After 10 hours in the smoker, the internal temperature wasn't perfect, but it started to rain, and this being an electric smoker, the cooking was pronounced Done. The bone pulled right out by hand, just grabbing and pulling a little - that's always a good sign. It pulled apart easily with a pair of forks yielding many pounds of pulled pork (didn't weigh it), so the temperature isn't all-important. We also had a couple of turkey thighs in the smoker, which came out an hour earlier and were dinner. At upper left, a sauce pan of low carb barbecue sauce from Blood Sugar 101. Lunch today, dinner tonight and lots of leftovers.
Another leftover is this excellent piece by Mark Steyn, "America Not Paying Its Fair Share". Not nearly as tasty, but worth the read as Steyn always is. H/T to Western Rifle Shooters Association.
The final leftover: did you see Obama's "compromise" position?
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner presented the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a detailed proposal on Thursday to avert the year-end fiscal crisis with $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, $50 billion in immediate stimulus spending, home mortgage refinancing and a permanent end to Congressional control over statutory borrowing limits.Even NPR thought this was a funny bit - Cokie Roberts explaining "well, it's a starting position". They don't expect to get this. It's like asking for a million dollars on a $50,000 car - show 'em you're a tough (if not clinically insane) negotiator. To borrow a line from AJC Editorialist Kyle Wingfield:
The proposal, loaded with Democratic priorities and short on detailed spending cuts, met strong Republican resistance. In exchange for locking in the $1.6 trillion in added revenues, President Obama embraced the goal of finding $400 billion in savings from Medicare and other social programs to be worked out next year, with no guarantees.
What would be a GOP equivalent to this kind of unserious nonsense? Reason’s Peter Suderman took a pretty good stab at it on Twitter:
Republicans hear Obama’s opening bid, counter with: Eliminate the federal government, except for defense.
So tell me: where else do you get a smoked Boston butt and a talking DC butthole in the same post?
A permanent end to Congressional control of statutory borrowing limits? If Congress (we know Harry Reid will jump on that like Barney Frank on a teenage Congressional page) agrees to that, we might as well all lean over and kiss it goodbye. Boehner - Obama's golfing partner - bends over for this administration like a cat in heat, but hopefully not enough of Congress will go along with such a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteIt is bad enough that Congress allows this President to spend billions in any fashion and at any time he wishes (like billions in financing for "alternate energy" for the Middle Eastern muslims) and billions loaned to cronies and campaign supporters.
To actually legislate in some fashion that Congress would no longer control _statutory_ limits would be the height of insanity. It might be time to either start looking for a cave, or considering what might be involved in AmRevII.