What a Damn Mess
Say, I wonder what’s been happening in Iraq lately. Let’s find out, shall we?
Angry fellow Shi’ites stoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s motorcade in a Shi’ite stronghold of Baghdad on Sunday in a display of fury over a devastating car bomb that tore through their area.
Oh. That doesn’t sound very good, does it? And frankly, neither does this:
The bloodiest bombings in Baghdad since the U.S. invasion in 2003, and the reprisals that swiftly followed, show that Iraq’s sectarian conflict may be too far gone for leaders to stop, even if they want to.
The killings of some 250 people last week marked a “high-water mark”, analysts said. It demonstrated with savage clarity how little control Iraq’s government exercises, with a security force accused of sectarian bias and a series of peace plans doing little to slow the pace of killing.
Ah. But surely there must be some good news that the mainstream media is hiding from the American people to influence the midterm elections and hurt Bush’s approval ratings. Right?
The threat of civil war lurched closer in Iraq Saturday as a suicide bomb killed four people and Iraq’s Shiite prime minister faced criticism as he prepared for a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush.
I see.
You know, at some point we’ll have to leave Iraq. I’m not naive enough to think that our exit will make anything better (it won’t), but there comes a time when you must accept the reality that there is nothing we can do to make things better. Our exit will likely be followed by a sectarian bloodbath that Tom Friedman and David Broder will say could have been prevented if only we had stayed for six more months. This is, of course, complete horseshit. Iraq is going to get worse no matter what the United States does, and we have to decide whether we want to be in the middle of it or not. It’s not a great choice we have before us, but I don’t see any non-disastrous options on the table.
Gavin adds: Stop the presses! Jon ‘Get Saddam’ Chait, liberal hawk extraordinaire, has unveiled a new plan…
For what it’s worth, Tom Friedman is now in favor of withdrawal. He’s still a huge asshole, but he’s no longer a stay-the-courser.
I think we should withdraw everyone except for Team Bush and Tom Friedman, and sponsor a Choplifter simulation tournament.
What can be done? The only idea I have is withdrawal and the establishment of refuge camps, somewhere–ideally, on a certain ranch in Crawford–that US troops would guard against all violence, including not only external violence, violence from and between the refugees, but also, perhaps most importantly, that of the US troops themselves. I can’t think of anything else the US can do that would begin to undo the tens of thousands of deaths its caused.
Yeah, but I heard it’s much more dangerous in Washington DC.
The choices are either standing with Iraqi democracy, or abandoning it.
Me and President Bush are going to stand with Iraqi Democracy,
Surrendercrats like John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi will want to abandon it.
Have you looked at Somalia lately? We cut and run from that country, and now they’re under the control of an Islamofascist government.
The same will happen to Iraq if we abandon it.
Al-Sadr is in cahoots with Osama bin Laden, and Al-Sadr should be disposed of as soon as possible.
Al-Sadr is in cahoots with Osama bin Laden, and Al-Sadr should be disposed of as soon as possible.
As well, it appears that some of the reports out of Iraq are enemy propaganda.
So, Gary, please, some predictions about the future of Iraq. Also, any stock tips?
If America abandons Iraq, Iraqi mothers will curse our country forever and Iraq will descend into total chaos and Iraqi democracy will die.
If America stands by Iraq then eventually the terrorist enemies of Iraqi Democracy will perish.
Iraq never had democracy; how could it die?
You must have missed the news about the multiple free and fair elections held in Iraq in the last few years.
Also, didn’t I just read somewhere that the majority of Iraqis, including, presumably, I raqi mothers, want the US to get the fuck out of their country and for this reason support attacks on US troops? As for “descending into chaos,” it looks like Iraq is doing that regardless of the presence of US troops.
Elections != democracy. Saddam had elections, too. Come to think, so did Fidel. And Hugo Chavez. And Daniel Ortega.
Got anything better?
Alright, a couple of things. If someone could explain just exactly what good american troop are doing in Iraq at this point, I might be in favor of keeping a garrison of 20,000 or so there. But any training/organizing our soldiers are doing could just as well be done from Kuwait.
Iraq is actually much worse than vietnam. By ’69 we were almost exclusvily fighting the NVA, with the irregulars more or less serving in a logistics capacity. In Iraq it’s entirely a guerrilla opponent, with the attendent intel and “collateral damage” difficulties.
Al-Sadr is in cahoots with Osama bin Laden, and Al-Sadr should be disposed of as soon as possible.
Oh, Gary, you big cuddly dummy. First of all, al Sadr is a bit of a problem, but it is well known that he HATES al Quaida. Get your players straight, please. And second, you are one of the last idiots who thinks somehow america can kill it’s way out of the problem we created in iraq. Don’t trouble your tiny brain with thoughts about the consequences of killing a cleric with 23 seats in the government (now that’s the way to spread democracy, eh?) and 3 million followers. Nah, what could go wrong?
mikey
So you think that Iraqi elections were as free and fair as the rigged elections held in Cuba and Venezuela?
The fact is that Iraq is now a Democracy, much to the dismay of the Surrendercrat Party.
And Hmmm appears to be falling for enemy propaganda.
So Gary, when are you joining up to stand by your man ‘W?
Iraq is actually much worse than vietnam.
The fatality rates in Iraq are much lower than they were in Vietnam.
Of course, the dense Surrendercrats have been cheering against the troops from day 1
“Me and President Bush are going to stand with Iraqi Democracy.”
Me are going to wish you luck.
Hmmm appears to be falling for enemy propaganda.
Gary’s always a class act. Gary, delusional chickenhawks like you and “Flopping Aces” have been wrong every step of the way about Iraq. I suppose you have to remain in denial because otherwise you would have to admit your own complicity in this nightmare.
The fatality rates in Iraq are much lower than they were in Vietnam.
So, tough guy, you find the current fatality rates in iraq “acceptable”? We’re getting good value in exchange for the bloodletting? Gawd, these thugs sicken me….
mikey
The last poll I saw showed Americans in favor of withdrawal 66%-33%. We’re all Surrendercrats now (except for keyboard warriors like Gary).
Iraq is actually much worse than vietnam.
That was my first thought upon looking at the CNN poll above. Had I been asked that question, I might have said “don’t think so,” if only because the clusterfuck in Iraq ratcheted up to stunningly high levels of savage ineptitude in a way that makes Vietnam pale in comparison. My hunch is that at least half of the respondents who said Iraq isn’t like Vietnam were thinking something similar.
“If someone could explain just exactly what good american troop are doing in Iraq ”
mikey, I’ve been wondering that myself. What do military forces do, exactly, to secure against the kind of violence that’s going on? If you had 20,000 more troops, what would they do?
Man checkpoints? Does this work? If it does, then it is a matter of adding more checkpoints, maybe a couple or three every block? Can’t checkpoints just get blown up anyway, especially when the tactic you’re checking against is suicide bombing?
Or how about doing surveillance and undercover work to detect plots in progress? Seems like a highly individual, nuanced tactic, requiring knowledge and interaction with Iraqi citizens. This isn’t something you can do in massive numbers — like if one operative is helpful, add 10,000 more.
We’ve tried the old “squeeze the balloon” theory — clean up one neighborhood and the bad guys just move to another. So with more troops do we just “clean up” all the neighborhoods simultaneously?
What about mass battaltions of soldiers patrolling the streets? Does this work?
It does appear, too, that the only act we’re expecting our troops to perform in all these efforts is to kill “bad guys.” “Cleaning up” a neighborhood is a euphemism for going in and killing people we think are bad guys. Surveilling and uncovering plots result in killing the supposed plotters. So how else do we measure success other than by counting how many Iraqi corpses we create? And if killing = success, then it seems very tempting to create as many corpses as we can, just in case they might be bad guys. So how do you know when you’ve won, what’s the magic number of corpses that says Victory?
We keep talking about training Iraqi forces. OK, how many more trainers will make the job go faster? 20,000?
And, the final question is — what exactly are we training the Iraqi forces to do? Start at the beginning of the question again.
Al-Sadr is in cahoots with Osama bin Laden, and Al-Sadr should be disposed of as soon as possible.
Um, right, so the real reason that extremist Shi’ite cleric al-Sadr is using his (Shi’ite) Madi Army to kill Sunnis is because he’s actually “in cahoots” with Sunni extremist OBL.
I’m curious, Garllito, exactly how much gas do you have to huff before that seems plausible?
Um, we’re lost and we’re looking for the head we fell out of. Name of Gary.
Why are Bush and Maliki meeting in Jordan? Shouldn’t they be parading down
Babylonia Boulevard with the top down enjoying the flowers and chocolates?
Hell, Cheney’s in the neighborhood, send him along for the ride.
Shouldn’t they be parading down
Babylonia Boulevard with the top down enjoying the flowers and chocolates?
Roads are closed from all the new school construction, apparently.
Me and President Bush are going to stand with Iraqi Democracy,
Of course, you’re both going to do this from the safety and comfort of your respective mother’s living rooms.
Gary, I hate to break it to you, but Iraqi mothers are already cursing America forever ever since GWB started bombing the country 3 years ago. You know when you wage war, that people die right? Innocent people whose families will then blame (rightly or wrongly) other people (usually the people they see as “the enemy”).
But anyways, I know you feel you are doing your part to fight terror by bravely touching the name with the -R next to it on the Diebold Machines and have thus sacrificed much for the global struggle against violent extremism. So I ain’t gonna ask you when you are enlisting, after all, you’ve done more than your fair share.
I do have a question though, Gary. Would you want to live in an Iraqi-style “democracy?”
Given the combination of ignorance and arrogance displayed by Gary Ruppert, I’m starting to think he might be a close advisor to the White House. Probably Douglas Feith.
But you have to applaud his brave commitment to Iraq. There’s simply no end to his willingness to have his fellow countrymen slaughtered for a hopelessly lost cause.
You, sir, are a true American hero.
Gary, I think you’re having a breakdown. Seriously, guy, go to the hospital and talk to some people, for your own sake.
The dems won by standing for ideas the american people want enacted, Iraq is now in a civil war which we caused, their democracy is a corrupt puppet government which has no legitimacy in the eyes of the Iraqi people, and you are getting closer and closer to becoming a genuine sociopath, insofar as you have no emotional reaction to the death involved in your little go red team rah cheerleading.
You need help fella. You’ve completely lost your connection to reality. You’re going to end up hurting yourself if you don’t admit you have a problem. Seeking help is real courage, Gary, the kind you’ve never known.
Well, golly, Professor Rupert. If we leave, and that means that Iraq falls under the controll of Fundamentalist Islamic Maniacs, doesn’t that mean we should have left the moderate Saddam in power? Gee willikers!
Lord John Whorfin: Where are we going?
Red Lectroids: Planet Ten.
Lord John Whorfin: When?
Red Lectroids: Real soon.
Um, right, so the real reason that extremist Shi’ite cleric al-Sadr is using his (Shi’ite) Madi Army to kill Sunnis is because he’s actually “in cahoots� with Sunni extremist OBL.
Like Garybot’s idiot president, he doesn’t, and can’t, understand the distinction.
The fact is that Iraq is now a Democracy, much to the dismay of the Surrendercrat Party.
Democracy’s a bad thing, remember Gary? It produced a ‘Democrat’ Congress…
^^Damn blockquote didn’t work for some reason.^^
Um, right, so the real reason that extremist Shi’ite cleric al-Sadr is using his (Shi’ite) Madi Army to kill Sunnis is because he’s actually “in cahoots� with Sunni extremist OBL.,
Like Garybot’s idiot president, he doesn’t, and can’t, understand the distinction.
The fact is that Iraq is now a Democracy, much to the dismay of the Surrendercrat Party.
Democracy’s a bad thing, remember Gary? It produced a ‘Democrat’ Congress…
Hey, “All the marbles,” if, y’know, that is your real name — thanks for my first laugh-out-loud moment of a cold and rainy Sunday . . .
So is this the real Gary, back from beyond? I’m leaning toward yes, although clearly some previously misfiring sparks are now going off in showers of fizzletastic nutbucketry.
And speaking of The Real Gary, am I the only one who noticed that Gary slipped beneath the radar about the same time Brad toddled off to do that academic research-n-writing thing? And now he’s back? I’m just saying.
The choices are either standing with Iraqi democracy, or abandoning it.
Me and President Bush are going to stand with Iraqi Democracy,
“Standing with Iraqi democracy”? What does that mean, anyway? What is it our troops are supposed to be doing that they are not already doing? Why is the violence and chaos getting worse, if the troops are still there right now? If our troops can’t stop the violence now, what will they do next week, next month, or next year that they haven’t already tried?
Seriously, Gary, I really want to know. What do “you and President Bush” want the troops to do? And I don’t want to hear any single-sentence platitudes or bumper-sticker strategies. Tell me, specifically, a minimum of three goals in Iraq our troops are supposed to accomplish. I promise I will not tell the terrorists.
The fatality rates in Iraq are much lower than they were in Vietnam.
Gary’s claim to be concerned about democracy and human rights in Iraq would be more convincing if it were not for the low priority he gives to the fatality rates of the actual Iraqi civilians. “Low priority”? Absolutely fecking zero priority, I mean. Those dead Iraqis do not seem to exist at all in Gary-world.
In the good old days… when I was a boy… we had this thing called ‘Cognitive Dissonance”. Since you’re such an assiduous reader of S,N., Gary, you might have heard the other commentators mentioning it, and wondered what they were on about. The idea was that if you found yourself holding two absolutely incompatible views, and maybe voicing them in two consecutive sentences — like caring about the future of Iraq after US withdrawal, while not considering dead Iraqis to be worth including as part of the fatality rate — you were expected to feel just a bit disturbed about it. You were expected to make at least a token gesture at reconciling the views.
But kids today, they don’t seem to feel cognitive dissonance at all. It’s as if Gary comes from a different species for whom Asch and Festinger’s research has no relevance. Amazingly, their brains don’t explode when prophecy fails. Is this the transhuman condition we’re supposed to be looking forward to? I can’t see much difference from psychopathy.
Gary Ruppert said,
November 26, 2006 at 19:35
The choices are either standing with Iraqi democracy, or abandoning it.
Me and President Bush are going to stand with Iraqi Democracy
Not in uniforms and not in close proximity, though. But take heart. Before Christmas, George (with Gary in spirit beside him) will shove a codpiece in a pair of khaki trousers and hop a luxury jet to a safe zone in Iraq where he’ll dine on plastic turkey with a select group of yet-to-be harmed soldiers who will pretend they respect the Prezident. This Wag the Patriot Dog moment brought to you by Preparation H.
Will someone please make those two freaks back off?!
“Standing with Iraqi democracy�? What does that mean, anyway?
Especially considering that “Iraqi democracy” consists of politicians with armed militias and economic and military support from various countries in the region. In most cases a subset of each parties support structure are clerics with a percentage of their followers willing to kill and die on command.
Seriously. Think about what american democracy would look like if the major political parties had huge, well armed militias. If the democrats had support and funding from the EU and the republicans had their support and funding from asia. If the democrats were supported by the catholics and the mormon and the republicans by the protestants and the jews. You would have created a situation where the very political process would make the nation ungovernable…
mikey
Hey! Restoring Saddam was MY idea!
No respect…
And if killing = success, then it seems very tempting to create as many corpses as we can, just in case they might be bad guys. So how do you know when you’ve won, what’s the magic number of corpses that says Victory?
In the Garyverse, I’m afraid, that magic number is “All the Iraqis”. Any left alive will only continue their boring intramural murders. Besides, when you’ve been responsible for as many incidental atrocities as Dear Leader has been in Iraq, it’s just foolish to leave witnesses around to testify at some later trial.
” it’s just foolish to leave witnesses around to testify at some later trial. ”
Yeah. Look what happened to that poor sap Saddam.
. . . who should, y’know, be reinstated as leader of Iraq because . . . um . . . becuase his reign wasn’t as much of a cock-up as Dear Leader’s is? I think that’s Chait’s argument, and there’s an awful, truly awful, tinge of reality within his thoroughly cynical and depressing conclusion.
[Gratuitous venting alert] I am so, so sick of hearing reformed hawks bleating about how “Yeah, well, we all know the war was a mistake and some of us knew it a long time ago but out of respect for our leaders blah blah blah we decided it’s better to soak the sands of Babylon with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of Americans and destroy the reputation of the U.S. around the world for generations to come than to question the wisdom of the president.”
[done for now]
Freedomburger, anyone? Hot off the grill…
Gary’s right. The defeat-o-crats don’t have the gumption to do what it takes to win the occupation. The path to victory is simple. (1) Have a mounted force of marauders sweep through and kill every man and boy over the age of five. (2) Stick pikes up the ass of a few thousand people and plant them along the major highways just in case anyone’s still feeling froggy. Follow these two easy steps and I promise you’ll see peace in Iraq.
what would be cool is if nobody other than shoelimpy and annie commented on gavins new thread.
Shoelimpy is Annie . adifferentbrad is probably more offspring of the AA trollotype. Let the comments be taken over by trollbots – who gives a shit? I’m done with SadlyNo.
Oh, come on, they’re greeting us with Rose Petal Garlands, right?
Now it’s their version of Radio fucking Rwanda.
Civil war my ass, Iraq is perched upon the edge of becoming the next genocide.
Iraq never had democracy;
Not true. There were elections in 1953, 1954, and 1958.
And Saddam Hussein was funded by the CIA, certainly for the 1963 coup and probably for the 1968 coup as well. Why? His secular pan-Arab nationalism was a counter to the bugaboo of communism, as the communists were huge in Iraq in the 1950s.
And, yes, death rates are less in Iraq than they were in Vietnam. No surprise, given that that war saw the deaths of almost 3 million people. It would take some effort to get there, don’t you think, Gary? (of course not)
Now, I’ve seen two options for Iraq. There’s the Gary “solution,” which is “more of the same,” and there’s mine, and, well, perhaps there are some other ones. But we need to start thinking about solutions.
It didn’t take the US this long to defeat BOTH the Nazis and Japan, so why is it taking this long to defeat Iraq? Because Republicans can’t do anything right.
Have you looked at Somalia lately? We cut and run from that country, and now they’re under the control of an Islamofascist government.
I would ask Gary to come back and defend that statement, except that we have all learned through bitter experience that asking Gary to provide arguments or evidence is as futile as… um… [searches for suitable simile, familiar to S,N readers]… as futile as asking the neighbourhood kids to come back and collect the burning paper bag of dogshit which they left on my doorstep.
One of the Designated Trolls was making the same claim, over at Glenn Greenwald’s site the other day… that the Islamic Courts people who recently gained control of most of Somalia are Scary-Evil-Islamofascist Bad people, and therefore members of the international conspiracy to turn California into a Caliphate. I assume, therefore, that this is now part of the official party line — We are at war with Somalia! We have always been at war with Somalia! That in itself is a sufficiently good reason to challenge the claim.
Now I am quite happy to believe that the new rulers of Somalia are weapons-grade nutters, because they are religious, after all. But I imagine they enjoy some popular support… it would have been hard to turf out a bunch of well-armed warlords, otherwise. The only evidence I’ve seen so far that the new rulers are fundamentalist, intolerant, fascist, or even opposed to US interests, is that they had the temerity to gain power without first asking for US permission, or placing themselves under US tutelage.
OK, rant over. Next chore — extinguish that burning paper bag. Stamp, stamp, eeww, feck.
The warmongers won’t be happy until the entire world is a flaming bag of dog poo on the doorstep of the universe.
I’m feeling kind of hopeless at the moment. Plus, I ate too much strawberry jello.
I have a honey cornbread in the oven and a fire in the ‘place and it’s gently raining and I’m sipping a Laphroaig. Feeling pretty, oh, what did we used to call it? Oh yeah — mellow.
Ahem. If you can draw a direct line from October of ’93 to Summer of ’96, you have either given up all credibility or you have mainlined the kool aid. The US pulled out of Somalia. More than a decade of shit happened. The people were exhausted and impoverished. The only power that existed that could challenge the greed of the warlords was islam. Now, you all have probably noticed how disdainful of religion I am. But by all means, never underestimate it’s power. Especially to the most downtrodden, marginalized people. All they have to offer is their lives and their souls. And in many impoverished nations, that’s more than enough…
mikey
Mikey, you should really do more with your own blog. I think there are quite a few people who would be happy to come over there and hang around. It would be nice to discuss Doc and share cooking tips and, you know, just chill.
I know SFA about Somalia, so I have no idea how fanatical the population as a whole might be about islam… or how many other religions have a following there… yeah, that sounds a lot like SFA.
It occurs to me, anyway, that the Somalis could be quite lukewarm about religion, and still support an Islamic-Courts government, on the perfectly reasonable grounds that a bunch of puritanical religious loons are an improvement on a bunch of brutal corrupt warlords.
At this stage, any halfway-rational US administration would now be offering support to the new regime, on the theory that buying allegiance is cheaper than fighting for it… so instead they have already committed themselves to regime-change, and last I heard, US diplomats were pushing for an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia.
Hmm, cornbread and Laphroaig.
Shana commented on the thread downstream that without Gary to arouse our wrath, we’d be sitting around exchanging recipes. As if that was a bad thing.
Today’s Life Lesson:
Fresh bread and Laphroaig = Mellowness.
Too much strawberry jello = non-mellowness.
“Shana commented on the thread downstream that without Gary to arouse our wrath, we’d be sitting around exchanging recipes. As if that was a bad thing. ”
Herr Dok, it sounds like heaven right about now.
Actually, I feel a fuzzy warmth for Gary now. Even a slight mellowness for Jose. Ah, nostalgia’s rosy glow…
You don’t know what peace and prosperity are until you lose them.
Strawberry Jello Shots = Post Puking Mellowness…
mikey
Candy, thanks for that. It’s just lonely over there. I guess I haven’t had the patience or the skills to build what Brad and Gavin and Travis and Retardo already have. Maybe it’s worth another try…
mikey
Dok, what do you prescribe?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. They give you jello in the hospital when you have an upset tummy. Well, running to excess has ever been my besetting sin.
Well, Mikey, it might be indeed. No time like the present. It’s true a lot of people do post here, and it can be very fun. But sometimes I’ll be more in the mood for World O’ Crap, fewer posters but a really nice feeling of cameraderie. And I don’t like the huge blogs at all, where there will be about 400 posts on any given thread.
I’ve thought about creating a blog, but I seriously don’t have the time. Heck, I used to have a Live Journal account, and I haven’t even looked at the thing in over a year. The life of a corporate peon and single ‘rent.
This whole thing just breaks my heart. I’m going to go throw up, take a shower, and go to bed.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day…
Pizza and beer is my prescription. The good thing about making pizza is that any left-over beer from the night before can go into the pizza bread… “Left-over beer” — what a sad indictment of lameness.
But New Mexican chilli bread is a very good thing too.
Sorry, Dok, but now you’re going to have to share the New Mexican chili bread recipe, ’cause otherwise I’m gonna start winging it and that could be dangerous…
mikey
peeking up over the rim of the toilet bowl….
“Chili bread?”
No….nonononono…..
You guys go right ahead! I am going to bed, now!
G’nite!
Ah, nostalgia’s rosy glow…
Oh yes, I miss the old semi-automated Gary. But now the Gary franchise has been bought out, or been transfered to a new holder, and the current incarnation is not nearly as appealing.
’cause otherwise I’m gonna start winging it and that could be dangerous…
We certainly don’t want you CUI. Here are the ratios —
1 cup hot water, 1 cup milk.
2 tsp coarse salt, 2 tsp sugar.
5 cups flour
1/3 cup oil.
1/4 cup chopped green chillies.
This is for a focaccia bread, so half the oil goes in the dough with the other ingredients; then you poke cavities in the dough once it’s in the pans, dribble the rest of the oil into the holes, sprinkle with the salt.
This isn’t thread-jacking. This is bread-jacking.
I should add that chilli and beer do not, by themselves, constitute a balanced diet. Oh no. For balance, you also need coffee and black pudding.
Gary, I think you’re having a breakdown. Seriously, guy, go to the hospital and talk to some people, for your own sake.
I’ve been telling him that for months. I’m not sure if a hospital or a computer repair shop is the best venue, though.
I should add that chilli and beer do not, by themselves, constitute a balanced diet. Oh no. For balance, you also need coffee and black pudding.
And chocolate, mein good Doktor! Never forget the chocolate!
Candy, if you come back: The rule is clear fluids for 24 hours after. If jello doesn’t stay down, the old-fashioned choice was flat ginger ale, but these days you can buy stuff like Pedialyte that’s already balanced to restore your damaged electrolyte balance. Highly sugared or honeyed tea was a favorite of mine, but of course now we know that both caffeine and white sugar are deadly toxins (/snark). Once the Pedialyte or ginger ale or apple juice processes correctly, you can add plain boiled rice or saltine crackers or cream of wheat (nothing too organically high-fibre of course). After your lower intestine has something to work with again, yogurt will help restore the flora that’s been destroyed while you were busy with the whole reverse-peristalsis thing.
Anne really does caring so much better than, well, me. I’d be slammin you with a couple o’morphine syrettes, telling you you’re gonna be fine, fine, and hollerin “where’s the goddam dustoffs, goddam it”. Of course, that’s the point you mention casually that it’s really not that big a deal and probably they didn’t send helicopters and I nod wisely and pop green smoke, just to be safe, y’know?
mikey
jeez, all the barf talk.
What a lovely break. Thank you.
Mikey, in my secret identity, I am Cliff Clavin’s mom (/g). You ask for information, I will give you information. It’s an ADD thing.
Maybe you could use the old “Finding Forrester” trick to jump-start your blog? Link to a post from someone else that you admire, and use your mad commentin skillz as your post? I’m not the only one who thinks you should get more credit for your writing, and it’s easier to get credit when your name is at the top of the page.
May I just add my huzzahs to the idea of Mikey resurrecting his blog? Mikey, I really enjoy the stuff you write! I could get into jumping back and forth between S,N! snark and great discussions, recipe trading, general blabbling, etc. with like-minded folk.
Dok: for your New Mexican Chili Bread, what about a (oh dammit, what’s the word????) something to make it rise? Yeast? Baking powder? I presume yeast since it’s a focaccia, so, what? With 5c flour about 2t yeast? Or do you make this dough with beer, too? Mmmmm. That’d be good!! Maybe throw some cheddar in it or on it, too….
Yeast, yes indeed, lots of yeasty goodness. 2t of activated yeast. I didn’t want to specify actual amounts because the damn stuff seems to come as several different products, mixed with different kinds of activating agents.
And who is going to start a tradition of Sunday afternoon bread-blogging, if not you, Mikey?
Mikey, I just read this. Please, a blog for sensible liberal people who think progressive but act practical.And are finished with college thinking, swearing and joking.Altho , natch, jokes and chatting are de rigeur. For a fellow geezer (I think the female equivalent is crone, actually), please.