Guns and Doctors

From The Christian Falangist Party of America:

SOME STARTLING STATISTICS
Number of physicians in the United States 700,000
Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year 120,000
Accidental deaths per physician 0.171
Number of firearm owners in the U.S. 80,000,000
Number of accidental firearm deaths per year 1,500
Accidental deaths per firearm owner 0.0000188
Doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than firearms owners.

PLEASE NOTE: While I agree with about 85% of the Christian Falangist Party of America, I do not endorse them and will not endorse them until they are an explicitly Catholic Party. If I wanted to join a political party with Protties, I would become a Republican. I have corresponded with Mr. Patricio Cortes, and he seems like a good guy, though.

Question...and Answer

Q: Why is Erik smiling?

A: Chocolate Covered Banana Chips. Available at Trader Joe's. Yum. Yum. Yum. They are like miniature banana splits without the ice cream or mess.

Breakers, Sand, and Oh The Dreadful Wind and Rain...

OK, we didn't have rain, but the dreadful wind, cold, hard, driving stinging sand against the head, arms, and sunburned legs. We had a great time camping at the beach.

Manresa State Beach is right by Watsonville, at just about the center of Monterey Bay. Even though I lived in the area for six years, I only made it to Manresa a handful of times. In my last two years in Santa Cruz, I lived a short walk from Seabright Beach, and if I wanted exotic, I tended to head up North to the more deserted beaches of the San Mateo coast.

But our friends go to Manresa every year, and they invited us to go along, so who could resist a camping trip with friends at the beach? Especially since it gave me an excuse to make paella over an open fire (we went for uber-traditional and used rabbit in it. Yum).

Anyway, we had just been to the exhibit at Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum of the turn of the century artists' colony at Monterey. Looking at the paintings of all those cyprus trees and waves inspired me to try my hand at capturing waves.

Waves are difficult subjects, since they are always in motion, and never repeat themselves exactly, at least not in any coast interesting enough to want to draw. Add in a stiff, cold wind, a thin coating of salt over your glasses, and the challenge goes up tenfold.

There are parts of the drawing that came out right, but I need more practice at the ocean.

Give Me a "D"

Via Julie

The rules of this game:

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter.

Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why.

Pass out letters to those who want to play along.

The letter that Julie gave me was "D."

1. Diebenkorn. My favorite artist, active from the mid-1940's to the early 1990's. His work can be divided into the following periods: early abstract expressionism (works he did immediately after the war, including the San Francisco, Sausalito, Albequerque, and Urbana paintings), fully developed abstract experssionism (the Berkeley paintings), the Bay Area Figurative paintings, the Ocean Park series, and then the Late Works.

2. Daughter. She who is in the other room giving her stuffed zebra a ride in her baby doll carriage, while barking her head off.

3. Dog. As in, who needs one when one's daughter is so good at barking?

4. Dante. What more needs to be said about Dante, other than read him over and over and over again, preferably in Italian.

5. Duce, il. "When I look into your eyes, I see two perfect reflections of myself..." You better salute me when call me a Fascist, you hear?

6. Drum. Boom. Boom. Boom. I miss playing in a percussion ensemble.

7. Duck. The best of all birds to eat, from the liver to the feet. I like duck a l'orange, duck confit, roast duck, duck foie gras, Peking Duck, stuffed duck, duck soup, duck, duck, duck, duck, GOOSE!

8. Dromedary. When I told a friend that we had seen camels mating at the zoo he asked "one hump or two?" Humbly report, sir, it was a dromedary.

9. Demented. Once when I was about six, a Sacramento city councilman called me "demented." It was the first time I could (accurately, by the way), use the line, "ah, Mr. M----y, I may be demented, but you are drunk. In the morning, you will be hungover."

10. Drawing. One of the most important and neglected skills in the modern world. I am firmly convinced that, while not everyone can learn to paint, everyone can learn to draw. Art that is not grounded in drawing only rarely works, and that is always in spite of the artist's lack of ability in drawing, not because of it.

Going Camping...

We will be leaving on a camping trip Wednesday afternoon, so it is entirely possible that I won't be posting anything new until the weekend. If not, then go amuse yourself here with a great game featuring pork products.

Yes, that is the fruit of the swine. Pork. Say it loud. Say it proud (and if you are West Virginia, tip yer old straw hat to Senator Byrd, who is the A-1 source of pork for all y'all).

This game comes to you via the "other white meat" folks. While I generally leave my pork a little pink, I like their site, and it is worth checking out their other offerings. Some cute videos and recipes.

So, for the love of Allah, eat more Pork!

The Other White Meat

For Those of You in the Know...

Could you please take a gander at the photo that goes with this post and tell me whether or not that is from the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi?

Immigration

Well, the funny thing is, I hear Catholics who sound an awful lot like The Boy Named Chick.

Insomnia... and the Waiterrant

I have never really had insomnia, except for a day here or there, but always rarely, until this last week.

It started Friday night, in Sacramento. I figured it was a combination of heat and hay fever. Saturday and Sunday were a little better, but not much. I get to sleep fine and then wake up around 3am. And stay up until 5am. Last night I was able to mostly sleep through the night, but I still woke up every so often, something I generally don't do.

Tonight I was up at 2:30, and have been totally unable to get back to sleep.

I am pretty hopeful that this will pass, but in the meantime I am going to make the best of it, and try to get things done.

Tonight, for instance, I read through the entire comments for a couple of The Waiter's recent posts.

The Waiterrant is a fun read: the Waiter is a fantastic writer, but of a Hemingway stripe. You read him and think "what a jerk" for the most part, except for a couple of brief moments when you think "ah, this guy might not be all evil after all."

Of course the best way to appreciate his own perspective is to read the comments from his fellow waitrons in the comments box. Their sense of entitlement makes the host's seem insignificant. Hell, after a couple of these guys I thought "the host comes accross as a gentleman."

My biggest gripe with the Waiter is his concept of his right to a good tip. Now, there are some social justice issues involved in tipping in this country, and we have allowed a wretched system to take root where the establishment barely pays its employees, placing the burden on the customer. This is problematic, because, as The Waiter is very happy to point out, there are some unreasonable jerks out there in customer land. The solution would to have a fixed service charge, which would be split in a controlled manner, determined by statute, so that owners could not skim (owners who take part of the tips are, by definition, scumbags, and I even include the owners of one of my favorite North Beach Italian restaurants in this category).

So, we do have a problem where something that was intended to be a bonus, a reward for exceptional service, becomes an integral part of the waitrons' livelihoods. And, as a result, we have had an ever-increasing standard for tipping. I remember when 10% was considered fair. Then 15% (which is where I take my stand, and will not budge, although I tend to double the ever-increasing sales tax, more as a matter of convenience, so in the City, the waitron gets about 17%, which is often outlandish, but easier to calculate in my head). Now I see folks advocating 18% or 20%, which I can live with when it is service from a real pro giving his all (you take my dirty fork off my plate and put it on the table for the next course, and you are back in 10% land immediately, or, if I am feeling charitable, I will drop it on the floor and request a clean one. And no, I am not a particularly difficult customer, but abominations are abominations, and I will not let you get away with that one).

I also take deductions off the standard for ignorance, especially when it comes with arrogance, excessive slowness (although I can live with that, so long as the atmosphere is good and I have something to eat or drink), rushing (much graver sin), frequent mistakes (especially if the waitron was showing off his memory by not using a pad), etc.

The one time I will not take a deduction off for bad service is when it is really bad service at a restaurant I am reviewing. In those cases I give a standard tip and then go home and tell half a million of my closest friends all about it.

So, anyway, I might add Waiterrant as a regular link on the site. Or not, if I cannot take his whiny sense of entitlement. We'll see how I see it after a good night's sleep.

Congratulations, Russian A-Hole, or More Reasons to Mourn the End of the Cold War

Congratulations are in order to the Russian online Blackjack site that just became banned ISP #1,000! If the cold war were still on, this would never have happened.

Anyway, back to de-spamming. Dos Vedanya, Tovarishche Asholovich.

And while we are at it...Corti Brothers

Turns out Corti Brothers have a website, and they ship. If you ever need the best wine advice in the world, this is where to go.

They also have a great meat counter, but I prefer Taylor's.

Anyway, here is the Corti Brothers website.

Oh yes, the other Taylor's...

I forgot to mention one of my favorite sausage and pork vendors in Oakland: Taylor's (no relation to the Taylor's Market in Sacramento).

They don't have a website, but you can find them at the Swan's Market, the current home of Oakland's historic Housewives Marketplace. If you visit, be sure to check the amazing museum of strange meat that is Jack's Meats. You can guess where I go when I just have to have a bucket of hog maws.

Taylor's Market in Sacramento

I have mentioned Taylor's Market in Sacramento several times. Along with Corti Brothers (the foodie Mecca, also in Sacramento) and Shopper's Corner in Santa Cruz (not to mention Berkeley Bowl and Monterrey Market in Berkeley, Farmer Joe's, Ver Brugge Meats, the Pasta Shop in Market Hall in Oakland, and Galvan's in San Leandro), Taylor's is definitely on my preferred vendor list.

Looking to find details of their meat special (and Taylor's does meat very well. In fact they were offering Bird and Schell meats years and years ago, back when a few people were starting to notice that standard supermarket meat was tasting blander and blander. Bird and Schell became Niman Schell, which is now Niman Ranch), I found that they have a good website and that they do mail order.

Their meat might be pricey, but it is worth every bit. Yum. Yum. Yum. and more Yum.

Also, try their honey truffle mustard. It turns a B sandwich into an A sandwich.

You will find them here. Buon appetito!

Oops. St. Anthony of Padua Institute Website

I probably should triple check everything when I write late at night. I forgot to link to the St. Anthony of Padua Institute website in the Giotto post. I do have it on the very disorganized list of links on the side, but here it is:

St. Anthony of Padua Institute

De-crappifying my life

I am in the process of doing a deep clean of my studio: getting rid of pounds and pounds of old stuff, organizing, cleaning, building shelves, etc. The eventual aim is to have a more efficient work area and to begin the process of photographing my art work. This will lead to the creation of the long-promised Erik Keilholtz Art Website with IMAGES!

So, if you have need for a semi-functioning microwave oven, a functioning but funky washer/dryer, or a bunch of broken chairs, come on over! They are yours for the taking.

Giotto.

Admit it. You have post-modern eyes.

I know you probably hate that phrase, seeing it as a meaningless retread of decadent modernism, but if you see it as identifying art viewers who cannot find a mainstream, then it fits.

You see, the old notion was that there was progress in art. Someone had an idea, and someone else took that idea, and the next thing you know there is a trajectory, and the old art is primarily of interest because it shows the aesthetic vector.

Yawn. What a tedious way to look at art.

So, how DO we look at and understand Giotto in 2006?

Come on now, you don't really think that I am going to give you an easy answer right now, do you?

Instead you will have to come to the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in San Francisco's North Beach district, at 7:00 (or is it 7:30? I will have to check with my minders) on June 13th to hear me talk about it, live and in person. At least I hope "live." Living in the war zone makes that always seem a bit presumptuous. Don't ask, just pray for us residents of Oakland, where you have a much higher probability of being shot in front of your house, but, hey, at least smoking is prohibited within 25 feet of doorways and windows!

But, as to art, come one, come all. It will be a dreaded slide lecture, but I promise it will not be boring. I hate boring slide lectures.

By the way, for those of you who live in distant lands, we are planning on recording the talk for podcast via the Saint Anthony of Padua Institute website (where you can find my last talk on viewing modern art with Catholic eyes).

The New Anti-Fascist Protective Barrier

I remember the joy of the watching the old anti-fascist protective barrier being destroyed. I even hammered on it a little bit myself and noticed that it was constructed of the same poorly-made Commie cement as everything else on that side of the Iron Curtain.

I mentioned a few days ago how nostalgic I was for the days of the Cold War. I guess the Minutemen are too, looking at their plan for a border wall. Two fences with an unpaved road between them.

I wonder if they are getting the stuff cheap from Honneger's Hardware.

Do the Minutemen have a great women's weightlifting team, too?

Black Bean Soup

What!?! A recipe? When was the last time Keilholtz posted a recipe? Rants? Oh yeah, plenty of rants, and he hasn't even started in on serious Oakland mayoral race ranting, but a Recipe? A bonafide, put the possum in the pot and stir it real nice recipe?

You got it, bub.

We inherited a ham bone. Not a great ham bone, but a good ham bone. It needed a good home after I had carved off all the meat I could, and Melanie has been after me to make a black bean soup. 2 + 2. Ah, yes, four, old man, four.

Into the slow cooker went the beans, concentrated lamb stock (the last of my Easter feast, alas), a couple of bay leaves, the bone, finely chopped ham fat, fresh thyme, dried Mexican oregano, allspice, pepper, half a Niman Ranch boneless Black Forest Ham that I had hurredly put in the freezer before going out of town (there is a special part of Hell reserved for people who let those hams spoil), and a puree of a small onion and three green garlics that I had sweated for ten minutes with olive oil, water and white wine vinegar.

After the thing had been simmering all night and most of the day, I pureed the soup, hand chopped the meat, seasoned with Worcestershire Sauce, balsamico, and white wine vinegar, added a pinch of pimenton agridulce, salted to taste, and served with a dollop of guacamole (should have used avocado cream), chopped cilantro, and imaginary pecorino sarde (alas, I had none, so just had to imagine it).

Yum.

The Battle Lines are Getting Clearer

In many ways I miss the old days of the Cold War. Everything was cut and dry, and you could make allies with all sorts of goofs and loons, because you had a common enemy. Conservatives could hold hands with liberal sycophants like Ronald Reagan and pretend that they didn't notice the tripling of the federal government, the shell game that made the tax cuts meaningless, the empty lip service given to social issues.

However, now that the Commies are gone we can look with a much clearer lens at the various sides of the so-called conservative camp. We still have life issues, but it is becoming clearer and clearer that the Right Liberals (which is the proper term for the neocons, with their fetish for free markets, their inherent materialism, their doctrine of absolute autonomy of the individual, etc.) only use life issues to hold a coalition at election time.

We are on the verge of seeing the battle lines shift rapidly. The mainstream of the so-called Conservative movement will follow the lead of California's Governor, and once they do that, they will hold power for a very long time, because they will tap into the inherent Liberalism of our culture. The Sexual Liberals and the Economic Liberals will positively love each other: the sex industry is profitable, and once the Glory of Absolutely Unrestrained Liberty is achieved, the Left Liberals will find that their issues are pretty minor, once they can stuff more crap in their houses.

In many ways I think that Rod Dreher's thesis on Crunchy Conservatism (Disclosure: I did not read the book, but I read the initial article with interest, and was asked to submit something for the interview, which I decided not to because, from the questions it was clear that Rod was not at all sure of what Conservatism was) is going to be important to our newest Culture War in terms of setting the boundaries.

If not the book or thesis itself, the vitriolic reaction to it will be the defining moment.

One of the traits of the Right Liberals is a mistrust of aesthetics, inherited from the Puritans. Along with that goes with a fetish for the marketplace and, ultimately, a worship of the material fruits of the market. So, for a Right Liberal, the best thing is the thing with the best, most vigorous market. A large corporation is large as a reward of its hard work, dedication, commitment to its customers, etc. Any attack on a large corporation, for most Right Liberals, smacks of wanting to impose socialism.

A couple of years ago you had these Right Liberals sniffing the air of things like farmers' markets and organic, small-farmed produce, and saying, "well, it's a choice, but it seems really silly, because, hey, look at these tomatoes I can get in January at the MegaChoice Market." And that was the truce: you people might be silly, but it is your choice to be silly.

Along comes Dreher who takes this point seriously, and says that one can be a Conservative and like organic produce simultaneously. Certain sectors of the Right Liberals suddenly became unglued.

"They aren't conservatives at all. They are just pro-life Democrats."
"It is a sham."
"It is nothing but superficial aesthetic choices."
"Wal*Mart is the best thing ever, because it is big and cheap."

And you started seeing the same people who shop happily at stores that are built on Chinese slave labor suddenly worried about every little policy that Whole Foods has (another disclosure: I rarely shop at Whole Foods, not because I dislike the place, but because I can find better selection of the same sort of stuff cheaper elsewhere in the Bay Area). These Right Liberals suddenly started wringing their hands with the best of the college student activists.

The reason for the Right Liberal's hatred of organic (it has nothing to do with price, because if you really shop organic, buy directly from the farmer, shop local and seasonal, you pay a lot less for your produce. That tasteless January tomato will cost you dearly) is that it confounds the notion of popularity equating to intrinsic good. 100 million Wal*Mart fans can't be wrong: why don't you people get with the program?

Exercising the choice that these people fetishize threatens their belief in that choice.

Our battle lines are drawing up. First we will probably stand together just long enough to neutralize the threat of Mohammedanism, but then the war will be Catholics versus Liberals. It may be the last war, but I am not one to try to determine THAT date.

So, here we have the Right Liberal take on urban planning: Jane Jacobs had some good ideas, so long as they are safely ignored by being bracketed in a free market system, in which people are free to build hideous, socially expensive, sprawling suburbs.

Of course he takes on Portland, one of the best planned and most livable cities on Earth. When he notes that the cost of housing has gone up, I contend that it is expensive for the same reason that the Bay Area is expensive: lots of people want to live there. There are very few cities in America that are livable. They become expensive as a result. You want cheap? Meet Detroit.

His contention of an unused light rail is absurd. I would like to see exactly what his statistic refers to (for instance, does it take walking into consideration?), because those trains are often full.

Portland works better than any other city in America. It is one of the most pleasant places around, with a vibrant economy, varied and interesting street life, a minimum of slum areas, creative reuse of spaces abandoned by inefficient and archaic industries, creative rethinking of existing business, many thriving bookstores, caffes, artisan bakeries, restaurants, a major banking center, etc.

The Free Market position, of course, is that places like Portland or especially Berkeley, one of these heavily regulated cities, are "bad for business." Interesting. If I am looking for businesses that have longevity, I look first in Berkeley. When the dot com industry (fueled by easy capital from some of the most credulous nitwits on Earth) collapsed, many municipalities, especially those "business friendly" ones, went severely in the red. Not Berkeley. Those pie in the sky idealists, with all their social programs and expensive regulation, turned in a budget that ended in the Black.

These "superficial aesthetic" notions (which shows you just how conservative the Right Liberals are. When they demean the Beautiful, what place do they hold for the Good or the True?) are the things that will save our rapidly degenerating culture. Suburbs grow in expanding rings, with the older suburbs decaying quickly. In a few years a trajectory of growth results in a far remote stand of new growth, cut off from the urban heart by rings of violent, nasty decay.

Eventually the whole ball of wax will fall apart, compounded by the debt burden of individuals as well as our federal government.

Speaking of Fascism...

Since the topic of fascism has come up, I should probably address where I stand on the topic.

I am not exactly a fascist. I object to the secular emphasis of the movement, and harbor some mistrust of them based on their earlier anti-clerical stance. However, much of that mistrust has been mitigated by the Lateran Treaty, which created the finest model of Church and State relations for modern times. It is not as good as an Imperial Christendom (AEIOU), but it is a good second choice for modern times.

I would toss out the entire Bill of Rights, even our whole constitution if it meant that we could have a relationship with the Church like that outlined in the Lateran Treaty.

As for the rest of Fascism, it was a work in progress with some room for improvement, but I am totally on board with its economic agenda, its neo-baroque power aesthetics, its understanding of the proper role of myth in society, its authoritarianism, and its very limited system of checks and balances.

Note that all of that pertains to the political philosophy of fascism. Where the problems came in was the personal, Wilsonian nature of Mussolini himself. There was the problem of Mussolini the showman, who would pull such stunts as leaving a light burning in his study, so that the populace would think that the Duce worked all through the night micromanaging the republic, althewhile he was sleeping ten hours a night (often in the company of his mistress), and there was the problem of Mussolini the foreign adventurer. I completely endorse and support his role in the Spanish Civil War, fighting for the side of Right and Good, and my own family played a part in the Abyssinian Campaigns, although I find them a bit of a problem in terms of strategic uses of Italian resources. All of these escapades ultimately ended in the hideous alliance with the Celto-Germanic Pagan Hitler, which is where fascism loses me (and all other Catholic Authoritarians).

Certainly a few adjustments of the structure of the Fascist Government would have put the brakes on Mussolini's exuerances. A stronger Grand Council, for instance, would have had great benefits to the Kingdom of Italy.

So, for these reasons I am not a Fascist, but am very sympathetic to Fascism, and tend towards a rather favorable view of the Duce and his granddaughter.

Speaking of Mussolini's granddaughter, read this article, paying careful attention to the last line, a line I wholeheartedly endorse. There was a day I can get nostalgic for, when the Communists held some understanding of the danger of sexual deviance. Now they have even lost that, and have earned every drop of castor oil ever administered to them.

Fundamentalism and Fascism

I, for one, am getting sick and tired of the misuse of the term "fundamentalism." In this article in the New York Times they use the term "Hindu Fundamentalists." Now, any study of Hinduism shows the absolute absurdity of this term. There is no canon of scripture, nor of doctrine, nor of authority in Hinduism. What exactly does it mean to be a "fundamentalist?"

Similarly, we often see orthodox Catholics refered to as "fundamentalists." For the Modern Liberal any belief in an absolute (other than materialism) is fundamentalism, especially when that view departs from the Liberal notion of absolute autonomy of the individual. Certainly a term could be found for this world view, but "fundamentalism" is a precise term that refers to a specific view of Christianity. It makes no sense to talk about a fundamentalist Mohammedan. Perhaps Wahabism could be described as an analogous movement within Mohammedanism, but why not stick with "Wahabism?"

An orthodox Catholic is simply that: an orthodox Catholic. A Catholic fundamentalist, on the other hand, is a heretic, as the very notion of fundamentalism denies sacramentalism, so if the term were to refer to anything it would have to be the Dick Vosko type Catholic who wants to see liturgy stripped down to some mythological primitive state.

A similar linguistic abuse is the tendency to view any non-Communist mass movement as "fascist." Fascism is a specific ideology with a specific world view. It is not the neo-paganism of National Socialism, nor the Catholic Nationalism of the Falange, and certainly not the Free Market fetishism of Margaret Thatcher. It might be apprpopriate to describe Juan Peron as a fascist, since his ideology seems to be closely parallel to that of Mussolini. But to describe Francisco Franco as a "fascist" is simply wrong. There are some similarities, but at the core, the world view is different.

The striking common trait in the misuse of both of these terms is that they reveal a rather broad-brush approach to language on the part of people who pride themselves on their supposed appreciation of nuance. Like the misuse of the term "courage" on the part of the Hollywood Left, "fundamentalism" and "fascism" are simply badges used to identify members of the Leftist Tribe.

Not wanting, necessarily, to stoop to their level, I am going to resist the temptation to brand all Leftists as "communists." I will not, however, refrain from calling communists "communists." So Pete Seeger, in spite of his reluctance to admit his afiliation to HUAC, and Stalin's eulogist, that ham actor and minstrel singer Paul Robeson, will still be refered to as "communists" in polite discussion at Erik's Rants and Recipes and as "commie stooges" in not-so-polite discussion.

The Boycott

We supported the boycott as much as we could (I did not have time yesterday to refuel the car when I had planned, and I forgot to buy coffee beans, which are as essential around here as gas in the car), and noticed a lot of shops closed, many with signs explicitly noting why they were closed.

I really don't understand Catholics who fail to see that the anti-immigration movement (and the legal/illegal distinction is baloney, modernist crap: the result of earlier waves of anti-immigration blather that was aimed at keeping Ities and other Papists out of the country) is nothing more than yet another manifestation of Anti-Catholic Know-Nothingness.

Of course diehard anti-immigrants like Ms. REttle are yahooing around like they are personally defending the Blessed Frontier, but that is to be expected (she doesn't mention it in this bit of (silly and completely erroneously titled) chest beating (OK, Peggy, we'll "bring it on!" Whoo-hoo. What are you going to eat? Aren't you one of those ones who complains that organic food is too expensive? When we have shipped our farmworkers back, do you have any idea what your food will cost?), but her husband's little timid act of posting a sign just off his property (she mentioned it on a comment on another blog) is split-your-sides-laughing material). Wretched Rettle is one of those folks who bellyaches about any manifestation of non-Anglo culture (she even took on the Blessed Mother of Guadalupe), but other, should be more sensible Catholics, those who realize that our is the church of the immigrant, whose citizenship issues have much more to do with the City of God than anything else, have been surprising me.

When I think of fences and walls and armed fortifications at borders, or, as one MinuteMan type seriously suggested: two walls with guardposts and frequently swept sand between them, I think of different sorts of regimes. I seem to remember a wall like what this fellow suggested. The world cheered when it came down.

It is time to have a completely open border with Mexico. Tight frontiers do nothing. We cannot keep drugs out of maximum security prisons, our economy is totally dependent on the twelve million "illegal" immigrants, the terrorists in this country have come in legally, and, besides, questions of "legal/illegal" will beg the question of how Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and California ended up as part of the United States anyway. We have increased free trade with Mexico (which is a good thing, and offers some exciting potentials to the American table) as well as the potential for interesting joint-manufacturing ventures.

In terms of Homeland Security, the concern about the legality of an immigrant is nothing but a red herring. We need to be just as vigilant about the home-grown terrorist as with the imported variety. And the last I checked, none of the imported variety were flooding in from Mexico.

Erik's Rants and Recipes calls for a completely open border with Mexico, and encourages resistance to any "immigration" reform that calls for more money and energy to be wasted on Communist Style Frontier Defense.

Da Vinci Code

I find it a bit sad that anyone sees the need for a Catholic boycott of the Da Vinci Code film. Why would any Catholic care to waste time in a film like this to begin with?

I can understand the Catholic urge to patronize crap that is nice and pious. After, we might find the message worthy, even though the artistry is cringe-worthy. Fine. We give them $10 and a couple of hours of our miserable lives, a couple of hours we will never get to have back again...anyway, and think, "well, that was a stinkbomb, but their hearts are in the right place and maybe next time they will make a movie that is only mildly atrocious." They won't, but it never hurts to be optimistic.

But if an overblown Hollywood film comes out with a preposterous premise, why would we bother? I can't even see the need to discuss it (please note that this post, in spite of its title, is not about it at all, rather about the sad fact that Catholics, as much as anybody else, seem to have the urge to toss away money and time on crappy film). A boycott? Irrelevant. I have the same inclination to see this dud as I do any film by Steven Spielberg, which is none. Yawn. I have Wings of Desire on DVD, which I am almost always in the mood to watch. Why would I spend money on a film simply because all of the idiots around the watercooler are talking about it?

Not Fun Anymore

For those of you who are wondering where the posts are these days, the answer is simple. I spend my blogging time getting rid of spam comments. Melanie noticed this and said "it seems you spend more time deleting spam than posting."

I do not run this blog as a free advertising service to usurers, pornographers, discount jewelers, etc. and I am sick and tired of the whole dance of banning ISP numbers, selecting messages, deleting messages, etc. So, this leaves me with three options:

1. Eliminate commenting altogether. If I had the amount of comments that some of the big blogs have, I would certainly choose this option. Having an army of semi-literates (yes, I mean you, Gerard E.), spouting off half-formed opinions in sentence fragments is not the reason for this blog.

The downside to this approach is that I enjoy my commenters' comments. They often provide good information on obscure ingredients, interesting recipes, etc. that make a real conversation happen. I also like that certain posts keep attracting comments and dialog (posts on grappa, nocino, baroque recipes, etc.). I even enjoy the nitwit comments from animal rights creeps and lazy highschoolers angry that I am not doing their homework for them.

2. Add one of those things where you have to type the characters that you see in the box for the comment to go through. I am leaning towards this approach. I will have to see if the very talented Ann can do this. Did I mention that Pinkmochi offers excellent web design at very reasonable prices? (Gotta plug the designer once in awhile. After all she did this site for free, or a dish of paella).

3. Discontinuing the blog altogether. Naw. The Organ of the Central Committee of Erik Keilholtz stops for no one.

So, expect some changes soon. Hopefully.