After dinner last night, J and I headed to V-NO for a Thanksgiving wine tasting.

On the tasting itself, it was a pretty typical distributer run tasting, with some winners and some losers. We bought a couple of bottles of a fantastic sparkling rose Pinot.

We had not been to V-NO, and the shop/wine bar is very cool. It’s an intimate space with seating outside, and I can very much see us stopping by on a Saturday afternoon for a plate of cured meats and cheese and a bottle of wine. The shop prices seem resonable; they had a wine I’ve purchased at Beltway for the same price, which is great for a shop in the high rent Fells Point area. The wine selection is a bit limited; we did appreciate the unpretentious catigorization of wines. Most wines are under $30, which certainly will keep me under control.

V-NO won’t be the go to spot for that just right bottle of wine, but for an afternoon snack and sip, there’s nothing else like it. (OK, Chesapeake Wine is similar, but the service isn’t all that great, and the prices reflect the rent).

Last night, J and I went to Meli for dinner and to V-NO in Fells Point.

We had not been to Meli yet, and were very pleased. Very.

The space is very cool, modern, with music playing at an appropriate level. Service was outstanding (we had an in given we’d met Rachel previously, but everything I saw indicated a very high level of service even if you didn’t know your server.)

The food was excellent. Portions and prices are just right. We started with a fried oyster special served with aioli and balsamic vinegar ‘caviar’. J had Lavender Honey Glazed Salmon, and I had Duo of Duck. The salmon was perfectly cooked, as was the duck, and all the flavors on the plate went well with each other. The food is creative and well executed. And the lavender honey butter… oh my.

Since we were off to a wine tasting, we skipped looking at the wines by the bottle, the wines by the glass are a bit limited, but there’s a good selection.

We skipped dessert (we had to get to the wine tasting), but we’re going back. I promise.

So, these folks want the government to take control of their (and your, and my) healthcare. They want to give the government power over the most important and most personal choices.

An then when the government decides to use that power because of political pressure, they get upset.

The inclusion of Rep. Bart Stupak’s restrictive abortion amendment in the bill has prompted well-established abortion-rights groups to oppose the entire House bill, and it is drawing the ire of feminist bloggers and activists. Pro-abortion rights members of Congress are also attempting to derail the final passage of any bill that includes the Stupak amendment. Yet as the Democrats’ reform package teeters between success and failure — with just a few more votes needed to kill the bill — it remains to be seen whether leaders will risk stripping out the amendment, which was added to win over conservative Democrats.

The Stupak amendment passed on the House floor Saturday with the support of 64 Democrats — of whom 62 were men, liberal bloggers have been quick to point out.

The provision would prevent women who receive subsidies to purchase insurance that covers abortion — inside or outside of the proposed national health insurance exchange. It would also explicitly ban abortion coverage from the government-run plan, or “public option.” While it does not explicitly prohibit private plans on the exchange from offering abortion coverage, insurers would have little incentive to offer abortion coverage, since most customers on the exchange would pay with subsidies.

“Abortion is a matter of conscience on both sides of the debate,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). “This amendment takes away that same freedom of conscience from America’s women. It prohibits them from access to an abortion even if they pay for it with their own money. It invades women’s personal decisions.”

I hate to break this to you, but the entire bill invades women’s personal decisions. Are you really this stupid? Really?

Of course, the row does give some of us hope that nothing will pass.

Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) released the text of a letter today to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that says, “We will not vote for a conference report that contains language that restricts women’s right to choose any further than current law.”

The congresswomen claim to have more than 40 signatures collected for the letter so far, though the signatures have not yet been released.

Meanwhile, abortion-rights groups are stepping up to pressure President Obama and the Senate to keep the measure out of the final health care bill. The National Organization for Women held a rally at the Capitol today in opposition to the amendment and is fundraising to lobby on the issue. The group opposes the entire House health care bill because of the amendment.

“We cannot and will not support a health care bill that strips millions of women of their existing access to abortion,” NOW President Terry O’Neill said in a statement. “NOW calls on the Senate to pass a health care bill that respects women’s constitutionally protected right to abortion and calls on President Obama to refuse to sign any health care bill that restricts women’s access to affordable, quality reproductive health care.”

I guess they are blind to the irony.

20 years ago today, the Berlin wall came down.

Here’s a vid from Reason on the victims of socialism and communism

Seriously, how can they let the man talk without his teleprompter. From last week, during the odd address to a conference after the Ft Hood shooting (where we gave shout outs before we talked about anything else), The One makes yet another gaffe.

Can you imagine what the press reaction would have been if a certain previous President had done this?

That’s really the only way to describe the Ravens’ loss to the Bengals. Cinci dominated the first half, and while it looked like the Ravens showed up to play defense in the second half, they forgot to bring the offense with them.

After dominating last week, the inconsistent Ravens are back. Unless there’s a big change, this team isn’t going to the playoffs, as I don’t see how they can play the Steelers (twice), Indy, and the Packers in Green Bay and come away with just two more losses.

Oh, by the way, the officating continues to get worse. It honestly looks like there are no penalties unless a Raven did it. I saw easily 5 holds and not one was called, but everything the Ravens do gets a flag. It didn’t matter, but it’s still frustrating.

Ravens stomp the Broncos 30-7. So now they’re 4-3, heading to Cinci.

If these guys show up like they did on Sunday, they might finish the year out with 7 more wins.

Ellerby is playing like a beast, and Ray Rice is the real deal. They’ve got few significant injuries, which is also good at this point in the season. Every aspect of the team was on last week, they’ll need to do that again to beat the Bengals… I think if they can hold the Bengals to 17 points again, we’ll see a win.

Encouraging progress, given the lack of consistency

Squat
45×10
95×5
135×3
185×3
225×3
275×1
315×1
365×1
405×1 (PR)

That’s 2. Hit the 400+ squat and 300+ bench for the first time in more than a year… Press on Friday, and Deadlift on Saturday.

I was good for more, but not much more, so shut it down happy with a good lift.

This is not satire.

 

Glad I remembered the way to the gym

Bench Press
45×10
95×5
135×5
185×3
225×3
275×1
295×1 (PR)
305×1 (PR)
315 x miss
Dammit. Happy to be back over 300, and just missed the 315.

Close Grips
3×3 @ 225

HS Row
3×8 @ 90/side

Pressdown
2×10 @ 150

Hammer curl
2×12 @ 30

Felt great to get back in, set a new 1rm to use when resetting. Training will be sporadic until around Thanksgiving, going to try to test 1RMs this week, then the next week or two will be as I can (mostly GPP stuff).

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