Say, “Ah-merica” November 3, 2008March 12, 2017 VOTE FOR CHARLES! So now when you go to CharlesNolan.com you can actually buy stuff. This is very cool, because it saves your having to fly to new York, which saves your having to go barefoot through security and waiting in line for a cab from LaGuardia to his shop and booking a room at the hotel next door. In 10 minutes on line, you save two days of travel and at least $1,000 – so that gorgeous $798 blue wool double-face all-handmade winter coat actually nets you $202. And if $798 coats, or $580 boots, are not in your budget right now, use the ‘Wish List’ feature to send holiday shopping suggestions to your doting pa-pah. Or just go take a look and enjoy the videos of the Fall and Spring collections. ‘Windows shopping,’ so to speak (works, too, on a Mac). MEDICAL RECORDS John McCain won’t release crucial information about the number and location of metastasized cancer cells detected in connection with his 2000 surgery. Normally, of course, this would be none of anyone’s business – and, in any event, we all wish him a long and healthy life – but he hopes to be elected President of the United States tomorrow. Is he failing to release this information because it is so reassuring? Sarah Palin hasn’t release hers either, even though she promised on national TV to do so. Charles thinks this fits neatly with the conspiracy theory – that her newborn is actually her granddaughter. There was an awful lot of circumstantial evidence to give that theory wings. I have to assume it’s bogus . . . but then what is the reason not to release the records once you’ve promised to do so? Is the idea that Senator and Governor will allow their docs to tell all the day after the election? If so, that’s the day their supporters should vote for them. AMERICA I got into a DC cab to the airport Saturday driven by a high-spirited little old African man who reminded me a little of Bishop Desmond Tutu but whose name turned out to be Christopher. In a distinctive sort of sing-song he told me he was from Nigeria, had been driving a DC cab for 45 years. Yes, he said, he is registered to vote – he is voting for Obama. He is a Democrat. He voted for Jimmy Carter. I took him for perhaps 75 (he turns out to be 62), so when he started talking about ‘Daddy’ and ‘Mommy’ back in Nigeria, I asked tentatively whether they were still alive. They were: ‘Daddy is 89, Mommy is 86.’ He goes back every two or three years to visit. He has three children of his own, the eldest in her third year at Johns Hopkins Medical School. ‘Wow!’ I said. ‘God bless America,’ he said. His middle child runs the 200-meter dash at UCLA. ‘Wow,’ I said. ‘God bless America,’ he smiled. The youngest, 16, is doing well in high school. They all avoided getting mixed up in bad crowds. (Back in the 70’s, Washington was ‘the murder capital of America,’ Christopher reminded me; it’s much, much better now – ‘God bless America.’) His father went to Oxford. (And Christopher drives a cab?) He returned to become a professor of English at the University of Lagos. Christopher’s three older brothers were all sent to England to study and wound up staying. At 16, Christopher announced that he didn’t want to go to England, he wanted to go to America. His mother looked at him askance. ‘They speak English there, too,’ Christopher announced. ‘They do,’ his mother confirmed. They sent him to Howard University; he worked his way through driving a cab. Nigerians in DC all drive cabs, he said. It developed, as we neared the Delta Shuttle, that he is a computer engineer but drives on weekends – it’s in his blood. ‘God bless America,’ he said, as we parted. Indeed. Tomorrow: I reveal my Presidential preference.* *In the meantime, vote for Charles.