Thursday, January 15, 2004

Continuing to whine and bitch

alas, no snow, no sleeping late.  we got a little dusting after classes started this morning, a few mean little flakes.  and that's it.  iron cold reigns in the land, the birds are flocking to the feeders. it's soup weather, that's the pleasant part of cold.  i love to make soup, usually inventing my own recipes. yesterday i made a potato, pea and roasted onion soup (vegan!  using soy milk.) that we had for supper and which i'll have for lunch pretty soon.  to fortify me for heading out in all my wraps and layers to shop for An Outfit.  one of my former students has invited us to a wedding banquet in New York City's China Town on Sunday, and my wardrobe is strangely lacking in winter dressy thingies.  we're pretty excited about this invitation  (wedding banquet! China Town! the food, the food, and the food!), and hope the weather will not conspire against us.  we'll drive up Sunday a.m. and stay over that night with G's niece and her family in the Village.

for the reasons about which i whined in the preceding entry, i'm not doing much political chatter lately, but here is an article i have to mention.  the headline: "Bush Plans $1.5 Billion Drive for Promotion of Marriage."  yes, the Less Government party, the Republicans, say that.... "they are planning an extensive election-year initiative to promote marriage, especially among low-income couples, and they are weighing whether President Bush should promote the plan next week in his SOU address."  Tellingly, and far more to the point, "The proposal is the type of relatively inexpensive but politcally potent initiative that appeals to WH officials at a time when they are squeezed by growing federal budget deficits."  really, just go read the damn thing.  relatively inexpensive, yes i guess so, compared to, oh say, "reconstructing" Iraq.  but i think what $1.5 billion could do in a state the size of DE for all kinds of true social needs, or even, maybe, education, and today i don't want to weep, it's more homicidal that i feel. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmm mmm, soup! I saw a recipe for bean and escarole soup on the Food channel that I can't wait to make.

I guess Dubya is keeping to the Karl Rove mantra, keep the base happy. This irks me no end of course. Like I said over at Marcia Ellen's they need to keep out of our lives.

Anonymous said...

well, coffy, you yourself had a pretty swell journal entry on this very same article on the very same Big New Idea that duhbya (read Karl Rove) is working on. you really laid it out elegantly. this is the most idiotic blatant election ploy yet. the nerve, the chutzpah, the hubris. "let's us rich christian guys go teach those dumbass poor folks how to get married and bring up their kids, whaddya think, huh?"

Anonymous said...

Two of the best parts of winter: soup and hot tea. As for the ARTICLE, it seems as surreal as any other proposals coming out of dubya's mouth. My daughter bought a quote-a-day calendar of "Bushisms." Browsing through it was amusing, then mind-boggling, then just plain terrifying.

Anonymous said...

China town. Food. Staying in the village. With Alexander et al? Sounds like a great time. Maybe all the Antique Show people will be gone by then.

Anonymous said...

I like a side of beef with my potato soup.

Tank Gurl

Anonymous said...

perhaps a little spinal cord and brain?