Live streaming of HCR conference showing amount of contributions to speakers by major industries -- as they are speaking.

Hope they took their Do-Doz

Harry Reid speaking at the Health Summit.  Only Obama is pretending to be awake -- and he's faking it.

My newest addiction...

Also, perhaps the world's messiest food.
Recipe and Text from The Recovering Vegetarian
/http://therecoveringvegetarian.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/sriracha-lime-boiled-peanuts/


Sriracha-Lime Boiled Peanuts

• 1lb raw peanuts, in shells
• 8oz soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup sriracha chili sauce (Feel free to increase this as much as you like)
• 1 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• handful of fresh cilantro leaves
• 2Tbsp rice vinegar

As far as recipes go, this one is pretty darn simple. Grab the biggest pot you’ve got on hand and toss in your peanuts. Fill with water, add all your other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then turn it down to a gentle simmer. Keep an eye on your water level and periodically pop out a peanut, unshell and taste. Adjust the seasonings to suit your taste, enjoy the smell as you come to check on it. These are definitely the most fragrant peanuts I’ve ever made. You’ll know yours are done when the shells are pliable and the nuts inside are soft and flavorful. (Mine took about six hours?)
When they’re done, place a generous serving in a bowl and toss with red pepper flakes and another small handful of cilantro leaves. If you have any left over, some people drain theirs and store them in the refrigerator that way, I prefer to store them in some of the cooking liquid. They taste even better the next day that way!

Press the Meat

(email to Carol 2/14):
I didn't know that Rachel Maddow needed to be toned down.  I watched some of the show you referred to and frankly if I were her I would need to be toned down if I had to put up with these three right wing clowns on the show.  There was some congressman (R-IL?) who just mouthed a bunch of cliches,  David Brooks who does the same but with a "concerned" and "sincere" tone (for our own good, mind you) and that idiot Ford who sez he is a Dem (and sez he lives in NY) while being a total right winger who lives in Tenn for tax purposes --and still can't win an election.  It would be nice if Mr. Gregory asked questions that did not assume there was any legitimacy to this outrage over a civilian trial for KSM in NY rather than what it is -- a successfully orchestrated attack worthy of Rove-Cheney (hey -- it probably IS Rove-Cheney).  Even Bloomberg (Sp?) was fine with it until someone got to him.  (Schumer is a whore for Israel, so I won't even go there.  Although he does have some good qualities.)*  Rachel Maddow was very calm and -- fact based.  Yikes!  What a concept. Far more interesting was C Amanpour with Jane Mayer on her (C's) CNN show this morning in which she brought up the success of this backlash thing.  Mayer** said that Obama's team didn't immediately and/or effectively counter it and that part of this was that Rahm Emmanuel was not for civilian trials, party due to a deal he cut with Lindsay Graham, some quid pro quo thing.  

Sorry.  But I LIKE getting all worked up! -- kg

*OK, I know that sounds awful.  But I really think that pretty much all politicians are whores, it is just a matter of who they are whoring for and how pretty they are...

** "The Dark Side"   This book, along with Suskind's "One % Doctrine" contained a lot of information regarding interrogation techniques and the results before the MSM found itself unable to them ignore any longer. 

I guess I just need to remind myself that it is called "Meet the Press" -- not "Meet the Experts" or "Meet People Who Have Brains."  Although Cheney made appearances with Tim Russert (Cheney wouldn't go on the other shows back then).  So maybe Tim was the Press and Cheney was meeting him.  It is all so confusing!

I did catch Cheney on This Week with some guy named Karl doing the hosting.  I never heard of this Karl guy.  Have heard of Cheney, but thought he was in prison. 

From Ezra Klein -- WAPO

Primary sources

A reader got his hands on the note that Richard Shelby delivered to Harry Reid informing him of the blanket hold. You can read it here. Shocking stuff.

A pair of Canadian Honkers in the pasture this morning.

(These three were swimming online.  My old fashioned phone does not have a camera.)

Bipartisanship as cover for corporate giveaways....

How Bipartisanship Hurts the Country
by Cenk Uygur | February 3, 2010 - 12:16pm | permalink 

Excerpt:  

"Every one of these so-called compromises wound up helping corporate America. There was never a compromise that was against corporate interests and there never will be. You can use this as a measuring stick from now on. Whenever there is a bipartisan agreement in Congress from now on, look to see who benefits from it -- I guarantee you that ninety-nine out of one hundred times it will be corporate America.
And the Democrats are perfectly happy to do this because they take the same, if not more, amount of money from those same corporate lobbyists. Except they have the meddlesome problem of pretending to be for the people. Republicans are not burdened with this; everyone expects them to help the rich and the powerful. But the Democrats need cover, and they have the perfect excuse in the mantle of bipartisanship. What could they do, the Republicans made them do it! And aren't they so reasonable for compromising?"

Note the last paragraphs re: Chris Dodd and financial reform.