beantown

9th st espresso

la columbe coffee

New York Times reporter Phillip Shenon joins us to talk about his new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation. Shenon says 9/11 Commission executive director Philip Zelikow had close ties to both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Bush political adviser Karl Rove. He suggests that Zelikow sought to minimize the Bush administration’s responsibility for failing to prevent the September 11th attacks. [includes rush transcript–partial]

Michael Pollan takes aim at “nutritionism” in his new book
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By SARAH KERR

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We prepare our meals from plants and animals—a fact we can choose either to note with some humility or to hide from our awareness by forgetting. This has been a recurring theme in Michael Pollan’s books of late. Like all good writers, Pollan aims to describe what he sees as precisely as he can. But this does not lead him to a showily fine prose style. That would be an aesthetic approach, and though Pollan often worries that we’ve lost the sense of pleasure, he is very much the ethicist—and, if we’re honest, he is once in a while even a scold. This is happily offset by a sly modesty (“By now,” he self-accuses in 1997’s A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder, “you have probably noticed a tendency of mine to lean rather heavily on words and theories in my dealings with the world”), a deftness at animating philosophical problems, and a knack—unusual in books that seek to change minds and habits—for sustaining an atmosphere of suspense.

thegrandsichuan.com/

coming soon to jersey city! they dont say where in jc but this is good news. note the virtual drawings and they request help and approval of the color scheme.

A sign of increased Democratic enthusiasm?

2004 California Primary
Bush		2,216,047
Kerry	2,002,539
Edwards	614,441
Kucinich	144,954
Dean	130,892
Sharpton	59,326
Lieberman	52,780
Clark	51,084
Braun	24,501
Gephardt	19,139
Totals	3,099,656	2,216,047
	58.3%	41.7%

Candidates receiving less than 10,000 votes ignored in the results above. Bush was the only candidate on the 2004 California Republican Primary ballot; he received 100.0% of the vote.

California 2004 General Election
Kerry	6,745,485
Bush		5,509,826
	54.4%	44.4%

Minor party candidates ignored in the results above.

2008 California Primary
Clinton	2,133,975
Obama	1,737,807
McCain		986,384
Romney		801,873
Huckabee		272,719
Edwards	170,050
Giuliani		115,787
Paul		99,591
Thompson		45,805
Kucinich	20,216
Richardson	16,964
Biden	15,474
Hunter		12,215
Totals	4,094,486	2,334,374
	63.7%	36.3%

With a hotly contested Republican Primary, the Republicans manage to get just over a hundred thousand additional voters to the polls, compared with the previous primary. The Democrats add a million voters.

The propositions on neither the 2004 nor 2008 primary ballots generated intense interest.

On a clear September day in 1776, smoke rose from lower Manhattan as the British advanced into the city. From his headquarters on the Morris-Jumel estate, Gen. George Washington may have paused in the shade of a young elm tree to take in the scene.

Today, that tree still stands in what is now Washington Heights, though at about 110 feet tall and almost six feet in diameter, it is doubtful that Washington would recognize it. Affectionately known by locals as "the dinosaur," this living witness to those events 230 years ago it is now one of 25 trees in New York City that will be preserved—through cloning.

As you might guess from previous posts, I'd like to see results tabulated like this ...

Missouri 2008 Presidential Primary (candidates less that 10k votes ignored)

Obama	405,470
Clinton	394,991
McCain		194,119
Huckabee		185,573
Romney		172,390
Paul		26,427
Edwards	16,734
Totals	817,195	578,509

The 2008 Democratic National Convention, where the Democratic presidential ticket is formally agreed upon, has 796[3] superdelegates, although the number is not final until March 1, 2008. Superdelegates to the Democratic Convention include all Democratic members of the United States Congress, Democratic governors, various additional elected officials, as well as members of the Democratic National Committee.[4] A list of superdelegates can be found here.

A candidate needs a majority of the combined delegate and superdelegate votes to secure the nomination. Democratic delegates from state caucuses and primaries number 3,253, resulting in a total number of votes of 4,049. The total number of delegate votes needed to win the nomination is 2,025.[3] Superdelegates account for approximately one fifth (19.6%) of all votes at the convention. Delegates chosen in the Democratic caucuses and primaries account for approximately four fifths (80.4%) of the Democratic convention delegates.[3][5] Note: All numbers in this section assume that Michigan and Florida's delegates are not counted, as per current Democratic National Committee rules. If the rules change before or during the convention, the numbers above will change as appropriate.

i was one of a dozen lucky guests at a post-show dinner cooked by the italian performance group societas raffaello sanzio last weekend in seattle. to my delight i just found their eggplant recipe posted here

Getting Past the '60s? It's Not Going to Happen


Good flashback on the reactionaries who are so often forgotten. Here's one I'll never get over:

"If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with." California Governor Ronald Reagan, April 7, 1970, in reference to using state violence to suppress protests at UC Berkeley.

lessig speaks up for obama.

This is not a story about the presidential horse race. It’s not about the policy positions of a freshman senator and candidate for national office. It’s about the enduring character of a boy and a young man, and how that character has emerged in adulthood. The Barack Obama who wrote so poignantly of adolescent alienation and the search for racial identity is the same Barack Obama who learned, the hard way, how to deal with the likes of Emil Jones Jr., a man whose cell-phone ring tone is the theme from The Godfather. Obama’s good looks and soft-spoken willingness to ponder aloud some of the inanities of modern politics have masked the hard inner core and unyielding ambition that have long burned beneath the surface shimmer. He is not, and never has been, soft. He’s not laid-back. He’s not an accidental man. His friends and family may be surprised by the rapidity of his rise, but they’re not surprised by the fact of it.

Recommendations for lunch in Napa/Yountville/Sonoma area? (French Laundry is booked.) One of the diners is a vegetarian. The other is (mostly) an omnivore.

coffee floats tea sinks

i thought it unlikely that anyone would pony up the money for a political spot during the superbowl. i was wrong about the patriots too.

"I can confirm that a round of sniffing has started.."

shine 8/07

I'm still trying to get my mind around yesterday's news that Exxon's 2007 profit of 40 billion dollars equates to 1,300 dollars a second.

dont really care about the world of hobbits but if i did id be glad to hear that the director of pans labyrinth is taking over directorial responsibilities .

first family?

fail

eat wild
local harvest

And this is without the Dems campaigning in Fla.

Clinton	856,944
McCain	693,425
Romney	598,152
Obama	568,930
Giuliani	281,755
Huckabee	259,703
Edwards	248,575

from here