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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tuong Ot Sriracha is American?



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Wow, that's one of my favorite sauces. I knew there was a southeast Asian influence in the mix but I never noticed it came from the US of A. I love rolling chicken wings in this stuff and dip fries in it all the time. Whenever I have something that needs a red sauce I try it and usually like it. I've mistakenly also picked up the Flying Goose (it's in my fridge now) but always prefer the Tuong Ot Sriracha. When I stop for a bowl of phở on the sidewalk near the Asian grocery stores in Paris, it's always there on the tables.

Anyone else use it? What do you do with it and do you prefer the red or green or both? Mixing it with other condiments makes perfect sense but it never occurred to me to try. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. NY Times:
The lure of Asian authenticity is part of the appeal. Some American consumers believe sriracha (properly pronounced SIR-rotch-ah) to be a Thai sauce. Others think it is Vietnamese. The truth is that sriracha, as manufactured by Huy Fong Foods, may be best understood as an American sauce, a polyglot purée with roots in different places and peoples.

It’s become a sleeve trick for chefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

At the restaurant Perry St., in New York City, Mr. Vongerichten’s rice-cracker-crusted tuna with citrus sauce has always relied on the sweet, garlicky heat of sriracha. More recently, he has honed additional uses. “The other night, I used some of the green-cap stuff with asparagus,” Mr. Vongerichten said. “It’s well balanced, perfect in a hollandaise.”
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BofA's Lewis: Pay reform needed for Wall Street



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Let's see if he leads the way but if nothing else, it's encouraging to hear such words from one of the leading executives in the banking industry. A similar run up in banker pay was seen leading up to the Great Depression but the numbers fell in line with the rest of the corporate world quickly and for decades. The spoiled brats of Wall Street still believe they are superstars despite being spoon fed by the US government.

Sadly, it's also the US government who condones and participates in the payouts that are still well above other industries. The similarities between Wall Street bankers and the rest isn't even close. Reuters:
Regulators are examining Merrill's awarding of $3.6 billion of bonuses to its employees, many in units that caused the company to lose $27.6 billion last year.

Bank of America has said it did nothing improper in the process that led to the awards, and Lewis said banks should take the lead in ensuring that pay is fair.

Many investment banking pay practices "have been unsustainable for a long time and need to be reformed," Lewis said. He said reform must include "pay for performance that supports long-term growth," and a "reduction of incentives for inappropriate risk-taking through forfeitures and clawbacks."

Lewis added it would be "disastrous" if the government legislated compensation practices.
I don't disagree but there are many ways the government can have an impact. If Wall Street doesn't want to do the job of reforming, they can deal with the consequences of government restrictions. Take it or leave it. Read the rest of this post...

Robert Reich on the "Health Care Cave In"



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Apparently we're not the only ones concerned that the Dems will cave to Blue Cross and its ilk.
Not surprisingly, insurance and drug companies have been dead-set against a single payer for years. And they've so frightened the public into thinking that "single payer" means loss of choice of doctor (that's wrong -- many single payer plans in other nations allow choices of medical deliverers) that politicians no longer even mention it....

It's still possible that the House could come up with a real Medicare-like public option and that Senate Dems could pass it under a reconciliation bill needing just 51 votes. But it won't happen without a great deal of pressure from the White House and the public. Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and the rest of Big Med are pushing hard in the opposite direction. And Democrats are now giving away the store. As things are now going, we'll end up with a universal health-care bill this year that politicians, including our President, will claim as a big step forward when it's really a step sideways.
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Ireland releases report on Catholic Church abuse



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Growing up in an Irish Catholic family in America, the talk was generally about how terrible the English treated the Irish, which remains true. They also left, eventually. As a student, I hitchhiked across Ireland and remember talking with an Irish traveler who countered that argument and said the Catholic church did much worse and was much more destructive to Ireland. The Catholic church has never gone away. The report today is pretty rough though the cowards inside the church were still able to keep their names out of the report. If the EU had any spine they would press for more details and shame these people, if not bring them up for trial.

The consistent and disturbing reality of the long awaited report is that the Catholic church has made extra efforts the world over to cover up crimes. They have no moral authority at all. None. The offenders and church leads who hid this are truly despicable. What's the penalty for such crimes?
The report concluded that church officials always shielded their orders' pedophiles from arrest to protect their own reputations and, according to documents uncovered in the Vatican, knew that many pedophiles were serial attackers.

The investigators said overwhelming, consistent testimony from still-traumatized men and women, now in their 50s to 80s, had demonstrated beyond a doubt that the entire system treated children more like prison inmates and slaves than people with legal rights and human potential.

"A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys. Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from," the final report of Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse concluded.
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Cheney to give Republican response to Obama national security speech tomorrow



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Apparently, Ronald Reagan had previous commitments.

Seriously, though, at some point someone in the Republican party is going to have to speak up and tell Cheney to STFU. The man was at - what? - 20% in the polls? And he's the Republican giving the speech responding to Obama's national security address? Of course, Cheney chose himself to be the GOP point man, but as Joe posted this morning, it's not like the Republicans are trying to distance themselves from good old Dick.

And while the media is busy covering Cheney, they might want to as Mr. National Security where bin Laden is, why they let him escape at Tora Bora, why they didn't keep after him, and ultimately why they pretty much gave up. Read the rest of this post...

A Kennedy from Illinois?



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Chris Kennedy, a son of Bobby, is reportedly thinking of running for US Senator from Illinois. He'd be competing against Alexi Giannoulias and Jan Schakowsky in the Democratic primary (well, also against Roland Burris, if he actually runs).

First off, yes, I love the Kennedys.

But.

Not to compare the Bushes to the Kennedys, but at some point you risk watering down the candidate by simply electing the name. This was the concern a number of the blogs had with Caroline Kennedy being talked about as a possible replacement for Hillary in NY. The concern was whether Caroline would be a good Senator, rather than just being a good name. And doubts are already surfacing about Chris Kennedy's ethics, and whether he's really as good a guy as his uncle, or his dad.

There's also the larger issue of the future of the party. Chris Kennedy vs. Alexi Giannoulias is also about the larger debate over Ted Kennedy vs. Barack Obama. Chris is the son of Bobby, while Alexi is the protege of Barack. Both the Senator and the President are great men, and pillars of the party. But it is an interesting point to consider whether we want to look forward to the future, or reach back to the past. In a very real way, this discussion parallels the Republicans' ongoing fixation with Reagan. In their desire not to lose the good old days, they're losing their present and their future. The party is so mired in the past that it can't reform, adapt or grow.

It saddens me that Ted Kennedy is aging, and ill. And it's disturbing to watch any dynasty so tied to your youth drift away. But a Bush, a Kennedy and a Clinton in every state? I'm just not sure I'm there yet. Read the rest of this post...

Marriage hits a bump in the NH House



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The Governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, insisted on an amendment to the same-sex marriage bill, which had already passed both houses. If he didn't get the amendment, Lynch said he'd veto the bill. Well, today, the Senate passed the bill with Lynch's amendment, but the House didn't -- by two votes:
An amendment to a bill to allow same-sex marriage in New Hampshire was sent to committee on Wednesday, putting the future of the measure in doubt.

The amendment had been demanded by Gov. John Lynch, who said he would sign the bill if it provided more protections for religious institutions that did not want to participate in same-sex marriages.

The Senate earlier approved the amendment on a 14-10 party-line vote, but the House rejected the change, 188-186. The House was left with the choice to kill the amendment or send it to committee, and it elected to send it to committee.

That means the amendment could come to the floor again this session.
All is not lost. There should be another vote. And, there are 400 members of the New Hampshire House. Yes, 400. So, clearly, over 20 were absent today. We'll keep an eye on this one. Read the rest of this post...

It's good to be KBR



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At least failing and being handsomely rewarded isn't only limited to Wall Street. Then again, nobody died because of Wall Street. Well, not directly anyway. What's disturbing here is that the military chose not to send a person for the scheduled hearing and instead, opted to send a letter. Reuters:
The U.S. Army paid "tens of millions of dollars in bonuses" to KBR Inc, its biggest contractor in Iraq, even after it concluded the firm's electrical work had put U.S. soldiers at risk, according to a source close to a U.S. congressional investigation.

The Senate Democratic Policy Committee plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday to examine KBR's operations in Iraq, and question why the Army rewarded the Houston-based company.

The panel says KBR has been linked to at least two, and as many as five, electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers and contractors in Iraq due to "shoddy work."

Investigators believe hundreds of other soldiers may have received electrical shocks, the source added. The Army is investigating.
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Powell-Limbaugh feud grows



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Last time we checked in, Colin Powell had just responded to Rush Limbaugh's recent suggestion that Powell wasn't a real Republican, and should leave the GOP. Powell said the following last night:
"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party.' Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again," Powell told the crowd.
Limbaugh just responded:
And now there's an agenda -- an emerging agenda -- that he's waiting for for the Republican Party? The only thing emerging here is Colin Powell's ego. Colin Powell represents the stale, the old, the worn-out GOP that never won anything. The party of Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Bill Scranton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and those types of people. Has anybody heard Colin Powell say a single word against Obama's radicalism -- or Pelosi or Reid, for that matter? Maybe he has but his fawning media sure hasn't reported if he has said it.
Note: Halperin gives no source, or date, for his "quote" of Limbaugh. In view of the fact that Halperin has sent out fake stories in the past, during his time at ABC, in order to be "funny," we should take this Limbaugh quote with a grain of salt until Halperin deigns to source his post like all good journalists should. Read the rest of this post...

GOP [hearts] Dick



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It's definitely love.

NOTE FROM JOHN: The video is cute, but the humor belies a much larger problem for the GOP. First, that they have no real leader, so people like Cheney, who are not well loved by the public at large, are able to fill the vacuum. Second, the party has gone so far to the right, that it is run by people so far to the right, that not nearly enough Republicans, in any position to do anything about it, think that Cheney's de facto stewardship of the party is any kind of problem. It's the Catch 22, or vicious circle, of the party's three decade effort to become truly "conservative" and kick out all the RINOS (Republicans In Name Only). Mission Accomplished.

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GOP chair Steele threatens to resign



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This is bad for the Republicans. It's evidence of the ongoing civil war we've been writing about, evidence of their intolerance (Steele is, after all, somewhat moderate and black), and evidence more generally of the vacuum of leadership in the party - if Steele were a strong leader, he wouldn't be facing this kind of insurrection.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele told FOX News that part of his job is to "manage the money" and suggested that if committee members strip him of that authority he'll step aside.
Also today, the GOP state party chairs will be voting on whether to relabel the Democratic party the "socialist" party. Seriously. Putting aside the humor of it all, it's one more indication of how the party is so beholden to the far right that it's skewing their entire focus. The GOP should be focusing on how to fix the economy, or more generally, how to win back moderates and win elections. Passing resolutions renaming the Democrats "socialists" is the political equivalent of kicking sand and crying "na na na na na." It's childish, to be sure, but it's also bizarre, even disordered, behavior for grown adults.

It's Lord of the Flies time in the GOP. And Piggy is about to get his glasses broken. Read the rest of this post...

Obama nominates Jesus Christ for Supreme Court; GOP concerned about Savior's "troubling Middle Eastern ties."



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Rachel shows us another face of Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach



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After eighteen years -- with an amazing record of service, Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach is being fired from the military because he is gay (he thought the new president would prevent this):

Most anti-gay leaders could never match Fehrenbach's service to this country. He put his life on the line for them. I want Fehrenbach defending this nation. Watch Rachel's piece. It's good. Disturbing.

Don't we have civilian control of the military? That smug Pentagon spokesman works for Obama, not the other way around. We need some leadership here (not secret plans leaked to Marc Ambinder.) Someone should show this Fehrenbach interview to the president. ASAP. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread



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Good morning.

So, the Senate actually passed the credit card bill. Nothing pressures Congress like an upcoming recess -- and an intense lobbying effort from the White House. Of course, as with everything having to do with credit cards, we'll need to read the fine print. But, when the Senate votes 90 - 5 for a bill to rein in an industry, that industry subject has really gone overboard. We can also surmise that the credit card industry is already figuring out ways to scam the law.

The five Senators who voted no: Alexander (R-TN), Bennett (R-UT), Johnson (D-SD), Kyl (R-AZ) and Thune (R-SD). South Dakota is the home of many credit card companies.

Next on the agenda: global warming and health care reform...they have to make it happen.

Let's get it started.. Read the rest of this post...

Shell pays executive bonuses even after missing targets



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The shareholders were furious and even voted against the bonus scheme but because those votes are only advisory, Shell chose to ignore them. This was my primary argument against this advisory vote plan that Obama had promoted last year on the trail. It's too easy for businesses to ignore suggestions or even basic business ethics. Whether in Big Oil, Wall Street, Big Pharma, whatever, the end result is always consistently the same. They do whatever they want to do unless one of the grown ups (or supposed grown ups) forces them to do otherwise. They spend plenty of cash lobbying the system so they can do as they please.

Who could ever imagine such an outcome?
Shareholders are furious that Shell plans to award bonuses this year, even though the company missed its self-imposed performance targets. In an electronic ballot yesterday, 59.42 per cent of shareholders voted against the remuneration report. In a similar move a month ago, a third of BP shareholders voted against their board's proposed remuneration package.

Guy Jubb, the head of corporate governance at Standard Life Investments, criticised Shell, saying his company was "not impressed by the remuneration committee's decision to exercise its discretion for the second year in a row to reward its executives for below average performance."
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Japanese economy crashes hard



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Although the annual pace was slightly better than forecasted, when you are in double digits, nothing is good about that. The quarterly decline of 4% could have been much worse considering some of the numbers in east Asia but it's still bad overall. The Independent:
Japan's real gross domestic product, or the total value of the nation's goods and services, shrank at an annual pace of 15.2 per cent in the January-March period, the government said today.

The drop was the steepest since Japan began compiling GDP statistics more than five decades ago. It also marks the fourth straight quarter of decline after the GDP fell a revised 14.4 per cent in the October-December period.

Economists surveyed by The Associated Press had expected a 15.8 per cent contraction on average.

"Weakness in the corporate sector is gradually spreading to households," Prime Minister Taro Aso told lawmakers in a parliamentary budget hearing. "This is a very serious situation, so we need to respond appropriately."
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Credit card industry to alienate prime customers



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They really are a brilliant bunch. What successful business model relies on giving the shaft to your best customers? Forget the excuse about being forced to deal with risky customers because that's exactly what the industry wanted for years and now they're being asked to clean up their mess. They were sending out pre-approved credit card applications to anyone including the baby daughter of my friend. The industry has been foolish for years and now they will continue the stupidity with this. If they really want to discourage good customers from using credit, go for it and see how long their beloved shareholders tolerate that model.
Now Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, who have become a prime source of billions of dollars in fee revenue for the industry. And to make up for lost income, the card companies are going after those people with sterling credit.

Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups.

“It will be a different business,” said Edward L. Yingling, the chief executive of the American Bankers Association, which has been lobbying Congress for more lenient legislation on behalf of the nation’s biggest banks. “Those that manage their credit well will in some degree subsidize those that have credit problems.”
The smart customers are smart for a reason. Good luck pissing them off in this business environment. Read the rest of this post...


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