Monday.

Bah.

They ran out of cookbooks on Sunday less than twenty minutes after the presentation, which largely was staged and executed at the time the event opened at noon.

I am. Le tres bummed. Oh, well.

I have a couple of ass cellphone shots that I can't move off the phone, and probably won't keep - but I can recall the dish made, and it has some features that intrigue me.

Live lobster, notwithstanding.

Take some fresh garlic and shallots, mince and saute in some olive oil.

Add a can of crushed tomatoes, some V-8 juice and thai basil. Take a block of firm tofu, slice into chunks and add.

Take a daikon radish - peel, and if you're l33t with the knives, make a paper-thin strip by slicing around the circumference and slice into fettuccine-like strips (for the rest of us, make strips with a vegetable peeler). Put in heavily salted water. (This draws out the moisture, making the "noodles" soft).

Kill and steam the lobster, shell and cut meat into chunks and add to tomato mixture reducing by simmer on the stove. Drain the noodles and add to mixture until warmed through - serve. (Garnish with a bit more basil, and grate some romano cheese on top - just a bit.)

It smelled wonderful. It also looked like enough to feed four.

Tea ceremony presentations aren't until next weekend. Bah twice.

We got the book, and got it signed. Really wanted to talk to the fellow a bit more, but I can also take a hint to move on and let other people chat a bit as well. Bummer, v. 3.0.

And we're back to Monday morning again, now in progress.

Monday.

Bah.

They ran out of cookbooks on Sunday less than twenty minutes after the presentation, which largely was staged and executed at the time the event opened at noon.

I am. Le tres bummed. Oh, well.

I have a couple of ass cellphone shots that I can't move off the phone, and probably won't keep - but I can recall the dish made, and it has some features that intrigue me.

Live lobster, notwithstanding.

Take some fresh garlic and shallots, mince and saute in some olive oil.

Add a can of crushed tomatoes, some V-8 juice and thai basil. Take a block of firm tofu, slice into chunks and add.

Take a daikon radish - peel, and if you're l33t with the knives, make a paper-thin strip by slicing around the circumference and slice into fettuccine-like strips (for the rest of us, make strips with a vegetable peeler). Put in heavily salted water. (This draws out the moisture, making the "noodles" soft).

Kill and steam the lobster, shell and cut meat into chunks and add to tomato mixture reducing by simmer on the stove. Drain the noodles and add to mixture until warmed through - serve. (Garnish with a bit more basil, and grate some romano cheese on top - just a bit.)

It smelled wonderful. It also looked like enough to feed four.

Tea ceremony presentations aren't until next weekend. Bah twice.

We got the book, and got it signed. Really wanted to talk to the fellow a bit more, but I can also take a hint to move on and let other people chat a bit as well. Bummer, v. 3.0.

And we're back to Monday morning again, now in progress.

Monday.

Bah.

They ran out of cookbooks on Sunday less than twenty minutes after the presentation, which largely was staged and executed at the time the event opened at noon.

I am. Le tres bummed. Oh, well.

I have a couple of ass cellphone shots that I can't move off the phone, and probably won't keep - but I can recall the dish made, and it has some features that intrigue me.

Live lobster, notwithstanding.

Take some fresh garlic and shallots, mince and saute in some olive oil.

Add a can of crushed tomatoes, some V-8 juice and thai basil. Take a block of firm tofu, slice into chunks and add.

Take a daikon radish - peel, and if you're l33t with the knives, make a paper-thin strip by slicing around the circumference and slice into fettuccine-like strips (for the rest of us, make strips with a vegetable peeler). Put in heavily salted water. (This draws out the moisture, making the "noodles" soft).

Kill and steam the lobster, shell and cut meat into chunks and add to tomato mixture reducing by simmer on the stove. Drain the noodles and add to mixture until warmed through - serve. (Garnish with a bit more basil, and grate some romano cheese on top - just a bit.)

It smelled wonderful. It also looked like enough to feed four.

Tea ceremony presentations aren't until next weekend. Bah twice.

We got the book, and got it signed. Really wanted to talk to the fellow a bit more, but I can also take a hint to move on and let other people chat a bit as well. Bummer, v. 3.0.

And we're back to Monday morning again, now in progress.

Messages of self-help - and experience -

We've all come up against these people, and have been totally confounded with their "my leader can do no wrong" attitude. They believe outrageous lies, and forgive all manner of sins. Democratic strategists keep trying to run campaigns that will reach these people on the basis of evidence and fact -- and are perplexed to find their attempts at education totally rebuffed. George Bush may have lied us into a war, wrecked our economy, saddled our great-grandchildren with debt, savaged the poor, and alienated the entire world; but he is Our Leader, and we will always take his word over anyone else's. We do not accept you as a legitimate authority. We don't care what you have to say, because you have no standing at all in our little world.

Mere political or cultural betrayal, no matter how destructive, does not cut through this piece of the wall. The guilt-evaporation process applies to both followers and leaders: you must forgive all wrongs committed by someone inside the fold. Our leader didn't lie; he was misunderstood, his words distorted by our enemies. Besides, he would never lie to us. Besides, he is just following orders -- or God's will, which is beyond our understanding. Besides, our own forgiveness depends on our ability to forgive, and so we will -- never mind the contradictions.

And yet, even so: There is one -- and only one -- sin so heinous that it cannot be rationalized away by the authoritarian thought process. It is this: the leader's main job is to protect his abused and terrified horde from personal harm (or, for that matter, any sudden negative change to their immediate status quo). A leader who wantonly allows one of his followers to intimately experience such harm breaks that contract. It is in that moment of betrayal that some followers come to their senses, and start looking for a reckoning.

It's important to note: the betrayal must be an intensely personal breach that has a deep, immediate, life-changing impact on the individual follower. Fundies don't think in abstracts. Big national debts, epic political prevarications, and other people's suffering (even on a global scale) do not impress them. But there are plenty of authoritarian parents across the country who proudly sent a son or daughter off to war -- and later received that precious child home under cover of darkness, in a wooden box, with minimal explanation. That's the kind of personal and profound loss I'm talking about. For many of these patriotic parents, it was also the searing moment of deep betrayal that broke the spell and shoved them off in the direction of the Wall.

Among fundies, the most common perpetrators of these betrayals are parents -- particularly fathers -- and pastors. As the most intimate authorities in their followers' lives, they're at close enough range to inflict the kind of high-impact personal damage that's necessary to create the first crack. Many of the ex-fundies I know made their break in the aftermath of sexual abuse, ruinous financial treachery, public humiliation, or power grabs that threatened their marriages or children. They saw, in devastatingly vivid color, what their leaders were capable of. Their endless loyalty was shattered, because they realized it was not being returned in kind.

You want to know, you need to ask. You also need to listen, completely and silently.

Then offer your hand. Don't be surprised when it's slapped away, but offer it again - and again - as long as necessary.

These are good people. I've just gotten infuriated far too often when they get used like toliet paper. People deserve better.

Messages of self-help - and experience -

We've all come up against these people, and have been totally confounded with their "my leader can do no wrong" attitude. They believe outrageous lies, and forgive all manner of sins. Democratic strategists keep trying to run campaigns that will reach these people on the basis of evidence and fact -- and are perplexed to find their attempts at education totally rebuffed. George Bush may have lied us into a war, wrecked our economy, saddled our great-grandchildren with debt, savaged the poor, and alienated the entire world; but he is Our Leader, and we will always take his word over anyone else's. We do not accept you as a legitimate authority. We don't care what you have to say, because you have no standing at all in our little world.

Mere political or cultural betrayal, no matter how destructive, does not cut through this piece of the wall. The guilt-evaporation process applies to both followers and leaders: you must forgive all wrongs committed by someone inside the fold. Our leader didn't lie; he was misunderstood, his words distorted by our enemies. Besides, he would never lie to us. Besides, he is just following orders -- or God's will, which is beyond our understanding. Besides, our own forgiveness depends on our ability to forgive, and so we will -- never mind the contradictions.

And yet, even so: There is one -- and only one -- sin so heinous that it cannot be rationalized away by the authoritarian thought process. It is this: the leader's main job is to protect his abused and terrified horde from personal harm (or, for that matter, any sudden negative change to their immediate status quo). A leader who wantonly allows one of his followers to intimately experience such harm breaks that contract. It is in that moment of betrayal that some followers come to their senses, and start looking for a reckoning.

It's important to note: the betrayal must be an intensely personal breach that has a deep, immediate, life-changing impact on the individual follower. Fundies don't think in abstracts. Big national debts, epic political prevarications, and other people's suffering (even on a global scale) do not impress them. But there are plenty of authoritarian parents across the country who proudly sent a son or daughter off to war -- and later received that precious child home under cover of darkness, in a wooden box, with minimal explanation. That's the kind of personal and profound loss I'm talking about. For many of these patriotic parents, it was also the searing moment of deep betrayal that broke the spell and shoved them off in the direction of the Wall.

Among fundies, the most common perpetrators of these betrayals are parents -- particularly fathers -- and pastors. As the most intimate authorities in their followers' lives, they're at close enough range to inflict the kind of high-impact personal damage that's necessary to create the first crack. Many of the ex-fundies I know made their break in the aftermath of sexual abuse, ruinous financial treachery, public humiliation, or power grabs that threatened their marriages or children. They saw, in devastatingly vivid color, what their leaders were capable of. Their endless loyalty was shattered, because they realized it was not being returned in kind.

You want to know, you need to ask. You also need to listen, completely and silently.

Then offer your hand. Don't be surprised when it's slapped away, but offer it again - and again - as long as necessary.

These are good people. I've just gotten infuriated far too often when they get used like toliet paper. People deserve better.

Messages of self-help - and experience -

We've all come up against these people, and have been totally confounded with their "my leader can do no wrong" attitude. They believe outrageous lies, and forgive all manner of sins. Democratic strategists keep trying to run campaigns that will reach these people on the basis of evidence and fact -- and are perplexed to find their attempts at education totally rebuffed. George Bush may have lied us into a war, wrecked our economy, saddled our great-grandchildren with debt, savaged the poor, and alienated the entire world; but he is Our Leader, and we will always take his word over anyone else's. We do not accept you as a legitimate authority. We don't care what you have to say, because you have no standing at all in our little world.

Mere political or cultural betrayal, no matter how destructive, does not cut through this piece of the wall. The guilt-evaporation process applies to both followers and leaders: you must forgive all wrongs committed by someone inside the fold. Our leader didn't lie; he was misunderstood, his words distorted by our enemies. Besides, he would never lie to us. Besides, he is just following orders -- or God's will, which is beyond our understanding. Besides, our own forgiveness depends on our ability to forgive, and so we will -- never mind the contradictions.

And yet, even so: There is one -- and only one -- sin so heinous that it cannot be rationalized away by the authoritarian thought process. It is this: the leader's main job is to protect his abused and terrified horde from personal harm (or, for that matter, any sudden negative change to their immediate status quo). A leader who wantonly allows one of his followers to intimately experience such harm breaks that contract. It is in that moment of betrayal that some followers come to their senses, and start looking for a reckoning.

It's important to note: the betrayal must be an intensely personal breach that has a deep, immediate, life-changing impact on the individual follower. Fundies don't think in abstracts. Big national debts, epic political prevarications, and other people's suffering (even on a global scale) do not impress them. But there are plenty of authoritarian parents across the country who proudly sent a son or daughter off to war -- and later received that precious child home under cover of darkness, in a wooden box, with minimal explanation. That's the kind of personal and profound loss I'm talking about. For many of these patriotic parents, it was also the searing moment of deep betrayal that broke the spell and shoved them off in the direction of the Wall.

Among fundies, the most common perpetrators of these betrayals are parents -- particularly fathers -- and pastors. As the most intimate authorities in their followers' lives, they're at close enough range to inflict the kind of high-impact personal damage that's necessary to create the first crack. Many of the ex-fundies I know made their break in the aftermath of sexual abuse, ruinous financial treachery, public humiliation, or power grabs that threatened their marriages or children. They saw, in devastatingly vivid color, what their leaders were capable of. Their endless loyalty was shattered, because they realized it was not being returned in kind.

You want to know, you need to ask. You also need to listen, completely and silently.

Then offer your hand. Don't be surprised when it's slapped away, but offer it again - and again - as long as necessary.

These are good people. I've just gotten infuriated far too often when they get used like toliet paper. People deserve better.