Halftime...

and it looks like Hammer's game plan is working out well.

From The Mailbag...

Hi,

I saw in your weblog that you have the film of the iranian actress Amirebrahimi. I have been searching for it on the web. Can you help me find it?

Thanks
(name withheld)

Sorry, I do not have, and have never had, the video, nor the site containing such video, of an actress who shall not be named by me any longer.
And I do not know where to find it.
But I think this guy does.

Stepping In It...

Seems RW left it, I stepped in it, and now I got this stuck to my shoe... a meme, of course, of the Christmas variety. Never done a meme before, so may as well start now:

1. Players start by listing three things he/she got for Christmas.
2. Then they list three things he/she definitely did not want to get for Christmas.
3. Then he/she tags five friends and lists their names.
4. The ones who get tagged write on their blogs about their Christmas wishes, and state the rules clearly.
5. Then tag five more victims. The tagger needs to leave the taggees a comment that says you have been Christmas tagged! and tell them to read the tagger's blog.

The Blonde is getting kinda fed up with my sloppy coffee habits, what with the splash-splotched counter top from over-zealous pouring, combined with the splattered coffee maker going several days between wipings, she sought to remedy this. "It'll save you clean up time,honey." whaddya mean 'me'?
So she gave herself me the BrewStation. So far, so good. It brews coffee... Good enough.


I also got... ready for this... socks. Because, well, Mom is Mom, and it's been this way for 42 years, and it just wouldn't be Christmas for Mom without gifting me with,among other things, socks.

But what I really loved the most came from the kids. I mentioned these guys before, and I am now the proud owner of a a 2 DVD live set, one of only 1000 limited pressings.
Making me the envy of most members of a dedicated fan base.

What three gifts I am damn glad I didnt get? Hohohah... thats easy. I'm a kitchen gadget kinda guy, and it never fails... every year I get one of those "as seen on TV" gadgets that always suck. I've had my share of the Rotato, Perfect Pancake, or that microwave egg thingy...

Did I mention that all these things suck?
And I didnt get any of them. Not a single sucky one of them. It's been good this year, and I hope the trend continues.

OK, now I'm off to tag a few victims of my own...

From The "It Sucks To Be You" Catagory

Like I said in the past, for some there can not be a more appropriate sanction, despite my reservations.

Some Thoughts On The Day

Living nearly my entire life in southern California,I've never known a "white Christmas".Since Jesus and the apostles likely never have either, I dont understand what is so Christmas-ish about it.


Likewise, I'll never understand the ubiquitous display of inflatable snowman lawn decor, and how the hell it ever became synonymous with Christmas. Do folks in the northeast place inflatable palm trees on their lawns?

Jesus was a jew. Why do we celebrate His birth with a ham?

I really did grow up with chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Every year. Dad still does it, and not just for Christmas.

Every year, I wrap everything in the same color paper, with identical curlie ribbon. This year it's shiny gold wrap, purple ribbon. It's one of the few well-ordered things about me in a very haphazard lifestyle.

It's not Christmas Eve without canoli. I order ahead, and still wait an hour to get to the checkout.

Mid-Night Mass: Where have all these people been the last 12 months?

To you all:
May your heart be filled with peace,love and joy, as we celebrate the birth of the Savior, when Almighty God became true man, and walked among us.
Merry Christmas

The Spirit Of Christmas Is How You See It, I Guess...

Andy has a good post, and subsequent discussion, concerning the scriptural inacuracy of the traditional Nativity Creche.

Basically, nativity scenes follow a general pattern of Mary,Joseph,Baby Jesus, Wisemen/Kings, shepherds, angels and various livestock, etc...

The order and content of the figures varies in importance from culture to culture. All to be expected as faith is also expressed differently the same way. But the Catalonians, it appears, have a little someone extra to add. Keep an open mind.
Here he is:El Caganer.

As for me: No thanks. I'll just stick to the traditionally American inaccuracy that I'm used to.

How The Times Have Changed

Now here's a Christmas gift idea from the past...


These verts were published in the December, 1966 issue of Boy's Life magazine.
Can you imagine the outrage in the media if this was published today?

(Click the images for clearer BIG view)




Growing up, nearly every boy I knew, myself included, got "BB" guns for Christmas by the age of 10. And we lived in the city. Cousins of mine in rural Illinois and Indiana all got .22 rifles.
Our parents knew what they doing, taught responsibility, laid down strict rules, and expected appropriate behavior in return for using these things. Getting a "BB" gun or a .22 was initiation, of a sort, into a Circle of Trust. A transition from 'little boy' status to Big Boy recognition. Keeping the privilage was actually more important than the privilage itself. Breaking the rules, and losing your gun, was not only disheartening, it was also something you wouldnt tell the other boys about.

Most importantly, nobody I know of ever got hurt. Well, not directly, anyway. I am aware of a few who got the ass-whipping from Dad as a result of misuse. Back then, Dads where allowed to teach their sons in this manner without facing a horde of child advocates knocking on their door. Even worse, if your neighbor saw you not being 'right' with your "BB" gun, he would snitch to your Dad, who would then whip you twice as hard: not just to teach you a lesson, but also for embarassing him. 'How dare you...'
And it would only happen once.

And if your buddies found out? That was embarassing for you.

Personally, I prefer the old time sensibilties of days gone by. I'm more at 'home' there.

Vatican City To Get NFL Expansion Franchise!

Could it be?
Oh, after the initial wave of anticipation ended, I realized of course that whenever a European mentions football, he's talking about a whole different game that is best left to third-worlders and Europeans. That sport which holds it's grand event every four years or so?... yeah, that one. Where the best teams in the world compete in 1-0 blow-outs? B o r i n g ...

Then I started thinking... just what would be an appropriate name for the Vatican NFL franchise, should such an idea ever come to fruition?
First to mind: the "Saints", of course. But it's already taken.Besides, it sounds just a little too LDS, dont you think?

"Cardinals?" Been done.

"Padres" might work, but we're talkin real NFL football here. We dont need to get confused with a case of mistaken baseball identity.

"Crusaders" rolled around in my head a bit. But with all this international jihad stuff going on, I think it's best we dont encourage them muslim people any more than they already have been, as if they needed much encouragment to begin with.

"Inquisitors" has a good fearsome sound to it... but then again, we need to worry about offending jews and protestants. Let's leave this one alone.




Better yet, forget the mascot for now. We'll just move along and design costumes for the cheerleaders.
Ya think this will work?


Naturally, considering the impracticality of international air travel for an NFL team, I already have the perfect host city in mind. And a broadcaster can be easily lined up..

I think we can do this...
NFL and The Church.
Two powerful institutions coming together under one roof.
We can make it happen.


I even found our first cheerleader.


Happy Wednesday!
PS: King David, I dare you. I double dare you. LINK And certified Polish,too.

Jewhadists Win One, Lose One...

Fort Collins,CO says to jews: "Go pound sand."...

For the second year in a row, this normally serene university town at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains is embroiled in a dispute over holiday symbols.
The controversy, similar to recent wrangling over Christmas trees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, centers on the refusal by Fort Collins to allow a menorah to be displayed downtown during Hanukkah, near a Christmas tree and other Christmas displays.
In November 2005, Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik of the Chabad Jewish Center of Northern Colorado asked the city to place a nine-foot menorah near a Santa’s workshop display in Old Town Square, a popular gathering spot surrounded by shops, art galleries, restaurants and bars.

while Hawaii grabs its ankles:

Despite a dustup in Seattle over whether Christmas trees and menorahs have a place in that city's airport, both were put up this season at airports throughout the Hawaiian islands without controversy.
"In light of everything that's going on, we thought it was a good idea to approach the state ... and see if we can put the menorahs up there. And we got a very, very favorable response," said Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky, director of Chabad of Hawaii.
The national Chabad organization has put up menorahs in public places throughout the country, including one in Waikiki, which Gov. Linda Lingle was to help light Saturday night to celebrate Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights.

OK, lets get this argument over with.

A Menorah is a religious symbol and a sacramental. Candles are lit. Jews pray over it. Desecrate a menorah and jews will cry.

Christmas trees are decor, and are thrown in the trash or rendered into mulch by the millions every year.

Christmas is a national holiday.
Hanukkah is a religious observance, and a rather insignificant one at that.

Christmas celebrants out number Hanukkah worshippers by about 50-1. If jews dont like it, they can always move to Israel, and put up all the menorahs they want (and still be on land supported by the American taxpayer) or retreat quietly to their synagogues where we dont have to listen to them. Maybe they could practice some of that tolerance they keep demanding of the rest of us?

Christmas has long and deep roots in American cultural history. Jews need to respect that, and stop demanding their own religious displays on taxpayer supported property.

A Tribute To The Chameleons

My all time favorite band of any era, I can listen to them for hours and never get tired of it. I really mean never. No overstatement here.They were around in 1980's , never quite reaching the level of recognition due them, spawning a small, but dedicated, following that still follows today. In my not always humble opinion,I bring to you the greatest band ever ignored by the masses: The Chameleons,live, In Shreds.

NeoCounter Nixed

Seems NeoCounter has been a source of difficulty for users of Firefox, spurring crashes, not loading, freeze ups. And not just myself, but for others as well.

It's gone.

At least until i can figure out the issues. Any suggestions out there? I'm about as advanced as a mousepad when it come to these things.

I kinda liked that scrolling flag thingy,though. But then again... i'm easily self-impressed. Not a lot of sophistication, here. I admit it.

But all was not lost. I've learned there are at least two people with internet service in Bangladesh. Hell... I didnt even think they had electricity over there.

Killing Them Softly, Or Not.

It keeps happening. **LINK**

Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions in Florida after a medical examiner said Friday that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week.

Good for Jeb. I'm glad he did it. But I would hardly use the word "botched" while describing a planned execution that resulted in death. But maybe that's just me.

And from the once Golden State:

Separately, a federal judge in California imposed a moratorium on executions in the nation's most populous state, declaring that the state's method of lethal injection runs the risk of violating the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Honest people can disagree over the method of putting somebody peacefully to sleep through lethal injection as being 'cruel' or not, but in California,with well over 600 prisoners(i think its nearly 1000 now,but not sure, and i'm too lazy to look it up), about 2-3 executions in a productive year(usually, it's less than one), and the average length of time on Death Row something like 25+yrs and growing, it certainly is unusual.


It seems to me, the more we try to out think the collective wisdom of the ages through complication of the simple, something goes wrong. In an attempt to render death as nicely as possible, we end up rendering very little death through the most torturously complicated of procedures.

Tell me. What is so goddamned difficult about placing a single bullet through the back of somebody's head? Thats the way it was done for hundreds of years, is still being done by other 'less wiser'(?) nations, and works effectively each and every time. It's quick. Relatively clean. Cost effective. And measureably painless.

Yeah, I know... the bleeding hearts and lefties will bemoan the brutality and bloodiness of it all, but if they can find it in themselves to defend the procedure of piercing a baby's skull and sucking out it's brains, given time, I'm sure they'll eventually come around to acceptance.

To be honest about the issue, I oppose capital punishment, but not for the reasons usually cited by others.
I dont think it's cruel.
I dont think it's unconstitutional.
And for some crimes, I can think of no other more fitting level of sanction.
But in a fallible system, operated by fallble humans, where the wealthy, the connected, the sympathetic, and the famous tend to recieve a more favorable level of justice than the rest of us; where 'equal protection under the law' is a promise without a guarantee, some things are just too final to be policy.