to become reality. Let the work continue.

A Good Day...(Friday fun, with dog[s])

It's turned out to be a good day, a good week even. Yesterday's crash landing in the Hudson sent chills down my spine, for I was afraid that one of the passengers, though rescued, might freeze to death or drown before being rescued, so a sigh of relief went up when all were found and everyone was OK. Initially, reports of the crash brought back bad memories of a previous one, of the Air Florida crash years ago, and the people that needed to be rescued from those frigid waters.

For some reason, remembering that tragedy makes me think of the CBS affiliate Channel 9, and John Goldsmith's reporting. It also reminds me, gladly and sadly, of the late, great Glenn Brenner, sportscaster par excellence (and I'm not even a big sports fan). Good times...



* * *

Didn't bother to listen to Bush's farewell speech, because I knew it would be about as exciting as watching paint dry. The mere thought of Bush talking about himself and his "legacy" strikes me as utterly ridiculous, so much noise and posturing...


Find more videos like this on MyCorgi.com

* * *

If still undecided (like me!) on what to do for Dr. King's birthday, National Service Day, suggestions can be found at the Obama inauguration committee website.

Which means--time to work and party!

Zzzzz fight disease?

Yuck, it's that time of year, when, even if you've gotten a flu shot, you can still come down with a cold, the most common of the upper respiratory diseases.

Of course, there are scads of folk remedies, and even prescribed medicines, such as cough medicines, often don't do much for cold symptoms. (Although a UK physician with the International Society for the Study of Cough admits that "alcohol in the form of spirits has been demonstrated to effectively suppress the cough reflex. In adult patients this can be particularly successful for nocturnal cough suppression." In this paper, he also mentions that although dextromethorphan is an effective cough suppressant, the amount used in most over-the-counter preparations is inadequate to relieve symptoms.)

However, there's been little research on the prevention front concerning this common aggravation, until recently. A study to be published in an upcoming Archives of Internal Medicine 2009; 169 (1):8, "Sleep Habits and Susceptibility to the Common Cold," in which subjects were monitored for 14 days--during which they were administered a rhinovirus (cold virus).

The results were striking--study participants who slept less than seven hours were 2.94 times more likely to develop a cold than those who had eight or more hours of sleep. Ouch! According to the study authors, "These relationships could not be explained by differences in prechallenge virus-specific antibody titers, demographics, season of the year, body mass, socioeconomic status, psychological variables, or health practices." They concluded, "Poorer sleep efficiency and shorter sleep duration in the weeks preceding exposure to a rhinovirus were associated with lower resistance to illness."

* * *

More than neti pots...

If you think you might be coming down with a cold anyway, in addition to getting more sleep, what to do? Consider nasal irrigation--which is starting to be taken seriously as a treatment for sinonasal conditions such as rhinitis. In their medical review, "Nasal irrigations: good or bad?," researchers Christopher L. Brown and Scott M. Graham conclude, "Nasal irrigations should no longer be considered merely adjunctive measures in managing sinosal conditions. They are effective and underutilized. Some of the persisting unanswered questions will only be answered by further research."

Seconding that opinion include researchers at the University of Michigan Health System, which released a video on the benefits of nasal irrigation, mentioned as a cheap and easy way for the millions of people who suffer with spring allergies and nasal congestion to get relief for their symptoms.



(The video is called Spring Cleaning...for your nose, which may be unfortunate in that nasal irrigation may prove helpful year round.)

More Crazy (aka dogblogging)

Will the Sarah saga ever end? Now Sarah Palin's whining about being exploited by the media, Katie Couric, Tina Fey, ad nauseum. Um, she wanted to be Vice President, and was parodied and interviewed for precisely that reason. Politics ain't pretty--not even for a pitbull in lipstick. (Funny how she's not complaining that she was exploited by the Republican party, which offered her the VP nomination in the first place, solely because she is female. Hmmm...)

So, Ms. Palin, who can dish it out (e.g., referring to the President-Elect as someone who was "palling around with terrorists") but can't take it only makes herself laughable. Sadly, she's not being ridiculous in an adorable manner such as this...

Find more videos like this on MyCorgi.com

Out with the old....

This dreary day is perfect for taking down the holiday decorations; the tiny tree will be chopped up tomorrow and scattered around for mulch, fertilizer, etc., and the soil and pot saved--more soil to be added, to start more container gardening nonsense...

One thing potentially made easier is throwing out the trash, as a few weeks ago the county provided new, gigantic recycling bins. These are to be used for the improved recycling process, known as single-stream recycling. Basically, this means you can recycle almost anything you're likely to throw out in the course of a week, except for food or items that have touched food (that is, items which could be composted).



(The above video from the Science Channel is of a manufacturing plant that uses a single stream recycling process.)

That's right, newspapers, paper, (rinsed out and dried) cans and bottles, torn up cardboard boxes, magazines, you name it, you can toss it into the recycling bin. Yippee! Makes life easier.
I'm keeping the old bin, however, as a recycling way station, and transferring stuff from it to the colossus on recycling day.

The one thing that could mess up this scheme is the lack of communication by the county regarding the new process. One day, guys just showed up bringing the bins, which had a couple of pamphlets attached to them with instructions, etc. No letters preceeded this rollout, no appearances were scheduled by county leaders to discuss the benefits, etc.

* * *

Finally, corporations are starting to reduce waste. Perhaps it's no coincidence that one of the few retailers this season to have something resembling a profit, Amazon, has also introduced a process to reduce customers' "wrap rage,"; they call it Frustration-Free Packaging. I wish I'd known about this when I had to purchase a Verizon cell phone earlier this year, and a Timex watch; it took some ten minutes to release the $30 watch from its package. Sheesh!

Smaller companies are joining the reduced waste bandwagon, as well. Two manufacturers of my favorite ginger candies, Ting Ting Jahe and Reed's Ginger Brew, have changed the paper that wraps the individual candies to edible rice paper wraps! This doesn't affect the taste of the candies, as far as I'm concerned. So, the only thing that has to be thrown away when done downing all the chews is the bag that they came in. Nice!