August 9, 2008 archive

I decided yesterday to make some really tasty pork tacos…….

I bought a gigantic pork shoulder/butt and got the butcher to trim a bit of the fat and split it in half.

I braised it in aromatics ( onions/carrot/cumin/coriander seeds ) for 2.5 hours until it was tender. I reserved some of the braising juice and then roasted it in a pan for another 45 minutes. After that you cool it, shred it with a fork and mix it with half a cup of the braising juice to soften it.

You add your home made salsa ( made it ahead of time ) some diced avocado and some mashed beans. As it happened I made a salad of mixed spring vegetables and cucumbers to go with it.

I jumped in the shower while my meat cooled. I spend most of the day cleaning and doing laundry I was very much looking forward to a carefully cooked but easy meal.

But alas a mystery!!!!! There was no pork in the kitchen when I returned 10 minutes later.

There was an empty plate…..

There were two guilty looking dogs but no confessions…..

I had peanut butter sandwiches for dinner last night.

Remember….. don’t rec pomy party hang out and chit chat and then go read some of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.

Oh. Yeah. Tell me a story about something your dog did.

That’s right, the net’s leading antiwar site is starting their quarterly fundraiser on Monday!

Who Needs The

Olympics

When One Can

Have A War

Comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50

Comedian Bernie Mac died early Saturday in a Chicago-area hospital from complications due to pneumonia, his publicist told CNN. He was 50. Publicist Danica Smith did not provide additional details, and asked that his family’s privacy be respected

Georgia: Russia steps up ‘peace enforcement’



> AP and Reuters

Saturday, 9 August 2008

Intense fighting raged for a second night in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia today, with Georgia’s interior ministry reporting air attacks on three military bases and key facilities for shipping oil to the West.

Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of Tbilisi was bombed by warplanes during the night and that bombs fell in the area of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

F.B.I. Says It Obtained Reporters’ Phone Records



By THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON – The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers’ Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

USA

Credit crisis triggers unprecedented response

Worst debt turmoil since Depression sparks government action

By David Cho and Neil Irwin  

Since the credit crisis erupted a year ago, the Bush administration has presided over one of the broadest expansions of the government into private lending in U.S. history, risking public money to prop up financial firms both large and small.

The administration has transformed federal agencies into dominant players in such diverse realms as student lending and mortgage finance while exposing itself to trillions of dollars in loans.

Chinese man kills U.S. tourist in Beijing attack

Attacker targeted two Americans before committing suicide

BEIJING – A Chinese man attacked two American tourists on the opening day of the Olympic Games, killing one of them before committing suicide, officials said Saturday.

The Beijing Municipal Government said the attack happened in downtown Beijing at noon on Saturday. Officials issued a statement saying the 47-year-old attacker, Tang Yongming, also injured an American woman and her Chinese tourist guide.

Anthrax

Anthrax II

Andrew Tilghman @ TPM Muckraker

• Former FBI Agent Says White House Pressured Bureau To Blame Anthrax On Bin Laden, Al Qaeda
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 4, 2008, 10:30AM

• DOJ Plans To Close Anthrax Probe As Questions, Critics Mount
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 4, 2008, 2:00PM

• Feds Unseal Documents, Search Warrants In Anthrax Investigation
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 6, 2008, 10:36AM

• FBI Used Aggressive Tactics In Anthrax Investigation
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 6, 2008, 2:09PM

• Feds Release Documents From Anthrax Investigation
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 6, 2008, 4:05PM

• FBI Identified Source Of Anthrax Years Ago, But Case Remained Unsolved And Ivins Continued Working
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 6, 2008, 6:14PM

• Did Bruce Ivins Start Planning Anthrax Attacks Before 9/11?
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 7, 2008, 9:00AM

• Anthrax Scientist’s Emails Suggest Paranoia, Mental Problems
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 7, 2008, 9:48AM

• Scientists Say Many Questions Remain In FBI Anthrax Probe
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 7, 2008, 6:48PM

• Feds Continue Anthrax Probe After Ivins’ Death
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 7, 2008, 7:11PM

• Capitol Hill Questions FBI Anthrax Investigation: Where’s The Polygraph?
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 8, 2008, 9:19AM

• Ivins’ Strain Of Anthrax Was Not So Rare After All
  
  By Andrew Tilghman – August 8, 2008, 4:29PM

That’ll show ’em

In response to a surge in cellphone-based fraud, Japan’s big five carriers have agreed on a variety of new measures, including a limit of five keitai per customer, improved ID verification, and sharing information on users whose services have been suspended.

It was announced that the National Police Agency has proposed the first revision to the Firearms and Swords Control Law in 46 years following the June stabbing spree in Akihabara.