The Rag Blog

Cabernet Stew and Drop Biscuits (13 October 2001)

The biscuits make a fine complement for the stew, which needs no thickener for three reasons: floured meat, mustard powder, and potatoes.

Cabernet Stew

1 pound beef stew meat, trimmed of excess fat
3 tablespoons flour
Onion salt to taste
Fresh-ground pepper to taste

Put the flour, onion salt, and pepper in a paper bag, shaking a little to mix it. Add the meat in 2 or 3 batches and shake the bag to coat the meat with flour. Shake off excess flour.

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
Half a large red onion, chopped
Fresh garlic to taste, minced
1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon wine

Heat the oil on medium-high heat, then add the floured meat. Turning frequently, brown the meat on all sides, then add the onion and garlic. Sauté until the onions are transparent, then add the wine. Simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup and the alcohol odor is gone.

1 to 1-1/2 cups rich beef stock*
1 large rib celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
5 small Yukon gold potatoes, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons Keen’s mustard powder
1 tablespoon summer savory
Another touch of onion salt and pepper to taste
10 Brussels sprouts, cleaned

Add remaining ingredients, except sprouts, mixing everything thoroughly. Simmer stew for a bit less than 1 hour, covered and stirring occasionally. After the hour, place sprouts on top of stew and simmer for another 20 minutes.

*Note: Two points about beef stock: (1) the stock should be deep brown, and (2) it should be more similar to a thin jelly than a liquid.

Sour Cream and Dill Drop Biscuits

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sour cream
1-1/2 tablespoons fresh dill
2% milk (or whole milk) to create a biscuit dough

Preheat oven to 425° F. Mix dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter or 2 table knives, cut butter into dry ingredients until thoroughly incorporated. Add sour cream and dill, combine, then add milk to create a sticky biscuit dough.

Grease a baking sheet with butter, then place two-tablespoon “drops” of dough on the sheet, leaving at least one inch between each biscuit. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

The Nuremberg Principles

Principle VII. Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law.

From Xymphora:

If you take the Lancet study numbers and add to it the Afghanistan numbers, and a few more people dead here and there due to the Bush Administration, and remember that Bush is only three quarters done, you are left with the inescapable conclusion that George Bush is one of the greatest mass murderers in modern times, up there with guys like Pol Pot. Americans finally have something to be proud of!

Iraqi Judge Sentences U.S. Citizen To Death After U.S. Military “Demanded” the Man Be Executed

But then came a strange intervention. Two US military officers appeared in court to advocate giving Munaf the death penalty. One of the officers claimed to be acting on behalf of the Romanian embassy and said Romania “demanded” Munaf be put to death. The two officers then held a private meeting with the judge – without the defense in the room. When he returned, the judge ruled Munaf was guilty and ordered his execution.

Read it here.

This comes from A Star From Mosul, where things haven’t been very nice today. She is a young Iraqi blogger whose life has turned upside down from the military action in that country. Further on in her post, she is particularly critical of Iraq the Model, a blog I’ve long suspected of being a mouthpiece of the US administration. It is interesting to see this independently corroborated.

What’s happening?

At least 12 families in Mosul will have sorrow and sadness in Eid, instead of happiness, because someone decided to kill himself in a way many won’t forget..

Read the rest here.

Date: Saturday, Nov. 4th, 1 -3 pm. Rain date is Sunday, Nov. 5th, 1 pm.

Description of Protest: mock, silent, solemn funeral procession (single file) with everyone dressed in funeral black with some women wearing long black veils (we furnish) and some marchers carrying signs (CP to make) saying messages such as “Today We Mourn, Tomorrow We Vote” and “Troops Home Now.”

Location: Meet at City Hall Plaza. Route will begin there and head to Congress Avenue bridge where it will go the extent of the bridge to Barton Springs and loop back to city hall. Lots of parking under City Hall.

For more information: Call Deborah of CodePink at 448-3090.

NOTE: To everyone coming: must wear black — dress like going to a funeral — no shorts. Dont bring signs — we furnish them. Please come on time, because the people in the funeral march have to be lined up, veils need to be put on and signs dispersed before we can begin to march — this takes time. We provide black veils, but you (women) don’t have to wear one or you can bring a black hat or scarf if you like. We will put the women in veils up front.

Isn’t there a category of Darwin Award for this? Our thanks to Charlie Loving for the illustration.

Lawmaker Wounded in Iraq Wants to Go Back
AP

“I want to go back. I want to be with my team again. I want to complete the tour of duty and then I want to come home.”

Read it here, if ya wanna bother.

We are in the midst of the second Iranian hostage crisis. This time the Iranians hold 150,000 or so US and UK troops and assorted cohorts hostage in Iraq. They are abetted in this enterprise by the non-reality based US government policy of “stay the course,” which guarantees that the Bush regime won’t even consider their only possible way to avoid a humiliating defeat — “redeployment” to Kurdistan and Kuwait. It calls forth the image of General Pickett urging his men to “stay the course” as they began their assault on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg.

The current situation in Iraq is a ballooning disaster for the US military and it’s going to continue to go downhill. They have a matrix-like, self-regenerating dragon by the tail and a delusional commander-in-chief who thinks he’s St. George.

It is likely that the US/UK coalition is no longer the largest military force in Iraq. That honor now probably resides with the al-Sadr’s Shiite militia. So far, the US is just fighting a Sunni minority-based insurgency while exacerbating a three-cornered civil war raging around it, with a few foreign terrorists in training thrown in. Even with that limited agenda, this month is on track to be the bloodiest month since the invasion for both Iraqis and US forces. Attacks on US forces are rising to several hundred a day. Ten US soldiers were killed in five separate incidents yesterday (Tuesday).

When al-Sadr fought the US in Najaf in 2004, he had tens of thousands of followers. Now he has hundreds of thousands. It would be silly not to assume they are increasingly well-armed by the Iranians and, given the overlap between the Iraqi auxiliary to the US army and the Shiite militias, far better trained by the Americans. al-Sadr’s is only the largest of several Shiite militias. So far, except in isolated incidents, the US has not had to fight these increasingly powerful Shiite militias. As a sign of that power, yesterday, the US military was forced to cough up a senior aide to al-Sadr who they had been holding. The recent raids into Baghdad neighborhoods have left Sadr City alone. al-Sadr’s boy is the prime minister of the Green Zone “government”. al-Sadr is on record as saying that were Iran attacked, his forces would unite in common cause with Iran.

If the Shiite militias ever attacked the US forces, the position of those forces in Iraq would become instantly untenable outside heavily fortified bases supplied by air. How do they say Dien Bien Phu in Arabic? They don’t attack now largely because the US remains locked in combat with their traditional enemies, the Sunnis. But that can change.

The most likely potential cause for this de facto non-aggression pact to be broken would be a US or Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. There have been reports of the US moving additional naval battle groups into the area of the Persian Gulf. There have been reports of Israeli politicians exclaiming that Iran poses an “existential threat” to Israel that must be eradicated soon. Add to the intensity of the moment the impending GOP electoral debacle.

Attacking Iran with no cover from the UN seems so insane as to be improbable. No one outside Israel and the Saudi ruling family really likes the idea. The Bush regime knows UN approval is unlikely at any time and they are composed of desperate ideologues whose time is running out, whose version of history isn’t playing out as they planned and who are committed to a policy of military preemption based on already existing Congressional approval of the “war on terror.” With the Democrats in control of at least one house of Congress and armed with subpeona power, presidential approval ratings stagnant in the 30’s and Iraq collapsing on Bush’s head, the Bush regime’s level of desperation will become unsustainable over the next two years. Their dreams of a new Middle East made over in their image became their worst nightmare where their only real choice is whether to leave before they’re forced to do so. Their ideology has trapped them in the embrace of an unwinable cause. We’re entering the golden age of Bush bashing, but wounded animals can be the most dangerous and this beast has nuclear weapons galore at the tip of its claw.

The most crucial goal for humanity at this moment in history is to constrain the Bush regime and its Israeli quislings from the desperate act of attacking Iran. That act would insure war in multiple manifestations, some possibly nuclear, from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean and beyond, with domestic repercussions including terrorist attacks to match. While one might wish for the opportunity to watch the empire in its death throes, the potential for collateral damage is without limit.

David Hamilton

‘Beginning of the end of America’
Olbermann addresses the Military Commissions Act in a special comment
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann, Anchor, ‘Countdown’ MSNBC

[snip]

We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who may now, if he so decides, declare not merely any non-American citizens “unlawful enemy combatants” and ship them somewhere — anywhere — but may now, if he so decides, declare you an “unlawful enemy combatant” and ship you somewhere – anywhere.

Read the rest here.

… compared to this. I didn’t know they made any drug this strong.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) Says That Being In Baghdad Is ‘Like Being In Manhattan’

When they think the media aren’t watching, politicians like King are willing to grossly distort the facts on Iraq to their constituents for political purposes.

To read all of it and to see a video of it, click here.

What planet does this dumb rat bastard live on?

“It is difficult, no question about it, but we’ve now got over 300,000 Iraqis trained and equipped as part of their security forces. They’ve had three national elections with higher turnout than we have here in the United States. If you look at the general overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.” – Richard B. ‘Dick’ Cheney, interview by Rush Limbaugh, October 18, 2006

Thanks to Matt at Today in Iraq for the quote.