Daily Martini, AppleWood

A Cheryl Ellis original, this one is dynamic and uninspired by any other drink I have ever tasted. Fantastic with a Pecan-crusted chicken salad, topped with cranberry-raisins.

Apple Wood Martini

1 1/4 oz. Apple Vodka
3/4 oz. Madori Melon
1/2 oz. Creme de Mint
1 oz Apple Juice
1/4 oz. Rose's lime

Sever in a chilled cocktail glass.
Enjoy.

Same sex marriage bans pass in seven of eight states.

The count is still going on, but it appears Arizona was the only state to reject a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage yesterday. Still, there is no reason to be disheartened.

Althought the ban was passed in South Dakota, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Colorado and Virginia, it was not by an overwhelming margin. Look at the numbers.

(in percents, for ban/against ban)
Arizona: 49 / 51
Colorado: 56 / 44
South Carolina: 78/ 22
South Dakota: 52 / 48
Tennessee: 81 / 19
Virginia: 57 / 43
Wisconsin: 59 / 41

Average: 61.7 / 38.3

Take the Bible-belt states of Tennessee and South Carolina out of the mix and the numbers are even tighter.

Average: 54.6 / 45.4

Pretty close to an even split.

What does this mean? Though the American people may not yet be ready to hear same-sex couples say 'I Do', they are not ready to write discrimination into their constitutions. While this is not necessarily a giant leap for homo-kind, it is a small step toward equality.

Cosby settles sexual assault suit. Will Temple have him back?

Bill Cosby settled on the sexual assault case today, but the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. The woman, a former employee of the Temple University Athletic Department accused Cosby of having drug and sexually assaulted her in his Cheltenham mansion.

Cosby has had a tough run since 1997.
First, there was the murder of his son, Ennis, in Los Angeles.
Then, he was busted on a brief affair. Autumn Jackson, the daughter of the woman he had the affair with, extorting him.
Then, in 2004, this case.

As the most notable alumnist of Temple University, Cosby was a regular feature at freshman orientations and at the annual commencement ceremonies. He hsa not been aske to attent either even since 2003.

This year, he spoke at an event hosted by Temple's School of Education, in which he promoted a PBS documentary Boys of Baracka. Relations seemed light at that event as Cosby engaged in a comical banter with Temple's new president Ann Weaver Hart. But, will the Cos be back at commencement?

We shall see.

Rummy retiring

So, in case you haven't heard, our buddy Donald Rummy resigned. In the wake of the midterm elections, President Bush announced Dr. Robert Gates, former Director of the CIA as his successor.

What do we know about Gates?

Well, he served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor at The White House from January 20, 1989 until November 6, 1991, under President George H.W. Bush.

After his stint with the CIA - 26 years to be exact- Gates went to Texas to serve as president of Texas A&M. In 1996, he wrote his memoirs "From the Shadows", a book that became somewhat controversial as it made statements about the relationship between the CIA and Mujahadeen in Afghanistan during the 1980's.

He thinks that the US is a target for cyber-terrorism. (I'm sure he was comforted when Mac's got their first virus.)

He launched a 1991 campaign to create more openness in the CIA. The intent was to share information with the media, academia and other government agencies.

Gates expressed concerns over the open participation of the CIA in peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. But, nevertheless, "it seems fitting in this new era of openness that the C.I.A.'s longstanding behind-the-scenes role in helping to wage peace should finally become public alongside its long history in waging covert war."

When the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was "accidentally bombed" by NATO 1999, Gates said "In War, Mistakes Happen."

On that incident, a 1999, New York Times Op-Ed, said, "there was a system failure as well as mistakes by individuals. The source of all mapping information for United States military targeting is the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, a joint military and civilian intelligence organization. According to The New York Times, that agency was apparently the source of outdated maps. Then the C.I.A. analysts apparently misidentified the target. And finally, military databases in the United States and NATO used to check the accuracy of such information failed to catch the error.... Americans ... should understand that outdated maps and insufficient personnel are related to 12 years of budget cuts in both the military and intelligence."

He has recieved three Distinguished Intellegence Medals, the highest award for CIA agents.

And, of course, he served as a member of the board of trustees of The Fidelity Funds, and on the board of directors of NACCO Industries, Inc., Brinker International, Inc. and Parker Drilling Company, Inc.

Let's go get that oil.
And, let's be real open about it.
Hey, maybe we can take out a few Chinese Embassy's while we're at it.

Jim Webb fought to the finish line in the Virginia Senate race, bringing home an apparent victory and a Democratic majority in the US Senate.

Signs in Webbs camp read "Jim Webb Born Fighting", and celebration ensued, when the Associated Press declared him the winner of the tight race. Although canvasing and counting will continue, the AP has estimated that Webb won the race by about 7,200 votes.

Read more!

CNN is also projecting that Democrat Jon Tester will trump incumbent Senator Conrad Burns in Montana.

With these two victories, the Democrats secured the majority in both the House and the Senate. Good news for American's looking for a change in the staus quo.

Temple Society of Professional Journalists- or TUSPJ

I founded this little project of mine in November of 2005.

With the assistance of some loyal profs and a few cohorts - Erica, Adam, Tiffany and Rachel - it has actually become a functioning student organization at Temple.

We had a big week.

We unveiled our new logo (above). After running an unsuccessful competition for designs from Tyler School of Art, I created my own entry. It won. Not because of its amazing artistic merit, but because the other entries we recieved were so lame.

I decided that entering the contest was not a conflict of interest, so long as returned the $50 cash prize to the organization... Although I have to admit, it was difficult to turn down considering by bank account balance was $2.18 at the time.

Anyway, here it is.
We recruited a new advisor. Susan J has been our greatest supporter from the start. She was member as an undergrad. She allows us to promote in her classes. We even stole our t-shirt slogan from her idea: "Journalist Probe Deeper"

Above all, I am excited to have Susan J as an advisor because she is inspirational. Hey, she inspired me to start this blog.

Get to know her better at her own blog Citizen of Philadelphia

We launched our web site. TUSPJ Online
No discredit to Anthony for his services, but I wish I knew html and Dreamweaver, because with all of the time I dedicated to gathering and writing the content of the site, I should have done it myself. I would have done it better, too. Then I could have put it in MY portfolio.

(You like that should'a, would'a, could'a? My grandpa must be so proud)

But what do you think of that front page logo?
They asked for a can of Milwakee's Best. I told them that a can of Beast might send the message that we have low self-esteem. Besides, journalists and scotch have a relationship that goes back a long way.

At least I can put that in my portfolio.

Daily Martini, French Martini

A resounding message was sent last night to Congress: The American people are exceedingly dissatisfied with the state of the Union.

Let us not celebrate victory, because it has not been secured yet.

Let us not celebrate the Democrats as they appear to have siezed control of Congress, because that would exclude half of the country.

Let us not celebrate ourselves for sending a message, because the message is meaningless until it his heard and acted upon.

For these toasts, I recommend a glass of Marinelli's, saving the real celebration for when the real answers come.

Instead, let us celebrate a successful election night with few voter restrictions, free speech and an excellent job by the American media in covering the election.

But, lets break out the chamagne for these guys!
Here's to you pressmen and women around the country. You taught us in one night about issues, candidates, restrictions faced by some voters that prevented them from voting, and above all, the results without upsetting the voting process. Well done!


The French Martini

1 1/2 oz. Vanilla Vodka
1 1/4 oz. Champagne (or sparking cider)
3/4 oz. Chambord
1/2 oz. Pinapple Juice

Do not shake.
Serve in a Chilled Cocktail glass.
No Garnish.

Enjoy!
Celebrate safely.

added: 12:50 am, November 9
Dems have secured it... time to pop the Kobel!

My Political Platform

My Dad would freak if he saw this.
Well, maybe I'll get lucky, and he will.

A CNN survey asked three questions on each of these topics to determine where the quiz takers' views fall on a political spectrum.
There were some very interesting results. For the most part, people seemed to fall all over the map.

I personally could not find any connection between age, gender or location that would have suggested a pattern.

My results from the quiz are above. This is not surprising, considering I consider myself to be more liberal on social issues and conservative on fiscal ones. I believe that corporations are the devil. I believe in the importance of small business. I believe it is the responsibility of each individual to take care of him/herself and their neighbor, not the governments'. I believe that as citizens we need to stand up for our rights and protections, because it is in the nature of government to take them from us. And, above all, I believe in my right to live my life without impositions by my government...

My government should be affraid of me, I should not be affraid of my government

Click here, to take the quiz.

Dems taking control?

Balance of Power Resting on Two

Candidates for Senate Jim Allen, D-Virg. (left), and Jon Tester, D-Mont. (right)

I could have posted this at 12:20 a.m., but I made a decision to wait for more information. As it turns out, it didn't matter... the two deciding races are still undecided.

Last night, the Democrats took firm control of the House of Representatives, winning 228 seats to the GOP's 195. In the Senate, a shocking display of voter disapproval came as
Democrats made siginificant advances. Prior to Election night, it was predicted that Dems would pick up Senate seats in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, meaning that they would gain strength, but not a majority in the Senate. But, they have nearly secured control there as well.

Two more races, Missouri and Rhode Island, went to challenging Democrats, and at the moment, candidates in Virginia and Montana are still neck and neck. If James Webb, D-Virg., defeats incumbent George Allen, R-Virg., as CNN and other major news outlets are predicting, the Dems would assume the majority. If Jon Tester, D-Mont., defeats incumbent Conrad Burns, R-Mont., the majority will be even more secured. If either one of those races is lost, then there will be an even balance of power within the Senate.

Let us remember our civics courses, if there is a tie vote in the Senate, it is the Vice-President - Dick Chaney in this instance- who breaks it.

This is going to be an interesting month. We will keep you posted.

Daily Martini: Election 2006

A few suggestions to stay with the motif.

American Sour Martini
2 oz. 12- year Whiskey
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
1/2 oz. Orange Juice
1 oz. Sour Mix
Serve in a cocktail glass with orange granish

Boston Tea Party Martini
1/2 oz. Rum
1/2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. Vodka
1/2 oz. Triple Sec. (or be daring and make it what it should be - orange brandy liqueur... but, that's not one most people keep around the house)
1 oz. Sour Mix
Shake, pour into chilled cocktail glass. Top with 1/4 oz. Kahlua and a splash of cola.

And My Personal Favorite:

drum roll

The Red, White and Blue Martini
1 1/2 oz. Stoli Raspberry Vodka
3/4 oz. Disarrano
3/4 oz. Blue Curacao
1/2 oz. White Creme de Cocoa

Serve in a chilled cocktail glass with cherry garnish.
Enjoy.

Rock the Vote

A fun little election blog, I am surprised that it wasn't updated by the minute on election night. Check it out for continual updates on Election 2008. I sure the politicking will begin soon.

Add Wisconsin to the list

Only 11 percent of precincts in, and it seems that Wisconsin has joined the ranks of states to pass constitutional bans on gay marriage.

This one is a tough loss, considering the typically liberal leanings on Wisconsin. Some political analystists actually thought this racw would be the closest of all of them. That does not seem to be the case. So far, the race has come back 61 percent for, 39 percent against the ban.

Sounds pretty firm to me.

Santorum goes down.

It is official... at least according to the New York Times. My pet-rock has defeated Rick "man-on-dog sex" Santorum in Pennsylvania.

Dan Savage will be so proud!

Why the gay community needs to view Same Sex Marriage bans as a victory.

The NAACP began its quest for civil rights in the same way that the gay community is going about seeking equality: through the legal system.

If patience is a virtue in the world of the law, than understanding of the law can be lethal.

As a community, gays in the US should be celebrating, because each ban that is passed as a state constitutional amendmendment is grounds for a case to be appealed to the US Supreme Court for judicial review. Let the highest court in the land decide if these bans are violating our civil rights.

The University of Virginia Law School warns that these bans will be struck down because they not only violate the rights of same-sex couples, but the affect all unmarried couples in the Commonwealth.

This is what was considered in Pennsylvania when a Marriage Protection Amendment was defeated in the legislature there this summer. The amendment was rejected because its language threatened the rights of all unmarried coupled to collect health benefits, secure adoptions, to claim property left by a love one in a will and even to make emergency medical decisions.

Costitutional bans on same-sex marriage may come as threat, but we need to keep in mind that these bans allow room for further legislation and will soon require the Constitutionality of defining marriage as a union between one-man and one-woman.

Virgina, Tennessee and South Carolina pass Constitutional Amendements to ban gay marriage.

With polls closed for just over one hour, it is already clear that these three states have spoken: Gay Marriage will not be permitted within their borders. The results are not surprising. Most major news outlets predicted these results beginning in early October - see the left realism here and the right stirring their voting base here.

Although only 10 percent of polling precincts have reported, there is no question about how Tennessee will turnout. Nearly 400,000 people have responded with a firm "Yes", affiriming the ban. That is 81 percent of the vote calculated thus far.

South Carolina was not far behind those numbers. With 23 percent of the vote tabulated, more than 150,000 people, 78 percent, have affirmed.

Virginia was much closer, as expected. Sixty-four percent of the votes are in, and it is presently a 57-43 percent swing. Though there is the slim chance that late reporting precincts could turn the tide, CNN has already called the race. Here is response from one a few Virginians.

California Proposition 1 A-E

No one wants my opinion on the California ballot, but this psycho one, I had to address.

Prop 1 A-E, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act (why port security was lumped in is a mystery, except for the fact that oil arrives in the state via ports along the coast), essentially levies a tax on oil companies to pay for road improvements. At the moment, road maintaince is funded in part by property taxes, income taxes, and two sales taxes applied to gasoline and petrol sales. This measure wants to put it into law that all gasoline taxes should go directly to road repair. Nothing wrong with that proposal. However, the additionof Prop's 1B-E is another issue.

The idea behind these measures is that a $20 billion (yes, that's a 2 followed with 11 zeros) bond will go directly to highway maintainence, and be repaid - with intererst- from the state's general fund over the next 30 years.

Let's think about this for a moment. The system as it is now repairs the roads as they need to be repaired... why fix something that's not broken. The Highway system in California, outdated as it may be, cannot be repaired over night, whether legislators have $10 or $20 billion. There should be a proposal drawn for fixing the problem before the bond is issued. It's that simple.

Crazy Cali ballots.

Crazy California.

As I pressed the eight glowing red dots in my Pennsy electronic voting machine, I was nostolgic. I missed the chaos of a good, old fashioned California vote.

In California, any proposition can be put on the ballot for vote by the people so long as enough signatures can be acquired in its support. In other words, if I wanted to propose that a new law be made stating "All blondes can only wear pink on Tuesday in the County of Orange", and found 50,000 people to agree with me, that would go on the ballot for popular vote.

This year, there are nine of these props. I will list them, and then address them in seperate posts so as not to make the readers insane.

Prop. 1 A-E, is about roads and traffic... a truly Cali issue.
Prop. 83, wants to strap GPS systems on sex offenders.
Prop. 84, requests $5 billion to clean the water supply.
Prop. 85, a Constitutional Amendment that would create a mandatory 48-hour waiting period and require parental notification prior to performance of an abortion involving a minor.
Prop. 86, imposes an additional 13 cent tax on cigarettes and tobacco products, bringing the total tax to $2.60.
Prop. 87, would impose a tax on oil companies to fund research for alternative energy resources.
Prop. 88, would raise property taxes by $50 for school funding.
Prop. 89, a campaign finance reform that would limit contributions by corporations and create a tighter system for reporting and tracing campaign contribution.
Prop. 90, a Constitutional Amendment addressing eminant domain, the propsal would bar the state and local governments from acquiring or demolishing private property to promote the other private development projects.

They certainly ran the gauntlet with this ballot. I am anxious to see how it turns out.

Election Coverage

Today is the big day, the one that we political geeks wait two years for. On the second Tuesday in November of every even year, we are the ones who sit in front of our televisions (usually two or three in my case - one on CNN, one on FOX, and one to watch my favorite episodes of Six Feet Under in the down time) with multiple editions of various newspapers spread across the coffee table and our laptops handy to post comments on web pages and track minute-by-minute exit poll updates throughout the country.

What will I be watching tonight?

Proposed constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage in eight states:

• Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Colorado
• South Dakota
• South Carolina
• Arizona
• Idaho
• Tennessee

Congress

Rick Santorum has got to go in Pennsylvania. My vote is going toward the pet-rock, Bob Casey, not because of his glowing qualification, but because Santorum is insane.

Tammy Baldwin, an openly gay congresswoman from Wisconsin, and of course, Barney Frank, because he's entertaining.

Governors

Ed Rendell is on the top of my list because, well, Ed Rendell is the man. I actually would love to see Ed Rendell for President in 2012.

Let us not forget dear Arny. I love Arnold Schwarzenegger for all that he has done reshaping the state of California after the havoc that Grey Davis wreaked there, even if he did veto the gay marriage bill. I only wish that I didn't have to double check the spelling of his name every time I write it.

States

Minnesota has some interesting races going on, namely Sen. Paul Koering's race for re-election.

In Colorado, there is the medical marijuana bill, which is always entertaining.

And, of course, California leads the pack with seven propositions on the ballot, inclusing two that address immigration issues. Schwarzenegger himself put three props on the ballot.

It's going to be fun. We'll keep you posted.