Arroz con Pollo

This is a favorite from my childhood. I've been experimenting
with it for years, and have never really been satisfied with
the results. Until this version.

1 clove garlic
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 black peppercorns
pinch (or a couple grinds) black pepper
1 tsp oregano
olive oil
3 lb or so chicken pieces (I use all dark meat and leave the skin on)
1 onion
1 green pepper
3 tomatoes
2 tsp tomato paste
1 qt chicken stock
pinch saffron threads (preferred), or 1/8 tsp saffron powder
12 or so large green olives
1 tsp capers
3 pimentos
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups rice

In a mortar, grind the garlic with the salt, pepper, peppercorns,
and oregano with a little oil. Add more oil (a tablespoon or so)
to make enough of this mixture to rub the chicken pieces with.
Let the chicken marinate in the oil mixture in a plastic bag for
at least 20 minutes or so.

While the chicken is marinating: chop the onion and green pepper;
blanch, shock, peel, halve, seed, and chop the tomatoes, and steep
the saffron in a bit of hot water (if using threads).

Brown the chicken on both sides in a dutch oven, and set aside.
Add additional oil if necessary and saute the onion and green
pepper just til the onion is translucent. Add the browned chicken,
tomatoes, tomato paste, saffron, saffron water, 2 cups stock, and
salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 1/2 hour.

While the chicken and etc. are simmering, slice the olives, take
the peas out of the freezer, and slice the pimentos into strips.

Lift out the chicken and set aside. Strain the liquid, reserving
the solids, and bring the volume of liquid up to a quart with
more chicken stock. Correct seasoning. Add liquid, rice, and
solids back to the pot, mix, and bring to a gentle boil.

Arrange chicken pieces on top of the rice mixture, and sprinkle
the olives, capers and pimentos on top of the chicken. Cover and
simmer gently till rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed.

If peas are still cold, cook them briefly in a bit of boiling water.

Remove chicken pieces. Mix in the peas, and turn everthing out onto
a platter. Arrange chicken pieces on top of rice for service. Serve
with hot sauce (e.g. Tabasco) on the side.

Some of the rice will probably stick to the bottom of the pot. DO
NOT THROW THIS OUT - it's the best part. The Panamanians call this
"concolon" (sp), and the favored child or guest gets it.

You can leave the peas out. I have to at my house.

Some cooks bone the chicken and slice it into strips before browning
it. This is, quite obviously, bizarre and wrong. How are you going
to suck the bones at the table?

Just gotta get this off my chest

I fucking hate Bruce Springsteen. Can't stand his shit, except perhaps for a couple of cuts from his album "Nebraska" which nobody ever plays. Bleah.

That is all.

Update to my last post

See "A Radical Idea" just below. I must have been fucking high.

After this shit: I will never, ever, ever vote for a fucking Dummycrat. Even to force a race over an even worse Dummycrat. There's no such thing as one Dummycrat worse than another.

God-all-fucking-mighty.

UPDATE: The link is now broken (actually, it goes to a different vote). This was the bill to protect citizens who report suspicious activity in good faith from later being hauled into civil court. It was overwhelmingly opposed by Democrats.

A Radical Idea

I think that, to finally force the Democrats to act like adults where the War on Terror is concerned, it will be necessary to put one in the White House.

There, I've said it. It's painful, for someone in my position - but I think it'd be impossible for anyone further to the right than I to even consider. But I think the Republic will survive the obvious disadvantages, particularly if the Congress remains relatively evenly matched.

The only question is, who?

If the GOP nomination is sewn up by the time the Primaries are held in my state, I may vote as a Democrat and cast a ballot for Barack Hussein Obama. I wouldn't be able to keep my gorge down long enough to vote for Clinton, and Edwards is just another narcissistic peacock.

Our pals the Italians

Remember the Sgrena incident?

An Italian court is going to try the US soldier who fired on her speeding car to protect his checkpoint. For murder.

Can we question their patriotism now?

From a far-left USENET group I read, someone is commenting on today's rocket attack on the US embassy in Athens:

Apparently they were aiming at the US Emblem and missed, destroying a toilet instead.

And someone else responds:

"Instead?"

Nice, huh?

An open letter to the Democratic leadership

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Madam Speaker and Senator Reid:

First, my congratulations to both of you and to the Democratic Party in having retaken both houses of Congress in the recent elections.

I come to you as one who has never voted for a Democrat, but who has -like so many others - become increasingly frustrated with the failure of the Republicans to take a leadership role in returning the operation of this country to first principles.

The Democrats have the opportunity, at this historic time, to capture a more permanent majority via appealing to the values and principles of classical liberalism. Your party already represents an attractive alternative by virtue of owing no obeisance to the religious right and to the isolationist element so prevalent in mine. On the other hand, however, there are a few areas where people such as me find the Democrats to be seriously lacking. I’m sure you have at your disposal any number of experts who can expand on that point, but I want to offer two major examples:

Stop trying to raise our taxes to the Moon. The moral questions surrounding confiscatory taxation quite aside, it has been shown time and again that limited federal taxation is much healthier both for the larger economy and for the treasury itself. I call on you to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and to expand upon that theme by making further cuts where and when possible.

Start respecting the entire Bill of Rights. Over the past couple of decades, gun "control" measures instituted at the federal level have been rolled back or modified in favor of legitimate firearms ownership, and numerous state measures have been put in place to compel so-called "shall-issue" concealed-handgun licensure. All of these changes have had positive results, with statistically insignificant examples of the kind of violence and lawlessness breathlessly predicted by opponents of the Second Amendment. I call on you to oppose efforts within your party to reinstitute failed measures such as the ban on so-called "assault weapons," and to work to encourage or even compel state-by-state reciprocal-recognition agreements for concealed-handgun licenses.

Thank you for your consideration of these matters. I urge you to take this opportunity seriously - if you do so, you may be surprised to find many first-time Democrat voters in the next and subsequent elections.

Sincerely,
[real name deleted]

CC: internet posting

Update: nine months later, and still no response.