Friday Bud Blogging

I don’t have anything profound to post

 

Summer Salsa Blogging – With Recipe

‘Cause I promised to put this out there:

Ingredients
*2 – 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes or 6 – freshly diced tomatoes
*1 – 4 ounce can of diced green chiles or 4 – freshly roasted anaheim chiles, diced
*1 white onion, diced
*1/2 bunch of cilantro
*3 sprigs of green onion, chopped in ringlets
*2 fresh jalapeños or 2 – 4 oz. cans of diced jalapeños
*6 cloves of fresh garlic
*1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
*2 tablespoons of oregano flakes
*2 limes – the juice
*2 tablespoons of salt (the amount is up to you, this was my guestimation)

Instructions
Dice up the jalapeños into 1/2 centimeter rings and put them in your blender (without the stems – those get thrown away) – then add half of your diced tomatoes, half of your diced white onion, the garlic, cilantro, cumin, oregano and salt. Pulse it in your blender until everything gets ground up good. Try not to liquify it, if you do it’s not a big deal.

Pour the mixture into your serving/storage bowl, then add the rest of your ingredients – green onions, remaining diced tomatoes and diced white onions, green chiles, lime juice. Stir it up with a big spoon and add salt depending on your preference. That should make a perfect-sized batch of chip-dipping salsa!

 

GOP Whisper Campaign Against St. McCain

Ah, rumor mills – gotta luv ’em sometimes.

At a campaign stop in South Carolina, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was asked about reports that he may be dropping out.

“There are rumors that you may be thinking about dropping out of the campaign. Exaggerated?” a reporter asked.

“I think they have been smoking something that’s not legal in the state of South Carolina,” McCain replied. “I have never contemplated such a thing. I mean it has never crossed my mind.”

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Rumors like that can’t be coming from Democratic circles. It’s obvious that the rats are starting to jump ship from the U.S.S. George, but there’s St. McCain, gripping the anchor of W’s ship tighter than the noose that’ll soon be hanging around Chemical Ali’s head.

Of course, I’m of the mindset that these verbal protestations from the likes of Lugar and Voinovich are nothing more than public tantrums. I’ll believe them to be principled after they start voting to end the bloodshed in Iraq. So far, it’s been all talk/no action from the Hill.

Then again, at least they bother to vote.

The six senators seeking the White House can talk the talk. Voting the vote is not so easy.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has skipped roughly half his Senate votes while campaigning for president.

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Dentists drill teeth. Minutemen hunt humans. Politicians are supposed to vote. We don’t elect them to be campaigners. Chalk it up to being yet another infection on the system that would be better served with an amputation rather than antibiotics.

 

Have they done ANYTHING without incompetence?

The absurdity of this is almost too much to bear

Part of a vehicle barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border was erected in the wrong country and soon will be removed and rebuilt on American soil, federal officials say.

“We respect our international boundary, and we want to be good neighbors,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel told The Associated Press on Monday. “…We want to move quickly to ensure that we place the vehicle barrier where it should be, which is north of the border.”

The barrier, 17 miles west of Columbus, N.M. was built in 2000 by Joint Task Force North out of Fort Bliss, Texas. It encroaches into Mexico territory between one and six feet south of the border along a 1.5-mile stretch.

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To any “progressives” that are sympathetic to the hardliners, understand that any vile legislative initiative that comes out of the Hill is going to be carried out in the most incompetent manner that you can conceive.

Here’s a scenario: you may not be racist, but you support workplace raids. Do you think the government will carry out their kidnappings in a colorblinded way? I don’t think so.

Or maybe you support increased Border Patrol agents along the U.S./Mexico border. Do you think that they won’t abuse their power and murder innocents? Good luck with that.

And then there’s this, the latest “unintentional” act of imperialism. Never Mind that this portion of the Great Wall™ has been in place for seven years. Oops!

So what makes anyone – ANYONE – think that this government can be trusted to carry out immigration reform in a humane manner.

Touchbacks? Right – the people in the shadows are supposed to trust them to keep their end of the bargain if they return to their home countries before eligibility for a visa that does nothing to solve the economic plate of shit they’re served regularly by the corporate world.

Get. Real.

 

The Desert Continues to Claim Lives

I’m too horrified to provide any further commentary.

Border Patrol agents found a body of a male illegal entrant in the Altar Valley southwest of Tucson Monday afternoon, the 11th border death registered in the past 12 days.

At 2 p.m. Monday, Border Patrol dispatch received a call about a possible deceased man near the Santa Margarita Ranch Road, off of Arizona 286 at milepost 14, said Richard DeWitt, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.

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Hugh Hewitt – Arizona’s Newest Senator

Senator Kyl, who has emerged out of St. McCain’s shadow like a palo verde root borer, is now considered the lead negotiator for the GOP in holding together any “compromise” the Senate produces. The problem is, he brings ideas and suggestions to the table that come straight from the dung heap.

The top Senate Republican negotiator on immigration said he has heard the complaints of conservative talk-radio show hosts and bloggers, and will try to change the immigration bill to accommodate them.

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‘Cause, you know, when one wants some objectivity, the talk-radio circuit is the first place to go!

In talking with reporters, Mr. Kyl singled out radio host Hugh Hewitt and called him “a very smart lawyer … who I really respect.”

“He had several issues and I haven’t had the ability to run all of them to ground, but we’re trying to include some of his specific suggestions,” Mr. Kyl said.

Was anyone else aware that Hewitt has become the newest Senator from Arizona? I must’ve chucked that memo in the circular file where it belongs.

 

Wherein I’m Attacked By A Winged Spawn of Satan

Living in the desert, one gets used to co-existing with various creatures – Snattlerakes, tarantulas, mountain lions – it’s just part of the package. You learn to not even think twice about shaking out your shoes before putting them on, in case a desert hairy scorpion has decided to burrow, or checking your cocoon of sheets before bed to make sure a wolf spider hasn’t decided to spoon with you for the night.

You just do these things – it’s automatic.

However, I was certainly not prepared for the preemptive strike that was launched on my life last night as I emerged from my door to get the mail.

The dreaded Palo Verde Root Borer was on the prowl.

This specimen was clearly an older adult, because it was at the upper-end of the size-scale for these winged creatures of the monsoon season (5.75 inches) I’m not sure who scared who the most, but when I opened the door it hopped up in flight and made a beeline for my head.

After screaming like a banshee because I thought it was a spider (severe arachnophobe here) – I extracted it from my kitchen that it had just flew into after nearly missing my head, and went on with my business.

To be honest, I was surprised to see one so early. Usually they are more active after the rains come, but not this bugger. It was acting as if we had just been hit with the Nothing.

Over at The Firefly Forest blog, they have (had) this to say about these gargantuan beetles

Paloverde Root Borers, as evidenced by their unusually long antennae, are members of the Longhorn Beetle Family (Cerambycidae), and like many other longhorn beetles, they are quite destructive. Their plump, white, 5 inch (12.7 cm) long larvae (commonly called grubs) eat tree roots, especially those of paloverde trees, such as the Mexican Paloverde (Parkinsonia aculeata). Paloverde Root Borer grubs will also feed on the roots of other trees besides paloverdes, and the damage these voracious grubs can cause to a tree’s root system can prove fatal.

Using teh Google, I love how just about every entry talks about the futileness of getting rid of these winged spawns of satan. The question is: should I charge the little beasties a portion of my rent?

 

At Least He Didn’t Commit Adultery…

….because, you know, that would definitely be grounds for Impeachment.

But torture? Nah

Cheney and his allies, according to more than two dozen current and former officials, pioneered a novel distinction between forbidden “torture” and permitted use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading” methods of questioning. They did not originate every idea to rewrite or reinterpret the law, but fresh accounts from participants show that they translated muscular theories, from Yoo and others, into the operational language of government.

Gutting Habeas Corpus? Pfffft!

…Two that particularly worried him involved U.S. citizens — Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi — who had been declared enemy combatants and denied access to lawyers.

Federal courts, Olson argued, would not go along with that. But the CIA and military interrogators opposed any outside contact, fearing relief from the isolation and dependence that they relied upon to break the will of suspected terrorists.

Flanigan said that Addington’s personal views leaned more toward Olson than against him, but that Addington beat back the proposal to grant detainees access to lawyers, “because that was the position of his client, the vice president.”

Above the will of the people, despite this being a so-called democracy? Meh

Eager to put detainee scandals behind them, Bush’s advisers spent days composing a statement in which the president would declare support for the veto-proof bill on detainee treatment. Hours before Bush signed it into law on Dec. 30, 2005, Cheney’s lawyer intercepted the accompanying statement “and just literally takes his red pen all the way through it,” according to an official with firsthand knowledge.

Addington substituted a single sentence. Bush, he wrote, would interpret the law “in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief.”

Cheney’s office had used that technique often. Like his boss, Addington disdained what he called “interagency treaties,” one official said. He had no qualms about discarding language “agreed between Cabinet secretaries,” the official said.

Go read the whole thing. This is part 2 of 4 of a WaPo exposé on Dick “Dick” Cheney.

 

Una Identidad Sin Fronteras: San Juan Bautista

[bumped up for the Feast Day – Man Eegee]

This weekend is the Pueblo Viejo’s annual fiesta to welcome the monsoon season. It’s a synergistic legacy that comes from the early days of the region’s history. In honor of San Juan Bautista, la gente will gather near downtown and celebrate the cultura that thrives in Baja Arizona.

Dates: Saturday, June 23, and Sunday, June 24, 2007
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (both dates)
Place: West Congress St. at the Santa Cruz River (south side, west bank)

The traditional procession and blessing will take place on Sunday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. People interested in walking in the procession are asked to meet at the Pima College Community Campus, 401 N. Bonita Ave., north of Congress St. The procession will follow along the Santa Cruz River to the fiesta stage where Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas will perform the blessing.

The Día de San Juan Fiesta features Escaramuza and Charros Flor de Primavera performing on horseback. Live music and dance groups include Navegantes, Mariachi Brillante Juvenil, Ballet Folklórico-Tanatzin, and Danza del Venado.

Más información at the City of Tucson website

Drawing from a post I wrote last year, here’s some history of this particular feast day.

I’m always fascinated by the way traditions evolve from a single point. In the case of El Día de San Juan on Saturday, the night before is celebrated across Spain with bonfires and rituals of cleansing and renewal; messages preached by Saint John at the waters of the River Jordan. The fires are kindled across cultures and borders to the shores of Ireland where the bonfires trace their roots to Celtic influence.

Perhaps it’s the hostile climate that I’m reacting to in 2007, but attending and supporting events like this seem all the more important. Any opportunity to celebrate one’s cultura should be taken advantage of; even if we have to create our own traditions based on the history of our roots.

In this particular case, I think of my dad who, like clockwork, goes to my hometown cemetery to de-weed and water the graves of our various ancestors every single Wednesday and Saturday. It is his way of communing with our past, as well as re-focusing his center so that he can be more present to the now and future. It comes from a deep place of respeto y orgullo – hopefully something that I will be able to continue when it’s my turn to take up his shovel and mangera.

Water is something sacred to people living in the southwest. I can hear padre’s voice echoing in my own throat on a regular basis that, “Man, we really need rain. The animals and desert are thirsty.” I guess it’s something we have our pulse on when a lot of our free time is spent outdoors – the place where we feel most at peace.

That lifeforce offered by the tierra y cielo is something that is worthy of celebration. If you’re in the Tucson area this weekend, join the fiesta along the (ironically) dry banks of the Santa Cruz and feel yourself be woven into the history that surrounds us.

Doing something like that is always worth it.

Part of the Una Identidad Sin Fronteras series

 

Vaya con Dios – Sr. Antonio Aguilar

I join Nezua in honoring the life and cultural legacy of El Charro de Mexico, Señor Antonio Aguilar. He moved on from this life earlier in the week due to complications with pneumonia.

A highly accomplished singer, songwriter, actor and handler of horses – Sr. Aguilar is a true legend that has influenced the very identity of Mexico so strongly that his spirit will live on forever.

Jose Hernandez, director of the Mariachi Sol de Mexico, recalled working with Aguilar as a teenager during shows in Los Angeles. The young apprentice annotated the old unwritten corridos, writing notes as Aguilar hummed the musical introductions.

“He was an incredible man, very special,” Hernandez said Wednesday from his Cielito Lindo Restaurant in South El Monte. “And he was so respectful of this country. He would tell all his crew, and all his musicians, ‘We’re going to the U.S. so we must be on our best behavior. We want the Americans to see what the true Mexico is all about, and that our culture is beautiful.’ “

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As a child, I always sat in awe watching his horses dance to the beautiful sounds of the mariachi as its rider belted out the stories and histories of my ancestors. When my nana passed away in the mid-80s, I inherited all of her vinyl records – Antonio Aguilar being among the treasured collection.

Serendipitously, I was listening to a CD version of his Grandes Exitos this week prior to learning of his death. They are going to stay in my listening rotation for a while now.