My brother is actually quite a gourmet cook, self-taught, so he can control his diet, and he exercises. Cooks wonderful adventurous stuff, from all over the planet - Moroccan, Thai, Provencal, Indian, Basque, Oaxacan - all in the midst of one of the reddest states in the south. There are no rules any more - It's a purple world (Prince said it first!).

But Mississippi IS the land of sweet tea - you have to ask for it unsweetened.

Engagement is good. RR is definitely up for that. He's also the most civil and non-mean-spirited conservative poster on the site. He's just got a jones for the ex-gov.

She'll just hurt him, too.....

My younger brother lives in Jackson, Miss., and they deep-fry anything not nailed down. Deep-fried pickles are a real local delicacy. Not bad, you'd be surprised!

Would that be the proto-heavy-metal anthem by Bloodrock, circa 1970? Or the excellent 1950 film-noir about a dead man searching for the evil genius who poisoned him, all through San Francisco and Los Angeles? GREAT lurid be-bop scene in a SF mixed-race jazz club.

I didn't know I qualified for a gay abortion. I'm always the last to know.

Also, did you see 30 Rock last week, when Alec Baldwin's character called SF "the People's Gay-public of Drugs-afornia"? I love that show.

R2 is here for the friendships, which is a noble cause. We should be generous with them.

Life is short, and posting is hard work!

Anyhoo, squaresville seems the Anthony Perkins type, IMO.

And you won't give squaresville one of those damned things. Shame on you!!

BTW, blanched collard greens are the new arugula. I read it in the NYT Sunday Magazine last week. I bought a semi-load and froze it. ACORN is coming over next week.

I must say, I never think you're lying. But I do sometimes think you have a blind-spot as big as Connecticut. (Nothing particular about that state, just sounded good.) And you can be wrong as the day is long (CDT version).

You've got great powers of observation, which verge sometimes into mythologizing. Especially about you-know-who. But you're a good man at heart, I firmly believe. I just think you need better reading material (don't we all sometime?).

I think he might be young. He has the strength of his convictions, based on nothing to date.

squaresville won't respond to me. He thinks I think he wants an iPhone. I suggested we could all pitch in so he felt yuppie-ready, but he took that as criticism. C'est la guerre.......

I was wrong - you ARE a computer-generated response.

Every single one of your posts is a "glib contemptuous dismissal" including your latest. You're not serious, otherwise people would talk seriously to you. You're the Salon version of Nelson Muntz - "HA HA" is all you've got.

Your inability to recognize those who are locked out of the health system is bizarre, and shows the limits of your awareness, as well as your compassion. That's all.

Morning minion's point about people losing their houses because of healthcare costs is a no-brainer. It's all over the news, documented everywhere you care to look.

I've watched your posting for some time now - it doesn't change. It's one note - deny, deny, deny what's been demonstrated over and over.

All with glib, contemptuous - and execrable - dismissal.

I know, I know - you're not speaking to me. It's rough, but I'm doing fine with that. I've "moved on", as has the country on this issue.

The general statements in polls represent the big picture - what the public wants, what is right and just to them.

The majority wanting substantial healthcare reform has been almost constant since Clinton's efforts on healthcare. The public option itself has had solid majority support for some time as well. Millions of people un- and under-insured, going bankrupt for health costs, getting locked out of the system when they lose a job - all that doesn't sit well with the American public.

This has been a recognized problem for a long time, and the GOP has fought it tooth and nail, because it would limit insurance profits. That's it. They govern for the CEO's, the 1%, not for millions hurting.

The entire point of government is to get from what the public "generally" wants to policy. Like we did last night.

Thanks, I know who he is - he's the representative of my home town, New Orleans. His district includes most of the city itself, plus the east and south suburbs - pretty much solidly blue all.

The Vietnamese population is a wonderful part of the city - just one more beautiful nationality to add to the big ole gumbo pot that is New Orleans.

"As for the name I use here it's to invite the conditioned brainwashed responses from those who blindly follow the astroturfing special interest politcal goons."

You're talking about those who follow Fox News, right? Those are the only "astroturfing special interest political goons" around.

Read John Anderson's post directly after yours, then read this one.

Here's what "little" Mr. Cao said about his vote:

“I read the versions of the House [health reform] bill. I listened to the countless stories of Orleans and Jefferson Parish citizens whose health care costs are exploding – if they are able to obtain health care at all. Louisianans needs real options for primary care, for mental health care, and for expanded health care for seniors and children."

That's who his constituents are - which by the way include a good portion of New Orleans proper, not just the outlying area you suggest.

That's who Mr. Cao is - willing to do what's right for those he represents. Those who are part of the overwhelming majority who have wanted this type of substantive reform for decades.

You're not in the mainstream on this, haven't been for a long time. Deal with it.

"...if they are able to obtain health care at all..." Mr. Cao did the right thing.