Awesome Chili Recipe

I actually made this chili a week or so ago.  It isn't my recipe, it's Emeril Lagasse's.  I added a few more beans, green pepper and chopped tomatoes rather than the tomato paste, but it's a good foundation to start with.  You can then tweak it to your own tastes.  My family thought it was pretty good, too.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cups chopped onionsSaltCayenne2 pounds stew meat1 tablespoon chili powder2 teaspoons ground cuminCrushed red pepper2 teaspoons dried oregano2 tablespoons chopped garlic3 cups crushed tomatoes1/4 cup tomato paste2 cups beef stock1 cup canned dark red kidney beans2 tablespoons masa flour4 tablespoons water1 bag Tortilla Chips1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack 

6 tablespoons sour cream1 small jar of jalapenos

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My Friend

My friend called me last night.  
We always call each other.  He's a bricklayer by trade.  64 years old. He can build the most beautiful fireplaces you've ever seen. He can build the most marvelous fieldstone structures ever photographed.
He's been battling cancer in his lymph nodes and cheek and tongue all winter.  He was scheduled for a dissection of the cancerous affected areas this week.  He has already been through the chemotherapy and radiation treatments to attack his cancer.
He told his doctor about the pain in his feet and surrounding his feeding tube at his recent doctor's visit.  His doctor told my buddy that was the least of his worries.  My friend had developed a couple of masses on both sides of his heart.  My buddy was given options.  He could have the pending dissection.  He would have an incision made from his ear to his chest.  The post cancerous cells would be removed from his neck, jaw and cheek areas.  Rehabilitation and possible paralysis could result.  His prognosis for survival would be at the most, 2 years.
The other option was no dissection.  The possible spreading of the cancer in his lymph nodes would kill him sooner because the cancer would then be inoperable.  The masses surrounding his heart could kill him as well.
My friend chose the dissection.  He said he wanted the best chance of survival he could have.  Cancer research was his last hope and he wasn't going down without a fight.  He was a great athlete in H.S. A born competito... [More]

Super, Spectacular, Star Studded Sunday

Houston -1

GOP Spinning

Fundamentals

by Stephen Fleischmann | April 7, 2008
reddit_title=Fundamentals digg_skin='compact'; 

Let's get down to fundamentals.

The two warring Democratic candidates in the presidential election have their slogans.

Obama wants change. Hillary wants solutions. Yes, they discuss all the issues that are fit to discuss. Even McCain talks about death and taxes.

But nobody wants to take on the fundamentals--the source of the status quo requiring change and the root cause of the problems for which Hillary wants solutions. It's not just the economy, Stupid! It's the system...to use a Clintonian euphemism.

A system based on greed, profit and exploitation of one class by another will eventually land it in the ditch. You don't need Karl Marx to tell you that. He made a landmark analysis of Capitalism in the 19th Century and so far his predictions have been right on the money. Empires fall--from the Roman to the German. They dig their own graves.

Capitalism, by its name and nature supports the rich, propertied and corporate class. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a Marxist to see that. Competition between corporate entities, in various nations, leads to monopoly and war. When corporations control a government, it's Corporatism. We're in that stage of capitalism right now. Benito Mussolini, pre-World War II dictator of Italy, gave it a name. He called it Fascism.

For the capitalist system to survive--it must... [More]