"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
My only argument is his rendering of “john” for [???] ???? ???
See Today’s Translated Terror Update/Statement From Al-Qaida In The Land Of The Two Rivers
(Please make some small allowance for my complete reliance on machine translation of the original Arabic communiqué from (n)Al Cue-da. Such poetic names for things… )
Well, not in a Baptist (or Lutheran or Presbyterian or… ) church, perhaps. 🙂
According to the majority of reports I’ve seen (in various places), the song represented in the pic (above) and the text (below) was one of the favorite (if not the favorite) hymns of Karol Jozef Wojtyla, also known as Pope John Paul II. For those of y’all who, like me, do not read, speak or even understand how Polish can even be read spoken…or understood *s*, the translation is, I’m assured, pretty close to the Polish text in every sense except for syllabes matching up with the tune. (Thx to J.C. on C-M-D for locating the pic and the lyrics)
Interesting. I’m not a big fan of Mariology (or as most in my circle might call it, “Mariolotry” *heh*),
but it’s still interesting. Verse 1 in the pic, two more verses below.
Serdeczna Matko
Serdeczna Matko, opiekunko ludzi.
Niech Cie placz sierot do litosei wzbudzi.
Wygnancy Ewy do Ciebie wolamy.
Zmilujsie zmiluj niech sie nie tulamy.Do kogoz mamy, wzdychac nadzne dziatki.
Pylko do Ciebie ukochanej Matki.
U ktorej serce otwarte kazdemu.
A osobliwie nedza strapionemuBeloved Mother, guardian of our nation.
O hearken to our supplication.
Your loyal children kneeling we beseech you.
Grant us the graces to be loyal to you.Where shall we seek our solace in distress?
Where shall we turn, whom guilt and sin oppress?
Thine open heart, our refuge e’er shall be.
When trials assail us on life’s stormy sea.
When I get a chance, I may just play with transcribing the pic of the hymn into a more usable (readable/singable) version. Better (for voices) key, for one thing. 
May 18, 1920—April 2, 2005—eternity.
By all accounts, a decent Christian man.
Requiescat in pace, Karol Jozef Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II. Until we meet.
Bye-bye.
“Clearly what the schools need is more money and higher salaries for principals. That will fixe [sic] everything.”
Jerry Pournelle’s sarcasm pencil is sharp today.
🙂
Of the top five problems I see in “prisons for kids” (also disingenuously called “public schools”) today, every level of administration has to rank close to the top. I have been privileged to know two intelligent and capable principals. Neither are principals, now. One retired and another was promoted to his level of incompetence. The rest? Object lessons in how idiots, bullies and poltroons suck up public funds.
While I have never found the axiom “Those who can do; those who can’t teach” to be a universal truth (I know some very fine teachers), I know of only two exceptions to this axiom: “Those who can teach bust a gut to do so in the face of almost overwhelming opposition from theose who can’t teach: administrators.”
Of course, many who can teach simply leave in the face of such overwhelming opposition to teaching/learning, often leaving a sad mix of beaten down teachers and lazy (and sometimes even stupid) bums putting their time in until retirement.
*Remove remote dictates to local schools. And invite to a “tea party” then shoot (or hang, I don’t really care) the politicians and bureaucrats who attempt to insinuate themselves into local schools from afar.
*Fire (or hang, for all I care) all the administrators (and mourn for the few good ones caught in the housecleaning).
*Require responsible behavior from both students and parents (dump—”viciously” prune from the student body—students who refuse to learn. Put ’em in labor camps for all I care.)
*Sweep out the bums marking time to retirement. Buying them out would be better than letting them stay. (“Three generations of idiots is enough” *heh*)
*Burn to the ground all the colleges’ and universities’ education departments. Send the professors to labor camps to work alongside with the products of their theories.
I know this may sound a bit harsh, but It’s For the Childrenâ„¢, so surely it’d fly… All one need to is repeat the mantra over and over, It’s For the Childrenâ„¢… It’s For the Childrenâ„¢… It’s For the Childrenâ„¢…
And you know the really neat thing? Since Judge Greer has laid down the principal that severely mentally/physically handicapped people can be… capped, all that would be needed to get the ball rolling would be for a judge to declare some “school” administrators to be in a “Persistant Vegetative State” and there we are! I’m sure that after that, we’d have “education” professors lining up and begging for slots in work camps…
Neat, huh?
No. You DON’T want to know…
No energy for blogging (or darned near anything else) today. Just this: you’ve noticed the weird disconnect between Sandy Berger’s (now-admitted) crimes (h/t Instapundit) and the slap on the wrist he is getting, as opposed to the “slap her upside the head with the LA phone book” approach the feds took to Martha Stewart’s non-crime (previously noted here and here).
Do note again: NEVER cooperate with the feds.(h/t: David Burkhead via Jerry Pournelle’s Current Mail). They will “Martha” you if they want to. Only if you’re an insider doing the bidding of a corrupt former president will you get a bye like Berger…
Oh, there’s much more, but this Berger slap on the wrist just makes me sick. (or maybe it’s something else causing the runs, I dunno… ) Whatever, I’d like to put a “special gift” down Berger’s pants for the Fourth of July. Won’t do it, of course, but mostly because the resultant spread of waste matter would be toxic. OK, wouldn’t do it even if there were a way to control the spread of Berger waste. It’s just such a picture of justice.
I hope he lives a very, very long time and learns some shame. It’s a forlorn hope*, I know. Such weasels are not born with a conscience and there’s little hope of him developing one at his advanced stage of moral decomposition, but one can dream, eh?
But it’s hard to wrap my mind around the thought that yesterday (03/31/05) stands as such a picture of the death of justice in America. On the one hand we have a helpless, profoundly disabled woman murdered via torture by judicial fiat. On the other, Sandy Berger arranges with his buddies in the feds to get a slap on the wrist and essentially walk for having stolen and destroyed classified documents relating to the Clintoonistas’ handling of anti-terrorist measures.**
*note: yes, I know I’m misusing the military term “forlorn hope” in a non-military context. But just imagine hopes that slime like Berger are even able to develop a conscience as a “hope” sent out ahead of the advance of an army of citizen warriors fighting for some sort of ethics in business, government, etc. Sure, it’s bound to be shot down, but maybe it can be an example of the best we can hope for and buy the army time to rally… Yeh, a sad, weak analogy, but I told you up front I have no energy for this today. Just doing this now cos I really can’t do anything else right now…
**”Clintoonistas”? Yeh. , That whole administration reminded me of a bad caricature of banana republic corruption. Still does.
Tatoo this one to the insides of your eyelids
Yes, it’s come to this. Remember Martha Stewart. Then, read this: What NOT to do – When Federal Agents Come Knocking:
“… Don’t talk to a federal investigator of any kind, for any reason, ever, on or off the record. It’s always on the record. Worden’s Rule 1: Stick your tongue between your teeth and bite down until the blood flows. Do not admit to anything. Especially, do not deny anything. Remain mute, no matter how long they try to drag the interview out. Even if an attorney representing you is present, say nothing unless in the privacy of his/her office.”
I was brought up to cooperate with the authorities, but that’s a thing of the past. More and more the petty tyrants of bureaucracies, law enforcement, all the big and little nosy parkers of government, are becoming less and less ‘servants of the people” and more and more enemies of those they purportedly serve.
When asked by any such for “help,” just shut up. Not. One. Word.
Dan (Riehl World View) “NYTs” Krugman: all the news that’s fit to fake
“Krugman Leaves Times for NRO/Invasion of the Headline Snatchers”
“Fairy tales can come true/It can happen to you… “_*_
🙂
(Apologies to George Carlin)
“… it’s Nine O’Clock in Chicago… In America’s Third World County?, it’s 7:42; time for the Eleven O’Clock Report.” Yeh, I only recall the 7:42 part with anything approaching accuracy. And it was Baltimore. Anyway, a couple of interesting convergent posts in divergent places over the last two days. Both asking (and partially answering) the eternal question: It’s past curfew; do you know where your credit cards are?
This one at The Bleat has James Lileks relating a cautionary tale about a call from his credit card company. Here’s a taste:
“And just the other day I was blithely dismissing worries about shopping on the web. Then again, for all I know someone made an impression of the card at a restaurant; that?s still the easiest way to get someone?s credit card number. Anyway, it?s all a mystery. It can?t be connected to those troubles PayPal is having with their database ? I answered that email right away and entered my information into their new supersecret computers. I didn?t know they were co-located in Bulgaria, but you learn something every day.
(Just. Kidding.)”
This post tells of an identity theft victim turning the tables on the perpetrators (h/t Joe Zeff commenting at Pournelle’s Current Mail) Ovid goes Sam Spade all over some identity thieves:
“I’m so mad about this that the obvious doesn’t sink in for a bit. I have interesting information. You don’t have breakfast mail-ordered. These thieves were at that restaurant and that’s a local zip code….”
Cracks the case and even gets the cops to respond (!!!!). Good on him.
From a discussion on Jerry Pournelle’s Current Mail page:
I see they’re now discussing putting the Pope on a feeding tube.
And in a surprise announcement, Michael Shiavo says the Pope once told him that he wouldn’t want to live that way.
As long as the Pope avoids Judge Greer, et al…
More at the link about strange bedfellows.
…then it must be time for me to start planning weekend meals
So, here’s a big part of a Saturday meal. heck, with just two of us, now, it’ll last through Sunday (and with WonderWoman going off to a conference Sunday afternoon, it looks like I’ll even have some on Monday). So, I’d better have something good.
And easy, naturally.
Sooo…
Note: getting my family to eat something called “grits” is a challenge. I still can’t get ’em to eat plain ole grits as a breakfast dish. Not even with crumbled bacon and lotsa butter. Go figure. Must be the Nordic genes craving *lutefisk* instead… *yech!*
This is my modification (naturally) of my mom’s recipe. Since she’s now in her 80s and has been making this for at least 40 years or so, even though I’ve enjoyed it like this, I called to check a couple of things before I wrote this one down. Check’s OK with the REAL cook in the family (with one warning below), so it’s a go. The only amounts below that are pretty well set in stone are the liquid measures and the grits. Everything else, the garlic, onion, bacon and green chiles, can all be vaied in lotsa ways for differing tastes and still end up with delicious Chile Cheese Grits.
8 slices of cooked bacon, fat trimmed, crumbled (or 1/2 C or more packaged bacon bits)
1 C milk (low fat or skim’s ok–see “cheese” below 🙂
2 C water
1 C quick grits–really, don’t take the time with the regular grits. (Less time=lower chance of grits sticking to the pan. 🙂
1 C grated Cheddar/Jack cheese mixed. Any cheese that melts well, apart from mozarella, will do.
1/4 C (or maybe a lil more) sour cream
2 Tbs butter/margarine/olive oil–whatever (actually, I prefer bacon grease)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 can chopped green chiles
2 eggs (beaten)
Oven at 350° F; greased baking dish; coupla pans for prep (sauce pan, frying pan).
Combine the milk and water in a saucepan and bring to just under a boil, then add the quick grits. Reduce the heat and let ’em cook for about 5 minutes. Stir every now and then.
While the grits are cooking, between stirs chop/mince the onion garlic and get them ready for the dish. If you fried the bacon up instead of using packaged bacon bits, sauté the onion and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of bacon fat until just clear. Otherwise, use the butter/margarine/olive oil to sauté the onion/garlic.
OK, now the grits and everything else is ready, dump the onion, garlic, bacon bits, green chiles, (beaten) eggs and cheese together in the grits saucepan and stir well, then dump the mixture in the baking dish. Give it about 30-40 minutes at 350°. My mom says, “Watch it to make sure it doesn’t get too browned.” Remove, let it sit a bit and then serve. It’s great with pinto or red beans, ham, or even as a breakfast side with eggs and salsa.
NOTE: for a “creamier” grits base, add more milk… I’ve been successful with UP TO one additional cup, but it does tend to be a LOT looser the more milk you add, so be careful. Adjust after a few tries to get the end consistency you want.
Note #2: I’ve wanted to try this with chorizo instead of bacon, but I never seem to have chorizo and grits handy at the same time, and chorizo hasn’t been all that easy to come by in America’s Third World Countyâ„¢ until quite recently, anyway… If you try it with a sub for the bacon,let me know how it goes for you, eh?
Mincing garlic: a mini-tutorial
Clove of garlic on cutting board. Lightly crush the clove flat with the side of your chef’s knife. Remove skin. Do NOT clip off the root end! Use the root end as a handle and quickly slice lengthwise from shoot end toward stem. Hey! Keep your fingers outa the way! Now, chop across the garlic. Now whale away at it. Voilà ! Neat lil minced pieces. Want a bolder garlic flavor in the dish? Use a garlic press. It’ll release more of the oils and “mince” the garlic even finer.
UPDATE: DO NOTE that I never make this dish exactly as noted above. Tonight was no exception. Happily, it turned out better than usual. Here’s the variation for tonight.
I was running a lil late, so I “compacted” some of the steps. I “microwave-sautéed” the onion/garlic. Saved some prep and cleanup time. I also tried something I’d been thinking of (not the chorizo—that’ll have to be another time) for a while. I added the “microwave-sautéed” onion/garlic and the green chiles (about 8oz this time) to the water/milk mixture as it was heating knowing full well that it would “clabber” the milk. Nice lil quasi-cheese addition to the dish. It really added something nice, I think. Mixed EVERYTHING except the eggs and let it sit in the saucepan for a bit while I whisked the eggs. Eggs in, mixed quickly and immediately into the oiled casserole dish, then oven. Saved using a pan for sauté-ing, cut a few minutes prep and had a slightly different taste/texture. Still recognizable as same dish, just a lil different, easier cleanup (by a tad) and a lil faster.
Let me know what changes you make that are successful, would you?
[UPDATE] The tag end of leftovers from this went in a pot of bean/beef soup/stew as thickener. Worked well.
