Good Reads (2/22/06)

"Appeasement 101" - Victor Davis Hanson
http://victorhanson.com/articles/
hanson022206.html
"Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?" - David Horowitz
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/
ReadArticle.asp?ID=21370
"Punishing Silly Sentiments" - Klaus Rohrich
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/
klaus022206.htm
"Indoctrination of our youth" - Walter E. Williams
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/
walterwilliams/2006/02/22/187189.html

Good Reads (2/21/06)

"Think Again: Islamist Terrorism" - Christine Fair,
Husain Haqqani
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3359
"What Will Europe Really Do?" - Victor Davis Hanson
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson021906.html
"Climate of Uncertainty" - Stephen F. Hayward
http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.23912/
pub_detail.asp
"Stand Up for Denmark!" - Christopher Hitchens
http://www.slate.com/id/2136714/
"Those Danish Cartoons and Me" - Daniel Pipes
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3405

Return from Hiatus and Spouting the Obvious

Sorry about not updating the blog lately. I happened to have classes and wanted to get a better academic footing than my previous semesters, so I dedicated a lot more energy than usual to get better grades. Thankfully, it paid off. Now that I'm having a new semester that's going okay, and recent events have become the hottest in a long time, I decided I'll throw in my opinions of the major issues of the day.

First... The Dick Cheney hunting accident - What Cheney did was tragic, although based on a mistaken action. I am no expert on guns, nor am I possessing any experience or skill with guns. That being said, Cheney's actions should be taken as a mistake that should be punished through the extents granted by the local, state, and federal laws. No more. Democrats, predictably, are trying to look for a scandal. Recently, I overheard a local Liberal talk-radio host saying that there was a "cloak of secrecy" involving Dick Cheney's not informing the media until a day later of the incident. This, however, does not indicate a conspiracy. Instead, it indicates that perhaps Mr. Cheney did not want a huge alarm to sound before he informed Mr. Whittington's family of the horrific mistake. Cheney's action was unfortunate, but the policking of Administration critics making an issue out of a non-issue is approaching to be just as tragic.

Second... The "Protests" of Danish Cartoons - I'll repeat what countless bloggers and talk radio hosts have to say about this issue: The cartoons in the Danish newspaper are not a reason for the recent violence on the part of some in the Muslim community, it is an excuse. The Wahabbi-dominated Muslim communities of Europe have openly declared their enmity time and again towards Western values, even before all this foolishness with cartoons. Much like many Academics today, they are against Democracy and free speech. They wish to smash the very table from which they dine. What is the objective of these violent actions? The objective of any form of violence and terrorism: intimidation with the intention of submission. See how quickly Europe has caved in to these individuals. Even the United States, the supposed haven for freedom of speech has succumbed to an extent to this travesty. Christopher Hitchens, responding to a statement by Sean McCormack of the US State Department calling the cartoons and any criticism of religious figures "unacceptable", says:

What does he mean "unacceptable"? That it should be forbidden? And how abysmal that a "spokesman" cannot distinguish between criticism of a belief system and slander against a people.

Source: http://www.slate.com/id/2135499/

The following will be shocking to many PC Leftists and the "America is a Christian Nation" Conservatives: Due to freedom of speech rights, no figure, religious or secular is beyond criticism. Even bigoted statements are protected under freedom of speech. What recent events having to do with this leads me to believe with more certainty that this Muslim "protest" is merely another act of Jihadist terrorism, creating a sort of de facto Islamic law against criticism of their religious figures. The sad thing is that the buckling under because of this controversy will only make the Wahabbi community only increase their "outrage" in order to get more political weakness to exploit from the West.

Both of these two issues seem to show a sad pattern in modern Democratic society. And that is this: Perpetual outrage brings political points. The Left tries to make up conspiracies to do with the current Administration being "power-hungry" and can seemingly do nothing right. The Right often gets upset over the actions of the Left, sometimes to the point where they have compensated by verbally attacking anyone even with a VALID criticism of the Administration or even questions a certain action. And, as I've just said before with the Islamists, the act of being outraged about actions of private individuals in different countries criticising their religion and blaming the entire government and populace of a country for it, and doing it in the most violent way possible. This strategy, whether new or as old as politics itself leads to a system of political bullying for political capital. And political discourse and freedom, along with those who cherish them are those who suffer for this travesty.

Coconut chutney Recipes

Ingredients for Coconut chutney recipes:

Coconut: 2 cups (shredded)
Curry leaves: 1
Urad Dal: 2 tsp
Channa dal: 2 tsp
Hing (asoefetida): One large pinch
Red Chillis: 10 (dry)
Methi: Half tsp
Tomato: 1 small
Salt to taste

Method of preparation for Coconut chutney:

Take a frying pan and pour oil to it. Heat it and add channa and urad dal to it. Further add hing, methi and red chillis and fry it till it is done. Add the fried ingredients to coconut, tomato and blend it to a smooth paste. Add salt to taste. The other name for this chutney is dosa chutney too as it goes well with dosa or even plain rice.

Lassi Recipes

Ingredients for Lassi Recipes:

Curd: 3 cups (thick)
Salt: 1 tsp
Sugar: 3 tsp
Ice Cubes: 2 -4
Water

Method of preparation for Lassi:

Use sugar for sweet lassi and salt for salty lassi. Take the ice cubes and crush it in a blender. Add curd, water, salt or sugar to it. Now run the blender once again for about one minute. Serve it chilled.

Chilli Paneer Recipes

Ingredients for Chilli Paneer recipe:

Paneer: 500 grams
Corn Flour: 4 tbsp
Green Chilli: 12 - 14
Tomato Sauce: 2 tbsp
Soya Sauce: 2 tbsp
Chilli Sauce: 1 tbsp
Capsicum: 1 (green)
Onions: 4
Salt to taste
Oil

Method of preparation for Chilli Paneer:

Drain excess water from the paneer if any is present. Cut the paneer according to your choice. Mix paneer pieces with corn flour. Fry corn flour coated paneer in a frying pan with oil till it turns brown. Keep it aside. Now fry onion till it is brown with oil the frying pan. Mix chilli (cut to small pieces) with onion with green capsicum (cut to small pieces) with onion and fry it further for few minutes. Now add all sauces in the pan including soya, tomato and chilli sauce. Add fried paneer. Fry it for further few minutes. Finally add salt in the pan and cook it for some time. Now your Chilli Paneer is ready. Remove it from fire and serve hot with naan, roti or rice.