http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/ en Copyright 2009 Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:23:52 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss It's just a common theme for me since, oh, the 2006 mid-term elections: it's hard to be outraged about politics all of the time. So, I'm not going to do much political blogging for a while. But, I will be making some more general posts, and targeting into my related hobbies, cooking and catering. Nothing earth-shattering folks, http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/04/changing_directions_a_bit.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/04/changing_directions_a_bit.html General Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:23:52 +0000 This came up out of the blue this morning as I was getting on my way to go down to referee a rugby match today. The match was good. It was my first run of the year. I have had a balky knee all winter, and, much to my own surprise, have been working out a bit on a rehab program. I haven't done off-season workouts since I quit playing. (Yes, I have the girth as pennance....) Rugby is an interesting sport as a referee, as we are encouraged to be very vocal with the players in order to prevent infractions. And there is only one referee, and fifteen players on each team, 30 total. After the initial terror of having to watch everything all the time, the game started "slowing down", and now I find it great fun. Being able to influence play - to keep the game clean and flowing - is really a pleasure. I had two good teams today, that responded well to instruction and kept things moving. Good afternoon. Also, I got to do one of my favorite things: penalize the coach for criticizing me. Oy! I think it is Law 6.4.a: "The referee is the sole judge of fact and law." We even have a signal for "talkback penalty." Marched off two consecutive penalties and took them out of a scoring opportunity. Military team: "You, coach, of all people, should know what a terrible example you are setting by undermining my authority.... I can keep walking off ten meters against you all day." Okay, the recipe: Faux Tandoori Chicken with Creamy Spinach Serves 6 6 chicken breasts, boneless okay. Skins on and bone in will taste better. 1 lb frozen spinach 1 large onion, coarse chop 2 carrots, coarse chop 4-5 cloves of garlic, coarse chop 1 small bunch fresh oregano 1 small bunch fresh thyme 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, juice included 1-2 cups chicken stock, as needed 2-3 tbs cumin 2-3 tbs spanish or hungarian paprika 1 tsp smoked paprika (or 1/2 tsp liquid smoke) Salt and Pepper to taste medium pinch red pepper flakes 2 tbs olive oil To finish: 8 oz sour cream 2 tbs lemon juice Salt & Pepper Dried oregano Thinly sliced cherry tomatoes or julienned red pepper, or yellow pepper. Okay, I think that's right. I used Empire Kosher chicken. It's almost all I use at home now. I was surprised when Joanna said it reminded her of Tandoori cooking. 1. Reserve the spices and olive oil 2. Put the rest of the ingredients (except the finishers) into the crock pot, and mix them around a bit. 3. Put the chicken breasts about halfway down into the mix. 4. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil. 5. Sprinkle the chicken with the spices, salt, and pepper. 6. Put crock pot on low, set timer to 3 hours, 30 minutes. ******* Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, go to the rugby, stop for a burger and a beer, come home.... ******* The chicken should crisp up on top. I often do whole roast chickens on top of veggies (to keep them from braising in their own juices) in the crock pot, and it comes out crispy and moist. I am starting to really like roasting chickens in the crock pot. It's like a dry braise. Just don't overcook the chicken.... 7. Check the temperature of the chicken. Breast meat should be cooked to 165 degrees. 8. If done, remove the chicken to a platter or a sheet pan, tent with foil. If not, leave it in the crock pot or put it in oven at 425, checking it every 2 or three minutes so it doesn't overcook. 8A. DON'T FORGET: remove them nasty stalks from the herbs 9. Add sour cream to crock pot 10. Using a stick blender, make a coarse puree out of the spinach and vegetables. Coarseness is a matter of preference. Mine was - ugh - oatmeal consistency. And "cooked spinach green." 11. Reseason with S&P, and any of your spices to suit your palate. 12. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over chicken. 13. I served with a piece of chicken over a bed of rice, covered with sauce. 14. Garnish with the tomatoes or peppers. Gotta add some color to that nasty green. 15. In addition to the rice, I broiled some fresh asparagus that I tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper. 10 - 15 minutes under the broiler. Finished with S&P, and a little lemon juice. The leftover spinach sauce: what to do, what to do. I was thinking that a nice smoky andouille or chorizo, and some white beans, would make this a really awesome soup, served in a toasted bread bowl. I would love to hear your comments. I thought this was pretty good. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/03/crockpot_tandoori_chicken_with.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/03/crockpot_tandoori_chicken_with.html Quick and Easy Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:04:18 +0000 Through the years I have become a fan of a more savory breakfast than cereal with milk. I loved breakfasting in Bavaria with nice cheeses, meats, and bread, fortified with strong Euro-style coffee. What I loved more were the bowls of noodles or curry I had for breakfast in Singapore. I made a simple Spicy Pork Noodle Soup: 2-3 oz. thinly - thinly - sliced pork (a pork chop would work here, add bone to broth) 1 tbs Italian Hot Peppers - the kind you get for sandwiches, in vinegar 1 tsp lime juice 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp minced lemongrass 1/2 tsp fish sauce or 1 tsp shrimp paste 1.5 cups chicken broth 1 package ramen noodles, throw away the seasoning packet pinch of salt black pepper to taste fresh cilantro for garnish. Reserving the cilantro and the lime juice, put all of the ingredients into a 2-qt covered saucepan. Bring to a boil, simmer 2 minutes, take off heat, let stand for 3 minutes. Let it sit only until the noodles are just ready. Transfer to soup bowl, add cilantro and lime juice. This is a lot better if you can marinate the pork overnight, using all of the ingredients and reserving a bit of lime & cilantro to the end to spark it at the end. Okay to omit the lemongrass: it's a pantry item for me. A tip to remember: a bit of acid to finish a dish really pops the flavor. Your breakfast hot and sour soup. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/03/simple_spicy_pork_soup.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/03/simple_spicy_pork_soup.html Quick and Easy Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:54:21 +0000 I've mentioned that I just bought Rick Bayless's 20th Anniversary "Authentic Mexican Cooking." Rick is featured on PBS, and I am pretty sure he beat Bobby Flay in an Iron Chef cookoff. He is a very laid back but extremely excellent interpreter of Mexican cuisine for Americans. There is very little I don't like about him. This cookbook, and I own many cookbooks, is in the top five, or three of all I own. It's informative, clearly written, very well cross-referenced, and has been tested in a home kitchen, which is a critical success factor for a cookbook. I got this book on Friday and read through it while playing Mob Wars on facebook. (Please join my mob.....) The dish I cooked today was the first dish I wanted to cook out of it, although I will be doing a pork dish for dinner on Monday or Tuesday. It is a very common custom around the world to make a vinegar-based sauce for raw oysters. A sauce mignonette - sherry vinegar, shallots, herbs, pepper - is a traditional French accompaniment for fresh-shucked oysters. My friend Steve K. brought back ten dozen oysters from Maine this past fall, and, man, did we have an oyster-schucking party watching the football game. I am usually only a glutton for punishment, but a bushel of oysters and I get right in the groove. Bayless's recipe is basically a sauce mignonette that is used for a poaching liquid for the oysters. I made a couple of minor adjustments. This dish had the taste and feel of something really hearty that would stick to the ribs, but ate almost like a gazpacho. It was really delicious. A great Sunday-watching-rugby-and-NASCAR early dinner. From memory, so as not to infringe on a copyright: Ingredients: "Trinity" of onion, carrot, cubanelle or similar pepper. Roasting the pepper in advance is great; if you can't, add a pinch or two of smoked paprika Cumin - healthy pinch Cinnamon- pinch Allspice - lean pinch Clove - 6 whole, ground Black pepper 24 shucked oysters, liquor reserved. 36 better. Garlic - 6 or 7 cloves, minced Bay leaves Oregano Cider Vinegar Clam Juice or Fish Stock - enough to make a poaching liquid. Finely chopped cilantro to garnish. I added: Fish sauce - only a little Fresh mini-loaves for serving bowls. One per person. Tilapia filet - I forgot I used up my fish stock with a risotto a couple of weeks ago, so I added a tilapia filet and some water to the trinity for a poaching liquid. Shredded the tilapia. Saffron butter (make a simple compound butter with saffron bloomed in a tbs of warmed cream; whip into softened butter; roll in saran wrap and put in fridge. Lemon juice to finish. Technique: Make a trinity (miripoix); sweat in skillet with olive oil Coarsely grind spice mixture; add to trinity when sweated Add tilapia and rest of ingredients EXCEPT OYSTERS; simmer for 10 - 15 minutes - bare simmer Toast mini-loaves - I smeared a saffron butter into hollowed-out mini loaves, then put them into the broiler for five minutes. When loaves are done, add to the skillet, simmer 4 minutes, tops. Just barely firm. Serve in loaves as bowls. Finish with a squeeze of lime juice. I had forgotten to use finely sliced leek in place of the onion; I'll save this for another day. I wished I used more oysters. I had a simple spinach and tomato salad with oil and grapefruit vinegar. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/02/sunday_oyster_dinner.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/02/sunday_oyster_dinner.html Recipes Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:58:12 +0000 My wife is not partial to beef, veal, pork, so my cooking at home is generally chicken or fish. I haven't cooked much fish this winter. My grocery habits have changed since I moved to the other side of town. I used to go to Trader Joe's - a really, really, really great grocery store and well worth the extra effort to go there - and stock up on very good frozen fish fillets and steaks. Really worth the effort. But it's out of the flight path now, and I don't do my regular shopping there any more. Anyway, I'm off the point. I've been moving away from Big Industrial Farm poultry for a while now, at least for home cooking. I don't really care about so-called "inhumane" treatment of the chickens: they are chickens. I do care about the nasties pumped into them, and I do care - my primary factor - about the taste. Purdue, Tyson's and the lot, well, they taste like cardboard. By the way, when I am catering large parties, I go for the bulk items from the big box store, and don't much care where it was raised as long as it is fresh. Cost-cutting and is the nature of the game. A whole bird, "organic free range," is going to cost you $3 to $ per pound. That's getting steep. Is it worth it? You be the judge. Sure tastes a lot more like chicken. Now, when I roast whole birds, I generally brine them overnight. This is an especially great technique for your Thanksgiving turkey. It helps moisten the meat so that the breast doesn't dry out before the dark meat is done. I read about this technique from America's Test Kitchen (and Cook's Illustrated magazine, which is my favorite. Google them.) I primarily cook thighs, by the way. More flavor. As I mentioned in a post below, I've been using Peapod by Giant for the past few weeks. They are a grocery delivery service. I was surfing the poultry aisle for my first delivery, and was leery of their fresh product. Something about not putting eyeballs on bird. So I bought frozen breasts. (I have gotten over my hesitation: Peapod is a recommended service.) To defrost, then brine, a piece of chicken means you have to take an extra day in the chicken-cooking process. Man, it's only a chicken! So, I bought Empire Kosher frozen chicken breasts. They were fantastic. Fantastic. They were moist and chickeny. Moist and chickeny. And not because of my technique. I rushed through dinner prep and made a marinade out of a tangerine that was too sugary, and I scorched the pan and had to futz about cleaning - then changing - skillets and such. I cooked the chicken to almost 175 degrees, way overcooked to me. Moist and chickeny, even after overcooking. Kosher birds are now my preference for home cooking. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/02/a_note_on_chicken.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/02/a_note_on_chicken.html Pantry & On-Hand Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:45:50 +0000 I have been "between books" for a little while. I was not-so-guiltily enjoying the schadenfreude of Joe Torre's recent book, and I have stalled out a bit reading about Joba Chamberlain and the midges. Anyway, I've been loafing a bit on the computer and following a link in a junk mail from Harris Teeter for curb-side pickup. One thing led to another, and I have now used the delivery service from Peapod (Giant) for my routine, bi-weekly grocery run. The first visit to the web site took about 35 minutes to set up my profile, payment information, and build my shopping list. I set the order for three days hence, on Saturday morning at ten am. Done. The fellow arrived at ten-oh-five, and was gone by ten-fifteen. Everything was fresh, nicely bundled, and carried into the house. Total time: 45 minutes. The delivery fee was less than ten bucks, plus a tip. This morning I had my second delivery. Shopping took less than ten minutes. The fellow was here at 9:45 and gone by 9:55. Schlepped into the house. He even asked me if the friend who had recommended Peapod had gotten his credit. Delivery was less than ten buck, plus a tip. Total time, 20 minutes for two weeks' worth of groceries. I have no complaints with the service. The food comes from the same local distribution center the supply the stores with, so some of the perishables are fresher. The variety on the "shelves" isn't fantastic, but will get better. You can apply coupons. Now that I have saved so much time energy, I have changed some of my shopping habits and often stop by the very expensive Whole Foods for the specialty items I need to pick up. This is going to be a recurring theme, saving time and investing in quality products. When I cater large events, you can't imagine the amount of time I spend either in grocery stores or schlepping things from store to car to house to pantry. Now, click, click, click, delivered to the house. "No complaints." Highly recommended. I bet city folks must love Peapod. "No complaints." http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/02/peapod.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2009/02/peapod.html Pantry & On-Hand Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:01:51 +0000 Author's Note: This piece was originally written shortly before the election. However, it's worth thinking about the frustrations I have with the Republican Party, and assuming others agree, how that may have affected the election. And no, I'm not suggesting the Democratic Party is above the problems I discuss here... I just think the Republican Party is more salvagable. For the record, I voted Bob Barr in 2008, although I live in a solidly Blue state so my vote is nothing more than a protest vote in any case. I've been voting Republican, at least at the Presidential level, for as long as I've been old enough to put a hanging chad on a ballot. When George W. Bush took office, I was excited. In the days after 9/11, he united and motivated our country, and he immediately ordered decisive action to make our country more safe, while maintaining our international image of power. But then things fell apart, quickly. George W. Bush hasn't done a bad job as President. He does, however, have the lowest popularity rating ever -- below that of Nixon during impeachment. Ask any man on the street, and they'll likely tell you he's the worst President we've ever had What gives? The first problem is we have elevated the position of the President far beyond its original intent. Politicians from both parties are guilty of this. The President leads the country, we are told. The President is to blame when the economy sours (even though it was doing fine until Democrats took control of the House). The President is to blame for lack of Federal health care system (even though the Constitution reserves that power, as it does all non-enumerated powers, to the States). The President leads the Executive Branch, yet all the campaign promises we hear involve legislation the candidates intend to submit if elected. Ironically, as a president, McCain and Obama would have the exact same power to enact legislation that I have as a citizen -- they can ask a Congressman to introduce it. As Senators, either one could submit legislation directly today. Bush opened himself up to criticism on the economy souring by taking credit for the economy in better times. But every pundit knows the single biggest factor hurting the Republican Party right now is the war in Iraq. Virtually every American agrees that invading Iraq was a mistake, and blame Bush for "failed intelligence" that justified the war. And here is where we see the Republican Party's greatest liability -- the tendency to lie when the truth would work better. In late 2002, there was a lot of evidence that Iraq was working on weapons of mass destruction. None of it was hard solid evidence, but nevertheless it was an impressive quantity of evidence. We now know the reason for the evidence. Saddam Hussein operated a military deception program designed to convince the world that he retained WMD while simultaneously not allowing any proof to appear. He gambled this would make America and the UN look like bumbling idiots, increase his influence and power in the region, and prevent any justification for war against him. In retrospect, he failed miserably. But we didn't invade Iraq because we thought they had weapons of mass destruction. A lot of countries have weapons of mass destruction. A lot of those countries obtained them in violation of treaties and UN resolutions. Israel? India? Pakistan? North Korea? Hello? Anyone care? We invaded Iraq not because we thought they might be working on chemical weapons, but because we knew Iraq was actively attempting to do the US harm, and we couldn't tolerate it anymore. The WMD excuse was a poorly-executed cover-up, meant to distract the world from the true reasons for the invasion. The problem was the true reasons were better than the cover-up! Under international law, we obtained causa bella in 1993 we we obtained conclusive proof that the ISS, under direct orders from Saddam Hussein, had attempted to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush during a 1993 visit to Kuwait. President Clinton chose to bomb a few facilities rather than press the issue, but causa bella was extant and it does not go away that easily. During the rapid withdrawal of US troops after the First Gulf War, Saddam Hussein sent troops into Southern Iraq and Kurdistan to commit genocide against tribal peoples that he believed had supported the US invasion. The UN passed a resolution prohibiting Iraq from doing this, which Saddam Hussein blatantly ignored. In response, the United States, along with the British, French, and a few other allies, agreed to patrol Northern and Southern Iraq to prevent air assets and heavy military equipment from reaching the vulnerable populations. Iraqi forces violated the declared safe zones on a daily basis, and began routinely firing on US aircraft. Saddam Hussein went as far as to offer huge cash rewards for anyone that killed an American pilot. Again, this is causa bella. The Coalition's muted response was to destroy symbolic air defense assets on a semi-regular basis. To summarize that lengthy boring history lesson, Iraq attempted to assassinate a former US President, attempted genocide on its own people, and ordered its military to kill American service members by any means possible. Yet instead of using these legal justifications for war, George Bush chose the somewhat sketchy excuse that we had to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction -- then stood by that statement until the bitter end. The result? A loss of international respect for America, and a loss of trust in our government domestically. You would think the Republican Party would have learned this lesson, but it hasn't. Sarah Palin has made the exact same mistake in Alaska, and its haunting her now. Yes, I'm referring to troopergate. Monegan alleges that he was fired because he refused to fire Palin's sister's ex-husband, Mike Wooten. Sarah Palin has denied this, claiming Monegan was fired for "not being a team player" and other vague problems. But by denying that Wooten was a factor in Monegan's dismissal, she opened herself up to investigations, which are now finding she probably lied about why Monegan was fired. Can you imagine how differently troopergate would have gone if Sarah Palin had handled this differently? What if she admitted right from the start that Monegan was fired because he refused to fire Mike Wooten? I'm envisioning a Checkers speech on the lawn of the Alaskan Governor's residence. I'm envisioning a speech that looks a little like this: "Yes, I fired Walt Monegan. I fired him for gross incompetence. My sister brought it to my attention that Mike Wooten, her ex-husband and a state trooper, was a worthless lump of flesh drawing a state paycheck and carrying a badge and gun in my name. He tasered his own stepson for practice, yet Walt Monegan felt he should continue as a state trooper. I don't know if I could legally order Monegan to fire Wooten or not, but I do know this -- nobody who thinks a man that tasers his own stepson for practice should be allowed to enforce the law in our state will ever work for me, as long as I'm Governor of Alaska." There you go. Draw a line in the snow, and anybody who criticizes you over it now has to publicly admit that they feel troopers should be allowed to taser small children for fun. Who's going to stand up for that creep? Instead, by denying the obvious truth and using made-up justifications, Sarah Palin made herself vulnerable to attacks on her integrity. And thus the problem all the Republicans seem to have right now... They have so little integrity that they will lie, even when the truth would be better for them. I guess it's just become a force of habit at this point. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/why_republicans_are_pissing_my.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/why_republicans_are_pissing_my.html Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:45:35 +0000 Fellows, We have a new contributor coming on board at the Commons. Screen name should be John Paul Jones. Capt. Jones has had a lengthy career on a sister site as "The Nervous Rodent." He comes highly recommended my our own Swamp Fox, and I have been reading his stuff for quite a while. Welcome aboard, Capt. Jones. Paulie http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/new_contributor_coming_on_boar.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/new_contributor_coming_on_boar.html Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:11:14 +0000 RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map ]]> http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/mr_adams_election_map.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/mr_adams_election_map.html Politics Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:34:05 +0000 RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map ]]> http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/dead_heat.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/dead_heat.html Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:05:04 +0000 Things That Make Polls Go D'Oh (Wizbang) DJ Drummond has had his finger on the pulse of polling data since before we started Paulie World 6 years ago. This lengthy article reaffirms my faith in the fellows at Wizbang. Did I mention earlier that RCP has been in the tank for the Dems for quite a while now? Weren't they bought out by CNN? You should go over to their site (www.realclearpolitics.com) and just look at the article titles. Tank city.]]> http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/dj_drummond_on_polling.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/dj_drummond_on_polling.html Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:06:01 +0000 My parents were always involved with politics in my home town in CT. I remember the night Nixon was reelected, but vaguely. I remember very well the election in 1974. Most of the elections since then I figured that the GOP would win out, however optimistically. In this internet age, it's become a lot easier to pay attention and to make at least educated guesses about the outcomes of elections. You couldn't do that as a "civilian" in the old days. My parents would always have sort of access to polling data. Lot of sad nights on Winthrop Terrace, and elsewhere. McCain ain't no Dole, though, and Palin sure as heck ain't no Kemp. I've been going around and around in circles this cycle. I believe to the bottom of my feet that the polling has been consistent since February or so. I think the Democrat primaries are way more telling than anyone (on TV) will mention. I'm not beyond believing in subterfuge and chicanery, but I think that there is a very solid 4% - very consistent, conservative (no pun intended) - 4% that represents false positives for Obama. That with the huge, huge number of declared undecideds, I think bodes well for McCain. I think the early numbers from the pre-voting are going pretty okay for McCain. I don't believe the numbers being reported in some of these polls. I can't see apocalyptic shifts in voting habits as reported in some of these polls. A 25% change in how this block or that block votes? That hasn't happened in one election cycle since Reconstruction. Ohio, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, NC, McCain. Colorado, likely (that's for you, Mr. Adams) McCain. PA - if not McCain, then it's a real nail biter. I'm on the McCain side. I think Murtha's impact is going to really hurt Dem turnout. And they love Palin. Obama's been running scared for five weeks. I think the voters are going to smell the fear and indecision, and their liking McCain. But, it's tough being an optimist. I've given up the number crunching this time, boys. I think McCain's going to do all right, and I don't think the bloodletting in Congress is going to be so bad. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/tough_being_an_optimist.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/11/tough_being_an_optimist.html Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:22:22 +0000 My colleagues and I have been debating whether Obama is simply an opportunist who, if he gets to the White House, will triangulate like Clinton, or whether he is a true believer in redistribution and other socialist ideas. My theory has always been that he is more opportunist than true believer. He seems able to cast aside past allies without any qualms (much like Clinton), even suggestng his own grandmother was a racist. Jim Geraghty at The Corner had a running gag that "all of Barack Obama's promises come with an expriation date." However, recent revelations, including the Joe the Plumber response and the 9/6/01 radio interview where he lamented the Warren Court's failure to engage in "redistributive change," make me fear that he does, in fact, believe in a solicalist agenda. I also fear that we are going to discover the answer to this question after next Tuesday. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/10/is_obama_an_opportunist_or_a_t.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/10/is_obama_an_opportunist_or_a_t.html Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:03:04 +0000 I know there are some of you out there that may have been fooled by the freshmen senator from Illinois. He has said he supports the Second Amendment as a personal right. But, is that really true? I think not. He was in agreement with D.C. gun ban, until the Supremes decided that the ban was un-Constitutional. Now, I know I aint the smartest guy on this here site, but I don’t understand how one is able to say the ban is Constitutional in one breath, then when the Courts say the ban is un-Constitutional agree with them also. Doesn’t this strike anyone else as disingenuous? I mean come on. How dumb does he think we as gun owners are? Does he really think we don’t remember what he said, and all he has done to infringe our rights to keep and near arms? I know there are people out there who will try to tell us he does in fact believe in the Second Amendment, well, to this I say BUNK! If he is such a supporter then explain all the things he has done to try and abridge it, and all the things he has said showing he doesn’t really believe it is an individual right. So, to set the record straight let’s just take a look at what he has said, and done in support of the Second Amendment. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/10/obama_and_the_second_amendment.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/10/obama_and_the_second_amendment.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:04:24 +0000 I was looking back at my October 2007, pre-primary predictions wherein I stated, emphatically, that Mitt Romney would be the next President of the United States, beating Hillary Clinton in the gerneral election. I even said that McCain had no chance in the Republican primary because of his imigration position. That shows what I know. I still think my earlier analysis was correct with one small error -- I mistakenly believed that Romney would win Iowa. If he had, rather than Huckabee, I am convinced that he would have rolled that into a win in New Hampshire, would have been the presumptive front-runner, and would have gotten the nomination. How nice would it be to have Romney as the GOP candidate in this economy? The guy made a living -- nay a fortune -- turning failing companies around. In any event, Huckabee winning Iowa opened the door for McCain in New Hampshire and we're stuck with McCain as the nominee. We have Iowa to thank for putting Obama on the map as well. If you don't like the choice we have on November 4, blame Iowa. http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/10/blame_iowa.html http://www.paulieworld.com/commons/2008/10/blame_iowa.html Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:23:18 +0000