I don’t subscribe to the whole left/right, conservative/liberal, republican/democrat dichotomy.

I think its largely false, and largely a tool.
That’s just me.

So it is with genuine trepidation that I listen to or recommend anyone who firmly defines and identifies themselves with either “side.”

But Left Wing Cracker has a good point. He’s even nice enough to boldface what I call “rule number one.”

Cheers.

* Saw this on a menu recently, in the appetizer list: “Toasted bread topped with bruschetta.”

No, people, bruschetta isn’t the topping, tomato/basil (though that has become the cliche) or not; bruschetta is the whole thing, the piece of grilled — not toasted — bread, preferably smeared with olive oil and garlic, mounted by any number of toppings, tomato and basil, certainly, or roasted peppers and eggplant or cheeses or strips of meat or  chopped shrimp and octopus, pretty much anything that makes a savory few bites to whet the diner’s appetite and go well with a glass of simple wine.

Now we’re even seeing in grocery stores, in the refrigerator case, little plastic containers labeled “Bruschetta” that hold chopped tomatoes and basil in olive oil with a few herbs. No, sorry, you can use that stuff to make bruschetta, but it’s not the thing itself.

* This happened at a restaurant last night, a warm night, suitable for sitting outside, which we did, and ordering a bottle of Taltarni Sauvignon Blanc 2005 and by the way I hate the new label. Anyway, the waiter brought the wine, we went through the tasting ritual, it’s quite lovely but not really cold enough; I mean, this is a sauvignon blanc. So I ask for an ice bucket, “Yes sir,” and she brings the bucket, which is filled with ice, and she tries to jam the bottle down in there. Of course it won’t go; the thing is packed with almost solid ice. So she gives up and leaves the bottle sort of perched on top of the ice with a white cloth wrapped around it.

If you took physics in high school, you know that a bottle of wine sitting on top of a mass of ice cubes is not going to get chilled; there’s no conductivity; it needs water so the cold can circulate, so, of course, I pour my glass of water in the bucket to try and get the ice loosened up a little. It takes several glasses of water. Three, actually.

The point here is that no one trained this waiter that an ice bucket needs to be filled with half ice and half water in order to chill a white wine or keep it cold; the bottle needs to be down in there. And it’s amazing how often this situation occurs, even in fine dining restaurants with great wine lists where you would think they know better. And you hate to be a smart-ass and pull rank and say to the waiter, “Look here, I’m a wine writer and I need to tell you how to handle the ice bucket problem,” because then they turn on you and say something like, “There’s no problem, sir, this is how we do it,” and there you sit with your bottle of white wine or champagne perched on top of the ice and everybody sort of pissed off. At least me.

Several observations as Tiger football wraps up its second week of spring workouts:

1) Good as advertised (maybe better): A priority for West during the recruiting season was to bring in several mid-year junior college players who could have an immediate impact. Early indications are defensive tackle Freddie Barnett, receiver Steven Black, linebacker Tommy Phelps and offensive linemen Terrence Echols and Cody Stubblefield will contribute quickly.
Barnett started strong, but has been slowed by injury. He may not play the next two weeks, but he'll be a factor in the fall. Black is a prize, a receiver who can make a difficult catch in traffic as well as stretch the defense. Phelps is a playmaker, always around the ball and pushing starter Heath Grant.

2) If the Tiger running backs remain healthy, it could be a team strength. Senior Joe Doss is a veteran leader, who can get the tough yards inside. Sophomore Miguel Barnes and T.J. Pitts have been impressive in practice, with Pitts looking like the prize recruit he was in 2005.

3) Defensively, new cornerbacks coach Derek Jones has infused a toughness and a swagger. It's a key position for the Tiger defense if it expects to become a dominant unit again.

4) Quarterback Martin Hankins is looking as if he will not be challenged for the starting job. He has completed 14-of-19 in scrimmage situations with no interceptions and a touchdown.

The latest American Journal of Public Health includes a couple of studies that caught my eye.

Turns out women in the Middle East would also like some help around the house. Researchers at the American University in Beirut found women there whose husbands helped with housework were nearly three times less likely to rate themselves as unhappy than were similar women with slacker husbands.

The survey of 1,652 women found those with the least-involved husbands were also more likely to rate themselves as distressed or uncomfortable with their husbands. The results come from a low-income Beirut neighborhood and are similar to work involving Western women. It is also believed to be the first to ask the question in the Mideast.

The latest American Journal of Public Health includes a couple of studies that caught my eye.

Turns out women in the Middle East would also like some help around the house. Researchers at the American University in Beirut found women there whose husbands helped with housework were nearly three times less likely to rate themselves as unhappy than were similar women with slacker husbands.

The survey of 1,652 women found those with the least-involved husbands were also more likely to rate themselves as distressed or uncomfortable with their husbands. The results come from a low-income Beirut neighborhood and are similar to work involving Western women. It is also believed to be the first to ask the question in the Mideast.

Closer to home, researchers at Stanford University reported older women with a little meat on their bones lived longer than their thinner or heavier counterparts.

The study involved more than 8,000 women age 65 and older. They were participating in an osteoporosis study and followed for eight years. Those with a body mass index (BMI) of between 24.6 and 29.8 had the lowest mortality during the study. BMI is calculated using a person’s height and weight. A BMI of 25 to 29 is considered overweight.

In all of the discussion about Elizabeth Edwards's breast cancer recurrence, I kept waiting to hear what women who'd faced a metastasis of their original cancer, just like Elizabeth, had to say, what they thought of the choices she's made.

And waited, and waited.

So today my column contains the thoughts of those women, many of whom have faced disease much more advanced than Elizabeth's. Luane Semos's story really touched me (that's Luane on the left in the picture). She had been undergoing fertility treatments when, at 34, she had her first diagnosis ...