The Irascible Chef

When I want a very good, solid, Italian, meal at a very reasonable price, there’s no question that Pasta Pomodoro is the place. Consistency is key and they’re almost the definition of consistency.

We took the 3 kids there the other night and it was great! I must say the waiter was the best part on this particular night! The food was delicious, but the food is always delicious, like I said—Bubbie(def. #1), it’s consistent, and I expect it to be.

We didn’t have to wait to be seated and were sat at a nice spacious table—perfect for kids and the food and the drinks and the fun / educational placemats and crayons that keep them satisfied / occupied while waiting for their food.

The kids drinks were Shirley Temple cocktails (remember when they were fun and before you were too cool?) and PP has figured out that it just might be best to serve large spill-able drinks with covers for the kids! The focaccia was still warm right out of the oven and perfect in their seasoned olive oil pesto mix—we all love that!

The waiter came by many times to make sure we were happy—we were! He brought us extra bread when we needed it—which we did, you can’t let those delectable sauces stay on the plate when they can be in your belly with a little-bread-wrist action! He also brought refills for the kids drinks. Our Moretti’s were just fine—cold and perfect with the food!

Pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs (no as good as mine—but NOBODIES are!) grilled cheese pannini, Gemelli with chicken, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, in a garlicky cream sauce, and a half order of lasagna and small salad lightly and properly dressed.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Did I mention that the kids $6 dollar meals (in a sit down, waiter service, restaurant) come with ice cream sundaes? How can you beat that? You can’t! But Pasta

Pomodoro can!

On Tuesday’s, for every adult meal, the kids meal is free! Wahooo! Now in our case one of the kids had an adult entree, but our waiter brought three sundaes (no extra charge) because he knew it would make everybody very happy! (He probably also knew that it didn’t cost them anything because we had 3 Adult meals and probably were entitled to 3 kids meals if we wanted—the customers and the House won on this night!)

Special thanks to the waiter this evening! See, how important the waiter can be???

Oh, by the way Pasta Pomodoro can be enjoyed with or without the kids (though not as much fun) and a bottle of wine for a romantic delicious dinner for two or party of ten—and, regardless of the size of your dinner party, very affordable!

What are other people saying:

Melon Scrapings Stuff that wants to get out of my head. Life, and other things like it.

B O N N E T bitching and moaning inspired by teenage angst

Technorati Tags: Affordable Italian food, food review, Pasta Pomodoro, Restaurants, Shirley Temple

Or, should it be, Bond. Daniel Craig. I would argue the latter!

BOX: 007 ON TRACK FOR $70M OPEN…

CHART…

Quantum of Solace

Daniel Craig rocks! This new iteration, the Daniel Craig iteration, of Bond just blows everything else away!The old James Bond was great for what it was—a Comic book quality of spy and espionage and the New James Bond is like real spy stuff. People get killed. Bond takes a beating, gives a beating, and himself gets bruised and bloodied! So do the new Bond women.

Now, I find Craig a devilishly sexy man with a killer body. But, interestingly enough if Craig was a woman I would say he was a Butta-face. I can’t explain why exactly he’s so damned good looking—he just is! Maybe it’s his eyes, maybe it’s just that he’s so tough and brutal…

Story-line itself is a little convoluted, but it works for me because Daniel Craig is such a bad ass!

Bond babes are H O T—Hot and they both (there are two of them in Quantum Solace) work—chemistry is there with Craig, but also with the audience.

This movie takes place where Casino Royale left off—literally in Italy. There are some reoccurring characters, some we’ll see again, but some we won’t.

There are some good chases including an outstanding boat chase. I also liked the inside peak into the new headquarters of British Intelligence and computing of the future.

You know that the capability of technology in the movie seems possible today, but you know that it currently doesn’t happen that way yet—not even at the highest level.

I don’t think they completely followed the path they set up, but maybe it will be tied to future story lines.

I think that the reason it might not have gotten glowing critical reviews is because the bad guy is using Green earth and global warming as a cloak. As in, there is evil every where, even behind good causes.

I can’t wait for the next one!

Other Voices:
Ultimate James Bond Fan Blog Review: Quantum of Solace by Deborah Lipp

James Bond (Daniel Craig), having shot Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) at the end of Casino Royale, interrogates him and learns of a secret organization known as Quantum. Following sparse leads, Bond finds Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and pursues him to the Bolivian desert. Directed by Marc Forster.

The Wardman Wire Quantum of Solace: Review By David Keen

The AllMovie Blog Quantum of Solace: The AMG Review by Jeremy Wheeler

The Huffingtonpost.com “Quantum of Solace” Green Review (with Spoilers) by Dave Burdick

Technorati Tags: James Bond, Quantum of Solace

Somebody asked, “What do you think about oil prices and the fact that they’ve dropped so significantly? Do you really think it’s all about speculation, that demand will be so low because of the economic crisis that is affecting the entire world?”

Somebody responded, “I don’t think people are smart enough to know.” Which opened up a different variety of worms which we will discuss at later date.

Here’s what I think based on my many years on this planet:

First of all oil skyrocketed out of control very fast. Any reason to speculation that oil would not meet demand was a reason for it to go up.

Let’s go down a list:

• Going to war in Iraq—oil up (nothing changed—oil still flowed, just speculation that there might be a problem)
• Hurricanes that could affect the Gulf oil platforms.
• Boutique gasoline mixtures—caused gas prices to increase.
• Taxes—to provide money for this and that.
• Refinery fires—remember them?
• Don’t forget the new emerging markets—India and China and supply and demand…
• How about rumor that the world supply of oil is running low?
• How about the maniac Mr. Imma-Dinna-Jacket from Iran making the world think he’s going to disrupt the oil supply line?
• Don’t let me forget the analysts, whose words like, I can see oil at (unheard of inconceivable price of) $100 a barrel—and then we marched right up to $100 plus!
• Oil speculators, like the late 90’s day traders—out of control!
• Oh, I almost forgot the value of the US dollar. Oil prices are based on the dollar, because of weakness in the dollar (due to printing up more money for all this debt and selling our debt to other countries, the value of the dollar significantly fell like a rock)—the dollar bought less or things like oil cost more—this was also a cause for the swift increase of the price of oil.

Up, up an away in my beautiful balloon!

By the way the cost of getting oil never changed about $2-$3 a barrel!

Speculators making millions, corporations making unheard of billions, and guess what, the government making trillions in taxes on the same corporations profits and taxes on consumers at the gas pumps and taxes on the speculators trading. By the way where does that tax money go that the government quietly can’t pile high enough or fast enough???

So, we had another little bubble… Getting bigger and bigger. Corporations and speculators and GOVERNMENT getting richer and richer, while the bomb ticks away! People start warning sirens. Tic tick tic.

You remember the stock market bubble: peoples personal wealth increasing, corporations that didn’t even have earnings or a product worth billions on paper, and the government (where do you think all the tax money goes—SURPLUS???) getting richer and richer, while the bomb ticked away. People sounded the alarms—”irrational exuberance!” Stock market can’t keep going up, there’s no fundamentals…” Poof! All gone

So people finally started crying here at home about the high price of gas at the pump and leaders like Obama, Reid, H. Clinton, Pelosi talked about windfall profit tax (because they thought they could get away with it and then talked about government taking over the oil industry…)

Bush mentions drilling for the oil that we have right here in our own backyard… The mere mention sends speculators reeling in panic. The music stopped and everyone rushing for the last chair. Obama, Reid, H. Clinton, Pelosi, telling people that drilling will only bring the prices down by pennies 10 years from now—hahahaha! The public not buying it! Drill baby drill is the chant!

Speculators can’t get rid of their oil futures fast enough! Oil is plummeting! Faster on the way down than it was on the way up! No drilling won’t matter—just mention it and it dropped over $50 per barrel…

Now, oil’s more than $100 a barrel cheaper! Was that a bubble I heard pop???

The biggest loser will be the government—all the tax revenue—poof! Gone!

And now, we’re in the middle of this mess with the financial crisis, not seen since the Great Depression. The sub prime mortgage debacle is ground zero and a real estate bubble popped. The first stage cause—people who can’t afford homes and banks being forced by government to give them loans. Second stage, the banks knew people couldn’t pay back the loans and didn’t want to get stuck holding the short end, packaged up the bad loans under some prime beef and sold it off to the suckers! The world wanted a piece of the action and got it! People sounded the sirens! Nobody listened. Poof! Trillions evaporated! Jobs gone! Companies gone! Wha happen???

So you have this halt to the world economy and everybody (all the nations including this one) responsible. You know how I know everyone is responsible? Because even those with their hands clamped in the cookie jar aren’t aren’t to blame… Nobody is being dragged through the streets to be executed over this HUGE MESS. People involved are even getting new jobs and positions—how is that possible? How is it possible that there isn’t anyone in trouble or losing their job over this? Where is the accountability?

The Government convinces everyone that almost a trillion dollars are needed after injecting billions into a failing system for over a year. They say the money is for buying bad loans from the banks. And now the government is starting to bail out private industry by taking them over. And the appropriated money that was NEEDED is now being considered to bail out the auto industry—WHAT? You said it was for this and now it’s going to be for that? The government is definitely going to need more money! Think about this, Social Security doesn’t have the money in it that it has collected because the money was used for something else… Tick Tic Tick.

List of bursting factors:

• Bush mentions drilling
• Speculators go running!
• Economy slamming down because of the sub prime mortgage disaster.
• World economy affected and speculation that the world is in for some very bad times.

Oil at $50.96 on November 12, 2008

Oh, we haven’t even touched Social Security or Health care yet—Tic Tick Tic—BOOM!

—iChef PSA

PS

We are truly fucked! I wish the global warming would hurry up already and end this disaster we let happen!

**************************************************************

Other Voices:

Oil spirals below $55 per barrel by Ed Morrissey

Bailout-mania: If you didn’t see this coming… By Michelle Malkin

More reader mail on bailout-mania By Michelle Malkin

We Can Solve the Financial Crisis by Destroying OPEC

There’s a way to force the oil cartel to compete with other energy sources.
- by Robert Zubrin Dr. Robert Zubrin, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is an astronautical engineer and author of Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil.

Detroit Climbs Aboard the Bailout Gravy Train by William Teach

Detroit is a Petri dish, in which mad scientists have allowed the loathsome bacterium that is liberalism to flourish without restraint. As a result of this misguided experiment, the former capital of industry has been reduced to a Third-World hellhole. The most liberal city in America has bankrupted itself, and now has its hand out.

Estimated cost of feds’ financial crisis countermeasures thus far: $5 trillion By: Pam on RightVoices

Video: Subprime Banking Mess..How the markets really work By: Pam on RightVoice

Paulson: Um, change of plans on the bailout money by Allahpundit

The money bit (pun intended) comes at 1:15. It seems the Troubled Asset Relief Program will no longer involve, er, troubled assets, but rather injecting capital — which, per Slublog, sounds like a good idea to one of the very few bloggers able to comment on this mind-boggling subject beyond the level of ideological boilerplate. (Me not included.)

What’s A Moderate Depression? by MaxedOutMama

The Fed’s Ponzi Scheme: “It’s none of your business where the money is going.” by: Mark Epstein

Every recession has silver lining by Public Secrets

Technorati Tags: Bush, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, global economy, Global Warming, Government, Oil Prices, US dollar value, war, world economy

The Guard

Dedication, Pride, Commitment, Sacrifice,

Honor. The Sentinel epitomizes the meaning of all of these words combined together all the time!

Dedication, Pride, Commitment, Sacrifice, Honor are the words that exemplify what the Tomb of the Unknowns Sentinel is all about.

• Not sometimes—always!
• Not only when they’re feeling up to it—always!
• Not only when it’s sunny and nice out—always!
• Not one of the qualities—all!
• Not part of a quality—all!

Forever and Always

…and it is their honor to be every bit of it, to guard the unknown men and women who have served and died for this great country.

“Here Rests

In Honored Glory

An American Soldier

Known But To God”

The Tomb of the Unknowns, near the center of the cemetery, is one of Arlington’s most popular tourist sites.

The Tomb contains the remains of unknown American soldiers from World Wars I and II, the Korean Conflict and (until 1998) the Vietnam War. Each was presented with the Medal of Honor at the time of interment and the medals, as well as the flags which covered their caskets, are on display inside the Memorial Amphitheater, directly to the rear of the Tomb.

The Tomb is guarded 24-hours-per-day and 365-days-per year by specially trained members of the 3rd United States Infantry (The Old Guard).

The Memorial Amphitheater has been the scene of the funerals of some prominent Americans (such as General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing) as well as the site of both Memorial Day and Veterans Days celebrations.

Click Here For More Information On The Vietnam War Unknown

The Sentinels Creed

My dedication to this sacred duty is total and wholehearted.
In the responsibility bestowed on me never will I falter.
And with dignity and perseverance my standard will remain perfection.
Through the years of diligence and praise and the discomfort of the elements,
I will walk my tour in humble reverence to the best of my ability.
It is he who commands the respect I protect.
His bravery that made us so proud.
Surrounded by well meaning crowds by day alone in the thoughtful peace of night,
this soldier will in honored glory rest under my eternal vigilance.

Wikipedia:

The Tomb of the Unknowns (also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, although it has never been officially named) is a monument dedicated to American servicemen who have died without their remains being identified. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in the United States. The “Unknown Soldier” of World War I is a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the Victoria Cross, and several other foreign nations’ highest service awards. The U.S. Unknown Soldiers who were interred afterwards are also recipients of the Medal of Honor, presented by the U.S. presidents who presided over their funerals.^[1][2][3]

WinkMartindale

Throughout history, a lot of soldiers have died in wars without their remains being identified. In modern times, nations have developed the practice of having a symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that represents the war grave of those unidentified soldiers. They usually contain the remains of a dead soldier who is unidentified (or “known but to God” as the stone is sometimes inscribed) and thought to be impossible ever to identify, so that he might serve as a symbol for all of the unknown dead wherever they fell. The anonymity of the entombed soldier is key to the symbolism of the monument - since their identity is unknown, it could theoretically be the tomb of anyone who fell in service of the nation in question, and therefore serves as a monument to all of their sacrifices. Much work goes into trying to find a certain soldier, and to verify that it is indeed one of the relevant nation’s soldiers.

More Than Words, indeed…

I didn’t want to include these comments in my Veterans Day—Thank you! post because the two shouldn’t be combined or mentioned in the same breath or vane.

John Murtha, served his country as an US Marine. Thank you. Thank you for your service and sacrifice—I mean that with gratitude and sincerity.

John Murtha has served this country by being a member of Congress for 17 terms!

Of course he’s had his scandals: He played a part in the ABSCAM scandal and it was a sham and shame that he survived political life beyond that event. But that’s history…

Of course he’s had his feet in his mouth: John Murtha is a now a disgrace as a Congressman, saying crazy things like his Pennsylvania constituents “are racist,” but later softened it publicly by saying “redneck… Pennsylvania reelected him just 7 days ago. Good job Pennsylvania! (dirty feet…)

Good for them, but bad for the US—he does partake in our laws, decisions, and spending decisions.

John Murtha, is partisan, has an agenda, and will use politics to advance his ideas. Ok, so, we all do that if we’re honest with ourselves. But John Murtha takes it two steps further!

John Murtha, was for withdrawing our troops from Iraq instead of finishing the job, instead of winning the winnable fight. Yes, there were casualties because of a strategy to limit casualties. But people die in war. Strategies can change and did. But instead of wanting to come up with a plan to fight for victory, John Murtha had a plan to withdraw in defeat—Just as he and the US experienced in Vietnam.

Now of course John Murtha wanted the military home so there would be no more casualties—right? But in war people die and we are at war—and when you go to war you should plan on doing what it takes to win, and if the strategy isn’t right—change it AND WIN!

John Murtha saw an event that he could use to advance his withdrawal plan *read RETREAT in DEFEAT plan—yes to save lives today—never mind future life loss the defeat might bring*

The tragic event John Murtha thought he saw was the US Killing civilians in Haditha during the Iraq war. Civilians killed, Marines with guns fired, war zone—Murtha, without investigation blames the US Marines—WITHOUT INVESTIGATION! May 17-30, 2006: Murtha’s Own Words About Haditha

John Murtha… Disgrace!

A sitting Congressman accuses men serving this nation of war crimes and atrocities before an investigation… WHAT????

No, these US Marines don’t need to be given the benefit of the doubt, they shouldn’t be innocent until proven guilty by YOUR OWN CONGRESSMAN safely sitting in his seat back in Washington DC! DISGRACE! Unacceptable!

Happy Veterans Day Disgrace!

Oh, by the way, the accused has been exonerated by an official INVESTIGATION!

What does John Murtha have to say—crickets! Nothing!

An apology? Nope. Nada.

Except today is Veterans Day and John Murtha wants to honor veterans… What does he have to say you ask?

JOHN MURTHA | Honoring our veterans takes more than words

BY JOHN MURTHA
The Tribune-Democrat

Veterans Day is a time to honor those Americans who answered the call to service and who proudly fought to defend our freedoms.

America owes an immeasurable debt to each of the 23.4 million veterans alive today, including the tens-of-thousands living right here in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Honoring our veterans means more than just words and speeches.

Want to find out more? You want to speak out? DO!

DEFEND OUR MARINES

SLANDER

John Murtha just got Re-ELECTED! Telling, very telling…

News FLASH: The change of strategy in the Iraq war is working and we now have the enemy on the run! People who were against winning the war, the people who were for running away—JUST GOT ELECTED!

Other Voices:

Michelle Malkin: Hate to add a sour note, but you really must read smear merchant John Murtha’s Veterans Days column to see chutzpah in action. The man is shameless.

UPDATE! “Cradle to Grave” and the “fruit” of the Left–Idol Worship and Poor Education: Why the Left gets it WRONG by Mark Epstein

You just have to love TheView! Another disgrace! by Allahpundit: Video: Veterans Day on “The View”

What better way to thank the troops for their service than by reminding them what a colossal waste you think their sacrifices in Iraq have been? The One managed to avoid that in his own wreath-laying today, but I guess he doesn’t care as much as Behar does.

Technorati Tags: Haditha, John Murtha, News, Politics, Veterans Day Disgrace

Thank you to all the Veterans who served in the US Military. Thanks to those who sacrificed for their country, their family, and all of us. I’m sure there were hard challenging times during your service, both at home with your families as well as the service to our country in general—but you still did it!

Some of you were called upon by your country to serve and some of you volunteered your service and all of you deserve our sincere thanks, gratitude, and prayers… Thank you!

Other voices: Here, there, and everywhere:

Happy Veterans Day linkfest By Michelle Malkin

On This Veterans Day by RightVoices

Happy Veteran’s Day by Warren Throckmorton

Veterans Day by Laura

Happy Veterans Day! by Ed Morrissey

Veteran’s Day 2008 by nicedeb

Technorati Tags: 2008, Thank you, Veterans day

Well, that certainly takes care of that—another misunderstanding cleared up!

I knew I had to have it all wrong. My Liberal Democrat friends and family told me I was wrong, but I was just a blockhead about it!

Reuters Laugher: ‘Media Bias Largely Unseen in Presidential Race’ Newsbusters By Brent Baker.

File under: Don’t believe your lying eyes and ears. Barely two weeks after a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey determined that “by a margin of 70%-9%, Americans say most journalists want to see Obama, not John McCain, win on Nov. 4,” even as 62 percent of Democrats recognized how journalists hoped Obama would be victorious,

Reuters set out to prove any and all favorable Obama coverage had nothing to do with liberal bias.

In a November 6 dispatch, “Media bias largely unseen in U.S. presidential race,” Steve Gorman of the Los Angeles bureau focused his story on undermining the “perception that mainstream news organizations routinely gave Obama preferential treatment en route to his election as the first black U.S. president.”

More on the Pew poll: My October 23 NewsBusters item, “By Nearly 8-to-1, Voters Say Journalists Want Obama to Win,” recounted:

“Voters overwhelmingly believe that the media wants Barack Obama to win the presidential election,” a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey released Wednesday discovered. Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of Republicans recognized how journalists hope Obama is victorious, yet so did 62 percent of Democrats and independents….Another 8% say journalists don’t favor either candidate, and 13% say they don’t know which candidate most reporters support.”

Thanks to James Taranto for highlighting the Reuters article in his Friday “Best of the Web Today” compilation, where he put the Reuters headline under this heading: “If They Do Say So Themselves.”

For many more surveys this year which found the public saw a pro-Obama and/or anti-McCain or anti-Palin bias, check the “How the Public Views the Media” section of the MRC’s “Media Bias Basics.”

For videos of quotes, and many, many more, go to the “Campaign 2008 Review: Barack Obama’s Media Groupies” special November 3 edition of Notable Quotables.

Move along! There’s nothing more to see here…

—iChef Politikos

Technorati Tags: Democrat, Election 2008, Liberal, McCain, News, News Bias, Obama, Politics, Reuters

Thanks for the subject to Nice Deb!

Superintendent Responds To Obama Teacher’s Abuse

November, 7, 2008 — nicedeb

If you are doing things like this. It’s called indoctrination |-?däktr??n? sh ?n| |1n?d?ktr??ne???n| [noun]

It should be against the law if it’s not—at every level of public education!

indoctrinate |in?däktr??n?t|
verb [ trans. ]
teach (a person or group) to accept a set of beliefs uncritically : broadcasting was a vehicle for indoctrinating the masses.
• archaic teach or instruct (someone) : he indoctrinated them in systematic theology.

How dare you! It’s dead wrong!

Students trust and look up to you and you’re using that trust and worship to expand what YOU believe. I know you’re all so highly educated and know everything, but it’s not your place to tell kids what to think and believe! Who the hell do you think you are?

This is happening at every level of education, don’t for a minute think it’s only happening in college and universities.

And for those of you who slough it off, like it’s okay for it to happen in college and universities—how do you think that happened? Society at large has been indoctrinated to believe that…

It’s not okay to indoctrinate In college either. It seems that educators and the institution are so full of themselves—sooo smart, WE know what’s right, WE know what’s best—They don’t.

—WE will tell you WHAT to believe!

It’s like someone telling your kids what god or religion to believe in—you sure as hell would have a problem with that—and you should!

If your kids come home and tell you stories about teachers or schools doing and promoting politics or political issues DO SOMETHING! Speak up! Speak out! Before it’s okay too late, before we are told what we are ALLOWED to think or believe, or say!

—iChef Politikos

Technorati Tags: Abuse, College, Education, Grade school, Indoctrination, News, Politics, Religion, Teacher

I thought it was just me, but…

priceless...

From the Anchoress!

If it weren’t for this cartoon I could swear I still sensed a little division. Thank goodness I’m wrong!

Technorati Tags: bias, Cartoon, Division, Satire

300,000 people on top yesterday and in trouble today.

Iceland, here today unknown tomorrow…

Stunned Icelanders Struggle After Economy’s Fall

Until last spring, Iceland’s economy seemed white-hot. It had the fourth-highest gross domestic product per capita in the world. Unemployment hovered between 0 and 1 percent (while forecasts for next spring are as high as 10 percent). A 2007 United Nations report measuring life expectancy, real per-capita income and educational levels identified Iceland as the world’s best country in which to live.

This country, as modern and sophisticated as it is geographically isolated, still seems to be in shock. But if the events of last month — the failure of Iceland’s banks; the plummeting of its currency; the first wave of layoffs; the loss of reputation abroad — felt like a bad dream, Iceland has now awakened to find that it is all coming true

And to think GWB isn’t their President and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd don’t oversee their Finance Committee…

But they do have a flat tax system!

Technorati Tags: Barney Frank, Best place to live, Chris Dodd, Flat tax system, GWB, Iceland, News, UN, welfare state