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Thursday, June 19, 2003

Dandelion wine doesn't require any special equipment to make. Just dandelions, some sugar and yeast, oranges and lemons, and pots to boil water in. This recipe uses cloves, which I think gives it a nice touch. If you've got dandelions around, give it a try! Dandelion Wine Ingredients: 2 qts. Dandelion blossoms 4 qts. Water 8 Whole cloves ½ t Powdered ginger 1 C Orange juice 3 T Lemon juice 3 T Coarsely chopped orange peel 1 T Coarsely chopped lemon peel 3 T Lime juice 6 C Sugar 1 pkg. Dried yeast ¼ C Warm water Directions: Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside. Wash the dandelion blossoms well. Put them in the water with the orange, lemon and lime juices. Add the rinds, cloves, ginger and sugar. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for an hour. Strain through filter paper (coffee filters work great). Cool. While still warm (but not hot), stir in the yeast. Let stand overnight and pour into bottles. Allow uncorked bottles to set in a darkened place for three weeks. Then cork and store bottles in a cool place. Makes about 4 quarts. 5:02:15 AM    comment []

Goodbye, Larry You always were my hero. You batted .318 in the 1948 Series, the last time the Indians won it all. We will never forget you. 4:22:55 AM    comment []

US considers Iraqi 'plea bargains'   US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that some captured Iraqi officials could have their punishments reduced in return for providing information.   Maybe I’m missing something. Slobodan Milosovic is being tried by a U.N. Tribunal in The Hague,  under the jurisdiction of SFOR which was formed by UN Resolution 827. I’m not, by any means, arguing that these Iraqi face card dudes are nice guys, but where does Rummy get the authority to plea bargain with them? The Bush administration pulled out of the 1998 Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court when it did not include a US exemption.   Therefore, there is no formal international indictment against the card guys and no domestic authority either, meaning a bill passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President. To the best of my knowledge, there are no formal indictments by any established legal authority by which to charge and try any of the faces on the deck of cards. Since there was no UN approval of the Iraq invasion, virtually no resistance when it occurred, and no internationally banned weapons found, there is no basis for declaring these guys international criminals on the basis of this war. It is not a crime to defend your own country, no matter how abysmally it is done.   Banned weapons were used during the Iran-Iraq war and there should be no statute of limitations on war crimes. However, as much as the “gassed his own people” meme is repeated, the Kurds were no more Saddam’s “own people” than the anonymous Gitmo detainees are Ashcroft’s. Furthermore, the evidence of that charge has been reasonably disputed – including the assertion that there was tacit US complicity at Halabja in 1988, at the height of Iran-Contra. These disturbing bits of evidence would likely be used by the defense in any magistrate outside the jurisdiction of leaping Australian marsupials. I doubt they will be used in unilateral US war tribunals and, even if they are, no word of them will be allowed to leak out.   Neither US nor international law is served when it is subverted solely to convict. Law is served when it is observed. The basic rights Americans fight for are clearly stated in the US Constitution. We need to obey the rules if we seek to enforce them. 3:40:55 AM    comment []