In the car earlier, as we were pulling away from our apartment, Gloriana was talking to the Confessor as the two were sitting in the back seat (BoE was in the passenger seat). At first I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying, then it hit me.

Just now the Confessor came up to his mother and informed her solemnly that he told his sister to do a time-out because she called him a dummy.

Caught the opening game with the Braves on tape delay on NASN with the kids, and though we missed the opening innings (where the Nats jumped ahead 2-1) it was a great game -- great way to break in the new stadium, particularly with Zimmermann's walk-off homer to win the game 3-2.

While Gloriana was decked out in her Nats ballcap and was swinging a Nats kiddie bat, the Confessor interestingly enough didn't want to wear his Nats or his Braves gear...until the Braves tied the game on an error by the Nats catcher and sending a runner home, when I asked him out of curiosity which team he wanted to win. The Braves, he said. (Em is now grinning ear to ear.) Shortly after that, the Nats got the winning run, and he was a bit unhappy about it...oh well, kid, welcome to baseball. :-)

I've seen some nonsense floating around the Web that John McCain supposedly doesn't qualify to run for the Presidency. Whatever you may think of him, it's simply untrue -- the result of a common misconception.

The premise of this is that McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone and not on US soil. To wit:

7 FAM 1116.1-4 Not Included in the Meaning of "In the United States"

(TL:CON-64; 11-30-95)

a. A U.S.-registered or documented ship on the high seas or in the exclusive economic zone is not considered to be part of the United States. A child born on such a vessel does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of the place of birth (Lam Mow v. Nagle, 24 F.2d 316 (9th Cir., 1928)).

b. A U.S.-registered aircraft outside U.S. airspace is not considered to be part of U.S. territory. A child born on such an aircraft outside U.S. airspace does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of the place of birth.

c. Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.

Sounds damning, doesn't it? Well, it isn't.

Ius soli, the "right of the soil", is only one way to become a natural-born American citizen. The other way is ius sanguinis, "the right of the blood". Since McCain's parents were/are American citizens, he therefore is a natural-born citizen.

Similarly the Confessor is a natural-born American citizen and has American citizenship because I'm an American citizen. See US Code § 1401 (g):

(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years...

Won't BoE be pleased to know she is an alien. Well, I always knew that, but I married her anyway. As for McCain,US Code § 1401 (c) says:

(c) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person...

German citizenship law is pretty much ius sanguinis only, but since his mother is German, he thus also gets German citizenship. Currently Gloriana only has German citizenship, but she is entitled to American citizenship as well (we just haven't bothered to go to the embassy to claim it). Should either child live continuously for 14 years in America, and reach 35 years of age (as per the US Constitution, Article II, Section 1), he or she would thus also qualify to run for President -- just as John McCain does now.

Earlier today we finally got around to doing this year's installment of an annual tradition in Europe, especially in Germany, referred to as Sternsinger. In the usual form, children dressed as the Three Kings arrive around Epiphany, sing songs, and say a blessing for the household, writing something like this above the door, using a piece of chalk or crayon blessed by a priest for the purpose:

20 * C + M + B * 08

The 20 and 08 is the year; "C + M + B" stands for Christus mansionem benedicat, which means "Christ, bless this house". (The CMB may also be related to the folklore origin of the "names" of the Three Kings -- Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar.) The tradition goes back to at least the 16th century.

Since our parish is so scattered, we don't have kids in the neighborhood to visit homes and do it, so we improvise by inviting our priest over to do the honors, and we have a little something to eat, sing some songs, have a Bible reading and then get out a thurible, load it up with incense and cense the whole apartment, room for room.

So the priest duly got out the thurible and we put in some incense (we had a nice mixture with a good bit of sandalwood), and I went from room to room, starting with the workroom and kitchen and working our way to the bedrooms. The Confessor found this all hugely exciting and was following me around, with smoke billowing all over the place.

When we got to the master bedroom (which adjoins the kids' room), the Confessor excitedly asked if I'd do his room as well. Sure, I said. So I walked into their room and started swinging the thurible around (using the technique I learned as an acolyte -- held at chest height, swung twice to the left, twice to the right, and twice again to the left), and the Confessor instructed me to swing it around his bed some more, because his bed smells.

(Needless to say, we all just about fell over laughing.)

[THE SCENE: Ethelred returns home from grocery shopping, where he spots a copy of Pocahontas on special on DVD. Since the Confessor has been asking a lot about Virginia lately, Ethelred seizes the opportunity. However, BoE generally dislikes Ethelred's impulse purchases...]

ETHELRED [producing DVD from behind his back]
Surprise!

BoE [looking squinty-eyed skeptical]
What's that?

ETHELRED
It's a bit of Virginia history!

BoE
Uh-huh.

ETHELRED
I got it just for the Confessor!

BoE.
Uh. Huh.

ETHELRED
And she has a nice rack!

BoE
Really. Well, I'm calling your mother.*

ETHELRED
You wouldn't!

* - You see, BoE has the rare advantage of having her mother-in-law always on her side, so she gets to complain about me to a sympathetic ear all the time. Further evidence that women-folk are just generally incapable of understanding my greatness.

I direct your attention to the NASN TV schedule for this Saturday at 6 pm.

Hot diggity damn.

The Confessor was weirdly prescient, getting himself dressed earlier after coming home from shopping with BoE...putting on his Ohio State sweatsuit that his Buckeye grandma gave him some months back, but until now he always refused to put it on. But today he proceeded to go to the closet, pick it out and get dressed.

Maybe he heard me talking to Grandma about the game during our recent video chat, and took it to heart more than I realized...

Anyway, I now also direct your attention to the schedule the next day, 10 pm (or 22:00 as they put it).

Hot diggity-double-damn.

Hail to the Redskins, hail victory, braves on the warpath, fight for old DC!

Somewhat oddly, the Confessor has decided to root for the Atlanta Braves.

Not too sure why, really. On NASN we don't have too many games to pick from, and it happens that they have shown some Braves games, and he decided to root for them. So now they seem to be "his" team, even though I'm not a Braves fan -- and his American babysitter is from Cleveland and an Indians fan, so she's a bit nonplussed. ;-)

So he's going around saying "Go Braves" and even already does the tomahawk chop.

Really odd. I have no idea where he got it from. He's got a Nats and Twins ballcap already. Guess I have to get him a Braves one.

What's really sad is that the Braves lost each game we've watched, and the game we saw today (tape delay) they got bombed by the Red Sox, 11-0. Even by the time we tuned in in the bottom of the 2nd, it was already 7-0. Yowza.

(We did see Sosa's 600th homer -- NASN cut away for Sosa's at-bats.)

And I have yet to see a full game by any of "my" teams -- Nats, Reds or Twins. I did see part of a Nats-Orioles game earlier this week as a fluke (NASN had a satellite feed problem and was showing it on tape delay instead, then cut away to show the scheduled game). Oh well. But the kids are already getting into baseball a lot -- funnily enough, the Confessor is already calling out "HOME RUN" on practically every hit. :-)

In another online forum -- unfortunately one that is closed to the public -- the topic of Dawkins, Harris, et. al. came up. Naturally yours truly was drawn into it (surprise, surprise). Most people there are of the agnostic, non-religious sort. A few are of the strong atheist sort. I am the only active believer type (as in, part of a specific religious group). I did, of course, mention my fandom of Sagan (including linking to that video I mentioned not long ago). Some others mentioned surprise that a believer like me could be a free thinker, but that didn't seem to make an impression on some others...for:

I have just been informed by one of the atheist types that I have no right to teach my children about my beliefs or that I should not take them with me to church, even if they express the wish to come along*. Furthermore, society (according to this fellow) has an overriding interest in protecting my children from my so-called superstitions (without of course bothering to examine just what it is I believe or why).

Welcome to fascism, 21st century style. I won't mince words. That's just what it is.

Yep, Smooch. Now you know why I'm worried by Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and the rest. It's one thing to want a secular, neutral state (something I happen to think is a good idea). It's totally another to tell me how I should raise my children or even where I'm allowed to take them, just because someone doesn't like what I believe.

I don't think I have ever been so angry in my life.

* - I have never once made the Confessor go to church with me against his will. I generally go alone. Sometimes he asks to come along, and if so, I take him (but only on Sunday mornings -- vespers has has to stay home, because it's past his bedtime). Gloriana only comes along if BoE also wants to come; often BoE prefers to stay home anyway. And if the Confessor wants to leave the service, which he sometimes does, then we leave. The notion that I am forcing anything on him or Gloriana is infuriating and wrong.

Yeppers, Ethelred finally went out and got the set-top box for digital cable on Saturday (set me back EUR 120, but oh well), and went to the cable company today to get the SIM card for it today. I only ordered the English-language channels (scroll down to the UK flag), and among them is NASN, North American Sports Network.

And this means...

BASEBALL!

The funny thing is that I mentioned this to the Confessor, who really has no way of knowing what baseball is, except for a couple pictures from some of his books (such as Go, Dog, Go!, where in one picture the dogs are playing baseball) and of course the Nationals and Twins ballcaps he and I both have. I also have an autographed ball that I got once when I was in the hospital (some Twins players came by for a visit). But other than that, he really can't have a clue what baseball is.*

Yet he's been apeshit about wanting to see baseball on TV, even more than me. All evening as I was setting up the set-top box and re-cabling everything (which is pretty complicated, given all the stuff we have), he was excitedly going on about baseball.

Unfortunately, the SIM card still hasn't been activated by the cable company, so no baseball as of yet. *sigh*

Meanwhile, when he's older, there is a small baseball club in Hannover, the Hannover Regents...but unfortunately they play at noon on Sundays, which means skipping church. *sigh*

But hey, after years of missing it, I will finally be able to watch baseball on TV! w00t!

* - He does know football, because I have Madden 2003 and Madden 07 on the PS2 and play them sometimes. He also has a kid-sized Rhein Fire football.