Pasta & mustard greens

Whole-Wheat Rotini with Wilted Mustard Greens
January/February 2011

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“More mustard greens!” That’s what the VT staff asked for when they tasted the first version of this recipe. Now it’s an even better source of vitamins C and E. Shaved Parmesan provides tryptophan, and canola oil offers omega-3s.
DIRECTIONS

1. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add mustard greens, and blanch 3 minutes. Remove greens to colander with slotted spoon. Add rotini to 
water, and cook according to package directions.
2. Heat oil in large skillet or wok over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add greens, increase heat to medium, and cook 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Drain pasta, and reserve 1/4 cup cooking water. Stir pasta and reserved cooking water into mustard green mixture, and cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until sauce is hot and bubbly. Serve 1 cup pasta sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Member Rating: -

ingredient list
Serves 4
1 1/2 lb. mustard greens, trimmed and coarsely chopped (9 cups)
1/2 lb. whole-wheat rotini pasta
1/4 cup canola oil
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped (4 tsp.)
1 oz. shaved Parmesan cheese, optional

"Black Swan:" A review

Continuing on our pre-Oscar film tour, a few evenings ago we saw Black Swan.To paraphrase someone who wrote a lot better than I ever will: it's a lot of sound & fury signifying very little. In other words, if you want to see a great ballet film, rent The Red Shoes. However before I say anything else it's really important to point out that Natalie Portman gives a magnificent performance as Nina the newly anointed prima ballerina of a New York ballet company, which is about to perform Swan Lake. (Portman's performance should compete neck-and-neck with Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone)

The plot of the film lies in ballet master Thomas Leroy's (Vincent Cassel) struggle to get the virginal introverted Nina (perfect for the White Swan) to come out of her shell and express the sexuality and dominance of the Black Swan. It seems to me that this confuses an actor or dancer's life experience with what they can perform. But the core of the film is the disintegration of Nina's personality. Unfortunately because you never meet her before her crisis ensues, it's very hard to relate to her and care about what happens to her. Sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's nightmare in Nina's life. I think most of them begin with a real moment which Nina then turns into a horror focused on herself. I would like to think that real people are far more complex than the stereotypical characters in this film. Perhaps the best way to conclude this review is to say: If you want to see All About Eve, rent it. It's about real people.

Image Credit: Niko Tavernise

"Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune": a review

I certainly wanted "Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune" to be allot better than it was. As my friend Judith Pasternack said "The material was better than the movie they made from it." But you have to say the music was wonderful and it was great to be immersed once again in the optimism of the 60s, even if only for 1 hr & 36 min. There's also no question that Phil could write a political song that energized people. "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore" is truly one of the great anti-war songs. I think only someone without a soul could hear it and not want to march against the war, any war.

But I couldn't help but compare it with "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song." Whereas "The Power of Song" was such an up, "There But for Fortune" is the exact opposite. No matter how much the U.S. tried to destroy Pete, he survived, actually he prevailed. Not so for Phil who was ultimately another casualty of this society. But we don't really learn very much about the person behind Ochs the movement star. For example, Alice Skinner, his wife and Meegan, his daughter are in the film at the beginning and at the end, but their missing for all the rest. We never really learn what happened to his relationship with Alice (they stayed married but didn't live together) and toward the end of his life he did spend some time with Meegan, but they didn't have much of a relationship either. But we don't learn much of this from the movie. Again the comparison with Pete Seeger is striking. Some of the weakness of the movie in telling the story of Phil Ochs life, may have resulted from the fact that his brother, Michael, was an executive producer and may have tried to shape the view of his brother it showed.

In August 1971, he became close to Chilean folksinger Victor Jara. And Jara's public torture and murder after the anti-Allende coup seemed to have begun the slide which ended in his suicide in 1976 at age 36. His tragic end may have been over-determined. He, like his father, was manic-depressive and an incident in Tanzania, when he was "mugged and strangled resulting in the loss of the higher end of his vocal range" heightened his depression. And as the movie says, he organized the "end of war" rally in Central Park, but it depressed him rather than energizing him. After all, what was an anti-war singer/songwriter going to do when the war was over. Obviously, there could be many answers to that question, but for someone deep in depression perhaps there was only one.

Maybe Phil Ochs life can be summarized in his less than comradely relationship with Bob Dylan, who he idolized. He wanted to be the best songwriter of his generation until he met Dylan and then he wanted to be the second best. I think, perhaps, second best just wasn't good enough for Phil Ochs.

An era in NYC journalism comes to an end

With the firing of investigative reporter and editor Wayne Barrett and the resignation of Tom Robbins in solidarity, the the story of the Village Voice as the conscience of New York City journalism has come to an end. The death of the Voice began in 2006 when it merged with New Times Media. That merger was immediately followed by the firing of Washington correspondent James Ridgway (at which point two others resigned). Two years later Nat Hentoff was also fired, despite the 50-year tenure of his column. These are just the investigative reporters; many others in the arts coverage and behind the scenes were also dismissed.

I don't mean to downplay the Voice's faults even in those years, especially its homophobia in the aftermath of the Stonewall Rebellion. Nor do I mean to put it in a class with the Guardian Newsweekly (where I worked) or the Pacifica radio network both of which were/are clearly more to the Left politically. But The Voice played a unique role in New York City politics and those days are over. And that is worth our bitter regret.

Legendary Muckraking Reporter Wayne Barrett Laid Off from Village Voice

Profits trump safety and accountability in Gulf oil rig explosion

Here are two stories from Democracy Now! headlines this morning (Mon. 12/27) regading the failure of the system intended to protect the oil rig in the Gulf because profits took precedence over safety & the interference of the same companies with the investigation of the disaster.



Investigators: Involvement of Companies Undermining Oil Spill Probe


Report: All of Rig's Defense Systems Failed During Explosion

Hatred on the right: homophobia

Those on the right of the political spectrum today must find it very difficult keeping track of all the people they hate. Here are several comments made by right-wing Republicans in the immediate aftermath of the historic U.S. Senate vote last Saturday to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) and take a baby step toward making LGBT human beings American citizens. (These comments are from a correspondence I recently received from Michael Keegan of People for the American Way.)

Bryan Fischer of The American Family Association: "The new Marine motto: 'The Few, the Proud, the Sexually Twisted.' Good luck selling that to strong young males who would otherwise love to defend their country. What virile young man wants to serve in a military like that?"

Tony Perkins of The Family Research Council: "It is clear why this was done: not to enhance the military's ability to accomplish its mission or to enhance national security. Rather, it is a political payoff to a tiny, but loud and wealthy, part of the Democratic base."

Peter LaBarbara of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality: "If the lame-duck Congress succeeds in ‘gaying down' our military this weekend, it will take a disastrous leap toward “mainstreaming” deviant, sinful homosexual conduct."

I don't know what these people are smoking, but it seems to me that no one with a brain that hasn't turned to mush could possibly make such bigoted and utterly ignorant statements. These people and others like them are willing to undermine our security by making young men & women in the front lines mistrust the person next to them because of his or her homosexuality.As Rodgers & Hammerstein told us: "You have to be taught to hate and to fear."

The Inmates have Taken Over the Asylum: Airport Security

Here's what security technologist and author Bruce Schneier has to say in the NYT about airport security:i

A short history of airport security: We screen for guns and bombs, so the terrorists use box cutters. We confiscate box cutters and corkscrews, so they put explosives in their sneakers. We screen footwear, so they try to use liquids. We confiscate liquids, so they put PETN bombs in their underwear. We roll out full-body scanners, even though they wouldn’t have caught the Underwear Bomber, so they put a bomb in a printer cartridge. We ban printer cartridges over 16 ounces — the level of magical thinking here is amazing — and they’re going to do something else.

This is a stupid game, and we should stop playing it. (For more)

One thing that Schneier doesn't mention is that one of the most pervasive voices on the tube promoting the full-body scanners is former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff. One thing Chertoff never mentions when he appears - as an expert - on these TV news shows is that one of the customers of his firm, The Chertoff Group, is the manufacturer of the full body scanners - Rapiscan. Conflict of interest you say. Ah well, that's capitalism. Here's a CNN video on Chertoff, Rapiscan & airport security. It's definitely worth a look

New York Film Critics choices for 2010

Best Film: The Social Network
Best Foreign Language Film: I Am Love
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor: James Franco, 127 Hours
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Ensemble Cast: The Kids Are All Right
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Breakthrough Performer: Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Debut Director: John Wells, The Company Men
Best Cinematography: Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Best Score: Clint Mansell, Black Swan

"Let them eat cake!" said the Republicans

"Let them eat cake"

Although there's considerable disagreement as to which princess uttered these infamous words when told the peasants had no bread,

there is no question as to the callous imperiousness of this sentiment. It has now been surpassed in the words and deeds of today's Congressional Republicans. Here's what Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said several days ago (on The Rachel Maddow show) about their actions,

The Republicans want to give billionaires in this country, people like Rupert Murdoch, a million dollars a year in tax breaks and yet they are balking , resisting providing unemployment compensation for people who have no jobs. I think that is just horrendous.

Well today they took the first step toward fulfilling their obligations to their millionaire masters. Their designated hit-man on this issue, Massachusetts Senator Scotty Brown said that he could only vote for the extension of unemployment insurance if it did not add to the deficit. Despite the fact that there is no question that extending unemployment insurance would help to stimulate the economy to a much larger extent than tax breaks for millionaires, no such concern about the deficit has impinged on the GOP's demands for tax breaks for the very rich.

So when the Republican Scrooges were told that the unemployed would have no bread for Christmas, they followed in the imperious footsteps of the unknown princess.

Dec. 1, 11:45 AM: Granny Peace Brigade - Kick off 2010 Peace Toy Campaign

Wed. Dec 1, 11:45AM

Meet north of the recruiting center near 44th and Broadway
to kick off the 2010 Peace Toy Campaign.

The Raging Grannies will also be there with songs.

Subsequent actions will be on Friday, Dec 10th and
Thursday, Dec 16th at the same place.

Did GOP's Cantor Commit treason?

The following is a story by Lawrence Davidson from consortiumnews.com detailing Congressmember Eric Cantor's devious attempt "to tell the Israeli Prime Minister that he and the Republican Party will use the power of the House of Representatives to protect Israel from U.S. government policy." Davidson believes this was a violation of the Logan Act. It seems to me that Cantor's attempt to undermine the power of the secretary of state and the president may very well be an act of treason. After all, whatever Mr. Cantor may think (if he thinks at all) Barack Obama is charged with carrying out U.S. foreign policy not either Cantor or the Republican/Tea Party. As we know from Shakespeare, hubris has never been the path to success. And Cantor seems imbued with overbearing arrogance.

Did GOP's Cantor Cross Line on Israel?

Chronicles of capitalism

From today's (11/18) Democracy Now:

(1) Insurers Gave Chamber Over $86M to Defeat Healthcare Reform

Newly disclosed figures show the nation’s largest health insurance corporations funneled some $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose healthcare reform last year. Companies including UnitedHealth and CIGNA provided the money through their main lobbying group, America’s Health Insurance Plans. The spending exceeded the group’s entire budget from the year before and accounted for 40 percent of the Chamber’s 2009 budget. The money was used to fund ads, polling and public events to stir opposition to the healthcare overhaul. An anonymous source confirmed to Bloomberg News that the money came from insurers because federal tax laws don’t require identification of donors. In a statement, the Center for Responsive Politics said, "Perhaps this key debate would have progressed differently if the true source of the chamber’s spending had been known at the time."

(2) Study: Lawmakers’ Personal Wealth Increased 16% in 2008

A new study shows members of Congress saw a boost in personal wealth as the U.S. economy suffered the worst of the economic recession. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, lawmakers’ personal wealth increased an average 16 percent between 2008 and 2009. The number of millionaires rose to 261, nearly half the total members of Congress. The median wealth of a House member topped $765,000, while the average for a senator was more than $2.3 million.

(3) GOP Blocks Paycheck Fairness Act in Senate

Republican senators have blocked a measure to fight wage discrimination against female workers. The Paycheck Fairness Act would increase enforcement of laws requiring equal pay for men and women. But on Wednesday, all Republican senators voted to prevent the bill from coming to a vote.

[Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson was the only Democrat who voted with the Republicans.]

(4) FBI Meets with Google, Facebook in Wiretap Push

The Obama administration is intensifying a push to expand government wiretapping of online communications, including emails, Facebook postings and internet phone calls. The administration wants Congress to require immediate compliance with wiretap orders seeking government monitoring of encrypted messages sent over the internet. The New York Times reports FBI Director Robert Mueller met with top executives at several major Silicon Valley firms, including Google and Facebook, earlier this week. The White House proposals include a requirement that any services based overseas be routed communications through a U.S. server where they could be wiretapped.

Did someone say something about democracy?

FDR to A. Philip Randolph: "Make me"

I know we all want Obama to stand up against the onslaught of Republican Tea Party madness. It's clear from this afternoon's press conference that this isn't going to easily happen. He seems to be repeating the same mistakes he made at the beginning of his administration. No matter how obviously obstructionist they are, he is going to talk about compromise and agreement. That's what he did two years ago. Remember what they say about someone who keeps doing the same thing and expects different results.

But there is another side to this story: presidents (and other politicians) don't act in the interests of the people without enormous pressure from outside. The probably apocryphal story that FDR's response when Sleeping Car-porters union organizer A. Philip Randolph came to him to ask him to integrate the war industries: "make me" led to the first March on Washington.

In other words what happens the next two years depends on us, not Obama.

Watch the election results tonight (8PM) on MNN1 or FStv

Tuesday, November 2, on MNN1 starting at 8PM Manhattan Neighborhood Network will join Free Speech TV to cover the mid-term elections the only way MNN knows how to do it... ALTERNATIVE NEWS STYLE!

The coverage will be hosted progressive media veterans, including Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Laura Flanders, Thom Hartmann, Gloria Neal and Marc Steiner. It will feature analysis and commentary from social activists, community organizers and political analysts, including David Sirota, Herb Boyd, Rosa Clemente, Jim Hightower and John Nichols.

There will also be correspondents' reports from The Nation, Mother Jones and Yes Magazine and special guest appearances by NAACP’s Ben Jealous, AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka, former Denver mayor Wellington Webb and many more.

Faithful to their mission of providing fearless, innovative and fully-independent programming, Free Speech TV (FSTV) will offer this special elections coverage, entirely commercial-free and void of the mainstream media corporate spin.

"We at FSTV are delighted to be partnering with several other independent media entities and personalities to bring this unique election night broadcast to millions of homes around the country," said Don Rojas, Executive Director of Free Speech TV.

"This unprecedented media collaboration will make it possible for the nation to view a diverse collection of hosts and guests reporting and analyzing the results and the political implications of this crucial mid-term election through a progressive lens."

Some Thoughts on Tomorrow's Election

First of all, I'm voting a straight Working Family's Party line except for Governor I'm voting for Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins (because I won't vote for union-buster Andrew Cuomo) and for Senator Colia Clark also a Green candidate (because I swore I would never again vote for Charles Schumer when he supported the nomination of Bush's 3rd Attorney General Michael Mukasey).

I know that no one I vote for tomorrow is going to change anything, but I think fighting the right is an important thing to do. I also know that whatever disaster the Democrats experience tomorrow is to a large extent of their own making. But it is, if it's not already too late, the first pitch of the 2012 presidential election. Having ceded the narrative of this election to the Republican Tea Party the question is can they reclaim it for 2012. Although the media - not surprisingly - has fallen hook-line-&-sinker for the line that this election is a referendum on the Obama presidency, that could hardly be the case. It's not entirely clear when the Tea Party was born but it was some time between February 27 and April 15, 2009. If you remember it was only January 20, 2009 when Obama was inaugurated. So it would have been very difficult for him to have done enough to lead to the creation of a genuine grass-roots opposition. Here's a little of the early history of the Tea Party by Judson Berger on April 6, 2009 from Fox News online.

The Sons of Liberty of today is led by people like Rick Santelli, the CNBC reporter widely credited with helping spark the tea-party fever nationwide (though tea parties were being held before Santelli plugged them).

During an infamous on-air rant on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in February, Santelli called for modern-day tea parties to protest the economic trends in government.

He stirred up traders by shouting that the government was promoting "bad behavior" with its mortgage rescue plan. "This is America," he said. "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?"

Though he was mocked by the White House, Santelli might as well have yelled, "Give me liberty or give me death!"

Jenny Beth Martin, a Republican activist who's helping organize one of the higher-profile tea parties in Atlanta, said Santelli's rant led shortly afterward to a conference call of 22 activists, including herself.

From there, she said, organizers put together 48 tea parties -- from St. Louis to San Antonio to Chicago -- on Feb. 27.

The conception of the Tea Party "movement" long preceded its birth. But it also clearly long preceded the Obama presidency. It clearly takes more than a month to create a real movement. But puppeteers like long-time Republican operative Dick Armey were able to snow the media into believing the Tea Party phenomenon was spontaneous. And, suddenly, the Democrats were fighting back from behind from the first inning. It will be interesting to see if the Democrats can set the narrative for 2012. People like Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have given them lots of ammunition:

The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president

There are Americans (and Iraqis and Afghanis) with their lives on the line but for the Republicans "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for Obama to be a one-term president;" we are in the middle of the greatest capitalist crisis sin ce the Great Depression, but for the Republicans "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." If the Democrats can't make something out of that they need to hang up their spikes.

Jane Mayer on The Koch brothers (in The New Yorker)

You've surly heard about it, but possibly haven't read it. Jane Mayer's New Yorker article: Covert Operation: The Billionaire [Koch] Brothers who are Waging a War Against Obama." Here it is. It's well worth reading. Let me know what you think.

Substitute your "favorite" Republican face for Nixon's in this cartoon

Once upon a time Herblock, the great cartoonist, drew this picture of Nixon crawling out of a sewer. It seems to me it would be a perfect image for Newt Gingrich or for that matter any Tea Party or Republican spokesperson. Just substitute your "favorite" Republican face for NIxon.

Sept.23: El Grito De Lares! Rally and march

Commemorate

El Grito De Lares!

Rally and march

Gather on

Thursday, September 23, 4:00 PM

Assemble at Marcus Garvey Park
(124th Street and Madison Avenue)

El Grito de Lares is today the most celebrated and respected holiday in Puerto Rico. It was an event that affirmed the existence of the Puerto Rican people as a nation and defined its historical quest for liberation from foreign tyranny. This rebellion demanded the independence of Puerto Rico from Spanish colonialism and the abolition of African chattel slavery.

Since September 23, 2005, the anniversary of El Grito De Lares has added meaning. An F.B.I. assault team launched a vicious attack on the home of Machetero leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios. The revered leader of the struggle for Puerto Rico’s independence was assassinated by the agents of colonialism.

Sunday 9/12 events

SUN SEPT 12
Noon and 5pm • Free
SPEAKER: AMY GOODMAN
Listen to Amy Goodman speak at the Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday. At noon she will discuss the intellectual and popular influence of Howard Zinn. At 5pm she will be speaking about the depiction of conflict in both fiction and non-fiction, and the way these events can shape both our identity and engagement with our everyday lives.
Francis College McArdle Hall, 180 Remsen Street in Brooklyn
718-802-3852 • brooklynbookfestival.org

7pm • Sliding scale: $6/$10/$15
BOOK PARTY: MICHAEL PARENTI GOD’S DEMON WARRIORS
In his latest book, God and His Demons, Michael Parenti brings his critical acumen and gifted writing skills to bear on the many evils committed in the name of godly virtue throughout history. Not a blanket condemnation of believers, the focus is on the threat posed by fundamentalists and theocratic reactionaries.
Brecht Forum, 451 West St
212-242-4201 • brechtforum.org