Peeking into the rock

My son Frank still lives in Czech Republic for the time being (hopefully not long as his leaving will be because he's gotten work as a doctor in the UK). The last time they had an election there, he sent me along the descriptions of some of the candidates. There was one fellow in his eighties or so who had a photo of himself in his suit and tie embellished with neon mohawk and other punky accessories in an attempt to sell Czech youth on his platform which largely involved returning state properties to the descendants of the nobility. There was a party whose name was a several hundred word Nazi-flavored screed. And the Pirate Party, which is about what you think it is. There was a candidate whose campaign was bought explicitly and unashamedly as a present from her lover.

But I think the US has outdone Czech Republic now. We have a candidate who claims that his opponent is a robot replacement for a man who was executed byu the World Government onstage in front of tv cameras in the Ukraine. He's no threat, but the guy who claims that gay folks are demonically possessed and that he exorcised a lesbian soldier while a military chaplain has won a Republican congressional primary in Colorado.

What candidates (and elected officials) have you noticed lately that give you pause, US or elsewhere?

I juast realized this very second that there's a special election this coming Tuesday in my district. How come I haven't gotten election materials? Is the election in the usual place?

I remember reading that the Governator had decided that we poor central Californians had to have a special election in the middle of the summer, but I never saw any more specific practical information about it and I read Calitics!

I can't tell you how important it is to be represented by John Laird in the first place. This is the right man for any political job you can name. He's honest, hard working, progressive, approachable, and effective. And did I mention he's on the right side of everything? In the second place, he's being opposed by a lying scumbag of a San Luis Obispo oilman. So, if you're local, figure out how to vote Tuesday, and make all your friends and relatives vote.

They actually sing it pretty well. Emma sent this link to me so I'm sending it to you:
"There's no one as Irish as Barack Obama"

Okay, the state Supreme Court made a decision that reinstates gay marriage in California, maybe, while there's still an anti-marriage initiative. Then Edwards says we should just get it together behind Obama. And Critical Mass turned into a riot-like object at the tourist wharf. And labor endorsed Bill Monning, so I've changed my vote there too. And I turned into a snot factory.

And there wasn't a single film at the Santa Cruz Film Festival that I wanted to see, and I feel guilty about that.

But we did go to the Greek Food Festival on its opening night and I found out that my moussaka is better than theirs. And I didn't dance so I have to go back and dance.

I'm up too late and I can't even blame it on the raccoons - it's just inertia.

food porn ahead, I guess. Not quite irreproducible recipes. Almost.

Anyways.
Ambrosia variation: if Andrew Marvell wished a ton of minneolas and a half-ton of kumquats on you recently. You cut up a minneola (tangelo, right?) and an equal volume of kumquats, and add a palmful of grated coconut and about half a palmful of chopped candied ginger. Stir this together with a spoonful or two of ricotta. It holds together like haroset, rather than lying down prettily like ambrosia usually does, because the pieces are small.

Ambrosia variation I haven't tried yet: cut up enough kumquats (a cup and a half? for two people), or maybe kumquats and also some other less intense citrus, mix with sage (about 6cm square laid flat together on the cutting board: I haven't decided whether to cut the leaves large or small), and walnuts (a palmful, cut rather fine, not grated though). This will probably need sweetening, and I think that just some granulated or superfine white sugar might do it, though I'm really leaning towards using this event to get rid of that little pile of dried candied cranberries still lying on my counter.

Waldorf variation: an immense red apple, cut medium fine. Two small stalks of celery, cut medium fine. A large palmful of walnuts, broken into pieces a bit smaller than my little fingernail. A similar quantity of kumquats, cut about the size of the walnuts. Enough mayonnaise to spread all around and just touch the fruit, nearly disappearing: not enough to make a visible white suspension around the rest.

I talked about scooping out the innards, combining them with cream cheese and tiny bits of candied ginger, and then stuffing the kumquats with the stuff. The variation the nice fellow perpetrated, which was much better than his lazy ass deserved, was to simply smoosh tiny bits of brie across the topps of halved kumquats (the cut, flat part being the top).

Another antipasto variation: wrap a little strip of tasty meat around a kumquat and eat it. You might pin this together with a toothpick. I used "black forest" ham. If you don't eat pig, smoked turkey leg would work beautifully if you can slice it thin enough to wrap well.

On another note, I promised Emily Reilly in person that I would decide between her and Bill Monning within two weeks. They're both running for John Laird's seat in the Assembly. John Laird is another argument against term limits. Oh well.

So I'm thinking of sending each of them emails with questions. If you had personal access to somebody running for a State Assembly seat, what would you ask?

One question I've thought of is: What will you do if the mandate you've been sent to Sacramento with is opposed by the governor and the Republicans (that if should be when but I think the question is easier to think about as an if)? I need to word this differently. I want concrete thoughts about how each will deal with this. Democrats have a horrible tendency to crumple in the face of opposition. One of the reasons I love John Laird so much is that he doesn't. He's not a rhetoric and bombast man who never does a political thing, but he hangs in there.

So. Emily Reilly? Bill Monning? In Bill's favor is that he's a labor lawyer guy while Emily is an employer (not a bad one). Also in Bill's favor is that he's a solid left guy from Salinas,the southern end of the district, where it's really been hard to get any really progressive people elected, and it would be good for the political development of the Central Coast to get that to happen. On the other hand, among the progressive people who have not been elected to office from Salinas is Bill Monning. He has no history in office at all, though he does have a history of making brave runs. Emily's been on the Santa Cruz City Council for a while, and she's done a good job, and she's been on the right side a lot. And -- well, the other time I talked to her about her run for Assembly, she was at the NAAACP/Central Labor Council jointly sponsored labor day picnic (remind me to tell you one day how I and a few friends started Labor Day picnics happening in the county, what? thirty years ago, I guess). And this time was in the elevator of the Monterey Marriott hotel where we attended the volunteer awards for the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary "network" -- all the conservation entities that work together with the Sancuatary. She gave a speech, and I got an award. Anyway, the point is, those two things tell you something about what Emily wants to be spending her time on.

I'm leaning towards Emily, for pragmatic reasons. But Bill's possibly lesser connections and following might not be so deadly, since the Republicans don't seem to have an actual candidate emerging from anywhere.

I lost a chance to have anything to do with the Presidential primary (because my candidate dropped out!) but I want to do something about this.

finally, I'm working overtime tomorrow and the next day because we don't have any slack left.