Saturday Bibimbab

Mmm, I am so looking forward to lunch. I stayed too long at work last night and ended up eating letftover chicken parmesean. (not recommended). But today I am planning to have some bibimbab in a hot stone bowl for lunch. For those of you who haven’t yet discovered the bibimbab addiction, it is a Korean dish consisting of rice, meat, vegetables , poached egg and chili sauce poured over all. (easily made vegan by substituting tofu for meat and omitting the egg) The trick of it is to have it served in a stone bowl that has been heated to piping hot. The rice is the first layer on the bottom so while you are eating your way down through the bowl, the rice is still cooking. When you finally get there, the rice is all crunchy and stuck together. It makes you *want* to finish your vegetables. Maybe Texas and Ohio will be like eating our way to the bottom and we’ll find a nice surprise.

What is your latest food obsession? And while you’re thinking about that, here is a story recommended to us from ghost2 that is actually fair to Hillary. (Will wonders never cease) For the Record: Hillary Clinton at CBS News, goes over her record of accomplishments. It’s quite impressive. She was never “just a first lady” as someone told me at lunch time yesterday.

Other things to look forward to:

Tucsonlynn is in Texas and she has her laptop with her. She’s going to be helping out with the campaign over the next couple of days and with any luck, she’ll have a few minutes here and there to tell us what’s happening on the ground.

I was unable to go to Ohio because of some outstanding work related tasks that I will need to address this weekend but the women of my family in Pennsylvania are fired up for Hillary and were ready to caravan to Ohio. They still might. If Hillary makes it to PA, for *sure* there will be a posse from my kin who will be canvassing, phone banking and partying on her behalf. But there is still an opportunity to make phone calls for Hillary. If you’re interested, use the phone banking tools at Hillary’s website.

Tonight, the BFF will be doing the cocktail hour. He’s got a great ear for music. Should be fun.  (Did I mention that the BFF is an independent from NY who thinks Hillary Clinton is a fine senator for his state?)

A little more: I was directed to this article in the NYTimes about how Clinton has been treated unfairly by the news media. Now. I don’t think there is any question that this is true. But it was by no means unexpected. I must admit to being surprised by the ferocity of the hatred directed against her, the personal nature of it and the lack of a reprimanding response so far by cooler heads and the public at large. But back in my Kossack days, I had written a diary called “New Mental Illness: Electability Anxiety”, where I outline The Givens going into this election season:

• No matter who the nominee is, Karl has a dossier on him/her.
• No matter who the nominee is, the GOP is going to pound them relentlessly.
• No matter how good our candidate is, the media Beltway insiders are going to make fun of him/her and act like the 10th grade popular clique.
• No matter how much the public is disgusted by Republicans, the Republicans will find some wedge issue that panders to self-interest.
• No matter how much the public wants to vote for our nominee, the game has been carefully rigged to prevent those votes from counting.

I wrote that back in August. Now, nobody pays attention to some blogger on a SuperSized Behemoth Blog if the said contributor is only an “extra” instead of a frontpager. And it’s not like the campaign consultants couldn’t figure this out. But *some* campaign people took steps to tap into the grassroots as a sort of firebreak and some did not. That is not to excuse the horrible behavior of the press this season. But the successful organism is the one that adapts to its environment. Fortunately, even a late adaptation is favorable if it helps the organism in the end. And we can not discount the value of altruism. The public is clued into the anti-Clinton media bias now, thanks in part to SNL’s brilliant script. But the Clinton campaign needs to be careful. SNL’s whole raison d’etre is to make the absurd entertaining, to castigate the arrogant and to expose truth in a humorous way. So, be careful not to give them material to work with. But also, don’t be afraid to point out absurdity on your own. It’s not too late to hire a comedienne to help figure out the absurdity and weaknesses of the Obama campaign and make sure that attendees at Clinton campaign rallies and appearances get the point.

One more, more thing (and this one is a twofer 😉 ): A lot of charities and foundations have found that contributors make donations easily if they are told what their contributions are worth, what they can buy. The Save the Children style campaigns are famous fo this. “You’re $, less than a cup of coffee a day, can provide safe drinking water, a place to go to school etc” The Make It Right Foundation, one of my favorite causes, tells you how many shower heads, programmable thermostats, refrigerators you can buy with your contributions. So, if a certain Campaign is trying to raise money *hint, hint*, why not say how many lawn signs, nimutes of phone banking, bumper stickers, etc, can be bought with a $50 contribution? Just a thought. Make it so, Number One!