Sunday, September 30, 2007

Nutburgers in the News - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Well, you knew it couldn't last - me being quiet about what's going on in the news. I try. I swear, I really try. But, the world keeps presenting me with nutburgers I can't resist talking about.

Nutburger of the Week is... drumroll, please...  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

There are no gays in Iran? Well, of course not. The ones who could afford to have already left, and you've killed the rest or shamed them into being hidden. It's amazing how ignorant a person can be and still be running a whole country. And, no, I'm not going to make a George Bush joke here - there's "I didn't really excel at my ivy league school and I'm not too smart" and there's "I'm a bigot who's too stupid to even know I'm a bigot." Very different kinds of ignorant.

The debate has raged about Columbia University giving him a platform. Maybe I'm just a complete idiot myself, but I'm glad he spoke there. I think far more people heard what he has to say than they would have if he had only spoken at the UN. Would he have said there are no gays in Iran at the UN? No. Well, I don't think so, anyway. But, of course, I can't imagine anyone would say something so ignorant anywhere. But, I digress. OK... back to the topic at hand. I think the fact that he spoke at Columbia brought his message to a larger audience so more people can see what a fool he is.

I've heard the argument that apparently Columbia would have hosted Hitler. Well, you know what, if they had he probably wouldn't have gone unchecked for so long. And speaking of Hitler, how many people got upset when Ahma-nutburger-jad denied the holocaust a couple of years ago? Admittedly, there was "international outrage," but it was talked about less than this has been and I think the reason is that Columbia offered a way for more people to hear what he has to say. It's easier to just blow nutburgers off  in "official" contexts than when they're doing it just because it's who they are.

Oh yeah, and lets not forget that part of our identity as a country is free speech. So, you'd think the president of another country would be extended the opportunity to speak. If he happens to be a nutburger and doesn't bother to hide that fact - as they never do because they see themselves as completely reasonable - it clues the rest of the world in. And someone we really need to be hearing are nutburgers in positions of power - like presidents of countries with nuclear power who think other countries should be "relocated," for example.

OK, I know... he speaks lots of places. Well, I don't know about you, but I've seen far more of him and his general nutburger-y-ness from the Columbia speech than any other. I think it's good for people to see that and I don't think they're likely to catch the latest C-Span installment from the UN. OK, I don't even know if C-Span does the UN or only congress, but it sounds good as a comparison.

So, there you go... Nutburger of the week is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Bill O'Reilly and his fumbling buffonery about Sylvia's restaurant and its patrons is spared being the Nutburger of the Week. At least this week.

(And yes, Nutburger is my word. I don't know where it came from. It just popped into my brain and out my mouth and I've been using it ever since to describe people who are so far removed from anything resembling reality that they can't even get a grasp on it.)


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Saturday is for Scones

I went downtown for the Chili Cookoff today. There was a great turnout - even at 1 p.m. when I arrived to help with clean up for the HRAH (Hutchinson Reno County Arts and Humanities) booth. There were people everywhere.



I guess multiple times the HRAH booth had a very long line of people waiting for their chili samples. People pay $2 and can get samples from each of the booths. I think there were about 25 this year. Then they get to vote on what the best chili is.

Mark, the director of HRAH, pinpointed the only real problem. It seems as if people are more interested in just filling up on chili for $2 than actually enjoying a community event. He mentioned this just about three minutes after I had said to another board member that I hadn't seen anyone I knew. But, I guess people were enjoying it in ways we couldn't see.

But, this was echoed when I pulled up to get the three pumpkins Mark had told me to take home. We had left them sitting there while I pulled my car around. Another board member had come along and his kids wanted one. I told them to take them all. While we were discussing it, some older gentleman none of us knew walked up and took one. Who takes something like that - obviously a decoration that had been used by one of the participants - just because it's not nailed down? This guy I guess. He didn't ask anyone, including the two of us who were wearing logo hats and discussing them. He just took it. We didn't do anything except watch. Frankly, I was a little too surprised to say much. It's not that I need the pumpkin - I'm blessed that I can afford to buy as many pumpkins as I want to go on my porch - but it was just the idea someone would help themselves to something that obviously didn't belong to them, that they had no right to. I would rather the other board member's kids had all three of the pumpkins. I guess I live in a sheltered world, what can I say?

I did see something funny, which I wish I had gotten a photo of - a black lab with his own arm band, meaning he got to sample the chili too. He trotted right over to me to be petted so it's my own fault I didn't get his photo. But, suffice it to say, it was cute  that his three guys got him his own armband.

While working on a number of different computer projects this afternoon I took a break to read some blogs. When I checked Jan Lemen's I saw the most scrumptious photo of a biscuit with jelly on it. This made me long for a scone. I don't know why, but it did.

So, I dug in my computer recipe files and found the scone recipe shared by tea enthusiast Eve Hill on a tea list some years ago. Teresa has a good scone recipe, too, but I didn't have it in the computer. Most of them are pretty similar - but I like a scone that is flaky and crumbly. I don't care so much about the shape - round or triangular - but the texture is important to me. I like them to be rather biscuit-like only a little sweeter.

Anyway, I whipped up some scones, and ate one with real butter and blackberry jelly. Yum. I, of course, had it with some blackberry and sage tea. Susan gave me this tea at Christmas last year and I have loved it. I've been parceling it out and this was the perfect time for some.

I also finished up the invitations for Mary Ann and Jackie's 50th Anniversary Party in a few weeks. Cathy and Kim have been kind enough to let me be involved in the planning. My other big task is the centerpieces. I've got some ideas I need to experiment with. I want to make sure everything looks nice.

Well, time for bed for me. I'm hoping that tomorrow I wake with an uncontrollable urge to tidy up my house.