Ø Turducken? Thunderbolt Fan is anything but a shopping guide... usually. But sometimes I just have to mention an aspect of consumer culture lest I be branded a communist, not that it's such a bad thing. But then again , an item like Turducken strikes at the heart of an iconic staple that will grace the majority of dinner tables next Thursday, so maybe I do harbor latent radical tendencies for overthrowing the government, at least until Hillary and Bill are running things again.According to Uncrate,
For those not in the know when it comes to edible fowl, the Turducken is a holiday masterpiece that includes a semi-boneless turkey stuffed with a deboned chicken that's stuffed with a deboned duck breast. Triple-bird-alicious.Ø One note of interest regarding the Los Angeles Times: Having lost their recent War on Halloween and just beginning to pick up the cudgel and go after Christmas, they are allowing time for a love-fest for Thanksgiving. Yeah, it's a little bit like being in high school again with the singling out of what's-cool-what's-not-cool aspect of those thankfully distant years; but at least their taking a break from the holiday whining.
Ø Intelligentsia cafe in Silver Lake had a party last night for their Esmerelda coffee, an artisanal coffee from Panama that they recently bought at auction for something like $130 per pound. (Yeah, I know, a party for expensive coffee; but it was fun.) They were passing out tastes (it tasted like coffee!) but also had wine and hors d'oeuvres on hand for the crowd that turned out. Doug Zell, Mr. Intelligentsia, was on hand and talked about the eco-fair trade practices of his company and the coffee they sell.
Ø Was it just me or did last night's Democratic presidential candidates debate from Las Vegas seem like a love-fest (that hyphenate again) compared to the last one in Philadelphia? For all of the attempts at jabbing at one another, candidates were quick to emphasize a sense of unity among them.
Hillary's responses started out like regular answers but often finished as mini-campaign speeches in stentorian tones to cheers from the audience. The other candidates did their best to measure up to her, but it was a lost cause. She's unstoppable and Republicans must be quaking in their jackboots.
And is Joe Biden even really running? He came off like a guy just along for the ride and the media exposure. He could bring the teeth-bleaching down a notch.
The recent caving by Clinton on allowing undocumented workers to get driver licenses was a disappointment. The issue is still being driven by bigotry and fear-mongering over terrorism; rather than trying to find real answers to the problem of illegal immigration.
Conservatives' have manufactured near-hysteria over the issue; it speaks to their talent for finding resonant cultural bogeymen. They understand the ignorance of Americans and don't hesitate to exploit it, rather than dispel it. (You could argue that liberalism is about dispelling ignorance, and conservatism is about emboldening and institutionalizing it.) It worked for same-sex marriage and falsely justifying the oil war, so why not apply it to a defenseless portion of the population with different skin coloring? One would hope the public would start seeing through the tactic.
