Batboy!

Here's Liam with his face painted at Auntie's party today

Election season stuff

Yes, it's that season again. Thankfully, it only occurs every four years on this grand scale.

Here are a few different flavors of election-oriented items to enjoy!

Sure, there are lots of news outlets out there, but if you're interested in a religious slant, you can't beat Rocco Palmo's Whispers in the Loggia. Check out his recent post called Judgment Day is on it's way about the huge Obama rally in St. Louis this weekend.

If you missed the SNL Palin rap skit Saturday, check it out at www.nbc.com.

Dr. Gallagher

My husband never knew life without him. He was my father-in-law's dearest friend from medical school. He came into my life on one of the most auspicious days--the day of my wedding eight years ago. His kindness of spirit and gentleness of heart will remain with us forever. My career memories, even though I've just started as a nurse a little over a year ago, will always be of him roaming the halls of St. Mary's on a mission--to see someone--patient, doctor or friend. He was there on my very first day on the floor as an RN at SSM Rehab visiting a friend who was on our unit and he appeared in the halls very frequently on his way to doctor's appointments or just visiting.

Our deepest condolences to the entire Gallagher clan today.

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Gallagher, Neil Ignatius M.D.

Born: October 12, 1926, Died: October 8th, 2008 at home surrounded by his loving family.

Fortified with the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church. Beloved husband, brother, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and highly respected physician, educator, author and researcher died after a courageous battle with a chronic blood disorder.

Dr. Gallagher, a St. Louis University educated and trained hematologist-oncologist, spent his entire professional career devoted to the care of patients and to the education and training of medical students and physicians in the St. Louis region. Preceded in death by his parents Francis Joseph Gallagher, M.D., Frieda Marion Gallagher (nee Dresp); his sisters Betty and Frieda Ann Gallagher, and brother Francis Joseph Gallagher, S.J. Devoted husband of 52 years to Pat (Patricia) Gallagher (nee Terry); loving father of Mary Pat Gallagher (Gerard Erker), Terry (Eddie) Bridges, Peggy (Chris) Diestel, and Neil (Julie) Gallagher; dearest grandpa of Annie Diehr (George), Danny, Neil, Kevin and Katy Erker, Jason and Leah Culture, Julia Bridges, Emily Stepanek, and Erin and Caitlin Gallagher; beloved great-grandpa of Cecelia and Colin Culture, and Frankie Erker Diehr; brother of Mary Jane Speer (nee Gallagher), Jackie Bell (nee Gallagher) and Jeanne Smelker (nee Gallagher); dear son-in-law of Ann (Roshel) Terry; dear friend, teacher, caregiver, and mentor to many.

Dr. Gallagher was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Tucson, Arizona, earning a BS in Biology from Santa Clara University (1947), a Master's in Education from the University of Arizona (1951) and his MD from St. Louis University School of Medicine (1954). He lived his life in the true Jesuit tradition, the tradition that his four uncles and his brother Frank Gallagher, S.J. exemplified: he was truly a man for others. He committed himself wholly during his 40-year career to the art of healing and providing excellent medical care to the sick and their families, and compassionate, palliative care to the dying. He continued to visit his sick and dying friends even while terminally ill himself.

Dr. Gallagher served at several St. Louis hospitals during his medical career. He began as a physician at St. Louis Veterans Administration Hospital in 1955 and served as Associate Chief of Staff, Research from 1963-'66, and served as both Chief of Medicine 1966-'68, 1973-'74, and Chief of Staff, 1973-'74. He was also a staff physician and instructor at St. Louis University Group Hospitals from 1959-'70, and a Professor in Internal Medicine from 1970-'86. Other positions held at the St. Louis University Group Hospitals include Vice-Chair Department of Internal Medicine 1970-'73 and Emeritus Professor Internal Medicine 1986-'94.

At St. Mary's Health Center Dr. Gallagher served for 31 years, including as Section head of medical hematology and oncology and associate in medical education, 1986-94. He also received the Teacher of the Year House Staff Award 1987. Dr. Gallagher was a member of numerous professional organizations and recipient of many awards during his medical career.

Most notably he was a member of: the American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, the American Society of Hematology (Emeritus), City Hospital Alumni Association, the Society of Internal Medicine, and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) national medical honor society. He was the recipient of the 1991 John Krey III Memorial Award for outstanding clinical efforts in cancer control in the Missouri Metropolitan St. Louis area.

He was also a charter member of the ROMEOS : Retired Old Men Eating Out. He will always be remembered for his medical expertise, the compassion he showed his patients and his patients' families, his quick wit, his love of nature and his beautifully manicured gardens.

''Hold the physician in honor, for they are essential to you, and God it was who established this profession. From God the doctor is given their wisdom.'' Sirach 38: 1-3

Services: Funeral Mass Saturday October 11 at 10 a.m. at Ste. Genevieve du Bois Church, 1575 N. Woodlawn. Visitation is Friday, October 10, 3 to 9 p.m. at BOPP Chapel, 10610 Manchester Rd. Interment will be at Resurrection Cemetery.

Contributions can be made to The Franciscan Sisters of Mary, 1100 Bellevue Ave. 63117, The Retired Jesuits-Missouri Province, 4511 West Pine Blvd. 63108, and The Little Sisters of the Poor, 3225 N. Florissant, Missouri 63107.

Women: Here's a good reason to vote

Yes, I'm apathetic and yes, I don't like either party's candidates, but I will go out and vote. The text below came from a recent e-mail from one of my friends. I have included links to more information on this topic.

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A must read for all women.

This is the story of our grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, as they lived only 90 years ago. It was not until 1920 that women were granted the rightto go to the poll and vote.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to thesuffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson'sWhite House for the right to vote. The women were innocent and defenseless.And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guardswielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head andleft her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed andknocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting, and kicking the women.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tubedown her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year be cause--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged sothat I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But theactual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly,voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger
women, but those of us who did seek to learn..' The right to vote, she said,had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies,and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. AlicePaul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote Democratic, Republican or Independent party - remember to vote.

History is being made.