They Punted, again.

Republicans and Democrats 'amazingly' pulled a last-minute deal out of their gigantic theatrical hat to prevent a government shutdown. A stopgap bill will keep the government open until next Thursday, at which point congress will vote on a budget agreement to cover the rest of fiscal 2011. Yes. They punted. Again. Remember, this homework assignment was due from the LAST CONGRESS, and has been kicked around, and is still being kicked around in this awful game of political football.

According to a joint statement released by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the agreement “will cut $78.5 billion [Please note, this is only 2% of the federal budget] below the president’s 2011 budget proposal.” Furthermore, Planned Parenthood funding will remain in tact, but is expected to be voted on separately as part of the deal, along with health care reform repeal.

President Obama spoke before the Washington Monument, calling the cuts “painful,” but also praising them as historic. Well? Which one is it? Is it a turd in the hall or cake?

With the “dry run” over, all eyes now turn to the main event: Raising the debt ceiling. That'll be much more fun, and a lot less talked about.

The big loser here? The main stream media - what with their countdown clocks and the dripping with anticipation of a government shutdown. I have 18 pages of links to "The terrible effects on ____ if the government shuts down!" They must have the worst blue balls right now.

The winner? Mr. Speaker - he's won against the President, and Reid, and played to his Tea Party fringe base. What a hero.

Introducing Food With 'Real' Ingredients

Hey gang, Wendy's is happy to be introducing a line of salads such as Apple Pecan Chicken and BLT Cobb as the fast-food chain changes its sales pitch to focus on "real" ingredients to appeal to foodies.

The line of four salads is available nationwide starting Friday. The salads retail for $5.99, about $1 more than the previous Garden Sensations line. The chain introduced those in 2002 and has long been considered an innovator in salads. It was the first fast-food chain to market with a salad bar in the 1980s. Followed almost a month later with the Sneeze Guard.

The salad line is part of Wendy's effort to target people who care about ingredients and what they eat. I'm one of those people. The company teamed up with salad dressing maker Marzetti's to create new flavors such as avocado ranch and pomegranate vinaigrette. It's using multiple types of greens beyond iceberg lettuce, such as spinach, red and green chard, and red and green romaine. Wendy's signature chili is an ingredient in the Baja salad, which features Hass avocados and pico de gallo. Innovation in fast food is to put chili that isn't selling in July on a salad, and charging a buck more for it. They'll win an award for that.

They're getting into the Breakfast Space as well and plan on featuring "real" ingredients, too, such as applewood smoked bacon and fresh eggs. No word on what, exactly, is on that breakfast menu, but CEO Roland Smith said earlier this year the company expects breakfast items to be grilled egg sandwiches, oatmeal bars, roasted potatoes and fresh fruit.

He said the company will take its time getting into the growing breakfast segment because it wants to approach the business correctly.

"Our belief is even though it's tougher and takes longer, it's worth it," he said. "We want a breakfast where people go, 'Wow, here are real cracked eggs.'"

Wow, real cracked eggs? What the hell? How do you make FAKE eggs? How could it be cheaper to make fake eggs in the first place?

And that leads me to the bigger question, rolling out 'real' food - what the hell have they been serving over there up until now? I guess this falls into the "everyone likes sausage, but no one wants to know how it's made." But if that were true, then why would they court the 'foodie' crowd who gives a rip about what kind of garbage they're eating?

Or worse, shouldn't we be outraged that when a restaurant puts out a press release that they'll be serving "real" food it becomes a newsworthy event?

Me? I'm going to the diner to eat a stack of hashbrowns and five eggs piled on a hamburger patty on top of a stack of pancakes.

Is This Racist?

How do you survive a crowd of "awkward" black people?

According to KFC's latest [Australian] advertisement a bucket of fried chicken will do the trick.

Is this racist? You tell me.

Now, apparently, a flustered white guy gets out of an "awkward situation"--which in this case appears to mean being stuck in a crowd of happy, cheering fans who is supporting a team that the white fan isn't supporting, defuses the tension of buying tickets for the wrong seats by ordering in fried chicken for himself and the neighbors around him. At least, that's how I'd defuse this race card time bomb for KFC.

KFC American offices are going to have to throw KFC Aus. under the bus for this one.

Beefy Chicken

KFC is getting harassed for using beef in its grilled chicken. An honest mistake, right?

And El Pollo Loco is having a field day in the hole in the KFC armor, making fun of the "beef powder" and "rendered beef fat" in their new "grilled" chicken. [LA TIMES]

The use of beef ingredients in grilled chicken just seems wrong to me, and we believe most consumers would agree," said Steve Carley, CEO of El Pollo Loco.

KFC doesn't see what the big deal is. "Small amounts of beef flavors are commonly used in seasonings for many food products, for both restaurant and retail use," a spokesperson for the chain told the LA Times.

"For Kentucky Grilled Chicken's topical seasoning, beef flavors account for only 0.2% of the total seasoning," he added.

Still, El Pollo Loco thinks people will want beef-free chicken. You can check out their new ad campaign at their new website: Beefychicken.com

I wonder if any Hindi people know this... ? Let the lawsuits fly.