Beware the Necco Smoothie

The New Neo Posted on by

The Necco Smoothie is a revolting impostor.

The other day it sucked me in with its colorful wrapper, its Necco pedigree, and its resemblance to the original (and still champion) Necco wafer. And so I tried it.

necco-smoothie-wafers.jpg

Once. Never again.

Here’s Necco’s own description of the product:

Necco ‘Smoothies’ Wafer Roll
Combining the Classic Necco Wafers® formula with the taste of a Smoothie drink. With their smooth texture and unique recipe, NECCO Wafers® Smoothies will have candy lovers everywhere falling for the five tempting fruit flavors—Blueberry, Banana Caramel, Tropical, Peach and Strawberry Cré¨me.

Beware. Despite the continental sophistication of the cute little French accent mark above the first “e” in “Creme,” these things are dreadful: cloying and artificial-tasting in a way that the original Necco wafers never are.

Why try to improve on an already perfect thing? It reminds me of remakes of classic and beloved movies. Has a remake ever, ever, ever been an improvement on the original? I can’t think of one offhand.

At least we don’t have the window tax

The New Neo Posted on by

I came across this the other day: a description of an archaic eighteenth/nineteenth century British substitute for the income tax, which was considered an invasion of privacy and intrusion on liberty. Still is, I’d wager.

The window tax was a supposedly easier way to create a progressive tax because the richer a person was, the more windows the house owned by that person tended to have. Some very rich people practiced a sort of flamboyant conspicuous consumption in which they purposely built houses filled with lots of windows to show how much money they had.

It’s not easy creating a tax that puts the proper burden (whatever that might be) on both rich and poor, and is simple to figure and administer. We don’t seem to succeed, but the window tax clearly (pun intended) didn’t, either.

Lassie Come Clone

The New Neo Posted on by

I’m rather fond of dogs. But I can’t quite imagine cloning a beloved pet to the tune of $155,000.

Some people can, though. And not only can they imagine it, but they’ve paid to have it done.

Is this the height of decadence, denial of death, or devotion? You be the judge; I personally think it’s a bit of all three, including a hefty dose of the demented.

After all, a dog is—like most living creatures of any complexity—not a mere function of heredity. Environment plays a role, and so even by cloning you won’t necessarily get old Fido back, as some have already learned who’ve tried. There are also minor cosmetic variations that represent the result of characteristics of the uterine environment.

Lou Hawthorne is in charge of the San Francisco-based (where else?) endeavor, which he claims is the first to commercially clone dogs. The trailblazer was Missy, his mother’s beloved border collie/husky mix, from whom four clones have been produced.

Hawthorne’s 8-year old son Skye has gotten a pretty nice science project out of the process. But strangely enough, Hawthorne’s mother isn’t impressed with the results of the cloning:

“They’re not at all alike,” Ms. Hawthorne said of the old Missy and the new one. “In looks, they are a little bit, of course. But, I mean, the puppy is delicate and aggressive. Missy was robust and completely calm.” She added, “Missy wouldn’t come through my home and knock over every wineglass.”

Besides, she adopted another puppy not long after Missy died. “I already have a dog ”” a real dog.”

Ms. Hawthorne is mistaken about one thing: Missy’s clones are as “real” as any other dogs, despite their odd origins. But she’s not the only one who’s a bit confused. A Florida man who paid $155,000 for the thrill of having a clone of his deceased canine companion Lancelot had this to say about it:

Cloning means you could have the opportunity to have the same dog with you for your entire life.

No, Mr. Otto, just ask Ms. Hawthorne. It’s not the same dog over and over, any more than identical twins are the same person. Otto may be in for a few disappointments if he thinks otherwise.

Illegal immigrants in public housing

The New Neo Posted on by

Even though there are waiting lists of citizens eager for a spot in public housing, some spaces are occupied by illegal immigrants. It’s a small percentage, to be sure; estimates are .4% of units, although it is admitted that authorities are unaware of the true number, which could be higher.

Most of the known illegal immigrants in public housing are the relatives of citizens or legal immigrants with whom they live. A typical grouping will be illegal parents living with children who have been born in this country—once this happens, the parents are home free, as it were.

But sometimes the illegal alien is not part of a family unit in which some of the relatives are citizens or legal residents, and yet still qualifies for public housing. How can such a thing occur? Here’s one way:

Massachusetts, where Obama’s aunt occupied one of about 50,000 state-funded units, doesn’t ask immigration status under a 1977 federal consent decree in a class-action lawsuit that prohibits the state from denying the benefit to illegal immigrants.

The article is mum about the details of the class-action lawsuit and how such a bizarre ruling came to be. But it does offer the following clarification about the legal situation of Obama’s aunt Onyango, although whether her story is typical is unclear:

…[she] applied for public housing in 2002 while she was in the country legally seeking asylum from her native Kenya…Onyango moved into federally funded housing in 2003 and stayed there after 2004, when, The Associated Press learned, an immigration judge denied her asylum application and ordered her to leave the country.

Onyango transferred to an apartment funded only by the state, which cannot ask about immigration status under the court order.

The issue seems to be whether the public housing is federally funded or state funded. It is not disclosed how Onyango was able to make this all-important transfer from a federal to a state-funded site in a city such as Boston, where there is a substantial waiting list for public housing. My guess would be that, as a person already residing in a federal project, she may have had some sort of priority if she wanted to move, and might have been able to bypass a waiting list.

However it was done, immigration attorneys are no doubt well aware of such loopholes in the law, and most likely advise their clients accordingly. The taxpayer, of course, is the one picking up the tab—for the housing itself, and probably also for the attorneys who advise their illegal immigrant clients as to how best to game the system.

For the AP, the new year’s the same as the old

The New Neo Posted on by

Just in case you thought the AP had turned over a new leaf, here’s its current take on the Israel/Palestine conflict. It’s titled, “Israel kills top Hamas figure, escalating campaign.”

True to form, the AP takes its time in divulging how the whole thing began (Hamas-launched rockets into Israel at the end of a cease-fire), not making any mention of such a thing until paragraph eight. Perhaps it’s surprising that it’s mentioned at all, and that when it is, it’s done in terms that are relatively harsh.

The Hamas “figure” (the AP’s rather neutral term; he’s also a “militant”) who was killed, Nizar Rayan, sounds like a lovely guy indeed. He was even a professor of Islamic law; what’s not to like? He also “was respected in Gaza for donning combat fatigues and personally participating in clashes against Israeli forces.” And then there’s this little detail, “He sent one of his sons on an October 2001 suicide mission that killed two Israeli settlers in Gaza.”

Some of his other children died in the blast on the apartment in which Rayan lived with his family. That explosion was augmented by the fact that the apartment—with all these innocent civilians living there—seems to have been a weapons storage facility as well.

[NOTE: For a previous in-depth discussion of the killlng of children in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and the strategy of the Palestinians to sacrifice said children rather than protect them, please see this.]

Happy New Year!

The New Neo Posted on by

Happy New Year to all!

Anyone out there with the traditional hangover? It puzzled me, however, when I checked Google’s top searches for today, to see “hangover remedies” only ranked at number 80. Far earlier came Rose Bowl information, mummers parades, stores open New Years Day, and a curious desire to cook cabbage. There were several versions of recipe searches for that particular vegetable, including one for sauerkraut.

That gave me an idea: could it be that cabbage and/or sauerkraut is itself a hangover remedy? Aha! It turns out that my supposition was correct:

Casey reckons “I know only a few people who will try this hangover remedy but those who do it swear by it, sauerkraut. It makes some sense – the acid/nadh balance and the nutritional value – but from first hand experience it works rediculously well. I’ve seen it work in the most extreme cases.” If you can’t bring yourself to eat the actually chunky bits, try sauerkraut juice (out of the sauerkraut bottle) mixed with tomato juice, or a good helping of Sauerkraut Hangover Soup (recipe below). Actually while doing a bit of poking around checking out the vailidity of this claim, it appears that eating raw cabbage has been used right through history for preventing as well as curing hangovers, so Casey could well be onto something here.

Google, ain’t it wonderful? And here’s the recipe, for those so inclined. Hangover or no, it sounds pretty tasty:

Sauerkraut Hangover Soup

* 3 slices bacon
* 1 small onion chopped
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 4 cups water
* 1 ham hock
* 1 green pepper seeded, deribbed, and sliced
* 1 tomato sliced
* 16 ounces sauerkraut
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 1 cup sour cream, plus sour cream for accompaniment
* 1/2 pound spicy smoked sausage thinly sliced

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown bacon until fat is rendered. Remove bacon with a slotted utensil and reserve for another use. Add onion to bacon drippings and saute until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add paprika, the water, ham hock, pepper, and tomato. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until meat is tender (about 1 1/2 hours).

Drain sauerkraut and turn into a colander. Briefly under cold water and drain again. sauerkraut to Dutch oven and simmer 20 minutes; do not overcook.

Remove ham hockfrom pot; pull meat from bones and return meat to pot. In a small bowl stir together flour and the 1 cup sour cream. Add to soup mixture along with sausage. Reheat to serving temperature, stirring; do not boil.

To serve, ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately. Pass a bowl of sour cream.

This is the Year of the Co-Regent

The New Neo Posted on by

And here you thought this was the Year of the Ox? Well, it is. But far more important, it is the year of the neo-neocon and Tammy Bruce Co-Regency in the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva contest.

Yes, that’s a mouthful. I felt the need to look up the definition of the word “regent” myself to ascertain just what my duties might be, since my previous association with the term involved the dread exams we New York students used to be required to take at the end of every high school course:

(1) One who rules during the minority, absence, or disability of a monarch.
(2) One acting as a ruler or governor.
(3) A member of a board that governs an institution, such as a state university

Somehow I don’t think any of that will be coming into play. However, at some point I will be getting an exceptionally nifty eagle/high-heel logo to display on this blog. Every time you gaze on it, you can have the satisfaction of knowing you had some small part in making it all happen. My heartfelt thanks.

Last act of shameless self-promotion—for this year

The New Neo Posted on by

You can celebrate by voting once again for neo-neocon for Diva. Remember, one vote a day is allowed, until 5 PM EST today. I am very close to my stated goal of second place. Just think, you could be the very one to put me over the top!

[ADDENDUM: I seem to have tied for second place with my illustrious co-Regent Tammy Bruce. Couldn’t have done it without you!]

It was a very good year

The New Neo Posted on by

i just thought I’d be contrarian with the title above, because all over the MSM and the blogosphere one can read lamentations about the terrible year that’s ending.

Yes, of course, the economy is bad. But it’s nothing compared to the 1930s—at least not yet, and hopefully not ever.

Otherwise, I don’t quite see the awful awfulness of it all. We’ve had our usual peaceful transition of power, or are about to. The Iraq War is no longer a war, and signs there are relatively good. Israel and Palestine are not at peace—and just how does that differ from any other year? Most of us are hardly starving, although we’ve had to cut back. And for those who hate President Bush, he’s finally on the way out!

So, be of good cheer, folks. Jules Crittenden is.

New Years Eve: what are you doing?

The New Neo Posted on by

I have a confession to make: I’m not extraordinarily fond of New Years Eve.

Oh, back when I was a very little kid I remember liking it very much indeed. It was an opportunity to beg my parents to be allowed to stay up, and often I won that battle and had the thrill of watching the ball drop on TV.

Back then each year had seemed almost endless, and the punctuation of that last day, with its celebrations and dramatic turning of the number of the year into one we’d never seen before (wow! 1959! next, 1960!) was exciting and fresh. It also meant I was growing up, gaining in privilege and stature.

In high school it was still sort of fun—we went out in big packs, once or twice to Times Square to watch the whole thing in person. In college it became more problematic because I went home for Christmas vacation and was away from the boy friend de jour.

Then later on I was married. What do married people do on New Years? Parties still happened, but they were starting to end earlier and earlier (New Englanders don’t tend to be nightowls or wild partygoers, I’m afraid). For me they functioned mostly as an excuse for getting dressed up. It doesn’t help that I don’t drink much. Watching others get drunk has been an interesting spectator sport over the years, but not really my favorite activity.

As for that “growing in stature and privilege” thing—well, I’m kind of on the other side of that particular slope. Gaining in wisdom, perhaps; at least, that’s a consummation devoutly to be wished. And the passage of time seems to have accelerated at an alarming rate.

This year? There will be a small dinner party with friends, and some Malbec has been laid in, which should keep me a bit more in tune with the festivities.

So folks—what are you doing New Years Eve?