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Pot Luck

by: JayinPhiladelphia

Wed Feb 16, 2011 at 19:00:00 PM PST


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Pot Luck | 53 comments
Why isn't Wall Street in Jail? (4.00 / 3)
New Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone.  Just sitting down to eat and read it now...
Whoops... (4.00 / 3)
Excerpt -

Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.

"Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail," he said. "That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that."

I put down my notebook. "Just that?"

"That's right," he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there."

Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth - and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.


[ Parent ]
The System is Broken (4.00 / 4)
Plant a tree, a tomato, shop at the Co-op.  Do everything and
anything you can outside of the system.  Freedom rules.

[ Parent ]
You should see the interview he gave (4.00 / 4)
After From Prison, Madoff Says Banks 'Had to Know' of Fraud. in what had to be the television interview of the month Matt Taibbi went on MSNBC to discuss his Rolling Stone piece Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? about more that just banks in the know. The bankers knew, the regulators knew, everyone knew except retail investors and nobody gets punished so it can happen all over again. Best quote was about the regulators.

They are all the equivalent of a college basketball players waiting for their NBA deal.

[ Parent ]
who knew (4.00 / 4)
They didn't just know. This isn't about Madoff's specific fraud, but in The Big Short, Michael Lewis makes it painfully clear that the bankers and the insurance companies drove the deals. Regulators knew because they were told repeatedly, even about Madoff, and they declined to intervene. Rating agencies were just along for the ride and the big paydays.

It's worth remembering that both Democrats and Republicans voted for it in 1999 and 2000, Bill Clinton wanted it to happen and signed the legislation.

The only thing I still can't figure out at this point is why the hell so many people voted for more of the same.

[ Parent ]
investors (4.00 / 4)
Lewis also writes about money managers who formed companies that specialized in buying the deals because they thought they knew more than the big boys. Hah. They weren't what I would call retail investors, but I don't think much of the purchase money came from what I would call retail investors. A market that big floated on fat cat wise guys who should have known better. Unfortunately, in many cases the people who made the buy decisions actually were spending the money of small investors who trusted the money managers.
[ Parent ]
Why (4.00 / 4)
Try this:

I think we've been enduring a long term experiment designed to find out just exactly how stupid we are, and the answer is in. The answer must be, we are so stupid that it would be difficult for the most warm-hearted, most philanthropic criminal with the best-intentioned New Year's resolutions to resist taking advantage of us.

[ Parent ]
Thank you for saying this! (4.00 / 3)
It's worth remembering that both Democrats and Republicans voted for it in 1999 and 2000, Bill Clinton wanted it to happen and signed the legislation.

People like Thom Hartman are still blaming catastrophes like this on Regan's deregulation schemes and the conservative talkers are blaming it on Clinton and the democrats in congress. But really it was both the democrats and the republicans who made this possible.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Griftopia... (4.00 / 4)
Matt Taibbi's own recent book on this, is worth a read as well.

Griftopia:  Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America

[ Parent ]
Just got back from the vet (4.00 / 5)
for Chaz's checkup. I had made an appointment with the clinic in Oregon City that we used to use back when we had Loiosh. I have a friend who's a vet, and I buy all of my vaccines, dewormers for the horses, etc. from her and have her do things like rabies vaccination, etc. But I like to use a regular clinic for bigger things like surgery, etc.

Chaz had his checkup today, and the vet didn't think he had kennel cough, indeed today the cough's way less than it was yesterday and Tuesday (if it was kennel cough he wouldn't be clearing it so fast). Vet said he looks good, but he's a little concerned about flushing in his gums and lips. So I'm keeping an eye on that. He's lost about 6# since he shipped, no doubt due to stress, etc. while shipping. He'll be happy, he can eat a bit more than his normal ration.

The vet also said that I should feed him more than just the chicken and fish oil, and start him on things like offal, rice, potatoes, and other vegetables to give him a more rounded diet. I told the vet what all I grow out here and is comment was essentially "That should be easy for you to supplement him".

I also found the screen I was worried that Chaz might have eaten, so that's a load off of my mind.

When we got home Chaz got to meet our neighbor Shar and her little dog Trudy. Everyone likes each other. Shar really likes Chaz. Everyone really likes Chaz.

One of the techs at the clinic couldn't believe that I've only had him since last Sunday. She said he's really bonded to me. I feel like he's been here all along....

All in all I'm really glad that I waited so long to get another dog. And I'm glad my friend Caitlin waited so long to place him. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten Chaz.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

My dog eats straight from the garden (4.00 / 5)
and compost pile :) she was actually pulling carrots and parsnips, silly dog! I also feed her many of the things I cook for myself (bean dishes, stews, soups . . . ) along with her raw meats.

glad you found the screen!

[ Parent ]
Parsnips? (4.00 / 3)
Silly dog, indeed.

Yuck!

;-P

[ Parent ]
so happy Chaz is ok, Joanne (4.00 / 4)
and it's wonderful that he's bonded with you so quickly :O)

has your kidding started yet? we're off and running (well, hopping around anyways!) Guadalupe delivered 3 healthy babies, a boy and 2 girls

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[ Parent ]
Guadalupe's a great name (4.00 / 4)
for a goat, but I am very tempted to make a bad joke on how she's obviously not the Virgin of Guadalupe :)

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman
[ Parent ]
LOL! (4.00 / 4)
that was too funny, Jill! nope, no Virgin de Guadalupe here! she's our best mama doe, and has given us many happy, healthy babies ~ and her milk is great :O) now if Esperanza will hurry up and deliver her kids, I'll be able to take a good nap
[ Parent ]
No kids here yet (4.00 / 3)
but it should be soon, the first doe's been bagged up for 3 weeks now. With my luck, she'll probably have it at night next week when the lows are supposed to be in the 20s. I've got 3 more who are just starting to bag up.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
"My, what big... (4.00 / 2)
ears you have!"
[ Parent ]
That's a Nubian for ya (4.00 / 3)
I love the big floppy ears of the Nubian and the Boer, and the little delicate ears of the Alpines, and then the wrinkles of the La Manchia.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
I love our LaMancha's (4.00 / 2)
here's mama Esperanza with her little girl Luz from last year's kidding
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[ Parent ]
how to unload industrial turkeys (4.00 / 4)
You can read the entire article at http://www.straight.com/articl... but here is the gist of it.
Hormel Foods, which recently announced at its annual meeting that it had sales of more than $7 billion in 2010, is behind a plan to provide a new, vitamin-and-nutrient-enhanced product to children in the Central American country.

The product, called "Spammy", is a turkey spread that will be distributed with the assistance of two NGOs, Caritas and Food for the Poor. It is currently not available elsewhere.


I guess they see the writing on the wall about parents wanting healthier school lunches in the U.S. so they have to find another market for their products.
from Toronto Star interview (4.00 / 3)
"Guatemala has the worst situation in regards to nutrition and children. In fact, among those who earn less than $2 (U.S.) a day in Guatemala, which is considered to be living in extreme poverty, the infant mortality rate is higher than any other location in the Western Hemisphere."

Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the UN's World Food Program.

Malnutrition afflicts roughly 49 per cent of Guatemalan children under 5. For children in the country's rural areas, the situation is even worse: Seven out of 10 children under 5 are malnourished, the agency reports.


[ Parent ]
I didn't know it was that bad there. (4.00 / 3)

Bad but not that bad.  

I may be going there next winter as part of a scouting leading to a possible move trip.  

[ Parent ]
Ontario to (4.00 / 2)
Guatemala, that'd be quite a move.
[ Parent ]
Yes it would be. (4.00 / 3)

 There's a few countries I'm looking at.  Costa Rica, Belize, Panama and maybe Ecuador as well.    Not something that would happen over night though.  :)  
[ Parent ]
Costa Rica! (4.00 / 2)
I'd love to do that myself...
[ Parent ]
oh gross! (4.00 / 4)
I would say that I hope people would not want to eat something called Spammy, but look at all of the Mexicans who eat "Fud" brand food or "Bimbo" brand bread. Then again, we probably eat stuff that has funny names in Spanish.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman
[ Parent ]
Lady Laundry Luck... (4.00 / 3)
...smiles at Jay tonight!

Whoo!

Ten days now I don't have to worry about fighting to get into our laundry room.

:-D

RFP (4.00 / 3)
Request For Predictions:

1. Will Congress agree on an appropriations bill for the remainder of FY
2011 before the end of FY 2011 (end of September)? The Senate isn't scheduled to begin considering its version until sometime next month, I don't know when. Far as I can tell, it isn't on the Senate calendar yet, although I might be wrong about that. Senate is on vacation next week, one week in March, and two weeks in April. In any case, we know from last year that the Senate is horribly bad at this.

2. If you think Congress will pass an appropriations bill for the remainder of FY 2011, when?

3. Will Congress pass all appropriation bills for FY 2012 before the beginning of FY 2012 (October 1, 2011)?

I dunno... (4.00 / 3)
I'd say odds are even John Boehner will cry about it either way, though.
[ Parent ]
Dave's Killer Bread? (4.00 / 5)
I was searching for a bread recipe and came across this post about this sweet cinnamon roll called the Sin Dawg. You Portlanders have a lot of interesting food in your corner!
I LOVE (4.00 / 4)
Dave's Killer Bread!!!!!!

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman
[ Parent ]
I've never tried that one... (4.00 / 4)
But I sure love Dave's!

I like the Blues and the Cracked Wheat.

Wish their rye was better.  Still can't find a decent sandwich rye in Portland, probably the only thing we're lacking foodwise!

[ Parent ]
The Blues and Powerseed are my faves (4.00 / 3)
from Dave. I agree that the rye is just not that good. And really, how have I missed the Sin Dawg?

Jay, have you tried the rye from Fressen's? I keep meaning to drop by the Lloyd Farmers Market on Tuesdays to try some, but I haven't made it yet.

[ Parent ]
Fressen's bread... (4.00 / 2)
Yeah, I've tried a few of their products.  Love, love, love (3X!) their pretzels!  Usually my "walk back to the bus snack" I pick up just before leaving the market.  I've picked up stuff from them at the People's Wednesday, PSU Saturday and Buckman / p.k.a. Eastbank Thursday farmers' markets.

I still haven't been to Lloyd, would you believe it?

Fressen Product List

Looking at the list, I've tried the Mueslibrot, the Vollkornbrot and (I think) the Stollen.  Two of their three ryes I've tried, I've never seen the Frankenlaib at a market.

Can't speak to the Stollen as I can't even remember having had it (heh), although I'm pretty sure I did.  Obviously didn't stand out much for me!

As for their two ryes I've tried, both were some of the best artisan dark ryes I've had, although admittedly I haven't tried too many artisan dark ryes in my life.  I'd recommend both.  Neither would be suitable for sandwiches though, unfortunately.  They'd both overwhelm anything you'd put on them.

K&Z's makes a good sandwich rye in-house, but they don't sell it.  You can get a loaf if you buy a platter of like 30 pounds of pastrami, tongue and corned beef, but I don't see myself doing that anytime soon.  Heh.

Until then, I'll keep looking.  New Seasons' caraway rye isn't bad for sandwiches, but it's not really good either.  The search goes on!

[ Parent ]
The New Seasons caraway rye is the bread I use (4.00 / 3)
for sandwiches, unless I'm using Dave's. And it works, but it's not really what I'm craving. It does make excellent toast. And sour cherry jam tastes great on rye toast.

Why oh why oh why is it so hard to find a good sandwich rye? Many people are engaged in similar searches. The people who wrote the baking book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, developed their original recipe because they could not find a decent sandwich rye, and they were desperate.

I still have not made it to K&Z's. I have to correct that oversight. Every time I'm downtown at lunchtime, though, I end up at Karem Restaurant feeding my cravings for middle eastern food.

[ Parent ]
next up for me is a real good Jewish rye bread (4.00 / 3)
I've perfected a good crusty Italian bread after many tries. It's all white which is unusual for me, but it received the highest compliment from my daughter. She said it tasted like the bread in Tuscany :)

I make multigrain bread from mixed flours that makes a good sandwich bread.

[ Parent ]
When you figure it out... (4.00 / 2)
...please let us know!

:)

[ Parent ]
I do know one thing (4.00 / 3)
to get that really good crust, its twice baked.
[ Parent ]
Yes, of course... (4.00 / 2)
This is true!
[ Parent ]
Jewish rye (4.00 / 3)
We need a Jewish Rye Johnny Appleseed, an intinerant baker roaming the country teaching people how to make "good Jewish rye bread." Strange to say in the inet age, when all knowledge is available for the clicking, but apparently it's true.

"Your mission, should you decide to accept it..."

[ Parent ]
great idea (4.00 / 3)
its not the same but I could do a youtube video once its perfected.

and then I will have to find some yummy organic sustainable Pastrami

[ Parent ]
There's been a lot of discussion on the Fresh Loaf (4.00 / 3)
about Jewish rye, and a couple of things have become apparent. First, it is supposed to use white rye flour instead of whole rye and the second is the use of First Clear wheat flour, which is quite rare except in the NYC area.  People have to mail-order First Clear flour from King Arthur Flour at ridiculous prices to try and get the right bread. Plus, it's a straight-up sourdough bread, but without too much sour flavor like San Francisco sourdough would have.

I think this recipe would be considered pretty close.  

[ Parent ]
I've used clear flour (4.00 / 4)
it was leftover from my friend who writes cook books so I didn't have to buy it. There's a local organic flour Mill that has a pastry flour that is close. http://www.daisyflour.com

What is altus?

[ Parent ]
It's leftover bread (4.00 / 2)
cut in cubes, then soaked in water, then squeezed out and added to the dough.
[ Parent ]
Actually very true... (4.00 / 2)
Check out David Sax' Save the Deli if you get a chance.  Good Jewish rye is intrinsically linked to Jewish deli, and both are disappearing at an alarming rate these days.  It's not generally a cuisine which is being preserved 'electronically', so to speak, these days.  For a number of reasons.  I should get around to reviewing the book one of these years.

Would be tragic to lose one of, if not the, earliest American ethnic cuisines.  I'll be damned if I let it go!  Even though I'm not Jewish, this may become my life's mission.  Or at least one of them.

;)

[ Parent ]
caraway (4.00 / 2)
I have an alchemist's pantry of seeds, herbs, and spice powders, but for reasons unknown to me I have never in my life used caraway seeds, don't know why. I'll look for them today.
[ Parent ]
Interesting (4.00 / 3)
I don't have any caraway seed in my pantry either. I do have caraway seed for planting though. I grew caraway last year, but with eveything that was going on, I lost track of it and never harvested the seed.

Things had bloody well be different this year.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
bought caraway seeds (4.00 / 2)
Expensive li'l devils, $5.29 for two ounces. If I like them, I'll need another source.
[ Parent ]
I should hit Limbo... (4.00 / 2)
The little produce shop a few blocks down the street with the massive "Wall of Spices (and teas!)".

Limbo

There is 100% certainty that they carry caraway seed.  Will have to note the price.  I could go for a walk later...

Hope I don't get...

wait for it...

Car(ad)away.

(rimshot!)

[ Parent ]
I bought a loaf of Dave's a couple of weeks ago (4.00 / 3)
He's selling it at Fred Meyer now. Great bread, but I got the kind that has A LOT of seeds. Too much for my tired old teeth to handle. :-(

I'll have to try out something with rolled oats or a similarly soft grain in it next time.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
more veggies please (4.00 / 2)
Vegetarianism all the rage in MMA

MMA = mixed martial arts.

I don't know why these articles about elite athletes and vegetarianism are popping up now (is this something new?) but it sure is interesting.

Portland 2011 State of the City... (4.00 / 2)
Dan Saltzman wasn't at the State of the City speech yesterday.  Interesting.

Only Portland City Commissioner not to attend.  Only major figure in the city not to attend, in fact.  Even Vancouver, WA mayor Tim Leavitt was there.

One last query: will Sam run in 2012. No surprises here. "I haven't decided."

Postscript from the Mercury.

A key component of the plan involves making it easier for grocery chains to open stores in places like Lents - which hasn't had a mainline grocery store in decades.

40% of Portlanders live at least one mile from a grocery store.

Full text of the speech here.

Grocery stores... (4.00 / 2)
40% of Portlanders would be 240,000 people.  Of that number, some are of course well-off families in sprawling suburban-ish areas on the West Side of the city, but the vast majority of that number would be lower-income people in places like Lents and outer East Portland.

That's a lot of people...

[ Parent ]
Pot Luck | 53 comments
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