All the Fuss about Guns

All the fuss about guns.  If Tucson, AZ, isn't battling the Republican legislature, it's something else.  I haven't held a gun since I turned in my captured SKS assault rifle at the end of the Vietnam War (for me).   But I get it.  My friend from Kentucky likes to go hunting.  The Latino guy who gave up most of his guns says he kept a .45 and keeps it by the bed at night.  His old neighborhood's changed and not for the good.  What I don't get is people who think they need to strap on a pistol to go to In-N-Out Burger.   Personally,  I doubt there's a real need for a gun in every household... although if Phoenix doesn't hire some more cops soon we may all need to be armed ... I'm not planning on replacing the SKS... yet.

The Matter with Medicare: Grandma and the Faith Healer

As if passing out in church and being diagnosed with a horrible disease weren't enough,  the hospice provider sent a spiritual caregiver to look in on our devout, little old Italian grandmother.  Our still fiery Grandma.   The visit started out just fine, just another pleasant person for Grandma to talk to.   Then Grandma asked why the woman came to visit... this is where the woman got into trouble ... she was there to give Grandma spiritual comfort.  Grandma said: "I'm a Catholic, the priest already comes to see me and take care of my spiritual comfort (shit for brains)."   The woman replied, "Oh, don't worry,  I can pray over you and give you communion."  Grandma was outraged, but kept her cool on the outside ... the spiritual caregiver left, never to return.   And the next time the priest came to visit, Grandma had something to talk about when he heard her confession.

And you wonder why Medicare is going broke.

My Observant Little League Team

For a long time we'd had trouble rounding up kids to play in the local Little League.  Best we could do was two teams for my son's age group.   Just too much going on these days and for the boys who wanted to play ball, the best players wantrd to play on competitive club teams that cost a lot, and I mean a lot, to join.  The hotshots weren't interested in Little League where the "weak" players were allowed to participate.

Two teams playing each other all season isn't much fun and it's not much fun to travel across town all the time to find more competition.   My neighbor had an idea.   His brother belonged to an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish congregation and he thought they might might have some kids who wanted to play.  It turned out that they did... on the condition that there'd be no games on the Sabbath... Friday night and Saturday.  I volunteered to coach the Observant team, which had a mix of the Observant and other.   The youngsters actually got along very well. The non-Jewish, especially the Mexican kids, were miffed by boys with long curls hanging down next to their ears, yarmulkes instead of baseball hats, and tzitnit tassels (knotted ritual strings) hanging down from the waist.   But the boys liked each other... even when the Orthodox said no thanks to yummy snacks.

Everything was going fine until Passover.   Some of the Orthodox said they couldn't play.  Problem.   We didn't have enough players to play without them and Little League, in its infinite wisdom, doesn't allow you to play without nine players and you're not allowed to borrow players from another team.  Worse.  If we wanted to field a team for the Little League All-Star tournament,  our players were required to play a minimum number of games during the regular season.  Little League is really too complicated.

Solution.  Consult the team rabbi.  Thank God one of the parents stepped up.  We talked it over and the rabbi gave me a ruling that the observant players would only have to miss one game.  Season saved.

Why Didn't Castro Speak Gaeilge

Did it ever occur to you that a younger Fidel Castro looks a lot like Irish actor Liam Neeson?

Might have something to do with Castro's dad being from Galicia in the north of Spain.   Castro is the Roman word for a Celtic hill fort.  There's bunches of hill fort ruins in the Spain.

Italians need to remember [Ed like to write the Irish need to remember columns] that when Hannibal of Carthage had the Roman Republic on the ropes, Scipio Africanus saved the day by defeating the Carthaginians in Spain and then invading African where Scipio defeated Hannibal at Zama.   The key to Scipio's victory was an alliance with Spain's Celts.  Years later after Scipio was gone, his descendants turned on their allies and, in a very rough way (remember Numantia),  took over running things in Spain and made everyone speak Latin.  

Even more years later Marcus Aurelius, a Spaniard, became one of Rome's greatest emperors.  We commemorate the day of his death every March 17.