Supreme D'Orange

To supreme an orange is to experience the fruit in its totality. The fruit is a beautiful, fragrant and uniquely taste-full creation.

Pick up an orange and cup it in your palm. Wrap your fingers around it. It should be firm with a very little give. It should not have blemishes and should be darker orange. The outside should be clean and waxy smooth as you run your fingers over the pores. Pick an orange that will have a thin to medium thickness of skin.

As a child I was always handed a whole orange. Peeling the hard round fruit hurt my hand and stung my bitten finger nails. Sometimes I succeeded in removing the outside but it would be covered in pith that I had to pick off, bit by bit, endlessly. The tasteless roughage spoiled the experience. It I got a section free and intact there was a membrane to chew and seeds to spit out. The sweet clear flavor and delicious pockets of juice were mingled with this annoying material.

The return was not worth the work in my opinion. I gave up on oranges.

To supreme an orange is a soothing meditative study in patience. It is the process of removing all but the inside of that section you've been eating all your life. No more tinge of disappointment because you've always had to chew past the pesky membranes. Now it can be only those little teardrops of juice exploding like sunbursts in your mouth.

You are holding the orange on a cutting board now and a good sharp knife in the other hand. Cut the top and bottoms off so you can see the flesh and sections. The key is not to be afraid to cut into the orange sections as you peel. Slice downward along the sections removing skin, pith and membrane all around. You'll notice you aren't really removing much of the actual orange, especially as you get more experienced. This does take practice.

Now you have a naked orange and juice dripping off your hand. You should hold it above a bowl that catches the juice as you peel. With another, perhaps smaller, sharp serrated knife, you hold the orange and cut surgically close along a membrane as you would filet a fish. Proceed on each side of each section, removing the slice of flesh as you go and dropping it into the bowl. In the end you will be holding only the core and the membranes. Give them a parting squeeze to get all the juices.

At this point I often just gobble up the orange and delight in the purity of it all. You may want to put it in a salad or something. Make sure you savor the delicacy thoroughly though!

I'M JUST SAYIN'.

Do Democrats suffer from “minority mentality”? Have they been the underdogs for so long they can’t find the spine to fight for us in government? Are they like a brow beaten wife who has lost all confidence to stand up for herself? Are Democrats scared to be “politically” incorrect and fight for jobs and businesses? Do we have to eternally be the nice guy? Is a moderate politician a weak one? Could we all see that there are importantant issues on both sides and come towards the center where there are the crucial issues that are no brainers? Is being a Centrist like being a dirt bag?

Hello out there, maybe a Centrist is an average American who is only vouching for the most basic and important issues that face "middle America," another dirty term. What if we say the "middle" in middle America is the core (as an old radical this is hard for me too but bare with me) of our society that worries about core issues like housing, food, education, health insurance, crime, jobs, etc. Maybe Centrists are the new Independents, or visa versa. I'm just sayin'.

A Response to Senator Evan Bayh and America

My head aches trying to figure out how progress in Congress has occurred in the past. There is so much discord and attack now in Washington that it seems President Obama is paralyzed at every attempt to get something done to help this country (except when he approves large sums of money to bail out corporations!). In the back of my mind I have thought, “Our representatives are bickering and so intransigent that no one can proceed with useful business.” The filibuster has stopped our governing bodies like a game of chess that runs out of moves. No one wins, either. It seems to me so childish and sad that our great nation could be stuck with two stubborn toddlers (our political parties) pulling on the same toy. I have dismissed my thoughts as those of an ignorant lay person. Our people in Washington have got to be better than spoiled children.

Unfortunately, Senator Bayh writes this today in the Opinion section of the New York Times. The title is WHY I’M LEAVING THE SENATE :

“My father, Birch Bayh, represented Indiana in the Senate from 1963 to 1981. A progressive, he nonetheless enjoyed many friendships with moderate Republicans and Southern Democrats.”

Evan Bayh continues;

“When I was a boy, members of Congress from both parties, along with their

families, would routinely visit our home for dinner or the holidays. This type of social interaction hardly ever happens today and we are the poorer for it. It is much harder to demonize someone when you know his family or have visited his home.”

I want to go to Washington and work as the “liaison” (read “party planner”) who organizes these social gatherings for the political parties. Perhaps Mrs. Obama should consider Mr. Bayh’s suggestion.

“Any improvement must begin by changing the personal chemistry among senators. More interaction in a non-adversarial atmosphere would help.

I’m beginning my 12th year in the Senate and only twice have all the senators gathered for something other than purely ceremonial occasions. The first was during my initial week in office. President Bill Clinton had been impeached and the Senate had to conduct his trial. This hadn’t happened since 1868, and there were no rules in place for conducting the proceedings.”

He says further,

“...after Sept. 11... Every senator who could make it to Washington gathered in the Senate dining room to discuss the American response. The nation had been attacked. The building in which we sat had been among the targets, and only the heroism of the passengers prevented

the plane from reaching its destination. We had to respond to protect the country. There were no Republicans or Democrats in the room that day, just Americans. The spirit of patriotism and togetherness was palpable. That atmosphere prevailed for only two or three weeks before politics once again intervened.”

Ms. Obama, I think this could be your calling, to entertain and foster communication and personal interaction among our representatives. What an opportunity, Ms. Obama, and I am not

being facetious!

Mr. Bayh continues,

“The recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election

Commission, allowing corporations and unions to spend freely on ads explicitly supporting

or opposing political candidates, will worsen matters.”

I thought so too, but, IF the candidates receive “blind money” from corporations - lets

say the companies can only donate “anonymously” to a candidate or, even better, to a general

“pot”, devided equally, then our representatives wouldn’t have to spend so much time worrying about garnering funds to compete in the next election and could govern more freely and responsibly.

We could even ban certain types of television advertising. No more negative attacks

about opposing candidates. Those running for office can only put up ads about themselves on

television, we could say. Written or print press could do “investigative” reporting about every

candidate revealing information for the public to vote as informed citizens. A side benefit of this would be a huge amount of money for newspapers to write about candidates honestly and

extensively. Senator Bayh offers some ideas too:

“Congress should consider ways to lessen the impact of the Citizens United decision

through legislation to enhance disclosure requirements, require corporate donors to appear in

the political ads they finance and prohibit government contractors or bailout beneficiaries from spending money on political campaigns.

Our most strident partisans must learn to occasionally sacrifice short-term tactical political advantage for the sake of the nation (what a concept!). Otherwise, Congress will remain stuck in an endless cycle of recrimination and revenge. The minority seeks to frustrate the majority, and when the majority is displaced it returns the favor. Power is constantly sought through the use of means which render its effective use, once acquired, impossible.”

It is sad that a man like Evan Bayh has to give up his work on behalf of the American

people. He is telling us why and we must listen. Our country is deteriorating on every front; social services, education, health care, even science and research. We are slipping constantly down a cliff of backwardness and pettiness and we will not remain globally competitive in many areas very soon. Even the almighty dollar is weak. Listen to this brave man and his convictions. Take heed,

or descend into the darkness of ignorance.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Brady

Fashion in Paris

Wow. This is a very strange year in high fashion. I get the buckles and the utilitarian themes, but Adam Kimmel's outfits, well admittedly, the parts above the neck are way beyond style, except in art circles. Comic book art and cartoon characters are alive! If you are afraid of clowns - a Coulrophobic (I didn't know I was until now!), it is very hard to find the outfits below the masks. See if you can.

Adam Kimmel's casino clown crapshoot hits the jackpot

January 22, 2010 | 7:00 pm

Now this movie I want to see!

The State of the Dis-Union of the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is in disarray. The "learned timidity"(New York Times-1-20-2010) and lack of attack instinct is definitely plaguing the current party and perhaps we Dems have forgotten how to push through our agenda after so many years of being out of power. That is a weak excuse and makes me embarrassed to be a Democrat for the first time in my life.

The Democratic Party itself is not only weak but mired in the past. The Obama administration has been baffling us with its failures, not only domestically but abroad at war. We have been patiently (and stupidly) scratching our heads wondering what happened to the Obama we elected, what happened to the promises he made and the followthrough, why did he go for the bailouts, etc. What happened to the Democratic dreams we had for this new young administration that was finally going to do all those wonderful things to help the American people? Why does the Obama administration look and smell like all the others?
The answer is the Democratic party is guilty of living in a bygone era and using stale old tactics to shore up the economy and wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even with Obama at the helm, the administration is using ancient models for warfare, domestic policies and has lost it's ear to the people.
The election yesterday of Mr. Brown to the Senate is another huge blunder we can blame on antiquated thinking. Why were we trying to replace Kennedy with a ghost of a Kennedy and such a poor one at that? The Democrats need to let go of the Kennedy legacy and move on. They are history, literally, and from a bygone era. The Democratic party needs to look at Barack Obama and move forward with him and his new ideas..
The President must have the reins. The Democratic party is either advising and controlling him in ways that are holding him back from following through on his policies, or, he isn't strong enough to push them through. Which is it, we are all asking. Is Obama a weak puppet or in a straight jacket?

THE BASIC ABOUT THE REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

YEMEN has always been a wild and crazy place, I believe. My father went there

in the sixties to check it out for the New York Times, his employers at the time I remember he had a great and exciting time. As he was certainly a world traveler, it struck me that he was unusually intrigued by the place. He told me and my brother stories about how wild it was. He was blindfolded and taken at gun point to meet people in caves who gave him leaves of Quat, a plant that releases a strong stimulant (perhaps like cocaine?) that many Yemeni men chew all day long. He said he was rather scared the whole trip because very little was know about the unruly place then.

Today, in the New York Times, I was interested to read this by Glen Carey (Bloomberg News Dec. 29, 2009)

Yemen, home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, is the poorest country in the Arab world as well as a haven for Islamic jihadists.

(...and)

Yemen gained new attention in 2009 from American military officials, who are concerned about Al Qaeda’s efforts to set up a regional base there.

With fears growing of a resurgent Islamist extremism in ... Somalia and East Africa (a short distance away from Yemen, on the African mainland), administration officials and American lawmakers said

Yemen could become Al Qaeda’s next operational and training hub, rivaling the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan where the organization’s top leaders operate.

The Pentagon is spending more than $70 million over 18 months, and using teams of Special Forces, to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces, more than doubling previous military aid levels. The White House is seeking to nurture enduring ties with the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and prod him to combat the local Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian

Peninsula, even as his impoverished country grapples with seemingly intractable internal turmoil.

General Information on Yemen:

Official Name: Republic of Yemen

Capital: Sanaa (Current local time)

Government Type: Republic

Chief of State: Ali Abdallah Saleh, president

Population: 22.23 million

Area: 328,065 square miles; slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming

Languages: Arabic

GDP Per Capita: $1,000

Year of Independence: 1990

Web site: Yemen parliament.com (In Arabic)

Sound familiar? It should. That has been the American way of fighting terrorist

insurgencies for years now. It does not work. Americans should understand the there is

no AL Qaeda hub, no one place the organization operates from. All of these poor

countries have populations ripe for the picking of desperate young people. These “terrible people” who want to kill us are just poor young boys (and girls) who cannot see a future for themselves in their homeland.

Jihadist organizations prey on them. We should protect them. Al Quaeda is everywhere they are.

Instead of millions of dollars spent on the ground fighting people we cannot

see, those funds should be used to shore up stable governments (governments the people want, not governments we fabricate like in Afghanistan) so that infrastructures of financial, health and educational systems can be built and populations can hope for progress and eventual prosperity in the future.

We should educate ourselves, also, about every single country in the world.

Everyone is a player, large or small. If we want to fight terrorrism, troops on the ground is not the way.

I’m just sayin’.

Friendship, 2010 and Beyond

The Miriam Webster Dictionary says a friend is “one attached to another by affection or esteem.” Wikipedia adds that friends exhibit “mutual trust and support.”The Oxford English Dictionary wanted over $50 for a definition, the price of a monthly subscription. They are not my friends. Thesaurus words associated with friendship were camaraderie, fellowship, companions, closeness, rapport, respect, understanding andmutual affection. To me, trust, respect and understanding seem the most important.

The arrival of 2010 and my advancing middle age have turned me to look at

my friends. I have paused to think about the meaning and character of my relationships

because a few have made me doubt the solid nature of a relationship I have always

assumed to be real friendship. Many times I have counted people as friends but they were not. Perhaps we had enjoyed one instance of great fun, or perhaps they were friends of a friend, perhaps we were thrown together because our children had so much fun playing. There are so many ways to acquire “friends.” Some people bond over a

sport, a club, a hobby, or even alcohol and drugs.

I have been assessing my friendships. I need to nurture the ones that are of the “mutual affection and understanding” kind, not the “fun, party, and drink” kind. As age grows, my desire to party diminishes. Social climbing has never been interesting, nor has ‘‘joining.” I don’t fit well into groups.

Aging is not easy, as anyone who is fifty and over will tell you. It can be a very rewarding (a hackneyed term) time, of course, but there is pain as well. What an aging person needs is different from what a twenty year old needs from friends. In youth we do seek support but we also still have trustworthy parents or relatives to rely on. As older adults we seek deeper fundamental characteristics in close friends. We have no way to stay sane without someone by our side to tell us whether our thoughts and behavior are accurate and realistic. Perhaps there are a few people who can guide themselves without help. Perhaps, but how lonely. Companionship is a huge component of friendship and one of the most important in old age.

So as this new decade and new year approaches I am examining my friends. There are not as many as I thought, to my surprise. Many people are really almost acquaintances and many obviously do not understand me or do not care enough forme. Usually this work both ways, luckily. Does our relationship comprise the qualities of affection, esteem, mutual trust and support? Each friendship is different, of course. As I look over the landscape, some will be those I trust and count on to keep me sane and happy. Some are clearly around for diversion. Most, thankfully, are steadfast, loving

and caring of me and it is mutual. These will last until the day I die.