By Faiz Shakir - ThinkProgress
A South Texas grand jury has returned multi-count indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County’s federal detention centers:
The indictment accuses Cheney and Gonzales of engaging in organized criminal activity. It criticizes Cheney’s investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and “at least misdemeanor assaults” on detainees by working through the prison companies.
Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.
By Gary Brecher, eXiled Online / Alternet
Only a fool like Bush could pick an anti-American Arab country, add an invading army, and expect a nice fluffy democracy souffle.
What George W. Bush loved best about his job was being a war president. Playing war, that is, as opposed to making war like a grown-up. Remember him strutting onto that carrier in his little flight jacket? You never saw Eisenhower, a real general, playing out his martial fantasies this way. You can take the drink out of the drunk, but you can't take the swagger out of a fool.
Compare Bush's eight years to Clinton's, and you see how much he loved to play the soldier. No one expected that from a Republican: Reagan and Bush senior were cautious about betting America's chips. Liberals used to make fun of Reagan for picking on tiny helpless nations that couldn't fight back. Now they are remembering with pure nostalgia Reagan's invasion of Grenada, air raids on Libya, and even our 1984 withdrawal from Beirut.
We'll never know how far W. would have gone to find himself a war because he had all he needed delivered by air on Sept. 11, 2001. Remember how people felt in those days? A friend of mine said, "It was like the aliens had invaded."
We needed our president to be a hero and made him into one, even though it was obvious he wasn't up to the job. He didn't take the first plane to Manhattan, stand there and say, "We're coming for you bastards!" Instead he sat in a roomful of children, reading My Pet Goat, then dropped off the radar for hours before his handlers got him ready.
Maybe there's a lesson here: if the president doesn't cut it in a crisis, we're better off admitting that to ourselves and telling him so instead of pretending he's a great leader. When you make a weakling into a hero, you give him a lot of power. If we'd kept our eyes open and faced the fact that Bush reacted badly to 9/11, we might have been able to ask for a little more detail about his big plans.
Those came courtesy of Cheney and his neocon punks. What a crew these guys were! Like their boss, they were also woofers, boasters -- but of a different variety. Dubya was your standard frat boy loudmouth, but Cheney, with his talk about "working the dark side," was more like the ultimate Dungeons and Dragons nerd. And you couldn't ask Hollywood to serve up a goofier selection of dorks than his neocon staffers, who drifted from the universities to D.C. the way has-been pop singers switch to country and western to leech off a new bunch of suckers.
On the one hand, they were scared to death of Arabs and hated all Muslims. On the other, they were convinced that every Muslim on the planet really wanted, deep in his heart, to be magically turned into an Ohio Republican. That was their theory: take an anti-American Arab country, add an invading army, and voila! a nice fluffy democracy souffle.
So we poured American blood and treasure into the Iraqi dust to prove the half-baked theories of a bunch of tenth-rate professors. The most expensive experiment in the history of the world, all to learn something any 10-year-old could have told them: people don't take to foreign troops on their streets, and not everybody wants to be like us. You know those Ig-Nobel awards they hand out to the dumbest science projects of the year? The Iraq invasion is the all-time winner. Retire the trophy with the names of the winning team: Bush, Cheney, Kristol, Wolfowitz, Feith.
But first came Afghanistan -- "the graveyard of empires." Every military-history wannabe was conjuring the ghosts of that Victorian British army slaughtered by the Afghans, along with all the propaganda we'd been pushing about the invincible mujahedeen who'd driven out the Soviets. Looking back, what they had routed was a dying Soviet state, and they didn't even manage to do that until we took the risk of giving them Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. But all the pundits' knees were shaking about going into the Afghan haunted house.
We started slow, the way American armies tend to do, taking a while to limber up. There were weeks of bombing the Shomali Plain to no visible effect and a Special Forces raid on Mullah Omar's compound that was more "Naked Gun" than "Top Gun." Then Mazar-i-Sharif in the north fell suddenly, and it turned into the kind of war that Northern Alliance fighters and fighter-bomber pilots both love: hunting down a fleeing enemy.
The campaign went so well, so fast, that it taught Bush and Cheney the wrong lessons. They started exporting democracy to Afghanistan, even hiring a local Pashtun girl to read the Kabul evening news. When you tell a big, backwards tribe like the Pashtun that you're going to turn their whole world upside down for them, you shouldn't expect them to be grateful. But we did, setting ourselves up for a whole lot of trouble later on.
Worse yet, Bush's people figured that since Afghanistan, the tough nut, cracked so easily, their pet project, a second Iraq invasion, would be a cakewalk. This time they would do it right, occupying the Iraqi cities instead of just crushing Saddam's army and withdrawing like Bush senior did.
Nobody wants to recall what Americans believed back then. That's OK: I'll remember it. People thought that Saddam was "connected to" 9/11, and his agents were going to poison our water, nuke our cities, and gas our subways. At least they claimed to believe all that unlikely James Bond stuff. I don't think they really did. There was just so much revenge momentum after 9/11 that it had to burst out somewhere. Everybody wanted payback. It's natural. But most of the time, in your average democracy, cooler heads are in charge. Not this time. Bush and his team were foaming at the mouth far more than the average citizen. It was like a crazed sheriff trying to talk a lukewarm mob into a lynching frenzy. With the help of people who should have known better -- I'm looking at you, Colin Powell -- he got his way.
That, in the short version, is why George W. Bush is about to leave office the most unpopular American president in history. You can spin Iraq a hundred different ways, but it still comes up bad news because once the dust settles, the Iranians are in control of the whole region, and they didn't have to fire a shot. We destroyed their old rival for them.
It's a simple story: we crushed Saddam's army, occupied the cities, and then acted like the whole country would turn itself into a neocon fantasyland. Paul Bremer's cult kids were talking tax reform while the Iraqi army they had sent home unemployed was busy digging up the weapons they had buried in their yards. Bush's counterinsurgency policy was pretending there was no insurgency then pretending it was just Saddam's "deadenders." When Saddam's capture at the end of 2003 didn't slow the insurgency, Bush's defenders stopped acting like they knew what was going on and just settled for blaming the Iranians -- as if it was a nasty surprise that Iran, the country that openly hates America most in the whole world, might get involved in anti-American operations when we occupied Iraq right next door.
People ask what our counterinsurgency strategy was before the surge. Easy: we had none. We were doing nothing but offering the insurgents moving targets. A standard operation for the occupation force in those dark days was patrolling through an alien Sunni neighborhood, waiting for an IED to go off under the lead vehicle or for an RPG or small-arms ambush. When that happens, conventional forces have a grim choice: do nothing, withdrawing while the locals snicker at your dead and wounded, or open fire on everyone in sight. Either way, the insurgents win. If you withdraw, they've hit you with impunity and gained respect in the neighborhood. If you open fire on the slums, you kill civilians and make enemies.
Effective counterinsurgency means not relying on massive firepower the way conventional forces are trained to do. The idea is not to fire until you know exactly who you're up against. It's the opposite of shock and awe. It's discipline and patience. Gen. David Petraeus implemented a set of reforms usually called the surge, though they were about tactics more than reinforcements. All he really did was initiate overdue standard counterinsurgency doctrine. He integrated U.S. units with Iraqi forces then sent them out into the neighborhoods. You can't run any kind of counterinsurgency plan without good street-level intelligence, but Bush's people wouldn't admit that there was an insurgency, so they wouldn't commit to learning about it. Their style was to ignore it and hope it would go away.
That's why Afghanistan went well in the early stages: we didn't go in trying to turn the Afghans into democrats, but trying to crush the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In Iraq, Bush was dreaming from the start, so the whole effort was doomed.
The surge worked about as well as any good counterinsurgency effort could. We know a little about the enemy now, and there's less violence because all the neighborhoods had already been ethnically cleansed. Baghdad is now a Shi'ite city. There are a few Sunni enclaves, but the Shia rule the city and the country, with the Kurds fortifying themselves up north and wishing they could saw their territory off and relocate it somewhere in mid-ocean.
That's what Bush's trillion-dollar investment in Iraq has bought. Meanwhile, if you look at the rest of the world map, you get a real shock. Regions like Latin America and Central Asia that eight years ago were American protectorates in all but name have turned against us while we were distracted with Iraq. Many times, the real winners are countries that manage to stay out of a war, the way England benefited by not getting sucked into the Thirty Years' War. Iran is much stronger now, and so is Russia. The Russians, who seemed to be in their "throes" when Clinton left office, just slapped down Georgia, one of our few remaining allies among the old Soviet states, and there wasn't a thing we could do but grumble.
It's no puzzle: we pretended a goon was a hero, let him play out his foolish fantasies about remaking the Middle East, and wasted our strength on a losing effort while the rest of the world drifted out of our power. Our leader was a laughingstock around globe, and he made America the butt of the world's contempt. But Bush got his wish -- he was a war president and then some. The rest of us were the casualties.
by Richard Norton-Taylor - The Guardian (UK) / Common Dreams
Former senior law lord condemns 'serious violation of international law'
One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante".
A British soldier patrols the northern suburbs of the southern Iraqi city of Basra. One of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a "world vigilante". (Photograph: Dave Clark/AFP/Getty images)Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general's defence of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.
Contradicting head-on Lord Goldsmith's advice that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: "It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had." Adding his weight to the body of international legal opinion opposed to the invasion, Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions "passes belief".
Governments were bound by international law as much as by their domestic laws, he said. "The current ministerial code," he added "binding on British ministers, requires them as an overarching duty to 'comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations'."
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats continue to press for an independent inquiry into the circumstances around the invasion. The government says an inquiry would be harmful while British troops are in Iraq. Ministers say most of the remaining 4,000 will leave by mid-2009.
Addressing the British Institute of International and Comparative Law last night, Bingham said: "If I am right that the invasion of Iraq by the US, the UK, and some other states was unauthorised by the security council there was, of course, a serious violation of international law and the rule of law.
"For the effect of acting unilaterally was to undermine the foundation on which the post-1945 consensus had been constructed: the prohibition of force (save in self-defence, or perhaps, to avert an impending humanitarian catastrophe) unless formally authorised by the nations of the world empowered to make collective decisions in the security council ..."
The moment a state treated the rules of international law as binding on others but not on itself, the compact on which the law rested was broken, Bingham argued. Quoting a comment made by a leading academic lawyer, he added: "It is, as has been said, 'the difference between the role of world policeman and world vigilante'."
Bingham said he had very recently provided an advance copy of his speech to Goldsmith and to Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the invasion of Iraq. He told his audience he should make it plain they challenged his conclusions.
Both men emphasised that point last night by intervening to defend their views as consistent with those held at the time of the invasion. Goldsmith said in a statement: "I stand by my advice of March 2003 that it was legal for Britain to take military action in Iraq. I would not have given that advice if it were not genuinely my view. Lord Bingham is entitled to his own legal perspective five years after the event." Goldsmith defended what is known as the "revival argument" - namely that Saddam Hussein had failed to comply with previous UN resolutions which could now take effect. Goldsmith added that Tony Blair had told him it was his "unequivocal view" that Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations to give up weapons of mass destruction.
Straw said last night that he shared Goldsmith's view. He continued: "However controversial the view that military action was justified in international law it was our attorney general's view that it was lawful and that view was widely shared across the world."
Bingham also criticised the post-invasion record of Britain as "an occupying power in Iraq". It is "sullied by a number of incidents, most notably the shameful beating to death of Mr Baha Mousa [a hotel receptionist] in Basra [in 2003]", he said.
Such breaches of the law, however, were not the result of deliberate government policy and the rights of victims had been recognised, Bingham observed.
He contrasted that with the "unilateral decisions of the US government" on issues such as the detention conditions in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
After referring to mistreatment of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib, Bingham added: "Particularly disturbing to proponents of the rule of law is the cynical lack of concern for international legality among some top officials in the Bush administration."
MSN.com
Attention, carnivores: Experts at Gayot.com offer up their annual rundown of the best beef joints, from classic dining establishments to newbies.
The iconoculture of American steakhouses sizzles. Tradition is celebrated through firmly ensconced menu items and décor, where carnivores are rewarded with bold cuts of aged meat and classic sides like creamed spinach or a gargantuan baked potato. Béarnaise, bordelaise, Rockefeller and Roquefort make appearances too, often washed down with whiskey or big reds. Today's steakhouse dresses up the classics, both on and off the plate. Contemporary or clubby, the best of the bunch cater to the big, the bold and the hearty appetites, while often accommodating vegetarians and light eaters. Raising the "steaks" from coast to coast are these A1 steakhouses.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: Gruet Steakhouse
When the winemakers at Gruet Winery decided to create Albuquerque's best steakhouse, they didn't miss. Gruet Steakhouse mixes an American love of beef with the French sensibilities of the owners, Laurent Gruet and Farid Himeur, who have been making French-style sparkling wine, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in New Mexico since the 1980s.
ATLANTA: Kevin Rathbun Steak
Finding a 100-year-old Lea & Perrins Steak Sauce bottle, authenticated by the raised letters and the JDS on the bottom, referencing its first U.S. importer, John Duncan, was just one of the lucky strokes that preceded the opening of Kevin Rathbun Steak. Revived and renovated, the early 20th-century building retains its old touches, such as its textured brick walls.
AUSTIN, TEXAS: Finn & Porter
Executive chef Jeffrey Cummins (formerly of Napa Rose) is producing food good enough to make this a fine-dining destination for locals as well as traveling foodies. The porterhouse steaks have solidified Finn & Porter's reputation, being some of the best Austin has to offer thanks to 28 days of aging and the kitchen's expert grilling.
BALTIMORE: The Prime Rib Restaurant
Sexy black lacquer walls, a leopard-print carpet, a white, Lucite-topped piano complete with tuxedoed player teasing out jazzed-up standards -- we get giddy just thinking about this place. Huge sprays of flowers fill the wall's arched niches. And the vivacious clamor of a tony crowd, part power brokers, part romancers, greets us like the happy sound of ice cubes clinking in two-fingers of bourbon.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.: Mastro's Steakhouse
An import from Scottsdale, Ariz., Mastro's embraces classic steakhouse traditions as warmly as it welcomes the moneyed clientele that frequent this bustling eatery. A relatively sedate dining room occupies the ground floor, while a lively bar scene -- downright boisterous by buttoned-down steakhouse standards -- awaits upstairs, along with additional dining space.
BROOKLYN, N.Y.: Peter Luger
New York's best steakhouse for more than 100 years.
For over a century, carnivores have been traversing the Williamsburg Bridge to the Brooklyn side to sample consistently excellent steaks at Peter Luger. Established in 1887, the steakhouse delivers plus-size porterhouse steaks prepared in a method that has not changed since the first day they fired up the grill. Start with a tomato and onion salad, doused with steak sauce -- the sauce is there strictly for the salad and for dipping rolls into, and should not be allowed to touch the delectable meat.
CHICAGO: David Burke's Primehouse
This hotel restaurant near the Magnificent Mile offers contemporary fare like the pretzel-crusted crab cake with poppy seed honey and lobster bisque with green apple essence alongside a lobster stick. But the focus is squarely on steak. Try "South Side" filet mignon or "Kentucky" rib-eye, the latter state acting as the source for all of the top-tier meat served here.
DENVER: Elway's Cherry Creek
Walk in, turn right at the serene water wall and you're smack-dab in one of Denver's most popular local watering holes. Strewn with multiple TVs tuned to sporting events, a baby grand piano and a sports memorabilia display showcasing star Bronco quarterback John Elway's impressive career, it's a lively gathering place for singles on the prowl, pin-striped business executives and couples who enjoy the live music. Read more at City Guides.
GREENVILLE, MISS.: Doe's Eat Place
In these parts of Mississippi, Doe's is a legend. And the word is out, far beyond the town of Greenville. Real foodies make the trek to this family-owned, bona fide holdout (circa 1941) inside an old grocery store. Since the original Doe's debuted, a few other branches have opened up, but none pass muster like this one. Steaks aged for 21 days are cut daily. On checked tablecloths, indulge in the no frills filet mignon, juicy rib-eye and T-bone. Read more at City Guides.
LAS VEGAS: SW Steakhouse
Wynn Las Vegas visionary Steve Wynn has his initials written all over this vibrant steakhouse. To reach it, diners ride down a regal winding escalator and enter its spacious foyer furnished with plush chairs and couches and a dazzling bar. They are then seated in the elegant dining room or on the patio facing Wynn's Lake of Dreams backed by a lush forest with a calming water wall on which a light show is presented at 9 p.m. nightly.
MSN.com
The economy may be in a downward swing, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up tasty meals. Let Gayot’s frugal but fabulous restaurant roundup be your guide.
Fresh and inventive sandwiches, salads and entrees sit on Gayot.com’s list of the 40-best inexpensive eats.
From authentic Cuban cuisine in Miami to homemade sausage in the Sonoma Valley, we've traveled the nation's highways and byways searching for the very best high-quality meals where prices hold steady. Our top spots keep the dollar signs in check at $$ or less. Some of these sweet spots sport chic interiors, communal tables and unique surroundings. Whether our picks are undiscovered finds or old family favorites, one thing remains the same: you'll get a square meal at a great deal with change to spare.
ATLANTA: Top FLR
This hipster hangout draws a youthful, slightly offbeat crowd with modest pockets and good taste. They don't mind the rather long flight of stairs that access the dining room. Downstairs there's a bar where you can get nibbles and which stays open to the wee hours (the kitchen closes at 11 p.m.).
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.: Inn of the Irish Pub (aka Feeley's)
This is a good place to lick your wounds after an unprofitable turn at the gaming tables. On a Monday night, dive into a shepherd's pie. Any other time enjoy a pile of fish 'n' chips and wash it down with a frothy pint of Guinness. This is one place in Atlantic City where you'll never lose your shirt.
BALTIMORE: b
Don't let the lowercase fool you. The Bolton Hill bistro may be dubbed, simply, b, but its provenance -- its owners are the folks behind Helmand and Tapas Teatro -- is a clue that behind the cozy diminutive is some serious fine dining.
BOSTON: Ten Tables
Jamaica Plain's Ten Tables keeps the same formula as its predecessor, Perdix, by turning its downside -- the name says it all -- into a virtue. There's nary a curtain, much less a wall, to divide the kitchen from the wee dining room; amidst the resulting bonhomie, customers get dinner and a show.
CHICAGO: Urbanbelly
Don't let the strip mall setting deter you. Step inside and you'll find one of Chicago's most talented chefs, Bill Kim. His résumé reads like a culinary tome. He's cheffed at Charlie Trotter's and New York's Bouley. Kim consults for Chicago's Le Lan and Soul. But he's too humble to flaunt any of these credentials.
CLEVELAND: Li Wah
Cleveland's Li Wah offers authentic Chinese fare.
Of the dozens of Chinese restaurants in the Cleveland area, this may be the most authentic. Located in Cleveland's vaguely defined Asiatown district, the spacious restaurant is decked out in red and gold and is always filled with in-the-know suburbanites and stylish young diners.
DALLAS-FT. WORTH: Toulouse Café & Bar
Toulouse Cafe in Dallas does not disappoint.
This French bistro nods firmly towards Italy. The cheery interior is adorned with bright murals in the manner of Toulouse-Lautrec and there's a scenic sidewalk patio for those who like to people-watch. Try the authentic steak frites and duck confit. The salade niçoise is a lovely combination of lightly seared tuna, whole black olives, slivers of zesty red onion and fluffy bits of greenery drizzled with vinaigrette.
DETROIT: Antonio's Cucina Italiana
This is unabashedly metro Detroit's best Italian restaurant. And in a city with some great Italian eateries, that's saying a lot. Run by Antonio Rugiero Jr., whose family has also run Dearborn's Roman Village since 1964, Antonio's is consistently satisfying. The interior is unassuming with booths lining the outer walls, but the food speaks volumes.
DENVER: Vesta Dipping Grill
This funky, urbanized spot pulsates with a cosmopolitan crowd of well-heeled city dwellers. The long, sinuous, molded-concrete bar buzzes from the second the doors fly open, and on weekends, expect a standing room only situation. Snag a seat if you can, if only to socialize while enjoying one of the best sangrías in the city.
HARTFORD, CONN.: Ambassador of India
Far from a cookie-cutter dal house, this eatery has to be one of the prettiest restaurants in Greater Hartford, Indian or otherwise. Brightly colored wall paintings, shiny copper lamps and white tablecloths under neat table settings immediately mark the eatery as a serious, elegant dining destination.
HEALDSBURG, CALIF.:Bovolo
You don't know pork until you know Bovolo in Napa/Sonoma counties. Located in the back of the Plaza Farms food co-op is John Stewart and Duskie Estes' venture, Bovolo Café. The Cal-Ital walk-up counter has everything to do with the couple's third business -- Black Pig Meats.
HONOLULU: Ono Hawaiian Foods
This tiny neighborhood restaurant serving Hawaiian regional fare has a few cramped wooden booths and baseball caps hung on the wall for décor. When there's no room inside to eat, people stand in line on the sidewalk, often with six-packs of beer under their arms, as Ono has no liquor license.
HOUSTON: D'Amico's Italian Market
Proprietor Nash D'Amicos's patrons enjoy his Southern Italian-American cooking with a sprinkle of Gulf Coast influence. The deli is a great stop for Italian meats and cheeses, plus focaccia sandwiches made on site. Daily steam table specials are filling, wholesome and provide a relatively inexpensive, quick lunch.
JERSEY CITY, N.J.: Azucar Cuban Cuisine & Cigars
This longtime Cuban restaurant has upped its game with a liquor license and live music. The cooking, however, is the same reliable and appealing cuisine of chef and owner Nick Vazquez, based on the foods he enjoyed in his family's kitchen when he was growing up in Cuba.
LAS VEGAS: Lotus of Siam
Owners Bill and Saipin Chutima feature classic Issan-style cuisine at their Lotus of Siam. Among appealing appetizers on the extensive menu is the mee krob -- crispy noodles mixed with sweet-and-sour sauce, chicken and shrimp. An extensive array of soups, salads, fried rice and noodles satisfies every taste.
LOS ANGELES: Orris
Hideo Yamashiro of South Pasadena's Shiro has opened up shop on the Westside and liberated himself from frying catfish all in one motion. At Orris, a small neighborhood restaurant, the focus is on small plates of Japanese- and French-influenced tapas -- and there is no sushi despite the sushi-like bar in front of the kitchen.
MIAMI: Islas Canarias
It's a plain, medium-sized room with a long counter and a bunch of tables and chairs arranged in unremarkable fashion -- not much different in appearance from what a neighborhood restaurant in Havana might be. Patrons come for big portions of tasty home-cooked island food at popular prices.
MINNEAPOLIS: Brasa Premium Rotisserie
Minneapolis' Brasa offers the tastiest comfort food.
A former service station is now home to some of the tastiest comfort food in the Twin Cities. Leaving his upscale side behind, Alex Roberts, chef-owner of nearby Alma, takes a stab at home cooking, and we're lovin' the results.
NEW ORLEANS: Parkway Bakery & Tavern
New Orleanians of all ages and neighborhoods thank proprietor Jay Nix for his careful renovation of this historic building, anointed by historic memorabilia that adorn the walls. But Nix never meant to be a restaurateur. The straightforward po' boys include roast beef, fried oyster and hot sausage.
NEW YORK: Fatty Crab
Zak Pelaccio, who quickly made a name for himself while in the kitchens of Brooklyn's Chickenbone Café and the Meatpacking District's 5 Ninth, brings Fatty Crab to the West Village. Inspired by his time living in Malaysia, Pelaccio has gone from the New York Modern, globally inspired cuisine he coined at 5 Ninth, to something that's decidedly more insular and narrow in focus.
NORWALK, CONN.: Papaya Thai and Asian BBQ
The location on the ground floor of a plain brick structure looks like it belongs in the more industrial sections of Brooklyn rather than Norwalk. The menu consisting of large and small plates as well as set meals is a mixture of Thai, Chinese and Asian fusion fare.
OKLAHOMA CITY: Leo's Original BBQ
Leo's is really smokin'. They've added smoked chicken and smoked turkey breast to the menu, but we still choose the brisket, which has been smoked overnight. It's finger-lickin' good. If you don't believe it, ask any of the state's highest officials. Many of them regularly eat in this landmark restaurant.
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIF.: Taco Mesa
You should not expect much in the décor department at Taco Mesa, but the healthy, flavorful and inexpensive Mexican food nonetheless brings out foodies in droves. Some come in the early morning hours for the eye-opening egg, potato and chorizo breakfast burritos, accompanied by a cup of fresh-squeezed juice from a mix of tropical fruits. Read more on City Guides.
ORLANDO, FLA.: Hot Dog Heaven
Hot Dog Heaven has been operating for more than a decade in the same little concrete block building along busy Colonial Drive. The menu is nothing but hot dogs, french fries and ice cream, but these aren't ordinary hot dogs. They're authentic Chicago hot dogs in natural casing that gives you the pop as you bite in.
PACIFIC GROVE, CALIF.: Red House Cafe
The freestanding barn-red cottage with wrap-around porch and a country-style menu feel a little more Connecticut and a little less California. Warm up in front of the indoor fireplace (if you're lucky enough to nab the few tables) and delight in the fine new American comfort food. Make a handsome breakfast of the cinnamon-raisin brioche french toast (the mimosas make for a grown-up companion).
PALM SPRINGS, CALIF.: Jake's Ready to Eat
Dine outside or take it to go at Jake's Ready to Eat.
Jake's owners originally envisioned their place as a gourmet take-out store but quickly realized they could do a good trade by also providing attractive seating.
PHILADELPHIA: Shank's & Evelyn's
This is the original hole-in-the-wall luncheonette, where locals and politicians congregate for roast pork and sausage and peppers. You may have to wait for a table, but it's worth it; try an omelet with homemade Italian sausage and spinach or the chicken Parm sandwich for lunch. Yo! Good food, outstanding South Philly 'tude and rock bottom prices.
PHOENIX: Matt's Big Breakfast
The breakfasts at this breadbox-size diner are, indeed, big. It's all part of chef-owner Matt Pool's decidedly old-school formula. He begins by using the best ingredients he can find, including cage-free eggs from humanely raised chickens and grain-fed Iowa pork. The results are airy three-egg omelets (folded with roasted peppers and melted provolone, if you like), fluffy pancakes and excellent ham and thickly sliced bacon.
PITTSBURGH: The Café at the Frick
Pittsburgh's Cafe at the Frick offers affordable elegance.
Located on the lovely grounds of Clayton, the Frick family estate in Point Breeze, the intimate Café offers elegant soups, stylish salads and sandwiches, desserts and proper afternoon tea. The menu of meticulously seasonal cuisine changes frequently. All is house-made, often using produce grown on the premises or from nearby farms.
PORTLAND, ORE.: Toro Bravo
There are very few restaurants that exude such a lovely warm glow. Toro Bravo makes the most of a century-old storefront's tall ceilings and large windows. One step inside and the planked tables, wine-colored walls and warm lighting are conducive to conviviality. This is a fine spot for either a large party or an intimate date.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF.: Opa! Opa!
The bright colors, polished metal décor and assembly-line front counter are cafeteria-like, but far more fashionable. And rather than meatloaf and mashed potatoes, you get a plateful of fresh, made-to-order Greek food. The gyros are stuffed with thick-sliced lamb, well seasoned and tender, while the accompanying orzo salad is loaded with fresh parsley, tomatoes and artichokes.
SAN ANTONIO: The Sandbar Fish House & Market
Now that diners are used to Sandbar's evening-only hours, the seafood sibling of lofty Le Rêve next-door seems to have settled into a comfortable scene of its own. The basic menu doesn't change much; clam chowder and crab salad are perennial and there's always a spectacular sushi and sashimi of the day.
SAN DIEGO: Vincent's
Vincent's in San Diego is a culinary treat.
We have long considered chef Vincent Grumel as ranking among San Diego's most brightly burning culinary lights, and are delighted by his work at this small pied-à-terre on a pleasant downtown block of old Escondido. Grumel offers his guests such classic appetizers as truffled duck terrine with pistachios, and escargots baked in garlic-herb butter under a puff pastry crown.
SAN FRANCISCO: Namu
Not quite an insider's secret, Namu's location far from the beaten path lends this often-packed Pan-Asian small-plate and saké lounge the allure of a hidden find. The sleek, wide-open room seats roughly 40, with an additional five seats at a bar made from one polished, reclaimed tree.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF.: Novo
Novo in California's Central Coast.
Creekside dining on the brick patio shaded by an ancient oak tree makes this romantic spot perfect for meeting over a glass of wine. But it's the food that keeps people queued up out front. Owner Robin Covey prefers global dishes that appeal to a wide range of tastes.
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.: La Super-Rica Taqueria
Little has changed here over the years. Crowds still drive from L.A. and line up halfway down Milpas Street for a taste of La Super-Rica. Homemade corn tortillas are topped with zesty Mexican ingredients like chorizo and grilled pasilla chilies. The restaurant's legendary reputation belies its humble ambience -- everyone from A-list Hollywood celebs to local college students sit on plastic chairs and eat off paper plates.
SEATTLE:Tamarind Tree
Hidden in the corner of a nondescript strip mall in the International District, Tamarind Tree's humble storefront gives no clue to its exotic interior or elegant ambience. Romantic lighting, contemporary décor and tropical mango-colored walls create a tranquil feel. Sit at granite-topped tables in the dining room or on the patio filled with lush greenery.
ST. LOUIS: Frazer's
Colorful, comfy pillows await customers at St. Louis' Frazer's.
Venturous suburbanites and urban pioneers flock to a white-walled, simply decorated spot in old South St. Louis. Why? Grandma food is how Frazer Cameron describes it, but he's being modest. Across I-55 from the giant Anheuser-Busch brewery, Frazer's is home to meals far more varied than anyone's granny ever put forth.
TAMPA, FLA.:Ceviche
The good-looking crowd at Ceviche can sample over 45 different hot and cold tapas. All are made from old Spanish recipes with an emphasis on sherry, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, olives, Spanish ham, cheeses, mussels, pork and sea bass. Ceviche de la Casa is the house specialty featuring shrimp, scallops, squid and sea bass in lime juice, tomatoes, scallions and peppers, and seasoned with cilantro and tequila.
WASHINGTON: The Hitching Post
Perhaps the most idiosyncratic restaurant in the entire metro area is this quirky mom-and-pop place in the Petworth neighborhood. Just down the street from St. Paul's center and church, The Hitching Post serves drop-dead first-rate soul food, but there's a minor hitch: each meal is cooked to order, and that means you wait and wait.
by Anthony Wade - OpEdNews
It was a play that should have meant nothing. It did not change the victor. It did not change who lost the game. But in the world we live in, the play was worth 66 million dollars and that was too much for the NFL to pass up.
If anyone has ever had any doubts that the National Football League is completely fixed, I present to you the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers, circa 2008. In what appeared to be a gritty-hard fought game, Pittsburgh had just scored the go ahead field goal to go up 11-10 with a handful of seconds left. The Chargers were backed up and had one desperation play in their hopes of pulling off the impossible. 99 out of 100 times these types of plays never amount to much but this time something funny happened on the way to final whistle.
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers completed a short pass to LaDainian Tomlinson over the middle of the field. Realizing he was going to be tackled and the game over, Tomlinson tossed the ball backward to teammate Chris Chambers. Realizing he was going to be tackled and the game would be over, Chambers tried another backward toss to another teammate. Steeler defender, Troy Polamalu tried to break that toss up and the ball ended up on the ground, which Polamalu promptly swooped up and ran it in for a touchdown. After the assumed extra point the final score of the game would have been 18-10.
That is when the fix was called in. with zero time showing on the clock and the game clearly over, the referees decided to review the play. The review was for no apparent reason because even if something was awry on the touchdown, the Steelers still would win. Both teams had started walking off and the coaches were ready to shake hands. The game was over, period. When the referees came back on the field, it was announced that there was an “illegal forward lateral pass”, which the refs declared would have ended the game prior to the score and the touchdown was removed.
Except here was the problem. There was no illegal forward pass; not even close. The first lateral was practically handed to Chambers behind Tomlinson’s back and the second one went clearly five yards behind Chambers. Additionally, IF there was an illegal forward pass, the Steelers would have declined the penalty and the game would have still ended 18-10. But the problems actually go deeper than that. The referees took about 5-10 minutes to review the play, despite the fact that after two minutes it is supposed to stand as called on the field. Additionally, the rule is there has to be “clear, indisputable video evidence” to overturn the call on the field, which was a touchdown.
The problems go even deeper than that though. If you watched the entire game, you noticed that the referees were calling the game inordinately for the Chargers. The final penalty count was actually 13-1 in favor of the visiting Chargers. Two flags for penalties were “picked up” which would have helped the Steelers. That means twice one referee threw a flag only to be overruled by another, canceling the penalty. In fact, on the game winning field goal drive the Steelers had a touchdown called back for a holding call (which appeared to be accurate). The point being that the entire game seemed to be on the verge of being fixed for the Chargers.
Fixed how you ask? I mean, the Steelers still won the game right? So what difference does it make if it is by eight points or one point? Well it sure mattered to Las Vegas bookmakers. You see the betting line for the game was the Steelers minus five points. That means if you bet the Steelers, they would have to win by at least six points for you to win. If they won by less than five points, you still would lose. So, this phantom referee review, with no time on the clock, that benefited no one playing the game, changed the final outcome for those who had wagered on the game and that amounted to quite a bit of money. The San Diego Tribune has reported that Pregame.com estimated 100 million dollars worldwide had been wagered on this game with approximately 66% of those wagers being on the Steelers. Even after figuring out the 34% that had it switched in their favor, Vegas picked up a cool 33 million dollars on the bogus review. And that is assuming that each wager was even. The final tally was probably far in excess of 34 million dollars.
So, we have a game that was decided already being reviewed for no apparent reason, other than to affect the betting outcome. The stats on wagering indicate that at least 33 million dollars changed hands due to the outcome. The referees never should have even reviewed the play but even if you make an argument for the review, there is clearly no illegal forward pass. Even if you somehow think there was, the Steelers still would have declined the penalty and the touchdown would have counted. Never have I seen such a blatant example of game-fixing in my life. The National Football League should be embarrassed, not at a “blown call” as they are trying to spin this. They should be embarrassed because they just got exposed as being a crooked league. You have to realize that if they are willing to be this bold on a meaningless play in a mid-season game; all of their outcomes are in question. There is nothing worth trusting anymore in the National Fixed League.
Two days later and the NFL admits it was a mistake. They intend to do nothing about it, even though points scored does factor into their tie-breaking system for making the playoffs. This shreds the last hope for any credibility they may have been able to salvage from this debacle. This was no mistake. This was a deliberate attempt to fix the score after the game had ended. This was a crime. The NFL should send a message that they are still legitimate and they should restore the correct score to the game to show they are not controlled by the gambling gods they routinely claim to shun. The referees in question should lose their jobs and be brought up on charges. There is no integrity left for professional football until this is resolved.
By Anna Bahney, USA TODAY
The rise in foreclosures continued to drive down the median price of homes across the country in the third quarter, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday.
Economists expect the fourth quarter to be worse.
Between 35% and 40% of all transactions were either foreclosures or pre-foreclosure sales — called short sales — in the quarter, the report says, causing the national median price of a single-family home to drop to $200,500, 9% lower than the third quarter of 2007 and 11.9% off the peak of the housing boom, in the third quarter of 2005.
"Homes are selling because prices are plunging," said Patrick Newport, economist at Global Insight. "Prices are plunging because of distressed sales." (continue reading)
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS - Excite News
WASHINGTON (AP) - Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with a reluctant Congress Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, pointedly warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse.
Millions of layoffs would follow their demise, they said, as damaging effects rippled across an already-faltering economy.
But the new rescue plan appeared stalled on Capitol Hill, opposed by the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress who don't want to dip into the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout program to come up with the $25 billion in loans. (continue reading)
Bernadine Healy M.D. - U.S. News & World Report
As women—and soon men—gain access to the new Merck vaccine Gardasil, which targets the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped up efforts to identify the 25,000 or more cancers primarily associated with HPV that increase the burden of cancer in the United States each year. As reported in the November 15 supplement to the journal Cancer, the latest figures include 10,846 patients with invasive cancer of the cervix, followed by 7,360 with cancers of the mouth, particularly the tonsils and the back of the tongue. In addition, there are 3,018 cancers of the anus, 2,266 of the vulva, and 828 of the penis.
To the CDC, these are baseline numbers to track the life-threatening consequences of HPV infection. To sexually active young people, this report should be a wake-up call. The hows and whys of catching contagious warts and cancer through sex should be part of every parent's birds-and-bees talk, every school's sex-ed curriculum, and—most of all—all young people's thinking about their own sexual vulnerability. Here are seven need-to-know facts:
Infected boys and men are silent carriers of HPV, spewing out their contagion in body fluids. With some strains, visible warts on the genitals bud off fresh virus.
Infected girls and young women (particularly vulnerable to infection because of a still-developing cervix) also shed abnormal cells bearing virus into Pap smears, tests that sexually active women should have yearly. The atypical cells usually clear in anywhere from a few months to two years.
For well over 50,000 young women each year, the infection hangs on and progresses to a very early in situ cancer of the cervix. If detected before it invades local tissue, it can be cured with a minor surgical procedure. If not, a woman's fertility and life are threatened.
\
There is no screening test akin to the Pap smear for other HPV infections. Accordingly, the noncervical HPV-linked cancers are detected at more advanced stages, often requiring extensive and disfiguring treatment.
Risk factors for HPV include having multiple sexual partners, being under 26 years of age, and practicing oral or genital sex without a condom. Infection risk also increases with smoking, use of birth control pills, and coinfection with other STDs like chlamydia. Except for one's own strong immune system, there is no medicine to treat an HPV infection.
Preventive immunization is a huge advance but not a sure bet. Gardasil targets the four most dangerous strains (HPV 16, 18, 6, and 11), not all. It's estimated that 30 percent of HPV-related cancers and 10 percent of warts can still slip through.
A universal caution echoed by some of my readers: Even the best vaccine can have side effects and does not eliminate the need for healthful habits and prudent behavior.
** Save Gas **
** READ A BOOK **
Search by Book Title/Author /Keyword
USA Today NEWS
USA Today SPORTS
USA Today WEATHER
The Other Big Mac, Ipods & More!
USA Today MONEY
USA Today LIFE
USA Today TRAVEL
"FORE...five...six...seven...."
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment