Guest Bloggin' and Hot Dogs

While this blog's regular writer tackles the wonders and wilds of Alaska you can expect some guest blogging from yours truly, aka DOB (daughter of blogger). Just back from a Caribbean cruise and currently in the process of moving a couple states away we'll chat restaurants, news, travel, and all sorts of other good stuff!

Starting with... hot dogs! After seven days of non-stop eating, the kind you can only really do on a cruise, we decided to ease our bodies back into the non-buffet lifestyle with some hot dogs. Gourmet dogs seem to be gaining in popularity here in Philadelphia so we checked out the newly opened Underdogs on 17th Street.

The place is rather small and cash only which typically annoys me but since it's hot dogs and not a high budget item and the dogs were delicious I am willing to get over it (just this once...)! We sampled The Michigan (beef chili, cheddar, onions), The Smoker (hot sausage with pepper hash), and The Texas Tommy (wrapped in bacon, fried and smothered in cheese) and found all to live up to their juicy descriptions. Best of all the hot dogs were substantial and meaty, able to hold the hearty toppings and the fries, which are much like those at Five Guys, were fresh, greasy, hot and delicious... just like we like them! As an added bonus, the fries include a choice of one of 12 zingy dipping sauces. We ordered Georgia Mustard BBQ and were not disappointed!

The atmosphere is a bit more hipster than our tastes but the dogs were so good that we'll overlook that too! What can we say, we've always had a thing for the underdog!

Underdogs
132 South 17th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Blogging At 10,000+ Feet En Route

So now I'm blogging at above 10,000 feet.
And we're on our way to Fairbanks.
Yes, Fairbanks as in Fairbanks, Alaska.
That's quite far north (even for Alaska) but we're told that the weather there today is 70 degrees.
Let's hope it stays that way; at least for awhile.
As you can imagine this is a l-o-n-g trip but we're told we have to do it because Alaska is so beautiful that it's just a must, must, MUST see. Everybody has told us that Alaska must be experienced. And so, we're going to experience it -- pretty much all of it.
It really is (for many people, anyway) one of those once-in-a-lifetime sort of trips.
For the next two weeks -- whenever we can -- we'll be blogging from Alaska and filling you in on all the details.
Meanwhile, we're still in transit and the more I travel the more I think of a song that Noel Coward wrote many years ago: Why Oh Why Do The Wrong People Travel When The Right People Stay At Home?
But more on that (maybe) later.
In the meantime, North To Alaska!

Religious Freedom Rally June 8 In Philly

Here's an important message from the folks organizing the next Rally for Religious Freedom in Philadelphia:
On June 8, 2012 at 12 noon we will have our second "Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally" on Independence Mall. The date is particularly significant since it celebrates the anniversary of the day that James Madison introduced the Bill of Rights. Several outstanding speakers will address the current threat to Our Religious Freedom, including Bishop Senior from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We ask that you personally invite friends, family, fellow worshipers, co-workers, neighbors, and leaders from your community to attend!
We desire to send a message, loud and clear, that we will do whatever it takes to defend our religious liberty, not only for ourselves,but for future generations!
We have inherited a great freedom! Many heroes selflessly lost their lives defending this freedom!
Let us "stand up" on their heroic shoulders and thank them by appearing in front of the very place where our Nation was born! Let us carry forward their great legacy for our children, grand children and future generations!
Let us remain a beacon of religious freedom for the whole world!
For further information on the Philadelphia Rally you may check these web addresses:
http://www.facebook.com/StandUpForReligiousFreedomPhilly
National website: http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com
For unanswered questions contact:
PHillystandupfreedom@gmail.com
We are looking for volunteers for:
set up
take down
collecting contact information
If interested please contact:
PHillystandupfreedom@gmail.com
We are looking for the donation of a large tent for the day in case of rain:
PHillystandupfreedom@gmail.com
Hope to see you at the Rally!

Christie Slams Obama: 'NOT Prepared!'

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has issued his sharpest attack yet on President Obama telling Kentucky Republicans on Saturday that Obama was “posing and preening” instead of working to resolve pressing issues facing the country.
And then Christie added this bombshell: “He is the most ill-prepared person to assume the presidency in my lifetime.” Christie spoke to some 600 Kentucky Republicans.
“This is a guy who literally is walking around in a dark room trying to find the light switch of leadership.” Christie added.

Catholic Groups Sue Obama Administration

In an unprecedented move, the Archdiocese of New York, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., headed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the University of Notre Dame, and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations around the country joined together today to announced that they are suing the Obama administration for violating their freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The dioceses and organizations, in different combinations, are filing 12 different lawsuits filed in federal courts around the country.

This is a huge and direct challenge to the health care mandate contained in Obamacare.

The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has established a special website--preservereligiousfreedom.org--to explain its lawsuit and present news and developments concerning it.

"This lawsuit is about an unprecedented attack by the federal government on one of America’s most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one’s religion without government interference," the archdiocese says on the website. "It is not about whether people have access to certain services; it is about whether the government may force religious institutions and individuals to facilitate and fund services which violate their religious beliefs."

This is one of the largest and most direct efforts against controversial provisions of Obamacare ever undertaken and it marks a definite chasm between the Obama Administration and American Catholicism.

Stay tuned for more as this story develops.

Is Obama About To Dump Biden For Hillary?

At the Washington Times, Joseph Curl says the move to dump Biden as veep and replace him with Hillary is quite the done deal. Well, we've said as much on more than one occasion right here on this blog. And Curl says the move is for purely practical political reasons as Obama's facing an increasingly difficult race.
Here's an excerpt:

Show of hands: Who here still thinks Vice President Joseph R. Biden will be on the 2012 ticket?
Really? All of you? So wrong. The Great One, Sir Barack Hussein Obama will replace the bumbling, buffoonish Mr. Biden with Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton maybe at the Democratic convention, maybe just before, in a last-ditch effort to win re-election.
The wild and crazy move is all the talk outside the Beltway. One state Democratic leader even tells me the bumper stickers are already printed, sitting in a warehouse in (where else?) Little Rock, Ark.

Click here to read the entire column.

Video: Booker Refuses To Attack Bain Capital

 

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said it on NBC's Meet The Press: He doesn't think it's fair to attack Mitt Romney over Bain Capital and he credited Bain Capital with growing businesses. He said attacks on private equity must stop.

As far as that stuff, I have to say from a very personal level, I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity. It’s—to me, we’re just getting to a ridiculous point in America. Especially, I know, I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they’ve done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses; this to me, I’m very uncomfortable.

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NYT Guru Tom Friedman Bombs On Jeopardy!

He may have won three Pulitzer Prizes,  but New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman bombed on Jeopardy! Friday. Friedman just doesn't appear to be very sharp.
In fact, by the end of the show, Friedman had amassed a paltry $1,000 placing him third behind CNN’s Anderson Cooper and NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell.
Of course, the wine 'n cheese set (and the Birkenstock Brigade) adore Friedman who routinely prognosticates on the demise of America and the ascent of China. But somehow all that doesn't translate  into savvy (or it seems, smarts) on a popular, mainstream US game show.

Click here to link to NewsBusters and watch the video.

Campbell Brown To Obama: Women Are Not Fooled

Former NBC and CNN news anchor Campbell Brown is blowing the whistle on President Obama for his condescending campaign aimed at women. Here's part of a column she's written in the New York Times:

"According to The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, about 53.6 percent of men and women under the age of 25 who hold bachelor’s degrees were jobless or underemployed last year, the most in at least 11 years. According to the Pew Research Center, if we broaden the age group to 18- to 29-year-olds, an estimated 37 percent are unemployed or out of the work force, the highest share in more than three decades.

"The human faces shouldn’t get lost amid the statistics. I spent last weekend with a friend who attended excellent private schools and graduated from Tufts University two years ago. "She’s intelligent, impressive and still looking for a full-time job.

"The women I know who are struggling in this economy couldn’t be further from the fictional character of Julia, presented in Mr. Obama’s Web ad, “The Life of Julia,” a silly and embarrassing caricature based on the assumption that women look to government at every meaningful phase of their lives for help."

Click here to read the full column.