Saturday, November 19, 2011

His Name Is Lt. John Pike

Just so you know, every word I write here today is pulled, burning and screaming, from my relentless memory loop of the UC Davis kids getting pepper sprayed. The chief of UCD police claimed his men were surrounded! By peaceful kids sitting on the ground.
Anyway, this cheese sandwich post is filled with good feelings, and was a good, temporary antidote to the image of that bastard squirting students in the face as casually as if he were watering his roses.
The idea came from Ilva, who posted a dish of peas mixed with pancetta, topped with an egg, and baked. It looked awesome, but I just sort of gagged at the idea of baked peas. I would substitute white beans. I looove white beans. We are a white bean household.
First, you have to get your white beans cooked. It is good to be prepared. I was relieved, upon seeing still photos of the UC Davis atrocity, that most of the kids turned their faces away from the stream of capsaicin. Be prepared! OK, once your beans are ready (and a little soupiness is fine), stir in a judicious amount of minced ham. Then get out your canning funnel. This thing is a certain Mr. C.'s new favorite gadget.
How to proceed. Keep calm, and humiliate the police officers. Shout "Shame on you! Shame on you!" I saw one cop without a riot helmet; he looked so mortified. The rest of the squad was sort of nudging the miscreant with the hot sauce away from the kids. "We done wrong." Oh, OK, just settle the canning funnel into the little cocottes of beans, and spoon out some from within the funnel. Now, crack an egg in this indentation, remove the funnel, and spoon the spare beans back over your dish.
Fifteen minutes in a 350F oven, and I got a nice, semiliquid yolk! This was wonderful, and so nutritious. A happy ending.
No, I'll tell you the happy ending. It was when those arrogant thugs gained a shred of decency. They acted as if they actually believed they were in danger, but they began to move away from the students and cluster in an embarrassed huddle. They stepped away like a flock of penguins, or the Burghers of Calais. Clip-clop, clip-clop, those fat dicks shuffled off.

22 comments:

Zoomie said...

Really ugly stuff. And I'm not talking about your beany eggs. Shaming.

Nancy Ewart said...

These photos are a punch in the gut and I hope that they stimulate more change, more resistance and more righteous anger. I saw another video of a cop slamming his bike into a woman who had simply stepped off the curb.

cookiecrumb said...

THE 1% NEVER GET PEPPER SPRAYED.

Pink Granite said...

UC Davis & Pepper Spray = shameful, horrifying. And I am so proud of those kids.

White Beans = YES!!! Our two favorite go to beans in our house are black beans and white beans - so versatile, so delicious!
I will try some variation on this asap!

Thank you for your entire post, all of which was passionate.
- Lee

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie: It's not over yet, but we're looking good.

Nancy and Zoomie: Have you seen the latest video, of the UCD chancellor leaving a press conference? She was shamed by gathered students in utter, self-controlled silence. Medieval. Powerful.

Lee: Thank you (and thanks for the retweet! Flattered).
The food was good. Didn't even want supper.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

And NOW I get Lee's earlier tweet. Fark.

Ilva said...

it is a very ugly moment this, I try hard to be hopeful.yes Berlusconi is gone for the moment but he's not the real problem, he is at least honest and himself (which is bad obviously) -the real problem lie with the people who voted for him and re-voted for him and still would do it. THAt is the problem. and that the political opposition is more or less inexistent, the desire for money and power seems stronger than ever...
Baked eggs with peas or beans (hrm i prefer peas meself) do comfort a sad and bewildered soul though

Greg said...

Food sounds good. I've been tear gassed and pepper sprayed at least twenty times and it ain't so bad. Had worse reactions to hot sauce :)

Kailyn said...

Yes, times like these call for comfort foods.

Last week I looked at the UC Berkeley website to see how much tuition is these days. How the hell did it get to be so much? If I were an undergrad today, you can bet I'd be out there at every single rally.

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: Yes. xx

Ilva: So happy to see you here! Sigh. The world is a tough place right now. I hope this is the awakening.
I promise you I will use peas next time. :D

Greg: I don't see you as a hippie. Was that in the army? Sounds terrible; don't brag about it. :(

Kailyn: I need comfort so bad, I'm thinking about ramen for lunch.
Oh, god, that tuition. When I was at UCSD I only paid about $600 a year. My parents couldn't afford to send me to college now.

Kailyn said...

My tuition at UCSD was around $1350 a year. Part of the reason why I chose to go there was that the tuition at Emory was a whopping $12,000 a year -- an amount I thought was entirely too much for my parents to pay.

Kate said...

Pisses me off! Not your beans, cookie. I'm a Cal alum, and I'm outraged and disgusted by what's going on on the UC campuses. Well, proud of those students and faculty, but hugely pissed off otherwise.

Seen this?

http://www.change.org/petitions/police-pepper-spray-peaceful-uc-davis-students-ask-chancellor-katehi-to-resign

I don't usually suggest any political action via the blogosphere, but in this case I thought it seemed relevant.

Chilebrown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cheryl Czekala said...

Grrrrrr.

cookiecrumb said...

Cheryl: Yeah, still angry. Boy, this thing is getting huge coverage!

Chilebrown said...

Meathenge has risen. I love white beans too. A little pepper spray with a dash of sugar and tomatos might be tasty.

I got all excited the Guy actually made a post. Peace, Paul

cookiecrumb said...

Chilebrown: I know, I went over there and read all about the bread baking. (He has time on his hands, and a kitty.) Cool!
Hey, did you know you can buy that exact same pepper spray on Amazon? True!

Kailyn said...

What? I can buy the spray on Amazon?

Saw that the some of the faculty are now asking for the Chancellor's resignation. Shocker.

Cali said...

I saw it. I signed the petition and I saw the silent march to her car, too. I've been watching all of it, as much as I can and tweeting and re-tweeting when something is going down. (I'm @404error, if you are interested.)

I've become friendly with Spencer (@oakfosho,) who is doing some of the best editorialized reporting of Occupy Oakland and Occupy UC that I've ever seen in my life. He is an amazing young man, and I'll be very happy to someday say, "I knew him when he still worked at at gym and reporting was only a personal project done from an Android phone."

Spence has a real gift for not just reporting but defusing some potentially awful violence on the part of cops. There is no doubt in my mind that had he been at Davis that day that those kids would NOT have been sprayed. However, that sacrifice on the part of those students may be what we will someday say, "That was the turning point."

What really amazed me about that video was the part after the spraying was over when the students surrounded the cops and after the "Shame on you!" chants stopped and the "You can go!" chants began. You could see the fear in the eyes of those bastards. The students opened a path back to their vehicles and the cops actually LEFT! Those students used their strength in numbers to back those pricks down! I got goosebumps all over my body when I saw that.

The eggy white beans look really good, too!

cookiecrumb said...

Cali: I follow OSW at Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Occupy%20Wall%20Street
And, yeah! I know who OakFoSho is. Do you obsessively follow Jesse LaGreca? He's fantastic.
Thanks for your tweet handle, which is funny. I'm @cookiecrumb, duh.
[raised fist salute]

Unknown said...

Baked eggs yum that sounds good.

Also, in todays age, with every kid, and most adults with video cameras in their phone, everything can get documented from every angle. Hmmm, there was plenty of room for the police to walk around a quiet crowd of students, so says every YouTube account of it. There was even more room when students were staggering away blinded with pepper spray in their eyes, noses, mouths, throats and lungs unable to see and breathe. Who are liar liar now Davis police?

So yes, getting back to the baked eggs...

cookiecrumb said...

Lannae: Agreed. It's about the cameras! And the baked eggs.