:-)
Poutine is made by covering a bowl/container of thick cut, crisp cooked french fries with cheese curds, and gravy.
Voila!
Enjoy!
Hint: Wait for the cheese to melt a bit.
Posted on 07/31/2005 1:19:25 PM PDT by KMB
For the past 20 years, there's been a discussion in political circles and the media about the "fault lines" in the Republican party over the hot-button social issues such as the death penalty, abortion, affirmative action and gay rights.
The presumption has always been that these issues would ultimately cause a rift between conservatives and moderates that would split the Republican coalition. The pundits and the MSM have been expecting and predicting this split for as long as I've been watching politics and they've been puzzled by the fact that it has never occurred.
I believe that the reason that it hasn't occurred is that the underlying assumptions are wrong. There are no "moderate" Republicans. I think Republicans are almost all conservative. Today, there are no Republicans left who are philosophically in line with Nelson Rockefeller, John Anderson, Lowell Weicker or Mark Hatfield. I know that this line of reasoning may be challenged by the Maine & Rhode Island Republican senators but the Republicans in those states (who vote Republican in presidential elections) are conservatives. The New England Republican Senators get elected by appealing to Democrats in overwhelmingly Democratic states.
There were approximately 62 million people who voted for GW Bush in 2004. I believe that probably 61.5 million of those people (1) support the death penalty (2) oppose affirmative action and (3) oppose gay marriage. I also believe that an equally high percentage of Bush voters (even those who are pro-choice) believe that the Roe v. Wade case was a hideous decision.
Pro-choice Republicans also are aware of the dirty little secret of the abortion debate -- which is that even if Roe v. Wade were overturned tomorrow, there would probably be no effect... There are probably no more than 7 - 9 states where abortion would actually be outlawed and there are currently few (or no) abortion doctors practicing in those states today anyway. Overall, the number of abortions occurring in the next ten years would only be affected by 1% or less if Roe v. Wade were reversed.
So this is, I believe, why the Republican coalition never cracked or splintered. It has confounded and infuriated the opposition but the Republican coalition really never had the fault lines that so many people thought it had.
However, I now think that one may be developing. The impending divisions in the Republican party won't be "moderate" vs. "conservative". It will be "evangelical conservative" vs. "non evangelical conservative". The issues that cause the breach won't be abortion, the death penalty, gay marriage or affirmative action. Instead the divisions will be caused over: (1) stem cell research, (2) evolution and (3) the Terri Schiavo case.
I think that 25 years from now, we'll all look back on the Terri Schiavo case as a cataclysmic event in American politics. There were tens of millions of people who looked at the pictures of Terri Schiavo and thought just one thing: "My god, if that ever happens to me, pull the plug, stop the feeding or do whatever it takes to finish me off."
At the time many Republican leaders spoke of the fact that this was a unique case but the tone of the debate both in and out of the media was that this was essentially a first step.
I remember that pro-Brady Bill and pro-Assault weapons ban politicians repeatedly assured the public that this wouldn't mean banning guns while activists and media pundits indicated that this was a first step towards doing so.
With the Terri Schiavo case, activists -- evangelicals --similarly didn't view this as a unique case but as a first step towards preventing feeding tube or life support removal in any case regardless of living wills or not.
This had an effect on non-evangelical Republicans or "secular Republicans" . . . By itself, I don't think that it would be enough to cause a breach but this isn't just one issue. The other issues that are occurring at the same time are an inexplicable renewed debate over evolution and the stem cell research debate.
With regard to the former, there's no polite or nice way to put it so I'll just be direct. People who believe in evolution think that people who don't believe in evolution are idiots -- pure and simple. The perception that an evolution believer has of a non-evolution believer is of a person saying, "Duh, my grandfather wasn't no ape."
Secular Republicans look at people who publicly discuss their doubts about evolution and who don't want it taught in public schools with utter disgust.
With regard to stem cell research, secular Republicans are excited at the prospects and supportive of practically any scientific research and they simmer at the thought of obstruction of research on religious grounds.
These three issues: evolution, Terri Schiavo and stem cell research are close to causing (or may have already caused) an irrepairable breach in the Republican coalition.
I'm a conservative. I believed in a 2nd war against in Iraq to remove the regime of Saddam Hussein as early as 1998. I also believe in making the '01 & '03 tax cuts permanent; drilling in anwar; that members of al Qaeda who are captured are illegal soldiers and not entitled to due process. I believe in progressive indexing of SS benefits, support the confirmation of John Roberts, think Antonin Scalia is the ideal justice and favor ballistic missile defense.
I also support the death penalty, oppose affirmative action, oppose gay marriage and think that the Roe v. Wade decision was a farce. I could go on but the point is made -- I'm a conservative....
But, I also accept the truth that the human species has a pre-history and I support stem cell research and I think that keeping Terri Schiavo's existance without life going was cruel and sadistic. That feeding tube should've never been inserted 14 years ago.
As a result of all of this, I now find myself in a position that I would have never dreamed of 5 or 10 years ago which is that I object to Hillary Clinton far, far less than I object to Tom Delay. Or Rick Santorum. Or Sam Brownback. Or Tom Tancredi.
Hopefully, Rudy Guiliani will be the nominee in '08 and make this all a moot point but if he isn't then I'm confronted with the possibility that I'll probably vote for Hillary Clinton despite the fact that she stands against so much that I believe in.
If there are others like me out there, and I think there are, then get ready for a 2nd Clinton Administration.
:-)
Poutine is made by covering a bowl/container of thick cut, crisp cooked french fries with cheese curds, and gravy.
Voila!
Enjoy!
Hint: Wait for the cheese to melt a bit.
How can I enjoy a red X?
Hoooo-ahhhhhhhh
:o]
Actually, it sounds like chili-cheese fries...which I love. Traitor taters with chili, cheese, sour cream and tomatoes...to DIE for! Especially after you've been dancing all night! ;o]
The voice input unit is perhaps the easiest part, although our technology in voice recognition is not up to Star Fleet standards. I would recommend a screen output which displays the machine perception of the given command, for confirmation.
It is of course the next step which will give us pause. What kind of machine will be given this command?
To my way of thinking, it would be an adaptation of printer technology. A picture in a magazine of a delicious hamburger may look good enough to eat, but it would taste of printer ink and paper. Suppose it were made of sugar and flour, and various condiment flavors, and protein materials? Shades of Willy Wonka's "lickable wallpaper!"
I realize we would have to move gradually into this, with simple foods starting the process.
The printer itself would have a multitude of lead-ins with sugar, water, flour, salt, and other very basic food ingredients. At the print head, as the ingredients were sent out from their individual orifices, they would be heated as required to complete the cooking process. This flash-heating would culminate in having a treat brought to the proper temperature, as well as properly cooked.
One could also use thermionic cooling to reduce the temperature for such things as ice-cream. One of the newest treats in ice cream is the production of it very quickly using liquid nitrogen as the cooling device.
In fact, it may be easier to make our "fast-food treats" in this way than better and more nutritious foods. Ice cream could well lead the way.
And coffee, of course. -- "Tea. Earl Grey, hot," may have to wait for a while.
I'm sorry gang, but I have to go to bed. My upstairs neighbor was playing games last night, and scared my cute little self so bad it took me two hours to breathe right again!
DANG!
Later!!
Later.
May your neighbors dreams be plagued with visions of MY WORLD...
If last night is any indication, I don't think it would bother them...
'Nite!
My post apocalyptic burned out shadow hulk of a world.. yes it would bother them.
It is dark and haunted, there are thinsg in the shadows, and eyes everywhere.
OK. So how do we get the flour to mix and rise in two seconds, in order to produce Croissants, rye bread, and bagels?
Hmmm.
The clue is in the tiny little spatters that you see when making pancakes.
A perfect miniature pancake, maybe big enough for a bee, and it cooks in a split second, because it is so small.
The controlled application of the right amount of heat, at exactly the right time, and you could produce a perfect item every time, after a lot of failures and fine tuning, of course.
Good night. :-)
Many printers already use ultrasonics in the print head. Most "rising" occurs as the result of carbon dioxide production.
It's possible we could use a form of that, or we may need to simulate it, or even more likely, a combination of the two. The holes in simulated swiss cheese, for example, would be "printed" in. It may be possible to make the holes for bread without requiring this, however. We could simply produce a tiny steam bubble in the wet flour, then zap it with a little more heat to brown it appropriately..
Good thinking!
The left would accuse us of wasting food.
We better not tell them.
I'm back.
And I've got to go. :O)
Work tomorrow.
G'nite everyone.
:-)
Good night, fanfan.
A Blackjack dealer is setting up his table and notices a blonde standing at a soda machine. she puts in a dollar, presses a button, takes the soda, puts in a dollar, presses a button, takes the soda. she does this for almost an hour when the dealer just can’t resist asking her what the h#$l she is doing.
the blonde replies,"Winning,DUH!"
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