With gas prices at the pump going higher and higher, and the primary elections on Tuesday, the political rhetoric is flying fast and furious--and watching politicians suddenly posturing about alternatives and talking about needing to investigate the oil companies to see if they might be profiteering (!!!! I guess that 49% rise in profits announced last week for Chevron, and the record 8.4 billion dollars in profit for Exxon Mobile, were both purely accidental)--and this from people like Senator Frist who saw no need to explore how energy companies coordinated prices or even to question the administration's energy policies only a few months ago, and who've taken record contributions from energy companies and their lobbyists. And, of course, much of this is to distract us all from the spectacle of an Administration adrift on all fronts, led by a man who can barely keep his eyes open at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night--
probably not hearing Stephen Colbert
But the best political hypocrisy of the week (at least on a national level--the battle for the Republican nomination for the Ohio governor's race has had both major candidates, J. Kenneth Blackwell and Jim Petro, labelling each other hypocrites in a barrage of television commercials all week. And, of course, they're both right) goes to House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Who this week made a pitch for hydrogen powered vehicles in Washington. Here he is riding in one:
And here he is, thinking he's out of camera range, leaving the hydrogen-powered car and getting into his SUV--his gas-guzzling SUV, provided by the government--to be taken the several blocks back to the Capitol.
It's so patently more of the same practice perfected by President Bush and his Rovian band of merry men: do the photo op suggesting one thing, then once the cameras are gone, revert to your old practice--assuming the image is more important than the actuality.
So it was a relief to get back to the actuality of bread--and at least the bread worked this time--a mixed grain whole wheat for the baker for whom I am one of a couple of hundred volunteer recipe testers. This is a multi-grain; last time I tried it, it was far too soft. Still a softer bread than we normally like, but good flavor, and pretty good development. Almost entirely whole wheat flour, with a little bit of cornmeal, oats, and (in this try) some barley flour.
a low loaf, but with a slight domeit makes good sandwiches and toast
and has a decent crumb
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