CNN Lies to You Again

How embarrassing for American journalism that we can't even get something this important right.

Riverbend has a post today on the execution of Saddam including a shame on you to CNN....

Now we come to CNN. Shame on you CNN journalists- you're getting lazy. The least you can do is get the last words correct when you write a story about an execution. Your articles are read the world over and will go down in history as references. You people are the biggest news network in the world- the least you can do is spend some money on a decent translator. Saddam's last words were NOT "Muqtada Al Sadr" as Munir Haddad claimed, according to the article below. If anyone had seen at least part of the video they showed on TV, you'd know that.

SNIP

From the video that was leaked, it was not an executioner who yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr". See, this is another low the Maliki government sunk to- they had some hecklers conveniently standing by during the execution. Maliki claimed they were "some witnesses from the trial", but they were, very obviously, hecklers. The moment the noose was around Saddam's neck, they began chanting, in unison, "God's prayers be on Mohamed and on Mohamed's family…" Something else I didn't quite catch (but it was very coordinated), and then "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada!" One of them called out to Saddam, "Go to hell…" (in Arabic). Saddam looked down disdainfully and answered "Heya hay il marjala…?" which is basically saying, "Is this your manhood…?".

Someone half-heartedly called out to the hecklers, "I beg you, I beg you- the man is being executed!" They were slightly quieter and then Saddam stood and said, "Ashadu an la ilaha ila Allah, wa ashhadu ana Mohammedun rasool Allah…" Which means, "I witness there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is His messenger." These are the words a Muslim (Sunnis and Shia alike) should say on their deathbed. He repeated this one more time, very clearly, but before he could finish it, he was lynched.

So, no, CNN, his last words were not "Muqtada Al Sadr" in a mocking tone- just thought someone should clear that up. (Really people, six of you contributed to that article!)

Two Happy Guys

As much as I hate to post this, the Iraq casualty site is reporting that another milestone has been reached in the Great American Tragedy. 3000 American men and women have died needlessly in Iraq. Iraq is closer than ever to civil war and total collapse. We are orders of magnitude more at risk from terrorism than we were 4 years ago. The Middle East is ready to explode and yet our Nero sits in Crawford watching the world burn and rerunning his Saddam "snuff video".
And...As if that is not bad enough these two guys are eager send more of America's children into the flames. It is enough to make you scream in frustration and rage.

Update: One of the great questions on New Year's Eve is how soon is it OK to start drinking. Not too tough a question this year is it?

New Year's Edge

Here we are on the cusp of a New Year. The past year has been a trying one in many ways for all of us. There has been a tremendous negative, life-sucking force abroad in the world for a number of years and this year its effects are almost overwhelming. I don't need to iterate each and every one of the soul numbing things that are so sorely weighing on us as we reach the close of the year and it is for each of us to meet the negative energy in our own way.

The tragedy of the world today is that most of the pain is self induced by those among us who are not sensitive to interconnectedness of our world and how the pain and suffering inflicted on others reflects back on each of us. All of this unnecessary pain, in turn, causes us to react to it with bad thoughts and speech which adds to our own bad Karma. All of this unnecessary bad Karma spreads out from us and just reinforces the negative energy in the world.

As we face the New Year we should all make an effort to transform all the negative energy coming at us and reflect back positive energy instead. If enough of us try we may have an effect.

The Buddha told this parable in a sutra:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry nearby. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

In the coming year look for and reinforce the positive and pray to whatever or whomever will listen that the forces of love and peace will begin to hold forth in this world. Have the best New Year you can make.

Looking for Balance

From CNN

Saddam Hussein will be hanged before dawn on Saturday in Iraq, before 6 a.m. (10 p.m. Friday ET), according to Appeals Judge Munir Haddad. Iraqi TV stations and Reuters news agency are reporting a similar timeframe. The former president was convicted of crimes against humanity in connection with the killings of 148 people in Dujail.

Seems to me that someone who has caused the unnecessary deaths of 2,992 Americans should face some kind of retribution. I am just saying that if Saddam can swing for 148 of his countrymen then somebody ought to be tried and possibly face the music for wasting nearly 3000 Americans. Just saying.

Let me just say here that I am against capital punishment regardless of the crime or circumstances but I really don't feel that there is a balance in the force here. Specifically, I don't think Saddam should be hanged as it is too good for him and he should live the rest of his days pondering his actions and life.

If the American media do not compare and contrast the brutal regime of Saddam to the ignominious regime of GWB then they are whores. Saddam will probably die for his actions. I am just looking for some balance here folks.

All the Hearts and Souls Lost

Riverbend has a new post up and it points out a very serious development in the ongoing disaster that is Iraq. It is not surprising that everyday more and more Iraqis are changing their opinion of the American occupation for the negative. This post tells me that we are now poisoning the last vestiges of support that we may have had. When a sensitive, thinking and loving person like this drops from the ranks of the few you might hope support us then it is obviously time we admitted our failure and begged forgiveness on the world stage from the Iraqi people and all the others whom we have failed.

My only conclusion is that the Americans want to withdraw from Iraq, but would like to leave behind a full-fledged civil war because it wouldn't look good if they withdraw and things actually begin to improve, would it?

Here we come to the end of 2006 and I am sad. Not simply sad for the state of the country, but for the state of our humanity, as Iraqis. We've all lost some of the compassion and civility that I felt made us special four years ago. I take myself as an example. Nearly four years ago, I cringed every time I heard about the death of an American soldier. They were occupiers, but they were humans also and the knowledge that they were being killed in my country gave me sleepless nights. Never mind they crossed oceans to attack the country, I actually felt for them.

Had I not chronicled those feelings of agitation in this very blog, I wouldn't believe them now. Today, they simply represent numbers. 3000 Americans dead over nearly four years? Really? That's the number of dead Iraqis in less than a month. The Americans had families? Too bad. So do we. So do the corpses in the streets and the ones waiting for identification in the morgue.

Is the American soldier that died today in Anbar more important than a cousin I have who was shot last month on the night of his engagement to a woman he's wanted to marry for the last six years? I don't think so.

Just because Americans die in smaller numbers, it doesn't make them more significant, does it?

To read it all

h/t to scout_prime

New Friends

We have two new friends on the Blogroll. Please stop by and welcome Nick from This-Is-It and Jim DeRosa from the aptly name DeRosaWorld.

Nick wandered in from MorningMartini I think and even though he appears to hail from Alabama he is most welcome here. (Full disclosure I have relatives in Alabama.) He also is a dog lover obviously so we think he is going to work out ok.

We are not sure where Jim hails from but he lives near a beach, likes John Edwards and has a category on his site for Food and Drink. How bad can he be? He seems to think my distant cousin Nigella is cool too! I still haven't gone back and read a lot of his recent posts but I will.

Now that I think about it I might have been remiss in mentioning the addition of Frederick of Mccs1977 a couple of weeks ago and for this I am kinda sorry. Better late than never.

I Might Be Slow But I'm Ahead of You

Do you ever wonder how the "Great Decider" speaks of us, the American people, when he is not surrounded by the sycophant media? Can you imagine him standing alone and staring out the window across the land with tears welling in his eyes and humbly thanking God for the privilege of leading this great nation? Do you see him kneeling by his bed at night and begging his creator for the strength of his convictions and for guidance in leading us onward and upward?

Probably not.

If you are like me you see him strutting across the room and feeling superior to us stupid savages. Just look at them, he would say, "How dare they question my leadership and my wisdom, don't they know I am God's appointed one?" "Look at the poor ignorant bastards, living from paycheck to paycheck, worrying about how they are going to pay the mortgage or the doctor's bills." "How I must suffer to lead this rabble."

Once again he emerged from a "meeting" Thursday with his obviously incompetent National Security Team to remind us again how ignorant and stupid we are and to remind us once more how shallow we are in not being able to understand the importance of staying the course in Iraq.

“It’s important for the American people to understand that success in Iraq is vital for our own security. If we were not to succeed in Iraq, the enemy — the extremists, the radicals — would have safe haven from which to launch further attacks. They would be emboldened. They would be in a position to threaten the United States of America.”

You got that? Even though they haven't done any "decidin'" his handlers thought that we needed to have our intelligence insulted one more time. Bush himself had nothing to announce other than he had nothing to announce but his handlers sent him forth anyway just to remind us who is still "in charge."

It must be that Bush and the people around him believe we are so completely out of touch with reality and stupid that the majority of us don't recognize that they have completely screwed up everything that they have touched from day one in the White House, including this unnecessary invasion of Iraq.

They think we are so naive that we cannot recognize that a group of completely incompetent people pretending to be the President, Vice President, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser have lied and misled the country into a meaningless and unnecessary war.

Surely, we are so clueless that we cannot recognize that this group of faux leaders have painted us into a corner and left us with absolutely no options for getting out other than admitting the vastness of our mistake and leaving as best we can.

Obviously, we are completely incapable of understanding that no matter what we do, it is a tragedy for the Iraqi people now and for years to come and that we have managed to take an already volatile Middle East and destabilize it to the breaking point.

Bush and company really must think we are dodo's. They think that we don't remember that they ignored or discounted the advice of lots of smart and knowledgeable people in the run up to the debacle in Iraq.

I just want to say this before the end of the year...one more time.

Hey George! Guess what? Most of us know you and your team are world class fuck-ups.

How do we know this George? It is actually quite simple. We know it because the evidence of your towering incompetence has been shoved in our face since the beginning...everyday.

We know it because as of today there are 2,992 dead American soldiers and over 22,000 wounded, all for no reason. We know it because there will be more tomorrow and the day after and the day after.

We know it because some of us can see quite clearly that you didn't have a plan for the occupation, or how to maintain order, or to stem sectarian violence.

We know it because, in spite of the best advice you didn't send enough troops and didn't provide the right equipment or enough funding.

We know because you can't account for billions and billions of our dollars and we can see quite clearly the waste, graft and criminal behavior of your buddies at Halliburton and others.

We know because our fellow Americans in New Orleans are still living in a waste land.

Finally, we can see quite clearly, all evidence aside, that you were never qualified to be the President and likewise none of your cabinet was qualified either. We can see that you are not going to acknowledge your responsibility for the mess that you have created. Unfortunately, we can see that you're not even intellectually able to deal with the staggering tragedy you and your minions have created.

We have two more years to suffer your weakness and incompetence and it pains us sorely. We do have one small request though, if it is not too much to ask. Please stop telling us that we don't understand. Stop lecturing us on what you think we can't see. The majority of us obviously can see quite clearly what you cannot. Let us suffer the next two years without being told how stupid we are from someone that is responsible for the greatest American tragedy.

Happy New Year

Edwards In

I am extremely happy to see that John Edwards is going to make a run for the Presidency. I was getting afraid that I was going to have no choice in 2008. I like Edwards. I think he is for real. You have to like the idea that he chose NOLA for the initial announcement. He has also come out swinging.

[snip]

"It would be a huge mistake to put a surge of troops into Iraq," Edwards said on ABC's "Good Morning America. "It sends exactly the wrong signal. We can maximize our chances for success by making clear we are going to leave Iraq and not stay there forever."

[snip]

In his message to supporters, Edwards listed five priorities to change America. Among them: "Guaranteeing health care for every single American," "Strengthening our middle class and ending the shame of poverty," "Leading the fight against global warming," and "Getting America and the world to break our addiction to oil."

[snip]

Payback is Swell

It sure is heartwarming to see the sacrifice all these GOP types have made over the last six years. Taking time away from their careers and families to carry the burden of American government. You have to give them credit.

HOUSTON (MarketWatch) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) Wednesday said it hired [former Interior Secretary] Gale Norton to serve as a counsel for the oil giant.

The move comes amid rising scrutiny on Capitol Hill of Norton’s former agency’s dealings with the oil industry.

Norton, who stepped down as interior secretary on March 31, will be based primarily out of Colorado, and will serve as general counsel for Shell’s unconventional resources division, Shell said.

Move Along...Nothing to See Here

In our continuing effort to depress you, here is another cheery story. There is, of course, no such thing as Global Warming as our GOP leadership continues to assure us. Right, explain this away.

An ancient ice shelf has cracked off northern Ellesmere Island, creating an enormous 66-square-kilometre ice island and leaving a trail of icy blocks in its wake. “It really is incredible,” said Warwick Vincent of Universite Laval, one of the few people to have laid eyes on the scene. “It’s like a cruise missile has come down and hit the ice shelf.”

The breakup was so powerful, earthquake monitors 250 kilometres away picked up the tremors as the 3,000- to 4,500-year-old shelf tore away from its fjord on Ellesmere. It broke up 16 months ago, but no one was present to see it. The scientists say they are only now making public details after piecing together what occurred using seismic monitors and Canadian and U.S. satellites. They say the ice shelf collapse, suspected to have been caused by global warming, is the biggest in Canada in 30 years and is indicative of the transformation under way on Ellesmere, Canada’s most northern land mass.

“We are seeing incredible changes,” said Vincent, whose group is studying the island’s disappearing ice shelves and their unique ecosystems. “People talk of endangered animals - well, these are endangered landscape features and we’re losing them.” The Ayles ice shelf was one of six ice shelves left in Canada, remnants of a vast icy fringe that used to cover the top end of Ellesmere. Scientists consider the Canadian shelves, located about 800 kilometres south of the North Pole, sentinels that reflect the accelerating change in the Arctic. In 2002, one of Vincent’s graduate students, Derek Mueller, discovered that Ellesmere’s Ward Hunt ice shelf had cracked in half. The researchers have also seen the sudden collapse of ice dams and the draining of 30-kilometre-long lakes into the sea.

The shelves are 90 per cent smaller than they were when Arctic explorer Robert Peary crossed them in 1906. And the Ayles ice shelf can be erased from Canada’s maps. “It no longer exists,” Vincent said.

Top Ten Myths About Iraq

If you haven't read Professor Juan Cole's Top Ten Myths About Iraq then do. This is the place to get your facts straight and understand the situation from someone who actually does understand the situation completely. No bullshit, no far out predictions, just precise and informed comment on the conflict.

The Sacrifice of the Polar Bear

While it may be too late to save the magnificent white bears there may be some redemption in their sacrifice. According to an article on the front page of The Washington Post tomorrow by Juliet Eilperin, the White House might finally be conceding the truth -- that global warming is a real problem.

The Bush administration has decided to propose listing the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, putting the U.S. government on record as saying that global warming could drive one of the world's most recognizable animals out of existence.

The administration's proposal -- which was described by an Interior Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity -- stems from the fact that rising temperatures in the Arctic are shrinking the sea ice that polar bears need for hunting. The official insisted on anonymity because the department will submit the proposal today for publication in the Federal Register, after which it will be subject to public comment for 90 days.

Identifying polar bears as threatened with extinction could have an enormous political and practical impact. As the world's largest bear and as an object of children's affection as well as Christmastime Coca-Cola commercials, the polar bear occupies an important place in the American psyche. Because scientists have concluded that carbon dioxide from power-plant and vehicle emissions is helping drive climate change worldwide, putting polar bears on the endangered species list raises the legal question of whether the government would be required to compel U.S. industries to curb their carbon dioxide output. [emphasis added]

This is encouraging but it is far too early in the game to throw up our hands in victory. This White House has a pretty dim record on following through on its commitments to actually govern. Need I even mention the response to Hurricane Katrina, the unmitigated and growing disaster of Iraq, the inept action on the Medicare prescription drug program or dozens of other instances, large and small that where this administration has totally screwed up?

Here is where we need to press our advantage in Congress. We need to make it clear to our representatives that they need to charge ahead and take the initiative on the environment and Global Warming and not wait for the White House to do so. Like I said above, we are probably too late to save the polar bear but if this glorious creature can be the rallying point for a serious and concerted effort to turn our environmental practices 180 degrees then our big white brothers will have served a noble cause.

h/t MyDD

updated: added image

War Without End

Jeff Huber over at Pen and Sword has a good analysis this morning of the Iraq situation and why we are probably looking at more of the same or worse when it comes to Iraq and the Middle East. Now that the media has bought into the meme that Rumsfeld was the reason we have failed in Iraq the neocons can push the idea that we can now "get serious" about the war.

Bush and the others like Bill Kristol and Cheney are signed on to idea that we just need more troops to get the job done and that is exactly what is going to happen in the near future. Never forget that the PNAC's goal from the beginning was to establish a permanent military presence in the Middle East and they are not going to let the debacle in Iraq sway them from their primary goal. They are talking surge and temporary now but it is already clear with their talk of a larger military that they really mean permanent.

No one in the media is asking the question about why we need a larger military. There are no other superpowers to defend ourselves against. We are it and as Jeff points out they only conflicts we are likely to face that will require a large ground force are ones like Iraq that we start ourselves. The reality is that most of our potential adversaries will call for "high tech" hardware action and not massive armies on the ground.

At least for the next couple of years all I can see is more and more money being poured into an ever increasing military and if someone like McCain is elected in 2008 it will go on for years more. Eisenhower warned us years ago about this in his farewell address...

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

1961 was a long time ago but viewed from out vantage point today Eisenhower was prescient. Stop by Pen and Sword and let Jeff explain it.

Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day to everyone and also a Joyous Feast of Stephen. In most parts of Europe and all over the U.K. this is a holiday just below Christmas in importance. There are various explanations for the history but the one I like is that this is the day when the donations to the charity box in the church are distributed to the poor, Christmas being the day when the box was traditionally opened. St. Stephen's day is a celebration of the Christian Saint known as the first martyr. Most modern folks only know of it from the old Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas. Regardless of the tradition have a nice day.

New Year Next

A fairly quiet Christmas here at Fallenmonk manor. The daughter(firefighter/paramedic) had the shift today so no family holiday stuff today. We had a lovely dinner out last night at the Atlantic Seafood Company. After we shared the calamari appetizer, I had the wood grilled Ahi Tuna and the Mrs. had Sea Bass with a soy and wasabi sauce. The Key Lime Pie for dessert was superb.
A very nice experience for our first visit there. I must admit, at this point, that all my plans for a nice Christmas Eve dinner went completely astray. I had called a couple of days ago to Mythos Greek Restaurant and made reservations but it appears that Mythos had closed over a month ago and the space is now occupied by a sports bar. Who knows where I made that reservation. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up in front, our mouths watering for saganaki and lamb only to find pizza and buffalo wings. Scratch that and it was off to find an alternate dining establishment. We were lucky to find a place at the Atlantic Seafood Co.
As for the rest of the holiday weekend...Mrs. Monk decided yesterday to catch up on some movies she had wanted to see and today we actually went out to the movies. You, Me and Dupree with Owen Wilson was much better than I expected and I have to give it a thumbs up. We managed to sit through about 15 minutes of Talladega Nights and when we realized that the life force was being sucked out of us and that our IQ was declining at a rapid rate we turned it off. Awful piece of trash.
Today at the movies we saw Night at the Museum and it was very good and entertaining. I am glad I spent the time and money to go see it it is is much better than I expected. Special effects are superb and it moves along with a nice plot. Highly recommended.

RIP. James Brown

R&B and music lost one of it's founding fathers last night here in Atlanta.

From the AP:

James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73.

Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, he said.

Merry Christmas

Nearly midnight on Christmas Eve and Santa is on his way. He won't come while I am awake so I will do the smart thing for a change and go to bed.

A Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night. There are a lot of good things in the world to be thankful for and a whole bunch of things that could be better. We should take the spirit of the season and use it to energize our efforts to make sure next Christmas is more meaningful and happy for more people. Use the power of love to make the bad things go away. It is up to us.

Uh Oh! Buddhists Coming in Under the Radar

Virgil Goode of Virginia is not paying attention. There is a threat to our "values and beliefs" that is twice as large as the one posed by Keith Ellison the Democrat from Minnesota. There is only one Muslim in the new congress but there are two Buddhists. Oh My God! Hawaii's Mazie Hirono and Hank Johnson of Georgia, both Democrats and both Buddhist. Don't you find it strange the Congressman Goode is so blithely ignoring these two? Congressman Goode seems unconcerned about the Buddhist threat to American "values."

The Boston Globe editorializes:

What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" does congressman Virgil Goode not understand?

Goode, a Virginia Republican, displayed his contempt for the US Constitution in a letter he sent to constituents this month, criticizing the first Muslim elected to Congress for planning to use a ceremonial Koran instead of a Bible to swear his oath of office in January. In the letter, Goode writes that the election of Keith Ellison , Democrat of Minnesota, represents a threat to traditional American "values and beliefs."...

In the 1980s, Massachusetts legislator Barbara Hildt, an Amesbury Democrat, would decline to swear the oath of office with her 159 fellow House members every two years. Her Quaker faith prohibited it, so she "affirmed" her allegiance in a separate ceremony. The Commonwealth did not crumble.

Indeed, the entering 110th Congress will feature more religious diversity than ever, with not just the first Muslim but the first two Buddhists: Hawaii's Mazie Hirono and Hank Johnson of Georgia, both Democrats. Strangely, Congressman Goode seems unconcerned about the Buddhist threat to American "values."

He should be more worried about the Buddhists. At least Muslims believe in the same God, more or less, as the Christians. We Buddhists do not "believe" generally in a god who wants to take over government and act through the GOP. We are the "Godless" ones.

Hank Johnson of Georgia became a Buddhist some 30 years ago and is affiliated with Soka Gakkai International, which has been evangelizing to African Americans, and yes, Johnson's not only among the first 2 Buddhists elected, but he's also. you guessed it, the first African-American Buddhist elected! Soka Gakkai is normally associated with right wing politics in Japan. That is not true in America though, Tina Turner, SG's most well-known practitioner is a not a right wing conservative by any stretch of the imagination.

It will be interesting to see what the two Buddhists use to take their oath of office with if Ellison has chosen the Koran. Maybe Nichiren's writings - or the Lotus Sutra? If I were a betting man I'd guess the latter.

Mazie Hirono is a member of Jodo Shu Buddhism, a sect whose general form is the largest sect in Japan, and Hawaii.

To my way of thinking I would welcome even more Buddhists into Congress. If they are following the path and are serious students we could do a whole lot worse. We sure as hell wouldn't be in Iraq right now and wouldn't be spending more on the military and defense than all the rest the world combined if there were more of the Buddha's teachings followed. My guess is that our government would be a lot more compassionate.

Artichoke Glop

We name this Artichoke Glop for some unknown reason but it is really just a Hot Artichoke Dip.

Here is quick and dirty dip recipe that has been around for years.

1 (14 ox.) can artichoke hearts ( not marinated)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 7 oz. can chopped chilis

Chop the artichokes a bit and combine with all the other ingredients. Put in oven proof bowl and heat in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Serve with crackers or Melba rounds.
You can kick it up by mixing in a cup of Rondele or Alouette cheese spread. I sometimes kick up the basic recipe with a little hot sauce.

The nice thing about this is that you can always have a can of chilis and a can of artichokes in the cupboard and I consider Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise to be part of the always have list. You can always whip this up for surprise guests.

Cinnamon Stimulus

I am really not getting into the holiday mood this year. We haven't done the usual day or two of baking and we decided to hold back on the big time gift giving. Madam did decorate and we have a tree and such around. Without children and a lot of family around it is not too much fun this time of year. I saw this in the paper this morning and thought to myself that maybe a little baking would be just the ticket to get me a little ho-ho-hoier as it were.

Following is a recipe from the AJC this morning for the cinnamon rolls that you used to be able to get at Herren's in Atlanta years ago. You can get them now at the Theatrical Outfit which took over the old restaurant space. These are real simple and don't involve a lot of glaze and nuts and stuff and the key is to roll out the dough thin and then continue to work the roll of dough out so that they will be about the diameter of a half-dollar. This time of year the smell of cinnamon cooking combined with the yeasty smell of homemade bread will get you in the spirit.

[snip]

The recipe for Herren's cinnamon rolls has run in the AJC several times over the years — once incorrectly. Many years ago, before anyone now responsible for recipes was even thinking of working here, the newspaper specified 1 1/4 cups of warm water, not 1/4 cup, and readers called complaining that their dough was running off the counter. Consider this a much-belated correction, from Ed Negri's 2005 memoir, "Herren's: An Atlanta Landmark." If you don't want to make dough, he says it's OK to substitute frozen dough.

— Jim Auchmutey

Herren's Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 60-80 rolls
Prep time: 40 minutes, plus 2-plus hours resting
Baking time: 18-20 minutes

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter (cut into slices)

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 packages yeast

1/4 cup warm water

4 cups flour, sifted

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons cinnamon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Boil milk in a heavy saucepan. Add sliced butter, sugar and salt and set aside to cool. Transfer to electric mixer fit with dough hook. Add yeast to water and stir into milk mixture. Add flour, about half at a time, and beat well (dough can also be mixed by hand). Let rest for 15 minutes. Knead until smooth. Place dough in a buttered bowl, cover with cloth and let rise until double in size, about an hour.

In a bowl, combine the 2 cups sugar and cinnamon. Lightly butter two 13-by-9-inch baking pans and sprinkle with sugar mixture.

Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured board to about 1/4 inch thick and about 8 inches square. Lightly brush surface with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture generously over entire surface. Starting at one side of the square, roll up dough into tube. Continue rolling back and forth until it's about 12 inches long. Cut into wheels about 1/2 inch wide and place flat in the pans, so that there's just a little space between them. Do not overcrowd pan. Brush the tops with butter and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour to rise.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool 1 minute, then promptly remove rolls to prevent sticking.

[snip]