Morning

¶ Research: Sarah Kershaw’s story about Mark Cellura, a retired Merrill Lynch executive, put a crimp in my morning. With the help of a genealogist, Mr Cellura made contact with the adoptive family of his twin brother, Michael, who died of AIDS in 1987.

In a slightly more cheerful piece, Janet Maslin writes about First Globals, the rising generation that probably can’t wait to see the last of the likes of me.

Noon

¶ Thought for Food: Commodities development specialist Peter Baker asks some apt questions about food production, hitherto unheeding if not quite heedless.

Night

¶ Boycott: Retards of the world, unite — lobby Congress!Oremus…

Morning, cont’d

§ Research. It’s never good to begin the day with a surge of pure anger.

Eight states allow adoptees access to their birth records, and legislation to do so is pending in five more, including New York and New Jersey. But critics say such transparency violates the privacy of birth mothers who may not want to be in touch with the offspring they gave up

That’s Adoption Racket thinking for you: adopted children are so lucky to be taken into loving homes that they should respect the privacy of the women who bore them. Oh, yes.

Meanwhile, I note that the genealogist in the story charges (a mere) $2500 per search.

Noon, cont’d

§ Thought. File under “Did You Know?”:

As an example, tomato production in the US consumes four times as many calories as the calorific value of the tomatoes created.

Night, cont’d

§ Boycott. The one thing that today’s rads and wingnuts have in common is an abiding faith in the beauty of being — “intellectually handicapped.” If Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver has his way, “retard!” will presently become hate speech.

Unlike disrespectful remarks regarding skin color, gender, and sexual preference, disparaging comments on native intelligence, while unpleasant and impolite, are not without objective significance. Special Olympics are all very well (as long as the nearly as questionable Genuine Olympics are showcased), but do think twice about getting on a plane when “intellectually neutral” standards come into play.

I was already so keen to see Tropic Thunder that I was thinking of going on Wednesday.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 12:30 pm. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.