There was a news thingy on Yahoo a couple of days ago about a good toasted cheese sandwich (http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/19/grilled_cheese_done_right_can_be_near_ma16341/). It looks good, lots of delicate flavor. But I like a real toasty cheese. Delicate flavor is OK but I like real flavor.

You need a George Foreman. And the more seasoned, the better. Maybe it is because they are not easy to clean. So minute tasty bits of last weeks sandwich might have escaped my cleaning. Or maybe some Teflon finds its way into the makings. Whatever, a good ol' George Foreman works.

And the makings. Arnold's Healthnut bread. White bread works but so does Healthnut. Definitely nothing too bready. And with the rest of the stuff being good tasting but a little high in unhealthy ingredients, some token effort to be healthy is good to speed the bad stuff through. So, Healthnut. Likewise the spread. Butter is good but you need to use it generously so Smart Balance is good for this. And good sharp cheddar cheese, sharper the better. I suppose the expensive ones would be special but the Food Lion extra sharp is great. Now, the extra makings. Argentine chorizo. A spicy and hot hard chorizo with lots of chunks. Don't ask chunks of what, it's still meat. Do NOT use the regular soft chorizo that the big food markets have. The hot Italian sausage in the Food Lion will work if you can't get the hard chorizo from the little international grocery. A good slab of sweet onion. And some salt and pepper.

Skin and split the chorizo/sausage and cook it on the George Foreman. While it is cooking, Smart Balance generously one side of two slices of Healthnut. Slice some cheddar to make a generous layer of it on one buttered side. Add a generous amount of pepper on the cheddar. And then the slab of onion. By this time, the chorizo should be cooked. Place it on top of the onion. Gently, it is gravitationally unstable. Then the other slice of bread with the butter side out so the grill toasts it. While it is cooking fix a Schlitz with a quarter of a lime in it. Or a big iced tea. And grab a bunch of napkins.

When well toasted, so the cheddar begins to run, carefully lift it out onto the plate. If you are truly suicidal, add the drippings to the top of the sandwich. Add a touch of salt and another generous amount of pepper onto the top slice. While hot, eat it with a lot of burned finger licking. There must not be a drop or a grain of good stuff left on the plate or on your fingers. Suck the lime from the Schlitz. Take a good nap on the swing on your front porch.

When you go to Heaven, God will serve you these.

On this date in 1796, President Washington published his Farewell Address (http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/49.htm) in a Philadelphia newspaper (thanks to my Yahoo homepage and Britannica). I had my French Tricolor up early is September because of DeGrasse and the Virginia Capes on September
5th but have the Stars and Stripes up since then. 9/11 and Constitution Day on the 17th. Navy lost so Bill stayed on the shelf this week.

George Washington is one of my personal heroes. See my 4 July, 2007 entry. And one of the reasons is that after two terms, he refused to run again. In fact, he did not believe he should have run for the second term because he did not want to be an emperor or the founder of a dynasty. He could have done that.

And, in the Farewell Address, he set the standard for a bunch of things. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%27s_Farewell_Address. He opposed political parties. Our two party system has turned out to be more-or-less a good process to nationally debate issues. He opposed international alliances. And we stayed out of them until1949. Not isolation but no entangling alliances. Throughout the Napoleonic era and the European wars of the 19th Century, a very wise policy. He favored Hamilton's financial policies. Definitely a good choice.

And, he favored national religion and morality “ 'indispensable supports' of political prosperity. He called morality 'a necessary spring of popular government.”

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”
Washington does not say Christianity – Catholic nor protestant – nor Jewry. Just morality and relgious principle. I am confident that he would not have excluded Moslems. He would certainly not have included Stone-age religious extremists of any bent. They restrict our liberties and confine us – very unAmerican.

What has happened to the standards Wahington set? Is religion and morality to be set aside in deference to modern interpretation of the Constitution or to satisfy political or party goals? Whose rights are superior to others rights?

Washington's Farewell Address was read in Congress for years, printed in children's school books. Perhaps we need to include it in our curricula again. In our lives more. We certainly need it read in Congress more.

English is a funny language. I always like the Benny Hill Show. On one Benny refers to the old ballad “What Is This Thing Called Love?”. But in his inimitable way, he inserted a hesitation – and his characteristic grin and leer – between Called and Love. So, it came out as: What is this thing called, love ? You have to watch Benny do it to get the full effect. He can make anything seem lascivious. And then if you shift the comma one moe space, it becomes: What is this, thing called love? Each time it has a completely different meaning.

Recently someone asked how to spell “analyze”. That is a funny word. If you look at it it really ought to be anal and yze. That comes out to make a weird picture. I have heard of eyes in the back of your head but not this. Do not want to really imagine this one. And analysis really ought to be anal and ysis. Sounds like an Egyptian porn star.

What funny words we have in our language. It takes a weird brain to think up this stuff.

First of all, let me state again what I think about the War in Iraq. We should not have gone in the first place. Bush's reasons were dishonest and immoral, we are the aggressors, not the good guys. But, like Colin Powell said, we broke it and we must fix it. True, Iraq was cracked and chipped before but we broke it.

Watching the furor over General Petraeus, however, is just plain disgusting. You can not get to be a four star without a lot of political skills, but Petraeus is a good general and basically a fine man and I think his report is what he honestly thinks. He deserved better than he got at the hands of the Senate committee and MoveOn.org. Senator McCain deserves as much praise as he deserves for his stand against the others. Politics is politics and the Democrats had their responses (campaigning) planned out before Petraeus stepped of the plane. Biden, Clinton, et. al. were just plain nasty cut-throat opposition politicians beating their own drums. Natural born killers. And MoveOn.org. How can those folks live with themselves?

I pride myself on not being a Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, etc. I just want to be me. See my 14 January, 2007 entry. But if I had to vote today, “me” would vote against anything that MoveOn.org remotely supports. And “me” would not vote for any of those Senators on that committee other than McCain. I hope they are proud of their actions.

A couple of thoughts converged yesterday. Not on the throne as usual but sitting and watching Andre Rieu at Radio City on a PBS fund raiser (even though the Cowboys were playing at the same time, lots of button pushing). Of course, the passing of Pavarotti started the thoughts.

Music does indeed sooth the savage breast. Stirs it, too. The effect of a human voice may have some logical basis. See my 8 July, 2007, 9 September, 2006, and 25 July, 2006 entries. It may harken back to your Mother's voice or our caveman forefathers dancing around the fire. Somewhere there must be a study on that. But why does someone scratching on a catgut string at “Music of the Night” evoke such reaction? A solo violin playing “America” and the whole audience singing can have a good reason for choking up but that is different. Or squeezing a sheepskin bag (the pipes)? If they played the pipes, I would face certain death on the beaches of Normandy or with Bonny Prince Charlie in the marshes at Culloden. Surely there is a reason for this. No one played the pipes at my birth. Why do they stir the emotions so vividly?

And then there is Pavarotti. And so many fine voices. Lily Pons, Ray Benson, Ella. Even the not so fine but stirring voices such as Louis Armstrong and Willie Nelson. You do not need the words. Pavarotti's “Nessun Dorma” will get you to win the World Cup whether you know the words or not. I have a “Carmen” without subtitles and in a sense, it is even better. But no one could do it like Pavarotti. And why is that? Surely a shrink or an anthropologist out there has an answer. But maybe an answer would ruin it.