After a cost of more than $312 billion, 2,658 American lives and 19,945 wounded in Iraq, it is clear that our only hope in Iraq is a new direction. It is also clear now that abiding by Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary is simply untenable, and that another two years of his tenure will bring even greater regrets and disaster than the last six.

However, as central as Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration have been to the problems in Iraq, equally important has been the complete lack of oversight and accountability from the Republicans in Congress. The result has been disaster for our troops and for our country. The only way to restore accountability, checks and balances, and a new direction in Iraq for the long term will be with a Democratic Congress.

Supporting the WeDemocrats.com is the single most effective step you can take to shape the outcome of November’s elections. And winning those elections is the best chance we have to take power out of the Republicans’ hands and move America in a new direction.

Ron
www.WeDemocrats.com

It’s clear the Republican national strategy is to distract voters from the one-year anniversary of Katrina and domestic economic concerns, and focus on the War in Iraq and the war against terrorism. In numerous speeches over the past couple of weeks, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld have tried to frame the debate as a choice between continuing the war or Nazi-style appeasement.

In an article on CQ Politics, Craig Crawford noticed a new variation in the attack on Democratic war opponents as cut-and-run wimps. Citing no more than a couple of articles by liberal writers — none of whom is even associated with the Democratic Party — this new argument holds that Bush’s political opponents do not even believe that the terrorists pose a threat.

Calling it the Straw-Man tactic, Crawford cites Karl Rove, who earlier this year said that the Democrats are promoting a pre-9/11 worldview that is deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.

But one can take that approach too far. Even Rumsfeld realized that in his Salt Lake City speech before veterans on Tuesday, August 29. On Friday, September 1, he wrote to top Democrats in Congress explaining that his remarks were taken out of context by the media. The Democrats were not amused. A spokesperson for Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) remarked, “What's not clear is that he has a strategy in Iraq and to keep America safe.”

A spokesperson for Senator Jack Reid of Nevada said, No one has misread history more than Secretary Rumsfeld, especially when it comes to Iraq.

Vote Democratic on Nov. 7th
Ron
www.wedemocrats.com

A steak is born

A fresh look at the familiar can reveal surprises that change conventional thinking and even spark new products.

Just ask Chris Calkins, a University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources meat scientist who studied undervalued portions of the beef carcass. Results provide comprehensive information about the muscles of the beef chuck and round. This research is helping change industry thinking and providing the science behind the new flat iron steak and some other new beef products in the works.

NU meat scientists and University of Florida colleagues painstakingly characterized more than 5,500 muscles in the beef chuck and round in the largest study of its kind. They were looking for untapped potential in cuts usually used for ground beef or roasts. They found plenty.

"These muscles have been there for a long time. We identified their potential and called the industry's attention to muscles that are undervalued," Calkins said. "Industry is taking this information and making it work in the marketplace."

The flat iron steak is perhaps the best known outcome of this muscle profiling research and much broader National Cattlemen's Beef Association efforts to introduce new beef products. Collaboration with NCBA and the meat industry is key to translating research findings into new products, he said.

"Some people knew this muscle was tender but lots of people either forgot it, ignored it or dismissed it," Calkins said of the flat iron steak. "It kept showing up tender in our tests so we've refocused industry attention on its potential."

The flat iron comes from the top shoulder of the chuck. This muscle's looks can deceive even a trained meat-cutter's eye. A seam of connective tissue runs down the middle of it, making it appear tough.

"It's easy to look at this and perceive that this meat isn't tender, but you'd be wrong," he said. "If you remove the connective tissue, the rest of the muscle is exceptionally tender – one of the three most tender cuts."

Removing the connective tissue involves literally going against the grain – cutting the muscle lengthwise, contrary to meat cutters' training.

"It's like filleting a catfish," Calkins explained. After removing the connective tissue, the muscle looks like two fish fillets.

Some people are initially skeptical about the new steak but a taste test usually convinces them. Consumers say the flat iron is tender, flavorful and similar to a strip or loin steak.

"The first time I went to a processor and pointed out that muscle, he looked at me like I was crazy," Calkins recalled. After tasting it, he became a believer. "He just didn't realize the sensory properties of that muscle."

Recent workshops hosted by the Nebraska Beef Council and IANR meat scientists to teach meat processors to properly cut flat iron steak and increase awareness of other promising undervalued beef cuts drew crowds, Calkins said.

"I didn't imagine it would take off like this."

Consumers, beef producers and meat processors all will benefit from the flat iron steak and other value cuts NCBA and industry are developing, he said.

"This is a good deal for consumers. It won't replace the top end steaks but it's a wonderful alternative for someone who wants to pay a little less."

Industry is developing other new products from promising undervalued muscles, Calkins said, and his research continues. He's assessing the flavor of value cuts and profiling muscles in older beef and dairy cows.

"We're again evaluating whether there are ways to increase carcass value and better serve consumer needs."

The Cattlemen's Beef Board funded the muscle profiling research through NCBA.

www.uslinx.com

In a meta-search engine, you submit keywords in its search box, and it transmits your search simultaneously to several individual search engines and their databases of web pages. Within a few seconds, you get back results from all the search engines queried. Meta-search engines do not own a database of Web pages; they send your search terms to the databases maintained by search engine companies. USLINX.com does not store any information about you, and as the go between between you and the Major Search Indexes such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, they also won't be able to collect your information.

"Smarter" meta-searcher technology includes clustering and linguistic analysis that attempts to show you themes within results, and some fancy textual analysis and display that can help you dig deeply into a set of results. However, neither of these technologies is any better than the quality of the search engine databases they obtain results from. That is why we at USLINX only use the top search databases, so that we can give you quality relevant results everytime.

Few meta-searchers allow you to delve into the largest, most useful search engine databases. USLINX.com is the exception, they take you right into Google, Yahoo and MSN databases. The others tend to return results from smaller and/or free search engines and miscellaneous free directories, often small and highly commercial.

Accepts " ", +/-. Default is AND between words. I recommend fairly simple searches, allowing USLINX's Clik-N-Search and other features to help you dig deeply into results.

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The Path to 9/11 mocks the truth and dishonors the memory of 9/11 victims to serve a cheap, callous political agenda. It irresponsibly misrepresents the facts and completely distorts the truth.

This film is a conservative attempt to rewrite the history of September 11 to blame Democrats, just in time for the election. You should honor the trust the public has given you with our public airwaves by keeping this propaganda off the air.

I would expect more from ABC and Disney, I am 60 years old and have been a huge fan of both for more years than I can count, but the playing of The Path to 9/11 is a political hack job and especially in a crucial time prior to an election of this magnitude an attempt by Bush and his cohorts to distort the true issues as they have done before.

Shame on you, I can not express enough the reqrets I feel when I think that you have stooped so low.

Ron McBride
www.WeDemocrats.com
www.uslinx.com