In honor of Election Day (and because I love the hell outta this recipe), I’m making a batch of Taxpayers’ Chicken Chili. Won’t you join me?
actual horrible photo of today’s batch
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground chicken
3 large onions, coarsely chopped
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapeño chilies, minced
1/4 cup chili powder
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground coriander (or dried cilantro)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in purée
1 or 2 12-ounce bottles of beer
1 14 1/2-ounce can chicken broth (add about an extra 3/4 can if you only use one beer)
1 15 1/4-ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1 15 1/4-ounce cans black beans, rinsed, drained
Liz Mead is miffed, but still determined to throw a fine party. And while Rudy Giuliani won’t be there as expected, Elvis will make an appearance.
Mead, a North Forest Beach resident, was scheduled to host a fundraiser for the Republican presidential candidate and former New York City mayor Wednesday morning at her beachfront home on Dune Lane on Hilton Head Island.
But the event was called off Sunday by Giuliani’s national campaign, which apologized to Mead for the inconvenience.
The apologies didn’t assuage Mead. She wouldn’t say how much she’d spent putting patriotic bunting on her home, painting, landscaping, cleaning, setting aside a rental home she owns to house her six dogs during the event and other preparation efforts, but she indicated it wasn’t cheap.
Mead wasn’t even a Giuliani backer. She agreed to host the $250-$500 per seat event at the request of a family friend.
“If you can’t make it to your own fundraiser, I’ll be damned if I can depend on him as a president,” she said.
Mead said she was embarrassed that she invited friends to pledge money to come to the event and now has to let them know it has been canceled less than 48 hours in advance.
Her preparations, however, won’t be wasted. She’s hired an Elvis Presley impersonator to entertain at a party starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
“We’re having a huge party…,” Mead said. “And guess what? It isn’t a fundraiser; it’s free.”
“Darkon” is a documentary feature that follows the real-life adventures of an unusual group of weekend “warrior knights,” fantasy role-playing gamers whose live action “battleground” is modern-day Baltimore, Maryland, re-imagined as a make-believe medieval world named Darkon.
Regardless of how exceptional this pack of Democratic presidential nominees is supposed to be, I’ve had a hard time getting juiced up about any of the candidates. Early on I really dug Obama, but like so many other people, my initial intrigue has turned to mush. But thanks to Minneapolis Public Radio’s Select a Candidate quiz, I now know that my favorite is Chris Dodd. I can’t say I’m surprised as I’ve always been impressed with the guy, dating back to when I was a resident of the Nutmeg State. Being a realist, however, I know that he doesn’t stand a chance in hell of getting the nomination, so I think my second result, John Edwards, is probably who I’m going to side with. Policy-wise, I like a lot of his ideas and he seems to have buffed down the smarmy sheen that turned me off in ‘04 (I was a Wes Clark guy back then). He seems like he really cares about people (I have a pretty finely-tuned bullshit detector), has a low negativity rating with conservatives (which will help in the general election), and I like that he’s happily married to a strong, smart and wonderful gal.
Here are my top ten results from the quiz:
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Hillary Clinton
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson
Mike Gravel
Joe Biden
Ron Paul
drum roll please ... Rudy Giuliani (gack)
And, unsurprisingly, my results were 0.0 for Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo & Fred Thompson.
Take the quiz and let me know what you came up with in the comments.
THOMPSON’S DRUGFORCE: Maybe the head of Fred Thomson’s “Airforce” can be his Ambassador to Afghanistan.
SANDRA’S HAVING HER BRAIN OUT: I wasn’t aware that the Soft Boys’ fun-as-shit debut album A Can of Bees, featuring Robyn Hitchcock, has been out-of-print for a few years, but Egg City Radio is graciously giving it away (scroll down). (Hint: delete the track “(I Want To Be An) Anglepoise Lamp” that isn’t marked “Live” and doesn’t have a track # ... it’s actually a repeat of “Ugly Nora.”)
On Wednesday I missed this editorial by a former master instructor and chief of training at the U.S. Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School, but this ‘graph sums up my feelings on waterboarding nicely:
Is there a place for the waterboard? Yes. It must go back to the realm of training our operatives, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines - to prepare for its uncontrolled use by our future enemies. Brutal interrogation, flash murder and extreme humiliation of Americans may now be guaranteed because we have mindlessly, but happily, broken the seal on the Pandora’s box of indignity, cruelty and hatred in the name of protecting America.
A quote from Giuliani on South Carolina’s ETV’s “The Big Picture on the Radio Show” (via Real Clear Politics):
“How do you pick a vice president? ... I think Vice President Cheney and President Bush’s pick of Vice President Cheney is a good example of picking someone who is qualified to be president of the United States. That is number one—it’s paramount.”
Is there anything Bush has done that Rudy disagrees with? I think someone should ask him what he thinks about Rumsfeld.
FREEmumia has just posted one of their always excellent movie previews and points us in the direction of the trailer for the Coen Bros.’ eagerly-anticipated No Country For Old Men. Man, does it look like it’s going to kick some major league ass.
Chris Jones, CEO and founder of Inspirational Experiences, has returned with a new show format called “Christian Nation”, which is pretty funny because there’s absolutely no change from his previous scattered, ADD-laden format. Enjoy.
Chris finds a cereal bowl in his drawer, eats some more “Dannion” yogurt, gets a hair in his eye, and tries to pronounce “archive,” but gives up quickly.
"[W]e wholeheartedly endorse the excellent Rumproast blog" -- Jim Newell, Wonkette
"Mind you, don’t let yourself be trapped dialoging with these guys: truth is their enemy; pyschological warfare and misinformation dissemination is their profession." -- TeaParty.org
