That guy up there won the election. His opponent ceded victory when he crossed the victory mark, before all of the votes had been counted. Before all of the polls had even closed.

We certainly have grounds to cry foul. We could whinge about the widespread and documented voter fraud on your behalf by ACORN. We would be within our rights to point out the illegal foreign donations to your campaign. But we won’t. We won’t claim sour grapes. Your campaign, your candidate, defeated ours. In a country full of Democratic victories, the only loser who is whining for a recount is a Democrat: Al Franken just doesn’t know how to lose a fair fight with dignity.

We’re frankly satisfied that a few decades after Brown vs. Board of Education the United States has proved that it can elect a mixed-race Afro-Caucasian man to the presidency. We might wish that he wasn’t a radical revolutionary Marxist whose experience is basically putting up flyers in Chicago, but we’re still happy the precedent has been set. The race hustlers like Jackson and Sharpton are terrified that black people might realize that they have potential to be something besides a victim who needs to be defended, but we don’t really care. Racial equality was always a true ideal for us, not a shameful means to a shakedown.

So congratulations. You have the presidency. When you lost in 2000 and 2004, I didn’t hear any cries for unity. How many Democrats called for the party to get behind president Bush and support him? Likewise, you’re welcome to shove your “let’s all support Barack and work together” up your ass. You won the election, but there won’t be a honeymoon. When you lost in 2000 and 2004, it was all a scam, some shadowy RNC cabal of stonecutters who rigged election machines and disenfranchised people. You couldn’t admit that you’d been beaten fairly. We’re willing to admit just that. You have the presidency and Congress, run with it. I’d be thrilled if I got the cotton-candy farting unicorn Obama promised everyone.

One thing, though. Remember this example. When the grown-ups come back in 2012 to clean up your mess, remember how to admit defeat with dignity.

Minestrone has been canned, but two of the four pint jars didn’t seal (I couldn’t find the 10 pound canner weight and used the 15 pound instead, might be related). Meh. They’re still good for about a week in the refrigerator. Mostly a proof of concept, so I can have e.g. homemade matzo ball soup or possibly gumbo without having to make enough to eat it for a week. Need more canning jars, the zombiepocalypse is fast approaching.

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said the robber took $60 from Todd, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim’s car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter “B” into her face, Richard said.

UPDATE: Vindication
I’m not going to come out and say that she’s lying. Every word of it may very well be true, and if that’s the case, I would like to preemptively apologize for questioning a victim of a violent attack. Still, I can’t deny that some of it just doesn’t add up:

• She was hit in the face and her orbit is discolored. Why is it black, with no blue or red? Why is there no swelling?
• The ‘B’ looks like it was done with a pencil eraser. If the mugger were posessed with enough rage to turn back and disfigure his victim, why didn’t he even break the skin?
• The ‘B’ is backwards, which suggests that it was done in a mirror. It could be explained by her attacker being behind her and cutting upside-down.
• She refused medical attention after the attack. That’s her right. If someone had just cut my face with a knife I’d be shooting up with tetanus vaccine in every possible vein. On the other hand, if I’d staged an attack, I’d want to keep doctors away.

Either way, she deserves sympathy because the only two possibilities are that she is the victim of a violent crime or that she has serious emotional issues (or both). Still, this smells like another Tawana Brawley to me.

You know, we should be holding these candidates accountable for what they say during this campaign and hope that in these final days they do try to maintain a little dignity. But we’ve also got to check ourselves. We’ve got a responsibility, too, to not get over-heated. What we say matters, too.

I’m expecting CNN to issue a retraction any day now.

I’ve been wearing it all week, though I haven’t tested it in any significant rain yet. Specifically, it’s a shell, not a jacket - it has no insulation. It’s got taped seams and a roll-up hood in the collar, and it folds up an zips into its own back pocket. It’s also apparently a girl jacket, because the zipper is on the left side. One complaint is that it doesn’t breathe very effectively, with elastic and thumb-loops at the wrists and an elastic bottom (though that keeps it from riding up), but I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a lightweight rain/wind shell. It’s light, effective, and the price is reasonable.

Then there are gloves. Last winter I wore Carter’s old motorcycle gloves, which are nice to have when you totally eat shit on ice but not particularly useful otherwise.

I ordered the Chiba Bio X Cell gloves in medium (based on the measurement guide), but because of eight years of the Bush Administration’s failed policies the medium was too small so I’ll have to send them back for large. I’m still looking for rain pants; none of the ones I’ve seen look particularly convenient to don and remove.

Someone over in DLS grows organic produce for her kids, and brings in the excess. So far I’ve acquired tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, cabbage, and last week, tomatillos. I’d never dealt with tomatillos before, so I threw together a green salsa based on several recipes. It came out well.

• about 8 tomatillos with the goofy skin removed
• 1 medium white onion
• 1 medium bell pepper
• 3 small chilis - serrano, anaheim, or whatever you have (I only had red)
• 2 cloves garlic
• cilantro leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp white, red, or cider vinegar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp green jalapeño Tabasco
• 1 tbsp orange or lime juice (you choose sour or sweet)

Pull the stems off the tomatillos and drop them in boiling water for 20 seconds, then strain them out and dump them into ice water. Toss them in a food processor with the oil, vinegar, juice, cilantro, salt, Tabasco, garlic and chilis (everything but the onion and bell pepper). Pulse the food processor for five 1-second pulses. Quarter the pepper and onion and add them to the processor; pulse the whole thing for another five 1-second pulses or until it looks like the right consistency. It should sit covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to let the flavors blend and mature, overnight is better. You can play with the various ingredients to tweak the flavor and heat, substituting lime for orange juice or cider for white vinegar, for example. You can also vary the consistency, or add ingredients like avocado to make it creamier. This recipe worked well for turkey soft tacos.

“the good intentions of these two decent men [Paulson and Bernanke] cannot escape the reality that the Bush administration’s willful [lack?] of oversight and zealous embrace of big business is responsible for the crisis we now face.” - Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader

orly?

Barney Frank: In 2003, rejected Bush administration and Republican attempt to create an oversight agency within the Treasury Department to supervise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “These two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Franklin Raines: Took an “early retirement” from his position as CEO of Fannie Mae while the SEC investigated “accounting irregularities”. Accused by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight of “abetting widespread accounting errors”, which included the shifting of losses so senior executives, such as himself, could earn large bonuses. Received loans below market rates from Countrywide Financial, over $3 million while acting as CEO of Fannie Mae. Currently serving as a chief economic advisor for the Barack Obama presidential campaign.

But yeah, keep blaming things on the lame duck who’s going to be collecting unemployment in four months, Harry. Way easier than actually getting anything done.