The Followspot

National origins: not always what they seem

Danish Bread Dough Whisk: Made in Poland.

BuiltNY Clink-Proof BYOBag: Made in Taiwan.

Oyster Knife, Boston Style (also New Haven Style and Galveston Style): Made in Brazil.

Tortilla/Taco Shell Baking Pans, Blued Steel Deep Paella Pan, Cucina Pro Electric Krumkake Iron, Swissmar Classic 8 Person Raclette Party Grill -- and a mindboggling array of other cooking utensils: Made in China.

At www.fantes.com (the Fantes shop was established in Philadelphia in 1906) you can travel around the world by merely exploring their catalogue. It feels as through every national cuisine is represented. But it's clear, even after only a few clicks -- and if you love kitchen stuff the way I do, I challenge you to perform only a few clicks; I found that the enterprise quickly became addictive -- that almost every category is swamped by the number of items manufactured in the People's Republic.

The copper pots come from France, and so do the Peugeot pepper mills, as one would hope and expect. There are tagines from Tunesia, as one would hope and expect, although the catalogue does include tagines from both France and the USA.

But for the rest, one must imagine endless ranks of Chinese workers in endless ranks of Chinese factories turning out endless numbers of melamine measuring cups, silicone spatulas, meat grinders, flour sifters, pickle forks, ketchup bottle scrapers; not to mention Cuisinart coffee makers and even the Sushi Magic Express Sushi Maker Kit.

Without doubt, however, this item is my very favorite:

You'll find it in "Toasters." An instructional note says:

Press stamp into a piece of bread before toasting it. Works best on fresh white sliced bread. Makes a light image, almost as if the image appeared naturally on the toast.

Beware of imitations!

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

Pope Benedict and Barack Obama are both saying "Sorry."

Well, the Pope actually says, "I didn't know," but gets points for making an effort to rectify his mistake. And the President tells the American people, "I’m here on television saying I screwed up and that’s part of the era of responsibility."

Barry Bonds, on the other hand...

It's not cheaper by the dozen, or for 14 either

When are we, as a species, going to grapple with the fact that perpetuation of our time on Earth will probably require a whole lot less of being fruitful and multiplying? When will we, as Americans, see that the cult of "LIFE" at all costs will mean more unneccessary death and suffering?

I thought the news earlier this week that a California woman had given birth to octuplets (8! Count 'em! 8!) was a testament to everything that is both right and wrong about our health care system. As the story has developed, I think it's also an alarm warning of our inability to adapt to changing circumstances.

Only the physicians' skills and superior facilities commonly available in America enabled the safe delivery of what can only be termed a litter. The babies were nine weeks premature and range in weight from one pound, eight ounces to three pounds, four ounces. One is still receiving assistance breathing. Before the birth, the mother had been hospitalized for bed rest for seven weeks. A team of 46 doctors, nurses and hospital staff prepared for and attended the birth.

And therein lies the problem that we're all paying for: Forty-six medical professionals were needed for one pregnant woman. That woman required nearly two months of hospitalization before the main event. For an undetermined amount of time, eight premature infants will be hospitalized in intensive care.

The almost universal response in the media is one of celebratory joy. A few get to interviewing fertility experts about the questionable wisdom of such a high-risk pregnancy -- way down at the end of the piece. None that I've seen question the morality of burdening society and the planet with such flamboyant fertility.

Yet there are still women in this country who can't get adequate prenatal care. There are infants in this country who suffer and die because they don't have health insurance and the first time a doctor sees them is in an emergency room.

But this stupid, selfish breeding machine is praised for having the damned nerve to hog so many medical resources. She declares that she's "ecstatic" about the "miraculous experence." There is nothing miraculous about in vitro fertilization and implanted embryos. It's technology.

Yesterday it was reported that mega-mom already had six children before she had the embryos emplanted. What the hell? Is there any combination of human genes that deserves that much representation in the pool? On top of that, she lives with her parents. Call me old-fashioned, but is there a father/husband around?

What do doctors say?

"Who am I to say that six is the limit?" said Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, medical director of Fertility Institutes, which has clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City. "There are people who like to have big families."

Dr. James Grifo, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the NYU School of Medicine, added: "I don't think it's our job to tell them how many babies they're allowed to have. I am not a policeman for reproduction in the United States. My role is to educate patients."

"There are people who like to have big families." Yes, there are, and nobody is saying that it's time to re-examine our priorities, particularly not the doctors running the lucrative fertility clinics.

There are infertile couples desperate for children that can't afford fertility treatments. There are children languishing in the foster care system who desperately need parents. Yet there is a doctor who thinks it's ethical to give a mother of six, living with her parents, implanted embryos.

We all love our own. Perhaps, though, it is time to start loving not just well, but wisely. If we human beings can't learn to limit our collective and individual fertility, nature will do it for us. Wars over resources, new plagues spread by globalization, widespread famine, environmental degradation -- isn't it time we used our so-called "big brains" instead of our lemming-like tendencies to overpopulate? Must we applaud such selfish, extravagant rights to reproduce until the inevitable population collapse?