Pajama Pundits

Sometimes, human imperfection results in perfection of a higher order.

I post a recipe for Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Google delivers ads for recipes while Chitika serves up ads for rubber chickens?

Washington Post:

Pitkin County, Colo., Sheriff Bob Braudis said in a brief telephone interview that Thompson was alone in his kitchen of his Woody Creek home when he shot himself with a handgun. His wife was at a gym, Braudis said.

The sheriff said Thompson had seemed "still on top of his game."

But Braudis's wife, Louisa Davidson, said "he was not going to age gracefully, he was going to go out with a bang. He was tormented."

Other coverage:
Wizbang: The Definition of Eccentric
Michelle Malkin: Hunter Thompson Dead
A Small Victory: RIP Dr. Gonzo
Dean's World: Hunter S. Thompson, Dead at 65
Iowahawk: Gone-Zo
Lileks: The Bleat - Sandra Dee also died.
Beth: Gonzo Suicide
Vodkapundit: Fear and Loathing in Aspen


Some of his works:
ESPN's Hunter S. Thompson Archive

Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004 - Rolling Stone

Hey Rube : Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness Modern History from the Sports Desk

Kingdom of Fear : Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Stories

Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist

Proud Highway: The Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman (Fear and Loathing Letters/Hunter S. Thompson, Vol 1)

Generation of Swine: Gonzo Papers, Volume 2: Tales of Shame and Degredation in the '80s (Thompson, Hunter S. Gonzo Papers, V. 2.)

SONGS OF THE DOOMED : SONGS OF THE DOOMED (Thompson, Hunter S. Gonzo Papers, V. 3.)

Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie (Gonzo Papers, Vol 4)

Hell's Angels

The Rum Diary: A Novel

The Great Shark Hunt : Strange Tales from a Strange Time

The Curse of Lono

Screwjack: A Short Story

Songs of the Doomed : More Notes on the Death of the American Dream

The Boys on the Bus

Polo Is My Life

My garbage is okay, but it's not as pretty as Sissy's. I think it needs a nice chili can to balance both the boxiness and diet.

I should have blogged the 10 packages of Ramen I threw away last week. They did look sort of pretty in the trash can, the shiny texture of the slightly crinkled thin plastic, the brilliant patterns created by the jumble of reds, blues, greens, and yellows one can find only in commercial packaging. All that given life and movement by the barely discernible (from the outside) terror of the Southern kitchen: dadblame sugar ants. (That's not exactly what I call them, but this is a nice blog.)

Varifrank eulogizes the authority of the MSM. A prediction for the future is at the end.

Montrose Daily Press:

Katharhynn Heidelberg

MONTROSE - A treacherous mountain pass, ice, snow and a sharp curve whipped up a recipe for disaster - or for a miracle, depending on how it's viewed.

The Joe Sullivan family of Montrose, along with family friend Terry Holman and his daughter, were making a seemingly routine trip from a Durango basketball game Saturday afternoon, when, just past the snowshed, their minivan took an unexpected detour off the side of Red Mountain Pass.

Though it's been more years than I want to think about, I've travelled over Red Mountain Pass, the Million Dollar Highway, many times. It's a road that takes all a driver's concentration in good weather in the summertime. You had to be on the lookout for rocks on the road. Avalanches are a winter worry on top of snow-packed and icy surfaces. Fortunately for me, I wasn't old enough to drive, so I got to look at the awesome scenery.

"It's truly a miracle that we're all here," Linda Sullivan said Monday. "We rounded a curve and hit a patch of ice. The brakes locked up, we couldn't correct it and we went off the side of the mountain."

The van "plowed" snow, turning over "we don't know how many times," Sullivan said, before coming to rest in the river several hundred feet below.

Shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday, the Sullivan vehicle left the road at milepost 88.2 on Highway 550, approximately 6 miles outside of Ouray, according to the Colorado State Patrol. The vehicle had reportedly been traveling at approximately 10 mph in the 25 mph zone at the time.

"The roads were icy and snow packed. (Joe Sullivan) stated they lost control. There's no guardrail and they went 340 feet down the embankment, rolling multiple times," CSP Sgt. Lawrence Oletski said Monday.

This family was lucky, lucky, lucky. One of the games I used to play was to try to spot a new wreck. In those days, cars were often simply left where they came to rest after an unexpected departure from the road down the side of the mountain. I'm sure that's not the case now. It sounds like road itself has not changed much. The only places I remember seeing guardrails were lookout points where one could pull off the road to enjoy the view. Or let the engine or brakes cool off.

My scariest trip over Red Mountain was in a school bus in 1968 from Montrose to Durango for a football game. Near the summit - mile 82 - the northbound lane of the highway had simply slid down the mountain, temporarily turning it into the half a million dollar highway. All I could think about was.. um, we've got to come back this way again tomorrow!

No matter how bad Red Mountain Pass can be, at least it's paved.

Thanks to Slowplay for bringing back the memories.

Southern Appeal linked to The Yankee or Dixie Quiz, and like Joel L, I scored:

83% (Dixie).  Did you have any Confederate ancestors?

Well... not that I know of. A Tennessee ancestor served in the Confederate Army, but switched sides and joined the Union army in 1863. He died at Andersonville. Does he count as a Confederate ancestor? I think not. The other two ancestors whose Civil War activities I can verify lived in Alabama and both fought for the Union.

Of the possible 24 ancestors I have who might have been the right age to fight in that war, almost half (mostly the older of the two possible generations) are unidentified, a third of the rest resided in Indiana, Illinois, Pennsyvania, or Ohio. If I ever find a record of their service, I expect it to be for the Union. I could be wrong, as I expected the Alabama ancestors to have worn gray. The ages of the rest of them could have kept them home on either side because they were too young or too old. Some died young who might have fought had they lived.

Though our family's history is far from complete, several lines are well-documented back to their arrival on the east coast. There are two documented Revolutionary War soldiers. Two-thirds of the identified ancestors followed a similar migration pattern - Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas/Arkansas. The Tennessee ancestors went there from South Carolina, then to Arkansas and Texas.

When my daughters and I first started digging for family roots over 12 years ago, it never occurred to me that we would not find ancestors on both sides of the conflict. I already knew that some on my father's side were Dutch from Pennsylvania and that my mother's folks had come from Tennessee and Alabama.

Is it unusual to have so many Southern ancestors, yet not a bona fide Confederate in the whole bunch?

What was Doug Wead thinking when he made secret tapes of conversations with then Texas Governor George Bush?

In Secretly Taped Conversations: Glimpses of the Future President (NYT, free registration required), some of the content of the tapes is revealed. There's nothing there that should be a difficulty for Mr. Bush, at least there's nothing there I didn't already suspect, or that he has already said publicly. There will, no doubt, be instances of Bush haters taking comments that are already out of context even further out and spinning them to make him look bad. That won't be news.

What really irks me is that Doug Wead is trying to make what he did appear to be okay since he didn't do it with the goal of making a profit or embarrassing George Bush. Looks like he failed on both points. The tapes have come to light because he used them to write a book. If he quoted something that Mr. Bush said to him in private, why did he have to prove that it was said? He didn't, but he's certainly getting publicity, isn't he?

I don't think he embarrassed the President except for exposing a betrayal, but Doug Wead should definitely be embarrassed. This man, a former Christian minister exhibited poor judgment, bad taste and a willingness to privately and publicly betray someone who thought him a friend. After the tapes were made, the only decent (and Christian) course of action would have been to give them - without making any copies, of course - to President Bush.

One wonders if that ever occurred to Doug Wead.

Why disclose the tapes? "I just felt that the historical point I was making trumped a personal relationship," Mr. Wead said. Asked about consequences, Mr. Wead said, "I'll always be friendly toward him."

UPDATE: Paul at Wizbang thinks the article is a snoozer. He's right in a way, and it is remarkable (and reassuring) that Bush is privately much like his public persona. And Willis thinks the motive is money.

UPDATE II: Ann Althouse is suspicious that the recordings weren't that secret.

(or, how many ways can my daughter spell Worcestershire)

This recipe is from my daughter, who got it from her mother-in-law. She's made it for us twice and there were no leftovers. It's good without the sour cream also, just not as good.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, finely chopped.
2 garlic cloves (or 2 Tbs chopped garlic)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 -4 oz can green chilies
1 - 15 oz can stewed tomatoes (Italian style is good)
1 can RoTel Tomatoes (I'd use the hot variety, but regular is what's called for)
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp lemon pepper
2 teaspoons worstshire
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon Tabasco (or more to taste)
1 lb. uncooked boneless chicken breast, cut into cubes
½ cup sour cream (or more..)
4 tablespoons of flour in 1/2 cup water
shredded cheddar cheese (Monterrey Jack would be good too)
french bread or tortilla chips

Directions:
1. Heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and cook until brown but not caramelized.
2. Add all canned ingredients, chicken broth, and spices, worcestire, and Tabasco. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add chicken and cook 5 minutes or until chicken is done.
4. Thicken with flour/water mixutre.
5. Add sour cream.
6. Serve with cheese and bread or chips. Have water handy!

Number Of Servings:  4 if you're really hungry, more if you're not. 6 maximum.

Preparation Time:  35 minutes

CNN lies, lies, lies they do. Tricksy CNN, tricksy stinky CNN, they lies with their tricksy lying stinking CNN headlines that lie. They do, they do, and we hates them for it, we does.

Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but I'm worried that if I get sick, I won't write that well. Oh wait, I'm not sick and don't write that well.

Oh well.

Baldilocks has some great guest-bloggers and commenters, including Baldilocks herself. Go check 'em out. In particular, read Looking for Little Bunny Foo-Foo and read all the comments. I'm right there with Kathleen and Baldilocks on this one. I don't care HOW different men and boys are, that teacher is a sicko and needs help (administered inside a locked facility). 

I've not commented on Jordan Eason and his remarks at Davos because I had nothing to add. Michelle Malkin, La Shawn Barber, Captain's Quarters, Instapundit are the blogs to read for the details of that story. If they don't have the detail you're looking for, they'll have a link to someone who does. In fact, if you want a link to every blog that's written about it so far, N.Z. Bear has a nifty list for you.

One of my favorite writers in the blogosphere, Jeff Harrell at Shape of Days thinks the blog criticism of the MSM's lack of attention to to Easongate is out of proportion to the importance of Eason:

If Elvis really were alive and well and working the soft-serve machine at the Dairy Queen outside Waco, it would be a big story. But does that mean that every false assertion to that effect is news? It obviously does not.

Look, people say crazy things all the time. Walk down the street right now and ask people whether they think US soldiers deliberately try to kill journalists in war zones. I promise you that it won't take you long to find somebody who'll say yes. Do we put these cranks on the news? Of course we don't. Because they are wrong.

He's got a point. Go there, read the rest of his thoughts.

Matthew at Opaque Lucidity makes the opposite point, comparing the blog response to much milder words spoken by Trent Lott:

Let's put this in perspective. When Trent Lott made a thoughtless alternate history comment about Strom Thurmond in 2002, he ultimately resigned from his position as Senate Majority Leader. His comment, although unfortunate, was made with the intention of saying something positive about a retiring fellow Senator. I do not believe that he meant it to be a slam against the last 50 years of civil rights progress, but that's how it came out. The blogosphere was all over the story, as was the MSM. The damage was done.

Eason Jordan made an undeniable comment: the US military has targeted and killed 12 journalists in Iraq. He said this in a foreign country in front of an audience that contained a US Congressman and Senator. His statement leaves very little room for broad interpretation. He is a top level executive for one of the largest news networks on the planet. The blogosphere is on him like grease on a Whopper.

He's got a point too. Go there. Read.

The amazing thing is that I agree with both of those points. A comment that probably wasn't meant to be racist, but sounded that way to some isn't in the same league as an accusation of murder. The unanswered question there, is whether the reaction to Lott's statement was an overreaction.

Was Lott's transgression fixed with "pitchforks and torches" rather than speech?

Git along little dogies

No, you're not the only one! That line is begging for graphic.

Some people fantasize about huge sums of money, fame, or great beauty. Not Jay Tea. He's fantasizing about how to take over the government.

Not a bad plan... as long shots go.

I thought I should explain why blogging has been erratic (okay... almost non-existent) the last week or so.

The genealogy bug bit me again. Previous bouts of the disease apparently offer little immunity when the bug is the extremely virulent strain, Previously Unknown Ancestor Identified.

It's been five years or more since I'd tried using internet resources for genealogy. They were measley offerings back then, and I gave up. Too soon, it appears. Now, one can view census records online or download them and view them offline. This is a tremendous improvement over the convenience of rolls and rolls of microfilm and transcribing or trying to read them from a very poor copy.

There's still age and penmanship to deal with. While it's beautiful, the old style of writing takes a bit of getting used to. But then you begin to appreciate the consistency and clarity that came with the care these scribes put into making these lists.

To further the agony of the genealogy addiction battling with the blogging addiction, my favorite enabler is seriously ill. I'm putting off taking it to the computer hospital because I fear they are going to want to give last rites to the motherboard, and that's not a service I can afford right now.

But the good news (again, thanks to Instapundit) is a great new blog resource - Civil Warriors. Another carnival I'm looking forward to reading (thanks to the new History Carnival) the Carnival of Bad History. While they don't have a category for those so-called "genealogists" who never checked a "fact" in their life, I'm quite sure Hell has a special place reserved for them.

The Instapundit has gone all domestic on us. I haven't tried the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, but it sounds nifty. The problem is that no amount of cleaning is going to help the appearance of flooring that needs to be either replaced (like in my kitchen) or sanded and refinished (like the floor in the living room).

The best cleaning tool I've come across was the Miss Clean Magic Teenager. Unfortunately, they grew up, went to college, got married, and all that stuff. I miss my daughters! (Sorry, son - remember it's you I call for computer help, not cleaning advice!)

I'd like to lie and write something about what a great housekeeper I am and offer tips on how to keep porcelain shiny, but a few people who know me read this blog. They'd laugh and post ugly comments. They can save those for when I post about my green thumb.