The Lost Weekend
Somewhere between the flu-like symptoms, the medicine I took to relieve them and just being really super busy, I misplaced the past couple of days. Have you seen them? 'Cuz I'd really like to find that weekend.

One of the few benefits of me getting sick is that I have the excuse to make homemade soup. Here's the soup I made on Saturday:

Mike's Chicken Vegetable Noodle Soup For When He's Sick

2 whole cloves garlic, peeled -- chop it if you wanna. (I don't.)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp basil

microwave for four minutes (Don't be snooty about the microwave, either; just saute it in a pan if you want. It'll take about ten minutes. But for this, I like the microwave, because the garlic gets soft and aromatic.)

Pour the sauted garlic and oil into a 5 quart Dutch oven and break up the chunks with a wooden spoon.

Add chicken broth* until pan is about 3/4 full. Bring this to a boil. But keep cooking and adding stuff to the broth as it boils.

Toss in some parsley and peppercorns. I use a lot of them, much to the dismay of Most Patient Wife and AngryTeen. But hey, I was the one who was sick, so this is my soup. So there! (When I make soup for them when they are sick, and I do it the way they like then.)

2 chicken breasts -- I used our George Foreman grill (set at 375) for about twelve minutes to cook these, but they had bones. If you use the boneless, skinless breasts, I'd guess you grill them about 8 minutes. The point is, they should be cooked through, but not dry. The juice coming out should be clear -- but there should still be juice.

After they cook, dice 'em up and add them to the broth in the pan.

As the chicken breasts cook, Cut up a cup of celery and at least a cup -- I use TWO cups -- of carrots. Cut them small, so they cook up quickly.

By this time, the soup should be boiling. As soon as it turns to a boil, bring down that heat and simmer the soup for about a half an hour. If you let it simmer too long, the veggies get mushy.

About ten minutes before you want to serve this soup, throw in some pasta. I used 4 ounces of angel hair pasta that I broke up into three-inch pieces. (We use whole-grain pasta, but you don't have to.)

This soup goes great with garlic bread, and it tastes even better the next day.

*Most of the time, I make my own chicken broth. But as I say, I wasn't feeling too good, so I used fat-free, low sodium canned broth. Sue me.

Blog Bizzness:

I added JD Long to my blog roll. JD and his family live in Texas. We "met" each other about 20 years ago when we were part of a snail mail writing group.

Check out his blog!

The closest thing to a hero ....
General Honore takes over a press conference in New Orleans where the reporters keep asking questions instead of listening to the statements the people in charge of evacuating citizens and says the following:

You're asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don't confuse the people please. You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don't understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people. That's why we like follow-up questions. But right now, it's the convention center, and move on.

Male reporter: General, a little bit more about why that's happening this time, though, and did not have that last time...

Honore: You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out. This is the way we've got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let's talk about the future. Rita is happening. And right now, we need to get good, clean information out to the people that they can use. And we can have a conversation on the side about the past, in a couple of months.

I laughed when I heard this, because as much as I like having a free press that nails the authorities to the wall, I would like to believe that we can all work together sometimes and put our agendas aside.

If there are buses to get people out of the way of a natural disaster, let the folks know. There's plenty of time to blame and tear down everyone later. For right now, let's save some damned lives.

Thanks to Robyn for pointing me in the right direction on this.

Don't Get Stuck On Stupid. Heh...could be a presidential campaign slogan! (Although there are lots of folks who think we've been stuck with stupid for a while now...)

Pardon Me While I Laugh My Butt Off
That Louis Farrakhan just makes me laugh. The guy's an idiot. For a taste of this man's lunacy, here's what he said yesterday about the flooding of New Orleans:

I heard from a very reliable source that under that levee, there was a 25-foot hole, which suggested that it may have been blown up, so that the water would destroy the black part of town, and where the whites were, it would be dry. I am sure that some good is being done, but not nearly enough to answer the cry.

Okay. Now who doesn't think that's funny? I mean, let's face it: racists bombed a levee so that black people would drown?

How this guy gets anyone to listen to him is a mystery to me. But then, one of his supporters describes him thusly:

"...a better orator than Martin Luther King Jr., a better author than Norman Mailer, a better diplomat than Henry Kissinger, and more handsome than Muhammad Ali."

And he's funnier than Bill Cosby!

That's all, folks.

Been kinda quiet...
I have been stunned lately by the events on the Gulf Coast, and haven't felt much like writing.

I'm rather outraged by the politicization of the storm and the aftermath, all the finger pointing and accusations and people not stepping up and saying, "Here's where we could have done better."

I'm disappointed in all the people who are supposed to be leaders -- from the mayor of New Orleans to President Bush. Although this whole mess brings to mind something that has long been one of my core beliefs:

America isn't great because of our government; what makes this country great the everyday, rank and file people.

And the people have stepped up with money and goods and services. They've opened their homes, their wallets and their workplaces. When it comes right down to it, I am disappointed right now because I was looking to our government to take care of things -- and like much of the time, the government failed. At every level.

AngryTeen and I were talking about the polticians and the elected officials who are all yelling and screaming about who did and didn't do what and why.

She is just 15, and she has her troubles (like most teens), but I have to tell you that she understands a basic truth: humans do everything they can to get what they want, and once they have it, they will will anything to keep it. The behavior of our political leaders -- in both parties -- has shown this to be truer now than ever before.

I love politics, normally. I was looking forward to the presidential race in '08, but I can tell you right now that it's going to be more of the same -- people peddling the politics of fear and don't vote for the other guy because he's conservative or liberal or Democrat or Republican.

They'll belch out a bunch of hot air, and bicker and blame. No one will advance any new ideas for the future; we won't dream or plan for anything good.

We'll all vote because we're afraid we're going to lose something, instead of putting the best people in office. And everything will remain the same.

It used to be that politicians would promise anything to get elected; now it seems that the strategy isn't to offer anything but protection from the other guy -- or his party.

I'm tired of all of it, and it hasn't really even started yet. I've already made up my mind about for whom I will vote, provided that this person is an eligible candidate. So I might just check out of the next political season altogether and start watching General Hospital again or something.

To end this on a lighter note, I just want to send out props to Linda Larson, whom I am acquainted with through the Times Writers Group. She has written a book called Grow It. Eat It, and it's going on sale soon. Linda has a nice, folksy style of writing, with gentle humor and subtle wit and wisdom.

Lastly, I want to thank Dave Brooks and a couple of drivers at Taxi Plus. I drove cab last Saturday night, and collected all my tips for hurricane relief. Dave and the other drivers matched my donation, and together we raised $150.

Every time I mentioned to the customers that I was donating my tips to hurricane relief, they tossed a few extra bucks my way. It was a good night, and the cheerful giving of everyday people restored my faith a little.

So I got that going for me then.

Now THIS is cool!
Australian Scientists Create Regenerating Mice.

Australian scientists have created mice which can regenerate absolutely any tissue except for the tissues of the brain. Heart, lungs, entire limbs and joints -- you name it.

With all the terrible news out there, I thought it be neat to point out that there is still wonder in this world. Can you imagine where this can lead for humans?

Indescribably cool, that's what I say. (Although I should point out that the Incredible Hulk and Wolverine have been doing this in comics for decades!)

Bill Maher re-run tonight at 8 PM CST
I just found out that Bill Maher's show "Real Time" is in a re-run tonight at 8 PM my time. I'll be watching. Cindy Sheehan is one of the guests, and people will be able to see, once again, that she is happy with the way things are and that she loves loves loves being in the spotlight. I think she's a bit hypocritical, but that's me.

Also, one of my favorite authors is going to be on: Kinky Friedman. He is running for the office of governor in Texas. Friedman is funny, irreverent and brilliant. Politics-wise, he's progressive.

This ought to be good!

A Touch Misguided
There's a group of people out there who are calling for Americans to sign a petition that demands that President Bush and his family send their kids to war.(That's a link to see it for yourself if you want.)

The argument is simple: if Bush and company truly believe this war is so good for America, why are none of the Bush progeny in the military, much less overseas fighting and dying?

Further, the guys with the petition point out that most of the Bushes haven't ever served inthe military, the exception being the President. Of course, according to these guys, his service doesn't count because he wasn't called to go to Viet Nam.

I didn't sign the petition.

I don't believe that the key to this problem is sending more people over there to die. Let's face it, what exactly would the Bush Twins do in Iraq? Sure they are cute, but I don't see them as having any skills that will advance the cause -- or end the war.

I just don't buy into the anger and hate that people who claim to be for peace have against President Bush. I don't like this war, and I wish we would ge the heck out of there, but I don't blame Bush. We live in a militaristic society that rules by consumerism, conquest and conflict. We can pretend differently, but that's the truth.

It doesn't matter who's in the White House. The systemic problems that face us need to be changed by us. I don't need the 'right' president in office to pursue a life of peace.

We don't need the people in power to send their kids to fight and die; we need to focus on the root of our problem and deal with it at the source. And we need to start living different lives if we want to change the system.

Like the cliche goes, "Let peace begin with me."

I will not hate George Bush. I will not call for the sacrifice of his children. I will instead sacrifice the things in my life that contribute to this corrupt system. If enough of us do that, things will change.

Stupid Cat
I am not sure why people who keep blogs also tend to have cats. But I read a lot of journals and blogs, and there are a whole lot of cat people who will never stop talking about the felines who share their lives.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. But I didn't want to be one of those people. I love my cats, to be sure. But they aren't here to provide fodder for my blog.

That said, I have to report something about Lovey. After we got her, Most Patient Wife and I discovered something quite special about our little kitty. Quite special indeed.

She's stupid. I mean, really stupid. MPW gave lovey a last name...Gump. So like a lot of cat folks, we have a few names for Lovey. We call her Lovey, Lovey Gump, Gump!, Dammit Kitty, (stole that one from Justin), and Gumper. She answers to none of these with any regularity.

Now Ginger...she has a few names too. Ginger, Ginger Snappe, Pouncer, Snapper. And since Lovey came to live us, Pouter. I swear that cat is the biggest pouter in the world these days.

The reason I'm writing about this today is that once again, Lovey is doing something stupid, and I can't ignore it.

Lovey likes to chase her tail. Now, that's not unusual. What makes it stupid is that Lovey chases her tail and seems to be afraid of it.

The proof of this is when she starts chasing it, she gets so weird that her tail puffs out really big like a big dog is after her.

Then there are times that she seems to forget that she has a tail, and then is startled to see it, and takes off running.

Stupid Gump.

Cindy Sheehan, Superstar
Before I get too much into this, let me say up front: I don't like this war. I think that we should have done a bunch of other stuff before we invaded, and I think that the costs Americans will endure will be felt for decades.

I did vote for Bush, but only because I thought he was the best person for the job who was eligible. Bring me a Democrat who isn't a putz and I'll vote for him (or HER) in a second.

I support peace activists, but at the same time, I hope with everything I have that our troops are safe and when they come home, we will treat them with honor and dignity.

And I try my best to treat every vet -- of this war and all the others -- with kindness, generosity and respect. I may disagree with our government's policy, but the ones on the ground who dodge the bullets and face war deserve our best. And so do their families.

But I think Cindy Sheehan is a nut. (I also think that the hundreds of folks that are protesting her on the "You Don't Speak For Me, Cindy" tour are nuts as well.)

Why do I think she's a nut? Well, she says nutty things like claiming that President Bush is a terrorist. She says that all she wants to do is talk to him. But she already talked to him last year.

But the truth is, she doesn't want the president to end this, because she's in the spotlight and she's loving the ride. How do I know this? Did Limbaugh whisper this bit into the microphone? Did Fox News did up some family member with an axe to grind? Surely someone in the vast right-wing conspiracy is spreading this lie!

Nope. Cindy Sheehan said this herself while being interviewed by Bill Maher. She said, and I quote, "I'm glad he didn't meet with me, because then none of this would have happened." Cindy Sheehan is in the machine, and that's right where she wants to be.

She's not in the fight for peace, she started out throwing a tantrum and ended up with much more attention than she ever dreamed of -- or deserved.

Who Would Jesus Take Out?
Further proof that Pat Robertson of the 700 Club is insane.

Robertson says that the US should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. I'm not kidding.

Just what part of "love your enemy" does this guy not get?