Pork

Washington.--In these hard times, what's wrong about an ambitious university lobbying in Washington for a couple of million dollars to build a laboratory or a library?Nothing at all, many political traditionalists say, noting that, from sewers to missiles, immense chunks of federal spending are influenced by local interests. That's pork-barrel politics, a pillar of governance dating back to the nation's beginnings. At rates reported to start at $20,000 a month, many universities rely on Washington lobbyists to pursue their dreams on Capitol Hill.

A row of packages of hot dogs disappeared from the refrigerated shelves at the local grocery store one day last week.In its place were plastic bags filled with sauerkraut.It's time. Fall has arrived in Baltimore, the season to slaughter pigs and cure cabbage. And make some applesauce, please.On a perfect and cool October evening, is there a more welcome smell than a roast of pork in the oven? It's enough to make you forget about the loss of the World Series.Roast pork is one of those heavy dishes I associate with Baltimore menus.

The Howard County Council worried about pork last night at a public hearing on County Executive Charles I. Ecker's proposed $289 million operating budget for fiscal 1994.In this case, the pork was real -- not just narrowly focused parochialism. When Corrections Director James N. Rollins told the council he had dropped pork from the diet at the county detention center, council members wanted to know why.The problem, Mr. Rollins said, was that prisoners, many of whom are Muslims, are complaining about pork in their diet and refuse to eat it."

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The House last week narrowly passed a $2.4 trillion budget resolution, setting the stage for a confrontation with the Senate over proposed curbs on further tax cuts. What should be the issue is not how much of our money Congress will allow us to keep, but how much of our money we will allow Congress to spend. Instead of debating curbs on tax cuts, members of Congress should impose spending curbs on themselves. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) will release its annual Pig Book next week.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- There are laws - even ethics rules - against buying votes in Congress. Lobbyists (Jack Abramoff and others) went to prison for attempting to buy votes, and congressmen (Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Bob Ney) went to prison for selling them. As with so many things Congress does, the rules it makes for others do not always apply to some of its members. In the scandalous, shortsighted sellout of American troops in Iraq, a slim Democratic House majority passed a measure that Speaker and top vote-buyer Nancy Pelosi claimed would "end the war in Iraq."

PLAQUEMINE, LA. -- Toxic floodwaters are draining into Lake Pontchartrain, enabling rescue workers to recover New Orleans' dead. Millions of Americans watch with horror, and wonder how could this have happened in the richest country on earth. At the same time, an unneeded $231 million bridge to a sparsely inhabited part of Alaska is to be built. Yes, there is a connection. The bridge stands as a monument to a corrupt Washington culture - a culture that has mismanaged and plundered our nation's treasury.

This is the rub recipe that I developed after seven successive years of judging at the Memphis in May national barbecue contest. It's not authentically Southern because I'm no child of the South, but it has been called pretty doggoned good for a Yankee girl. We give oven instructions here (in case of inclement weather) but barbecue is usually cooked in a smoker or covered grill over indirect heat. It'll take about the same time. Consult your grill's instructions or visit a reliable outdoor-cooking Web site.

A friend called to suggest we plan a small dinner party together. I jumped at the chance. The dish that came to mind was Cider-Braised Pork Chops with Apples and Prunes. It's redolent of fall and easily prepared in advance. Because today's pork contains less fat than in the past, it can be dry when sauteed. But braising it slowly in liquid will keep the meat moist and flavorful. I used thick, bone-in chops, rubbed them with an aromatic blend of herbs and browned them in a skillet. I then poured cider and white wine into the pan and cooked the pork an hour until tender.

When I visit Paris, I love to sample the new and unusual creations of talented French chefs and then try to reproduce them in my own kitchen to share with you. At L'O a la Bouche, a small, unpretentious place on the Left Bank, I ordered a saddle of rabbit stuffed with spinach and served with wedges of polenta studded with prunes, all napped with a light mustard sauce. With each mouthful, I became more seduced by the exquisite pairing of flavors. In the States, I decided to replace the rabbit, which is not readily available, with pork fillets and simplified the preparation by omitting the spinach filling.

REMEMBER those ads touting "the other white meat"? They've been very successful, as consumer demand for pork continues to grow and supermarket prices stay firm. But farmers who paid for the promotion are understandably unhappy -- hog prices hit a 50-year low last month and most producers are still selling their swine for half the cost of raising the animals.The nation's 115,000 pork producers have seen price drops of as much as 80 percent within a year. Political fallout from their financial toll threatens the success of the landmark Freedom to Farm Act of 1996, which steered national policy away from deep farm subsidies.