RED vs BLUE - An Observation

If politics is the life blood of this country (okay, so it really isn’t) then consider this:

We have Red States and Blue States. The Red States are the ones that tend to vote mostly for the Republican and the Blue States tend to vote mostly for the Democrat.

Now, in our bodies we have our life blood – our blood. If you remember from your biology class you will remember that when blood receives oxygen (becomes oxygenated) it turns Red.

Also remember that when blood has no oxygen it is Blue.

What this means is that we need to get some oxygen to the Blue States – fast!

A-6Dude

Red State Martini
Four fresh cherries
1 ½ parts Vodka
½ part Pomegranate juice
1 part Fresh sour mix

Muddle cherries into a shaker, then combine the remaining ingredients with ice and shake vigorously until very cold. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with one skewered cherry.

Blue State Martini
Eight fresh blueberries
1 ½ parts Vodka
½ part Blue Curacao
½ part Fresh sour mix

Muddle blueberries into a shaker, then combine the remaining ingredients with ice and shake vigorously until very cold. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with three skewered blueberries.

The World Wants Obama - Do We Really Care Who The Rest Of The World Wants As President?

A BBC poll states that the world wants Obama. My guess is that this really means that the other socialist countries want another socialist and the trouble makers want a weakling in office.

What are your thoughts?

A-6Dude

Metropolitan Martini

1.5 parts brandy
1 part sweet vermouth
1/2 tsp sugar syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Mix ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until COLD. Strain into a coctail glass and be metropolitan.

I Have Started Another Blog Site Dedicated to All Things Martini

Check out my other site dedicated to nothing political...just martinis.

http://martinioclock.blogspot.com/

A-6Dude

You'll see the recipe there.

A Dutch Perspective On Our Political Process

From an email I received…

“We in Denmark can not figure out why you are even bothering to hold an election.

On one side, you have a bi*ch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer . . . and a lawyer who is married to a bi*ch who is a lawyer.

On the other side, you have a war hero married to a good looking woman with big biznoobies who owns a beer distributorship.

Is there a contest here?”

They have a point!

A-6Dude

Abra Cadabra Martini
2 part Van Gogh Vodka
1/2 part peach schnapps
1/2 part apricot brandy
1 part pineapple juice

Pour ingredients into shaker and with ice and shake. Strain into a COLD martini glass.

Another Victory on the Illegal Immigration Front

Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri signed an executive order that includes a series of steps to combat illegal immigration. He correctly links the presence of illegal aliens to Rhode Island's financial woes. It’s good to see a leader see that can add 2 + 2 and get 4.

He signed the order Thursday and it requires state agencies and companies that do business with the state to verify the legal status of employees. It also directs the Rhode Island State Police and prison and parole officials to more aggressively find and deport illegal aliens.

By the way, did I mention that he was an evil Republican? I really didn’t think I would need to do so since I am talking about someone doing the right thing for our country.

Like all of us, Gov. Carcieri said he understands that illegal aliens face hardships — but he does not want them in Rhode Island, America's smallest state. "If you're here illegally, you shouldn't be here illegally. You shouldn't be here," Carcieri said.

Here comes the violin music….

Illegal alien advocate Juan Garcia fears Gov. Carcieri's proposals will drive a vulnerable community underground. Would that be underground into one of the tunnels going back to Mexico? He said illegal aliens who are victims of crime will fear approaching police, and that children could suffer if parents lose their jobs.

"These people are not criminals," he said. "This is affecting the poor people."

Juan, they are criminals. What part of the word illegal is so hard to understand? They are here illegally. Because they’re poor it’s supposed to be okay? Rhode Island faces an estimated $550 million budget deficit, its worst financial crisis since a series of bank and credit union collapses in the early 1990s.

I wonder how much of that deficit would be gone if RI didn’t have to use the taxes of legal citizens and guests to pay for services for illegal aliens? As a result, Carcieri has had to propose cutting school funding, reducing welfare and health care benefits and even letting prisoners out of jail early. Maybe all of those areas would be getting cuts even if there weren’t illegal aliens in RI. But I bet it would be less. And in all fairness, it isn’t the burden of the illegal aliens alone that have caused this deficit. But it didn’t help either.

The truth is that we need to either enforce our current immigration policy or get a new one. We need to secure the borders first, and then figure out how to handle the supposed 12-20 million illegal aliens in this country.

Carcieri supports increasing the number of legal immigrants and skilled workers allowed into the country. The difference here is the word ‘legal’.

When a reporter asked if his order might embolden xenophobes (that’s liberal code word for anyone that loves this country and wants our immigration laws enforced), Carcieri blamed the media for inflaming the immigration debate. YES!!! As we used to say when our bombs hit the target… “Shack”!! Way to go, Governor!

So, under his order, state police will enter an agreement with federal immigration authorities permitting them access to specialized immigration databases. That information would allow police to identify and detain illegal aliens.

Even better, though, the state police could investigate the legal status of anyone they suspect is an immigration violator, including crime victims, witnesses and people supplying police with confidential tips. Finally, someone is taking the political correctness out of the way of enforcing our laws.

I’m sure this will cost money in the short term but I know it will save money in the long haul.

Perhaps we could send a bill for services to Mexico and other countries that tell their people to come here illegally.

Now I am going to wait to see what the real defenders of freedom, the ACLU, have to say about this.

A-6Dude

The Kiss of the Tigress
2 parts Mandarin Vodka
1 part Cointreau® Orange Liqueur
1 part Orange Juice
1/2 tsp Powdered Sugar
1 Twist Oranges

Moisten glass rim with an orange twist, then dip rim into sugar (for more flavor try Stirrings® Coffee and Cocoa or Espresso rimmer). Pour liquid ingredients into shaker with ice and shake until very cold. Strain into rimmed martini glass. Garnish with twist of orange if desired.

Sean Penn – Clairvoyant!

Sean Penn is clairvoyant. Or, so he believes.

He was in San Francisco wrapping up filming on a new movie about Harvey Milk (Penn is shown at left during the filming), the first city supervisor that had openly admitted choosing a homosexual lifestyle. Sean Penn, of course, was playing Milk. But, because he's a "method actor," he wanted to be called Harvey in between shots.

Between scenes a production assistant was following Penn around the front of City Hall with a large umbrella to shield him from the sun. Seeing he had a captive audience, he moved out from under the umbrella to deliver an impromptu speech to the crowd of extras.

"I almost wish Jerry Falwell were alive to see this. Almost," Penn shouted to the crowd. After dropping some names of conservatives who are still with us - "Bill O'Reilly, who is too stupid to talk about," and "Sean Hannity, the butt boy of Rupert Murdoch," Penn said, "We know something more. WE KNOW THEIR END IS NEAR (emphasis mine)."

Sean, stick to acting. I think you are a good actor. But you are not a clairvoyant. Let’s look at the ratings for Monday, March 17, 2008 to see the facts.

CABLE NEWS RACE MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008 VIEWERS

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,040,000

FNC HANNITY/COLMES 2,337,000

FNC GRETA 1,862,000

FNC SHEP 1,583,000

FNC HUME 1,508,000

CNN DOBBS 1,227,000

CNN KING 983,000

CNN COOPER 976,000

MSNBC OLBERMANN 962,000

CNN BLITZER 839,000

CNNHN GRACE 663,000

MSNBC HARDBALL 604,000

Sean, one doesn’t have to be good at math to see the facts here. Although you liberals hate FOXNEWS, they are cleaning up in the ratings. You can see from the numbers that Bill O’Reilly has almost 2.5X the viewers of the highest rated CNN show with Lou Dobbs (and some liberals don’t like him either). In fact, the lowest rated FNC show (Brit Hume’s) had almost 25% more viewers than the highest rated CNN or MSNBC show.

Sean, math doesn’t seem to be one of your strong suits so stick to something that you seem to be able to do well – pretending to be someone you’re not! Or, maybe you should stay at a Holiday Inn Express before launching into your liberal mantra.

A-6Dude

Benedict Arnold Martini
1 part Whiskey
1 part Benedictine

Shake over ice until very cold and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry and a mint sprig (optional).

Hate Crimes

There are many laws on our books that are a waste of ink. Among them is the idea that we need laws for so-called hate crimes. Let’s take one example. Murder is murder so what makes it any worse if a white person kills a black (or insert minority of choice) person during the commission of a crime or just because the person was black? The net result is the same. Someone was killed and it is a crime.

I think the answer is 'White Guilt'. This is a disease that liberals are trying to infect us with because they feel that white people (and America) are responsible for all of the ills of the world.

So we now have hate crimes legislation that gives harsher sentences for those convicted of killing a person of another race, creed or religion if one of those three issues was the reason for the killing (or any other crime). But my question is, still – isn’t murder bad regardless? Why is that we need to make the punishment tougher on someone just because they killed a black, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a yellow person, or a brown person, or a red person, or a person that has chosen a homosexual lifestyle, or any of the other categories that qualify? Again, it’s white guilt.

And why is it that if a black person kills a white person for any reason, no one calls it a hate crime? The two young, white coeds from Auburn and U of North Carolina that were killed recently were both killed by blacks (at least that is what we are being told). Why aren’t those being investigated as hate crimes? As far as I know it’s never been mentioned. But remember the Duke rape scandal that never was? It was all a lie and because the girl was black, everyone had a field day with the white college boys. How come Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson haven’t apologized for convicting those boys before any of the evidence was in?

Only whites seem to be able to commit hate crimes. One of the black youths arrested for the murder of the UNC coed is also being accused of killing an Asian Duke grad student. Why isn’t that a hate crime?

The answer is: HYPOCRISY!

A-6Dude

Irish Tiramisu-tini
¼ c espresso
4 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
1/3 c mascarpone
2 scoops vanilla, chocolate or coffee ice cream
2-4 ice cubes
2 soft ladyfinger cookies sliced lengthwise, or shortbread wafers
Chocolate-hazelnut spread
Chocolate syrup
Blend espresso, Irish Cream, ice cream, mascarpone and ice until smooth. Drizzle chocolate syrup along inside edges of chilled martini glass in a spiral shape (or, just rim the glass with chocolate syrup). Pour mixture from blender into glass. Spread layer of chocolate-hazelnut spread in between ladyfingers or sandwich between shortbread cookies. Dip cookies in cocktail.

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs

This is a LONG read but well worth it. I received this via email and it was credited to LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of "On Killing."

"Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always,even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?" - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident."

This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year.

Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.
But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs. Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers.

In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love.

But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling."

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself...

"Baa."

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

A-6Dude


Blue Martini
2 parts of Bombay Blue Sapphire gin or Vodka
1 part of blue curacao
dash of dry vermouth.

Shake over ice till COLD and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with an olive.

A Few Good Men - My Day At Work

Since retiring from the Navy I have found myself in the mysterious world of sales. For the first six years I sold software and for the last four I have been selling services (people). It’s a completely different mentality than flying jets in the Navy.

Out here there are two sides of the equation – those of us that bring in revenue (sales reps and Business Developers) and those that depend upon that revenue (Finance and Accounting – F&A). I'm a Business Developer.

Here is a meeting I had today with them set to the tone of the movie "A Few Good Men".

F&A: “I still need clarification on this expense report.”

Me: "You want answers?"

F&A: "I think we are entitled to them!"

Me: "You want answers?!"

F&A: "I want the truth!"

Me: "You can't handle the truth!!!"

Me (continuing): "Lady, we live in a world that requires revenue. And that revenue must be brought in by people with elite skills. Who's going to find it? You? You, Ms. Finance and Accounting? We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.

You scoff at Business Development and you curse our lucrative incentives. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that while the cost of business results are excessive, it drives in revenue. And my very existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, drives REVENUE!

You don't want to know the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at staff meetings ... you want me on that call. You NEED me on that call!

We use words like Long Term Agreements, Productivity Improvements, discounts, Just In Time, global purchase agreements. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent negotiating something. You use them as a punch line!

I have neither the time nor inclination to explain myself to people who rise and sleep under the very blanket of revenue I provide and then question the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a phone and make some sales calls. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!"

F&A: "Did you expense the lap dances?"

Me: "I did the job I was hired to do."

F&A: "Did you expense the lap dances?"

Me: "You're goddamn right I did!"

A-6Dude


Key Lime Martini Recipe

Graham cracker crumbs, for rimming the glass
2 lime wedges
6 Tbs. vanilla flavored vodka
¼ cup key lime liqueur
2 Tbs. pineapple juice
2 Tbs. heavy whipping cream

Pour the graham cracker crumbs into a shallow dish. Rub a lime wedge around the edge of a martini glass and roll the edge in the graham cracker crumbs. Chill the glass for 30 minutes or until ready to serve.

Combine the vodka, key lime liqueur, pineapple juice and cream in a shaker. Fill the shaker half full with ice and shake until COLD. Pour into prepared martini glass, garnish with a lime wedge and serve immediately.

This was not plagiarized. This was composed using repeatable best practices. They're just words.

A Dirty Martini

This site was not started to be only me opining about issues of the day. I want to make sure I balance it a little with other topics about which I am passionate.

So, today, I will talk about martinis (my wife, my kids, cigars and scotch and other passions will come in later posts).

The Dirty Martini is the namesake drink of my blog site. It is my favorite martini.

Martinis were an American invention. There are several theories about the origin of the martini. The most accepted account is that the Martinez (the original name for the drink) was most likely invented in Martinez, California, where a plaque commemorating the birth of the martini can be found on the north-east corner of the intersection of Alhambra Avenue and Masonic Street.

The current day martini is a descendant of the Martinez, an older, sweeter cocktail consisting of two ounces of sweet vermouth, one ounce Old Tom gin (a sweetened variant), two dashes maraschino cherry liquid, and one dash bitters, shaken with ice, strained, and served with a twist of lemon. The earliest known reference to the Martinez is found in The Bon Vivant's Companion: Or How to Mix Drinks (1887 edition), authored by "Professor" Jerry Thomas, the head bartender at many famous watering holes, including the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco.

Thomas had a client who took a ferry from the Occidental Hotel on Montgomery Street to Martinez, then the state capital of California, every morning. Thomas mixed him the Martinez to keep the morning chill off, and named it after his client's destination. Distilled spirits in the 1800s were not regulated as they are today, and were sold at cask strength—upwards of 135 proof. Over time, the strength of the spirits decreased and smaller quantities of mixers were needed to make them palatable. Now it is more common to see a martini made with little or no vermouth.

Today we also see that Vodka has replaced Gin as the predominant ingredient in a martini. Purists, however, still believe that a true martini is made with Gin and not Vodka. Personally, I like them both but I lean toward Vodka as my main ingredient.

Here is the thing about martinis: as with any other drink you make the key to a great cocktail is the use of QUALITY ingredients. Life is too short to drink cheap booze, unless your budget can only afford the call brand varieties.

Using the lesser quality ingredients can be somewhat rectified by the next most important ingredient in making a martini – make it COLD! When I shake my martinis I do so until I can no longer hold the shaker in my hand. I mean that literally.

Next, I like to chill my cocktail (martini) glasses in the freezer. You may also chill one by adding ice and water to a glass but I find the freezer just makes it taste better. There is something about the martini glass fogging up after I remove it from the freezer that makes the anticipation of the martini more heightened.

I have a spread sheet with almost 700 recipes that I have been accumulating since 2000. When I see and interesting recipe I add it to my list. There is no way I will be able to drink all of them (without a liver transplant) but they’re fun to collect.

The last element of a martini is the garnish. In that list of recipes I have garnishes that include lemon twists, orange twists, olives (with a variety of stuffing’s), chocolate syrup, candy canes, various rimming sugars and the list goes on. I also purchased some stainless steel martini olive skewers in the shape of swords. They are cool!

Another thing I have found is a lady named Tracy Lolita Yancey that designs themed, hand painted martini art glasses. On the bottom of the glasses is a recipe to try. These are way cool and make great gifts for the martini lovers in your life.

So, here is the namesake recipe for my blog site:

The Dirty Martini
3 parts Vodka or Gin (make them the best quality you can afford)
½ part dry vermouth (personally, I either use a vermouth spritzer, or swirl the vermouth in glass and drain it, or use no vermouth at all)

Olive brine

Olives (either pimento stuffed or bleu cheese stuffed – and stuff the bleu cheese in yourself. Don’t buy the bleu cheese stuffed olives that are stored in oil)

Add the vodka or gin and your vermouth preference to a shaker filled with ice. Shake it until you cannot hold the shaker in your hand anymore. Strain into your very chilled martini glass. Add 2-3 tsp of olive brine (more or less to taste) and garnish with your olives.

Find a place to sit, relax and enjoy! You earned it.

A-6Dude

Halloween is bewitching

Blogging is new to me! I've read them from time to time but have never written one ... until now.

The catalyst for starting one occurred on Halloween. There was an article in the Washington Times entitled "Halloween bewitches schools". Having two kids in elementary school I was curious. I had an idea what it was about and I wasn't disappointed. I know that we are almost a month past Halloween but it's not just Halloween that is affected.

Apparently, certain holidays and their celebrations present problems for school systems in America (although this article was only about school systems in the greater DC metro area). It seems that some of our traditional holidays and/or their names are offensive to some groups. So, to make everyone comfortable, some schools have decided to change the name of the holiday or just not celebrate it at all. Not all are doing this, but it seems that a lot of them are. And it just isn't in this area of the country. And, as I write this there is another 'bewitching' article coming out of one of the Seattle school systems.

So how did this happen? When I was a kid ( a long time ago) we celebrated all of the holidays. We also called them by their real names. We looked forward to them. And the more we had the better for us. As a military brat we moved often and there was always a diverse group of kids everywhere I went (although we didn't use the word 'diverse' then, we just knew we were from different places). With all of these diverse kids from around the world we celebrated a lot of holidays. The more the merrier - it beat listening to the teachers. That's how kids view it!!

The reporter for the article interviewed representatives from several schools in surrounding counties to see how Halloween was being celebrated...or not. Some of the schools had no problem with the term Halloween. Others did.

As I read further in the article I started to see what the problem was (as if I didn't already know) ... someone might be uncomfortable or offended.

I was most alarmed by a comment Wayde Byard (Public Information Officer for the Loudoun County Schools) made in the article. Mr. Byard is quoted as saying "We're a multicultural school district. So a lot of people come here and simply don't understand [Halloween]." YGBSM!

It seems that now, those of us that were born and raised in this country have to be careful because our way of life might make a newcomer (citizen or not) uncomfortable? I thought perhaps I had fallen asleep and it was six months later (April Fool's Day....oh, can I call it that?).

I read that some of these people being interviewed want to call Halloween something other than Halloween to 'steer the celebration away from "scary" and toward "positive". Is that unbelievable, or what?!! Actually, it's not unbelievable. I've been watching it happen for years.

C'mon!! Even as a kid Halloween was never "scary". And we "positively" looked forward to that day each year so we could go from class to class and trick or treat, get some candy and then do it again that night.

First of all, America's culture (and yes, we have one) was formed over the last couple of hundred years in large part by those people from other cultures that came to this country to live the American life. A lot of those people brought traditions that have been adopted to create the culture of America. Our culture is different than other countries and we should be glad for that, and we should defend it.

Multiculturalism is the death knell to a society. We are a melting pot society, not an a la carte salad bar. When people come to this country they need to adapt to our way of life. We can and should respect their differences but we should not have to alter our culture or traditions for them. They have a choice on whether to live here or not.

I cannot imagine moving to another country to live and not learning the language (if it isn't already English) and learning and accepting their customs and traditions. Having been in 18 other countries in the world I can tell you that every country has its own culture. Well, at least those 18 that I visited had individual cultures. So I tried to learn as much as I could before and during my visits to these countries to make the experience more rewarding. But I never dreamed of asking those countries to change their way of life to accomodate me. How arrogant would that be? I was in their country and felt it was incumbent upon me to honor their customs.

I said that I have been watching this happen for years now. I have two children in the Loudoun County School District and for the last five years they have come home with projects that they make at Christmas time (oops, sorry, I mean Winter time) such as the dreidles and menorahs, and they get told all about Kwanzaa and yet, although about 85% of the people of this country are Christians and celebrate Christmas, they are told they can make snowflakes and snowmen but nothing that has a religious theme or symbol to it. No kidding - my wife was helping in my daughter's class a couple of years ago and she was asked not to bring anything in other than a snowflake or a snowman...no crosses, no stars, no candy canes, no Christmas tree cutouts and no reference to what Christmas is really about.

Why not? I want my kids to learn about other cultures and their traditions like I did growing up. I also want them to be able to celebrate our traditions too.

I, for one, am tired of the so-called 'enlightened' belief that we have to give up our way of life to make those from other cultures feel 'comfortable'. Those people who came to this country chose to do so and, in making that choice, should understand our culture, customs and traditions.

And if they don't like certain celebrations or traditions -- then they have the option of not participating...just like anyone else. But those traditions and celebrations should not have to be watered down and/or renamed just because a tiny minority don't ;understand' them or feel uncomfortable. How about sharing things from your culture with us. Like I said, as a kid we welcomed any new tradition that gave us a reason to have something to celebrate instead of having to listen to the teacher.

So, if these people come here and 'simply don't understand it', as Mr. Byard says, then they should learn it. No one requires them to participate. This is our country, and if someone wants to come here and live then they should assimilate into our culture. The surest way to destroy any culture is to try to make it multicultural.

And, why is it that the majority of the population has to kowtow to those that preach tolerance? Where is their tolerance to our own traditions and celebrations? But all is not lost, according to the article, in one of the school districts they are 'allowed' to sing Christmas hymns as long as they 'play songs from other religions as well'. I have no problem with that. So, why can't we let our kids celebrate our traditions like Christmas as long as we recognize the others? Common sense seems to be MIA.

Another thing, let's refer to our celebrations by their real names. Have the guts to call things what they are: Halloween is Halloween; Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving; Christmas is Christmas; Hanukkah is Hanukkah; Ramadan is Ramadan; Easter is Easter and I could go on.

This is supposed to be free country and yet those of us who grew up here are finding it harder to celebrate our traditions, whether based in religion or not, because those that preach tolerance and diversity don't practice what they preach. Or, someone might not understand it. Give me a break!!!

It's time for a martini and a cigar.

A6Dude

I know it's a little late but here is a Halloween martini from my collection of over 700 recipes:

Dracula's Kiss:

2 parts Black Cherry Vodka, 1 part Grenadine, 3 parts Coke.

Pour the Grenadine into a COLD cocktail glass. Float the Vodka over it and fill with Coke. Garnish with a cherry - it should float on top of the Grenadine.