Chicken Alfredo

I box fettuccine
About a pound of boneless chicken breasts
One third a bottle of white wine
Half cup of Soy sauce
I jar Alfredo sauce
1 cup of Chicken or vegetable broth

Two white or yellow onions
One clump of broccoli (3 shoots) or asparagus (or other vegetable)
One cactus leaf (to cut cholesterol)
One clove of elephant garlic

Freeze the chicken at least for an hour so it can be cut cleanly. Longer may be too hard and you'd have to thaw it.

Cut the chicken into long strips and cut the strips again and again so you have 1/4 inch or so wide strips.

Place the chicken in a bowl. Add half a cup of wine, three tablespoons of soy sauce, half a cup of broth. Shake it or mix so all the chicken gets covered. Let sit to marinate. If for over 30 minutes go back and mix it up with the sauce occasionally.  You can also marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Boil 2 quarts of water. Add fettuccine and boil on medium-low for about 15 minutes until soft. Then turn off and drain. Put the fettuccine back in the pot and add the Alfredo sauce. Heat on low and stir it in. You can add wine or broth to thin the consistency. Also a tablespoon or two of soy is nice. You can do this simultaneously with the following.

Dice the onions. Add diced or crushed garlic with the onions. Heat a large fry pan. Add oil to the pan, Then added the onions and garlic and stir fry a bit, then turn down to medium and cover.

Dice the broccoli or vegetables and add them to the onions and garlic. If using soft vegetables like bok choy, let the onions cook a while first. Harder ones like broccoli or carrots should go right in. But they should be cut into pretty small pieces (or shredded or into strings) to cook faster.

Stir fry the vegetables for about 10 minutes with the onions. Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of broth, the same amout of of wine and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. Mix it in. Put on medium low and let cook about 15 minutes until soft, occasionally stirring. Also leave the lid on between stirring it up to help steam the vegetables.

Scrape all the needles off the cactus leaf if it has them (you can also buy leaves without needles). Rinse the leaf and run your hand over it to make sure there are no needles. Be careful. The needles hurt and are dangerous if ingested. Also rinse off your cutting board to make sure all needles are gone. Dice the leaf and put in a blender. Add half a cup of wine and broth and a tablespoon of soy sauce. Blend to liquid. Add this to the vegetables and stir in during the last 5 minutes of the above.

If you don't use the cactus leaf you can use 2 tablespoons of corn starch instead to make a thick sauce with the wine, soy, and broth.

You can now add the vegetables to the the fettuccine or keep them separate. This is now a vegetarian dish if you used vegetable broth.

With the vegetables out of the pan you can use the same pan to cook the chicken. The residue will flavor the chicken. Add oil to the pan and dump in the chicken with its marinade. Stir fry just until the chicken is not raw (or slightly raw is OK because it continues to cook).

Add the chicken to the fettuccine and stir it in or keep it separate if you have vegetarian guests. Drink the remaining wine (or use it to seduce your guest) and serve.

Wage Slavery in America

'Off Limits' by Jon Raymond

In the film, Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky refers to wage slavery as something going on right now in America, not very different from the origin of the term when it referred to chattel slavery. People rent themselves out now in order to survive in the American corporate oligarchy. They are therefore not able to pursue their true passions and creativity, having to spend about ten hours a day at work and on the way to work. And after those ten hours of politically correct ass kissing, glad handing, and smiley facing, who feels like doing anything but watching the tube or posting on Facebook? I certainly don't, nor do many of my artist friends. It takes a lot of extra effort to work on what you really want to do with your life, within what's left of it.

The counter argument is that the term wage slavery refers to a time of 24 hour a day full-time slavery, and comparatively, the American smiley face football way of life is a wonderful utopia (Comparatively a cheeseburger is better than eating sand. But for how long would you like to have  to survive on cheeseburgers). Well we've come a long way. The elite feudal lords have figured out over the ages how to keep their worshiping working masses fat, dumb, and happy, by giving them a few hours at home in a comfy couch with a TV to watch the corporate media agenda diverting their mental capacity for thought from their plight of going nowhere, to intricate analysis of which football team is in the lead and why. With education in the US ranking well below some 20 or 30 other countries, healthcare ranking below 30 to 50 others (depending on the measure) and class-ism on a par with most third world countries, should we really be more concerned about billion dollar football franchises than our own pitiful welfare?

If you are aware of all this, and can feel the reality of wasting away for the man in denial of your true creative passions, at least then you might find some consolation in spending the pittance of what's left of your life on pursuing your true passions, unless you're so far gone that you believe that the cheeseburger life exploitation of you by Wall Street's consumer sports industries are your passion. 
 
From Are You a Wage Slave?  by Stefan

An obvious difference between chattel slavery and wage slavery is that as a chattel slave you are enslaved – totally subjected to another’s will – at every moment from birth to death, in every aspect of your life. As a wage-slave, you are enslaved only at those times when your labour power is at the disposal of your employer. At other times, in other aspects of your life – as a consumer, a voter, a family member, a gardener perhaps – you enjoy a certain measure of freedom, respect and social equality. Thus, the wage-slave has some scope for self-development and self-realization that is denied the chattel slave. Limited scope, to be sure, for the wage-slave must regularly return to the cramped world of wage labour, which spread its influence over the rest of life like a pestilential mist.

From NMMNG on DemocraticUnderground.com:

According to the 2000 Census:
12.8% of US households lived on $25,000-$34,999 a year
12.8% of US households lived on $15,000-$25,999 a year
6.3% of US households lived on $10,000-$14,999 a year
And 9.5% of US households lived on less than $10,000 a year


This means that 44.1% of Americans lived on $34,999 or less a year


Such are the lives of the wage-slaves in the United States. Those individuals who typically work just as hard and long, if not more so, than their much higher paid counterparts, yet are paid significantly less. 

But wage slaves are not just those working on the low end of the scale. Anyone doing any job or in any career that they are in solely for the purpose of survival, regardless of how lucrative, are a slave to their wages, and live in denial of their own creativity, humanity, and passions, unless they don't actually have to bother going to work.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011 - Hoax or Fact - It Makes Sense - But Beware

A viral email is circulating concerning the Congressional Reform Act of 2011, which probably doesn't even exist. There is hidden code behind this email. lots of hidden code, which could serve any number pf purposes. It could be people looking to steal identities. It could be a government initiative to weed out "dissidents".  Regardless, beware of this email. I think the idea of a Congressional Reform Act of 2011 is great. But if you want to pass the idea along DO NOT FORWARD the email. It will spam all your contacts with this dangerous code. Instead, rewrite the message in your own words and pass that along.

Here is the viral email:

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those t o do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete.


You are one of my 20+. Please keep it going.

The problem with this email is the viral hidden code you don't see, which I have reproduced partially here:

PHEAA: Scandalous, Infamous, Corporate All American

The PHEAA is the infamous scandalous private student loan corporation that masquerades as a Pennsylvania State agency. They operate as AES (American Education Services) but use a PHEAA letterhead to intimidate loan holders into thinking they are a government agency. They send out bogus federal student loan default notices like this one to intimidate employers and debtors into signing over 15% of their paychecks to the PHEAA. Of course they also offer debtors an option to have a lesser amount deducted directly from their personal checking accounts, if the debtor has a personal checking account. And if the debtor does so, they have to sign an agreement with AES that AES has the right to share their personal banking information with any "third party" or "criminal justice agency" that requires it. Yet, they cite no law to support this mandatory agreement to infringe on people's personal banking information. If you have a direct deposit agreement between your employer and your bank, you have to sign the same kind of statement to allow "third parties" access to your bank account.

Here is a scenario that has happened to a friend. They had direct deposit. They owed some money to a creditor, which had gone to a collection agency, similar to AES. Because they signed this "third party" infringement of privacy agreement, the bank freely gave out their banking information to the collection agency. So the collection agency knew in advance how much money was deposited on payday and when. The collection agency proceeded to get a levy of the debtor's bank account and unbeknownst to the debtor (they failed to notify them in advance as required by law), they siphoned off the entire account balance on payday. So much for the convenience of direct deposit. It's convenient for the banks and for the creditors. Extremely convenient. Now you may say, well these people asked for it. They put themselves into debt. Oh really? So for that oversight they deserve to go for two weeks without any money at all, which would easily send many people into homelessness and unemployment. But at least the creditor gets their money and that's all we care about in America's corporate welfare state oligarchy.

If you ever face a similar situation you should contact your bank to see if you can have the situation reversed. Likely you won't get the money back taken by the creditor or the bank's fees (around $200) for aiding them to take all your money. But you may get the bank to reverse any overdrafts that occurred in the meantime.

Did you know that the U.S government has agreements with private corporate financial blood hounds like AES? Interestingly, By the way, the letter you see here was sent to a debtor who took out a college loan in California. What the freakin' hell does Pennsylvania have to do with it?  Good luck trying to find legal help against these mafioso-gone-legit government approved loan sharks. You'll do better to file your complaint and represent yourself.

OK. This is where we cue the Star Spangled Banner. Hold your hand over your heart and look lovingly at the American flag, and remember all the people who die for it.

Chase: The Evil that Banks Do

at

The following is an email from ShowDown in America.

Meet Virginia Holwell. Virginia paid her taxes this year. She worked for the state of Illinois for 30 years but was laid off last summer. Like many of us, she fell victim to the economic downturn caused by Wall Street and Big Banks. She’s getting on a bus from Peoria Illinois to JP Morgan Chase’s shareholder meeting in Columbus OH on May 16th.

She thought she would have another 10 years of work to pay off her mortgage.  Instead, she is out of work, hasn't been able to find another job and is struggling to make payments on her modest Peoria home with a pension that is one-third her former income.    

Virginia, like many of us, is an ideal candidate for a mortgage modification. But Virginia's bank, JP Morgan Chase, denies the modification.  Virginia is getting on the bus with other members of  Illinois People’s Action to go to the Showdown in Ohio and JP Morgan Chase’s annual shareholder meeting because, like many of us, she wants to save her home.

She also wants to take a stand and turn this country around. And some one has to because Big Banks and Wall Street are trying to run us into the ground. JP Morgan Chase must pay its fair share of taxes just like Virginia and just like the rest of us. Chase must stop foreclosing on families and get small business lending moving again so we can get working and get on our feet.

Join us in Columbus. 

Can’t come? Mark your calendars. On May 17, while we’re at the shareholder’s meeting, join us in the action by calling JP Morgan Chase Senior VP, James Gilliam. Tell him to modify Virginia Holwell’s loan, and keep families in their homes: 312-325-5057.

Rather send him an email? Here you go: James.V.Gilliam@jpmchase.com

You won't find your Soul Mate while looking for your Replica

I read a real genius "award winning" blog (appropriately titled guttervomit) about the chances of finding a soul mate, called Finding Your Soul Mate: A Statistical Analysis. Apparently this math whiz thinks that by factoring out potential mates by gender, sexual orientation, language, life expectancy, and the number of people you can potentially meet, you can determine the odds of running into your soul mate. But this is only true if you are so narcissistic that you can only love yourself or someone exactly like you.

The definition of a soul mate is one who challenges you. One you makes you think twice. One who makes you question yourself and who makes you want to be a better person. Someone just like you who accepts everything about you as perfectly fine can never do that. So the first thing you have to do is get that definition straight. It is obtuse to think that merely matching people on characteristics qualifies them as potential soul mates, when the very opposite is more likely true. If matching characteristics were a true way to go, you would clone yourself, with possibly a gender change, and voila there you go. So what this guy's post leads me to believe is that he is telling people to go fuck them self.


A soul mate is not necessarily like you. They might not speak your language. They might not be in the age range you would expect. They might not be of any of the characteristics you would bother to go looking for, and this is probably the real reason why most people never find a soul mate. They aren’t looking for someone to challenge them. They are looking for a replica of themselves.

SUPPORT SB 810 California Universal Healthcare Act of 2011

The following is an email from Maureen Cruise RN (retired) 


SB 810  "The California Universal Healthcare Act of 2011 has been reintroduced in the California legislature.  Healthcare is a human rights issue.  People are really suffering with premium hikes, increased copays, and denials of payment.  These problems will not change with the recently enacted ACA federal reform.  SB810 is advancing to the next logical step.

The State Senate Health Committee  will consider SB810  on April 27th, 2011

Important and crucial measures to support SB 810 RIGHT NOW:

#1.  Send letters from yourself,  a business, any group/organization     http://www.healthcareforall.org/action-center/organizing  has sample letters for individuals , businesses organizations and lots of information to educate oneself.
     1. Sign on as an individual supporter of SB810 and send letter to your legislators.
     2. Any group can send a letter from the organization or  any business.
     3. Encouraging your legislators to co-endorse.

Identify your own State Senator and Assemblymember online by visiting http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Also send any copies of support /endorsement letters to:

Senator Mark Leno
c/o Sara Rogers
State Capitol, Room 5100
Sacramento, CA  95814
(916) 445-4722 FAX

And to the State Senate Health Committee before April 27th
The Honorable Ed Hernandez
Chair, Senate Health Committee
State Capitol, Room 2191
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: (916) 319-2197

#2 SIGN the online PETITION http://CaliforniaOneCare.org

#3 Download information/ fliers and educate the public.  Set up a table at any public site. In front of a bank or post office or any public corner or sidewalk .  Educate people.  http://www.singlepayernow.net
http://www.healthcareforall.org/
http://CaliforniaOneCare.org

Additional info on federal and state universal healthcare:
www.pnhp.org  Physicians for National Health Program
http://www.nationalnursesunited.org
http://www.laborforsinglepayer.org
www.PDAmerica.org

Be well,
Maureen    
Despair is a greater deceiver than hope.

Sample Letter of Support for SB 810
The California Universal Healthcare Act

Please send letters of support by fax or mail to your State Senator and State Assemblymember and cc Senator Leno’s capitol office.

Identify your own State Senator and Assemblymember online by visiting http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Please cc:
Senator Mark Leno
c/o Sara Rogers
State Capitol, Room 5100
Sacramento, CA  95814
(916) 445-4722 FAX


(Date), 2011

The Honorable ___________
State Capitol, Room ____
Sacramento, CA  95814

Re: Support for SB 810 (Leno)

Dear Senator/Assemblymember _____________:

I am a voter in your district and I am writing in support of SB 810 (Leno) the California Universal Healthcare Act.  It’s time for universal healthcare in California!
The single greatest problem facing California’s healthcare system and California’s economy is the growing cost of health insurance.  The number of uninsured Californians has now reached 20%, and most of the newly uninsured are from middle-class families.  It’s easy to see why.
Health insurance premiums have increased over 90% since 2000, with the average employee contributing 143% more to their company-sponsored health insurance. Meanwhile wages have only increased 20% over this time period.  Health care costs have outpaced increases in wages by a ratio of 4:1 since 2000.
Under the single payer finance system in SB 810, the money spent now on health care is enough to provide every resident of the state with excellent healthcare, ensure fair and reliable reimbursements to doctors, nurses and other providers, and guarantee a high quality of care for all.
SB 810 (Leno), the California Universal Healthcare Act would provide fiscally sound, affordable healthcare to all Californians, provide every Californian the right to choose his or her own physician and control health cost inflation.
This plan does five things:

1. It covers everyone.
2. It’s affordable.
3. It guarantees our money goes to care not administration.
4. It provides real choice.
5. It improves quality.

Californians want access to this kind of high-quality, affordable health care.  Please take a stand in support of truly universal health care.

I strongly support SB 810.

(your legal name)
(any organizational affiliations you wish to include)
(your address)

America's Corporate Oligarchy Endangered by "Democracy Uprising"

'The reason you can't get democratic leaders to join [the democracy uprising] is because they agree' [that unions should be busted]. 'Right in the middle of the Madison affair, the CEO of Goldman Sacs, Lloyd Blankfein, got a $12.5 million bonus and his base pay was more than tripled.'

'It was heartening to see that there are tens of thousands protesting in Madison... That's the beginning, maybe, of what we really need here, a democracy uprising. Democracy has almost been eviscerated.'

The next election is going to break all campaign spending records at over $2 billion for Barack 'Bipartisan Compromise' Obama's campaign, the man's whose 2008 campaign was overwhelmingly funded by (big surprise) Wall Street.

See more here.

Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.
Matt Wisniewski, a 22-year-old college student at the University of Wisconsin, put together this inspiring video in support of unions in Wisconsin. The video consists of three days of footage of the 30,000 protesters at the state capitol in Madison against a bill that would drastically curb the bargaining power of public employees in unions. The accompanying song is Arcade Fire’s “Rebellion (Lies).”

Wolfowitz Sees Corporate Health Mogul as Egyptian Transition Leader

Hossam Badrawi

Today President Obama released a statement to the press that the U.S. will do all it can to support the orderly transition of Egypt to a [corporate oligarchy]. In a recent article in The American, Paul Wolfowitz states he sees a new transition figure emerging in Egypt; Dr. Hossam Badrawi, "a board member and strategic shareholder in Nile Badrawi Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Cairo." Dr. Badrawi also "started the first healthcare management organizations (HMO) company in Egypt which is currently one of the largest HMOs in the private sector." And we all know how well HMOs work in America.

So it would appear that Egypt's current government run healthcare system, in which "nearly all Egyptians have access to healthcare," is a prime candidate for American style corporate wealthcare. America must stop that healthcare for all nonsense and get Egypt back to American values where we make sure at least 15% of the citizens of the country have no healthcare insurance, because they can't afford to pay for it. After all, how can we expect American based corporate healthcare industry to take a foothold in Egypt if they can't see at least 30% profit margins like they do in the US.

Olberman Remembered

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

From my friend Bruce Benson: 

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified!  Why?  Simple!  The people demanded it.  That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.


Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.


I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.


In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.  This is one idea that really should be passed around.


Congressional Reform Act of 2011


1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below..
1.     Two Six-year Senate terms
2.     Six Two-year House terms
3.     One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2.  No Tenure / No Pension.


A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay

when they are out of office.


3.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.


All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.  All future funds flow into the Social

Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.


4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.


5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.


6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.


7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.


8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.



The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.  Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.


Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.  The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s),

then go home and back to work.


If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.

Maybe it is time.

The RAM: Helping Third World Countries like the USA