I told my husband last night that we should’ve voted for McCain. No, I haven’t lost my mind and gone Republican. It’s just that the Spin Machine has started already.

Rush Limbaugh has taken to calling this the “Obama recession” (Limbaugh’s radio show, 11/6/08). Sean Hannity evidently thought that was a clever way to pass the buck too, repeating the phrase on his radio show on November 11.  Tuesday, one of my  colleagues in the university’s English department came into my office to complain about all the unpatriotic liberals who are “going to be sorry they voted for Obama” when he runs the country into bankruptcy. My mom joined the chorus today, mocking Obama’s plans to help people keep their homes and jobs: “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the Frankenstein monsters of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.”

I couldn’t help but point out that they weren’t monsters until they were de-regulated by Phil Graham in 2000. His Commodity Futures Modernization Act can also be blamed for credit default swaps and the “Enron loophole” (New York Times, 11/14/08).

Never mind that most economists believe the recession began early this year, before Obama even won his first primary (New York Times, 11/14/08). Never mind Republicans had control of the House for 11 of the past 13 years (www.house.gov). Never mind that Republicans had control of the Senate for 10 of the past 12 years (www.senate.gov). Never mind that a Republican has been in the White House for 28 of the past 38 years!

Isn’t anyone else noticing the pattern? Alan Greenspan claims that the current economic recession is “a once-in-a-century type of financial crisis,” but this is actually the third time in the last century that we’ve endured this kind of mess (CNN. 9/14/08). 1929 – which followed 8 years of Republican rule; 1987 – which followed 7 years of Republican rule; and 2008- which is following 8 years of Republican rule (Whitehouse.gov). Every time we give the Republicans the power to implement conservative economic principles, they run our economy into the ground. And when the middle class starts to feel the pinch (which we seem to feel before anyone else), they tell us to shut up and stop whining (AP, 12/14/07; ABC, 7/13/08).

Having Republicans blame Obama and the Democrats for this economic nightmare reminds me a playground bully. The kid is the ruler of the playground, terrorizing everyone else and having a wonderful time with a kickball no one else gets to touch. After a while, the ball goes flat because of his rough play. He surrenders the flattened kickball to one of his victimized schoolmates, taunting them for their inability to bounce it and blaming them for its ruin.

Obama will be able to do no right in the eyes of the sore losers. He hasn’t even taken office yet. He hasn’t passed a single new law. He hasn’t established a single new policy. But everything’s his fault already. He has inherited a flattened kickball, and the kids who flattened it are going to blame and taunt him for it.

We should’ve given it to McCain. After all, he was the bully’s toadie and rightful heir.

Okay, so my blog’s been pretty political the past few months. But with the election over (HURRAY, OBAMA!), I can turn my attention to the upcoming holidays. Next week is Thanksgiving, and a few of my friends have been asking for recipes. I figured I could just post them here, and share them with everyone all at once.

With the end of the fall semester fast approaching, I don’t know if I’ll get back on here anytime soon, so keep the faith and have a great Turkey Day!

Jennifer’s Six-Year Apple Pie
This pie recipe got its name because it took me six years of marriage to put together an apple pie my husband really loved. Not that he’s picky…

Double-Crust Pie Dough

2 c. flour
½ t. salt
2/3 c. shortening
7 T. ice water

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry cutter until pieces are size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water at a time over the mixture and gently toss with a fork. Repeat until moistened.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Form each half into a ball. Using your hands, flatten one ball into a circle, then roll it to a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Carefully remove dough to 9-inch pie plate and trim it even with the rim of the plate.

For top crust, roll remaining dough to a 12-inch circle.

Filling

3 large Golden Delicious apples, peeled and sliced
¼ c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
¼ t. cinnamon
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. vanilla

Combine apple slices, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Pour into the pie plate. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust and poke holes with a fork to allow steam to escape. Trim crust with pizza cutter and crimp edges with tines of a fork. Gently brush the top crust with milk, then sprinkle with sugar.  Cover edges with foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20 minutes more. Allow to cool about 30 minutes before serving.

Stephanie’s Party Cheese Dip

My sister got this recipe from one of her co-workers. We are now addicted to it.

 

1 jar Kraft Old English cheese

1 oz. bar Philadephia cream cheese

Chopped green onion to taste

Fresh bagels, chopped into bite-size pieces

 

Mix together the cheeses and onions. Serve with bagels.

The Holiday Turkey - Miller Style

 

The ladies of Ida Street have an annual progressive dinner that always ends at the Millers’ where Judy has the traditional turkey and dressing. When my mom started hosting holidays, she would call the turkey expert, Judy, in a panic for help.  So, Judy wrote out the recipe in this simple step-by-step format that I have to reproduce in its original form. Any other way would not do it justice.

 

1.     Capture a 23 - 25 pound turkey. Or pick one out in the freezer section.

2.     Thaw the frozen turkey for 4 - 5 days in the fridge.

3.     Remove the giblets - some are in the cavity, some in the neck. (Nasty things.) Save them for gravy.

4.     Rinse the bird inside and out in COLD water.

5.     Position the turkey breast-side up in a roaster. This is important. Breast-side down is NOT a good thing.

6.     Soften a stick of butter - not margarine - in the microwave.

7.     Grease the outer skin of the turkey with butter.

8.     Sprinkle the outside of the turkey with salt.

9.     Rub salt inside the cavity.

10. Lay an entire stick of butter inside the cavity.

11. Place this greasy, salty turkey in the roaster and fill the roaster half-full of water.

12. Add a stick of butter to the water. (Yep, that’s what she said!)

13. Put the bird in a 200 degree oven at midnight (Miller time) and bake for about 9 hours. That way your oven is available for other things the next day and the bird will carve better when it has cooled.

 

The roaster will be full of buttery broth which is wonderful for noodles.

Mom’s Party Potatoes

This recipe actually came from my mom’s sister. We’ve had these delicious mashed potatoes every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas for as long as I can remember!  Mom now uses packaged mashed potatoes from the dairy section of the grocery, but I still like to use real potatoes if I have time.

15 - 16 medium potatoes

Butter and salt to taste

Milk for consistency

8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese

½ pint sour cream

Paprika

 

Peel and boil potatoes, then mash with butter, salt, and a little milk. Add cream cheese, sour cream and enough milk for consistency. Pour into buttered casserole. Dot with butter and paprika. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.  Serves 10-12.

The McCain-Palin campaign has had many problems. They’re running against an extremely focused and effective Democratic candidate in a year when most voters despise the sitting Republican administration. They put up a completely inexperienced vice presidential candidate who’s in the middle of an ethics investigation in her home state and who can’t help putting her foot in her mouth every ten seconds. In the face of an economic meltdown, their presidential candidate behaved like a junior high drama queen looking for attention. The “Everyman,” Joe the Plumber, they hoisted around like a gift from God has turned out to be much less like John Q. Public and a lot more like one of those much-maligned Hollywood-celebrity types, complete with press agents and country music contracts.    With the election just over 24 hours away, the rats are deserting the sinking ship faster than you can say “Tina Fey’s a genius” (CNN, “Former Reagan adviser endorses Obama,” 10/31/08).

I voted a couple weeks ago, but there’s just one thing I hope other folks remember as they head to the polls on Tuesday: The Republicans don’t like you. At least, they don’t like you if you belong to any of the following categories.

If you are:

Barack Obama

Joe Biden

William Ayers

Rashid Khalidi

Nancy Pelosi

A resident of San Francisco (Republicans for Family Values, 10/22/08)

A Chicago politician (John McCain political ad, 10/6/08)

A resident of any big city (McCain and Palin, Interview with Brian Williams, 10/23/08)

A New Yorker (Rush Limbaugh, 10/2/08)

A resident of northern Virginia (Nancy Pfotenhauer, 10/17/08)

An East Coast “elitist” (McCain and Palin, Interview with Brian Williams, 10/23/08)

A “Georgetown cocktail party” person (McCain and Palin, Interview with Brian Williams, 10/23/08)

A member of the “Washington elite” (Palin’s RNC speech, 9/3/08)

An employee of any Big Oil company (Palin’s RNC speech, 9/3/08)

An Ivy League alumnus (Rudy Giuliani’s RNC speech, 9/3/08)

A community organizer (Palin’s RNC speech, 9/3/08)

A member of the “do-nothing Senate” (Palin’s RNC speech, 9/3/08)

A Hollywood celebrity (McCain political ad, 08/08) – particularly ironic in light of all the celebrities Republicans have put in office: Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Fred Thompson, and Sonny Bono, to name a few.

A member of the media (Palin’s RNC speech, 9/3/08)

A Muslim (Meet the Press, 10/19/08)

Russian (Palin, Interview with Charles Gibson, 9/11/08)

Not a religious person (Rep. Robin Hayes, 10/25/08)

This is a short list of the people who have been on the receiving end of the McCain-Palin campaign’s most vicious attacks. Basically, the only people the Republican regime seems to like are Americans who live in small towns or rural areas, own guns, attend an evangelical Christian church regularly, do not have a college degree, and work at a blue-collar job.

So if that you do not fit that description, just remember: the Republicans do not like you. They do not respect your opinion. They do not think you are patriotic. They do not think you are a part of “real America” (Sarah Palin, 10/16/08). They do not deserve your vote.