Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Yes, You Too | 'The architecture of defense' »

Monday, November 24, 2008

News The Morning News

Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 7:48 AM

Don't Stop Believing: Connelly looks at potential Seattle-area Obama Administration members.

Richardson's In: Obama to appoint NM gov as Commerce Secretary.

Budget Crisis Hits UW: As officials propose tuition hikes as high as 15 percent.

Someone's Doing Well In this Economy, And It's Not You: It's Psychics!

Another Day: Another massive bailout for a "toxic" financial institution.

The Kids Love It: Twilight takes in $71 million.

If We Promise To Miss Him: Will Ted Haggard go away?

Dirty Tricks: Republicans aim low in Georgia. Meanwhile, Saxby Chambliss sure likes golf.

High-Income People to Pay 45 Percent Income Tax: Not here—in Britain, silly!

In Science News: Wooly Mammoth genome sequenced.

The Children Are Our Future: First congressman born in 1980s to take office.

Not So Flexible: More than 92 percent of government's "flex-fuel" fleet uses regular gasoline, not ethanol.

Thanksgiving Recipe of the Day: Sweet Potato and Sage Gratin (Recipe via Apartment Therapy; photo via Mellowfood on Flickr)

4 large sweet potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder (optional)
1 cup cream
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan

Heat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13 casserole or gratin dish. Peel and slice the potatoes. Toss them in a bowl with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

Heat the butter in a heavy skillet and slowly caramelize the onions. When the onions are dark, add the garlic and cook just until golden. Reserve two tablespoons of the chopped sage and add the rest to the onions, along with the chipotle powder and cream. Cook until the cream is slightly reduced then remove from the heat.

Layer the potatoes in a greased casserole dish with the onions, lifting them out of the cream with a slotted spoon. Pour the cream over the top and bake for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are barely tender.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of butter in the skillet and toast the reserved chopped sage and the breadcrumbs until golden and fragrant. Remove from heat and toss with the Parmesan. Sprinkle over top of the gratin and return to the oven for about 15 minutes or until brown and crispy.

Comments (17) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

That photo looks like something I puked.

Posted by ivan on November 24, 2008 at 8:03 AM

Obama plans a huge stimulus, he asks Congress to act before he's even in office and we get nothing on that? Instead a link to a gossipy old walrus columnist?

Richardson, check we knew that last week, the real news this weekend is the totally Rubinesque economic troika being appointed headed up by Summers at NEC. And the continuing news that Obama is basically an updated Clinton, policy wise, good god he's appointing lots of people who on economic policy favor fiscal discipline, deregulation, free trade, etc. Thankfully they seem to be on board pushing a stimulus that is far more massive (and more deficit-y) than what Obama promised in the campaign.

Also news today, also ignored by Slog: Obama seems to want to defer rolling back the Bush tax cuts.

WTF?
This promise (to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy) should be kept esp. in view of larger deficits needed for the stimulus plan.
Unity --

Posted by PC on November 24, 2008 at 8:14 AM

@1: We really didn't need that.

I bet the Sweet Potato & Sage Gratin is quite tasty - but could be too rich. It's one of those things you want to taste first before making it.

Posted by raindrop on November 24, 2008 at 8:16 AM

For most of the 20th century, the top tax bracket in the United States was greater than 70% of income. This peaked during the last two years of WWII at a whopping 94%, and rose again to 92% during the Korean War.

This all ended under Reagan, when the top tax rate was cut from 71.75% to 50%, and then to 38.5%, which is close to where it is today.

GW Bush went against all conventional wisdom, history, and rational thought by engaging in a war of his own while simultaneously cutting the top tax bracket from 38.6% to 35%.

Posted by Mahtli69 on November 24, 2008 at 8:20 AM

@3: it's true... it does look like puke.

Posted by candice. on November 24, 2008 at 8:48 AM

Sweet potato pie was the reason John Coltrane's teeth rotted to the point where he was in constant pain whenever he played during the last five years of his life. But he still kept eating the damn stuff. Sweet potato = E.V.I.L.! Please post more recipes with Lord Basil in them.

Posted by Cookie W. Monster on November 24, 2008 at 8:48 AM

Flex-fuel: Mandated by Clinton. A really bad idea then and now as ethanol is a terrible solution.

One of my main arguments against bailout is the new Honda FCX Clarity. It's being leased right now (to a bunch of celebrities and Hollywood insiders). It runs on hydrogen using a fuel cell. It is the future of automobile transport and it was created by a company that has remained solvent.

Posted by John Bailo on November 24, 2008 at 8:48 AM

#4: "This all ended under Reagan, when the top tax rate was cut from 71.75% to 50%,"

Uh, sorry Mr. Peabody, but you should have asked your Boy, Sherman.

It was Democrat John F. Kennedy who cut the top rate to 50 percent...he and his family being major beneficiaries of such a cut.

Posted by John Bailo on November 24, 2008 at 8:50 AM

Ted Haggard is back. He's no Martha Stewart. But he does make a good Christian: a total fucking hypocrite.

Posted by Vince on November 24, 2008 at 8:52 AM

Eh Richardson should have been secretary of state.

Posted by Keo on November 24, 2008 at 9:21 AM

the p-i forgot bob anderson, a prof at uw who already is part of the transition team

Posted by jiberish on November 24, 2008 at 9:28 AM

As if the rich get their money from earned income.

Obama's already waffling on undoing the Bush tax cuts:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_obama_…

Posted by mint chocolate chip on November 24, 2008 at 9:57 AM

@8 - Do you have a source? No, you do not, because you are wrong.

Top bracket tax rate was 91% from 1954-1963. Kennedy proposed reducing them, and it dropped to 77% in 1964, and 70% from 1965-1967. It stayed at 70% or higher until 1981. More details here.

Posted by Mahtli69 on November 24, 2008 at 10:16 AM

http://www.ncpa.org/oped/bartlett/mar190…

"In his tax message to Congress in 1963, Kennedy asked that the top income tax rate be brought down from 91 percent to 65 percent. His goal was to reduce all statutory income tax rates by about 30 percent, including a reduction in the bottom tax rate from 20 percent to 14 percent. Subsequently, Congress only reduced the top rate to 70 percent. "

Posted by John Bailo on November 24, 2008 at 10:24 AM

@14 - So, when you said "It was Democrat John F. Kennedy who cut the top rate to 50 percent", you didn't know what the fuck you were talking about?

Thank you for actually looking it up and educating yourself.

Posted by Mahtli69 on November 24, 2008 at 10:36 AM

The government is going to bail out Citigroup, but Citigroup announced today they are paying for a 20-year, $400-million naming rights deal for the Mets new stadium.

These executives need to be taken out and shot.

Posted by elswinger on November 24, 2008 at 11:20 AM

@16 - totally agree.

I'm voting on the Bank of America merger with one of the big trading firms - and that was my first thought too.

Posted by Will in Seattle on November 24, 2008 at 12:29 PM