Please don't go to sleep on the massive attempts at VOTER SUPPRESSION IN FLORIDA

hat tips-The Reid Report, DailyKos

I've been writing about the numerous attempts at VOTER SUPPRESSION by the GOP just in time for the 2012 election. No state is more obvious about it than FLORIDA.

There is absolutely a concerted effort by the new GOP thug Governor and GOP-led legislature to pretty much LEGISLATE THE VOTER SUPPRESSION OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY VOTERS.

Rachel Maddow gives you a great background on Florida and what happened between 2004, when George Bush won the state, and 2008, when Barack Obama won the state handily. And, all the legal maneuvers of the GOP to undo/block every method the Democratic Party used in 2008 to get Democratic Party voters to the polls. Maddow has been doing a yoeman's job, almost single-handedly pointing out the attempts at Voter Suppression spread over a multi-state strategy. It's a very instructive piece; I wonder if those in the DNC are paying attention:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I wrote in a previous post how the new Criminal who happens to be Governor in Florida reversed what former Governor Charlie Crist had done with regards to restoring voting rights for ex-felons. He stripped those ex-felons of their voting rights. Considering that the prison population in Florida looks like the prison population in the rest of the country, what color of voters do you think this recent reversal mostly affects?





From the SunSentinel:

Lawmakers push voting laws revamp

The legislation, HB 1355, makes it harder to change your address at a polling place, changes third party voter registration rules and alters the ballot initiative process, among other changes. A companion Senate measure, which has yet to make it to the Senate floor, also reduces the period of early voting.

“Our greatest responsibility is to protect the integrity of this process so the result has credibility and if we fail to do that we disenfranchise every person that participates in that process,” said House sponsor Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.

The changes could have a major impact on the 2012 presidential election. Many college students who may previously register at their parents’ home can currently change their address on Election Day at the polls, and many do, election supervisors have said. But under the change proposed in the House bill, Floridians would only be able to do that if their initial registration was within the same county as the college or university they attend.

Democrats have been united against the bill and attacked Republicans for proposing legislation that they said will make it harder for people to vote.

Lawmakers debated for several hours and considered more than 40 amendments to change the bill. Proposals by Democrats, which were all shot down by the Republican majority, included a requirement that the Secretary of State investigate all instances of attempts to disenfranchise voters, bans members of the Legislature or Cabinet from soliciting or accepting campaign contributions for federal office during a legislative session and allow college students and military families to change registration at the polls regardless of county.

So, ex-felons, college students, and EVEN THE MILITARY. They don't even respect the right of the votes of Military Men and Women.

From the Miami Herald

Between them, the House and Senate bills would cut early voting from two weeks to one; force people who need to update their name or address on Election Day (say, due to marriage or divorce or a move by a military family) to vote on provisional ballots; and impose onerous restrictions on groups registering people to vote.

In the most extreme case, Republicans hope to pack the Supreme Court to undermine the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts Amendments voted through by a public who actually thought the authoritarians in Tallahassee would let a little thing like the Constitution come between them and their stranglehold on power.

And in an especially creative flourish, Rick Scott and his Cabinet have revived the spirit of Jim Crow by re-imposing restrictions on voting rights restoration that had been brought into the 21st Century by former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Florida’s two-week early voting period was among the reforms meant to prevent embarrassments like the 2000 election. It was a hard-won victory for working people who sometimes can’t get to the polls if they work odd hours, or run out of time to resolve a problem at the polls.

Arguably, it also contributed to Obama’s Florida win in 2008, as black churches and college students took full advantage of the extra time (and the history-making opportunity).

...................

Held harmless by the “reformers” will be absentee voting, which happens to be the method used most effectively by Republicans.

How important was Early Voting in 2008?

ONE-THIRD of all Ballots cast in 2008 were done so during the period of Early Voting.

ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE VOTES.

And now, they want to cut that time allowed to Early Vote, in half, so when Election Day comes, guess what, we'll have what usually occurs in precincts where the voters HAVE MELANIN ----older voting machines, fewer voting machines, voting machines that break down ----thus causing longer lines, and of course, who has hours upon hours to wait to vote? Surely not a large working class population. Just another form of VOTER SUPPRESSION.
Provisional ballots are crock. It's the easiest way to discount someone's vote is to give them a provisional. If one thing goes wrong with a provisional ballot, it is rejected. GUESS WHICH GROUPS are given a higher percentage of Provisional ballots than other groups? IF you guessed those with melanin, you would be correct. It's another form of VOTER SUPPRESSION.

But, interesting, that, in their search, to ' reform' voting in Florida, they left Absentee voting alone? Guess who votes Absentee higher percentage-wise? If you guessed those without melanin, you would be correct.


More details about how the changes the GOP in Florida want would be adverse to young voters:

Young volunteers who want to register classmates at, for example, college football games or concerts would have to take an in-person oath at local elections offices and be financially liable for completed voter registration forms.
• Young voters who are now able to update their voter registration information, such as their address, at the polls will no longer be able to do that and would be forced to use provisional ballots, which are often not counted.
• Young people with questions at their polling place would not be able to receive legal assistance or other services from non-partisan election protection programs at the polls.

ALL of this is done under the guise of 'preventing voter fraud'. This is an absolute scam. For the GOP, when non-whites and young people, and anyone who doesn't vote Republican steps towards a voting booth- it's voter fraud. They CANNOT win elections based on little ' d'- democracy. They simply can't. They know it. Because nobody but their narrowing portion of the electoral field is voting for them.

They are NOT expanding the pool of voters from which to choose, because nobody wants to JOIN up with them. So, their plan for 2012, is to make sure that the Democrats can't sign up or register their voters, and if they do, to make it difficult for them to actually cast their vote. There is nothing in these bills that has anything to do with voter fraud. It has everything to do with VOTER SUPPRESSION, and it's a time honored tradition like literacy tests and poll taxes. Different tactic, same point. Keep your eyes on Florida.

They want to STEAL THE 2012 ELECTION IN 2011.

There is a special place reserved for Governor Scott of Florida

from ThinkProgress:

Today, Rick Scott Will Lay Out Cuts For Developmentally Disabled And Then Attend A Special Olympics Photo-Op
Today, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) will announce deep cuts to programs that help the developmentally disabled in his state. Scott will invoke his “emergency powers” to impose a 15 percent cut to the rates charged by group home workers and case workers that help the 30,000 Floridians with cerebral palsy, autism, and Down Syndrome.

Those who provide services to the developmentally disabled are already decrying the cuts. “This would be a catastrophe,” one advocate told the Miami Herald. “The system can’t take this. Eventually, we will have to cut jobs and reduce services.”

Scott says the cuts are necessary to address a $170 million deficit in the Agency for Persons with Disabilities — but at the same time, he is also proposing $1.5 billion in corporate tax cuts and $1.4 billion more in property tax cuts.

Even more galling, today — the same day his cuts are announced — Scott is scheduled to appear at a Special Olympics Torch Run with his wife and other state officials. The run is designed to promote the upcoming Special Olympics in Florida, and raise money for developmentally disabled athletes along the way:

Some people.......should just burn in hell.

The Oil Slick that is Charlie Crist

There is a reason why, this entire election season I have used the same refrain when it came to Charlie Crist.

I said that you'd pry this Senate Seat..

" from his COLD.DEAD.HANDS."

I meant it too, and I believe all of it...

from his refusal to drop out and become an ' independent', to his courting of the so-called moderates...to this latest con game of ' Bill Clinton said that Kendrick Meek agreed to drop out. '

FROM HIS COLD.DEAD.HANDS.

So, what do I read today?
TPM.com

Crist Adviser: He Would Caucus With The Dems In The Senate
Everyone knows that Republican Marco Rubio is ahead in the polls for the Florida Senate race, helped in part by a split in the anti-GOP vote between independent (and ex-GOPer) Charlie Crist and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek. Crist has often refused to say for certain which party he would caucus with if he were elected. But as the Wall Street Journal an adviser to Crist says that he would caucus with the Dems if he were to win the election:

That's a big "if." Mr. Crist is trailing Republican candidate Marco Rubio in most polls. But the declaration by Florida trial lawyer John Morgan sheds light on one of the many mysteries in the Bill Clinton-Charlie Crist-Kendrick Meek imbroglio.

"Crist is going to caucus with the Democrats," Mr. Morgan said. "I don't think there's any ifs, ands or buts about it. It would be, in a very tight year, almost like a Democratic pickup in a solid Republican state."

This followed the recent story that former President Bill Clinton, who had supported Meek, attempted to get the Dem to drop out of the race and endorse Crist, who would reportedly then caucus as a Democrat.

Morgan told the Journal that the likelihood of Crist organizing as a Dem was unrelated to any potential deal, and Crist's campaign has denied that Crist ever agreed to caucus as a Dem as part of the Clinton-Meek maneuver.

Of course, this is probably all hypothetical. The TPM Poll Average currently gives Rubio 44.6%, Crist 30.2%, and Meek 19.6%.

I call absolute and utter bullshyt on this.



How convenient.

How convenient, the weekend before this election, this just happens to drop.

GMAFB.

Some 'advisor' tells this?

Are you really falling for this bullshyt?

It is the weekend before the election, and still, you do not have CHARLIE CRIST

ON TAPE

making a statement of any sort vowing to caucus with the Democratic Party.

If it was that important, why aren't the words coming out of Crist's mouth himself?

UH HUH.

I think that the posters have figured most of this out.

The man got MARRIED for pete's sake.

And, you don't think the OIL SLICK was the one who leaked this to the press?

Come on, now.

And, for those who support the Oil Slick over Meek without any commitment from the Oil Slick are ridiculous and pathetic.

IF the GOP takes over the Senate, bet on this...Charlie Crist will say, ' I don't know you....' to those Democrats clamoring for Meek to drop out of the race. Just like this clown up above supposedly telling us that Crist will canvass with the Dems, if the GOP takes over, he'll say that ' former friend didn't know anything'.

Get real about Crist.

The Wrong in the Florida Senate Race

I have been voting since I was 18 years old. I have voted in enough elections to know....YOU DON'T ALWAYS VOTE FOR THE ULTIMATE WINNER OF THE ELECTION.

It feels good to vote for the winner. For the person you thought should win DOES win.

But, no, you don't always vote for the winner of the election.

Which is why the shenanigans down in Florida make me sick.

In case you don't know, there was a story that broke yesterday that Bill Clinton was contacted by the Charlie Crist campaign to try and get Kendrick Meek out of the Senate Race.

From msnbc.com

Fla. Senate candidate denies Clinton asked him to quit
A Florida Democrat running a distant third in the state's three-way Senate race again denied Friday that former President Bill Clinton asked him to withdraw from the race in order to help Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican who is running as an independent.

Democrat Kendrick Meek told NBC's TODAY show that he had discussions about the race in Florida with Clinton during the former president's visits to the state to campaign on his behalf. But he denied that Clinton asked him to step down. "I never once told him that I was getting out and he never once asked me to get out."

A number of media on Thursday, including Politico and CNN, reported Clinton had tried to persuade Meek to drop out of the race to prevent a win by the contest's frontrunner, Republican Marco Rubio.

"The argument was: 'You can be a hero here. You can stop him, you can change this race in one swoop,'" a Democrat familiar with the conversations told Politico.

According to the Politico report, Meek agreed, and planned to endorse Crist, but then failed to go ahead with the withdrawal. Politico cited Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna.

A Florida Democrat running a distant third in the state's three-way Senate race again denied that former President Bill Clinton asked him to withdraw in order to help Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
..Meek denied there was any plan for him to drop out. He also rejected poll numbers showing him getting only about 15 percent of the vote in next Tuesday's election.

The thing is, I'm sick and tired of this bullshyt. Kendrick Meek is the Democratic Party's Nominee for the Senate from the State of Florida.

Without no much as ONE PUBLIC SENTENCE FROM CHARLIE CRIST EVER ON PROMISING TO CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IF HE WON..

we have seen a drumbeat of mofos calling for Meek to drop out.

G-T-F-O-H



They pretend that Charlie Crist isn't an amoral oil slick, who, if the GOP took over the Senate wouldn't go ' I don't know you' to all the Democratic Clowns who are calling for Meek to step down.

They pretend like Meek would be the first Democrat to lose a statewide race in Florida.

They pretend like Kendrick Meek was appointed the Democratic Nominee instead of putting together his campaign from scratch throughout the state. It's not like Meek woke up 1 month ago and said, 'I'm the Democratic Nominee for Senate.'

No, he went through a year long( if not more) process, building everything from scratch.

THERE WAS NO REASON WHY ANY OTHER DEMOCRAT IN FLORIDA COULD NOT HAVE DONE THE SAME THING.

But, Kendrick Meek did the hard work. He did all the legwork. He shook the hands. He went to meet the people, and, it is not his fault that no other Florida Democrats, outside of that shady creep who ran against him at the last minutes was the only one who would run. Meek won the nomination WITHOUT crapping on his base (cough:::Artur Davis, Adrian Fenty:::cough).

Meek won his right to win, and yes, to lose, this election.

I don't know if all this leaking so soon before the election is meant to encourage or suppress the Black vote. I do know, if I was in Florida, I'd be tempted to ONLY vote for Kendrick Meek and let the rest of the Florida Democratic Party to go play in traffic during rush hour.

But, I like what lamh32 has said about this situation:

This is gonna be my last comment of the night on FL Senator. Charlie Crist is playing Dems/Meeks/Clinton/FL voters for fools. And Marc Rubio is gonna laugh his way to the Senatorial bank and Charlie Crist is not gonna give a damn. Don't forget, Crist won't care if Rubio wins, hell, he was a part of the Repub party anyway, 'til the primaries didn't go his way. This is all about him, and he played Bill Clinton, he played Meeks, and he play FL Dems.

tell the truth, why don't you.

found more truth in a post by Town:

Well, we know the Democrats/fauxgressives want Meek out, and Crist wants Meek out. They tried to pressure Obama out back in '08 but he had the numbers on his side. Sadly for Meek, he does not.

I can pretty much rule out Rubio in this scheme, since having Meek in the race helps him out at the voting polls.

I think it went down like this:

FL Democrats want Meek gone. They've tried all their tricks, he's like a roach, he refuses to leave. Bill Clinton knows Meek is a loser, but campaigns for him because he did have their back even when the other 99% of black people were for Obama. Someone from the FL Democrats camp contacts Crist's camp, says we'd love to help you out but this dude won't leave. At this point we can't be seen pushing out the black guy in favor of you. But we want to help you. Bill Clinton knows he's a loser, here's Clinton's number. Give his camp a call, we're sure Clinton can convince him to exit stage left and hand his voters to you.

Crist's camp calls Clinton's camp, and says Meek's a loser, convince him to get out of the race so we can stop this teabagger. Clinton goes to Meek, says "ya know, I'm gonna campaign for you and do whatever you want. But you're kind of low in the polls. Have you ever thought about leaving the race?"

Meek says naw, son, let's campaign and Clinton backs off. Clinton's camp asks around Meek's camp and they're like, "look man, y'all gonna lose, maybe ya'll need to exit stage right."

Meek's people are like "we don't wanna lose in a landslide, our careers would be over, we'll try to work him over." So Clinton's people report to Crist's people, the FL Dems and the WH that the option of leaving was presented to Meek.

The WH is like "oh, ok, keep us posted." Clinton campaigns with Meek again and is like "Well you know you still have some time to drop out if that's what you're thinking," and Meek again is like "I ain't....goin nowhere...I ain't...goin' nowhere...I ain't stoppin'... so kiss my ass to-nite."

Clinton is like (kanyeshrug)"ok well I tried" to Crist's people. Some of Meek's people are pissed he didn't drop out so they runteldat to Crist's people that Clinton even tried to get him to drop out and he's still in it. Crist is pissed that Meek is messing his plans up and that Clinton couldn't get the job done so he spills the T on Keith Olbermann and Politico.

Kendrick Meek: The black man who beat a billionaire

Have you ever beat a billionaire in anything…me neither. But, today Rep. Kendrick Meek did in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate when he defeated Jeff Greene. Two months ago, it was not at all sure that Meek hadn’t made the biggest mistake of his political career in giving up a safe congressional seat for the dangers of a senate bid.

Read the rest at The Loop.

Sometimes, you read things and go 'WOW'. Marco Rubio has made me do that.

hat tip-djchefron

I have to admit, I didn't believe it could be true.

But, the headline confirmed it:

Marco Rubio says deport all the immigrants

Yes, you read right.

Marco Rubio says deport all the immigrants

Are there words?

Here is a quote from Rubio:

Then Rubio explained that he is against letting illegals become legal:

Rubio also rejected the notion of a "path to citizenship" or "amnesty," despite "the human stories."

"There are going to be stories of very young kids that were brought to this country at a very young age who don't even speak Spanish that are going to be sent back to Nicaragua or some other place. And it's gonna feel weird and I understand that," he said, suggesting that those hardships would be a price worth paying.

Hah! That's a quote from Marco Rubio, son of Cuban refugees. Cubans were, for decades, welcome to settle in America without visas or papers or anything, and they are still allowed to enter the the U.S. via Mexico without fear of being deported.

But Nicaraguans? Ugh, no. Marco Rubio says GO HOME.

Ain't that a bitch?

IFFFFF they were from any other country (cough, Haiti, double cough), Cubans would be considered ILLEGAL and SHIPPED BACK.

They aren't here through legal channels.

But, HE and HIS have made it, and the rest of you can go f-yourselves.

All the Latinos in Florida who are thinking of giving Rubio a chance in part because of ' Latino Pride'...

well......

when the chips are down, and he needed to take a stand...

look what stand he took.

Look who he sucked up to.

Look whose ass he kissed...

He's showing you who he is....

we have a term for folks like Rubio in the Black community....one of my current favorite terms is Slave Catcher.

may your vision be clear as you look at Rubio.

What we did (and ate) on our winter vacation ... part 2 / apple cake

Whenever we're in the Fort Lauderdale area, we always dine at the internationally known vegan restaurant, Sublime. In the past I've noted that Sublime tries very hard to appeal to non-vegetarians by simulating familiar meat-and-chicken-based dishes instead of focusing on the creative use of fresh vegetables, but as the only veg restaurant for miles around, I can understand their position. They've managed to be successful as a vegan restaurant in a steak and seafood world. And I really liked their new menu, which seemed to have more veggie-centered choices.

Sublime is a beautiful and calming space with very good food, and the waitstaff is friendly and helpful. Dining there is always enjoyable, and our latest visit was no exception, though we started the evening with a slight mishap. My sister-in-law had postcards (which were expiring the next day) offering $10 off two entrées, and we planned to use them to defray the high cost of eating at Sublime. As we arrived, my brother realized that he'd forgotten to bring the coupons. We went back and forth about whether to mention this to our server, but when the restaurant owner came to our table to greet us, we told her about the oversight. At first she seemed very pleased that her postcard had pulled us into the restaurant, and appeared to be considering what to do. Then she chirped, "I guess you'll just have to come back again tomorrow," and quickly took off. Oh well. It wouldn't have cost her very much to create a little seasonal good will but I guess we all make our choices.

For starters we shared an order of frito misto, shown at the top of the page. This is crispy cauliflower with sweet chili sauce, and it's addictively good. I've tried to duplicate this at home in the past and was very successful, but unfortunately I didn't write down the recipe so I'll have to try again.



For my entrée I chose the portobella stack with sautéed greens and mashed cauliflower. I'm a sucker for portobella dishes and, besides, this entrée came with the most vegetables. The smallish mushroom came layered with spinach, tomato, thinly sliced potato and a brown sauce. It was really good.



My husband chose a salad and the "four sides" entrée option, and he picked barbecued tofu, asparagus, coleslaw and mashed cauliflower. He enjoyed his dinner.



My brother and s-i-l shared a caesar salad and a "steak" sandwich with oven sweet potato fries. The salad came with several small pieces of fried artichoke hearts, which I thought was very clever. I think all four of us enjoyed this year's visit to Sublime (except for the coupon mishap) and will return again when we're back in the area. The food is organic and vegan, and all profits go towards animal welfare.



After dinner, we visited a street in Pompano Beach where every house on both sides of the street participates in extreme Christmas decorating excess. The pictures really don't do justice to the mind-boggling display of light and color.









All vacations must come to an end, so on New Year's Eve we left for the airport at 7:30 a.m. We were conscious of potentially increased security measures following the underwear-explosives incident on the airliner from Amsterdam. I packed very carefully, trying to minimize the chances of having myself or my luggage searched. Security was surprisingly fast and easy in spite of the fact I totally forgot to remove and display my one quart plastic zip-bag of personal explosives. No one called me out or even removed my empty stainless steel water bottle from my backpack pocket to shake it. This seemed rather slack considering the scrutiny I've encountered in the past.



Anyway, we got home in time to have a New Year's Eve dinner with our son, d-i-l, granddaughter and their friends. My daughter-in-law cooked a meal entirely from The Urban Vegan cookbook and it was delicious. Above you can see my plate with chickpea paprikash and spaetzle, snap peas in garlic and olive oil, and salad greens with croutons.



For a brunch at our kids' house on Sunday I made black-eyed-pea salsa (Texas caviar) from this recipe except I cooked the beans from scratch, and used parsley instead of cilantro to accommodate my favorite cilantro-hater.


No slivered almonds on or in my cake (cake #2)

I also made an apple cake from Bryanna Clark Grogan's blog but with several alterations. I'll give you the excellent original recipe (with permission), and then a second recipe with my changes. I ran out of sugar when I made it the first time so used cinnamon and a little agave for the topping, but that results in a pale-looking (but still delicious) cake. Sugar works much better. I also added dried cranberries with the apples, and no almonds on top due to my dislike for nuts in cake. The cake was delicious but tasted too sweet for my warped taste buds so I revised it a bit when I made it the second time. It still tastes sweet to me but everyone else loves it so I think I'll leave it alone for now.

Original recipe:
BRYANNA’S RUSTIC APPLE-ALMOND CAKE
makes 1/ 9x13" cake

Dry mix

• 1 and 3/4 cups wholewheat pastry flour PLUS 1/4 c. oat bran
• OR 2 cups wholewheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 cups chopped apples (I don't peel them if they are organic)
  

Wet mix

• 1/3 cup smooth unsweetened applesauce
• 3 Tbs. oil
• 1 cup unbleached organic granulated sugar
• 7/8 cup nondairy milk

Topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup slivered, blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13" cake pan.

1. Whisk together the dry mix ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Stir in the apples.
3. In a blender, blend the wet mix ingredients until smooth.
4. Mix the Wet Mix into dry mix, stirring as briefly as possible.
5. Spread into prepared pan.
6. Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake. Bake 35 minutes. Test for doneness.
7. Cool on a rack and serve right out of the pan, cut into squares.

..................................................................




Apple-cranberry cake (adapted from Bryanna's rustic apple-almond cake)
This cake is so easy and delicious — wonderfully soft and moist — it's destined to become a new favorite at our house!

Dry mix

• 2 cups white wholewheat flour
  
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp spice mix* (or cinnamon) see note below
  
• 2+ cups apple, chopped into 1/2" pieces (Don't peel if organic) (I used two med.-lg. apples)
• 1 cup whole cranberries (mine were frozen), each berry cut in half or 1/2 cup dried
  

Wet mix

• 1/3 cup smooth unsweetened applesauce
• 3 Tbs. oil
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup unbleached organic granulated sugar (evaporated cane juice) If using dried cranberries, the cake is very sweet. If you like cake less sweet, use 1/2 cup.
  
• 7/8 cup nondairy milk or amazake (Amazake gives great texture.)
  

Topping

• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
  
• 1 tsp. spice mix* (or cinnamon) see note below
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13" cake pan.

1. Whisk together the dry mix ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Stir in the apples and cranberries.
3. In a blender, blend the wet mix ingredients until smooth. (I just beat them with a spoon.)
   
4. Fold the wet mix into dry mix, stirring as briefly as possible. The batter will be very thick.
   
5. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
6. Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle half the topping evenly over the cake. Swirl in gently with a knife. (Don't knock yourself out with the swirling; the batter is too thick for real swirling.)
7. Sprinkle on the rest of the topping.
   
8. Bake 35 minutes. Test for doneness.
9. Cool on a rack and serve from the pan, cut into squares.

Note: *I used speculoos spice mix from Seitan is my motor (except mine has allspice instead of cloves, and extra coriander) to flavor the cake. (to make a batch: 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ground allspice, 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp. ground coriander, 1/8 tsp. ground ginger, 1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg) Follow this link to find out more. I had previously mixed a lot to keep handy with my other spices so it was right there waiting for me when I made the cake.

What we did (and ate) on our winter vacation ... part 1

We're finally back in rainy Seattle after a wonderful week in warm, sunny — SUNNY — Florida. We were gone for eight days, returning New Year's Eve. I really hate being confined to a mini airplane seat for hours so was reluctant to go so far away, but am so glad I did. (The plane ride from here to Atlanta took 5-1/2 hours, then it was another 2 hours from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale. Ugh.) We spent a whole day getting there and another whole day returning.




The view from our room

We stayed in Delray Beach for the first five nights at a wonderful hotel called Crane's Beach House. It's very "Key West" I'm told. It's like escaping to a private island; once you enter the hotel grounds, the sights and sounds of the city disappear, and you're surrounded by palm trees and waterfalls. We had a one-bedroom suite furnished in white wicker and red clay tiles with a living room, full kitchen, bedroom, and dining area. (Tourism is down this year making for much better room rates so we upgraded from our efficiency after the first night. We didn't arrive until after 1 a.m. so the first night wasn't worth the added cost.) For the last two nights we stayed in Pompano Beach with my brother and sister-in-law.

We visited with my 92-year-old aunt and 95-year-old uncle, my late-father's dear friend, Rose and my brother and s-i-l. We also got to spend time with vacationing friends from Madison. In between, and mixed into the socializing, there were beach walks, swimming, eating, movie watching, treadmill walking, after-Christmas bargain shopping and just plain relaxing. On our last day, I even fit in an appointment for acupuncture and full-body massage with my sister-in-law's practitioner.

The Inter Coastal as seen from the bridge

Our hotel was a block from the beach, and a short walk to downtown Delray Beach. To get downtown, we had to cross over the Intercoastal Waterway on a draw bridge — very scenic.


The Colony Hotel

Above you can see a wonderful renovated hotel on the main drag. It has a large front porch where people gather to have drinks or just to relax, and a fabulous lobby filled with inviting furniture and an atmosphere that makes me think of The Great Gatsby. We've never stayed there but we always stop in to gawk.

While not the most vegan-friendly place in the world, Delray Beach and the surrounding towns did provide us with a week's worth of reasonable eating. On our first and last nights we had dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's condo. They always go out of their way to make sure there is plenty of delicious food for us to eat.



Here's a somewhat demolished spread of hors d'oeuvres that we dove into before I remembered the camera. It was a collection of dips, spreads, salsa, olives, raw veggies and chips.



My s-i-l was feeling her "Martha" vibe when she set the table. Her settings are always elegant.



My plate holds tofu and rice, kale-sesame salad, broccoli and brussels sprouts.



On our last night we had pasta with mushrooms, and green beans.



We found a vegetarian falafel stand in a high-end shopping mall (Town Center in Boca Raton) that was amazing. It's called Maoz Vegetarian and is part of a chain. The first time we were there I didn't have my camera so I can only describe my lunch. I had a falafel with broccoli and cauliflower, chopped tomato and cucumbers, and tahini sauce on whole wheat pita. The pita was almost fluffy - the best I've ever tasted - and the veggie combination, though it sounds weird, was great. You can choose from a large assortment of unusual toppings for your sandwich. You can also just choose the salad bar. The sandwich above was from our second visit when they were out of whole wheat pita.



We discovered a cool pizza place in Delray Beach, Mellow Mushroom, that we could walk to, and we went there for dinner the evening we spent with our friends from Madison. It was packed and crazy noisy so we ordered pizza and salad to go, and took it back to our hotel where we could relax and have a conversation without shouting. Our pizza didn't have cheese but it had everything else — sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, onions, olives, tomatoes, broccoli, artichoke hearts and tofu. The sun-dried tomatoes gave the pizza a rich depth that completely erased the need for a cheesy topping. (If you prefer not to use cheese substitutes when making pizza at home, you might want to try adding sun-dried tomatoes to your pie.) The real surprise was the memorable whole wheat crust — perfectly bubbly, charred and chewy.


Sweet Tomatoes


Sweet Tomatoes

One evening we went to Sweet Tomatoes all-you-can-eat buffet in Boca Raton for soup and humongous make-your-own salads. In addition to all the usual salad ingredients, they always have interesting things like raw, shredded butternut squash. Sweet Tomatoes requires a bit of patience if the line is long, but it's inexpensive, filling and vegan-friendly.



I was excited to discover a Chinese restaurant in Boca with a separate vegetarian menu, but we were all disappointed with our food. It doesn't look bad in the photo, but it wasn't too great. The front page of the veg menu had a whole discourse about the benefits of miso soup, and a long statement about how they catered to vegetarians. I ordered seaweed soup and it didn't taste like it had any miso in it. It had that fake-stock taste, if you know what I mean. The seaweed was delicious but every mouthful included a small dose of sand, so I gave up on eating it. Bleh. My spring roll was so greasy I peeled the outer skin off so I could eat the yummy cabbage filling. The main dish was okay but not something I'd look forward to eating again, but I doubt we'll ever go back to this restaurant.

This is getting too long, and I've got a bunch more photos to post so I'll call this part 1, and get the rest done asap. Coming up in part 2 will be our evening at Sublime Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, and lots more. But first I leave you with a little warning for the new year. Always check your back.



Above is an unnamed mystery guest who had just given himself an unfortunate d-i-y haircut before coming to the party. I photographed the back of his head so he could see why everyone was laughing. It was a good thing he was among friends, and hadn't gone out in public before corrections could be made. : )

It's A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

For the 2nd time in three years, the City of New Orleans prepares this morning to be blasted by a powerful hurricane. The devastation wrought back in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina is now legendary, but a great deal of that horror was not a creation of God, or Mother Nature, or any kind of natural or supernatural being or event. The devastation was brought on man by man. For at least decades, the governments, both local and regional, and the people of the Gulf region were warned that this was going to happen, it was just a matter of time. It is not the responsibility of the federal government to build giant walls and roofs so that men can be protected from every possible disaster. Men need at some point to take responsibility for their own actions and lives. When you purposefully and intentionally make the decision that you and your family are going to live in an area that is historically prone to certain natural events, then you have chosen to take on certain risks and have the responsibility to ensure that you and yours can survive and recover when those events occur. And the key word in that entire statement is 'when', because this is not an 'if' scenario. Hurricanes barrel through the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico every single year, they have done so for all of recorded history, and they will continue to do so into the future. In the U.S., this means that coastal states such as Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and the Carolinas are always going to be vulnerable to these types of events. Anyone who moves into or remains living in those states near the coastlines makes the choice that the beauty of everyday life there is worth the trade-off in having to evacuate or baton down when these strong storms hit. When they do hit, those who have made those decisions, along with their local and state governments, should be responsible for any recovery and rebuilding. It is not as if these events are a surprise, a sudden calamity that could not have been forecast. While any particular storm cannot be foreseen, the fact that there will be storms year after year, and that some of these will be of the devastating variety, means that people who live in these areas are rolling the dice. When we gamble and win, it is considered being 'lucky', it is not usually considered smart. When you gamble and lose, it should not be my responsibility to bail you out and put you back on your feet. Do people need help out of the goodness of others hearts? Sure, that is the point of charity and volunteerism. But for the federal government to continue to take hundreds of millions of dollars in hits because of the continued and repetitive gambling of some of our citizens is ridiculous. Every time that a natural disaster hits, the first question is "What is the federal government going to do about this?" The fact is that members of local governments have made the choice to be citizens of those communities, and they need to be responsible. They need to educate their fellow community members, prepare for responding to these incidents, and prepare for recovery from these incidents. The local governments and businesses and citizens of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes were told that a Katrina-like event was going to happen, and they chose to make other decisions over the years and decades in their spending that did not address the issues of basic protections against such a storm. Instead, the federal government was expected to protect them from their choice to live in that area, and bail them out in recovery when the event actually happened. And this is not the only example of this type of thinking and lack of preparation. For decades, the people in the San Francisco and Oakland areas, and many other communities in southern California, have been warned that a major earthquake of a devastating magnitude is going to strike at some point. Not some point hundreds of years in the future, but likely at some point in the next few years or decades. It is going to happen: buildings, bridges, roads, homes will topple and hundreds if not thousands or more of people are going to die. It is a fact of the future that every one of those people has been warned about. But they have chosen to live in those areas anyway because there are many benefits on a day-to-day basis. I respect and acknowledge the right of those folks to live in those areas. But they have chosen to live there in a known disaster-waiting-to-happen neighborhood, and when it happens, likely in my lifetime, it should not be my responsibility to bail them out and help them rebuild right there so that it can all happen again someday. Sudden, unexpected events are one thing. Predicted and expected events are another. One results in a tragedy, the other results in a bad choice coming home to roost. It appears that Hurricane Gustav, which will slam into Louisiana today, will not be nearly as bad as Katrina was, but it will be a strong storm that will beat down an area already beaten badly. The fact is that a hard rain is going to fall, and the further fact is that it won't be the last time.