Midday Open Thread

• Editorials in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune and Sacramento Bee in favor of overriding Bush's SCHIP veto.  I'm sure they're not the only ones - if your local paper had an editorial about this, how about a link in a comment?
• Condoleezza Rice has issued new rules for Blackwater. Basically, they're so brutal and irresponsible that every single thing they do will from now on be monitored and people will be employed explicitly to watch over them, so the next time they massacre Iraqi civilians, there will be a better record of what happened.  This is definitely an easier solution than not hiring Blackwater to begin with, right?
• The Mystery Pollster explains different ways polls deal with undecided voters.
• Back when he was mayor, the real, nasty, arrogant, rage-prone Giuliani used to be regularly in evidence on his radio show:

  When Joe from Manhattan called in 1998 to complain about the city government giving special parking privileges to a white-shoe law firm, Mayor Giuliani emitted an audible groan into the microphone.

  "Well, let me give you another view of that rather than the sort of Marxist class concept that you’re introducing," Mr. Giuliani said.

• Usually, recipes are left as responses to trolls, but this one seemed too good to pass up.  This recipe come from 1st Traveler's Choice Internet Cookbook and was provided by Idaho Senator, Larry Craig. So here's your chance to eat like a senator.

  Larry Craig's Super Tuber

  Ingredients
     1 hot dog, cook's choice
     1 Idaho baking potato, 7 to 10 ounces
     Mustard for dipping, any style
     Other condiments as desired such as cheese sauce, sour cream, chili, chives, bacon pieces or black olives.

  Wash and dry potato. Rub with shortening or butter. With an apple corer or small knife, core out the potato center (end to end). Push hot dog through the center. Bake until potato is cooked through.

  You can head over to the link above if you want to see instructions on using an oven vs a microwave, but no matter how you cook it, it's sure to be toe-tappin' good. (DT)