random thoughts and thoroughbred selections

Thursday, April 24, 2008

You're Doing It Wrong

Establishment Clause Edition

MIAMI (AP) - Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.

The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words "I Believe."

Rep. Edward Bullard, the plate's sponsor, said people who "believe in their college or university" or "believe in their football team" already have license plates they can buy. The new design is a chance for others to put a tag on their cars with "something they believe in," he said.

Okay, here are the ground rules the courts have historically set for acceptability. One, the intent cannot be to promote religion at the state level. Let's see how we're doing on that front:

Some lawmakers say the state should be careful. Rep. Kelly Skidmore said she is a Roman Catholic and goes to Mass on Sundays, but she believes the "I Believe" plate is inappropriate for the government to produce.

So far, so good. A believer who thinks it's inappropriate. Wait, maybe we should ask her why...

"It's not a road I want to go down. I don't want to see the Star of David next. I don't want to see a Torah next. None of that stuff is appropriate to me," said Skidmore, a Democrat who voted against the plate in committee. "I just believe that."

Jew jew jew jew jew jew jewy jew jew jew.

Yeah, let's let Ms. Skidmore take a pass on this one. How about going to the plate's sponsor? Will all ideas be treated equally by the state, as it relates to license plate propaganda?

Bullard, the plate's sponsor, isn't sure all groups should be able to express their preference. If atheists came up with an "I Don't Believe" plate, for example, he would probably oppose it.

D'oh.

How about the second rule? What about the fee structure for these plates? Any special treatment of religion there?

The plate would cost drivers an extra $25 annual fee.

Okay, no problem. If everyone pays $25 extra for their vanity plates, we're cool, right? What happens with that money, though?

This isn't the first time a Florida license plate design has created religious controversy. In 1999, lawmakers approved a bright yellow "Choose Life" license plate with a picture of a boy and girl. It raises money for agencies that encourage women to not have abortions.

That generated a court battle, with abortion rights groups saying the plate had religious overtones. But it was ruled legal, and about a dozen states now have similar plates.

[snip]

The group asking for the "I Believe" plate, the Orlando-based nonprofit Faith in Teaching Inc., supports faith-based schools activities.

Oops. State-sponsored funding of evangelical groups to the probable exclusion of (JEWS!) other philosophies?

FAIL.

(Of course, watch the ACLU take this all the way up to the Supreme Court and run into the Scalia stonewall. You know that stained-glass motif is just to appeal to Antonin's Catholic taste.)

[>>]posted at 9:18 AM by BG - click to email
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

When Targeted Advertising Goes Awry

Found as a sponsored link above my Gmail inbox just now...

[>>]posted at 1:19 PM by BG - click to email
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Monday, April 21, 2008

This Is Why I Love Metafilter.

Last night, someone posted a thread highlighting some of the major players in "smooth jazz."

After a bunch of people had their lulz (including me - I post there under Gracie's long-idle membership), the conversation evolves into a discussion of jazz, country, pop and everything that's happened in music since 1920 as part of the same family tree. This response is as good a place as any to start.

[>>]posted at 6:36 AM by BG - click to email
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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Closing The Loop On Last Night's Dinner

I'm adding this to the bottom of yesterday's post too, just making sure anyone who was following along got the review of the meal. My neighbor came up for dinner, then I had a couple of drinks, then Iggy called, then I had to get the dog out...

Making this meal was a really good experience, mostly because I challenged myself to do a variety of things that I hadn't before. I mean, yes, at a minimum this is still just fatty meat slow cooked in liquid, and that's my wheelhouse, but there was some new stuff in there too.

Obviously, the tagine itself was new ground for me, but cooking with aromatics (as opposed to oregano/basil), dried fruit and saffron gave me some exposure doing some things I hadn't really done to a large extent before.

I've got to admit, since I didn't use recipes for any of this stuff, I really had to use my imagination to piece this whole thing together. This isn't to say that what I did was particularly inventive, but I worked the spice mix out myself, I came up with the pears-in-pork-fat thing (again, I'm sure I'm not the first), and planned the couscous all on my own - mostly using spice combinations I hadn't ever goofed with before.

So how did it taste?

Well, the couscous was just okay. The lemon flavor didn't pop, the saffron was really subtle, and the pork belly was more like cracklins than it was like bacon by the time I got it added. I like the Israeli couscous particularly because it ends up releasing its starches much like a risotto, so a little additional flavor to make the couscous "sauce" (just the light glue that this stuff swims in) deeper would have been nice.

The main dish though... wow. The apricots and raisins melted into the liquid (mostly), thickening it up and creating a real velvety texture to the sauce. The pork was really soft (obviously, after three hours stewing), and the cinnamon/nutmeg flavors were really brought out by the fruit. The pears turned out really nice too. The tastes and textures worked together nicely.

I really couldn't have been more pleased. So, while the couscous was a D-Plus effort, I'm giving myself a solid A for the pork and pears. Not to be egotistical or anything, but I'm damned proud of how all this worked out.

[>>]posted at 12:14 PM by BG - click to email
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