CHANGE: Democrats demand Obama ‘end the bulk collection of phone records.’

Democratic Sens. Mark Udall (Colo.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) demanded that President Obama “end the bulk collection” of the public’s phone records.

“We need to strike a better balance between protection America from terrorism and protecting the civil rights of Americans,” Udall said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “The Patriot Act’s bulk-phone record collection does not achieve that balance.

“Tonight I am calling on the White House to end the bulk collection of phone records.”

Criticism of national surveillance programs have come under increasing scrutiny after leaks that one program had accessed the phone records of millions of U.S. citizens.

“Americans have been presented with false choices: You can have your security and you can have your liberty but you cannot have both,” Wyden said. “I think Americans have come to understand that this set of false choices is not what this debate is all about and they deserve better.”

Usually, it’s Obama talking about false choices. But if our secrets are entrusted to the likes of Bradley Manning, best we not keep too many of them . . . .

JOURNALISM: BUSTED!! St. Louis Post Dispatch Writer Jeff Gordon Marches with Far Left Activists for $15 Minimum Wage (Video).

A CASE THAT DIDN’T GET ANYTHING LIKE TRAYVON-LEVEL PRESS ATTENTION: Christopher Newsom, Channon Christian Remembered, 6 Years After Horrific Torture Slaying.

Authorities ultimately determined that Newsom and Christian had dined at a local restaurant on the night of Jan. 6. Afterward, Christian spoke briefly with her mother and told her that she and Newsom were planning to visit a friend’s house to watch a movie. Sometime after that call took place, Christian and Newsom were abducted from an apartment complex parking lot. Over the course of the next several hours, the pair was beaten, raped, tortured and murdered.

According to later court testimony by Knox County Acting Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, Newsom had been repeatedly sodomized with an object. His limbs were bound, he was gagged and blindfolded. At some point in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2007, Newsom was dragged outside to a set of nearby railroad tracks, where he was shot execution-style, in the back of his head, neck and back. His body was then set ablaze, Mileusnic-Polchan testified.

The medical examiner said Christian’s last few hours on earth were also horrific and unthinkable.

The young woman, he said, was tortured for several hours and sustained injuries to her mouth, anus and vagina. She had been beaten about the head with an unknown object and raped. Afterward, bleach was poured over Christian’s body and down her throat, in an apparent attempt to destroy DNA evidence. She was, an autopsy indicated, alive while the torture and degradations occurred. Christian was then hog-tied and covered with several bags before she was placed in a disposal bin, where she slowly suffocated to death, Mileusnic-Polchan testified.

The press heroically refrained from presenting this case in racial terms, as it did in the Martin/Zimmerman case.

STRAWMEN EXPLODE: Dear Jon Favreau – There’s No Such Thing As No-Government Conservatives.

Hell, I’d settle for government the size it was in 1987. 1969 is just a dream. . . .

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? CBS News: Unemployment rates up in 90 percent of U.S. cities.

COURT STAFFER FIRED for helping wrongfully-convicted man.

AT AMAZON, A PAGE DEDICATED TO Zombie Apocalypse Supplies. I like that it’s categorized under “Industrial and Scientific.”

#WARONWOMEN: Weiner Comm Director Goes On Epic Tirade Against Former Intern: ‘F*cking Slutbag,’ ‘F*ck You, You Little C*nt.’ This kind of supports the thesis of my USA Today column today . . . .

SOME RARE HARD-ROCK FOOTAGE from Paul McCartney and Wings. I always liked this song, but you never hear it anymore.

MATH IS HARD: Tom Maguire: McDonalds Math, Or, Latest Lib Talking Points Fail. But I particularly love the HuffPo correction.

MEH, I GOT THIS ONE RIGHT UP FRONT: The Most Dangerous Volcano In North America.

SOME READER BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS from Sarah Hoyt.

THE CHATTANOOGA TIMES-FREE PRESS EDITORIALIZES: Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough. Ouch!

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: We Can Blame Fifty Shades Of Grey For The Rise In Handcuff-Related Injuries.

A DIGITAL CAMERA, DESIGNED TO COMPETE WITH SMARTPHONES.

AT AMAZON, Best of 2013 So Far, In Movies & TV.

Also, Las Vegas, The Complete Series: $69.99.

#WARONMEN: American Men Almost 6x More Likely Than Women to Be Killed by Lightning.

SO SOMEONE COMPLAINED A WHILE BACK that I haven’t put up enough recipe and cooking posts lately. It’s true. In my defense, it’s because our current diet — low carbs, high protein, low salt, and rushed by being too busy — doesn’t lend itself to anything fancy: Typically, a piece of grilled meat or fish along with some (usually grilled as well) asparagus or something.

But last night I tried, with some success, to replicate the cold poached salmon with dill that we had in New York at a French place that we liked a lot. Here’s the recipe:

Salmon Filet
Water and white wine to cover (I used a Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc, but that’s just because it’s what I had open. I went heavier on the wine in relation to water than most would, I suspect.)
Vidalia onion, finely chopped
Capers
Fresh dill & tarragon, finely chopped
Cup Light sour cream
Mayonnaise
Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Two whole avocados.

First, put the diced onions in the pan and heat them up. Then add the salmon and the wine/water mixture, along with a generous portion of the dill and tarragon; reserve the rest for the dill sauce. Also a generous teaspoonful of capers Turn heat down to simmer and let poach until opaque.

Combine the sour cream, the dill and tarragon (how much depends on how dill-y and tarragon-y you want the sauce to be — I used about a tablespoon of each, but kind of wish I’d used more) a tablespoon of mayonnaise, a teaspoon of dijon and mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust proportions until you like it.

When the salmon is done, put it on a plate, cover with foil, and put it and the sauce in the fridge (I cooked this right after lunch) and serve cold at dinner time. Add avocado slices and you’ve got a delicious cool summer meal.

The French place used a dill vinaigrette in the place of the sour cream sauce, but that seems a lot more fattening. But it was good, though I think this was just as good with fewer calories. The Insta-Wife and Insta-Daughter raved. If you give this a try, let me know how it turns out.

THERE’S A LOT OF THAT GOING AROUND LATELY: Reza Aslan Misrepresents His Scholarly Credentials.

ARE OPEN-PLAN OFFICES discriminatory against introverts?

NEWS YOU CAN USE: If you’re planning to have kids, don’t get a dog.

WHEN JUDGES ARE CONFUSED.

PLANETS ARE EVERYWHERE: First Planet Discovered Orbiting a Brown Dwarf. So where is everybody?

REPORTER MOCKS DICK DURBIN’S “SHIELD LAW” CRITICS, then admits they’re right. To be fair, it’s not that hard to be right when criticizing Dick Durbin.

AT AMAZON, IT’S THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL SALE! For both college and K-12.