Daily Cup of Jo

I’d say the news is all over the place this week, but it’s really not.  All things considered, the sky did not fall as some expected.  Arizona is still messed up, but I optimistically believe Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling will stand and immigrants will not fear being deported as soon as they venture out their front door looking for a better life.

Bolton at the 11^th hour issued a temporary injunction to prevent the most egregious aspects of SB 1070 from being implemented.  Among them, legal Arizona residents will not be accused of a state crime for failing to carry their “papers” with them at all times.  Protesters from both sides of the debate were out in force Thursday, when the law went into effect.  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer will appeal Bolton’s ruling.

Again, it’s good news from the Gulf but it’s good news that’s mysteriously hard to find, like the oil slicks once ghoulishly fouling the waters off Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.  Microbes or bacteria or something equally tiny are assumed to be eating up the oil, which is a pleasant turn of events for bigger creatures who make their home there.  Brit Tony Hayward (Michael Sheen) is out and American Bob Dudley is in and wow is he dull.  He just might kill the whole Deepwater Horizon movie project.

Admit it.  You’d never heard of WikiLeaks until this past week when they published close to ninety-thousand documents pertaining to secret information from the Afghan war over the past six years.  It’s a pretty interesting site if you have hours and hours of free time to look over their troves of classified info.  Frightening about the Afghanistan leak is that few seem concerned with what might result from the bombshell.  Apparently, the “secret” info wasn’t the best kept and nothing new was exposed, including the realization that our relationship with Pakistan is a damned-if-we-do-damned-if-we-don’t one.  Under suspicion for giving the documents to WikiLeaks?  Bradley E. Manning, a rosy-cheeked 22-year-old soldier who allegedly thought he was doing the right thing.  When it comes to Afghanistan, it looks as if no one is doing the right thing.

Charles Rangel, the Democratic congressman from New York, will be facing trial for ethics violations.  There’s nothing sexy about the charges against him.  Rangel is accused of not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in income/assets and failing to pay taxes on his rental home in the Dominican Republic.  While this may all end in his resignation from the House after 40 years, Dems and the GOP are being suspiciously quiet about the matter.  Let’s just hope it’s because they have more important fish to fry, rather than a situation of “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Chelsea Clinton is getting married tomorrow!  Obama wasn’t invited and neither was I.  The nuptials will take place in Rhinebeck, New York and her soon-to-be-husband is Marc Mezvinsky, a Goldman Sachs guy.  They’re registered at Target.

Ellen DeGeneres has decided to quit “American Idol” and that’s okay.  I love her, but I don’t think the show really fit into what makes her Ellen.  Rumored replacements are Jennifer Lopez (good) and Steven Tyler (bad).  I just couldn’t imagine having to look at Tyler’s face and mouth week after week.

Cute news out of Georgia.  A zebra and a donkey walk into a bar.  Months later, a zedonk is born.  Yeah, that’s right, zedonk.  Striped legs, killer ass.  Bun Bun wants one for her birthday.

Zac Efron is a dreamy dreamboat.  He’s also turned into a nicely understated actor with the potential for a very long career.  His “Charlie St. Cloud” opens today and in it, he doesn’t play basketball!  He can, however, throw a mean sinker which he promises to do with his younger brother every night at sunset until he leaves for college.  Plans change in horrible ways involving a drunk driver and Charlie never makes it to Stanford.  He sees dead people, namely his younger brother, but eventually learns how to move on through the love a good woman and wise words from the paramedic who saved Charlie’s life.  It’s a sentimental movie, not trying to be more than it is.  It’s unfussy, somewhat ethereal.  Other than an odd dental situation regarding the leading lady, I liked this movie and I have a big crush on Efron.

Moscow is having a freaky hot heat wave that makes deniers of global warming sound downright stupid.  Sure, odd weather patterns have happened over the past forty years, but none so often as the past ten.  Honestly, we have got to pay attention.  No more aerosol sunscreen in this family.

I’m gone.

The limes were not from Key West.  I was in Newport Beach, California last night wondering what to offer all of you.  I was uninspired, which is sometimes the case when you’ve been entertaining your children all day.  (Watch kids, I can make fart sounds with my underarms!)

I was staying for a night at my sister’s gorgeous beach house, meaning not in my own home with my own “stuff”, and really didn’t want to undertake anything too elaborate.  Hmmmmmm.  Oh look, there’s a “beach house” recipe book on the counter.  Wonder what’s in there?  Shrimp salad, okay.  Lobster bisque, got it.  Key lime pie.  Yes!  I’ve always wanted to make one and never got around to it.  I love the stuff.  Tangy, custardy, and that graham cracker crust.  Yum.  How hard could it be?

Had I known Key lime pie was so easy, especially if your sister happens to have on hand all of the ingredients in the cupboard except for some unsalted butter, heck, I would’ve been making this for years.

On Balboa Island, you can send your kids to the liquor store without wondering whether or not they’ll return safely, so I gave them some money.  “Come back with unsalted butter.”  And they did.  From there, we organized and then looked for a pie tin.  Okay, no pie tin.  Let’s improvise and make it in an All-Clad sauté dish.  Works just fine.

After our masterpiece was finished, the girls and I were proud.  So what if the basic Key lime pie recipe is the same wherever you look?  When’s the last time you made one?

The Beach House Cookbook’s Key Lime Pie

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

6 T. unsalted butter, melted

¼ c. sugar

½ c. fresh lime juice (I used four limes to get this)

1 can sweetened, condensed milk

2 large egg whites, beaten within an inch of their life or when stiff peaks form

Grated lime peel for garnish

Whipped cream (we bought ours, okay?!)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Lightly butter a pie tin (or whatever’s handy).  Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter.  Press firmly into the pie tin and bake for ten minutes.  LET COOL COMPLETELY before filling with the custard: mix lime juice and condensed milk.  Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl and fold into the lime/milk combo.  Pour into the graham cracker crust and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Before serving, sprinkle some grated lime peel over the top (my idea) and add decorative whipped cream around the edges.

Warning: it’s hard to stop eating once you’ve started.  Has a lot to do with that graham cracker crust.  Enjoy.  And sis, I’ll replace the can of condensed milk next time I see you.

Alliteration is awesome!  It is!  I’ve got the Wednesday whens!

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.

When is the next full moon?  (Tuesday, August 24^th, 5:05pm.)

Goldie: When am I gonna get a phone? Me: When you need one.

When was the last time you danced until midnight?

When was the last time you danced?

When you’re strange, faces come out of the rain…

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.  (In other words, don’t act like a big, fat, ugly American.)

When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.  – Oscar Wilde

When will the next big one hit?  (No one knows.)

When will I stop getting pimples and why was I ever told they’d go away when I got older?  (I thought older meant twenty-seven.)

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are.

Goldie: When am I gonna get a phone?  Me: I told you.  When you need one.

When is the twelfth of never?

When pigs fly, I’ll embrace the right.

When hell freezes over, I’ll see another movie based on a book by Nicholas Sparks.

When am I ever going to feel like a grown-up?

When all is said and done…

When did it become okay to text while having dinner with someone?

Goldie: When am I gonna get a phone? Me: Stop bothering me.

When will my Netflix movies get here?  Oh look.  They’re here.

When you’re through changing, you’re through.  – Bruce Barton

When is even a little, too much?

When is too much not enough?

When you’re sad and low, listen to David Sedaris.

When will the summer in Southern California be Africa hot?

When in doubt, use duct tape.

When you’re out of toilet paper, and then paper towels, tissues and napkins, coffee filters will do.

When does Afghanistan formally become not worth the price?

When does Dick Cheney go to jail for Iraq?

Goldie: When am I gonna get a phone?  Me: Never.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…

When the going gets tough, most of us take to our couches for a nap.

When life gives you lemons, make lemon bars.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

When you lose, do not lose the lesson.  – Dalai Lama

When all seems lost, keep looking.

When is it time to move on?  When it’s time to move on.

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”  – Erma Bombeck

When are you going to tell all your friends about DailyCupofJo.com?

Kenya was decolonized in the early 1960s.  Visiting there in 1987, I could see vestiges of British rule but recognize that this was clearly a country run by Africans – and why not?  This was Africa.  But I was a white girl from New York City, and while I’d had a black roommate (who became a good friend) and been given ample opportunity in the urban sprawl of the tri-state area to feel integration, the truth was I felt more comfortable among a group of white people than any other crowd.  In ’87, when I piled into a matatu in the rural village of Voi where my friend was doing work for the Peace Corps, one of only two white people among twelve speaking Swahili to one another, for the first time in my life I felt how awkward it was to represent the minority.  That evening, after reaching the sprawling ranch of a white farmer, I felt strangely at ease speaking MY language with MY people.  Am I a racist?  Of course not.

In San Diego this weekend, the largest annual gathering of nerds descended upon Comic-Con.  Once simply a convention for comic book lovers, it now includes movie studios hawking their wares and any other media outlet even tangentially connected with super heroes, science fiction or animation.  I was there, free loading on my husband’s business trip and able to observe the crowd.  There wasn’t a chiseled hunk nor a blonde cheerleader sort among them.  No, these were happy, self-admitted pocket protector types, standing in line to be the first to see a clip from “Tron” or listen to a panel and bathe in the cool light of Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver and Robert Downey Jr.   The convention sells out in about five seconds because it’s one giant opportunity for one oddball to be among many.  Why?  Because they’re more comfortable around their own kind.  Is that wrong?  Of course it isn’t.

What happened last week regarding Shirley Sherrod and what is imminent (Thursday) in Arizona with SB 1070, is wrong.  It is racism.  Andrew Breitbart will tell you that he was simply responding to the NAACP’s accusation that the Tea Party movement tolerates racists.  So he dug deep inside his nasty soul to portray a black woman, speaking at an NAACP function, as a racist herself.  By now, we all know, Sherrod was actually illuminating her growth as a human being by telling a story of how she was able to rise above race and see a man who was in need rather than a man who was white.  Did Sherrod then suddenly begin to hang with honkies?  Probably not.  I don’t know.  Integration isn’t the point.  Tolerance and openness is.

In Arizona, a majority of voters support the coming law that requires police, during the course of lawful contact, to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect may be in the country illegally.  Many of these voters are frustrated over the tax revenue those crossing the border fail to provide.  Others are concerned that too many jobs are being lost to illegal Latinos who will work for less.  Both of these are valid concerns.  But a percentage of the Arizona economy, like it or not, relies on just this group as consumers and laborers.  Still other Arizonans claim, or have been brainwashed to believe, that with Latinos comes crime.  Not only do the facts not support this, but police believe SB 1070 will drive an immigrant population underground whom they rely upon for information regarding drug trafficking, corruption and other felonious acts.

Cutting to the chase, this law will only be enforced by first observing the color of a person’s skin.  After some type of infraction, even one simply perceived, if the individual has dark skin, hair and eyes, their citizenship will be questioned.  If their last name ends in Z, they better have papers.  I’m not being hysterical.  It’s not my style.  But SB 1070 involves not “attrition through enforcement” but attrition through racism.  There are thousands upon thousands of legal Latinos living in Arizona.  Many are citizens, born in the U.S., second generation Americans like me.  And yet thousands upon thousands of Irish illegal immigrants live and work in this country and fear little.  Why?  Because they’re white and speak English (albeit with a heavy brogue).  Tommy O’Callaghan in New York has no more right to be here than Jose Sanchez in Arizona, but Tommy’s feeling good and Jose is not.  It’s racism.

I mention my time in Africa in ’87 and at Comic-Con this past weekend to suggest that being more comfortable around one’s own breed has no prejudicial aspect to it.  The impulse is human, even animalistic.  Familiarity may indeed breed contempt, but is also provides a sense of “okay-ness”.  I know these people, they know me, I feel okay.  But it’s not a feeling achieved at the expense of another’s exclusion.  When I arrived at the Kenyan plantation owned by the white man, my stress level went down, not because I was happy to be away from the black villagers in the matatu, but because I was more comfortable to be with my own kind.  Honestly, the almost two-hundred thousand who attended Comic-Con appeared to be the happiest people on the planet.  Not because all the really cool people were somewhere else, but because the attendees all had a common interest, one they felt passionate about, one that defined many of them, one that made them feel comfortable.

Shirley Sherrod wasn’t denying her initial prejudicial sentiments.  They were rooted in experience.  But she realized that just because she was more comfortable helping out the black farmers, it could not come at the expense of the white farmer.  She looked beyond race.  Andrew Breitbart and Fox News looked right into the kettle of racism and tried to stir it into a delicious stew.  Shame on everyone (Tom Vilsack, the White House, the NAACP) for adding salt before tasting.

In Arizona, a lot of white people are fed up.  They’re more comfortable being with each other than they are being with Latinos, many whom they believe to be in the country illegally (many are).  A bunch of them assumed things would be better if they could just do something and so SB 1070 was born.  But Arizona, in coming up with its own law regarding a federal matter, infringes on the most basic concept in our federal judicial system: a man is innocent until proven guilty.  Mistakenly arresting and detaining just one legal U.S. citizen of Latin descent in the name of attrition through enforcement is not worth correctly deporting hundreds of others.  It just isn’t.

My apologies to Arizona friends who think SB 1070 should not be law.  And to those I call nerds from Comic-Con, I’ve been given permission by friends who attend every year.  I love nerds.  And to my black friends, I know you get it.  It’s just me, getting comfortable.

Facebook topped 500 million users this past week.  Twelve-year-old founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to shoot for the stars and get that number to a billion by the end of next week.  Maybe he said next year, I can’t remember.  Are you a friend?  Will you be mine?

Agricultural Department employee Shirley Sherrod was caught saying some pretty racist stuff at a NAACP banquet and got herself fired.  Oh wait.  No, no.  That’s not right.  Actually, she was sharing an enlightened moment about looking beyond race in service to others.  Woops.  Guess some people shouldn’t jump to conclusions, especially when it’s a conclusion reached by a conservative website and then jumped upon by Fox News.  What the hell?!  What is wrong with these people?  Fox News!  Might’ve been a good idea to delve further into the video from which Sherrod’s “racist” comments were taken.  Duh.

President Obama signed into law on Wednesday the sweeping financial reform bill.  Now begins the search for the right person to head the consumer watchdog agency included within.  Harvard law professor and head of the congressional oversight panel for TARP, Elizabeth Warren, appears to be a favorite.  Business leaders are wary however.  They’re concerned about Warren’s “consumer activism” and “lack of bureaucratic experience”.  I’m sorry, but aren’t those the exact qualities we should be looking at for the position?

How come as soon as the news in the Gulf turns encouraging, the story gets bumped off the front page?  Honestly.  That cap on the well seems to be doing its thing and there were entire days this past week when no additional oil was being spilled into the waters.  Officials have even decided to keep the cap in place despite some impending inclement weather.  Of course everything leading up to this point has been catastrophic, and the wells being built to stop the leak permanently aren’t finished yet, but doesn’t this news deserve more coverage than being buried on page nine?

Speaking of good news, it looks like Lindsay Lohan will only have to spend about thirteen days in jail instead of ninety.  Phew.

Afghanistan is a friggin’ nightmare.  Some experts believe the imminent fight for the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province will be the deciding factor in whether we eventually leave as victors or losers.  Any way you look at it, this long war’s cost has been tragic, both in lives lost and money squandered.  GOP Senator Richard Luger, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said this: “Arguably, we could make progress for decades – on security, on employment, good governance, women’s rights, other goals – expending billions of dollars each year without ever reaching a satisfying conclusion.”  He’s right.  How awful.  Now what?

Major flooding in China appears to have killed close to a thousand people over the last several days.  Ten years ago, over four thousand perished after heavy rains.  Lu Ning, general secretary of China’s flood prevention agency believes, since the country knows the summer months bring the greatest percentage of their rainfall, they should be able to prevent and prepare for such disasters.  Shoulda, woulda, coulda.  We learned the hard way with Katrina.

Twitter was atwitter when Sarah Palin made up the word “refudiate” in discussion about a mosque possibly being built near Ground Zero.  My question is: what took her so long?  Bushie came up with “misunderestimate” shortly after taking office.

The greatest news of the week?  DirecTV has reached an agreement to produce not one BUT TWO new seasons of the FX drama “Damages” starring Glenn Close, probably one of the best television shows ever to grace the airwaves.  FX dropped the show because of low ratings and therefore low return on their money.  I have a DirecTV dish up on my roof and I will never say a bad word about them ever again.  “Damages”.  It’s back.

There’s quite a political and social conundrum taking place in France as the French consider banning the wearing of the burqa, the head to toe covering of women who practice an extreme form of Islam.  Correction.  The women don’t “practice” anything.  They’re forced to wear the garment by their men, who get overexcited by the sight of even a woman’s ankle.  I’ve got broken blood vessels around my ankles.  How quaint to think even mine would arouse these men.  Anyhow, yes, ban the burqa.  Religious freedom, my ass.  Who’s free?  Of course, prostitution is legal in France, so they may be a little messed up when it comes to what women want for their lives, but still.  Ban the burqa.

They’re still pedaling away in the Tour de France, which Alberto Contador of Spain has all but wrapped up for his third Tour victory.  The race officially ends tomorrow in Paris.  More importantly, the NFL has started training camp and the sights and sounds of my favorite season (football season) will be on full display August 8^th in the Hall of Fame game.

Later.