Nothing Left, to Say...

Where We Shed Light on the Right, We respect governance by the 2C's, Common Sense and the Constitution, where we never have anything Left...to say...We are also the home of the (almost) weekly Rant and Recipe...

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

As a general rule Americans don't trust politicians. In fact I dare say that most Americans would only talk to a politician as they would a used car salesman, that is, with one hand over their wallets. Of course this mistrust is the result of countless lies, halftruths, mischaracterizations, fibs and other manner of stretching the truth some. Now many of you are asking why I bring this up, after all it's well known that politicians are somewhat tone deaf when it comes to the truth, party loyalties and personal interests being what they are. I bring it up because as an observer of human nature and the political scene, it is my experience that when it comes to pathological liars, the democrats have us beat.

It wasn't a decade ago that I sat and watched a democrat, IMPEACHED ex-president Clinton look me and millions of other Americans in the eye, waggle that finger of his and proclaim that he had not had sex with that woman! A statement that was demonstrably false and which Mr. Clinton knew without doubt to be false. Fast forward to May of this year. There I am, minding my own bidness at a conference in Washington D.C. Addressing the group was none other than democratic Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. I'm fully prepared to give Senator Biden credit for being an engaging speaker. He held the group enthralled and to his credit, he has been a supporter of law enforcement for many years. One of our number asked the Senator when he was going to run for President. Remember, this was a scant month ago. Senator Biden replied that he would never put himself through that again and that he would need a lobotomy to run for president. Six weeks later and he announces his intent to run in 2008.

Whatever happened to straight talk? Even being generous and stating that these are nothing more than instances of politicos being disingenuous while playing the game. The problem is that the game is conducted in a language no one outside the Washington beltway seems to understand. Ok maybe thats a bit overdone. I'm certain the language is perfectly understood in the corridors of power in all 50 state capitols as well.

In any event thats enough sniveling on my part about the state of politics in this Republic of ours. I'm heading across the front line and deep into enemy territory today. Es el cumpleano de mi madre....OCHENTA!! Should be quite the fiesta. Being in the Bay of course there will be seafood consumed. Speaking of seafood, it's summer and nothing comes off the grill like steak and shrimp or crabs or oysters or scallops. You get the point. The trouble is often deciding what to pair them up with. Well here is a favorite side dish of mine that is equally at home beside seafood or beef...dill roasted potatoes. This dish is so easy it's criminal.

Allow about 1 medium to large potato per person.

Preheat your over to 400 degrees

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil

Using either Yukon Gold or White Potatoes scrub them and then quarter them. If the quarters are large, you can halve them.

Coat the potatoes evenly now with olive oil

Season the potatoes with fresh cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste.

Lastly, for 3-4 potatoes, sprinkle 1/2 tsp of dry dill weed over the potatoes.

Place the baking sheet in the oven on the middle rack or lower and roast for 35-40 minutes. I tell you, these potatoes will melt in your mouth! Now good eatin' on ya and I'll get back to you when I return from enemy territory.

Smilin' Paul Villa U.S. Senate 2010
cyber-Congressman, R-Reno
Proud Member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and 2 SUV Family

Monday, June 13, 2005

This is almost too rich. A recent poll found that 40% of frenchmen would like to get pregnant. I think I can honestly say that I don't know a single American male who would trade places with a woman. After watching my wife go through nine months of hell twice over, I can aver that I have no desire to experience the same and I am fully prepared to concede that when it comes to pregnancy women are by far the stronger sex. Besides, I've had a kidneystone and I hear tell that it is similar to giving birth.

Speaking of unwanted waste byproducts judicial activism is very nearly as painful to watch as kidneystones are to deliver. Maybe not in the same knife in the guts kind of way, more like a bashing your head against a wall of contrived liberal logic kind of way. Witnessing the twisted and convoluted manner in which liberals arrive at judgements in a courtroom is to invite our Founding Fathers to moan loudly and roll over in their graves while concurrently holding their heads. Indulge me all while I provide an example of the liberal mindset at work. Several weeks ago we here in River City experienced a takeover armed robbery of a bank. You read that right, a TAKEOVER ARMED ROBBERY, pistol displayed to several frightened patrons of a local bank while the thug demanded money of the teller. Of course the perps were rapidly arrested by the local heat and what happens in court? Mind you this is an offense that carries a mandatory deuce to a dime on the sentence.

Well at arraignment, the Federal Judge who just happens to be an appointee of....cough...ahem.. IMPEACHED ex-president Clinton, decides that the justice system needs to be a little kindler and gentler so he orders the suspect held on HOUSE ARREST instead of in the Hoosegow Hilton. Only a liberal could feel so much pain and empathy for an obvious victim of circumstance like an armed robbery suspect. As if this example isn't enough, can you all kindly indulge me here. On my site you will all notice a link to the U.S. Constitution. Please click on it and read it and then someone please tell me where in the Constitution is this imagined right to abortion? Maybe I missed it during my reading. This imagined right is a states right issue and that is the reason that liberals are all atwitter at the prospect of President Bush naming a conservative or two to the court. The possibility that Roe v Wade maybe overturned is the nightmare reason that so many liberals can't sleep. They know full well that should the issue be returned to the states, most of them would seek to make abortion a much more difficult prospect.

Of course I'm not naive enough to believe that Roe v. Wade is the sole cause of liberal insomnia. So much of their agenda is advanced through the courts because of the simple math of electoral America. Far more people describe themselves as conservative than liberal. By achieving legislative aims through the courts, the left maintains a facade of legitimacy without the messy need for allowing the people to voice their opinion at the ballot box. If you all want to destroy the American Republic just keep on turning your heads to the latest judicial activism that ignores our Constitution.

Speaking of traditions, reader Chris Banks beat me up pretty well over one of my recent columns. Seems he got all worked up over my hit single, "Chicken Fried Steak" and was a little bent out of shape that I could work up a song but not a recipe for the delicacy. Well that was my bad. If y'all want the best chicken fried steak in Reno, I give my nod to Peg's over on Sierra Street. However, if you want to whip some up yourself...here goes...courtesy of Texascooking.com, Grandma's Chicken Fried Steak.

Texas-Style Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy

It is hard to get much more Texan than Chicken Fried Steak. Quality of the beef really counts in this dish. This recipe calls for cube steaks, but good round steak that you have asked the butcher to run through the tenderizer or that you have tenderized yourself with a mallet (no big deal and can be a real stress reliever) can be even better.

4 tenderized beef cutlets (known in supermarkets as "cube steak") OR 1 round steak, with fat removed, that you've tenderized yourself (see above)

1 egg
1/4 cup milk
all-purpose flour
cooking oil or melted Crisco
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Beat together the egg and milk and set aside. Mix together the salt, black pepper, paprika and white pepper and sprinkle on both sides of beef cutlets.

Dredge the cutlets in the flour, shaking off the excess. Then dip each cutlet in the egg/milk mixture, then back in the flour. (You're going to get your hands messy here, so take your rings off.) Set cutlets aside on a piece of waxed paper.

Heat the cooking oil in a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Oil should be about a half-inch deep in the pan. Check the temperature with a drop of water; if it pops and spits back at you, it's ready.

With a long-handled fork, carefully place each cutlet into the hot oil. Protect yourself (and your kitchen) from the popping grease that results. Fry cutlets on both sides, turning once, until golden brown. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook 4 or 5 minutes until cutlets are done through. Drain cutlets on paper towels.

Cream Gravy After the cutlets are removed from the pan, pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of oil, keeping as many as possible of the browned bits in the pan. Heat the oil over medium heat until hot.

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons flour (use the left-over flour from the chicken fried steak recipe (waste not -- want not) in the hot oil. Stir with a wooden spoon, quickly, to brown the flour.

Gradually stir in 3/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup water, mixed together, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon and mashing out any lumps. Lower heat, and gravy will begin to thicken. Continue cooking and stirring a few minutes until gravy reaches desired thickness. Check seasonings and add more salt and pepper according to your taste. Good eatin' on ya!!!

Smilin' Paul Villa U.S. Senate 2010
cyber-Congressman, R-Reno
Proud Member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and 2 SUV Family

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Well that anniversary was something less than climactic. Let's try another. Recently I made another foray deep behind enemy lines. Going home is always enlightening especially when it's in the bluest part of a blue state. It can convey a sense of what the other side is thinking and feeling if you can actually steel yourself to the task and of course you have your blood pressure medicine. In any event, while back home I was looking at some old photos and I was reminded of another anniversary that takes place this summer. Once again it was twenty years past and if the Chop and Mick don't remember this one, well it's time to get them checked out because this anniversary has photographic evidence. Here's a hint, it combines two great American pastimes, BBQ and Beer.

Speaking of home, some of you know that while in the Bay Area I like to indulge myself in my traditional Catholic upbringing. Besides the usual guilt, I always get in a side of self flagellation. All right L-train and some of you others with minds in the gutter, look it up....Now I don't go in for leather straps or wooden switches, it can get messy. Instead my tool of choice is the radio. Finding tortuous radio programming in the Bay Area is no problem as a short trip on your AM dial will get you to KGO radio. KGO is all newstalk and is a local version of Err America. Listening to the twisted logic and America hating bile that spews forth from the likes of Bernie Ward and Ray Taliaferro is far more painful than being beaten with a switch.

Yesterday of course marked a couple of momentous occasions. It was the 61st Anniversary of D-Day which not surprisingly was the last invasion the American Left actually supported. Being the cuddly, prescient types that they are, the left no doubt forecast that the French would someday be useful ideological allies and so they needed them liberated. The rest of us owe a debt of gratitude to those allied troops who stormed a hostile shore to advance the cause of freedom. Yesterday will also be a special day for Judge Priscilla Owen as she has finally been sworn into the Federal Bench. That must really blister the hides of the so called "progressives". Now if we can just get the rest of the President's judicial nominees through we'll be well on the road. I expect many of you have difficulty seeing the importance of judicial appointments but in my next rant, I'll demonstrate the lunacy of placing judges on the bench who determine that they can construct law.

Smilin' Paul Villa U.S. Senate 2010
cyber-Congressman, R-Reno
Proud Member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and 2 SUV Family