Dessert!

Do you remember an episode of Friends where Jennifer Aniston's character (who didn't cook) made a trifle for a special event, and those eating the trifle were surprised to find that it had meat as well as typical trifle ingredients. Joey liked it; the others didn't. When asked why it had meat in it, Rachel (is that the Jennifer character?) got the recipe to prove that she followed it very closely. Upon close examination of the preceding and following recipes, it was determined that Rachel started on the correct page, then the page flipped without her noticing, and she continued on with a recipe for a different dish. The result was a dessert trifle with meat.

I think of that whenever I make a trifle.

The beautiful (and tasty) trifle shown here is meatless. And I didn't need no stinking recipe!

Bon appetit!

Are we France yet?

Woke up this morning and see that the people's House has passed some health care improvements. Yippee! Our baby can stay on our health care till he turns 27!

I am glad that some small progress has been made towards having the USA join the rest of the industrialized world in the provision of health care. I am ever hopeful that our infant mortality rate will slowly creep downward. Right now we rank between Faroe Islands and Guam, at 6.26 deaths per live births. Perhaps in a few years we'll be closer to France, at 3.33. I guess it's too much to hope that we can match or exceed Singapore at 2.31.

Truly it's a great day and yet we must keep on hammering away at the odd notion of health care as a profit center before we get to health care as a basic right. Hang on, we'll get there eventually.


Source: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=us&v=29

Health Care Comments

For god's sake, pass the damn bill.

That's all I've got on this subject.

Go back to your regularly scheduled activities.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official

You know how I love wacky videos. This one is really awesome. Watch all the way till the end for a special treat.

Salute to Granny D

I just read that Granny D died at age 100. At age 90, she walked from California to Washington DC to show support for campaign finance reform. She was a true liberal and progressive who was willing to make a personal sacrifice for something she thought the country needed. We need more like her. This is from her local paper in New Hampshire:

A public memorial service will be held Sunday for Doris “Granny D” Haddock, the New Hampshire political activist and senatorial candidate who died Tuesday after years of fighting for campaign finance reform.

She first garnered national attention 10 years ago, when she walked across the country to bring attention to her cause.

She turned 100 in January, and died at her home in Dublin surrounded by her family. According to The Associated Press, her son, Jim Haddock, says Sunday’s service will be held at the Dublin Community Church where his mother worshipped.

In 1999 and 2000, Haddock walked 3,200 miles over 14 months to promote public financing of campaigns. Four years later, she ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate against Republican Judd Gregg.

In a book about her famous walk, Haddock said she sometimes felt foolish, but when she thought about people who doubted her, she became angry and her anger fueled her passion.

But she never came across as an angry person. She was full of positive energy and chose to take a constructive path at a time when politics has become a blood sport. The outpouring of tributes from all political perspectives is testament to the fact that even today, there are people who can bridge the political chasms that have divided America into two camps.

A Blog I Like

I recently discovered a funny blog that I want to recommend. It's political and humorous and filled with funny visuals and wordplay.

And it has a great name: Mock Paper Scissors.

Here's an entry you might enjoy: http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/?p=30514

Reader mail

Here at the Nest we get all kinds of mail from our readers. My interns stay busy processing and responding to mail; some messages require a new blog entry, such as this one.

Curious question: a reader wants to know how my middle boy got his middle name, and what is the significance of this name.

The interns did some research and let me know that the meaning of this unusual name is "chaste". Well, I can tell you that is not why we picked this name for our second born.

You see, the middle name in question is Virginius. According to the "Think Baby Names" website, this name is not in the top 100 baby names. Surprisingly, it isn't even in the top 1000 baby names. Check it out here: http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Virginius

I say it's time for a resurgence of the name Virginius, a fine old southern name, almost as good as Atticus. And better than Septimus.

But none of those names would do for our son. You see, my mother's name was Virginia (Colussy) and when she died in 1981, we decided to name our next child after her. Was it our problem that the child was a boy?? It certainly wasn't my problem, as the mother doesn't determine the gender. We had no disagreement on the middle name, but I do recall a number of discussions about the first name. Paul got to pick that and I was uncertain about it until my grandmother told me that the first Colussy to come to this country was named Peter. So that made me happy. I like that family connection.

Peter Virginius Woody

Interesting graphs

In case you aren't depressed enough about the economy, take a look at this link.

Back to the crash

The American economy has just had its worst decade since the 1930s

Feb 25th 2010 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | From The Economist print edition

http://www.economist.com/world/united-states/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15579916

Things I don't understand

Tonight I am listening to some of the evil liberal media (they're everywhere!) talk about what is revealed in Karl Rove's new book, which he will now be hawking on all the mainstream media outlets. What fun for us! We get to relive all the shit heaped upon us during the 8 years of darkness.

I can't help but wonder once again, why aren't these people in jail? 2 wars they started. Thousands killed and maimed. Trillions of dollars wasted. Lying and fearmongering and demonizing anyone who dared speak out against the war. Cheapening American ideals throughout the world. Good grief. I guess it's true that republicans can get away with anything.

I often said during the 8 years of darkness that not only were bad things being done, but that the bar on what constitutes a good president was constantly lowered by his personal lack of credentials for the job as well as the entire administration's disregard for the constitution and for the meaning of democracy. History will not judge this era kindly, nor us for for allowing it to happen.

I need to go watch a dog video now until I calm down.

cool dog video

I know there are current events I should ranting about but this dog video is just so cool that you must see it. Watch all the way to the end.

Donate in protest of haters coming to town

Ezekiel 16:49

I have a child whose middle name is Ezekiel. His dad wanted his middle name to be Zeke, but apparently felt that was too informal, so he laid the heavy-duty Ezekiel upon this sweet babe. I picked the first name, Christopher, and then fell into a post-delivery drug-induced stupor, so I take no responsibility for the middle name.

I have always been fascinated by Ezekiel the prophet. From time to time, when I see him mentioned in an article or book, I'll read a little about him. This time I saw him mentioned in Nicholas Kristof's column on 2/28/10. What I gather from wikipedia, Ezekiel went around the desert spouting prophecies and resurrected some beautiful young men (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, also called Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego in the Bible) sentenced to death by Nebuchadnezzar. This takes place in chapter 37; keep in mind that some theologians do not accept this event as a literal resurrection.

I am telling you all this because when else in this blog will I be able to use the all these great names? Batheshba is another good name; my grandpa Elmer enjoyed talking about her.

Back to Kristof. His column is about saving the world and the work of an organization called World Vision, a Seattle-based Christian organization. It's an interesting column and you can read it here.

Richard Stearns is the U.S. head of World Vision and thinks most Christians don't do nearly enough to help the poor and afflicted. Mr. Stearns quotes Ezekiel 16:49: "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

Doesn't that perfectly describe Americans who are in a lather over health care reforms, and school lunch programs, and unemployment benefits? I know some anti-tax people really don't have much money, but I believe the majority of anti-tax hysterics live quite comfortably and don't hesitate to spend money to promote their own self-interests.

I hope to have a bumper sticker soon with Ezekiel's fine words. Right next to the one that says Jesus Was a Socialist and Jimmy Carter was Right.