The word on the street is that you must eat this to have a good year. Not sure I believe that, but I will say it is not New Year’s day at our home without this meal. We make this traditional meal every year because that is just what we do to honor our traditions.  It is a good thing  WE LOVE IT!!  (Most of us anyway!)

Really!

Because we indulged just a little too much this Christmas season, oh yes, I am really feeling it~ We will be eating a lot more of this in the upcoming weeks! Good thing  WE LOVE IT!!  just as much..(Most of us anyway!)

What is your New Year’s day tradition?

This is New Year’s Day and in the South, a traditional dinner consists of blackeyed peas with ham, greens, cornbread and most any other side dish.

We will  definitely be having the above, plus a pineapple upside down cake.  I haven’t had one in forever or so it seems.  So I made one today.  It was easy and I love easy. 

First, I got a Duncan Hines pineapple cake mix.  Then a can of sliced pineapples in juice and a small jar of cherries.   Followed the directions on the side of the box and this is the result:

YUM!  Can’t wait to try it!

Hope your New Year’s Day is a good one.

There follows a Guest post courtesy of Jed Bormann, Anti-Nasty things and Pro-Kitten Officer at the University of Fibchester Student Union. I apologise in advance for some of the more colourful language employed by Mr. Bormann.

********************************************************************************************************

 
Democracy? I mean, what the Fuck? The representatives on our student Union are a total herd of cuntweasels! Why? I’ll tell you why, the bastards had the nerve to disagree with me.

I was elected by at least 27 people, not all of whom were my chums, to promote nice things like kittens, and to fight against all the nasty things in the world; like oil, capitalism, and the orange ones in Quality Street. I spent at least 3 hours of my time in a committee with all my fellows from the Nice Things Society and the Watermelon Greens Society (plus some Liberal Democrats – reactionary right-wing fascists of course, but they’re mostly harmless), and together, in a non-hierarchical grassroots form we cobbled together a draft for a Very Pleasant Investment Policy for Fibchester Student Union.

After the three gruelling hours sat in a circle, we sang a protest song and all patted ourselves heartily on the back; before heading back to Daddies place in the country for the weekend. As Mumsy read to me from the Guardian, and Daddy from the Morning Star, I was certain we’d done our bit to save the world. I turned to Mumsy and said – “I bet that nasty Mr. Mugabe will think twice when he sees this!” Daddy hastily corrected me – of course Mr. Mugabe is leading the anti-imperialist fight against the evil Neo-colonialists Brown and Obama. How could I have been so daft. “Well, it’ll teach Shell a thing or two won’t it Daddy?”. “Yes son”. Daddy munched on asparagus whilst Mumsy topped up her glass of Pinot – fair trade, naturally. I dream that one day the gentle peoples of Saudi Arabia and Nigeria will be free from the tyrannical rule of Big Oil… free to join our peace-loving world revolution.

Figure 1) "Nasty"

Anyhow, I came back to Fibchester to be told that my perfectly crafted policy had to voted on. I complained to the Vice President and shouted and got really rather cross. Why should it? I wrote it! We wrote it, in our self-appointed committee! But he was unrelenting. It seems that in our patriarchical, reactionary and bureaucratic student union, the supposedly elected Union councillors have to vote on policy for it to be passed. Well I wasn’t going to turn up to the meeting – if the policy had my name on the, then those uppity councillors should bally well pass it. But I relented and went along anyway – sometimes they have free biscuits.

But would you believe it – some of those.. those.. tossers… stood against me. I told them I was right, I told them so many times. But they kept on countering my facts with their blasted opinions. This is what disgusted me most – they openly disagreed with me – suggesting that our Union should be more concerned with the students of Fibchester than with fluffy bunnies in Bolivia. I didn’t listen to their argument because I knew it was wrong, but I imagine it ran along the lines of “We shouldn’t give a shit” – I mean how dare they decide what is and isn’t important to them?

So my perfectly crafted Very Pleasant Investment Policy was rejected. It’s insulting that our Union council should be filled with people who can disagree with myself and my ethically superior chums – what right do they have to stop me doing what I want? The Watermelon Greens were furious too. I rang Mummy in tears: “Who’s going to stop nasty British Airways now?”. I hadn’t been so upset since the time we ran out of organic Palestinian orange juice and Daddy refused to buy more - I mean, its only £19.99 a litre, I nearly called him a Zionist! How can this be democracy? If this were properly democratic there would have been no opposition to me or my policy? Democracy has clearly failed when people who disagree with me can be elected to Union council!

I say that in future, these sort of people should not get elected. Ideally they should not even be allowed to stand for election. These so-called “centrists” and “democrats” must be a minority view compared to the members of the Nice Things Society. They certainly shouldn’t be able to become Union Officers or stand in the way of the Ethical movement. They are all repulsive sycophants who should be removed from their positions and replaced with people more sympathetic to myself and my agenda.

Tossers.

********************************************************************************************************

Mr. Bormann promptly threw his toys from his pram and stormed off to his room, slamming the door loudly. I thank him for his contribution and wouldn’t be surprised to hear from him again before long.

BBC EDITOR IS CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVIST

Sean Gabb

>> Monday, December 28, 2009

I’ve become increasingly convinced that the BBC is part of an international conspiracy about ‘climate change’. It isn’t simply that the reporting is so biased; it’s also because there seems to be a concerted effort to make sure that whatever so-called sceptics discover, for example over Climategate, the warmists bounce straight back with a new set of warped theories or bent facts to support their arguments. The feed of material is relentless, as if it is coming from an organised source. Over the holidays, I’ve been doing some digging on this, and I wanted to share one of my first findings.
A BBC journalist called Peter Thomson is not a household name in this country, but he’s the environment editor of the BBC programme (made jointly with WGBH Boston and RPI) The World, which on a daily basis pushes out climate scare stories to millions of people. Mr Thomson, it turns out, is also the secretary of the Society of Environmental Journalists, a US organisation, the main purpose of which is to spread alarmism through a ‘guide’ about ‘climate change’(masked of course, under the cloak of ‘objectivity’). There can be no doubt that this is a campaigining organisation which wants to achieve political change because it believes that the world needs to reduce CO2 emissions.
Mr Thomson’s activism does not stop there. He’s also a member of the advisory board of the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, yet another international organisation with alarmist goals. It, too, publishes a guide to how journalists should cover ‘climate change’; in truly chilling McCarthyite terms, the introduction explains how anyone who disagrees with “the consensus” should be ignored and that journalists should frantically pester editors to publish ‘climate change’ scare stories.
So, to recap. One of the BBC’s most senior editors responsible for environmental reporting has formal roles at the epicentre of a worldwide coinspiracy among ‘climate change’ alarmists. Not only that, he is assisting in the international propagation of so-called science communication guides, the main purpose of which are to enlist other journalists to spread the same lies in which he also believes. I suspect there’s a whole phalanx of Peter Thomsons, all feeding the BBC’s insatiable appetite to feed us with moonshine.
Update: Richard North, of EU Referendum, has kindly provided further information about BBC propagandists. Nik Gowing, a prominent – and rather humourless – BBC World Service presenter, has a no-doubt lucrative sideline in chairing ‘climate change’ conferences convened by the alarmist-in-chief, IPCC head Dr Ravendra Pachauri.

Biased BBC: BBC EDITOR IS CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVIST

It is suddenly becoming much clearer.  An ICM poll puts the Greens 8 points ahead of the Conservatives and a full 10 points ahead of Labour in Brighton Pavilion.  However, the most significant aspect of this poll is that two thirds of Labour and Lib Dem voters would be willing to vote Green if it would result in the Tories being kept out.

The telephone poll of 533 voters adjusted to match the local electorate’s profile was undertaken by ICM Research’s Government and Social Unit between 16 – 21 December 2009.

This blog has for some months wavered between support for the impressive Nancy Platts (Labour) and the rather too distant Caroline Lucas (Green).  However, I have been consistent in saying that Nancy’s greatest challenge is the Party she is representing, the “right candidate standing for the wrong party”.  The other problem she is facing is that it is Brighton Pavilion is the Greens number one target.

The Greens now have a head of steam which should allow them to have a clear run-in against Charlotte Vere, playing on the goodwill of Labour and Lib Dem supporters, to harness a substantial vote against the Tories.  Labour supporters are very unlikely to vote Tory to keep the Greens out, some will, for honourable reasons, remain loyal to their party and to Nancy Platts.  The Greens need to nurture the green/left/anti-Tory vote.  It is likely that Caroline Lucas can now look forward to a substantial victory at the General Election. 

If the situation was reversed, with Labour having a ten point lead over the Greens in Brighton Pavilion, it is not likely that two thirds of Green voters would consider voting Labour.  That is both a strength and a weakness of the Greens – able to attract wider support, but ultimately not a party of the left (although New Labour has tried to ensure that it is not seen as being of the left).

This blog, having sat on the fence for so long, calls for unreserved tactical voting in Brighton Pavilion for the Green Party.

A final word for Nancy.  You don’t deserve this.  You are an impressive candidate and individual. You have been let down by your Party and by events. I hope that you will find another seat in due course since you will make an excellent Member of Parliament, but it won’t be ion Brighton Pavilion.

Hello and welcome to the new south west of England Lgbt greens blog.The blog is managed by the coordinator who will add content such as press releases etc.

Please bookmark our blog to keep updated our

website is http://southwestlgbt.greenparty.org.uk

Kindest regards

Ryan Cleminson
SW Lgbt greens spokesman

December 2009 Exercise – Bradley Labarre, Executive Chef, Cabarrus Country Club, Concord, NC

“All-local” fall salad of mesclun greens, pan roasted root vegetables, charred grape tomato vinaigrette with Hickory smoked Carolina trout and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Creamy shiitake mushroom and butternut risotto, hickory smoked Carolina trout and sauce vierge garnished with Italian parsley, tomato chip and fried farm-fresh egg.

To participate in the next exercise, please send an e mail to: jeffrey@bauscherinc.com

See all your favorite chefs’ collections of past submissions at the Deep Plate page on Facebook.  Please become a “Fan”.

http://deepplate.wordpress.com and “Deep Plate” on Facebook

So I think my other look was a bit too subdued, and decided to make this.  I’m OK with it, though I don’t think any of the pictures are great.   I had fun with the rhinestones though.  Remember–tweezers, eyelash glue, and nail gems.  I want to get more than the clear ones I have.  This would be pretty with some other colors.

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MAC Big T-outer crease

Urban Decay Flipside-outer lid below crease

Urban Decay Homegrown-middle of lid

Urban Decay Absinthe-inner lid, blending below eye, into crease, above crease

Urban Decay Sellout-highlight, blend inner lower lashline

Diorshow mascara

Buxom Lashliner in Leatherette-line upper lid, winging outward and up, outer portion of lower lid winging down

Cheeks

MAC Gentle

Lips

Too Faced Mirror Mirror gloss in Envy Me

Stop this scaremongering! We got enough problems of our own to worry about yours!

We did not get an agreement on 50% reductions in global emissions by 2050 or on 80% reductions by developed countries. Both were vetoed by China, despite the support of a coalition of developed and the vast majority of developing countries. Indeed, this is one of the straws in the wind for the future: the old order of developed versus developing has been replaced by more interesting alliances. (via The road from Copenhagen | Ed Miliband | Comment is free | The Guardian).

Old bulldog … old tricks

President Bharrat Jagdeo. *Photo credit: thereddsite.files.wordpress.com

Gordon Brown, The British Prime Minister declared, “today, together with Norway and Australia, the UK is taking a further step to a Copenhagen agreement: publishing a framework for the long-term transfer of resources to meet the mitigation and adaptation needs of developing countries.” (Paris Hilton note, who the PM of Britain is!)

More interesting was when Europe went ahead and committed funds and disbursed carbon credits. Small amounts – but nevertheless a significant step! So, what gives! How come Europe was disbursing – not serious money, but more than pocket money, without using IMF, World Bank, et al. No UN! How come?

Anglo-Euro efforts

The joint trojan operation (Norway, Australia and UK + EU) against China (or was it India?) was immaculately pursued. Bernarditas de Castro Muller, former lead coordinator and negotiator for the G77 and China in Copenhagen, writing in the Guardian of UK, reported,

The UK financed workshops in selected vulnerable countries and deployed climate envoys. One of its envoys told intransigent negotiators that the UK would mobilise a group of vulnerable countries to pressure the major developing countries – such as China, Brazil and India – into committing to emissions reductions, contrary to their obligations under the climate treaty.

The EU for example made sustained attempts to influence and pressure developing nations – something that only served to increase their cohesion. They bribed where they could, promising the same recycled financing and maybe more to come if countries bent to their demands. And they bullied when they could not bribe.

India’s neighbours, like Maldives, Bangladesh were co-opted – as were countries, led people of Indian extract like Caribbean island of Guyana, Mauritius. The strategy was to isolate China and pair India with the ‘vulnerble 14′ – like Maldives, Guyana, Bangldesh, etc. For instance, alongwith Mohammed Nasheed, Bharrat Jagdeo in Guyana, was faultlessly pursued. Long ignored and isolated, countries like Guyana suddenly found themselves in the spotlight.

Agreeably surprised, they wondered how Guyana “received a disproportionate amount of coverage and access given its size for its progressive and leading stance on climate change.” Time magazine nominated Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo, as one of Heroes of the Environment 2008. This year Time magazine included Mohammed Nasheed in its Heroes of the Environment 2009. It was also announced,

Stabroek News in Guyana has confirmed that President Bharrat Jagdeo has been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to combat climate  change. He was nominated by Professor David Dabydeen, Director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick.

US actor Harrison Ford and Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo at a news conference about forest protection on September 21, 2009 in New York. Photograph: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

The Commonhealth Heads meeting a few weeks before Copenhagen was supposed to seal this ‘alliance.’ Intriguingly, the French President Sarkozy joined the Commonwealth Summit, with Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen and UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon – and proposed a US$10 billion fund for climate change. Just imagine the French joining in a Commonwealth meet (a first, I would think).

Possibly it was the US efforts which made China and India stand together at Copenhagen.

Why the US did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol?

The political undertones of climate control talks are unravelling. The first major smoke signal was when the USA refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol – while talking about global warming and climate change at the same time. Sometimes puzzling and wholly beyond understanding! The lip service paid by the US to climate change can be best summarized by a Hindi idom हाथी के दांत, खाने के एक, दिखाने के एक. Meaning, elephants have two sets of teeth – one for actual use and another for show.

Cynical subversion of media, honours and public opinion

The third element in the multilateral equations set was the efforts made by Bush /Obama to get India and China to ‘get on the climate change band wagon’ with the US. The Chinese ‘unilateral’ announcement of ‘voluntary’ carbon intensity cut after Obama’s trip to China a few days before Copenhagen was a signpost of this unusual ‘alliance’. India followed soon thereafter with its own ‘voluntary’ carbon intensity cuts. One of the justifications of Bush’s nuclear deal with India was climate change.

This US master-stroke of Obama+BASIC meeting, ensured that the “only breakthrough was the political coup for China and India in concluding the anodyne communiqué with the United States behind closed doors, with Brazil and South Africa allowed in the room and Europe left to languish in the cold outside.”

In hindsight, US covert resistance to climate change was actually resistance to the monopolisation by the EU on the climate change agenda and campaign. Under the garb of climate change, EU was trying to do what US did to the world, under the garb of poverty elimination, population control, Bretton Woods in the aftermath of WW2.

What were the BASIC countries resisting

Writing from a Western standpoint, John Lee, in the Guardian, of the UK, faults China for not allowing,

“Teams of international economists, scientists, inspectors and statisticians roaming China to gather information on carbon emissions and reduction initiatives … reporting to political masters in America and Europe … (on) the further problem of cheating in current and future carbon reduction schemes.” (ellipsis and linking text in brackets mine).

The Climate Change Agreement would have delivered us - hog tied and helpless!

Ed Milliband, Britain’s Energy Minister, younger brother of British foreign secretary, David Miliband, writing for the Guardian,

“We cannot again allow negotiations … to be hijacked in this way. We will need to have major reform of the UN body overseeing the negotiations and of the way the negotiations are conducted (for this) global campaign, co-ordinated by green NGOs, backed by business … we must keep this campaign going and build on it. It needs to be more of a genuinely global mobilisation, taking in all countries …this year has proved what can be done, as well as the scale of the challenge we face. (ellipsis and emphasis mine).

Indeed much has been done.

Face behind the mask

Faceless NGOs, without accountability to anyone, were able to bring global political leadership, to the very brink of an agreement. Like Milliband’s boss, Gordon Brown remarked, “the political will to secure the ambitious agreement … comprehensive and global agreement that is then converted to an internationally legally binding treaty in no more than six months.” was very much there. The same 25,000 people (25 countries x 1000 powerful people) who rule over the G8-/OECD wanted the poor to invite these 25,000 to have undue and illegitimate oversight over our ‘poor’ lives – in the name of climate change.

The message I got ... loud and clear

To deliver more than 600 crore (6 billion) of humanity to an agreement that would have allowed the likes of the Milliband Brothers (and their NGO ‘partners-in-crime’) to pry into our lives, our affairs and dictate our very existence – with our own consent. Without recourse, with no checks and balances. With large amounts of unaccounted money at their disposal. To decide how we live our lives. Under a system, that would have re-invented colonialism, in a way wholly unknown to us earlier.

Any deal was a bad deal

Last time around, India was called the deal breaker at Doha. This time around, it is China. Who gets called, what by whom, may seems unimportant! But as my grandfather reminded me many times, बद हो जाओ, लेकिन बदनाम नहीं (Beware of getting a bad reputation).

The Guardian, goes onto say, “Only China is mentioned specifically in Miliband’s article but aides tonight made it clear that he included Sudan, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba, which also tried to resist a deal being signed.” Sadly India is not included in this list of ‘deniers’ who are, as Gordon Brown puts it, “anti-science and anti-change environmental Luddites who seek to stand in the way of progress.”

Climate control noise is just drowning out all debate

How I wish India was blamed for the failure of Copenhagen!

De-construction of climate change by 2ndlook

• Climate change – How India is falling for propaganda
• Climate Change at Copenhagen – Britain mounts a Trojan operation
• Indian cows were blamed for global warming!
• US Euro Clubs hobble Third Wold
• Climate head steps down over e-mail leak
• NASSCOM wakes after 15 months
• PR Stunts – The Maldives underwater meeting
• Indian to head Amnesty
• Amartya Sen at the Aspen Institute India’s Conference in New Delhi – WSJ.com
• Climate change – ‘Time for Plan B’ says Nigel Lawson

Last minute Christmas feast! This was one of the first holidays that I have not spent with my family.  I usually start cooking and can’t stop! My mind starts to move in a rapid pace, brainstorming the next flavor.  This was the case for this last minute feast.  Some leftover cornbread, fresh lamb shanks from the local butcher, and using what we randomly had in the pantry we accomplish a very very very tasy meal.

Citrus Braised Lamb Shanks W/Herbs
♥Will Serve 4-6

3 Lamb Shanks – Cut into 1/3rds
Zest of 1 lemon – & its juice
Zest of 1 orange – & its juice
2 T. Paprika
1 T. Salt
2 Sprigs Rosemary – Fine Mince
3 Sprigs Oregano – Fine Mince
1 Cup Red Wine
1 Carrot – Large rustic cuts
2 Celery Ribs  – Large Rustic Cuts
3 Cloves Garlic -
1 Small Yellow Onion
1 Bottle of Hefeweizen
½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Directions:
Rub Shanks with the next six Ingredients.   Add the red wine cover and leave in fridge for about 3 hours.
Cut Celery Carrots Onions and Garlic cloves.  Set Aside.
Heat pan till fairy hot add oil and lamb shanks.  Sear all sides until nicely browned.
While those are searing, take out your cast iron skillet (or any oven ready pot) add the cut aromatics including 1 sprig of rosemary.
Transfer seared shanks into the oven ready pot.  Add the bottle of Hefeweizen (any beer will do) and Aple cider vinegar to the pan and deglaze.

Add ½ cup of H20 to the pan; add 1 T of salt and ½ T. of pepper into liquid pour deglazed liquid into other pan.  Cover with foil and slow roast in oven at 325 for another 3.5 hours.

Slow Cooked Greens w/Apples & Bacon
♥Works well with beet greens, kale, and chard.  For this recipe I used a medley of greens. Together about 1 medium bunch of each.

1 Apple
1 Bunch Chard
1 Bunch Kale
1 Bunch Beet Greens
½ yellow onion
2 Cloves garlic
3 slices of thick bacon
3 Rounds of a lemon 1/3 inch thick
½ cup White Wine
½ Cup Water
2 T. tomato Paste
Salt to taste.

Directions:

Cut the apple into each side to leave a square core.  Slice those sides to fairly thin (but not too thin) crescents.   Set Aside. Slice onions into thin wedges, thinly slice the garlic cloves set aside.  Cut greens into 1 inch ribbons.  Combine the 2 T. of tomato paste with the ½ cup of water and thin out the paste.   Cut bacon into 1/2 inch dices.
Heat pan and add the onions bacon and the garlic when aroma is released (do not let brown) turn heat to medium add the apples cook for 1 minute.  Add the Greens and white wine.   Lightly toss and add the tomato liquid and salt.  Cover and let wilt.  When volume is reduced to ½ add the whole rounds of lemon. Cook on med-low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Cornbread Dressing
1 Carrot
2 Ribs Celery
3 Garlic Cloves
1 Yellow onion
1 Leek
1 Shallow pan  6×8  (pre-made day old cornbread) Cubes
Chicken broth
4 T Butter
Oregano
Rosemary
3 T . Dried Herb Medley (marjoram, thyme, etc)
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

Set oven to 250. Cut the cornbread into small cubes put on a sheet tray.  Oil generously and sprinkle with the dried herbs.  Lightly salt and pepper.  Toast or dry out for about 1 hour.
Dice carrots, celery, onions, and leeks.  Make sure all are about the same size.  Mince garlic.  Heat up a Saute pan, add 1/8th of a cup of oil and the butter add the carrots, onions, leeks and garlic all at once.  Sweat the vegetables until onions become slightly translucent.  Add the chicken broth.
Transfer toasted cornbread into a large  mixing bowl.  Add the liquid mixture to the cornbread.  Add the fresh minced herbs, and a bit more black pepper.  Toss so liquids and vegetables are well incorporated with the cornbread.
Transfer into a baking dish, cover with foil and cook at 350 for another hour.

It was so cold this morning I almost just stayed in bed. But I needed some beef bones for a project and I made myself put on the  muffler and head to winter market.

You have to give major props to farmers who stand in 30-degree temperatures on a hard concrete parking lot to sell real food. I’ve been reading too much lately about carbon footprints and sustainable farming and big conglomerates that ship produce 1,000 miles from where its grown. I really have been reading about it too much because guilt is starting to set in. Here are my lovely farmers just five miles down the road and I’m going to the grocery store for produce.

So here’s what I got today: kale (that’s the purple and green leaves), turnips with their greens and kohlrabi, which is a cousin to cabbage. I also got a ham hock for New Year’s Day and some Fugi apples.

The greens will be sauteed in olive oil with garlic. The turnip and kohlrabi bulbs will be roasted with some potatoes.

I try hard to balance my love of Velveeta (which is not even a food!) and Cheez Waffies (also not a food, but I just ordered another case of them from Amazon) with putting  more thought into where I get my food and how it was produced. This morning, the good guys won.

My family’s Christmas Eve party is tonight and we’ve got lots of setting up to do so this will have to be kept quick.

Tuesday Afternoon….

After my last post Adam and I set out for some exercise.  We ran on the waterfront downtown together.  We did walk/run intervals for 40minutes.  I’m not sure exactly how far we ran but I burnt 450calories.

Adam and my parents made chili for dinner (which I’m really not a fan off, unless it’s from ED&BV) so I pieced a few things together.  Like a smoothie -

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 1/2 cup pineapple, 1 small banana, splash milk, squeeze honey.  Topped with nutmeg.

My mom also reheated me a slice of pizza from the freezer, Adam ate all of my half from the other day so it was just plain cheese.

We went out for drinks with some friends but I was the driver so I stuck to diet coke.  We stayed out past 1 though, so we were a little sleepy the next day!

Wednesday…

Our plan was to go study at our favorite coffee shop, but due to our late start and some unexpected traffic it just didn’t work out.  I was planning on blogging too, but I forgot my camera cord, doh!  We did get tasty sandwiches to eat in the car while we ran errands with my mom though!

I got a whole wheat wrap with sweet potato, goat cheese, spinach, and spicy hummus, YUM.

I was feeling really sick later in the afternoon (NOT because of the sandwich, spicy food does NOT seem to affect my stomach) so Adam made me this yummy tasting plate.

Thankfully I rallied in time for dinner.  Adam and I cooked for my parents and grandparents, who are down visiting as well.

Adam made a Real Simple recipe for roasted red pepper turkey meatloaf,

and I roasted up some okra and green beans.

My mom provided dessert -

A teensy sliver of rum cake a parent brought her,

and a peppermint chocolate cookie.

I ate a snowball a little later too.

And a cup of Eggnog’n Tea.

And then we went out drinking way too late for the second night!  Good times were had by all, but I did stick to diet coke again.

Thursday Morning….

I think the no-booze rule saved me last night because I was able to get up this morning and go for a run!  I did ~ 45minutes/490 calories, and ~3miles.  I did my pt when I got home before I dove into this -

holy food am I glad I can find the pineapple Chiobani down here!

Although I was probably most excited about this Carebear spoon I dug up!

Now as soon as we leave the library we are heading home to prep for the party.  There won’t really be dinner or lunch today, more like lots of snacking on really tasty things. 

I probably won’t be posting again until after this weekend, so to all my readers who celebrate – Merry Christmas!

Wellness Watchers – Get a free Sample Of GreensFirst.

http://www.freakyfreddies.com

The Yarra Greens Councillors wish all our readers a very happy festive season, whatever your faith.

We also hope you are not too discouraged by the failure of leadership shown at the Copenhagen meeting, and that you take heart from the many good things the City of Yarra has been able to achieve for the environment, social justice, democracy and peace, with the support of its community this year.

It’s clear that national and state governments are not going to solve the climate crisis until ordinary people, NGOs and local governments take the lead and show them the way.

2010 is a double election year, and all the seats that overlap Yarra are winnable for the Greens.

We have four great candidates:
Industrial lawyer Adam Bandt (federal seat of Melbourne), former Yarra Councillor and founder of Project Respect Kathleen Maltzahn (state seat of Richmond), organisational development consultant Cyndi Dawes (state seat of Brunswick) and barrister, writer and human rights and environmental defender Brian Walters SC (state seat of Melbourne).

Now we just need great campaigns, and for that we need a lot of great campaigners. We don’t accept donations from the big end of town so we will need a lot of shoe leather and spare $20 and $50 from ordinary people to make it happen. Winning any one of these seats will be a big ask, so if you would like to help make this happen please contact yarrabranch@vic.greens.org.au or any one of us.

The Greens now have enough experience and runs on the board to step into our lower houses of parliament and make the arguments for real climate change action that are currently so sadly lacking.

So here’s to a brighter new year and a secure future. Best wishes to you all.

I for one am still extremely embarassed by the fact that I’m currently represented in the European Parliament by Andrew Brons, the BNP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, who as a former member of the ‘National Socialist Movement’, a far-right party founded on Adolf Hitler’s birthday, can literally be described as a Nazi.

It’s also pretty shaming in my view that the people of North West England are represented in Europe by the BNP leader Nick Griffin.

However next year things may get even worse, as there’s a very real chance Mr. Griffin could be elected as an MP, as he’s standing in the (appropriately named) constituency of Barking against Labour’s Margaret Hodge at the General Election.

Hope not Hate has a detailed (and scary) report on the situation in Barking and Dagenham here, which points out that Mr. Griffin’s chances of success are frightening good:

‘On the surface it would appear that Griffin has a big hurdle to overcome if he is seriously to threaten to oust Margaret Hodge, the sitting Labour MP. In 2005 the BNP polled 17.0% in Barking. Although it was the highest BNP result ever in a parliamen-tary election, it was a long way off Hodge’s 47.8%.

However, events since then have moved in the BNP’s favour and Griffin will be starting the campaign not too far behind – if at all. The 17% was won before the BNP really took off in the borough and only a year later the party polled 41% in a large section of the constituency in the local elections. Boundary changes have also helped Griffin by bringing three strong BNP wards into the Barking constituency from neighbouring Dagenham. Griffin’s notoriety will also give him a boost, while Hodge will suffer from the national swing against Labour, currently measured at 8%.’

The BNP’s candidate in Barking in 2005 came 3rd, but shockingly was only 27 votes behind the second placed Conservatives. It seems reasonable to assume the now better organised BNP with the better known Nick Griffin as a candidate will do much better.

It’s against this background that I was pleased to read that the Green Party have decided not to stand a candidate in Barking, so as not to split the anti-BNP vote, commendably being ‘prepared to look at the bigger picture and to put the danger of electing a BNP candidate to parliament before narrow party or sectarian interest’.

The Green Party should be applauded for putting the interests of the community above those of their Party, and I think this is the right decision, as although the Party would obviously like to get a Green MP on the green benches, as the statistics in the report above show, the only two Party’s that can win in Barking are Labour and the BNP.
Let’s hope the Liberal Democrats are considering following the Green’s in their self-less decision, which has made it a little easier to stop the BNP speading their particular brand of hate to Westminster, and made it a little less likely that we have to turn on the TV next year to find ‘Nick Griffin M.P.’ ranting at us.

Interesting to note that The West Australian today filled almost a whole page about Greens MP Adele Carles’ Christmas party, and the fact that the premier, the treasurer and two more members of the Liberal party attended.

Why should people of opposite political beliefs not socialise with each other?  It is not as if they are enemies. Should Christians not talk to Muslims, etc?

Of course the Liberals rather see Adele holding the seat of Fremantle than a Labor candidate and they’d probably like to keep her there, since the seat is highly unlikely to be won by a Liberal any time soon.

The Labor party on the other hand does not like it that they lost Fremantle to the Greens, but rather than going around in Parliament House ignoring Adele, they should do some soul searching as to why they lost the supposedly safe seat.

It is nice to see the maturity and willingness to communicate by the Greens and Liberals, rather than petty bickering that leads to nothing. Moving forward in this state can only be achieved by showing respect for political opponents. Maybe Eric Ripper should put that on his New Year’s wish list.

Roel Loopers

Both the SNP and Plaid Cymru are circling the wagons against the recently announced TV debates with the former threatening legal action as a result of their lack of representation. I have sympathy with their position; what more encouragement could you give to nationalism than the editorial in The Times? It contemptuously dismisses the SNP;

Much as this may surprise Mr Salmond, the rest of Britain is packed to the gunwales with people who have no interest in him whatsoever.

It may well be true that voters in England have no interest in the positions of both the nationalist point of view but that is barely the point from a democratic standpoint. Telling both Scotland and Wales that the nationalist parties that represent them don’t matter or that they are merely regions of the United Kingdom is unlikely to do anything but encourage the feeling that Westminster has no interest in their concerns and increase their sense of alienation.  

 The Guardian, which is more sympathetic, makes the point that Quebec nationalists are within Canada’s coast-to-coast federal election debates. Surely then a solution can be found that incorporates both the SNP and Plaid? It makes the distinction between the nationalist parties and ‘aspirant’ Parliamentary parties like UKIP and the Greens. However, this is a false distinction to some degree as while it is true that both do not represent people at Westminster they do at other levels such as council and European level. 

Given that the BBC recently justified the inclusion of the British National Party leader Nick Griffin  on Question Time on the grounds of their two MEP’s I feel that the ‘aspirant’ parties also have a legitimate grievance about the arrangement of these debates. They are partially the victims in this instance of the electoral system which means these aspirations can be denied with a degree of credibility.

As things stand these debates are a positive development whose potential to make a substantial contribution to our democratic life are curtailed by the terms under which they are being arranged.