The Irascible Chef

$335,000,000 FOR STD PREVENTION IN ECONOMIC STIMULUS BILL!

Who gets what—a breakdown! Oh, it’s broken down! Seems like the same old thang to me…

What are you worried about? Relax! This has nothing to do with that… I’m not talking about going that extreme… Not coming out of your pocket—hehehe.

I’m talking about the Slippery Slope Effect. An imaginary concept that if one bends on a particular issue that everything else will soon be forced upon us and slide off the cliff…

The opposition to whatever the issue may be feels and is always saying, I can’t  move an inch on the subject even if I want too because then you will want another inch and so on. That’s a ridiculous stance because that never happens… (sarcasm for those of you who don’t get it!)

—This effect can happen on both sides of isle or any relationship.

Some major battles of the day that are being fought over being affected by the Slippery Slope Effect:

• Gun control
• Same sex marriage
• The word God in public
• Stem Cell research and development
• Euthanasia
• Illegal and legal immigration issues
• Socialized anything
• Welfare
• Tax increases/decreases

The list goes on and on, because most of us have lived long enough to know that there is some truth to this concept of Slippery Slope effect.

From the time you were a kid and victimized or witnessed someone else be victimized by the school yard bully for milk money. Once the precedence was established re-occurrence was assured and quickly slipped off the cliff and was an ongoing affair. Appeasing blackmailers usually slips off the cliff by needing to constantly appease the blackmailers.

So, why are the current solutions to the current financial disaster any different? If we don’t act now, the end of the world will be thrust upon us!

And then after the appeasement happens… I want more!

Even after the story changes and what needed to be done is modified to suit other needs(The emperor has no clothes and we are all a witness it. No matter!)—more, more, more—off the cliff! It’s too late!

Oh, the end of the world—that’s serious! We must act! The sky is falling—that’s serious! The boy is crying wolf—yikes!

Social Security tax was money that gets sucked out of everyone’s paycheck—we don’t even question it any more. The money is to be put aside to help society down the road—put in a locked box! The box is empty fools! The money has been redirected even though all the promises of security.

Wake up before it’s too late—the SKY IS FALLING!

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From other wiser Voices:

From Drudge:

Divided House to hand Obama stimulus win...
Bill Nears $900 Billion?
GOP: 'Won't stimulate anything but more government and more debt'...
Bleeding banks prompt talk of new big bailout...
FDIC May Run 'Bad Bank' in Obama Plan...

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TheAnchoressOnline: “Stimulus” bill needs to die…

take two of them and call your representative and let him or her know how you feel about this absurdly pork-filled “stimulus” package, which is approaching almost 900 BILLION dollars.

The package does not seem to create many jobs at all – but it does keep shoveling money at the people who waste it while producing nothing and creating few jobs.

*****

HotAir: The Democratic Porkfest Bill of 2009 by Ed Morrissey

The Wall Street Journal calls it the “40-year Wish List”.  Michelle calls it the “Generational Theft Act”.  Others have started calling it the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Debt Act.  Whatever name one gives it, the least likely is stimulus.  The WSJ calculates that no more than 12 cents on the dollar in the trillion-dollar whale goes to actual economic stimulus, and that the rest go to Democratic wish lists for electoral advantage

NRSC ad: “Trillion” by Ed Morrissey —Harry Reid, super-spender.

Michelle Malkin: Stop, thief! Kill the bill, melt the phones

President Obama thinks he knows what the primary objective of Republicans in Washington should be: To “get things done.” Bashing Rush Limbaugh last week, Obama urged GOP lawmakers to ignore the voices of obstructionism and sign on to his behemoth stimulus package: “We shouldn’t let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done.” Meeting with GOP leaders on Tuesday, Obama repeated his entreaty: “I don’t expect 100 percent agreement from my Republican colleagues, but I do hope that we can all put politics aside and do the American people’s business right now.”

Stimulus stupidity alert: $460,000/Coast Guard job, $1.5 bil “carbon capturing contest,” $400 mil chlamydia/HIV tests, $45 mil for ATV trails & more!

“Stimulus” you can’t afford

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American Economy: Crank Up The Printing Presses! By Citizen Correspondent Josh Sidman

Technorati Tags: News, Not change, Op/Ed, Politics, same old thang, Slippery Slope effect, Social Security, Stimulous packages, Taxes

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times…

It was some night, a dining experience that won’t soon be forgotten. Family was in town from NY and we were staying in one of my favorite places in the country—San Francisco! I will try to stick to the subject—Food, wine, hospitality!

There are many tours one could take to experience a cities, sites, smells, and tastes. One tour that has never failed to please has been affectionately dubbed the Phil Tour after your humble narrator…

Even people who have been on the tour before, people who try to find fault have been unsuccessful. But these times, they are CHANGIN’!

The Phil Tour might need a face lift, after all, some of the places on the list have been perfect for over 14 years—This is just impossible to keep up! So like the Dow Jones Industrial average updates and upgrades from time to time, the Phil Tour needs a little remodel…

Who should stay and who should go now? (Which reminds me it’s been a while since I’ve practiced Rockband)

Yabbies Coastal Kitchen, a stalwart legend for neighborhood seafood fantastic and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine chain in every city will get a little looksie…

My first experience at Roy’s was about 15 years ago at The Inn at Spanish Bay on Pebble Beach overlooking the ocean—beautiful! It was amazing, it hadn’t been franchised all over the place yet and was too far away to revisit. Since, I’ve been to the one in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Palm Desert—all fantastic!

And Yabbies, I fell in love with when it first opened 14 years ago and quickly became a regular. I did some advertising work for them in the early days and had an opening of one of my photography shows at the grand opening of their wine store located next door. I became close friends with the owners and staff and was eating or drinking there at least 4 nights a week. The food was always outstanding, regardless of how often they turned over chefs and they did quite a bit! The food and extensive wine list was always reasonable and I would go out with the friendly knowledgeable staff and owners after they closed for the night. Yabbies has always been on the recommend list—always!

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Technorati Tags: Clift Hotel, EOS, Friday night out, it was the best of times, phil tour, Red Room, Roys, san francisco, The worst of time, Yabbies

Haiku Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar

Good freakin’ food!

When I come to New York, Westchester to be more specific, I don’t think about going for sushi. I’ve been to places in recent history that weren’t worth writing or reading about, which equals not worth spending another dime in let alone going back to.

It is, what it is, or is what it used to be. We didn’t go to Asia de Cuba, or the Volcano afterward in NYC, this year. Lot of changes this year—Change could be carved in granite as the word of the year for 2008. Only time will tell if the word change translates to actual change in the future. But we have made some changes this year including going to a sushi restaurant in Crossriver NY—again Westchester to be specific.

I was looking forward to trying this little number and I’ve been jonesing for sushi when I come to Westchester for a long time—so seemed perfect.

Well, the ambiance kicked ass and the fact that it did annoyed me because I didn’t have my camera. In fact it made me feel like that’s why it was so cool…

The waiter seemed to be rushing us when being in a rush was the last thing we were interested in. It was Saturday night, around 8pm, and we were sat right away, with several tables available.

We started with Asahi and hot saki—the way I prefer to start when dining on sushi. One guest started with that AND a fancy umbrella drink with out the umbrella—a White Cosmo: Svedka Raspberry Vodka, Cointreau, White Cranberry Juice & Sour Mix.
Saki hot, beer and Cosmo cold and delicious.

Interesting menu because although it was a Japanese sushi restaurant which also offered Chinese. This is something I noticed in the burbs of NY—Chinese restaurants offering sushi and Japanese places offering Chinese versus stand alone’

We stuck with the Japanese selections and actually ordered additional food a couple of times throughout our night out. One odd thing was that the sushi was priced by each piece versus the standard 2 per. What compounded this oddity is that the same version of the sashimi offerings was priced per 2 pieces. If your concerned about food cost just make the sushi slightly smaller, but really what are we talking about here—the tablespoon of rice can’t cost a penny. And it comes off cheap when they don’t need too. We ordered Salmon, Yellowtail, Albacore sushi and sashimi and both were lovely, fresh, and excellent quality. We ordered a couple of their special rolls which were interesting and creative, and I would recommend all of them.

Geisha roll: Inside- Shrimp Tempura & Avocado / Outside- Spicy Tuna & Tempura Crunch
Dinosaur Roll: Inside-Shrimp Tempura,Spicy Tuna & Avocado/Outside-Topped With Soft Shell Crab,Caviar & Eel Sauce
Yellowtail and Jalapeno roll

The food, drinks, and decor were fantastic!

The waitstaff didn’t seem like they were all together and I felt that they took turns rushing us out the door in the guise of being helpful—no, not going to fool the IrascibleChef, but they were “pass-able,” as my grandmother would say (thank you for that perfect descriptor Grandma.) You can see what I think about the importance of the waitstaff to your restaurant here.

Haiku: Definitely an overall winner.

Technorati Tags: food review, Haiku Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar, Restaurants, Review, Sushi, Westchester

8year old: Mommy, I want the Human Beef!
Everyone: *laughter* We all want the human beef on a stick!

Ah, kids you gotta love’em!

We changed our usual Chinese restaurant this year because the word on the street was that the sanitation in our favorite place had left something to be desired. The health department is constantly being called on by service companies who do work in their kitchen. I personally didn’t see dirt, or roaches, or rats, so I will be keeping their name out of this—however, I do believe the people who did say it to be so—we all have to roll the dice…

We went to Panda Garden.

We didn’t have the lazy susan, a crowd pleaser with my family. They did however have the crowd favorite Scorpion bowls for two—FLAMING with 3 foot straws! I shared the marvelous cocktail—however, there was a question whether the flaming liquid perched a float our cozy cocktail, was in fact, gasoline! Whether it was or wasn’t, wasn’t an issue cause it was GOOD! We liked it!
We had scallion pancakes, cold sesame noodles, fried won-tons, and won-ton soup to start.
followed by chicken lo mien, “Human beef,” (Hunan Beef) on a stick as my young nephew called it, Mu shu pork, honey prawn, shrimp chow fun with black bean sauce—not on the menu, but requested for.

They did an excellent job with the black bean sauce—those little beans have so much flavor!

The food was fresh, tasty and nicely presented . The food didn’t make you feel so full you want to crawl into a cave for the night, you didn’t feel like a grease slick and fat bloated either. The day after proved that the quality of ingredients and preparation were all on target and sanitation was adhered too. The kids as well as the grown ups all enjoyed it.

The waitstaff was attentive, friendly, not intrusive. Oh, don’t let me forget—accommodating, they made the dish, not on the menu, I asked for by ingredients. Seemed a little further away, but worth it in any case.

IrascibleChef Recommends! Panda Garden

Technorati Tags: Chinese restaurants, Connecticut, Danbury, human beef, hunan beef, Panda Garden, Scorpion bowls

The story itself was very creatively told with flashbacks and the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire in real time at the interrogation in the police station. The story is told in three generations of the same characters—all the actors at the different ages were great, believable, convincing and looked plausible that they were in fact the same person at different ages of their life.

Watching the life in the slum areas of India was telling and interesting to me. The level of poverty in some areas of the world is downright shocking. And although we see a rendition on the big screen there really is no way of really understanding unless you’ve lived through it and I am in no way saying I really understand the squalor or struggle. I’m just saying from what I could see it was shocking.

Slumdog, was very much a love story about a boy Jamal, who keeps losing the girl Latika, throughout his life to which he is constantly searching through the struggle that is his life. Jamal and his older brother Salim who lose their mother to Muslim killing rebels, have to survive in an utter squalid world alone on the streets, dumps, and slums. Battling poverty, starvation, ruthless adults taking advantage, the mob world doing what they must to survive—and they all do pretty well under the circumstances. A feel good movie ending that is hopefull—Definitely one of the top movies of the year, but I’m still liking Grand Torino a little bit more for different reasons…

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Segundo the Dinner: Aqui Cal Mex in Campbell was something to look forward to because the first time was caught us off guard good! Aqui is a casual, upscale, full service bar, seat yourself, cafeteria tray, pick up your own food when the buzzer starts beeping, but the food quality is really good.

Started off a little rough during ordering because I think they chose to be a little cut-your-nose-off cheap, versus penny-wise that would have made all the difference in the world to me. In fact the more I think about it, it was bullshit!

We ordered two drinks—Margarita on the rocks, and Sangria with NO ICE. Sangria is already chilled why do I need ice? When asked we chose the large 16 oz size. The cashier was new with a manager on his shoulder assisting. The Sangria and Margarita were both in one of those old style juice cooler with a tap on the bar. The manager informed me he would only be pouring the amount of Sangria in the glass that he would if there was ice in it. Umm-kay, if that’s what you think is good business… So he poured it 2 inches from the top. It cost $5.50 for the glass not that cheap considering the cost of the meal itself. If I would have ordered a glass of wine he wouldn’t have put ice in it, or poured less because there was no ice—same thing with soda. Okay, I understand you’re not talking about the same profit point, but… I’m telling you it comes across as CHEAP with a bad after taste. I will order beer in a bottle from now on!

I ordered the same thing as the first time because it was so good—crab cake on a bed of spinach salad and diced mangoes and zesty dressing, sprinkles with crunchy tortilla strips. It’s a very tasty number and for the price of $7.99 I don’t think you can beat it.

My Sous Chef had the Chicken Limon special $8.99 with some noodle cake and string beans. A whole breast of chicken that was tender and lemony, the noodle cake was interesting, but, and the beans needed some seasoning.

The Sangria or the Margarita $5.95 wasn’t as good as I remembered them to be the first time, but I didn’t ask to have the Sangria without the ice the first time and they didn’t tell me they were going to short sheet the bed either—not sure if that played into enjoying it less or not…

We’ll be back—probably.

Technorati Tags: Aqui Cal Mex in Campbell, Aqui restaurant, iChef, Margarita, movie review, restaurant review, Sangria, Slumdog Millionaire

OK, I thought it was a delicious combination and more than half the recipe is in the title of this post…

Quick and Easy (if you’ve already cooked the pulled pork that is!)

Ingredient list:

• Pulled pork—I use a pressure cooker and Boston Butt
• Homemade BBQ sauce, ok—then start with your favorite brand and add: butter, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, garlic and onion powder. You don’t need that much—just enough to make the amount of shredded pork moist with sauce.
• Fresh fennel—core and quarter the head, start at the top and shave 1/16-1/32 inch slices
• Cilantro
• Avocado
• Corn tortillas
• Grated Sharp cheddar
• Tobasco *Optional
• Corn *Optional

Preparation:

• Shred pulled pork, mix in BBQ sauce mixture, heat low to keep warm
• Mix shaved fennel and cilantro
• Scoop out avocado
• Steamed tortillas

Assembly:

• Preheat oven 375
• Steamed tortilla flat
• Add generous amount of pulled pork
• Sprinkle cheddar cheese—pop in oven for 5 minutes
• On plate, place the tortilla with pork and cheese and top with scoops of avocado and the fennel cilantro mix
• Sprinkle corn and Tobasco if you choose—I did!

Good appetite!

• Roll and eat!

It was pretty freakin’ good! I have a picture here somewhere!

Technorati Tags: delicious, iChef, Pulled BBQ Pork Tortilla with shaved Fennel and Cilantro, Quick and Easy, Recipe

Today is a day of new hope.

Today is a day that the country and the world gets to see what happens in a free democracy. Today is the day in the United States that we change our leaders. Not at gun point, not with an army, not with coercion, not by dictate…

This day happens every 4 years after free elections. Not everyone is thrilled with the results every time, but that’s what makes this system great. We can agree to disagree, criticize, debate, and nobody loses their head. We the People DECIDE—We are the deciders that make this happen!

With this change comes HUGE responsibility. And just as we don’t change our leaders under duress, our leaders don’t dictate to us. We have a representative government that has checks and balances by three branches of government—Judicial ruling on laws, Legislative creating the laws, and Executive minding the store…

President Obama has now taken the oath and is making his Inauguration speech. It’s a winner! Not that I had a doubt… He can give a speech!

God, I do hope that his words can be translated into a positive actions and actions turned into Change we deserve. The challenge is great and will require a lot work, require tons of sacrifice, and limitless perseverance. Perseverance—do we have what it takes for as long as it will take will be the real challenge?

There are people out there who mean us harm and our committed to our end. There are people here who don’t want the US to be as we are. There are corrupted systems that need replacing, there is old infrastructure that needs upgrading, and there are better ways to do things for the planet, for the people, and for communities here and abroad.

There are many bumps out there to make our journey rough or impossible. But I have hope in the United States of America and the American people—together, united, and ready to follow—Under the right leader.

We are the American People who can do anything if we put our mind, hearts, and souls to it! There is NO challenge is too great and NO obstacle impossible to climb over. I am proud to be an American and for what it stands for. We have problems, yes, but I believe there is no other country or system greater. We have the ability to adapt to best practices and forge new innovative solutions to problems.

May God bless President Barack Obama to be that leader, may he be successful, may he be faithful in his oath, and when he is down or tired may he pick himself up and continue the journey!

We will follow…

May God Bless America and each of us.

—iChef Politikos

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Other Voices:

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Technorati Tags: Inauguration, News, Obama, Op/Ed, Politics, Speeches, US government, We the People

I told the padre, I like it here, get to do what you want, nobody fucks with you, the only thing you have to worry about is dying, and if that happens it won’t matter anyway…

—Bunny (Kevin Dylan) from Platoon

The Internet is a funny place. You can find information about anything and everything 24/7. Go to places that are real and imaginary. Ask people questions and tell people answers, find/lose people, solve/create problems… The people that set up soapboxes make rules for their spot, but for the most part it’s the Wild West.

Anybody can put up information and anybody can say what they want and no one really knows anything—mostly opinions. People either agree or disagree, the information for the most part is free flowing, we’re not like China—not yet!

This blog posts information that is opinion based on: different personalities, different sources of information, different experiences, different days of the week—the variables are vast and ever changing. The content is controlled here—people can’t post whatever they want, whether that’s the authors of posts or those commenting. I don’t let people use my soapbox to spread spam, inappropriate, or hateful content. I make the rules here, but sometimes people try to break those rules and maintenance can be a job in itself.

Now, when you go to other places they make the rules.

Where I come from you need to stand up for yourself because its been my experience that no one is going to do that for you. And, if you don’t stand up for yourself you’re not going to survive.

So, one of the subjects we write about here is restaurant reviews. We actually go to restaurants with the intent to review them and share our results with the rest of the world. The people we choose for these assignments have decades of experience including University, real world training and dining.

Besides posting here we share our posts with other review websites. They all have different sets of rules, audiences, and people commenting. Today we will be reviewing ChowHound.com a pretty popular site dedicated to those who love to eat.

Now, remember there are people who post articles and people that post comments—both can post and or comment.

Let’s just say there are some miserable people in the world that have nothing good to say, pic nits, pee in Cheerios—you get the point! People who have nothing better to do in fact. They can sit behind their computer and poke holes in anything and hide behind their damn computer and anonymity.

So, I re-post on ChowHound about this orgasmic pizza experience at this wonderful pizzeria Portofino in New York. (Portofino Dreaming) The comments on my article on Chowhound have since been deleted and even the post was pulled down twice, but it’s back up and stands alone…

Excerpt from my post Portofino Dreaming (the reason I give why I think their pizza is the best):

First, they make a slice that’s as big a small child and when in a whole pie it measures at least a yard from end to end. (probably an exaggeration, but close!)

Second, the sauce is perfectly seasoned with the right amount of cheese per any size bite.

Thirdly, we can talk about toppings, but I’m going to talk about one topping—broccoli rabe sauteed in garlic and olive oil. I’m still not ready to talk about how unbelievable this combination is—O M G! No, I’m just not ready yet…

Lastly, and I saved it for last because it is in fact the foundation—literally. The crust is thin, not paper, not notebook, but I’m going to call it the Goldilocks Crust—just right! But it’s not just right it’s just perfect!

Obviously size does matter and their perfect pizza crust is thin yet supportive, 1/8 inch of crispy, crunchy, able-to-support-the-sauce-and-cheese (and broccoli rabe in my case) perfect!

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Technorati Tags: Ace Wasabi, articles, Chowhound, Commentors, Goldilocks Crust, iChef, Irascible, Opinion, Portofino Goldens Bridge, posting, The Internet, Wild West

trackback url Broiled Scallops, with Corn and Edamame, and Arugula salad

The flavors worked really well together and the plate itself was beautiful—pretty as a picture, maybe I should have taken one…

Okay, cooking the scallops were easy enough—broiled, basted with a little brown butter (Beurre Noisette) and olive oil after the butter browned, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper—that’s it! Except for timing, don’t over cook them! Warm moist center, medium if you will…

The white corn edamame mix also easy enough, steam separately and season with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper after it’s cooked—mix the two together.

Arugula salad, very complicated… splash of olive oil, 2 splashed of balsamic, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper—that’s it!

The sauce… you don’t want to overwhelm the subtle flavor of the scallops so you have to be careful here. You’re not going to drown the scallops in sauce, not the idea! The sauce is a cream reduction laced with sherry, sauvignon blanc, Cognac, browned garlic in olive oil, shaved fresh fennel, fennel seed, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, and (thrown into the sauce right before plating) sweet red seedless grapes sliced in half as a garnish.

So we have the simply delicious and colorful corn edamame at 1-3 O’clock, arugula salad with  a hint of sweet tartness dressing, piled high from 7-11 O’clock, and the perfectly (that’s what Mindy said…) broiled scallops placed on top of a spoonful of sauce at 3-7 O’clock and also topped with a couple of spoonfuls of delectable sauce! Mindy said it was in the top 5—it was good!

I hope I was able to at least paint the picture for you…

—iChef

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Some related commentary.

And for those of you who will ask for the recipe—that was it! I even included instructions… (TRL rules…)

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I learned this recipe and preparation techniques on Wii Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine *shaking head, closed eyes, biting upper lip* My father weeps…

But while searching for Wii Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine (which we do own by the way) for this post, I did find come across —Mario and Tony, no they’re not brothers and their first name isn’t Super! But they are two chefs that kick serious ass in the kitchen and in the bookstore!

Wii Iron Chef reviewed by Grant Butler, The Oregonian. Virtual cooking — game on!

There’s no clean-up or calories, but can video games about cooking come close to the fun of the real thing?

Technorati Tags: Anthony Bourdain, arugula salad, Broiled scallops, corn, edamame, Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine, Mario Batali, nintendo, Recipe, The Road Letters, Wii

Okay the other day I see this picture on Drudge and I say to myself how did this person ever get elected (let alone get permission to walk out of the house without a mask?) Shouldn’t he need a license to walk around—don’t you think? I mean, do you think he give kids people nightmares? Have you seen the fish that are like miles deep in the ocean, the ones that never see light because the sun can’t reach them? He might be considered an attractive fish down there. I’m sure he’s heard them all…

Do looks matter? If they do how can it be explained that Henry has a public service job? He had to be out in public making speeches—didn’t he? Based on his success, no one can claim they didn’t get a job or a donut, because of their looks. Congress has all shapes and sizes and Congress has Henry Waxman.

Here here! To Henry Waxman! If he can do it anyone can!

Anyone can make it or do anything if you believe in yourself!

And then I’m at The AnchoressOnline and I see this link: Whaaa? And just about lose my mind! This is the funniest article! Iowahawk weighs in with Mark Your Time, Hu-Mans!

Special Guest Commentary
by Waxulon-6, Lord High Admiral of the Kremulakian Earth Invaders
The Being Formerly Known as Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA)

Attention Hu-Mans:

Mark your time! Behold the current heat readings of your atmosphere, which have now reached less than negative 40 in your Earth-degrees. Phase I of the Kremulakian conquest of your filthy pitiful orb is complete!

Please go to IowaHawk and read his funny little ditty!

Poor Henry…

Technorati Tags: Alien, Henry Waxman, Iowahawk, TheAnchoressOnline