The RIAA doesn’t get it and they’re a bunch of stupid fartballs.

Muxtape is down because the RIAA doesn’t get it. RIAA wiggled its eyebrows and now I don’t have my Muxtape. Motherscratchers.

Here’s the thing. Stuff like Muxtape helps sell albums. Or should. If the industry would approach this shit right.

Because. Overall. A population of consumers that is more and more and more educated in music appreciation, a group that feels ownership of its music and of the media itself, that’s a group that’s more willing to buy CDs and shit.

If you insist on selling music, you won’t sell music. You’re not selling music. You’re selling love. And we all know how that works. You give some to get some.

Anyway, I made this pizza. The crust is Boboli whole wheat, and the sauce is Pizza Quick. Then there’s a whole mess of onions cooked soft because I had minced onions left and some chopped up broccoli because I had leftover brocolli {the new-fangled steam-in-a-bag-kind, which worked well because it had lots of water in it and therefore did not burn up in the oven( and some yummy sweet Italian sausage and of course mozarell’. It was really gud. And I foiled a few slices up for lunch tomorrow. Plus I have sausage left for a frustration stew I’m planning.

I made a meatloaf Sunday, and it was all right. I wanted to jot down some notes for myself for later.

Meatloaf has been one of my eternal struggles. I want to know how to make a delicious one. I have for years. In the past, my meatloaves have always been fairly disasterous, ones you could eat with a spoon. With the last few (and the correct recipes, supplied as a stocking stuffer from my Moms last Christmas), I have at least gotten the structural challenges down. Now I’m not sure the flavor is what it needs to be.

Here’s the recipe I used.

1 1/4 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 pound low-fat bulk sausage*
Two smallish eggs
1 small onion, chopped
One Grated Carrot
2 tablespoons ketchup
3/4 cup oatmeal
Salt and pepper to taste.
(I think I also threw in some watered steak sauce from a near-empty bottle.)
Combine all this gunk. Make into a large ball, plop it on a tray or some junk, bake for 80 to 90 minutes at 325, then check with a meat thermometer and continue baking when it says it’s not done yet.

The only thing I might change is the pork used. I did not use a sausage but a normal ground pork. A sausage would have added more yowsa, which is something I tend to like a lot of. I also wonder if some of my magickal poy roast seasoning would have added something something something.

I also made a macarooni and cheese, one sunday and one today. Today’s was far better. Here’s what I did this evening.

One Cup of Canned Milk 1/2 cup of water 1 cup of diced colby cheese with a few slices of American cheese 1 1/2 T butter 1 1/2 soft bread slices, cubed 2 T diced onion 2 T diced celery 1/2 t. salt dash pepper (fresh-ground) 2 beaten eggs 2 C. of macarooni, (whole wheat!) cooked (this means I measured 2 Cups DRY and then cooked it.) In a saucepan, combine milk, water, cheese, butter, bring to a boil stirring constanly. When cheese melts, remove from heat. Stir in bread cubes, onion, salt, pepper. Fold in eggs and macarooni and stir the whole mess until it’s goosh. Spoon into a greased baking dish, bake at 350 for 30 minutes, then forget it’s in the oven for 15 minutes after that, then yank it out.

I did change the proportions up a little from Sunday, but I think the difference was the dish. I had used a comparatively shallow baking dish Sunday. Today I used a deeper one. That seemed to make for more yummy. I might next time consider baking the thing covered, though some might consider that blasphemy. But I am trying to work with whole wheat elbows here, which will crunch up more in baking. I think a cover might be a good thing. I would also consider a more interesting cheese, like a sharp cheddar, than colby, for, yes, yowsa. Otherwise, this basic recipe is very good.

This story is hardly to be believed, until one reminds oneself that it occurred in George W. Bush’s America. It sticks out to me because it occurred in a tiny little town I visit frequently because my lady friend lives there.

(Also, good to know that at CNN, they eschew that pesky AP style.)

(CNN)—Federal officials have opened a civil rights investigation into a police narcotics raid on the home of a Maryland mayor in which police burst in without knocking and shot the mayor’s two dogs to death.

Mayor Cheye Calvo of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and forced to kneel on the floor during the July 29 raid, which police said was part of an investigation into a scheme in which drugs apparently were sent to unsuspecting people.

Prince George’s County police, who were in charge of the raid, issued a statement Friday clearing the couple of involvement and expressing “regret.”

The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland are investigating the incident, FBI spokesman Richard Wolf said Friday.

Calvo had asked for the federal investigation.

“We lost our family dogs,” he said Thursday. “We did it at the hands of sheriff’s deputies who burst through our front door, rifles blazing.”

According to The Associated Press, two men, including a FedEx deliveryman, have been arrested in the case.

Police said the scheme involved shipping drugs to unsuspecting people’s homes and intercepting the packages. About $3.6 million in marijuana had been seized, police told the AP.

In this instance, investigators told the AP, a package containing 32 pounds of marijuana was sent from Los Angeles, California, to Calvo’s house in Berwyn Heights, a town of 3,000 residents 10 miles from Washington.

The package was addressed to his Calvo’s wife, Trinity Tomsic.

In transit, a drug-sniffing dog in Arizona brought attention to the package, investigators told the AP. Police intercepted it when it arrived in Maryland, and it was delivered to the Calvo home by an undercover officer, according to the AP report.

In a statement released Friday, Prince George’s County Police Chief Melvin High said he called Calvo on Thursday to tell him that in screening the case with the state’s attorney’s office, “it was concluded that Ms. Tomsic and the Calvo family were innocent victims of drug traffickers.”

“I called him to express my sorrow and regret for that and for the loss of the family’s beloved dogs,” High said in the statement. A thorough review of the raid is being conducted, which is standard procedure in such cases, the department said.

The Prince George’s County Police Department was in charge of the raid, and the sheriff’s special operations team was assisting.

Calvo said he set the package aside after it arrived at his home and didn’t open it. He said he was changing clothes and preparing to attend a community meeting when “the door flew open. I heard gunfire shoot off. There was a brief pause and more gunfire.”

He said he was brought downstairs at gunpoint while in his boxer shorts, handcuffed and forced to kneel on the floor along with his mother-in-law. Then, he said, “I noticed my two dead dogs lying in pools of their own blood.”

While he was being held, Calvo said, he told the police he is the town’s mayor, but they didn’t believe him. “They told a detective I was crazy,” he said.

Berwyn Heights has a police force, he said, but Prince George’s County police did not notify the municipal authorities of their interest in his home or in the package. “It was that lack of communication that really led to what has really been the most traumatic experience of our lives,” he said.

Calvo added, “they’ve arrested the real criminals involved. We’re pleased to have that and get our name back as well. But really, this doesn’t excuse what they did.”

Good lord.

(Cross-posts: Ketchup Is A Vegetable.)

I have recently decided that it’s time I grew up and learned how to cook a decent pot roast. So I got me a nice roasting meat, 1.5 pounds of shoulder something something. And today was d-day. I used this recipe I found on the Internet (below). I started it in the Crock at about 2 p.m. I threw in the carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes at about 7 p.m. I sat down to eat at 10 p.m.

My gods. I can make pot roast. Not that that’s any big thing. But it was perfect. Cuttable with the side of your fork. Damn. Fucking damn. And it wasn’t all just water in there. I threw in some broth after a few hours just for good measure. And some garlic.

Food coma.

Ingredients
1 beef roast, any kind
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package dried brown gravy mix
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package dried Italian salad dressing mix
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package dried ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup water
Directions
1Place beef roast in crock pot.
2Mix the dried mixes together in a bowl and sprinkle over the roast.
3Pour the water around the roast.
4Cook on low for 7-9 hours.

As discussed recently on The Jim Norton Show.