Notes: The pork must have some fat in it. Use shoulder, Boston butt, unsmoked picnic or boneless country ribs. Do not use tenderloin or loin cuts, they will dry out.
Mama Sita's is the better product, but Mother's Best may be substituted. For large batches purchase the 23 fluid ounce bottle. Look for these products at any Philippine or Asian market. You may have to settle for a packaged mix if the market is small.
Preparation:
Unwrap the skewers and place them in a tall glass or tumbler of water to soak. Soaking the skewers stops the wood from burning on the grill. Invert the skewers after ten minutes of soaking to complete the process. Start your charcoal for the barbecue. You may also use an indoor broiler, but it gets fairly messy. For the best results be sure to have all of the charcoal on only one side of the barbecue. This will allow you to cook over indirect heat and have better control of the speed at which the skewers cook. If using a gas grill, light both sides and preheat at high for 15 minutes, then turn off one side before starting to cook. Run the other side at low during the entire cooking process, unless you are in a real hurry. Slow cooking produces superior results. Upper racks in multi-tier propane grills work perfectly and allow the use of both burners at the same time.
Bone out the pork and cut into chunks less than an inch (~2cm) cubed. Skewer the cubes by piercing each piece of pork twice with the skewer. This stops the meat from rotating when you turn the skewers on the grill. Pierce the meat at one edge of the piece and then again at opposite side.
Use a bread pan or shallow rectangular pan (glass is best) that will allow you to submerge the entire skewer lengthwise in it. This is important during the cooking and basting phase. If needed, trim the skewers ahead of time to fit the pan that you have. This will make everything a lot simpler once the grilling begins.
Grill the skewers away from the coals. Use barbecue tongs to place and remove the skewers. Swish the skewers back and forth in the marinade every few minutes to build up a candy-like glaze on them. Turn each skewer after basting it. If using upper racks, be sure to rotate skewers back and forth from the grill to the racks. Avoid flare-ups and use a spray bottle to extinguish them if they arise. Check after 30 minutes, the skewers will probably be done. The meat should still be tender with a build up of savory glaze on it.
Note: Everyone that I make this for instantly becomes addicted to it.
Official Recipe Request:
If there are any Philippine cooks out there that know the recipe for this marinade, please submit it to this thread. Here are the ingredients from a very old bottle that had a complete list of contents: (in order) Soy Sauce, Cane Sugar, Black Pepper, Salt, Garlic, Onions, Curry Powder, Tamarind, Spices, Caramel, MSG, Lemon Butter (Kalamansi), Mustard, Flavorings.
#2
Four-Pork Deep Dish Pizza
(Best during Ramadan; also suitable for Bad Catholic Fridays)
Prep time: 4 hours
This recipe makes a double batch (four 9 pizzas), which I recommend as it can be an all-day project. Bake one and freeze the rest for no-hassle dinners.
Background note: Ive spent years overseas, and Ive been truly homesick for very few things. But the Chicago girl in me was dying for a real pizza. I started with a basic recipe, and developed and modified it over the years; this is the recipe that achieves perfection every time
Ingredients:
Filling:
Olive oil
2 red peppers, chopped
2 lbs Italian sausage, skinned and crumbled
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 t oregano or Italian seasoning
2-28 oz. cans peeled Italian tomatoes, chopped
½ lb sliced mushrooms
2 large onions, chopped
Leftover ham, chopped*
Bacon bits (real ones!)*
Crust:
2 C warm water (105-115F)
2 packets active dry yeast
4 T olive oil
6 C flour
2 t salt
* These Ramadifications are just for fun and can be left out; however, you will be left with a perilously deficient 2-pork pizza.
Preparation:
First, make the filling:
In a large stew pot (or evenly split between two smaller pots), heat 1T olive oil and add the red pepper and sausage; cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Stir in the garlic and oregano, cook 1 minute more, then add the tomatoes. In a large skillet, heat 1T olive oil and sautee the onions and mushrooms; drain and add to the big pot. Toss in a handful or two of chopped ham, and anoint with shake or two of bacon bits. On low heat, simmer uncovered until very thick (2-3 hours), stirring every 20-30 min.
While the filling is cooking, make the dough:
Stir the yeast into the warm water until dissolved, then stir in the oil. In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt together, then add the yeast mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. I use the bread hook on a Kitchen Aid mixer to knead the dough until its smooth and elastic (~ 5 min), though this can be done by hand (~ 10 min). Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in it, flipping once to coat the surface with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm, non-drafty place to rise, ~ 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
Assembly:
Punch the dough down to eliminate air bubbles, and divide into four. Roll out each ball to a 12 circle, and fit into oiled 9 x 2 round cake pans, patting the dough up the sides. Layer in the filling as follows:
1/8 of the sausage filling
1/8 of the pepperoni
1/8 of the sliced provolone and mozzarella
¼ of the shredded pizza cheese
1/8 of the sausage filling
1/8 of the pepperoni
1/8 of the sliced provolone and mozzarella.
Cover with foil and freeze, or bake for ~ 40 min at 400F until the filling is bubbling. (Frozen pizzas bake considerably longer, ~ 70 min.) Cool for ~ 15 min, and PIG out. Rama-dama-licious!
#3
I don't cook with pork, but here is a recipe from the oldest inn in Ohio, The Golden Lamb. The Golden Lamb has been in continuous operation since 1803, and they boast they've hosted all sorts of famous and important people, including Mark Twain and Charles Dickens (although as far as I can tell both bedded down in almost as many places as George Washington).
Golden Lamb Sauerkraut Balls
1 lb. (454 g) lean ham (can be a mix of lean ham, Kentucky ham and corned beef, but make sure to use more ham than corned beef)
1 lb. (454 g) lean pork
1/2 lb.(227 g) sauerkraut
1 cup (112 g) all-purpose flour (German Type 405, I don't know how it's identified elsewhere)
1 tsp (5 ml) dry mustard
hint of thyme
1 onion, sliced
2 eggs
1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
bread crumbs (The Cook's Illustrated people have determined (most scientifically!) that Japanese style Panko bread crumbs are the best for breading things to be fried)
lots of oil for frying
Heat oil in frying pan. Saute' pork until brown, then add onions, ham and corned beef. Stir in flour.
In a separate pot, heat sauerkraut. Drain, then add to frying pan. Stir in dry mustard and thyme. Grind. (Zenster, if you would be so kind as to elaborate on that instruction, I'd be grateful. Clearly after 200+ years they know what they're doing, but Chef Dennis Glosser was a little spare in his instructions when he wrote it up for the local international group's cookbook committee. Thanks!) While mixture is cooling enough to handle, mix together eggs and milk in a small bowl, place flour in another bowl, and the bread crumbs in a third bowl. Preheat oil in a pot or deep fryer to 350F (177C). Shape the mixture into 1" (2.5 cm) balls. Roll each sauerkraut ball in the flour, then dip into the egg, then roll in bread crumbs.
Deep fry the sauerkraut balls until golden-brown. Drain on newspaper or many layers of paper towels, and serve warm.
#4
Continuing the pork theme, I offer Honky/Gweilo/AngMoh Char Sui.
Char Sui is essentially marinated pork cooked in an oven. It doesn't have to be the brightly colored fatty meat you may be used to.
I used pork filet. The only work is to remove the tendon in the filet. Cut in half and then lengthways (4 pieces per filet).
I tell family and friends, I don't do recipes. I know more or less what what works, so my Char Sui recipe is pretty flexible.
Marinate meat for 4 hours in the following.
4 to 8 cloves of garlic crushed (required)
Soy sauce - 3 ounces per filet (required)
Oyster Sauce - 2 ounces (desirable)
Plum sauce - 2 ounces (can substitute something like honey)
Hoisin sauce - 2 ounces (desireable)
Black bean sauce - 1 ounce (optional, but I like it)
Sometimes I add Chinese 5 spices, but generally I forget.
If you want to experiment, you can add lime, lemon, mustard, tamarind, anything with a pungent flavor (trust me this recipe is impossible to screw up).
Cook meat still in the marinade in the oven around 160C. Turning meat every hour or so. If I am in a hurry, I might drain out some of the liquid. I generally cook for 2 hours or until liquid has gone.
The meat takes on a leathery texture, which it should. Slice thinly and eat anyway you choose, tasty and low fat. It's also a great snack the day after.
No pork, but I made it this evening and my family raved about it. My daughter still refers to the rice as 'special rice' and when we lived in Singapore one of the first things she figured out was that she could send the maid out to buy her 'special rice' for lunch.
Boil a chicken in pot slightly larger than the chicken with 6 cloves of garlic, an onion cut in half and 5 slices of ginger, for one hour.
Turn the chicken once to ensure it's properly cooked.
Remove chicken from pot.
Add 3 cups of rice to a rice cooker (sorry but a rice cooker is the only way to cook rice and if you don't own one you should).
Add Sufficient liquid the chicken was cooked in to cover the rice to a depth of 1 inch.
Turn on rice cooker. After 5 minutes add coarsely chopped chinese green vegetables to top of rice. I call all chinese green vegetables Bak Choi, but then what do I know.
The rice cooker will shut off automatically.
Serve special rice with sliced chicken and vegetables on top.
My daughter adds soy sauce to the rice, but I find it spoils the flavor of the rice.
#8
Literally, shredded "Pizza Cheese" found in the processed cheese section of the supermarket -- basically shredded co-jack. But any cheese that melts nicely will do. Yes, it cheapens a fine Chicago pie. But a bit of yellow cheese in there adds a nice flavor -- colby or cheddar might also be yummy. Or, if you're a purist, or just prefer not to overdo it, you can skip it altogether.
#11
I just hate this: stuck here at work where all I can do is read and drool.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/29/2006 12:33 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Cat. Pork. The other white meat.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/29/2006 14:49 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Enough of the side dishes. Time for the main course:
Roasting a Hog in Three Steps
1) Buying your hog
Order your pig from a specialty meat packer, grocery store or local locker. It is often necessary to give them 7 days advance notice. Before purchasing make sure the pig is absolutely clean.
See Chart 2 for serving portions
Dressed pigs are 70% of the live weight.
Smaller animals will have a greater percentage of bone and skin and will yield proportionately fewer servings of meat.
The carcass should be opened butterfly-fashion.
2) Equipment
There are three methods for roasting a hog.
Grill
The temperature at the roast should be kept constant and around 200-250 degrees F.
Most grills will have thermometers installed to monitor temperature. If not, use a large meat thermometer inserted in a top vent.
The outside temperature, wind, type of equipment, all will have an effect on maintaining this temperature.
Split the rib bones at the spine to allow pig to lay flat, being careful not to pierce skin.
Fill grill with charcoal. (see Chart 1)
Let charcoal burn until it has turned ash-grey.
Place heavy wire, the size of the pig, over the grill, 13 inches from the coals.
Place pig flat, skin side up on wire surface.
Place second wire over pig, sandwiching pig between the 2 layers of wire
Rotisserie
If using a rotisserie make sure weight is evenly distributed.
Follow directions from your rotisserie manual.
Rock-lined Pit
Dig hole 2 ½ to 3 feet deep at center with a diameter of 5 to 7 feet, depending on the size of the pig.
Line the pit with rocks.
Light fire.
Additional small round rocks should be place in fire to be heated.
As fire burns down, wet the burlap and dress pig as desired.
Place pig on chicken wire.
Under the legs make slits big enough to insert round heated rocks.
When rocks are very hot, use tongs to fill the abdominal cavity and slits.
Tie front legs together, then back legs.
Wrap pig in chicken wire, fastening well so it can be lifted.
Completely cover ashed coals and rocks with corn stalks and leaves or grass trimmings.
Lower pig onto the leaves.
Cover it generously on top with some leaves
Place wet burlap over leaves to hold the heat and steam the pig.
Cover with large canvas!!!
Shovel dirt or gravel over canvas to keep steam in.
Chinese Box
The Chinese roasting box, also known as La Caja China, is a hot trend among barbecue enthusiasts. Contrary to the name, the device was invented by a Cuban American, Roberto Guerra Sanchez. In a Chinese roasting box, the hog is placed in a thick wooden box lined with sheet-metal and fitted with a removable pan in the bottom to catch cooking juices. Coals are piled on the boxs steel top to provide heat.
The device is inspired by the American oven broiler with its heat source located above the food. The Chinese roasting box combines a broiling method with an enclosure reminiscent of the pit traditionally used in roasting hogs and other large meat cuts. The box cooks primarily by radiation. The boxs metal lining reflects the infrared radiation throughout the enclosure, similar to a microwave oven, so all the surfaces of the pig are heated, not just the top.
3) Cooking
Hog is better if thawed.
Grill
Because of variants in sizes, shapes, weights, air currents and methods of barbecuing, among others, it is difficult to give a rule of minutes per pound.
For estimate grilling times see Chart 1.
Always check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer.
Once the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F, the roast should be removed.
A good place to check is the ham, as it is the largest section of the hog.
Turn hog over half way through cooking process.
***Time is a variant! One must be flexible in the timing and cooking process, checking the hog often is essential.
Rotisserie
Cook the pig 12 away from the source of heat.
Keep the heat constant.
Fluctuating heat will add to your cooking time.
110 pound live weight estimated cooking time is 8-10 hours.
When pig reaches 160 degrees F move the pig away from the heat.
An estimated 1-2 hours will keep the pig warm without drying out.
***Time is a variant! One must be flexible in the timing and cooking process, checking the hog often is essential.
Rock-lined Pit
Estimated cooking times
2 hours for 25 pound live weight
2 ½ hours for 50 pound live weight
4 hours for 75 pound live weight
8 hours for 150 pound live weight
When in doubt, leave it in the pit a big longer. The pig will not burn as it is cooked by the steam.
Start cooking 12 hours ahead of serving time depending on the above table, periodically checking internal temperature.
When pig reaches 160 degrees F move the pig away from the heat.
An estimated 1-2 hours will keep the pig warm without drying out.
***Time is a variant! One must be flexible in the timing and cooking process, checking the hog often is essential.
#16
Roast pork cooked over a stack burning Qurans (don't have any? Just request enough from any Mosque, be sure to inform the Mullah how many pounds of pork you will be cooking.)
Wash it all down with "Allah's Swine Sperm Beer" from Mecca, brewed right in the Kaaba slaughter house.
#17
Blast your eyes, phil_b! I've been meaning to post that same Chinese barbecue sauce recipe for the last few days. I was trying to work my around the globe with a string of international recipes. I'm putting it up tomorrow with a few other ingredients included that make this into one of the most incredibly tasty marinades you can imagine. I just had it last night on two marinated boneless pork chops with the remaining sauce over some rice and it was sheer perfection.
Note to trailing wife. You might want to consider trying the Sabaw ng Sinigang Philippine sour soup recipe I posted yesterday. The pork could be left out and it would still be very satisfying with all the other vegetables, fish and shellfish. I don't know if your dietary restrictions also declare shellfish to be haram trafe, but even with just some nice firm fish in it, this dish would still be quite tasty.
Nice to see you going whole hog for Ramadan there, mcsegeek1. Not that exJAG's four-speed pork pizza is something to squeal sneeze at.
Keep up the good work! We're averaging six recipes per day for a total of two dozen so far. If we maintain this pace, we'll have around 150 recipes by the end of Ramadan. Then I'll bust loose with another slough of non-pork recipes to keep things running with the "A Rantburg Holiday" series. Go Team Rantburg!
" 'Twas the night before Ramadan, all thru the house, was pork marinading,
piggies were soused..."
Posted by: Grunter 2006-09-29 15:35
With no authority from anyone or any body, with powers bestowed to no one, I hereby accept this occasion to anoint you with the Rantburg Ramadan Carol of the Day.
We are talking past each other, the left and right in America. I suppose we always did, but I'm noticing it more. We have different intellectual styles (rather too emotive, arguably too linear), start with different assumptions, and recognize different data. We could be speaking different languages. Which is odd, since all half the country does is talk. (The other half puts roofs on houses.) You'd think they'd find a way to break through.
And so I come to Bill Clinton and Fox News Channel. A week after it aired, the interview still dominates the dinner party. Did he rouse his base? I think so. Did he remind everyone else of what they find objectionable in him? I know so.
But in Manhattan this week at gatherings of hungry liberals--they are feeling frisky, they can smell victory coming, though this is not necessarily indicative of anything, as Manhattan liberals are traditionally the last to know, and occasionally and endearingly concede they are the last--the conversation wasn't really about Clinton, but Fox News.
One can't exaggerate how large Fox looms in the liberal imagination. They see it as huge and mighty and credit it with almost mythical powers. It is a propaganda channel whose mission it is to destroy the Democratic Party. That's part of why Clintons' performance had such salience. Finally he was standing up to an evil empire.
It is odd that they are so spooked. In October America is set to become a nation of 300 million. What a big country. Fox News's average evening prime-time viewership is less than two million. Its average daytime is less than a million. And if my mail is an indication, they're already Republicans. Fox's power is that it is an alternative to the mainstream media. It did not take its shape by deeply inhaling liberalism and slowly breathing it out.
The left sees Fox as a symptom and promoter of anarchy. The old unity, the old essential unity one used to experience when one turned on the TV in 1950 or 1980, has been fractured, broken up. We are becoming balkanized. Fox, blogs, talk radio, the Internet, citizen reporters--it's all producing cacophony, and heralds a future of No Compromise. No one trusts the information they're given anymore, as they trusted Uncle Walter. This is bad for the country.
It is an odd thing about modern liberals that they're made anxious by the unsanctioned. A conservative is more likely to see what's happening as freedom. It isn't that honest and impartial news lost its place of respect, it's that establishment liberalism lost its journalistic monopoly. And it was a monopoly.
Not everyone believed Uncle Walter. Uncle Walter, and Chet and David, were all there was. But while they reigned, Americans were buying "Conscience of a Conservative" by Barry Goldwater, and Reagan was quietly rising way out in California, and Spiro Agnew and Bill Safire were issuing mainstream hits like "effete snobs" and "nattering nabobs." In the time liberals think of as the last great unified era, Americans were rising up.
The new media did not divide us. The new media gave voice to our divisions. The result: more points of view, more subjects discussed, more data presented. This, in a great republic, a great democracy, a leader of the world in a dangerous time, is not bad but good.
But nothing comes free. All big changes have unexpected benefits and unanticipated drawbacks. Here is a loss: the man on the train.
Forty and 50 years ago, mainstream liberal media executives--middle-aged men who fought in Tarawa or Chosin, went to Cornell, and sat next to the man in the gray flannel suit on the train to the city, who hoisted a few in the bar car, and got off at Greenwich or Cos Cob, Conn.--those great old liberals had some great things in them.
One was a high-minded interest in imposing certain standards of culture on the American people. They actually took it as part of their mission to elevate the country. And from this came..."Omnibus."
When I was a child of 8 or so I looked up at the TV one day and saw a man cry, "My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse!" He was on a field of battle, surrounded by mud and loss. I was riveted. Later a man came on the screen and said, "Thank you for watching Shakespeare's 'Richard III.' " And I thought, as a little American child: That was something, I gotta find out what a Shakespeare is.
I got that from "Omnibus."
Those old men on the train--they were strangers, but in the age of media a stranger can change your life.
And because the men on the train had one boss, who shared their vision--he didn't want to be embarrassed that his legacy was "My Mother the Car"--and because the networks had limited competition, the pressure to live or die by ratings was not so intense as today. The competition for ad dollars wasn't so killer. They could afford an indulgence. The result was a real public service.
Now the man on the train is a relic, and no one is saying, "As the lucky holders of a broadcast license we have a responsibility to pass on the jewels of our culture to the young." In a competitive environment that would be a ticket to corporate oblivion at every network, including Fox.
TV is still great, in some ways better than ever. Freedom works.
And yet. When we deposed the old guy on the train, it wasn't all gain. No longer would the old liberals get to impose their vision. But what took its place was programming for the lowest common denominator. Things that don't make you reach. Things you don't want to teach. Eating worms on air-crash island with "Jackass."
I spoke with a network producer a few weeks ago, an old warhorse who was trying to explain his frustration at the current ratings race. He wrestled around the subject, and I cut with rude words to what I thought he was saying. "You mean it's gone from the dictatorship of a liberal elite to the dictatorship of the retarded."
Yes, he said. And it's not progress.
When liberals miss something in the media, that's what they should be missing. Not a unity that never existed but standards that were high. When conservatives say there's nothing to miss, they're wrong. We lost some bias, but we lost some standards, too.
#2
The Donks act like the Pope when Luther tacted the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Their 'truth', monopoly, and power have been challenged.
#3
Noonan needs to get out more, and stop her sophomoric worship of liberal "benevolent dictators" in the media. She should note that the lowest common denominators are most frequently seen on the liberal partisan MSM networks.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2006 18:42 Comments ||
Top||
~snip~
"You can't see that the United States is responsible for all the evil in the world because you can see so many dictators and so many bestial acts all over the world now. .... There is something in the human heart, the international human heart, that is evil," said Stone.
"That's the evil that turns its mind and ears on humanity and is able to say `I can kill a person in the name of God or religion.' This is not a human being, this a fanatic. And I fear that fanaticism is the result of our overreaction to 9/11," said Stone.
#4
Actually he means BDS has set the Democrats back at least 10 years. Oliver Stone just confuses Hollywood democrats with the entire US (think of nobles using the royal "we").
Al
Posted by: frozen al ||
09/29/2006 17:04 Comments ||
Top||
#5
That settles it, he's Stoned. Another liberal that refuses to note that Muslims have set the world back 1,450 years.
Do you remember the illegal immigrant from Mexico who was driving a bus that burst into flames and killed 23 nursing home patients who were evacuating Hurricane Rita last year in Houston?
His name is Juan Robles Gutierrez and he is a Mexican national, one of the millions who have sneaked across our border and taken a job so that he can send his income back to Monterey, where his wife and daughter live. In his case, he waded across the Rio Grande and began working for Global Limo, the company that owned the bus that burst into flames on September 23, 2005, burning 23 passengers alive.
Robles was arrested after the Dallas County Sheriff said that the evidence collected indicated that the bus drivers actions contributed to the 23 deaths.
Fast forward to today. Id like to give you a pop quiz about Mr. Robles. If you answer correctly, you will get an A.
To: N. Pelosi, H. Reid, H. Dean, E. Kennedy, J. Kerrey
CC: M.Moulisitas-Zuniga, N. Lamont
From: Reality
Subj: Loyal Opposition
We have noted in recent months a tendency on your part to extend your opposition to the current administration until it becomes support for Islamofascist jihadis. This is not healthy, for you or for the country. In fact, it could get a lot of people killed if carried too far.
There is an old concept in politics known as "the loyal opposition." I respectfully suggest you familiarize yourselves with it. Please see the attached, which is a stirling example thereof.
The Moose asks for some perspective on the war against Jihadism.
The most reactionary force on the planet is Jihadist terrorism. While some liberals fear that the American religious right would return America to the 1950's, the Islamic fascists look to the seventh century as their model. All values, ideals and freedoms that are treasured by liberals would be repealed and eliminated.
Yet, it is the right that is usually identified as the most adamant opponents of the Jihadists. Indeed, the left has increasingly embraced an amoral realism that is more in the conservative tradition than that of liberal internationalism.
Opposition to the Iraq war has much to do with this role reversal. But, it is far from clear that the top priority of the left is the war against the Jihadists. The left even rejects the labeling them fascists even though they advance a totalitarian ideology that is animated by a nihilistic hatred of "the other". It is easy to rant and rail against the American religious right, but where is the sound and fury against the radical Islamists who once again attempted through their violence to intimidate reasoned debate in the West? . . .
America remains the great hope of liberalism in a world threatened by reactionaries who seek to repeal civilization and return us to the seventh century. For the sake of the soul of progressivism, it is time for liberals to speak these truths.
Anti-Bush animus is leading lefties to lose perspective and adopt the old "Blame America First" mentality. The enemy is not us.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/29/2006 10:03 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is absolutely correct. Islamos would kill the weakest first. Of course, most liberals would immediately convert, being the gutless, useless shitbags they are. Their wimmin folk may feel betrayed at that point, but it would be too late. They would become instant chattel in a bag. Their loud, shrill voices would be silenced immediately. Their world of luxury would dissolve. Their "rights", including any right of dissent would be gone forever. All this makes it so laughable to watch these fools perform the Kabuki dance in front of the world.
The Democratic congressman running against Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell in the Ohio governors race said the states job-loss problem is not caused by high taxes or regulation, but by not having abortion on demand. He made the statement on Wednesday.
The Democratic congressman who made this statment? Liberal candidate Ted Strickland, who is trying to paint Blackwell as an extremist for being pro-life. But his comments raise the question: Who is the extremist here?
When Strickland was asked what he would do in his first 100 days to help create jobs, his reply was essentially to replace Ohio values with Hollywood values. Ohio overwhelmingly supported the marriage amendment and helped re-elect President Bush in 2004.
Cleveland Plain Dealer President and Publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger asked Strickland: "I hear taxes are an impediment to jobs in Ohio relative to other states. What are the two or three things today in the short term . . . you think is an impediment to jobs, more job creation, and population growth in Ohio?
"Im anxious about 100 days in year one . . . There are a lot of things you can pay attention to and try to do. Im really curious about those specifics . . . so [regarding] the impediments to jobs, what would you do in the first hundred days of the first year?
Here is Stricklands reply: "Ohios got a big problem with its image and with its attitude.
"Part of the image and part of the attitude I think that is holding back Ohio making it much less attractive to those who would invest or choose to come here is the social climate that is being promoted by my opponent. I mean its almost anti-science in my judgment. I believe in Northeast Ohio, stem cell research is a big deal.
"I talked to the head of the Ireland Cancer Center the other day and I toured that facility. He said he was [looking] forward to the day when he felt like the constraints would no longer be there so we can do what we must do in terms of medical research. This is not a little issue. Its a huge issue in my judgment.
"Attitudes about a womans right to choose and embracing an attitude that a woman should not be able to choose an abortion even to save her life is so far out of the mainstream. All of these things paint a picture of Ohio, I think nationally and perhaps even internationally, as a backward state.
"So we need to change our image and I think that can happen almost immediately with new leadership.
Ah, I see. Nothing wrong with Ohio that opening a few more abortion mills wouldn't cure. This guy's truly foul. Ohio, if you elect him, I've no sympathy for you.
According to my personal understanding of the Christian faith, it means to follow the example of Jesus into a life of service to others. It is a moral necessity for me to make this teaching the central organizing principle of what I do.
Now how do you suppose he squares all that with being a paid lackey for Planned Parenthood?
Posted by: Mike ||
09/29/2006 10:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That's easy Mike. Haven't you heard their latest talking points? It goes like this: What would Jesus have done? He would have had more day care, health care and birth control available for women. He would have increased taxes to pay support for the poor.
I heard Laura Ingram totally smack down one of these guys on the radio last weekend. His thing was, in a nutshell, you need to increase welfare, daycare, healthcare, raise the minimum wage and provide job services for women to decrease the need for abortions. That's what Jesus would have done, by God.
If you are a Christian, this was actually a very funny (and interesting) exchange. These "Christians" are so clueless as to the fundamental concepts of Christianity they think they are making some serious inroads into the Christian voter pool. And I'm sure they pick up some votes from that same gene pool that sent checks to the likes of Tammy Faye. But this guy was going on and on and Laura would smack him down by asking pointed questions and he never even have a clue he'd been hit.
#3
These "Christians" are so clueless as to the fundamental concepts of Christianity they think they are making some serious inroads into the Christian voter pool
Referring to the nouveau-religious-left, it's good you put "Christians" in quotes. Christians are not fooled by this sophistry.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."
#4
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
This is exactly what those who don't understand Christianity don't get. (And I say this as someone who spent the majority of my life not getting Christianity) Christianity is not just a membership in a club. It is not just blind adherence to a text. You can't fake the dialog if you don't get it. And when you do get it, it's pretty tough to argue with the truth. And these "red letter Christians", as they apparently call themselves, don't get it.
You know what it always reminds me of. It reminds me of a young person arguing against the benefits accumulative interest. If you don't get it, you can't discuss the benefits or lack there of. And you can't fake it with people who do get it.
The violence by Muslims responding to comments by the pope fit a pattern that has been building and accelerating since 1989.
Six times since then Westerners have done or said something that has triggered death threats and violence in the Muslim world. Looking at them in the aggregate offers useful insights.
1989 - Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses prompted Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a death edict against him and his publishers, on the grounds that the book "is against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran." Subsequent rioting led to more than 20 deaths, mostly in India.
1997 - The US Supreme Court refused to remove a 1930s frieze showing Muhammad as lawgiver that decorates the main court chamber; the Council on American-Islamic Relations made an issue of this, leading to riots and injuries in India.
2002 - American Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell called Muhammad a "terrorist," leading to church burnings and at least 10 deaths in India.
2005 - An incorrect story in Newsweek reporting that American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay "in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Koran down a toilet" was picked up by the famous Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, and prompted protests around the Muslim world, leading to at least 15 deaths.
February 2006 - The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of Muhammad, spurring a Palestinian imam in Copenhagen, Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, to excite Muslim opinion against the Danish government. He succeeded so well that hundreds died, mostly in Nigeria.
September 2006 - Pope Benedict XVI quoted a Byzantine emperor's views that what is new in Islam is "evil and inhuman," prompting the firebombing of churches and the murder of several Christians.
These six rounds show a near-doubling in frequency: eight years between the first and second rounds, then five, then three, one and none.
THE FIRST instance - Khomeini's edict against Salman Rushdie - came as a complete shock, for no one had hitherto imagined that a Muslim dictator could tell a British citizen living in London what he could not write about.
Seventeen years later, calls for the execution of the pope (including one at Westminster Cathedral in London) have acquired a too-familiar quality. The outrageous has become routine, almost predictable. As Muslim sensibilities have grown more excited, Western ones have become more phlegmatic.
Incidents started in Europe (Rushdie, Danish cartoons, Pope Benedict) have grown much larger than those based in the US (Supreme Court, Jerry Falwell, Koran flushing), reflecting the greater efficacy of Islamist aggression against Europeans than against Americans.
ISLAMISTS IGNORE subtleties. Rushdie's magical realism, the positive intent of the Supreme Court frieze, the falsehood of the Koran-flushing story (ever tried putting a book down a toilet?), the benign nature of the Danish cartoons or the subtleties of Benedict's speech - none of these mattered.
What rouses Muslim crowds and what does not is somewhat unpredictable. Rushdie's novel was not nearly as offensive to Muslim sensibilities as a host of other writings, medieval, modern and contemporary. Other American evangelists have said worse things about Muhammad than did Falwell (Jerry Vines called the Muslim prophet "a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives") without violence ensuing. Why did Norwegian preacher Runar S gaard's deeming Muhammad "a confused pedophile" remain a local dispute while the Danish cartoons went global?
One answer is that Islamists having international reach (Khomeini, CAIR, Imran Khan, Abu Laban) usually play a key role in transforming a general sense of displeasure into an operational fury. If no Islamist agitates, the issue remains relatively quiet.
The extent of the violence is even more unpredictable - one could not anticipate the cartoons causing the most fatalities and the pope's quote the fewest.
And why so much violence in India?
These incidents also spotlight a total lack of reciprocity by Muslims. The Saudi government bans Bibles, crosses and Stars of David, while Muslims routinely publish disgusting cartoons of Jews.
NO CONSPIRACY lies behind these six rounds of inflammation and aggression, but examined in retrospect they coalesce and form a single, prolonged campaign of intimidation, with more sure to come.
The basic message - "You Westerners no longer have the privilege to say what you will about Islam, the Prophet and the Koran; Islamic law rules you too" - will return again and again until Westerners either submit or Muslims realize their effort has failed.
The writer is director of the Middle East Forum and author of Miniatures.
www.DanielPipes.org
#4
The extent of the violence is even more unpredictable - one could not anticipate the cartoons causing the most fatalities and the pope's quote the fewest.
Unless you factor in Laban's intentional inclusion of two patently false images that were intensely more derogatory than the Danish drawings and not published by Jyllands-Posten. Laban has refused to identify the source for them as well.
These incidents also spotlight a total lack of reciprocity by Muslims. The Saudi government bans Bibles, crosses and Stars of David, while Muslims routinely publish disgusting cartoons of Jews.
Which must become the rallying cry against Islam. The complete and total lack of reciprocity from Muslims must end, or we must forcibly depose all Islamic governments in the name of religious freedom.
#8
The Moslem rising anger is concomitant with their downfall relative to the Western world. Without our money paying for the oil we found and processed and used they would still live in feudal societies stuck on pre-enlightenment technology. And a huge majority of the world wouldn't know or care what that death cult is.
Another Claude Moniquet editorial; link is a pdf. By Claude MONIQUET, President of ESISC
Two weeks ago, a reference by Pope Benedict XVI to an obscure controversy a thousand years old provoked the anger of a certain Muslim populace: "Show me what Mahomet has brought that is new and you will find only what is diabolic and inhuman, such as his order to spread the faith by the sword," said Byzantine Emperor Martin II Paleologus (who died on 22 July 1425 hardly the latest news) to a Persian sage. By citing those words without in any way endorsing them, the Pope caused a storm. Churches burned in the Middle East, a nun who had devoted her life to helping children was murdered in Somalia, and fanatical crowds in Indonesia led by enraged madrassa students brandished replica weapons while beating portraits of the Holy Father, all in an effort to show thatIslam is a religion of peace.
A few days ago in Germany, out of concerns for political correctness, the prestigious Deutsche Oper the opera of Berlin cancelled its production of Idomeneo, an opera written by Mozart in 1781 and considered offensive to Islam because Idomeneo the King of Crete brandishes the decapitated head of Muhammad.
Since the day before yesterday, a professor of philosophy in the south of France, Robert Redeker, has now to live under police protection for having written in Le Figaro an article in which he describes the prophet Muhammad as "a pitiless warlord, pillager, slaughterer of Jews and polygamous husband". We ought also to mention as a reminder that Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a political refugee and elected member of parliament, had to leave the Netherlands and take refuge in the United States because her life had been threatened in her adoptive country, and she had been abandoned by the authorities there. The same Netherlands, that is, where film-maker Theo Van Gogh had his throat cut on an Amsterdam street in November 2004 for having directed a short film offensive to Islam.
I might also be permitted to recall that I myself was on leaving a Belgian TV studio in September 2004 by a celebrity who considered I had "insulted Islam" in a broadcast devoted to the third anniversary of September 11. It was a Moderate Muslim footballer (soccer player).
I sustained a concussion and was unable to work for three weeks. But unlike the unfortunate Van Gogh, I am still alive. Alive enough, at any rate, to call out and declare that enough is enough! Hardly a week goes by any more, and hardly even a day, without a reminder of the intolerable reality: Islam, through the terror spread about by some adherents and sadly by the silence of the others had taken for itself an unthinkable position by placing itself above all criticism, and indeed all comment.
Enough! Islam is not above another other religion or creed. In Europe we have obtained the right to freedom of religion that is, the freedom to have a religion or not to have one at all, as well as to change from one to the other and back should we see fit, whatever the view of a rigorous Islam which sees the punishment for apostasy as death. Our forefathers fought for the freedom of expression we now enjoy. We fought for a secular society, or at least for the neutrality of the state in religious matters, to our benefit. And those freedoms imply the right to criticise all beliefs, ideas and religions. I may blaspheme if I wish: the law and custom authorise me to. If I wish to say or write that Jesus was an impostor, Yahweh a cruel god and Muhammad a bloodthirsty prophet, that is my right and none may take it from me.
They might try. Faced with their sort; with those who monopolise the right to speak in the name of Islam; who give it a hideous and hateful image of beheadings and stonings, of the ripped-off heads and limbs of suicide bombers and mass murderers an image which has nothing to do with the real faith the Muslim community is too often silent. Some "might" disagree here, and I'm not too sure myself of the existence of MMM (not too mention their influence...), but Moniquet is a non-idiotarian who believes the affirmation of western values against multiculturalism and integration/assimilation of moderate muslims are the answer, at least for "european" islam; in that regard, he's a moderate himself.
Some voices are raised, courageously, like that of our friend Mezri Haddad writing in Libération a few days ago: "Those who today cry conspiracy, where were they when so many atrocities were being committed and are still being committed in the name of the Quran?
What does more damage to Islam: a citation without endorsement from a 15th century manuscript, or the indiscriminate murder of men, women and children in the name of a perverted conception of jihad?"
Yes, where were they? And where are the secular Europeans who ought to have the courage to defend their freedom yet who trade it not for a mess of potage, but for the detestable political correctness? It is time to rise up, all of us together, Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists and others to state loudly and clearly: liberty is our law in Europe. It is written into our Constitutions, our laws and our customs, and we have no need and no desire of any other law. Let those who are not satisfied with that state of affairs go and live elsewhere. There is after all no shortage from Somalia to Saudi Arabia, and from Sudan to Iran of totalitarian states which kill and repress in the name of god. All we ask is respect for our rights, which include the right, if need be, to blaspheme.
On the first of July 1766, the Chevalier de la Barre was executed his hand cut off and his tongue ripped out before he was beheaded for a supposed blasphemy. Voltaire was one of his defenders. Today the Islamists and those who, by their silence and their cowardice, pave the way for the Islamists, would have us return to the days of such horrors. That is a backwards leap 240 years into the past which we will not tolerate.
#1
It is time to rise up, all of us together,
Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists and others to state loudly and clearly: liberty is our law in Europe.
Women too. We are the largest group with the most at risk.
Pharisee: "You have been found guilty, by the elders of the town, of uttering the name of our Lord.....and so as a BLASPHEMER!...you are to be stoned to death!"
Mathias: "Look, I had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was 'that piece of Halibut was good enough for Jehovah'."
Pharisee: "THERE! He said it again! Did you hear him?"
Crowd: "Yes!...yes!...yes!".
Mathias: "Look, I don't think it ought to be blasphemy, just saying Jehovah".
Pharisee: "You're only making it worse for yourself!"
Mathias: "Making it worse? How could it be worse? JEHOVAH! JEHOVAH! JEHOVAH!"
#3
"All we ask is respect for our rights, which include the right, if need be, to blaspheme."
Until I read this line I was somewhat heartened by the article, thinking some Europeans may have finally awoken to the physical threat islamists pose. But asking for respect for western rights by Islamists is like asking a zombie to not eat my brains because I have such beautiful thoughts.
#4
"What does more damage to Islam: a citation without endorsement from a 15th century manuscript, or the indiscriminate murder of men, women and children in the name of a perverted conception of jihad?"
-I'd say what does more damage to our personal freedoms is guys like this believing that these muslims are perverting the concept of jihad. I'd say they are following jihad to the tee as they've been taught from the koran.
#5
Moniquet is no fool, he's just a republican (small r), and an optimist. He's very aware of the jihad thingie beyond the terror, but he hopes the muslims wishing to join western values he believes in will do so if we stand firm.
He's one of the few anti-idiotarian voices here, don't belittle him because he's not a "kill'em all" guy, please, even if I personally agree it's too little, too late, and the MMM won't come in to save the day.
#7
What does more damage to Islam: a citation without endorsement from a 15th century manuscript, or the indiscriminate murder of men, women and children in the name of a perverted conception of jihad?"
Bottom line. When Islam renounces violent jihad, that last line might make some sense. Until then, jihad is merely another name for crimes against humanity.
I'm here to drop a coprolite in that particular punchbowl. I'm opposed to conciliation, and I'll give you five reasons why it's a bad idea:
- - - - - - - - - - 1. It's wrong.
2. It's a strategic blunder.
3. It will never achieve its objective.
4. It's a one-way ratchet.
5. We harm ourselves when we do it.
These reasons run the gamut from simple moral calculus to the cold appraisal of self-interest.
Why has the Middle East been on Singapore's radar screen for the last few years? Because 220 million Muslims live in Indonesia, to our south, and another 20 million in Malaysia and southern Thailand, to our north. In 1991 these Muslim populations were not riled over Desert Storm in Iraq. But in 2003 they became agitated over what they saw as a bloodbath in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The unending crisis between the Israelis and Palestinians and the perceived double standards of the U.S. have also stoked Muslim anger. Muslims recently vented their anger over Lebanon by demonstrating against Israel's bombing of Lebanon and the U.S.' delaying of the UN Security Council's resolution calling for a halt to hostilities.
When U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kuala Lumpur on July 27 to meet with ASEAN leaders, the youth wing of the ruling party, UMNO, led by Oxford-educated Deputy Chief Khairy Jamaluddin, demonstrated vigorously in protest. These demonstrations, carried on TV and in the press, gained kudos for UMNO Youth from many Muslims, especially the young.
Until the 1980s Malays in Malaysia identified themselves first as Malays, second as Muslims and third as Malaysians. Recent polls have disclosed a fundamental shift: 73% identify themselves first as Muslims, 14% as Malaysians and 13% as Malays. Malay-sian Muslim attitudes have turned hostile toward the U.S. and its allies because of the bloodshed in Iraq between coalition forces and the insurgents.
#2
Well I guess the secret got out. Just as 19 known muslim terrorists happened to fly 2 planes into the WTC towers, Bush and Cheney bombed them from within. What a phalkin coincidence.
The world is full of mindless retards. Most are either democrats or muslims.
update to this RB post
This past Monday, I took to this floor for the eighth time to discuss global warming. My speech focused on the myths surrounding global warming and how our national news media has embarrassed itself with a 100-year documented legacy of coverage on what turned out to be trendy climate science theories.
Over the last century, the media has flip-flopped between global cooling and warming scares. At the turn of the 20th century, the media peddled an upcoming ice age -- and they said the world was coming to an end. Then in the 1930s, the alarm was raised about disaster from global warming -- and they said the world was coming to an end. Then in the 70s, an alarm for another ice age was raised -- and they said the world was coming to an end. And now, today we are back to fears of catastrophic global warming -- and again they are saying the world is coming to an end.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
