I just got back from a harrowing day with Tina in the hospital. She was admitted for observation based on high blood pressure, and it turned out she was having full on contractions but couldn’t actually feel them. After awhile, the doctors determined she had been dehydrated by her hours in the hospital without water. Once they gave her water, the contractions stopped.

Earlier in the day, we also learned that one of our twin daughters is significantly smaller than the other — not so significant that there could be twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, but small enough to be alarming. When I thought that anything could be wrong with my little Rachel, I just felt this enormous flood of love and grief and fear and hope.

So, after picking up Tina and coming home, I thought I’d unwind a little by catching up on the latest news.

It’s no secret I have not blogged about politics in awhile — I’m personally sick of the subject. But something I read today stirred me to write.

Karl Rove says all liberals are traitors.

This is the same Karl Rove who convinced everyone in the last election that anyone living in the coastal cities doesn’t have what the Republicans refer to as “family values.” Well Mr. Rove, I love my wife and daughters — I may not be not be a Christian or a Republican, but I value my family more than anything else.

And now to call all Democrats traitors — that’s just utterly reprehensible. I am immensely proud of my American heritage — the majority of books in my large library at home deal in some way with American history. But somehow because I have a Democratic voter registration card, I’m an agent of evil. I can assure you that I am just as stirred by the National Anthem and the Stars and Stripes as your Republican supporters.

I am not a traitor, Mr. Rove. Just as my family is the most important thing in my life, I have a love for this country that is difficult to express in words. But you have helped make a hard personal decision for me. Yesterday, I was thinking that if either John McCain or Rudy Giulliani ran for President against Hillary Clinton, I would glady vote for the Republican candidate. Today, after reading your words, I can say that as much as I loathe Hillary Clinton, I would never support any member of a political party that made questioning the patriotism of other Americans one of its biggest priorities.

Consider this swing voter swung left. Hillary 2008, baby.

I spent a good portion of the evening tonight trying to figure out just how to attach our infant car seats to the Graco DuoGlider tandem stroller we bought last winter. I don’t know what it is about baby gear, but nothing every works as well as advertised. Graco is the number one maker of strollers and car seats in the country, yet it took me an hour to figure out how to attach the car seats. I’m not sure how I’m going to get this stuff to fit together once there’s actual live babies in the seats, but that’s a challenge for another day.

58 days left if Tina goes full term — that’s less than two months. Time grows insanely short, now. I don’t even think we’re close to be ready for the girls.

So, I’ve seen the Doctor Who season finale, and it does not disappoint in the least. I won’t say too much about it now except for the fact that I’ve watched the regeneration scene at the end about five times. It’s a sad thing this will never air in the United States, but that’s fine — U.S. fans can still see it if we’re clever enough.

The Daleks, the Doctor and Rose — oh my! Great stuff. Just great.

I’ll write a proper review when I have a moment. But I cannot wait until the Christmas Special airs in December, and we actually get to see the new Doctor in action. Which is strange, because the former new Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, is now the “old” Doctor.

The BBC has committed to not one, but two more 13-episode series of the new Doctor Who. This is brilliant news, most definitely! Oh yes, and they are also producing two Christmas specials.

It’s hard to really put my love of Doctor Who into words. I have a tremendous affection for both the character and the core concepts of the show. Often, in my dorky fanboy fantasies, I think up what I would write if I got a chance to work on one of my favorite science fiction properties. Doctor Who, while a huge influence on my ongoing comic book project, is something I would never want to write. I just love it too much.

At its core Doctor Who is a celebration of the best in people, a validation of the little guy and the importance of ordinary lives. The Doctor, a nearly immortal alien who regenerates into a new person whenever he dies, is committed to that age old science fiction concept of saving the world, but he does it for his love of regular people. In many ways, it’s nearly the perfect concept — a ship (the TARDIS) that allows the Doctor and his companions to travel through time in space, meaning Doctor Who can be set not only anywhere in the universe, but also any time in history. Star Trek was always coming up with technobabble reasons for time travel, but it’s a core part of what Doctor Who is about.

Having watched all but the season finale of the new show (which I will write about in more depth in a later post), I have to say that this is the greatest revival of a classic scifi concept since Star Trek: The Next Generation — perhaps greater. It’s a huge phenomenon in England, topping Saturday night ratings, and clobbering the competition. And unlike modern American scifi it’s a family show — though I’m not sure how some of its themes would play to a U.S. audience.

Now, this isn’t to say that I’m not a big fan of Battlestar: Galactica — I most certainly am. It’s the best American genre show on television. But Doctor Who is bigger than BSG — it’s an enduring classic. This is not to say that BSG won’t be an enduring classic, just that Doctor Who has a special quality that transcends even Ronald Moore’s excellent remake.

In any event, I’m thrilled by the news. The new Doctor Who is definitely in the same league as Buffy and Farscape, two recent additions to the science fiction canon. More later.

Just to follow up on things, Tina is okay. She went into the hospital Friday for some tests, and came out with a clean bill of health (well, besides the multiple pregnancy, anyway).

Saturday, we had our baby shower at Allen Pond in Bowie, MD. Just about everyone we know came out, and I have to say I was quite moved by their enormous generosity. If you’re reading this, we appreciate all your support.

The only bad thing about the shower was the heat — it was about ninety-five degrees, and about halfway through opening our gifts, I began to get sick. We never would have guessed that it could get so hot in early June.

Tina is just about to pass the thirty-one weeks mark. Only little over two months left. I can’t believe the girls are almost here — the last few months have been an amazing blur. It’s easy to think that pregnancy will last forever, that nine months of your life is an incredibly long time. But it’s not — it’s so short. Soon, if you can believe it, I will be a father.

* * * *

This afternoon, I was working in my office when I heard that Michael Jackson had been found not guilty. On the one hand, I’m sickened that this terrible man has used his celebrity as a shield against what I thought was pretty overwhelming evidence against him. His home with all its various amusements was obviously built as a trap for children — and the verdict pretty much means he can continue abusing them with impunity for the rest of his life.

But as evil as he is, I can’t help but blame the parents, too. To leave their children with such a person shows how easily they let Jackson’s celebrity cloud their judgement. They failed their kids in the worst possible way, handing them over to a predator in exchange for being in the proximity of his unimaginable fame.

You really have to wonder what makes people like that tick — to so easily abdicate their responsiblity to keep their kids safe from harm. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand them.