lunchtime short takes

[cellio]

The evil melding-of-church-and-state bill passed the House. Bah. Yes, it doesn't really mean anything on its face; it's just a resolution for the president to say some words to endorse religion, and he does that on his own all the time anyway. But it's still offensive coming from Congress. I don't want to live in a theocracy, even if I got to choose the theology.

I got an auto-response from my representative yesterday saying, basically, thanks for the email and expect a paper letter in several weeks. He voted for it, so I'll probably get some patronizing piece of drivel about how in these tough times we all need to unite and do God's will or some such. Sadly, an elected Democrat from Pittsburgh need not fear reprisal at the polls. (How did your rep vote?)

Speaking of government, I should really get around to ordering a copy of my birth certificate. Maybe even getting a passport, just so I'll have it. I can probably make off with my parents' copy of the former to help with the Pesach trip to Canada in a few weeks. I've never had my ID challenged at the border, but times are different now and I'm travelling with a non-citizen who was born in the middle east.

Speaking of Pesach (sort of), frozen gefilte fish is much better than the stuff that comes in jars. I'm never going back.

Speaking of religion (ok, the transitions are getting weak): For those who were interested in the "conversion reruns" journal, see shira_reruns. It'll get off to a slow start (I didn't write as much at the beginning), with the pace picking up in June.

Apropos of nothing (hey, I can tell when transitions are a lost cause), I had a very pleasnt lunch with a friend and past co-worker yesterday. It's way too easy to lose track of people when you no longer see them on a daily basis. He also found this journal, which intrigues me because it's not googlable. Not that I mind, of course; I was just surprised.

I've advanced another hole on my belt, and many of my pants now require a belt. Woo hoo. But Pesach is going to be bad for this, isn't it? I guess I should work on keeping matzah consumption down; being dense, it's probably even worse than pita for calorie/benefit tradeoffs.

Comments

[bantiarna.livejournal.com]

I wrote my representative as well, but I did not get a note back. The republican also voted Aye on the bill. This thing leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The frozen gefilte fish is not the same species as the jarred, at all (as it were) - definitely more wonderful in every regard.
"

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I love the frozen gefilte fish logs.

One of the neatest things you can do is take a log, thaw it *just* enough so you can take off all the paper, put it in a pan, cover it with tomato sauce or salsa and bake it in a 350 oven for a couple of hours. Cover the pan if you're cooking chicken at the same time. Serve it *warm* with the sauce. Really delicious, and *really* easy.

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

Sadly, an elected Democrat from Pittsburgh need not fear reprisal at the polls.

This is a bit of a surprise to me. I thought Pittsburgh, though a big city in Pennsylvania, was a bit conservative (and way more conservative than Philadelphia).

Not that I'm terribly surprised. Most Democrats (including my congressman, Bill Pascrell [NJ]), while willing to vilify Republicans as theocrats, hit their knees almost as hard when these sorts of things come up for a vote. Defense of Marriage Act, anyone? :-)

One of the nice things about being a libertarian is not being caught by surprise when Democans or Republicrats pull this sort of thing.

[rectangularcat]

From experience, they will single out your friend and just wonder how the two of you got into the same car. My ex-roommate travels all the time with her birth certificate from Indiana and that has satisfied them - although it's just a piece of typed paper with no seal or anything. Since I got my passport in the early 90's, I've never traveled with my birth certificate since it is in French only (back in the 80's it was even worse since it was a baptismal certificate and much wordier). I remember befuddling the immigration guys in Port Huron, MI when I'd have to cross the border.

I've been having less trouble crossing the border with my passport since it only has my mom's French-Canadian maiden name rather than my green card which has my complete name (and thus my dad's Egyptian last name). I guess there's also the pesky question of what a permanent resident of the USA is doing living in Canada...

Anyhow, we are planning to go to an event in the US tomorrow. If it is more unpleasant than I expect, I am sure to log in into my LJ. (Unpleasant in the sense that those US immigration guys have made me cry on more than one instance and I am a pretty tough person to make cry)

[goljerp]

My Congressman voted against the bill. I'm happy about that, at least.

Pesach: it's a tough time to keep to a diet... or to keep cholesterol levels down. Good luck!