OT fired

Well, folks, I got news! Our new president plans on injecting AT LEAST
another $850B into the US economy right away. Isn't that just swell? He sure
is gonna upstage FDR just like Jorge Bush upstaged Herbie "Prosperity is
right around the corner" Hoover. And the upshot, boys and girls, is that
when Barky's chickens come home to roost in 2010, the USA's largest creditor
is gonna close our line of credit and come calling to collect what we owe.
Won't that be fun, boys and girls? Red Dawn in slow motion....

Same thing happening here.

But the creditors CAN'T collect. The main point of the lending boom
was for the rest of the world to finance Americans buying houses and
cars they couldn't ever pay for. The houses are untransportable and
the cars are a wasting asset.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

Baha, I know this doesn't help in the least, but I really and truly feel
for you. I am so very sorry that you're having to go through this. You've
got our purrs and prayers.

Way too many people are experiencing this now. Something has to change.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that change comes soon. Yes, I tend to be
an optimist, right up until the day that reality walks up and punches me
in the face, but that's just the way I'm built.

Dan

"BfloPolska" wrote in message
...
On Jan 22, 12:51 am, "James Weston" wrote:
hey, get rid of the goddamn animals and feed yourself!

Already we need recipes.



Stewed Lamb Shanks

Clearly the meatiest, must neglected part of the lamb (or mutton, yes, I
said mutton!)... the shank provides the best bang for the buck and is also
the tastiest, IMHO.

This isn't a recipe so much as a method. Get a couple of meaty lamb shanks.
Salt & pepper them well. Brown them well in a little bit of neutral tasting
oil. I use Canola or pure corn oil. I don't use olive oil. It's costly
and this isn't a mediterranian-style dish and as such doesn't require olive
oil. Brown the shanks in oil over medium-high heat in a deep pot, turning
them with tongs to brown evenly on all sides. Toss in 2-3 cloves of minced
garlic and a small minced onion (or shallot) and cook until they are
translucent. Deglaze the pan with a light red or dry white wine. Add
chicken stock or broth, or a combination of broth and water, enough to cover
the shanks. Add some herbs: I don't usually have fresh herbs on hand so
dried will do. I like thyme with lamb; some people like rosemary. Look up
an herb chart and take your pick Cover the pot and reduce the heat to
low. Cook the shanks at very low simmer for a couple of hours, until the
meat is very tender and falling off the bone.

At this point I debone the lamb, freezing the bones for making Scotch broth
with barley at a later date There isn't usually a lot of liquid left at
this point.

Jill

"Jack Campin - bogus address" wrote

| But the creditors CAN'T collect.

Sure they can. Our land and infrastructure is being quietly sold right out
from under us for a song. Infrastructure that was originally financed with
tax monies. The Chinese own a seaport in San Diego. The Saudis own another
of our ports. Utility companies and highways are being signed over to
foreigners left and right. It's a fire sale! Welcome to Argentina, boys and
girls!!

On Jan 22, 12:27 am, "Pat" wrote:
"BfloPolska" wrote

| I'm scared for my babies... I went and stocked up on kibble.

If you have savings, please go ahead and spend what you can for supplies
that have a long shelf-life, now, before the buying power of your savings
dips further. And believe me, it will, and very soon. You can't inject
trillions upon trillions of new dollars into an economy without debasing the
currency.

Yes, I know, the "bailout" a.k.a. TARP a.k.a. Bankster Take-Over Bill was
supposedly for only $850B but thanks to fractional reserve banking - whereby
abankcan lend out 90% of deposits it receives - as that money trickles
into the economy it multiplies the money in circulation (not physicalbank
notes) x9.

Say for instance Party A receives $50B of the "bailout" funds and uses it to
pay some debts. The creditor(s)bank(s) make a deposit entry in their books,
then proceed to lend out 90% of that newly-created "money" to others, who
then deposit it in other banks, which then lend out 90% of that amount, and
so on to infinity. All through this process, the value of the already
existing "money" in circulation is evaporating.

A clearer analogy would go as follows: Suppose the residents of each state
in the USA had the power to write checks for whatever amounts they needed or
wanted, for one month, with the guarantee that no checks would bounce - for
that month.

The process of enabling everyone in the USA to create (that is, write good
checks for) as much money as they wanted would go in alphabetical order
starting with Alabama. During month #1, everyone in Alabama has carte
blanche to write all the checks they please for as much as they please,
without consequence. Then in month #2, it's Alaska's turn, and so on for the
next two years or so.

What do you suppose the value of your money would be when it was Wyoming's
turn? For the answer, look he

http://www.bitsofnews.com/images/gra...omy/weimar.jpg

(Burning it would make more sense than using it to buy firewood.)

Well, folks, I got news! Our new president plans on injecting AT LEAST
another $850B into the US economy right away. Isn't that just swell? He sure
is gonna upstage FDR just like Jorge Bush upstaged Herbie "Prosperity is
right around the corner" Hoover. And the upshot, boys and girls, is that
when Barky's chickens come home to roost in 2010, the USA's largest creditor
is gonna close our line of credit and come calling to collect what we owe.
Won't that be fun, boys and girls? Red Dawn in slow motion....

TARP is misdirected. The problem needs to be addressed at the root,
with the consumers. This blog has some suggestion on what needs to be
done. http://fixthegov.wordpress.com/
I would tend to agree with what the author suggests. Give the money
directly to the consumers instead of the banks.

On Jan 21, 11:38*pm, hopitus wrote:
On Jan 21, 7:07*pm, BfloPolska wrote:



You are worried, and upset, understandable. But if you don't mind my
saying so, if I were you I'd get myself together (all papers needed,
including
the*most valuable* paper you got from that employer) and go down
*tomorrow*
to the local unemployment office and *file* for benefits for whatever
weeks they
do these days.

26 weeks in New York, and I have done the preliminaries with applying
online, I have that little piece of paper under lock and key because I
will eventually be called to the local office for additional
paperwork, a sort of "orientation" which I assume has to do with job-
searching, etc and I want to bring along tangible proof that I was not
a slacker, nor ill-behaved. And I have made a solemn promise not to
call the Douchebag a Douchebag, to bite my tongue and refer to him as
"that poor chap, running an office that isn't doing too well, God
bless him." And the office has not been doing too well, to be fair to
the little Douche. Frankly, unless more of the collectors get a to-
hell-with-the-law attitude and open up a barrel of whoop-ass on the
debtors, the general performance will continue to tank. There are some
people there who are so desperate for a few bucks that they will
refuse payment plans on huge-balance accounts (we would get "paper,"
collection accounts, for people who owed over 50K to one creditor
alone. One elusive guy got over 60 thousand for an RV and skipped town
with the RV. To my knowledge he hasn't been found yet, nor the RV.)
The ones who will do payment schedules typically don't bonus as much
and tend to be the first fired. These also tend to be the most honest
collectors.

I wasn't a collector. I was a "scrubber," a form of skiptracer whose
job was to run through new phone numbers to make sure any given one on
any given account was useable, eradicating the disconnects, ex-spouses
etc and I ran payments through the required recorded line for
validity. Here is where I laugh: the collectors hate having to be
called off the phones to record, as it doesn't count toward their own
phone time and they can get into the soup for too much time away from
their own lines! Skiptracing jobs are harder to come by, though. Many
agencies make the collectors do their own skipping, and the larger
agencies don't use scrubbers.

I was "au chomage" twice, being "laid off" two
different times;
I got unemployment benefits (maximum) for almost a year, as I would
work
for "agencies" who line medical pros up with part time temporary work,
and
every time I'd get paid by one, my benefits for that week were reduced
by
that amount....so you see, if you work part time doing *anything* you
can
stretch out the benefits mch longer that way.

You are a messenger angel with this information! I can temp. I spent
years doing the Job Gypsy thing, not a bad way to go; knowing I can
stretch the time even with a short-term temp assignment will take a
lot of sweat off my brow.

Above all, when at the unemployment office, *keep your *lip zipped*
about
the former employer....unless and until the clerk handling your case
asks
you something. Answer, but say nothing more than the answer

I'm going to have a hard time coming up with something here. Of course
I don't want to tell the clerk, "I worked for a putz." How do you give
a straight answer with pleasant ambiguity?

The time has come to take action. Best of luck from Hopitus.

Many thanks and Blessed be,
Baha

On Jan 22, 9:43*am, Dan M wrote:
Baha, I know this doesn't help in the least, but I really and truly feel
for you. I am so very sorry that you're having to go through this. You've
got our purrs and prayers.

The hellit DOESN"T help! It always helps knowing there are people in
one's corner, and I am mightily grateful. Thank you.

Way too many people are experiencing this now. Something has to change.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that change comes soon. Yes, I tend to be
an optimist, right up until the day that reality walks up and punches me
in the face, but that's just the way I'm built.

If I do not retain a sense of optimism I will fall into a hell of my
own creating. I try to look at things in a decent light. Louie planned
for contingencies of this sort when he planned our mortgage and home-
equity and other such things. We have savings; I've applied for
unemployment. I'll take some temp work and when I'm not gypsying about
I'll put my nose to the grindstone and work on that book I'm always on
about. I'll improve my knitting and crocheting; I'll catch up with the
few friends I have still here, and those who didn't bail on me because
they disapproved of my marriage. And I am very grateful for your
support, and that of everyone else here who cheers me on.

As for the cheese, make it Brie!

Blessed be,
Baha

On Jan 22, 10:23*am, "jmcquown" wrote:
"BfloPolska" wrote in message

...
On Jan 22, 12:51 am, "James Weston" wrote:

hey, get rid of the goddamn animals and feed yourself!

Already we need recipes.

Stewed Lamb Shanks

Clearly the meatiest, must neglected part of the lamb (or mutton, yes, I
said mutton!)... the shank provides the best bang for the buck and is also
the tastiest, IMHO.

This isn't a recipe so much as a method. *Get a couple of meaty lamb shanks.

In that wonderful Peg Bracken classic _I Hate to Cook Book_, she
referred to having the butcher crack the lamb shanks (the first
printing) or chop them (subsequent printings.) This confuses me,
because when I think of chopped meat I think of ravioli filling. Peg
wrote that cracking or chopping them will make them less likely to
look "like rolled up pants legs" and be easier to eat. Do you have a
translation? And does anyone have a nice shrimp recipe for one?
Louie's allergic.

Blessed be,
Baha

On Jan 22, 12:37*pm, hopitus wrote:
On Jan 22, 10:23*am, BfloPolska wrote:



On Jan 22, 10:23*am, "jmcquown" wrote:

"BfloPolska" wrote in message

....
On Jan 22, 12:51 am, "James Weston" wrote:

hey, get rid of the goddamn animals and feed yourself!

Already we need recipes.

Stewed Lamb Shanks

Clearly the meatiest, must neglected part of the lamb (or mutton, yes, I
said mutton!)... the shank provides the best bang for the buck and is also
the tastiest, IMHO.

This isn't a recipe so much as a method. *Get a couple of meaty lamb shanks.

In that wonderful Peg Bracken classic _I Hate to Cook Book_, she
referred to having the butcher crack the lamb shanks (the first
printing) or chop them (subsequent printings.) This confuses me,
because when I think of chopped meat I think of ravioli filling. Peg
wrote that cracking or chopping them will make them less likely to
look "like rolled up pants legs" and be easier to eat. Do you have a
translation? And does anyone have a nice shrimp recipe for one?
Louie's allergic.

Blessed be,
Baha

One of the goodies I plan to snarf down during SupBowl viewing (in
jjocks if
alone, more likely casual dress if mixed company) is this:
buy largish bargain bag of headless raw shrimp, frozen, boil with a
pinch
of "crab boil" (remnant of N.Orleans kin)

What is this "crab boil" and will it make my ears steam?

About the ears, I doubt it. Truly, I *don't know* what it is...hopitus
freely admits and acknowledges when totally ignorant of anything. My
mother used it, (she was from the N.Orleans branch of LA kin), her
mother used it in seafood prep...it's a powder but I have no idea what's
in it. Don't rush out and buy it at the grocery, it's not a "must", even
for crab prep...I just like it's tiny bit of flavor.
Anyone else know whazzup with "crab boil"? Where are you, 'Nipped?

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_boil):

Boiled seafood in southern Louisiana tends to be spicier than that found
in other parts of the country. Homemade crab boil recipes call for
abundant amounts of hot sauce, cayenne pepper, salt, bay leaf, lemon, and
garlic. Mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and allspice are popular extra
options. Many people will start with a commercial crab boil product and
then supplement it with extra pepper. The leading commercial product is
Zatarain's which comes in two forms.[1] One is a mesh bag with seasonings
inside that will steep into the water. The second is a liquid concentrate
that can be added directly to the water. The concentrate form can also be
used as a flavor enhancer for soups. Other regional crab boil companies
are Tony Chachere's, and Rex Crab Boil. Note that even when boiling
shrimp or crawfish, most recipes call for adding crab boil packets as a
seasoning.

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