Month: August 2008

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Cats in the House

Mr. Bunter (l) and Lord Peter Wimsey find sun
Mr. Bunter (l) and Lord Peter Wimsey find sun

We currently are owned by 4 cats.  Three are Dorothy Sayer’s cats:  Lord Peter (Wimsey) who just happens to be the alpha cat, Harriet (Vane), and Mr. Bunter (who just happens to be a tuxedo cat.  The four is Smudgy, a long-haired calico inherited from Bob’s mother.

We have had few or none of the problems one reads about in multi-cat households.  They each have their own food dish and they know exactly where it is.  The four share a water dish and frequently changed litter box.  They play together and sleep together in various and seemingly endless combinations.
Mr. Bunter has his equivalent of the Mooch (from Mutts) “little pink sock”.  Bunter’s is an old sock with the toe filled with catnip which he bats around and rolls on. 
The cats are a wonderful source of entertainment and comfort as well as aggravation when they wake you to play or demand food at 2 am or leave hairballs in unexpected places.  But we would never not have cats.
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Marriage in Massachusetts

I was married in Virginia in 1994, but when we first met in 1965 it is likely that it would have been illegal for us to marry there as it was pre-Loving vs. Virginia.  That case was the vehicle for the Supreme Court to say in 1967 that bans on interracial marriage are unconstitutional.    While ours is an Asian – Caucasian marriage and not a Black-White one, things were definitely different in 1965 and it took a long time to change.  But they did change and now Virginia can elect a Senator who is part of an interracial marriage.  There are even Republicans like Clarence Thomas who engage is what used to called miscegenation.

So what does this have to do with marriage in Massachusetts you might ask?  Massachusetts has just repealed a 1913 law passed in support of the the bans on interracial marriage.  The repeal came because supporters of gay marriage (like me) wanted to allow couples from other states to marry.  I think that the repeal of the 1913 law will be like the Loving decision, opening the door to change in other states.  The homophobes can dis Massachusetts and California all they want, but the tide is changing.

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Good-bye Manny and is McCain actually the racist?

It was a terrific run – Manny Ramirez in Boston.  But all good things must come to an end.  Manny is a Dodger now wearing the blue of my childhood heros – Koufax, Drysdale, Podres, Wills etc.   Live long and prosper, Manny.  All you Dodger fans, have fun with him.

Mcain is acusing Obama of playing the race card:  I think it is actually the other way around. I’m thinking back to Doug Wilder’s election to Governor in Virginia when the polls indicated he would win by a comfortable margin and the election turning out to be very close, I get anxious about the election.  Is there still enough residual racism that McCain will be able to play to it?  Is this the reason the polls are so close?  Is the talk about Obama’s arrogance really a code for “he’s an uppity black man.?  Things to think about.