My favorite food of my mother's growing up was her Imperial Chicken which we called cornflake chicken. Our best memory is that she said she got it from a military wives' cookbook but it may have been an Amoco wives' cookbook or maybe even a commercial cookbook. It's simple and easy to make and tastes great!

Ingredients:

• 6 large to 10 small pieces of chicken, with or without skins
• 1/4 stick room temperature butter or margarine
• 1 cup Kellogg's Corn Flakes, crumbled fine
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/8 cup parsley flakes, crumbled
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon, or less, pepper

Click "Continue reading" for step by step preparation instructions.

Crumple the corn flakes in a medium sized mixing bowl. My mom used to crumple the corn flakes by hand but you can use a potato masher. It's best if you don't grind them into dust however. I may have over-ground them a little this time around. Mix all of the dry ingredients being sure to also crumple the parsley flakes.

Let the chicken and butter/margarine come to room temperature and pat the chicken dry.

When my sister and I were kids, my mom always made corn flake chicken using legs and thighs with their skins on. Sometime, after we had grown up, we all became more health conscious and started using skinless/boneless breasts. The recipe will work either way to make delicious chicken.

Coat the chicken all over with butter and then all over with the corn flake mixture.

Put the chicken in a large baking pan, lightly sprayed with cooking oil. We used glass here but my mom always used an oven broiler pan. Don't overlap the chicken in the pan. Sprinkle any remaining mixture over the chicken.

Cook in the center of a preheated oven at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

All the Youngman grandchildren were in town today for a unique photo opportunity. Left to right with Pa and Ma: Josh, Emma, Drew, Will and Gillian.

Pa with Daisy (back), Ellie (front) and grandchildren Emma, Josh, Will and Drew.

Aunt Michelle and cousin Gillian are in town visiting. They are all growing up so fast. It seems just like yesterday that the boys were being introduced to their new "baby" cousin.

We spent Memorial Day afternoon at Mary's friend Christine's backyard barbecue. I don't think we've attended an event that was better planned out to entertain people's children. There were wagons and other toys to ride, frozen popsicles, squirt guns, bubbles, water toys, helium balloons and plenty of balls and other toys. Not once during the several hours we were there did Drew complain about not having something to do.

Today is Memorial Day. Unfortunately, many do not know what this day is about. A quick review:

Memorial Day: commemorates U.S. men and women who perished while in military service to their country.

Veterans Day: honors all U.S. military veterans.

Armed Forces Day: recognizes everyone currently serving in the U.S. military forces.

Every other day of the year: feel free to honor lost friends and family who did not die while serving our nation in military service.

Today is not a day to "memorialize" all lost loved ones. Just because the name of the holiday sounds like that may be what it is for...it is not! Two types of people make this mistake. Those that are ignorant and should be very, very, politely be informed as to the very well defined purpose of the holiday. And, those, who should be vilified to no end, those that purposely seek to water down, alter and misdirect the purpose of the holiday away from honoring those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. On this list...the Tulsa World:

Admittedly, this is from last year which I only learned about after Memorial Day since I long ago canceled my subscription after tiring of the Tulsa World's left-wing bias and local good-old-boy cronyism. Since I don't subscribe, perhaps they noted their error, corrected their ways and spent the last 364 days apologizing to those who gave their lives so the Tulsa World editors could make asses out of themselves...but I doubt it.

Not willing to attribute complete ignorance to the fine folk of the Tulsa world, I am left with no other alternative than to conclude that they willingly desire to spit on our nation's greatest sons and daughters by trying to turn their special day...Memorial Day...into some watered down celebration for "friends, family members and anyone whose memory you still hold dear." Or, as they'd like to say, "anyone but evil soldiers without whom we could all hold hands and dance through fields of daises!" This is the reason I previously created the Big Stinking Pile version of the Tulsa World logo.

During dinner we spotted one of our bunnies.

A close up reveals he's almost certainly related to the ones we've seen in 2006 and 2007.

Saturday, I mowed the law and then Drew finished up by getting the spots that I missed.

Drew worked very hard and had to take a break to cool off before finishing up the back yard. He really did a great job finishing up my sloppy work.

Dear Sen. Hillary Clinton (and her supporters):

So, how does it feel? How does it feel to be stabbed in the back, screwed if you will, by your own left-wing media? Who'd have though that the only thing keeping this country divided and liberals in power, a ridiculously biased media, could ever turn out to be your worst enemy.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a slam piece, in fact, "I feel your pain." For years the mainstream media has fawned all over the Democrats as if they could do no wrong, while liberal talking points about Republicans wanting to starve children and put the elderly out on the street are parroted on the evening news. It must have been fun all these years knowing the media was at your side helping you to take on your opponents.

But now, they have turned on you. A more politically correct candidate has come along with nothing more than charisma and...ummm...well, just charisma, and all your years of hard work battling the right, fighting for bigger government and less personal responsibility, trying your darndest to nationalize 20%...an entire fifth...of the entire U.S. economy, is all lost. Let me be clear, if the mainstream media didn't have a collective "thrill going up its leg" and reported honestly and even handedly before and during the democratic primaries, you, Sen. Hillary Clinton would have wrapped up the Democratic primary long ago and Sen. Barack Obama would be a minor footnote to the 2008 presidential election.

But, then of course if that were the case, the mainstream media and Northeastern Rhino's wouldn't have selected Sen. John McCain for the Republican party and a real conservative would have been elected or maybe Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani would still be battling it out (only because I'm convinced now that Fred Thompson wasn't all that interested in running). Either way, given the hypothetical of an unbiased media, although you'd have had the Democratic nomination locked up long before the first primary and solidified by every primary thereafter, you would still be so far down in the polls compared to the Republican candidate that your war chest would be no bigger than an anorexic Olsen twin.

In closing, let me reiterate, how does it feel? How does it feel that your political demise is owed to the same media that slanted and lied to make you what you are? Wow, that's got to suck...oops, sorry, didn't mean to remind you of your time in the White House. Hope you are still enjoying the "gifts" you took when you left...you won't be back for more.

Sincerely,
Your Imaginary Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

The boys got haircuts today. Will had some pretty funny expressions, nothing like tickling hairs trickling down your face to bring out the facial contortions. But, then things calmed down and it was just another boring haircut.

Previously: Drew getting a haircut when he was just shy of 2 1/2 year old. Will's first haircut at eleven months old.

Drew doing his best Calvin faces from Calvin and Hobbes. I tried to get Drew to make faces for this six months to a year ago, but he was too shy. Even today, he was still a little subdued. I'm not sure we pulled it off as well as we could have. Maybe we'll do it again sometime with spiky hair and a red shirt.

For the record, this is a shameless ripoff of David Kim and a young Nathan.

Thanks to my best friend Harry, I got to see The Police in concert in Chicago at the Rosemont Horizon (Allstate Arena to you non-traditionalists) last weekend. We went with Harry's nephew-in-law and JR's girlfriend Lisa. The seats were great, just three rows or so up from the floor seats and, thankfully, that allowed us to sit down during the whole performance...yes, I'm old.

The Police, of course, consists of bassist/lead vocalist Sting (Gordon Sumner), guitarist Andy Summers, and drummer Stewart Copeland. The opening act was Elvis Costello which was a perfect appetizer to the rock legend main course. Although, his sound technician appeared to have sacrificed quality for volume. There were a lot of times when the music was distorted and various cords resulted ear pain.

The Police Reunion Tour during 2007-2008, marks the 30th anniversary of their beginnings and is anticipated to possibly be the fifth highest grossing tour ever. The Chicago concert was part of their third North American Leg. There were approximately 14,000 in attendance. It was a great performance. We all really enjoyed the huge hi-definition screen behind the stage which really made you feel much closer to the action.

During the concert, Sting said that the Rosemont Horizon was the last place where the band had played together on tour as "The Police" in 1986. However, I think he may have misspoken, as the Rosemont Horizon was the second-to-last place The Police played on their 1986 Conspiracy of Hope Tour. On June 13, 1986, they performed at the Rosemont Horizon, followed by a June 15th, sold out, all day, outdoor, mutli-artist, performance at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The video is a montage of clips from a few songs towards the end of the concert (Roxanne is really blurry). As best as I can gather from the internet, with verification from my own memory/pics/vids, the following are the songs played during the concert:

Main Set
Bring on the Night
Message in a Bottle
Demolition Man
Walking on the Moon
Voices Inside My Head-When The World Is Running Down
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Driven To Tears
Hole In My Life
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Can't Stand Losing You/Reggatta De Blanc

Encore I
Roxanne
King of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take

Encore II
Next To You

Click "Continue reading" to see a whole bunch more photos that, along with the video, should give you a good idea of what the concert was like.

I completely wasted nearly 30 minutes today arguing with idiots on YouTube. I can't believe I got suckered into such a waste of time. The level of intellectual discourse there so approaches zero that it would not be inaccurate to say that it does not exist. Besides the typical name calling, the comments included factual allegations that were a simple Google search away from being shown as objective inaccuracies and the logical leaps that people took from given premises were utterly fallacious. Never again! Is there an internet for adults only?

An attorney I work with, Ed, celebrated his 20th year with the firm this week. In his honor, the firm held a dinner tonight at the Cedar Ridge Country Club where the LPGA just played. Ed is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met and definitely the most intelligent attorney I've ever known. He's also a liberal...a far left, radical, liberal. But, unlike most liberals who annoy me, Ed is awesome in that he can intelligently and rationally argue his points without resort to emotional feel-goodism that so permeates most of liberal arguments. I could debate him for hours, unfortunately, the demands of our jobs prevents all but the most occasional dip into unbillable intellectual repartee.

Because of my well known political enthusiasm, I was asked to write a tongue-in-cheek speech poking fun at Ed's liberalism. I chose the format of a fictional letter from President Bush recounting their long history together. For Ed's benefit, I also took a few jabs at President Bush. I found the picture on the internet a few years ago and held on to it for an appropriate moment. It is not Ed, but bares a certain comical resemblance. We had it blown up to poster-board size and revealed at the appropriate moment during my speech. After the jump is the text of the speech I delivered which went over quite well...much to my relief.

(I left out Ed's last name as well as my firm's name. They are both easily Google-able and I have nothing to hide, I just didn't think my little blog should turn up on a search for either.)

Jim, Mike and Roger really wanted to make Ed's twentieth anniversary with the firm special and so, for the past year, they have been going through all the official channels and using all their high-powered connections...they invited President George Bush to be here with us this evening.

Unfortunately, the President was unable to attend. Although we understand he was going to be here but, at the last minute, he went looking for weapons of mass destruction in the corner of the oval office and hasn't been heard from since.

The President was, however, kind enough to send a personal message to Ed...and now I'd like to read that:

From the office of the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush.

Dear Ed,

Congratulations on your 20 years with [Firm Name]. It must seem like a long time, I know my 8 years as President have seemed like an eternity...and I'll bet you agree.

I had my lovely wife, Laura, do some research and she tells me when you started with your firm in 1988:

• a first class stamp cost 22¢
• The average price for good old leaded gasoline was 98¢
• The Last Emperor won 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture beating out Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope & Glory and Moonstruck
• The Summer Olympics were in Seoul, South Korea
• The Winter Olympics, still held the same year as the summer games, were in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Notre Dame won the college football championship with a 12-0 record
• Kansas beat Oklahoma for the college basketball championship
• The Chicago Cubs played their first ever night game at home in Wrigley Field
• United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is appointed (big mistake)
• Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was indicted on charges relating to the Iran-Contra Affair
• Sonny Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs, California
• After 8 years of fighting the Soviet Union Red Army began withdrawing from Afghanistan [hand written note: that don't make no sense]
• The U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes shot down civilian Iran Air Flight 655, over the Persian Gulf, killing 290
• Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up by Libyan terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people
• Of course, I'll always remember it as the year my daddy George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle beat Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen in the presidential election

So much has happened in the last 20 years, but it seems just like yesterday that we were both working on Richard Nixon's 1960 campaign together...I remember snack time the most and that you always made the best brownies. I think that if you had come up with Nixon's 1968 slogan "Nixon's the One," a few years earlier, we might not have had to suffered through those horrible Kennedy years.

I asked Senator Hillary Clinton to go through some of the FBI files she keeps laying around and, as luck would have it, she found a picture of you at a recent John McCain rally. [reveal picture]

You and Hillary Clinton sure have one thing in common...you never quit.

I want to especially thank you for your tireless work over the years on behalf of the multi-billion dollar international insurance conglomerates. Thanks to you, their profits are as high as you and I back in our National Guard days. Speaking of which, I never understood why you felt it necessary to always report to duty when ordered, I thought all that was optional once you signed up.

You have single-handedly done more for the insurance industry than Dick Chaney and I have done for the oil industry. I'll bet you've saved insurance companies even more than I've spent in Iraq. Ed, you are truly a man after my own heart: I veto appropriations to keep money from being spent on injured veterans and you keep money away from injured plaintiffs. We're kindred spirits, you and me.

I know we've lost touch these last few years, I don't think we've seen each other since the Strom Thurmond fundraiser.

Laura sometimes reads briefs you have written to me, especially when I have trouble sleeping. And, although I don't always understand all the big words you use, your brilliance and passion always comes through. Clearly, you haven't wasted a terrible mind, or however that saying goes.

As you know Karl Rove is the brains behind the White House and I know you will take this as the highest compliment, you, are the Karl Rove of [Firm Name].

In closing, I just want to say, that if your desire upon entering law school as a wide-eyed, hopeful, idealist, was to promote capitalism and keep money out of the hands of widows and orphans then Ed...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Very truly yours,

George Bush

It's someone's last birthday today and this is me not making a big deal about it...I'll save that for next year!

I flew up to Chicago for the weekend again. Worked on cleaning out my parents home and saw the Police in concert. More on the latter later this week. I love looking at the different cloud formations when I fly. There's just something about looking down at clouds, it seems like there is a greater variety up in the sky than from out usual vantage point here on terra ferma.

(Click for full size.)

Last night and most of today, the Drudge Report had my Hillary Clinton collage at the top of the page. Matt Drudge shrunk the image, turned it black and white and cut a little off of the bottom which contained the DanzFamily.com URL.

Even better, a producer for a national TV/radio/internet personality -- whose name you definitely know -- contacted me when his boss saw the image on the Drudge Report and said he wanted to use it on a recurring segment of his internet site. If something comes of it, I'll give out more details, otherwise I'm just flattered as I'm a big fan!

[Update:] The "personality" was Dennis Miller and details can be found here: Dennis Miller Uses My Image.

Do you think Will enjoys talking on the phone with his Aunt Donelda? He usually doesn't have too much to say, even with Drew giving him encouragement, but he sure loves to listen.

Is there no end to the amount of peanut butter jelly sandwiches a child can eat? When its Daddy's turn to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I play the "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" song. It's a tightened up clip from the Family Guy of the Buckwheat Boyz song I got off the podcast of Chicago radio host Steve Dahl.



(Steve Google Alerts himself so...hey, Steve, love the show, thanks for making the podcast available, been listening since the early eighties, you help keep me connected to Chicago from down here in Tulsa.)