Daily Martini: Halloween Edition 2

In honor of last nights incident, and those in PA uneducated about the importance of Apples in the All Hallows celebration, I have concocted a festive, holiday drink with a refreshing reminder.

Hang on to your hats... this one is complicated.

Adam's Apple Martini
1 1/4 oz. Vodka
2 oz. Apple Cider
1/2 oz. Rose's Lime

Shake and pour into chilled cocktail glass. Top with splash of sprite. Garnish with a juicy, cripy, red apple slice.
Enjoy.

PA, here's some egg in your eye.

I was egged last night.

Some guy ran up behind me and chucked an egg at the back of my head from about three feet away. I think I was more angry about the jackass getting egg all over my freshly dry-cleaned, wool coat than anything.

He ran to a car with three other juvenile delinquents. I chased the jackass down and wacked the side of the car with my bookbag as they drove away. My roomate called the cops.

We looped around the corner on the way home - you have to love the one-way streets in Philadelphia - and wouldn't you know, the morons are parked a block away from where I was hit. They pulled out of their "reload zone" right behind us into traffic. My roomate called Temple Police again to tell them that we had located our "Assailants."

They were arrested. Who's laughing now mother@#?!er ! HaHa.

WHY YOU CARE - WII FM
My roomate called this a "Mischief Night prank." Apparently, this is a phenomena reserved for the Tri-State area and the Great-Lakes regions, at least according to this University of Wisconsin linguistics survey. Wiki agrees that this is a Northeastern US tradition.

From egging and TP, to vandalism and arson, this is a "fun filled" night for some, and a mess for others. In lovely cities like Camden and Detroit, people have been know to light the city on fire. The peak was in 1984, when over 800 buildings were set ablaze in D-town.

It has to be the dumbest custom I have encountered since arriving in Pennsylvania.

So, where did this come from?
History in brief.

How PA has got it all wrong:
Mischief Night, also known as Devil's Night, is actually supposed to fall on November 4. It is a British celebration, adapted from the Celtic tradition of lighting bon fires on this day in celebration of the Samhain feast. In Britain, the day has become one in which children play tricks on adults. (Hmmm!) Common practices include playing games like "ding-dong-ditch" or apple ducking... that's right apples, dummies.

When it goes too far.
What you need to know.
Why this needs to go.

Allow me to clarify something for all you, just as I did for my roommate last night...
People don't go egging the night before Halloween! It's destructive, and it's weird. This city has enough crime to deal with, so don't be a contributor. Be safe, keep your TP next to the toilet where it belongs, try not to burn down any houses
and, Happy Samhain to you too!

Check out this alternative rendition from my roommate.

Philadelphia newspaper strike, Temple News ignorance

The Philadelphia Newspaper Guild voted overwhelmingly to strike this week if their contract demands aren't met. Will Bunch was impressed according to his sentiments on Attytood, the Daily News blog.

As for me, I received a hillariously frantic email from one of the Temple News, who shall remain nameless. According to this email, the Daily News planned to send Temple students out wandering the streets of Philadelphia on Halloween night, roaming in search of a story. They then planned to use whatever we came back with for a City Section... I have to tell you, if this is the level of understanding that the editors at Temple News have of teh newspaper industry, I am terrified!

Daily Martini, Melonball

A classic at any bar, this one is much simpler than we make it out to be. As usual, I don't make it to spec., but I put my own touch on it.

Melonball Martini

1 1/2 oz. Vanilla vodka
1 oz. Melon Liqueur, or Madori
1 oz. Orange Juice

Top with Sprite. Serve is a chilled cocktail glass with cherry and orange slice granish.
Enjoy.

Target Iran: A discussion on US foreign policy.

The New York Society for Ethical Culture hosted a discussion on Iran and US foreign relaions policy on October 16. It was aired Sunday on CSPAN2's BookTV. The guests were Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector and author of Target Iran: The Truth About the White House Plans for Regime Change, and Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker's national security correspondant.

Ritter took the opportunity to discuss his views on the Bush administrations foreign policy and the potential it has to incite war with Iran.

He also discussed the source of this policy. "Neo-Conservatives," as he calls them, including Republican minds like Dick Chaney, "Scooter" Libby and Donald Rumsfeld, have spent the last 20 years perfecting their ideas on nation building and the global pro-democracy movement, according to Ritter.

"They had twelve years under the Reagan-Bush administrations to practice it,
then spent eight years during the Clinton era perfecting it in think tanks," Ritter said.

It is from this political movement, according to Ritter, that the "Bush Doctorine" was derived. Wiki justifies the Bush policy as follows:
"The United States possess the means - economic, military, diplomatic - to realize its expansive geopolitical purposes. Further, and especially in light of the domestic political reaction to the attacks of September 11, the victory in Afghanistan and the remarkable skill demonstrated in focusing national attention, it is equally true that Americans possess the requisite political willpower to pursue an expansive strategy."

This is troublesome, as Hersh and the majority of the audience members in attendence of the event pointed out, because not every American agrees with the purpose or the practice of the "neocon" strategy. Although the power may be present, the question of will exists.

According to Ritter, the United States is not the only nation in which the Bush Doctorine is playing out. The UK has adopted it as well. And, accordingly, British military officials are calling for a change in policy.

"Sir Richard Dannatt is calling for [Prime Minister Tony Blair] to change its policy on Iraq," Ritter said, referring to statements made by UK's Cheif of the General Staff earlier this month. "British policy is destroying the British army."

In his book, Ritter discusses at length what he believes will be the result of the rhetoric coming from the White House at present: full scale war with Iran. He gave a point-by-point timeline for what he anticipates will occur following the October election season.

First, the Bush administration will begin working the politics of war with Iran by accusing them of developing a nuclear weapons program. Ritter, a weapons inspector for the UN from 1991-98 insists that no nuclear weapons exist in Iran, but the story will play out in Iran the same way as it did in Iraq: once the accusation is made, the US will do what it takes to prove that WMD's exist in Iran.

"The burden is on Iran to prove that they do not have nuclear weapons," he said. "But you can't prove a double-negative."

He then anticipates that the US will convince the UN to begin inspections, at which point Iran will pull its oil off of the market. Prices of gasoline will rise in the US, and the common consumer will feel the burden "in their pocket."

"The US is function just above margin. The US is not producing enough oil to support itself," Ritter said. "If Iran pulls its oil, the US will fall to about four percent below margin."

In the end, America's oil-addiction will drive us to war with the Iran. Iran will then turn to the North Korean's and the Chinese for nuclear weapon, according to Ritter, and it is at that point that we can expect to lose a US city to nuclear attack.

Herst was a bit more optimistic.

Although he did not disagree with Ritter's assessment of the Iran situation and the potential that US foreign policy has to start a war, he continually brought the conversation back to the fact that people in this country have varying opinions, and popular opinion has power.

Ritter made a statement at one point about the Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice's diplomatic trip to Iran. He called it fruitless, saying that she wasted time by talking to the Iranian President Mohammad Ahmedinejad.

"[He] has no power," Ritter said.

Constitutionally, this is true. The majority of power rests with the Prime Minister, the Shah and legislative parties in the Iranian government. But, Hersh interjected the importance of popular opinion.

As for the Bush doctorine, Herst said, "[Bush] is going to do what he's going to do whether its because of God, his father or whatever it is." He paused for a moment, and then, "...the twelvth step."

He said that if had any advice for the Joint Chiefs, it would be, "Let's take a mulligan." Go back and pray for forgiveness.

Bushit!

Freedom of speech is collapsing everywhere we turn. There hasn't been a time in recent history that our leaders have tried to stamp out criticism as aggressively as they are now. Check out this story about a woman who is being prosecuted for haveing a bumper sticker that read: 'Bushit'.

"Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power. Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, founded in injustice and wrong, are sure to tremble, if men are allowed to reason…There can be on right of speech where any man…[is] compelled to suppress his honest sentiments.Equally clear is the right to hear. To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker."--- Frederick Douglas

Democracy cannot function without public opinion and the freedom to express it!

Temple football showing their true colors.

Even when losing, some teams still have heart. Temple University's football team showed it two weeks ago when they lost 62-9 to Clemson at home.

Following the game, Beth Kunkel, president of the Clemson University Faculty Senate, wrote a thank you letter to the Temple football program and to the University.

"We would like to ask that you extend our sincere thanks to your football student athletes for their generosity in donating their per diem from the Clemson-Temple game to the fund established for one of our players, "Ray Ray" McElrathbey. "Ray Ray" has obtained custody of his younger brother and is raising him while attending school and participating in the football program. This fund was established to assist him with the financial issues he is facing. For your football team to make such a selfless gesture speaks more loudly than any words of the quality and integrity of your students, faculty and athletic administrators. Thank you!"

Temple football is not recieving much praise these days. It has certainly been abscent here. Around the league and in the media, they are a laughing stock -of course, according to ESPN's that is par for all of the Big East. You won't even find any kudos at the schools fanblog. Every school has one, but Temple's has been updated only five times since April.

This is a small forum for a big thank you, but it needed to be posted somewhere.

Way to go guys.

Temple Wins!

Temple football has finally flung off the longest losing streak in the NCAA, defeating Bowling Green 24-14 before a Homecoming crowd. The team had lost 20 straight prior to Saturday's victory.

Sophomore reciever Travis Shelton caught two touchdowns, and freshman linebacker Junior Galette made a stellar block on a Bowling Green punt that turned the tide for the Owls who never looked back.

Owls coach Al Golden, who has recieved criticism for the teams poor performance inhis freshman season thus far, was described as "emotional." According to ESPN, his wife, pregnant with their second child was hospitalized with complications.