Pope Adolf strikes again!

http://www.thetalentshow.org/2009/05/15/sugar-coating-nazism/

Greg at the Talent Show has a great commentary on Pope Benedict's latest difficulty in understanding that Nazis were Bad People who did Bad Things. This after cozying up to the Holocaust Denier bishop from the UK.

The most tone-deaf pope of my lifetime, certainly.

Free the Octuplets: From their MOTHER

We went through "infertility hell" for few years, with two different docs: One who had the bedside manner of Josef Mengele and one who needs to be nominated for sainthood now while he's alive to enjoy it.

It didn't work, so we waited for adoption which finally happened, with our boy being placed with us at the age of four weeks. (It's for the best. He's the perfect kid for us, and if we'd had a child biologically that kid would be loved, enjoyed, celebrated, and nurtured, but the cosmic balance of the universe would be off because the wrong kid would be living upstairs.)

Nevertheless, with our son being age 15, taller than I am (so's his mom) and a deep basso profundo, the psychological pain of the infertility process is still a strong memory; it isn't easy living with constant attempts to have, and failure to achieve, the thing you want most as a couple.

Nadya Suleman and her doctor have taken this very real crisis in the lives of some people and made it a farce, a joke, a hateful caricature. She clearly is a person who has a deep need to be noticed, and this clearly is some sort of plan to be famous in a nation that worships celebrity, even when the person in question has done nothing worth celebrating. She has taken the very precious, private, personal desire for a child and turned it into a damned circus.

I'm afraid I'm one of the folks who believes the children should be taken from her. She should never have been treated in the first place. (I can just hear our second doc, the good one, cussin' up a storm at this guy who treated her; he would tell you that any treatment resulting in octuplets is malpractice.) And the doc needs to be banned from ever practicing medicine again. And possibly be made financially liable for all 8 of those kids and their expenses.

And don't even get me started on the reporters who are irresponsible enough to give this fame addict air-time.

I'll stop now. This woman makes me sick.

Today in History

The title of this post is taken from one of my favorite features in the newspaper ('member newspapers?) when I was a teenager. I loved to see what was happening throughout history on the given date. (Of course, today we have the same feature in Wikipedia. Amped up on about 18 espressos.)

Years ago, Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman did a piece titled"You can't be elected president if." John Kennedy is shown standing under the word "Catholic" crossed out, Jimmy Carter under the word "Southern", and Ronald Reagan under the word "Divorced," holding the paint and brush, waiting to hand it off down the line of un-crossed words -- black, female, etc.

Today, of course, is history. Today, the next step of that cartoon is accomplished as Barack Obama becomes President of the United States. A black man will take the oath of office with his hand on a Bible used by President Lincoln. A black man becomes not just our leader but the leader of the western industrialized world. In 15 years or so, the Beloit College "Mindset List" for incoming freshmen will say that the incoming college class can't remember when a black man had never been president.

This changes so many factors in our country, our world, that it's difficult to absorb it all. My family, all three of us, worked for the campaign, including last minute door-to-door canvassing on Election Day. At times during this amazing journey, my breath has been taken away by the reality of what's happening, and this week more than once I've found myself near tears.

I am proud of the choice we have made, hopeful for the future we are building, and watchful for the naysayers who will do anything to stop the true change this country so desperately needs.

Two historic figures understand, I think, what's happening today. Lincoln himself said, "The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

St. Paul is on the same page. "Now is a very acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation."

So here's to Barack Obama, Michelle, Malia, Sasha -- God bless you. Our hearts are with you.

I'm Baaaaaaack

I haven't blogged for a while, because I've been in kind of a funk about a lot of things, particularly my Catholic parish.

I also have been very busy -- including some volunteer work for the Obama campaign.

I am taking up my keyboard and cudgel again. More to come. Stay tuned.

More Senseless Killing

Greg Saunders has a good rumination on the tendency of right-wing gun nuts to kill anybody they don't like.

http://www.thetalentshow.org/2008/08/13/another-partisan-murderer/

The right's obsession with the NRA and love of hateful ridicule (as so well exemplified by Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity) is a specter over us all.

The GOP ought to be careful, lest they clutch a viper to their breast; as the recent battles over whether McCain is "conservative enough" have shown, if these folks don't get exactly what they want, they can turn on you.

Vacation Food

As promised, more vacation details.

We stayed in Charlottesville, VA, the night of June 5th, at the Holiday Inn Fifth Street. I went out "foraging," as my wife puts it, and happened on Feast, at the Main Street Market in the historic downtown area. A great little deli; I got olives and cheese and salame and sandwices and fresh crostini and a great white bean/ citrus dip I'm planning on trying to replicate. Dessert was fabulous organic strawberries, dense and fudgy double-chocolate chip cookies, and an individual carrot cake (for me).

The next morning, breakfast was also in the historic downtown area, at Blue Grass Grill & Bakery. A terrific, tiny, funky, charming place, with a dozen or so tables and mismatched coffee mugs and silverware and plates. Outstanding coffee. We each had a breakfast biscuit sandwich. The biscuits, like all other baked goods, are made fresh. These were towering tawny beauties, with a mix of whole wheat and white flours, a real buttermilk sour punch, and perhaps a hint of molasses. The eggs, cheese, and breakfast meats inside each were perfectly balanced, perfectly cooked.

On to the beach. Our house was a Sat. check in, but we stayed on the beach at a motel that night. Lunch that day was at Goombay's, on the beach road in Kill Devil Hills. What a fun place; the ceiling is a soft sculpture of the sea, and surfers, and fish and such -- looking UP FROM BELOW! My wife and I had terrific softshell crab sandwiches with a horseradish dijon mustard. Ian had a tuna melt, medium rare, that was very good. We split a splendid chocolate cake for dessert.

Breakfast the next morning was the venerable Sam & Omie's , where Vickie had a bacon and eggs breakfast, Ian had a great Eggs Benedict (I've had their Crab Benedict in the past), and I had eggs, grits, biscuits and a fine fish cake made from Mahi Mahi -- Dolphin, as it's known thereabouts.

No eating out at the beach; I get fresh seafood every night and prepare it in our kitchen. I made tuna steaks baked with thyme and other seasonings, a shrimp boil (with the leftover shrimp and corn made into a salad the next day with black beans, green onions, and such, bound with a little Duke's Mayonnaise.

We did grab pizza at Lisa's Pizzeria near our beach house in Rodanthe. Lovely, really good. Fried chicken strips on a fine crust with garlic pesto, vegetables, and cheese.

I should also mention the Atlantic Coast Cafe in Waves, NC. We've never actually eaten a full meal there -- a quick breakfast or snack or light lunch or coffee and a muffin on our way out of town -- but everything we've had is terrific.

We headed to DC on Saturday, June 14. It is as always a nutty busy commute, but this year was worse than usual; it was good we guaranteed our hotel (Marriott Metro Center) for late arrival!

We ate dinner Saturday evening at Chinatown Express in (where else?) Chinatown. Outstanding noodles and dumplings, hot and sour soup, egg drop soup, and good company; we were seated at a large table with a couple that lives in DC. I highly recommend this place. Actually, I now fantasize about going to Chinatown and eating my way up one side of the street and down the other.

Dinner Sunday (Father's Day) was at Ella's. This wood-fired pizza place isn't cheap, but it sure is good. I had the pizza melanzane with red and yellow peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, red onion, and goat cheese. It was sensational.

As an extra, on our way home Monday, June 16 we stopped at Wright's Dairy Rite in Staunton. Everything is cooked to order, so there's a bit of a wait. It's worth it; we loved the terrific burgers. but the standout for me was the onion rings. Crisp, hot, and not at all oil-laden. You know when you have greasy onion rings and your fingers glisten? My fingers were quite dry. Simply the best onion rings I've ever had.

We came home to an empty fridge of course.

The Big Five-OH

Tuesday, I turned 50.

It's a nice round number, in a society that seems to love and need to commemorate nice round numbers. At the very least, it's forced me to admit I'm not forever young -- as if my greying hair and beard and the various new seams in my face would let me deny it for long. (There's a reason I don't wear my glasses when I look in the mirror after I shower.)

I had tried to get my wife and son to allow us to celebrate as in past years: Let me meet them after work at Coney Island Sunlite Pool for swimming, some Skyline Chili or LaRosa's pizza, and maybe a beer or two.

But no. They decided to surprise me. They made me get up and get dressed up and drove me around, ending up in downtown Cincinnati. I thought maybe they were killing time while a surprise party assembled at our house.

Imagine my surprise: Dinner at Jean Robert at Pigall's, the only four-star restaurant in a city that used to boast three five-star establishments. Indeed, the place inhabits the site of one of those fine dining places, the legendary Pigall's, where my mother dined with dates as a young woman.

It was heavenly. Formal, but not stuffy. Fresh, innovative, expertly prepared, presented, and served. Each menu item better than the last, accompanied by terrific wine and fine service.

But the best part was the company.

Growing old isn't so bad, said Mark Twain, if you consider the alternative. He was right. Growing older with my wonderful wife and our terrific son is the best gift of all.