Tag Archives: culture

Palin and Clinton’s surprising similarities

Hi readers.  I don’t know much at all about politicas and political figures.  But I lived through the Clinton years and couldn’t avoid a middling familiarity with Clinton’s wife, wossname.  Margery?  Anyway, the woman who was such good friends with, and a supporter of Janet Reno.

A business partner with her old man in all the real estate dealings in Arkansas that would have landed me, or you readers, in jail.  I’d sum the Clinton woman up as a selfish, venal female at worst, and someone who oughtn’t be involved in politics, at best.

But now that there’s been a black American in the White House female Americans have begun digging around to find some warm body of almost any description, minus male genitals, to occupy it next.  And I’ve seen the name of this one bandied about, seen people I’d ordinarily attribute good sense to, people I’d otherwise respect, mention her name in the same sentence with the phrase Oval Office.

Okay, so the black American occupying the White House is something of a mangy dog we all expected a lot better from.  Or most of us did.  I don’t recall expecting more myself, but I know I heard people talking at the time as though they expected a lot.  Ore at least expected SOMETHING.  It came as something of a shock to a lot of people that they’d elected a black white man.

 But equally surprising is the evident need on the part of otherwise potentially sane American womanhood to trump the whole thing downward.  To elect a white man woman to the White House who will almost certainly neutralize the concept of electing a woman to the office might make things better.

In the interest of fairness, I thought I should learn something about the woman the other party was excited about somewhat recently.  Palin.  Attractive, intelligent looking woman about whom I know almost nothing.

So I watched a couple of movies on Netflix about her.

Sarah Palin: The Undefeated2011PG-13117 minutes This documentary recounts the sudden and surprising emergence of Sarah Palin as a national political figure after two years as Alaska’s governor. Cast: Sarah Palin, Andrew Breitbart, Mark Levin  Genre: Documentaries, Biographical Documentaries, Social & Cultural Documentaries, Political Documentaries  This movie is: Controversial, Provocative

Sarah Palin: You Betcha!2011NR91 minutes Filmmaker Nick Broomfield tracks down friends, relatives and colleagues of polarizing Alaska politician Sarah Palin in this irreverent documentary. Cast: Nick Broomfield, Chuck Heath, Sarah Palin Genre: Documentaries, Biographical Documentaries, Political Documentaries This movie is:  Irreverent, Controversial

I came away puzzled a lot worse than I was when I began.  I’m left with the distinct impression that in all ways that matter the Palin woman is indistinguishable from the Clinton woman.  Shallow, venal, malicious, probably insufferable at a personal one-on-one level.

Can’t help wondering whether all women in politics are just cardboard cutouts with everything inside being everything nobody ought to want in a politician.  Same, probably, as black men.  White men, too, for that matter.

Old Jules

 

 

 

Palestine and Israel – Their Movies

Hi readers.  Here are some fairly watchable movies streaming on Netflix portraying how the people in the troubled land of Israel and the areas it occupies outside its established borders, and the people on both sides, would have you view them:
 
Omar 2013NR 98 minutes With his girlfriend, Nadia, living on the other side of an Israeli-built boundary wall, young Palestinian Omar regularly scales it to visit her. More Info  Starring: Adam Bakri, Samer Bisharat  Director: Hany Abu-Assad

 Tehilim  2007 NR 95 minutes .  When Eli Frankel gets into a minor car accident with his sons, he sends the older one to get help. But when the boy returns, his father is gone. More Info Starring:Michael Moshonov, Limor Goldstein Director:Raphaël Nadjari

Curfew 1994 NR 71 minutes .  This pointed drama portrays a day in the life of a Palestinian family — a day that quickly changes when the Israeli military imposes a local curfew. More Info Starring:Salim Dau, Na’ila Zayaad
Director:Rashid Masharawi

 A Bottle in the Gaza Sea 2011NR 99 minutes Newly arrived in Israel, a French teen struggling to understand the violence around her develops an unlikely connection with a young Palestinian man. More Info Starring: Agathe Bonitzer, Mahmud Shalaby Director: Thierry Binisti

Haifa 1996NR 72 minutes This social drama set in a Palestinian refugee camp portrays a broad cast of characters struggling to get by in uncertain times. More Info Starring: Mohammed Bakri, Ahmad Abu Sal’oum Director: Rashid Masharawi
 
Room 5142012NR91 minutesHeder 514 An investigator in the Israeli military is ordered to interrogate a senior officer who has been accused of abusing an Arab family. Cast: Asia Naifeld, Guy Kapulnik, Rafi Kalmar Genre: Dramas, Foreign Movies, Crime Dramas, Foreign Dramas This movie is: Provocative 
 
 Inch’Allah2012R101 minutes Political tensions take on personal overtones when a Canadian doctor living in Israel befriends a patient at a refugee camp in Palestine.

Cast: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Sivan Levy Genre: Dramas, Independent Movies, Social Issue  dramas independent Dramas This movie is: Gritty, Dark
 
Yossi 2012NR84 minutes While driving through a remote part of Israel, a closeted gay doctor crosses paths with a group of soldiers who inspire him to live life in the open. Cast: Ohad Knoller, Oz Zehavi, Lior Ashkenazi Genre: Dramas, Foreign Movies, Romantic Movies, Gay & Lesbian Movies This movie is: Understated, Romantic
 
 Off White Lies 2011NR89 minutesOrhim le-rega Thirteen-year-old Libi is sent to Israel to join her father, Shaul, a wiz at white lies. But it doesn’t take long for her to chafe at his lifestyle. Cast: Gur Bentvich, Elya Inbar, Tzahi Grad Genre: Dramas, Foreign Movies, Independent Movies, Foreign Dramas This movie is: Understated, Quirky
 
 Lost Embrace 2004NR96 minutesEl Abrazo Partido / Le Fils d’Elias A young Argentinean man yearns to understand why his father left shortly after his birth to fight a war in Israel — and why he never returned. Cast: Daniel Hendler, Adriana Aizemberg, Jorge D’Elia Genre: Dramas, Foreign Movies, Foreign Dramas, Latin American Movies This movie is: Understated
 
The Time That Remains 2011NR 109 minutes From Israel’s creation in 1948 through the early 21st century, a Palestinian family experiences triumphs and tragedies over the course of generations. More Info Starring: Ali Suliman, Elia Suleiman Director: Elia Suleiman
 
5 Broken Cameras 2011NR 94 minutes This Oscar-nominated documentary centers on Emad Burnat, a Palestinian farmer trying to make a living amid Israeli occupation. More Info Starring: Emad Burnat Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
 
Probably a person shouldn’t form opinions based on movies.  At least not the ‘plots’ and characters of movies of a fictional nature.  But the background settings, the societies where the plots move, probably a person could allow opinions to sneak in as a consequence of those.
 
The background settings and society are more-or-less taken for granted by the movie makers usually.  They expect their audiences to already have intimate knowledge of them, to recognize immediately if they’re flawed or don’t depict something akin to reality.
 
In that sense I’d call these movies thoroughly worthy of the time spent viewing them, as a bonus you might say.  A bonus thrown in behind the plotting, the characters, the suspense, the button pushing.
 
Old Jules
 
 

About that Herb Ox Bouillon – MSG Deniers

Low sodium / no sodium Saimin

I got this in an email from Jeanne sometime during the night:

it has two ingredients which  minimize the amount of MSG, but they don’t remove all the MSG in the product.   Better read up on them before you decide it’s safe to consume any.

http://healthybliss.net/the-truth-in-food-labeling-food-additives-to-avoid-hidden-sources-of-msg/


http://www.livestrong.com/article/551058-disodium-guanylate-vs-monosodium-glutamate/

 

To be honest I hadn’t gotten around to hoping it would be this complicated.  MSGs more of a poison to me than too much salt.  But I’m not sure I’ll be able to figure out yea or nay without bellying up to the bar and watching my blood pressure afterward.

Old Jules

Jasper Fforde – The Fourth Bear

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read, despite the fact none of you ever take my advice about authors and books.  I’d be disappointed in you if I didn’t know you probably wouldn’t have liked them anyway.

For instance, Balzac’s Droll Stories, you’ll probably recall, I told you was the funniest book I’ve ever read.  Told you where you can download it free on wossname, gutenberg.org website.  And I’ll go to my grave confident not a damned one of you bothered to have a look.

So when I tell you about Jasper Fforde I can do it with a high level of confidence I could say anything and not get caught in a lie.

I first told you about The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde, along with The Well of Lost Plots, and maybe some others in that series.  I’ve managed to actually get a few people to try some of those and nobody liked them.  Gave some the books free.  Poof!  Not a, “Hey!  Funny, intriguing book.”  Nothing.

Jeanne likes Jasper Fforde.  Might well be she introduced me to his works.  Shows how the coincidence coordinators are always at work.  Two people, the only two in Christiandom who’d enjoy Jasper Fforde, happen to be close friends.  I love those guys, the CCs.

Anyway, The Fourth Bear is a good book I think you’d enjoy if you were ever stuck in a prison cell the way Steve McQueen was in Pappilon and not allowed to talk to anyone for several years, do anything but read the book.  Fforde explains the deep mystery, for instance, of why three bowls of porridge all poured at the same time, are vastly different temperatures.

 Fforde, for the purposes of this book, lands the reader in a world where talking bears are fighting for their rights, trying to become civilized the way Native American tribes tried to become civilized to keep from being slaughtered by whites.  But the bears come at a later time in history, when a larger or more vocal part of sympatric humanity carries some weight. 

Not to say they’re able to pass legislation, THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND ARM BEARS, to allow bears to defend themselves from hunters.  But the do put them on reservations where it’s more difficult to shoot them.

 Fforde’s main character, Detective Jack Spratt, heads the Nursery Crimes Division of a city police department.  Constantly he’s chasing down criminals out of nursery rhymes.  Persons Of Questionable Reality.

But he’s one himself, and from the time his wife died from overeating fat, he’s able to overcome certain behaviors considered compulsive.

This  plot contains a fast moving set of  plot devices involving the Gingerbread Man, various bears, Goldilox, and giant cucumbers responsible for cuclear detonations threatening the bears, the humans, and possibly world peace.

Read it if you’re ever in prison.

Old Jules

Low sodium / no sodium Saimin

Hi readers.  My occasional yearning for saimin [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saimin ] experienced a hiccup when the various sawbones convinced me I needed to be serious about sodium if I wanted to keep making a nuisance of myself.

The other ingredients aren’t a problem, but finding a low sodium, easy to prepare broth is.  I tried using the onion ice cubes and it almost worked, but not quite.  Onion ice cubes, jalapeno ice cubes

But there’s an auction near here every Saturday, and everything that doesn’t sell goes out into the parking area to be sifted through by anyone who wants it before they haul it away to the dump.  I occasionally find things I want there because Jeanne’s been a frequenter and trafficker of auction castaways for a number of years.

Saturday I hit the jackpot.  A brand new, unopened box of Herb Ox NO SODUM chicken bouillon broth.  I never knew such a thing existed.  Never thought it might enough to search for it.

So when I arrived back at Jeanne’s I immediately used one package to test as a cup of bouillon hot drink and it was great.

Yesterday I used one of those onion ice cubes, a package of Herb Ox NO SODIUM bouillon as the base for my first post-discovery saimin.  Everything added was sodium free, or only had naturally systemic sodium.

I used bean sprouts, thin wheat noodles, shredded cabbage and carrots, mushrooms, some corn off-the-cob, and various seasonings.

Tasted precisely as saimin ought to taste, which varies.

Old Jules

 

No sodium catchup substitute better than catsup

sweet pepper and bells

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read.  I’m sitting here dipping home-made no sodium catsup substitute in Art’s & Mary’s no salt homestyle potato chips.

So shoot me.  Fact is, this catsup substitute tastes so much better than catsup a person might as well call catsup a substitute for whatever this como se llama delicious concoction is.  And it’s so damned easy to make they ought to put grocers in jail for carrying the original salt-bomb Hunts, Heinz, you name it catsups on the shelves.  Killing people slowly.

 sweet pepper and bells in blender

What you need to make Como Se Llama?   Sweet peppers and/or Bell peppers of various colors.  A blender.  3/4 cup apple cider vinegar.  A cup of sugar, or however much less you prefer.  A tablespoon of black pepper.

sweet pepper and bells blended

Blend it until it’s all liquid, adding the sugar and vinegar while it’s blending.  I use unground peppercorn and let the blending reduce the grain size with everything else.

sweet pepper and bells ireducing

Once that’s done all you need to do is put it over medium heat and bring it to a boil, then let it simmer until it’s reduced approximately 1/3, but mainly is the thickness you prefer in a Como se Llama.  Keep it in mind you’re using it for a dip.

If it gets so you’re on the road or for come other reason can’t make Como se Llama, you can always stop into a grocery store and buy a bottle of catsup for a temporary substitute.

Old Jules

The best and the worst

A significant percentage of US voters believe Ronald Reagan was the best president in US history.  Despite Iran/Contra, arms for hostages, and trickle-down economics.  History is not the long-suite among high school graduates in the United States.

A significant percentage of US voters believe Ronald Reagan was the best president in US history. Despite Iran/Contra, arms for hostages, and trickle-down economics. History is not the long-suite among high school graduates in the United States.

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read.

Yahoo News conducted a poll of +-1400 voters and asked who was the worst president in US history.  The results were that 33% believe the guy in the White House now is the worst.  28% believe the guy who was in there before him was the worst.

The pollsters used subtle methods for determining what percentage of the voters believing the guy in there now is the worst did so because he was black.  They concluded +-5% simply could not stand the thought of a black man serving in the White House except as a shoe-shine boy.

Which leaves the question among non-racist voters precisely equal:  56% of US voters believe one of the last two US presidents was the worst in US history.  28% Bush, 28% wossname.

All of which should raise some alarming questions in the minds of everyone else.  When did they quit teaching children US history in school?

Sheeze! The freaking Civil Freaking WAR was fought during the watch of one US president!  Two were impeached!  One was responsible for the Trail of Tears and moving the aboriginal tribes east of the Mississippi the-hell anywhere west of the Mississippi and stealing their farms, barns, equipment, animals, crops for white people.  Even though those Cherokees and some other tribes were already doing their best to BE white people.  Hell, a few years later they even had a Cherokee general commanding troops during the Civil War.  Chreeeeeist!  They even owned slaves!  What the hell do you have to do to be civilized?

Then there’s Lyndon Johnson, faked the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and used it to justify carpet bombing of North Vietnam, had South Vietnam President Diem assassinated by the CIA, and did the Great Society.

There’s John freaking Kennedy, son of a damned bootlegging smuggling NAZI supporter during the pre-WWII years.  Responsible for the Bay of Pigs, among other fiascos.

Hells bells, there’s Clinton for Christs sakes.  Got a blowjob in the Oval Office.  No Jennifer Oneal, her, either.  Shot up Ruby Ridge, murdered a couple-score Branch Davidians outside Wacoi, and smuggled huge amounts of coke and crack into Arkansas on CIA aircraft.  Got almost impeached because of shady real estate deals he and the little woman were up to their asses in.

These two guys now and just before him are pikers.  Except where deficit spending and fruitless military adventures are concerned.  These two couldn’t find their asses with flashlights when it comes to real corruption.

Old Jules

Sumptuous low sodium avocado sandwich

Once again readers, you’re hearing it here first.

  • 2 slices low sodium [85 mg per slice] oatmeal bread
  • 1/2 avocado mashed to paste
  • handful of bean sprouts
  • 14 leafs fresh spinach
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • handful of chopped fresh cilantro
  • no other seasoning

Count’em:  190 mg of sodium, total.  And it melts in your mouth.

Old Jules

Cops don’t have to put up with being sexually harassed by dogs

Hi readers.  If you own dogs and live inside the United States it’s time to train your dog not to screw anyone’s pantsleg.  Today there’s an excellent chance cops will be kicking down your door.  If you don’t want them to kill your dog, train him not to sexually harrass police:

http://youtu.be/B9Com08ILgQ

“We don’t have to put up with this sort of treatment from dogs,” declared Bracey Goodman, Police Chief of Anal Springs, KY.  “During carefully timed and planned raids setting up citizens for drug busts our officers cannot risk being distracted by sex.  One dog causing an officer to pause waiting for it to finish could cost the  lives of other officers.”

Goodman further explained that police go to a great deal of trouble taking confiscated drugs out of evidence lockers for planting on targeted households.  If not intercepted in a timely manner they might be destroyed by suspects, or stolen by officers during the confusion of the bust.

“Anyone who owns a dog is responsible for seeing the animal will not use the leg of a police officer to urinate, or simulate sex.  If we kill your dog it’s your own fault.”

Old Jules

 

 

“Barbie Goes Native” sparks reevaluation of US Military posture

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read.

The 1970s, pre-US military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan movie, Caravans, has come to the attention of US military planners.  Careful study of the overwhelming success beautiful actress, Jennifer Oneal, had influencing primitive tribesmen to behave themselves suggests new avenues of approach to US militarism.

Caravans 1978PG 125 minutes, An American diplomat is tasked with retrieving a famous politician’s daughter, who is married to an Iranian colonel but has run off with a rebel leader. More Info Starring: Anthony Quinn, Michael Sarrazin Director: James Fargo
 
During past military adventures,” White House spokesmen declared, “The US had never put women into combat-like roles.  It was believed doing so would undermine the claims that wars were motivated by the need to protect moms, wives, sisters and potential girl friends from the evil forces of the enemy.”
 
But, he explained, today women occupy active roles in a wide range of combat positions and while the Draft statutes have not yet been amended to include women, modern warfare justifies doing so.
 
“Jennifer Oneal was married nine times during her years as an actress.  In Caravans she enjoyed huge influence among primitive Moslems.  Today a few women of the Jennifer Oneal variety might replace the entire US military presence in Afghaistan. 
 
“Female porn stars could probably serve the same real-life function today as Jennifer Oneal with her stunning blue eyes, blonde hair, and nine husbands did back in the 1970s, and the cost would not be prohibitive.
 
“Changing the outdated US conscription statutes to include beautiful females, particularly porn stars, might well be the key to shrinking US military involvement, in most foreign countries. “
 
A major general  in the Pentagon who wished to remain anonymous agrees.   “War has simply become too costly to allow it to be pursued by traditional means.  Drafting female porn stars to replace both male and females in combat, secretarial, and other position would greatly reduce costs and boost morale.”
 
Jennifer Oneal’s performance in Caravans was not considered particularly impressive when the movie arrived in theaters of the 1970s.  It was not nominated for Academy, nor any other awards. 
 
But history has proved them wrong. 
 
The NSA is now monitoring all online pornography sites with a view to voluntary recruitment pending the needed reevaluation of US Draft Law to determine whether it can be interpreted to allow conscription of beautiful females.
 
Old Jules