Merry Christmas, Andy, wherever you may be.

Keep the faith and stay strong.

More pics at http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Andy+Whitfield/Andy+Whitfield+Spanish+Kitchen+LA/cVraXel5A1N

14° Enrique Iglésias (1°/2009)

Classement 2010 - 14° / Classement 2009 - 1°

The 50-State Interview Series Visits The Land of Dry Heat (And Senses Of Humor): Arizona!

Please, no outside food or beverages allowed in The LG Report.

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Today, just as Old Man Winter is blowing his bone-chilling winds and snow across much of the United States and Europe, The LG Report is kind enough to take you for a brief respite, down to the warmth of Arizona, home of Kate.  [Note: Illegal immigrants may prefer to not come along on this particular state interview.  We cannot guarantee your return amigos.]   

Kate is the author of the very funny "Hotdishing" blog, which can be accessed by clicking HERE.

This may be a hotdish, we're not sure.  Close enough.

A "hotdish," as LG learned recently from Wikipedia, is a type of casserole indigenous to Minnesota, which is where Kate grew up.  It's also popular in North and South Dakota [which are two different states for you snobby Easterners; it's not merely the State of Dakota with a north and south, like North Jersey and South Jersey.]  The "hotdish" casserole typically consists of a starch and one or more types of meat.  That's all you need to know, this isn't a cooking blog, get off our backs.

But you must admit, you're really getting your Learn On here at The LG Report today.       

On to Arizona....

The LG Report:  Kate, thanks for inviting us down here to The Grand Canyon State to visit with you for a while.  You have a very nice home.  We notice your cats have their own room.  We were expecting an adobe hut.        

Let's get started.   You've lived in Minnesota, Alaska, Pennsylvania and Arizona.  All four states end in an "a."  Is this some fetish related to your job as a college professor?  Does the letter "a" make you feel better?  Do you have plans to move to Alabama at any point?

Kate:  The short letter “a” is easy for me to pronounce, making it one of my favorites.  My students have written on “Ratemyprofessors.com” that I am “not a great orator”, and that’s correct.  I try to avoid having to say words that end with a long “ohhh” because with my Norskie accent, it takes me five minutes to finish them.  Like Idahoooooo.  It’s hard enough to say my own last name and move forward in conversation.

A simulated Kate accepting a simulated apple.

The LG Report:  Speaking of which, how much do you charge a student to give him/her an "A?"   

Kate:  Actually—little known fact—I pay students to earn A’s.  Last semester I offered a lot of extra credit for the first person who could come to class with the definition of “interrobang”.  She was arrested during her research project and is now in jail.

The LG Report:  We also see from your blog that you've dated a man 22 years older than you.  We hesitate to call you a "grave robber," but we're sure that's what the audience is thinking (they all think exactly like LG.)   Are you in Arizona because of the plentiful supply of rich old guys who are just a hip-break-and-everything-else-goes-downhill away from leaving you their hard-earned Midwestern grain-and-feed fortunes?

Kate:  In fact, I’ve always been attracted to older men…I just didn’t expect to live long enough to enjoy the 60-80 year old range.  If it’s good enough for Calista Flockhart, it’s good enough for me.

The LG Report:  What's the best little-known tourist attraction in Arizona in your opinion?   

Tent City residents enjoy the dry heat while awaiting a beating.

Kate:  I would have to say our jail, Tent City, where the sheriff (Joe Arpaio) sends all the DUI offenders.  There’s a big neon sign that you can see flying into Phoenix that flashes “Tent City: Vacancy”.  They sell tickets and you can tour around in there, seeing everybody on the worst day of their lives.  It’s awesome, especially if you liked Gitmo too.

  

The LG Report:  The Grand Canyon.  What does that phrase evoke for you?  Or is it invoke?  Is there an English professor in the house?  

Kate:  I haven’t been to the Grand Canyon in years, not since 1993 when I went with another loser boyfriend who scolded me on the way back since our radio wasn’t working: “Do you ALWAYS have to sing Doris Day songs?”    Well excuuuuuse me… I just always wondered how much that doggy really was in the window, woof woof.  The Grand Canyon is totally overrated.  Buy a postcard and go to Sedona instead.

The LG Report:  Why did you leave Minnesota?  Did you commit a crime?  Are you running away from something?  If you committed a heinous crime that is still unsolved, feel free to confess here, LG will grant you exclusive LG Report immunity.   Wait until you see how valuable that is!  And P.S. feel free to make something up if you don't have anything interesting to confess.

Another woman dons her "Stay Away Men!" hat. 

Kate:  I left Minnesota for graduate school in Fairbanks, Alaska.  When my dad heard my plan, he sat me down at the kitchen table, stuck his nose in my face and said, “I just want you to know that the more education you get, the circle of men who are interested in you will become SMALLER and SMALLER.” That was fine with me because I’d already worked my way through all the eligible bachelors in Minnesota, and I was lighting out for the territory ahead, where hopefully there were a lot of really cute, sexy, super-nice and highly educated men.  HA HA HA.  That joke was definitely on me.

The LG Report:  Let's get back to Arizona, the "arid" zone that it is.  Have you ever had a conversation with someone from a cold-weather state without using the phrase "But it's a dry heat?" 

Kate:  Nobody understands that until they come here.  When I first moved to Phoenix in ’91, I went for a walk from my apartment to ASU and back: three miles without water in August.  I left weighing 125 pounds and weighed only 75 when I finally returned, I’d sweat so much…all eyes and ribs.  In fact, that experience made the news (“College Grad Student Wanders Off”) and is why we leave water out in the desert for illegal immigrants now.  Little known fact.

The LG Report:  Have you ever eaten a cactus, whole or in part?

New Yorkers see a cactus hailing a cab in Arizona.

Kate:  I did once, but didn’t mean to.  I was mountain biking through South Mountain Park and bit it on a downhill.  The cactus ate me.  I also tried to pet a cactus once…a domestic neighborhood breed.  I recommend against that because even though they look soft, they’re not.  They’re covered with little tiny sharp bits of trouble.  Golden rule: stay away from the cactuses down here.  And the men (I’m just sayin’).

The LG Report:  You've revealed on your blog that you have two cats.  How many cats do you think are required before one could be called "that crazy old cat lady in the neighborhood?"    

Kate:  You can definitely have too many cats.  Phoenix cat hoarders are often featured on national TV shows.  I think anyone would agree that I could never be considered a crazy cat lady because I don’t have enough patience for that.  My two cats are soldiers who stay inside and do as I say, or else:  No soup for you.

The LG Report:  Kate, we've come to the part of our interview that many people like the best (LG does anyway, screw what everyone else thinks....)  It's time to kill off Geo in Arizona.  If Geo were to come visit you, how would you do him in?  Choose from among:

1.    Lure him to the edge of the Grand Canyon with the promise that he'll be able to see clear to China at the bottom of the hole and then violently push him in (whilst shooting an Uzi at his falling body just to make sure);

2.    Give him an Arizona Iced Tea laced with cyanide;

3.    Lure him to the Arizona-Mexico border then shoot him in the back while yelling "I got one, I got one, El Geo was trying to sneak in!";  or

4.    Take him to the desert for what you claim to be a photo spread for the AARP Magazine and then push him hard up against a poison-tipped cactus and leave him there to suffer a slow, painful death which you will dutifully photograph for The LG Report.

Really made in Arizona?  We couldn't be bothered to check. 

Kate:  I think The LG Report brings too much of itself and its personality to this question.  The question seems, shall we say, “loaded”.  If you literally want to kill off somebody in Arizona, just take her to Mexico and tell her to walk back.  If you want to break her heart and make her suffer a slow painful death, well gosh—there are so many colorful ways to do so.  I happen to love AARP, but it’s hard to explain to my parents why so many of the men on the cover have such bright, wide-open eyes.  Key word here people: injectibles.  You don’t need surgery.

The LG Report:  What is the single best thing about living in Arizona (other than easy access via the internet to The LG Report)?

Kate:  My job.  I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my job.

The LG Report:  Have you ever unintentionally broken someone's hip while jostling them in the early bird line down at the Denny's?   We know you're not old, but plenty of the Arizonians are, right?  Isn't John McCain considered on the young side in your state?

Kate:  The strangest thing that has ever happened between me and an old person happened when I was a Girl Scout and she was a resident in a nursing home in Bemidji, Minnesota.  All eight years of me was escorting Ida back up to her room when the elevator door closed on her arm, peeling back 90 years of Ida’s forearm skin.  She didn’t bleed, which in retrospect seems strange.  She just pushed the skin, accordion-like, back down her forearm, and invited me in.  We ate sugar cookies and looked at photo albums.

The LG Report:  Why does Phoenix have a pro hockey team?  Is that to placate displaced Minnesotans like you?  Have you ever been to a game?

Kate:  I love hockey!  Let it be known.  I like live hockey best when I’m tucked into the nook of a good man’s arm, or hockey on the TV sitting on my couch, tucked into the nook of a good man’s arm.  Many long years ago, Bemidji (my hometown in Minnesota) used to host hockey camp for boys across the state.  Don’t think my best friend and I weren’t down there at the chain-link fence come dusk, looking for the adventurous ones to jump bail and come with us down to the amusement park.

The LG Report:  Do you think you'll ever move back to the United States?

Kate:  Many people feel that since Arizona does not ever change its clock time (never springing forward or falling back), that we are an alien state.  I’m here to tell you: you’re right!  People who do not understand border difficulties, language barriers, German Shepherds, and thirst need not apply.

The LG Report:  OK, let's wrap it up with this one.  Please tell the 732,383 and 1/2 daily readers of The LG Report why they should read your very entertaining and well-written blog, Hotdishing?

Kate:  I pray every night, “God, this is the best I could do today.”  I pray every morning, “God, please help me do better than yesterday.  I know I can.”  My readers know that I’m not kidding when it comes to the real stuff.  I’m definitely doing the best I can.

Thanks again Kate for inviting us into the dry heat, it's been a true pleasure.  Best of luck with Hotdishing in Arizona, we hear it's a dry hotdish.  And thanks to everyone for clicking in, we hope to see you (and all of your friends, so send 'em a link!) back here again soon...     

15° Radoslav Vanko +20

Classement 2010 - 15° / Classement 2009 - 35°

Two New Videos with Andy

Both Videos below are on "Andy's Unofficial Fan Site Blog" to the right.

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Just Jeans - What's Your Denim Story? (Teaser)

Only a few clips with Andy in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB9mG6FTRLc&feature=player_embedded

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VTV interview with Shane Abbess and Andy Whitfield from the Australian film 'Gabriel.' Hosted by KC Village Cinemas TV...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdGTFxLsXcU&feature=player_embedded

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Remain Strong!

Henry Clay on the War of 1812 and the Restoration of America’s National Character

by Michael Kaplan

On September 15, 1815, at New York City’s Tammany Hall, the leading lights of the city’s political establishment, from both parties (Jeffersonian Republican and Hamiltonian Federalist), gathered to honor tw0 of the returning peacemakers of 1814. Albert Gallatin and Henry Clay, along with John Quincy Adams who remained in Europe, had negotiated the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812 without forcing America to make any humiliating concessions to Great Britain. After listening to toasts in tribute to the nation, himself, Galatin, the military heroes of the war, Clay rose to offer his toast: “The eighth of January 1815!”

Clay’s toast to Andrew Jackson’s victory at New Orleans was not unexpected that day. It only seems surprising in historical hindsight. For Henry Clay, Jackson’s triumph over the British, and the War of 1812 in full, had vindicated America’s national character. Clay, who would soon become Jackson’s bitter rival, had, like Jackson, been an outspoken advocate for war in 1812. Clay and Jackson shared a belief in America’s manifest destiny to expand across the continent, and of war as a means to assert national honor and vindicate the national character. The war, capped by Jackson’s victory, fulfilled Clay’s hopes for a revitalization of America’s republican institutions and character. Despite numerous errors, hardships, and setbacks—American victories were few and far between—the federal government had shown that it could defend the nation and lead it to victory, which was the main purpose for which it had been established. “The effects of the war” Clay told a banquet audience in Lexington, Kentucky in October 1815,

are highly satisfactory. Abroad, our character, which at the time of its declaration was in the lowest state of degradation, is raised to the highest point of elevation. It is impossible for any American to visit Europe, without being sensible of this agreeable change, in the personal attentions which he receives, in the praises which are bestowed on our past exertions, and the predictions which are made as to our future prospects.

Well, everyone does love a winner.

(Henry Clay, “Speech Delivered at a Public Dinner at Lexington, Given in Honor of Mr. Clay, October 7, 1815,” The Works of Henry Clay: Comprising His Life, Correspondence, and Speeches, Calvin Colton, ed. [10 vols. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904], Vol. 6, p. 73.)

Clay expanded on his ideas of national renewal and greatness in a speech before Congress the following January.

Have we gained nothing by the war? Let any man look at the degraded condition of this country before the war—the scorn of the universe, the contempt of ourselves—and tell me, if we have gained nothing by the war? What is our present situation? Respectability and character abroad; security and confidence at home. If we have not obtained, in the opinion of some, the full measure of retribution, our character and Constitution are placed on a solid basis, never to be shaken.

Clay celebrated national glory as the most important achievement of the war. Clay would never have called himself a Jacksonian, but, at least at this point in his long career, he shared the Jacksonian conception of national honor and glory and its central importance in shaping the national character.

The glory acquired by our gallant tars, by our Jacksons and our Browns on the land, is that nothing? True, we have had our vicissitudes—that there were humiliating events which the patriot could not review without deep regret. But the great account, when it came to be balanced, thank God, would be found vastly in our favor.

Clay continued to emphasize national glory as the engine of history and the glue of national character. He proclaimed that Jackson’s triumph at New Orleans, and the triumph of the other heroes of the war, would be rallying points for America’s national identity and history every bit as important as Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown. Indeed the American victories in the War of 1812 would achieve an importance in history equal to the stand of the Spartan 300 against the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae.

Is there a man . . . who would have obliterated from the pages of our history the brilliant achievements of Jackson, Brown, Scott, and the host of heroes on land and sea . . . ? Is there a man who could not desire a participation in the national glory acquired by the war?—yes, national glory; which however the expression may be condemned by some, must be cherished by every genuine patriot. What do I mean by national glory? Glory such as Hull, of the Constitution, Jackson, Lawrence, Perry, have acquired. And are gentlemen insensible to their deeds? to the value of them in animating the country in the hour of peril hereafter? Did the battle of Thermopylae preserve Greece but once? While the Mississippi continues to bear the tributes of the Iron mountains, and the Alleghany to her delta and to the Gulf of Mexico, the 8th of January shall be remembered, and the glory of that day shall stimulate future patriots, and nerve the arms of unborn freemen, in driving the presumptuous invader from our country’s soil.

Again, Clay saw glory and patriotic sacrifice as the life blood of the nation, the very building blocks of its character.

Every act of noble sacrifice to the country—every instance of patriotic devotion to her cause—has its beneficial influence. A nation’s character is the sum of its splendid deeds. They constitute one common patrimony—the nation’s inheritance. They awe foreign powers. They arouse and animate our own people.

Commodore Stephen Decatur’s exploits against the Muslim Barbary states in North Africa, which had been capturing American seamen and holding them for ransom, was further evidence of America’s rising national glory.

The days of chivalry are not gone. They have been revived in the person of Commodore Decatur, who in releasing from infidel bondage Christian captives—the subjects of a foreign power—and restoring them to their country and their friends, has placed himself beside the most renowned knights of former times. I love true glory. It is this sentiment which ought to be cherished; and in spite of the cavils and sneers and attempts to put it down, it will finally conduct this nation to that height to which God and nature have destined it.

(Henry Clay, “Speech on the Direct Tax, and the State of the Nation After the War of 1812, January 1816,” Works of Henry Clay, Colton, ed., Vol. 6, pp. 90-91.)

Clay’s call for national glory and sacrifice was all the more ironic, or compelling, given the increasing individualism of Americans in their pursuit of happiness and wealth. Clay himself was a hustler second to none in his own pursuit of wealth and power. One lesson Clay drew from the war was that national greatness rested on economic foundations. Clay had adopted Alexander Hamilton’s vision that economic development was key to America’s place in the world. Clay’s great brainchild, the American System, which he first proposed as legislation in the House of Representatives in 1816, would empower the federal government to foster the development of a modern capitalist economy (the Market Revolution). For Clay economic development, individual liberty, and national greatness went hand in hand. The American System, Clay believed, would tie the individual pursuit of happiness to the quest for national greatness.

Henry Clay was the greatest American statesman never to become president (though not for lack of trying). He and Andrew Jackson would fight their most bitter battles over such parts of the American System as internal improvements, the Second Bank of the United States, tariffs, and federal support of manufactures. Yet both men and their supporters, indeed all Americans, believed in both capitalism and national greatness. Jacksonian Democrats and Clayite Whigs all wanted to develop America, the faster the better. No region of the nation was opposed to economic development or capitalism. Where Jacksonians and Whigs differed was over the proper role of the federal government in promoting economic development. Jacksonians feared that centralization of economic power in the federal government would create a closed aristocracy of wealth, where well-connected insiders would close off opportunity to the average American. Jacksonians feared “crony capitalism” as we would say today (see: bank bailouts, 2009).

© 2010 Michael Kaplan

The LG Report Responds To Reader Mail!

CAUTION:  Discuss your general health status with your doctor to ensure that you are healthy enough to read The LG Report. If you experience chest pain, nausea, or any other discomforts while reading The LG Report, seek immediate medical help.  In the rare event of an erection lasting more than 4 hours, seek immediate medical help to avoid long-term injury.

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LG, this LG Report blog thing that you have going is quite a scam, how did you convince so many people to follow you?  - B. Madoff, Butner, North Carolina

LG: Hmm, I was going to ask you the same thing...







Hey LG, how did you get to be the best-looking blogger on the internet?  -  LG, New York, NY

LG: That's an excellent question sir, I really have no answer.

I'm thinking of making a run for the U.S. Presidency in 2012 and I'd like to kick off my campaign in a foreign country to get the most publicity.  LG, you seem very worldly and sophisticated.  Which of these three countries would you recommend that I make the announcement in: Africa, Amsterdam or Scandinavia? - S. Palin, Wasilla, Alaska 

LG:  Hmm, that's a tough one.  I'd recommend Africa, since I heard you mention on TV the other day that you're going over there soon to pick up some money from a banker.

Why are you so darn smart and funny LG?  - LG, New York, NY

LG:  Good question.  I wish I knew, I'd bottle it and make a fortune.

I find your humor very sophomoric and even downright moronic LG.  Why don't you play it smart and just hang it up, retire while you're ahead?  - B. Favre, Hattiesburg, MS

LG:  You first, Mr. Favre.





Can you please explain for us the climate change phenomenon known as "Global Warming" and its long-term impact on Mother Earth?  - A. Gore, Nashville, TN

LG:  Nah, too boring, even for this blog. 

People in my home state seem really down on me for taking my talents to South Beach.  LG, what can I do to bolster my image in Ohio?  - L. James, Akron, Ohio

LG:  Would you consider crawling through a doggie door for $5?  It would make people think you're really one of them and I could get a nice photo for The LG Report....

I've had a bad luck streak lately LG.  I was arrested for stabbing my wife and then I got caught with a hooker in my New York City hotel room.  She may have stolen my $150,000 watch, I'm not sure.  I put up a $25,000 reward for it.  In the meantime, what can I do to rehabilitate myself and my public image? - C. Sheen, Hollywood, CA

LG: How would you feel about crawling through a doggie door for $5?  I'd get your picture splashed across every newspaper in America acting just like one of the guys. 


I don't really have a question, I just wanted to let you know that I think your blog is just so awesome, the best I've ever read.  Keep up the great work!  - LG, New York, NY

LG:  Thanks, much appreciated. 

I need to rehabilitate my public image LG, and everyone says I should consult you.  And please don't recommend that old tried-and-true standby: "crawl through a doggie door."  I've already tried crawling through the window of my wrecked SUV and that didn't seem to work.  My wife was waiting for me with a golf club on the other side.  Any advice?  - T. Woods, Isleworth, FL

LG: Not really.  But if you come across a hooker with a $150,000 watch, I think I know where you can get a nice reward so give me a call and we'll split it.
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That's it for today folks, see you back here again real soon.  Thanks for stopping by.