“Hang Him High” — Saddam Soon to Die?

Americablog’s Chris in Paris has this to say about Saddam Hussein’s apparently immanent execution:

I have little sympathy for Saddam but I still struggle with the fact that he is being executed for killing 148 people considering the hundreds of thousands who have been killed since the invasion.

He’s got a point. I don’t think Saddam should be allowed to go off and live a comfortable retirement in some South American country, but I’m also not terribly happy at the thought of hanging him, especially considering his somewhat bizzare trial and the ongoing slaughter zone that is Iraq since we took him out of power. I’m not a person who feels that the death penalty is immoral and should never be used, by a long shot, but this makes me profoundly uncomfortable. Something is not right about this end to Saddam Hussein’s story.

There’s another quote that’s been hanging around in my mind since reports started to circulate that Saddam’s death was nearing (reports currently circulating seem to indicate that he will be dead before the New Year):

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

That’s JRR Tolkien (Gandalf speaking to Frodo), if you don’t recognize it.

Update 12:20PM: Just wanted to add: why is is that Osama Bin Laden is still at large but we’re hanging Hussein?

Oh right, that’s a ‘Success that hasn’t occurred yet’.

Amazing.

Update #2 6:15PM: Everyone else seems to be linking to Josh Marhsall’s post on this topic, so why not me too.

I feel like a ghoul — I want to turn the TV on, and I don’t, both at the same time. I’m also tempted to have a good stiff drink, but I don’t want to seem like I’m even remotely celebrating, becasue I am not.

10 Years of Wedded Bliss

Wedding Portrait

Yep, it’s our 10th wedding anniversary.

In this day & age, a decade of marriage is quite an achievement. And marriage is not always easy. But the rough spots are completely outweighed by the day to day joys of getting to live my life with my best friend and dearest love.

How are we celebrating? Wii Bowling, to start. A nice piece of ahi is sitting in the fridge, and we’ll have that for dinner. After that, maybe some more Wii, or maybe a movie. In short, a quiet date night at home.

In January, after Scott’s surgery is past, we’ll go out for the really nice dinner at a restaurant, and hopefully sometime a bit later this spring, we’ll get away for a mini-vacation to properly celebrate 10 years of wedlock.

But even a comfortable night home with my honey is just fine by me.

I love you, Scott. As long as we’re together, that’s all that matters.

Here’s to the next few decades.

Wii Is Here To Play

I promised Scott a Nintendo Wii for his birthday, but it took a little time to actually track one down and get it here (thank you, eBay!). And yes, I am probably a fool for overpaying on eBay rather than camping a line for one, but I’m too damn old to sit out in the cold all night for a game console.

So far, we’ve set the console up, gotten it connected to the Internet, downloaded all the updates, and created two Mii avatars. After dinner, we’ll crack open the games (it came with Wii Sports, plus we bought Zelda and the Marvel game) and see how we do with those.

Apparently you can add Wii-owning friends to your Address Book and then their avatars will wander across your screen along with your own. If you’ve got a Wii and want to friend up, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail and we can exchange numbers. I’d rather not post our console number in public.

Chores and Memories

Today worked out very well. It was nice and warm this morning, so I braved the Hillsdale Mall for an hour or so. There were lines at both Macy’s and the Gap, but all in all it was a pretty painless experience, and I got what I was looking for without too much stress. About an hour after I got home, the rain started to fall, making me feel very good about my sense of timing.

My other project for the day was making a batch of stock from the turkey carcass and the collection of chicken wing tips that’s been gathering in our freezer since the last time I made stock. We had so much base, I ended up making two pots’ worth. The house smelled wonderful as the pots simmered away.

As I was straining out the flotsam, I found myself channeling my long-since-deceased grandmother. Grandma Bernice, an immigrant child of the Depression, didn’t let much go to waste on a chicken. She would even crack chicken bones in her teeth to suck out the marrow. So as I ladled out bones, mirepoix, and chunks of turkey flesh, I found myself setting the larger pieces aside in a little dish — after all, why throw out perfectly good meat?

Of course, after simmering in the stock pot for 3 hours, the meat was dry and flavorless, which I discovered after it had cooled off. If Scott weren’t on his diet, I could have goosed the turkey up with some cheese and turned it into a casserole, but that’s out for a few more weeks. So into the bin it went. Still, I had a hard time forcing myself to throw it away, and even now, I feel a little guilty for wasting all that meat.

Which is ridiculous, because the turkey wasn’t wasted at all. I have at least a gallon of yummy stock cooling in a water bath right now, and that stock will go into making a bunch of great dinners in days to come.

M3rry Xm4s 2 U 2

In the last 24 hours, I’ve noticed something new for the holidays — I’ve gotten three SMS messages from various friends wishing me a Merry Xmas. Either my friends have gotten younger or SMS is getting more mainstream; not sure which.

We’re having an extremely quiet weekend at home. Even though we don’t celebrate Chirstmas, over the years I find that most of the time, we end up spending the day with either family or friends. After all, there’s no much else you can do. Pretty much everything is closed. So being totally on our own for Xmas is a little unusual, and kind of lonely. It doesn’t much feel like a holiday.

However. with Scott on a restricted diet until January, it didn’t seem like a good idea to try to inflict his dietary limitations on any of our friends. So yesterday Scott roasted up a turkey (omitting his usual butter enrichment) & we had a nice dinner of turkey, gravy, potatos, and asparagus — all made with as little fat as possible. It was pretty tasty, too. We’ll be working our way through the leftovers today, and I’m going to make stock out of the carcas.

If the local movie theater is open and playing something worth seeing, maybe we’ll walk on down & see a show. If not, I’ve got DVDs to watch, and a big pile of leftover turkey to eat.

So things are quiet around here, but that’s not necessarily bad. It’s been a really crazy month. Some rest and time to recharge is a good thing.