In cut, for those who don’t know about current events

It amazes me, the resiliency of this country. People spend time and time again, bashing each other for their political or philosophical beliefs. We debate and elect new leadership–which at this point is a fairly polar proposition, nearly half-and-half.

And then comes the magical day where it all comes to fruition: the peaceful transition of power known to few places in the world.

Say what you want about Bush or Obama, but the way this country is able to handle such power transfer is absolutely astounding. Even as a citizen who has voted in the past three elections now, it truly has me in awe how great this nation is.

Of course, I think it would’ve been cool if Bush or staff had done something cool, like leave “change” in the presidential desk–it certainly would’ve been far less destructive or disruptive than removing all ‘W’s from keyboards 😉

Beyond all of that, though, I was checking out the new White House website, particularly the “Agenda” section that I’ve linked to here about Iraq…

“Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in…”

I mean, W.T.F?!?! His first day in office, and that very statement alone sounds like campaign rhetoric?!?! On the official website of the Executive Branch?!?! It irked me enough when the guy so brazenly made up the “Office of the President Elect”, but geez. You need talk about policy on the website, the direction you want the country to go from here. You don’t bash the leaders of the past. He already won the presidency, and for this to be posted on the official website of the Executive Branch is just beyond horrendous.

So, Ruthie and I went on the big tour today of the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. It was really cool. It sort of reminded me of that Family Guy episode where Peter wins a golden ticket to the Pawtucket Pat Brewery, without the benefit of tasting all of the bubbly…ironically enough, Lynchburg is a dry county.

It’s the craziest irony ever, that they make whiskey in a dry county. Not only are they missing out on retail revenue streams, but also tax. I asked a number of shop owners in the small downtown area why the county was dry. I got a varied number of answers. One was a conspiracy theory that said the corporation liked it that way, one gave the answer that having a couple of liquor stores or bars may bring undesirable consequences and the need for more police, and still another said that there really weren’t enough people in the county to mount a campaign for referendum to bring it back. Collectively, no one said they knew the real reason; it was all just speculation.

In any case, the distillery was quite awesome. I would highly recommend it to anyone who might ever be in the Lynchburg area. We also stopped off at a very nice resturaunt called Cattywumpus. It was essentially a very fancy little hole-in-the-wall diner. They made up fried chicken as if it were gourmet, and it certainly tasted such.

Very nice way to celebrate the last day of the Bush Administration…with booze–even if there was none had. heh.

for those who haven’t seen it yet

So, my mom found an old recipe from my grandma. It’s a recipe for chicken that we had often when we went over to her house. I had thought it had been lost to the ages, but to my surprise my mom found it just the other day. I’m definitely going to have to give this a spin 🙂

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!