Stay the Course

Just watching 'Shootout: Hunt for bin Laden'. Facinating stuff. Especially the part where some of our soldiers were pinned down by four enemy machine gun positions and no air support was available because it was "refueling or in Iraq". The entire unit was killed.

Okay, not really. But air support never arrived. Did I mention something about people hunting for Bin Laden? Yeah.

Madden Prediction: Redskins 45, Colts 25

After the Colts take an early lead (17-0), Brunell finds Santana Moss for a looong touchdown and spurs the Redskin offense to 35 unanswered points before a uncharacteristic long Manning completion and 2-pt conversion. Look to see Clinton Portis involved in the second quarter working out of the I to open up the playbook. An extra field goal and a defensive run-back of a Manning interception capped off an upset win for the upstart 'Skins.

Just finished watching The Bourne Supremacy (turns out it's not a sequel to Birth of a Nation). My only thoughts on this are that either this movie has the most unrealistic car chase scene ever, or I need to get me one of those Russian taxi cabs.

I've been watching the Bears/Cards game. The inevitable has just happened.

Ok, so here we go, Jim Webb v. George Allen brought to you by the League of Women Voters. And they actually have a credit sequence type thing. Neat.

Russ Mitchell moderating . . .

Mentions how many stations that the debate is televised on. Doesn't mention that NBC is showing Deal or No Deal.

And we're off with the opening statements . . .

-George Allen starts off hitting the expected points: John Warner, low taxes, efficient government and the what not.
-Allen says Webb stands with Hillary Clinton and the forces of darkness (I stepped away and missed a lot of it, but it's my best guess).
-Webb's statement: There's only one person up here who's raised taxes and that's George Allen. Damn.
-What's this? Jim Webb talking about social inequality? If he's not careful someone's going to think he's a Democrat.
-Webb's statement is basically about the poor and health care. Nothing on Iraq. That's a change of pace.

Questions . . .
-To Allen, are we losing the war in Iraq? Allen talks about manical terrorists and the what not. Makes the effort to link himself to John Warner.
-Webb's response: Links himself to John Warner and Jim Baker. Speaks against propagandistic statements.
-For anyone who doesn't live in Virginia, John Warner is essentially Forrest Gump. Everyone want's to be on Forest Gump's side.
-Question to Webb: What would you different in Iraq. John Kerry, take notes. The correct answer isn't going to be nothing different. Webb basically says that we should make sure to let the Iraqis know that we don't want to be there permanently.
-Allen says that American is not occupying Iraq, but liberating them.

And we're on to Macaca . . .
-Question to Allen: are you a racist? Allen points to his record as governor. May not want to go that direction George. Remember that whole noose thing? Oh, and then the whole 'free at last' thing, that was in poor taste. But keep moving . . .
-And Allen goes on to say that he has several black friends.
-Webb takes a pass on labelling Allen a racist, and goes on to say he also has many black friends.
-Allen now has no recollection of using racial slurs 20 years ago. Then he goes on to say he has several hispanic friends as well.

Next topic: Misogyny (that's you Jim).
-Webb says he loves the women. In fact some of his best friends are dames.
-Allen is proud of his record on women. He's become quite the egalatarian recently.
-Question to Webb: what do you think about women in combat. Webb doesn't really answer the question, but says the chicks are alright.

Questions from the panelists:

-To George Allen: A question about the secrecy prevalent in the government. Allen wants more information online. Allen wants to put information about spending and appropriations bills on the Internet, and he attacks Ted Stevens bridge to nowhere. Holy crap, that's the most consecutive points with which I've ever agreed with George Allen. Not sure he answered the question though.
-Webb responds that the secrecy is due to the weakness of the Democrats. Can't really argue with that.

-To Webb: Gay marriage ban. Yea or nay. Webb isn't for marriage for gays but he wants unmarried men and women to live in sin.
-Allen puts forward the proposition that children of gay parents will have no manners. Probably will throw around racial slurs

-Next question is about immigration. Allen brings up his mother who may or may not be an immigrant. Also, he is against the guest worker program.
-Not to ignore Webb's response, but his head doesn't give the appearance of being attached to his shoulders in a traditional sense.

Hey! Someone's bringing up the deficit and debt . . .

-Webb: Debt makes us insecure, especially when borrowing from China. Wow, Webb says that China is potentially our greatest adversary. Interesting. Webb goes on to talk about pay as you go policy.
-Allen: Anti-China. Anti-new spending. Etc.

We're going to owe so much money . . .

Next question: What about the bio-diesel?

-Allen touts his newfound credentials as a supporter of alternative energy. Mentions celluosic matter in much the same way as our president would.
-Webb brings up the fact that George Allen is a new convert to the whole no blood for oil ideology. And then mentions that some of his best friends are environmentalists.


Affirmative action . . .

-Webb sticks by his point that blacks are the only ethnic group that have been discriminated against for generations. Somewhere a Cherokee shrugs.
-Allen brings up the native american thing. And he's suddenly become pro-affirmative action? When did that happen?

Lightning round! Candidates get to ask each other questions:

-Allen asks a long question about why Webb hates tax cuts. Almost gets into an argument when the moderator cuts him off. Webb answers that the tax cuts are unfair to the poor and what not.
-And now we're getting contentious. Can't really describe this, but it's quite an arguement. Read the transcript on this one. [Ed. seriously, this was the highlight of the debate.]

-Webb to Allen: How can you vote to raise your own salary but not the minimum wage.
-Allen answers that he has voted for minimum wage and once even voted against a Senate raise.
-Allen goes on to say that Hillary, Ted, and the gang of red stopped the minimum raise increase.
-And somehow we've gotten to the estate/death tax.
-Allen is hitting hard on this point that the Bush tax cuts benefited 3 million people in Virginia. He may not be aware that Virginia has 8 million residents.

-Allen to Webb: Sept 11. Do you hate America? Actually it's a question about warrantless wiretaps and whether Webb stands with George Bush or that pinko Arlen Specter (is Arlen even a man's name?).
-Webb basically says that congress should have oversite and something odd about Colin Powell.
-Heh, Allen's pretty smart. Asks two complicated questions. Webb has time to answer the first, Allen calls him a coward for not anwsering the second.

-Webb to Allen: And Webb brings plays his own trick card. He asks George Allen an obscure geography question. I won't even try to spell what he said. That's great. Granted, it does show Allen to be a little bit on the light side in foreign policy, but no one understood a word he said.

Next topic: Mark Foley
-Webb: Kind of rambles a bit and says that he hasn't really followed the issue.
-Allen: Foley is terrible, but Hastert is ok.


Closing statements . . .

-Allen: Susan and I thank you for letting us serve you. Re-elect me and I'll be the best darn senator ever. Tax cuts. No blood for oil. Tax cuts. Experience. No tax increases. Warrantless wiretaps, hooray. Habeus corpus, boo. John Warner likes me. Your future is on the line.

Webb: John Warner likes me too. Allen is absurd. This is a referendum on Bush. Come back to us Democrats, please. Republicans have lost their way. Come home Bill Bailey. Speak for the powerless, not the lobbiests. Bizarre, he actually sounds like a Democrat. Somewhere Harris Miller shrugs.


And that's the show. I think CBS should pick this up as a mid-season replacement. Eventually, each candidate might realize that the other isn't so bad after all. Then they could get all of their black, latino, and women friends together and have a party.

No Prison Break tonight (and I'm pretty sure I'm done blogging that one anyway), but we do have the U.S. Senate debate between George Allen and James Webb. This one should be a little more of a free-for-all than the Meet the Press interview, so it should be entertaining, if not enlightening. I expect punches will be thrown. More soon . . .

How could I not know this about Dolph Lundgren's Red Scorpion?

Fire and Brimstone: Poor Decisions by NBC, CBS

Okay, there are only a few shows I've really gotten into before the MLB break and they are likely to be cancelled. Boo, I say.

The first and likely the best is 'Kidnapped' on NBC which features a bit of Jack Bauer-brand vigilante justice and Prison Break-style (a.k.a. good) writing. Problems: NBC put it after 'The Biggest Loser' which, granted, is like a crapper version of American Idol-before-24 but it's going against the Lost-following and critcally acclaimed 'The Nine'. What's more troubling is that CSI:NY is winning the hour with a 10.2/17 (10.2 rating, 17 share. That's 10.2% of households with a TV for the rating and 17% of all televisions turned on.)

Example: Lost averaged 18.8 million viewers and a 11.1/17. Assume 170 million households in the US, 99% of which have a TV. (In economics, the number to remember was 150 million households but we've grown since the last census I guess.)

Anyway, one ratings point would be little under 1.7 million viewers for simplicity's sake.

My new favorite show, NBC's Kidnapped enjoyed a whopping 6.4 million viewers last week which has encouraged a shift to the graveyard that is Saturday night programming. Likewise, CBS' Smith has been unceremoniously put on hiatus, opting instead to show reruns of CSI:Miami (the one with the club scene) or whatever. Unbelievably, the teenage superhero drama 'Heroes' is doing very well and has been picked up for the entire season.

Why the problems with Kidnapped? Jeremy Sisto makes Keifer Sutherland look like an ACLU lawyer in a world in which asymmetric violence against seedy criminals seems to be a pretty good recipe. Don't know, really. FOX has a not-so-great show Vanished which is another kidnapping plot and NBC ran identical promos for the show. I can imagine severe confusion and viewer fatigue since there are so many similar shows and most people tend to have lives outside of television. I have no such problem. In any case, Kidnapped rocks. Check it out, you haven't missed anything. Well, a few things but as someone who just started watching Lost, it's likely not all that important.

Apparently next week Belick comes back. I stand by my Charles Dickens meets It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World analogy.

Incidentally, some one else caught on to the Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World comparison. Can't remember where right off, probably easy enought to find.

Also, europeangoldfinch.net has been updated with more posts. More silly that interesting though . . .

They may want to redo the positioning on those ant-eaters in the triamenic commercial . . .

-The rat doesn't rat after all. Admirable, but pretty dumb, I guess.
-Other things that are dumb are his girlfriend.
-The walls on that house appear to actually conduct sound.
-Mahone plays fast and loose with the law. I'm telling you, there's definitely going to be a spin off in the works.
-Oh, the secret service guy is going to be offed. No, the daughter. Well, eventually it'll be the secret service guy.
-Doesn't anyone search her mail.
-I guess you're just easier to off when you're a known heroin addict.
-Hmmm, Sucre holding them at gun point? That's a completely unlikely plot twist.
-And Mahone shoots the kid. I'm not sure I'm buying this. I think they brought in the replacement writers who may not have seen these characters before.

Also, am I remembering this wrong somehow? The kid wasn't with them when they found the house, was he? It's possible I've forgotten though.

-I was about to say that Haywire is looking a little less crazy this time . . .
-The cop is quite the interrogator.
-Money . . .
-Cons are leaving and c-note lets them all in on the fact he sees money?
-Rat wearing a wire.
-Heh . . . not sure what to say about Haywire at this point.
-I don't think it matters whether the rat comes clean or not. I'm pretty sure the sweating is suspicious enough.
-Why did he ring the door bell?

-The old I need my pills trick.
-I guess T-bag does have a decent excuse for not digging.
-Stupid kid, getting released. Not sure what Lincoln thinks he's going to do.
-I swear, if Mahone finds out where they're digging from Kathy Bates silo painting . . .
-Haywire's shop lifting method may not be subtle, but it appears to be working.
-Aha, no foul play and he's not suicidal. My accident theory is taking hold.
-Hmm, that's actually a pretty good deal they're offering Tweener. Much better than becoming a rat in exchange for fries and a shake.
-Although apparently they threw in a Big K cola to seal the deal.
-Do you think the cops ever go for the "send in the escaped con" scheme? I doubt it.

And the curry is excellent . . .

-Not sure about the timing here, but I'm pretty sure that between the time Sara met the secret service guy at the grocery store, Mahone flew from Chicago to Salt Lake City and apprehended Tweener.
-Hat's over the wall?
-You have my word. No one will hurt you. T-bag, you seem to have take an interest in them. Why don't you stay in here to make sure they're comfortable.
-Lincoln: "Since when did we become kidnappers? That ain't right." Clearly, he's forgotten about that hit he was planning on carrying out.
-Mahone starts the interrogation.
-Are you Catholic? Methodist? Ummm, Baptist? You're not Unitarian are you?
-Heh, Mahone tells you a secret, you tell Mahone your secret. You've got empathy, right? I'm pretty sure that they're going to make a spin off for Mahone.
-Seriously, he's a junky cop with a past. It's what I assume House must be like, but with more killing.
-I wonder if this type of questioning has ever worked.
-The secret service is going to off Lincoln's son. I'm not adverse to believing in government conspiracy, but the secret service? In betwee checking for xeroxed ten dollar bills, is there really time to go to these extremes?
-Reynolds Door and Glass makes french doors so tough, they'll hold this grown man.
-I actually think it was an accident.

Ok, so where were we? Right, porn movie gone bad. Jeannette orders the convicts out, and a cop (her daughter as it turns out) is coming home.

-And the whole cop coming home subplot is done, I guess.
-Mahone apparently was following the police scanner to track any missing digging implements.
-Hmmm, I bet the rat doesn't rat this time. At least not at first.

Dinner and a Prison Break . . .

Prison Break's coming up. I guess I'll try to liveblog it again. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do this every week though. It's nowhere near as entertaining to do as 24 (seriously, Jack cut off a witness's heads so that he could infiltrate a gang). In the meantime, tonight's official Live Blogging TV dinner is Red Shrimp Curry. To make this, you'll need . . .

• 1 pound of shrimp (peeled and de-veined).


• Lots of veggies. I used a couple of bags of random frozen veggies that I had in my freezer (thawed, of course). Use your own judgement here.


• 1 cup of basmati rice


• 2 cups of water


• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped very coarsely


• 1 small onion, chopped regular like


• A little white wine doesn't hurt


• Olive oil (as much as it takes)


• 1 can of red curry


• 1 can of coconut milk

1. Combine water + rice + olive oil + high heat to bring it all to a boil (preferably in some sort of sauce pan or other cooking receptical). Move it to another burner and set it to simmer.
2. In a large stir-fry pan (high sides), heat the olive oil, and add the garlic.
3. Once the garlic is slightly browned, add the onion.
4. Add the shrimp and saute it until it's at the minimum doneness at which you'd consider eating it. Feel free to add the white wine here.
5. Remove the shrimp and set aside.
6. Add the veggies into the pan and cook until everything in the pan is generally rather warm.
7. Add the curry and mix around a bit.
8. Gradually add the coconut milk while stirring. Let the milk thicken or condense (or whatever) before adding more.
9. Once you're satisfied that you have a decent looking curry, add back in the shrimp and cook on medium low for a little bit.
10. Your rice should be done by now, so go ahead and stir it in.

Grab a bowl and a beer and you're ready to watch Prison Break . . .