Posted by Dave Laird at Origins of the Christmas Tree at 16 Dec 11:04 AM:

Nice to see you back...

You wrote:

That sounds about right, Martin Luther carrying on the pagan tradition of decorated trees by rationalizing that he was doing it in Christ's name. Instead of many candles (which were once a no no to the church owing to their pagan traditions), a single star to represent how the 3 wise men found Christ. Presumably.

"Bah humbug," Dave said leering at the audience. Of course I admit that contradicts much of what I have written over the years about Christmas, but hopefully you will forgive me that minor transgression.

Dave

Posted by frank at Close-out sale in Washington, DC? at 16 Dec 9:09 AM:

Obama plate is full maybe at news conferences the reporters should throw shoes at Bush at least that might make him stay hidden in the Oval office until January.

I think a nice pair of army boots with cow dung all over them would make a great gift for Bush this year.

Posted by Joan E. Harman at Origins of the Christmas Tree at 16 Dec 7:52 AM:

Posted by Dave Laird at The bollixed weather forecast... at 16 Dec 7:23 AM:

You wrote:

Thank you even at 50 I am still learning.......

I turn 63 at the end of this month, and I must admit, so long as I continue to learn new things each day, I continue to be as young as my imagination will allow me to be. Viewed another way, I fear the day I stop learning, for it will end life as I have known it to be for all my days.

Dave

Posted by Dave Laird at A Word A Day -- Golconda at 16 Dec 7:05 AM:

It is seldom that I have to dig out the Websters in order to fully comprehend a message, but I admit nattering left me speechless. I guess that is one of the reasons I so enjoy posting the Word of the Day each day, and today's word was no exception to the rule there are always new words to learn.

Dave

Posted by Dave Laird at Quote of the Day -- December 16, 2008 at 16 Dec 7:02 AM:

How many of you remember who Satchel Paige was?

If you go to the Official Satchel Paige website you can read all about what you missed, if you never heard of his incredible feats.

He pitched his last major league baseball game at age 60, which is quite some accomplishment by itself.

Dave

Posted by madtrapper at A Word A Day -- Golconda at 15 Dec 9:20 PM:

Posted by frank at The bollixed weather forecast... at 15 Dec 9:15 AM:

Posted by Marty... at Starting a List at 14 Dec 4:03 PM:

Posted by Marty... at The bollixed weather forecast... at 14 Dec 4:01 PM:

It's a dry cold! heh, heh......

Posted by Marty... at BRRR! at 14 Dec 3:59 PM:

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at The bollixed weather forecast... at 14 Dec 1:26 PM:

Posted by frank at The bollixed weather forecast... at 14 Dec 9:12 AM:

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at The Road Back to Christmas... at 14 Dec 6:51 AM:

Dave, sorry to be slow on the uptake this morning... the "Warming Centers" are open because of the wind chill and cold.. ie House of Charity opens their downstairs area (the day room) for folks to sleep inside where it is warm.. (Men only i think) and Salvation Army opens for women and children.. there are of course folks sleeping in their cars, hopefully with enough money for fuel to run the engine.... but an honest answer is I don't have a clue how many still stay out.. not many.. perhaps none... even the toughest would likely freeze to death with the wind chill that's present on our back deck porch this morning.... -4 with a 15 knot wind freezes exposed skin very very quickly.. john

Posted by Dave Laird at The Road Back to Christmas... at 14 Dec 6:29 AM:

You wrote in part:

Taking a break this morning it was wonderful to trundle into Century City and meet your friends... the kindness and caring that exists among my similar friends each day, never ceases to amaze me. Please and Thank you are actually part of their daily discourse.

Wonderful piece. Gus

Sitting here in my Great Chair this morning and gazing out upon the City at 8 degrees, I cannot help but wonder in my heart of hearts how many homeless there are this morning incredibly sleeping out-of-doors. Hopefully they have managed to safely find their way to a warming center or someplace comparable, but do you have any speculation of how many are sleeping outside in this frigid cold?

Having suffered frostbite once from being (a) very stupid and (b) very drunk in the North Dakota highlands, I wonder how many people there are in Spokane this morning who still believe they have no options, and are sleeping outside?

Any ideas?

Dave

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at The Road Back to Christmas... at 14 Dec 5:54 AM:

Morning again dave,
I did not get to this till this morning... was humping in the Kitchen for a Fund raiser for Shalom.. (where your friends Charlie and Sarah may have eaten, had the traveled through Spokane), and getting the LuteFisk prepped just right for St Mark's annual Lucia Fest/Holiday Buffet today.

Taking a break this morning it was wonderful to trundle into Century City and meet your friends... the kindness and caring that exists among my similar friends each day, never ceases to amaze me. Please and Thank you are actually part of their daily discourse.

Wonderful piece. Gus

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at The bollixed weather forecast... at 14 Dec 5:37 AM:

Here's a link...

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/cecam.aspx

J

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at The bollixed weather forecast... at 14 Dec 5:34 AM:

Dave Good morning... thanks for the tip on the NEXRAD.. the weather forcaster's here have never taken the time to just go outside and look at the sky... Years ago a crippling Seattle Snow was discounted by the Professor of Meteorology at U.W. who was also a parent at Britta's Lutheran Grade School... kids had to sleep at the school ( with exception of Britta, cause i walked over three miles to get her, and we walked six miles home). A year later we did a field trip to the U.W. Met Lab and found that there were NO windows in the lab to have seen the storm descend from the north in the same pattern as this one.

Another simple way now to check the weather that is coming is with the traffic cameras in place all over the state....
"Slip Slidin Away".... J

Posted by Dave Laird at Starting a List at 14 Dec 1:30 AM:

You wrote:

For once, I'd like to see Queen Mary turn loose the de-icers BEFORE a sheet covers the city.

Maybe Santa can help.

What is more the issue now is that with temperatures dropping already to 10 degrees and a steep wind chill, the de-icer solution no longer will work on our slick streets, as it freezes at the current temperature and thus becomes part of the problem.

Granted, Queen Mary needs to turn the de-icer trucks loose before we get an inch or two of snow, but include actively sanding the hills and intersections when the temperature drops below 20 degrees.

Given the current forecast, which says that the high temperature Sunday and Monday will not climb much above 5 degrees, traveling around town is going to be yet another delightfully scary event. The pee trucks will not be out, because at such temperatures, the de-icer freezes.

What's on my list? Get someone in charge of the street department that understands the laws of physics and snow remediation. Can we get that at Fred Meyers?

Dave

Posted by Cindy H. at Starting a List at 13 Dec 8:45 PM:

I dunno. But I bet I can find it at Fred Meyer :-)

Posted by GSLFan at Starting a List at 13 Dec 4:36 PM:

Maybe Santa can help.

Posted by frank at More Partisan Politics at work... at 13 Dec 10:44 AM:

Do we really need these scapegoats? To be strong we need those that do bad things to vanish from the market place.

It will hurt for a while, but like always America will endure.

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at A Tale of Christmas Unanticipation... at 13 Dec 4:32 AM:

Morning Dave.. thank you for the "heads up" about Holiday horror... I am sorry for the loss of your friends..and understand how "anniversary" dates of deaths do weigh on us. Suicide is particularly difficile.. as there is oft the wonder and worry that somehow we might have recognized/saved the person that dies. There is no consistent way to know or understand that. I am sorry for your loss, and for your grief on the death of a friend through suicide.

For those reading this that are worried about a friend or relative this time of year.. do not be afraid to ask the simple question "Are you thinking of harming yourself?" If they say yes then get them to professional help, or call First Call for Help 1 877 678 4428 or 838 4428

John

Posted by Dark Island at A Tale of Christmas Unanticipation... at 12 Dec 12:23 PM:

Or click on Dark Island.

Posted by Dark Island at A Tale of Christmas Unanticipation... at 12 Dec 12:22 PM:

Posted by JeanieSpokane at The Road Back to Christmas... at 12 Dec 8:44 AM:

Posted by J.Grey at More Partisan Politics at work... at 12 Dec 8:37 AM:

But doesn't this all beg the question; what happens tomorrow if we bail out Detroit today? What precedent will that set? What message will it send to Big Business America?

Have we already forgotten the past history of this? And recent history at that! This isn't the first time Chrysler at least has come crying to the taxpayers demanding salvation from their bad business decisions. We, the taxpayers, bailed Chrysler out once before and what did we get for it? What profound change in the philosophy of Detroit did those tax dollars buy us?

If the tab for today's bailout is 30 billion or so, how much will it be in ten years when Detroit - given no particular stimulus to change its clearly insupportable ways - has grown even more bloated and competetively moribund?

If we subsidize the ultimately un-supportable behavior this time, how much more devastating will the inevitable fall be when the time comes - again, as it inevitably must - that we simply can not afford the subsidy even if we might want to pay it?

As I see it, Dave, we're going to hurt as a result of the greed and bad decisions made in the Detroit board rooms. It's simply no longer a question of 'if'. It's only a question of 'when' and 'how much'.

I say bite the bullet and get it over with now.

Posted by JeanieSpokane at A Tale of Christmas Unanticipation... at 12 Dec 8:35 AM:

My heart goes out to all those lonely souls that feel this is the only fix. And my sympathies to you, my friend.

Posted by Dave Laird at New uses for operating systems... at 12 Dec 6:19 AM:

As always, good to see your name in lights. ;-)

You wrote:

Sorry, Dave, I still don't know who or what Linux is.
I thought he was the cute kid with the blanket in the Peanuts comics strip.

Over 60% of the people today use Microsoft Windows (in various permutations) to operate their computers. However, there is a somewhat-vocal minority of us who prefer to use free Open Source software that is packaged under various brands of Linux, for all operating system needs.

Linus was the kid with the blanket and his thumb in his mouth. Linux is the basis for a lot of different software distributions that are used for both servers and workstations.

I have used Linux and/or Unix since 1990 for a variety of purposes, and have used a Ubuntu version of Linux as my primary workstation since before I began this blog. My Linux desktop looks like Windows (a little bit), runs fast, is highly-resistant (with proper care and maintenance) against viruses and other ilk. Even my beknighted wife has been using Linux now for two years and hasn't killed me yet. ;-)

Of course, the working definition for Linux depends highly upon the user's taste in operating systems and software. Having said that, Linux is not for just everyone, although it is getting much-better at how it installs, but it is still somewhat of an acquired taste.

Linus, however, will always be that kid created by Charles Schultz with the blanket and his thumb in his mouth.

Dave (apologizing profusely for the long technical comment in advance)

Posted by ty redding at Those were the days... at 11 Dec 8:57 PM:

Posted by Cindy H. at New uses for operating systems... at 11 Dec 6:29 PM:

Posted by Diana Davies at New Illinois State Seal... at 11 Dec 4:37 PM:

I see on some web sites that you can print a page of his hair, cut it out and glue it to your head. I think the 'do is called the Tainted Blag and it's mainly for those who are stuck in the '80's.

Posted by I'm not telling you my STUPID GULLIBLE NAME at New uses for operating systems... at 11 Dec 4:10 PM:

Posted by Dave Laird at New Illinois State Seal... at 11 Dec 1:13 PM:

You wrote in part:

Brown soap and horseradish-worthy! I love politics!

I gather it is getting even better as Governor Blog-mouth is desperately trying to save his own behind. There are also apparently a lot of guilty people to go around, based upon the content of the FBI tape recordings.

My prediction is that the Governor will have to step down. No amount of brown soap will ever wash the vile comments from his mouth, despite his having a suave hairdo.

Dave

Posted by Dave Laird at Those were the days... at 11 Dec 11:52 AM:

you wrote in part...

Mom would read us a story while Dad disappeared (tired, he said, need to go to bed). While Mom was reading, Dad would make "sleigh tracks" in the snow. We'd "discover" them in the morning along with the empty cookie plate.

Nobody can take Santa away from me, no matter how much downsizing the scrooges can manage.

Thank you! You said it all. Nobody can take the essence of Santa from either of us, then.

Dave

Posted by Dave Laird at Those were the days... at 11 Dec 11:50 AM:

An old and cherished friend who it seems is perhaps doomed to die of cancer soon wrote eloquently about Those were the days recently. He and I have shared a lot of living both together and separate from one another, but his thoughts are particularly applicable to what has been said about the "good old days".

Dave

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Those were the days... at 11 Dec 8:35 AM:

My childhood memories always come to the forefront at Christmas. It should be called "The Happiest Time of the Year." (Like Disney's Happiest Place on Earth.) We had traditions! We'd bake cookies, test them, set aside a plate full for Santa. It was the first thing I checked in the morning. I was always thrilled to see just crumbs. Proof that Santa was at MY house!

Christmas Eve we'd all pile in to the family station wagon and lumber up and down streets and hills, criss-crossing all of the north side and then all of the south side. We'd find neighborhoods that would rename themselves: Candy Cane Lane, Christmas Tree Alley. I was thrilled by all the lights and decorations.

Mom would read us a story while Dad disappeared (tired, he said, need to go to bed). While Mom was reading, Dad would make "sleigh tracks" in the snow. We'd "discover" them in the morning along with the empty cookie plate.

Nobody can take Santa away from me, no matter how much downsizing the scrooges can manage.

Posted by Diana Davies at New Illinois State Seal... at 11 Dec 7:43 AM:

“to hold up that f-ing Cubs sh--, f- them!”

Brown soap and horseradish-worthy! I love politics!

Posted by Steve at New Illinois State Seal... at 11 Dec 6:52 AM:

Ralphie makes me think of Ralph Mouth of the "Happy Days". And as far as "Potty Mouth", that seems to occur every single "darn" time I play golf.

My mother gave me horseradish on my tongue, then gently spread it out over the surface area so as to make the most severe burn for my evildoing ways

DOH!

Posted by Ski bum at The Anticipation of Santa... at 10 Dec 9:57 PM:

Nice story, Dave.

Posted by Dave Laird at New Illinois State Seal... at 10 Dec 9:01 AM:

You wrote:

Actually it was Life Bouy Soap which was made for about a 100 years starting in 1895. It contained phenol which gave it its particular nasty taste.

You may be right there, but I remember a particularly vile-tasting hard bar of dull brown soap that was used in rougher times during the Depression to do laundry, according to my grandmother. It was big and a bit brown and had a terribly-bitter taste to it.

It did correct my pre-teen problem of being a prodigious potty-mouth, which was most often done when and where I thought my grandmother was not listening.

Dave

Posted by Ralphie at New Illinois State Seal... at 10 Dec 6:27 AM:

Posted by Diana Davies at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 9 Dec 4:07 PM:

There was a time in my life when I had to have the latest labels, designer shoes and other junk. That all changed when I realized I was teaching my young daughter to be just like me.

Posted by Economics 101 at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 9 Dec 10:03 AM:

This off the press from the Seattle P.I. Very eye opening.

New jobs in Washington paying less than living wage
By JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTER

Nearly 80 percent of job openings in Washington last year paid less than a living wage for a single parent with two children. And every opening that did offer a living wage for that type of family drew an average of 10 job seekers.

Overall, the percentage of job openings paying less than a livable wage for different household compositions remained virtually unchanged in 2007 from 2006, according to an annual study on the gap between what families earn and what they need to get by.

Still, the situation is troubling because it does not reflect "the alarming economic trends of 2008, which make action on the part of lawmakers even more urgent," said the study, to be released Tuesday by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, a Seattle umbrella for community organizations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

To calculate a living wage, the study estimates the costs of such basic needs as housing, food, utilities, transportation, health care and child care for different sized households. Researchers used figures from federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and other federal and state sources.

The study found that the hourly living wage needed in Washington for a single adult was $12.27, increasing to $19.63 for a single adult with one child, $26.56 for a single adult with two children, $24.46 for two adults (one working) with two children and $33.59 for two adults (combined wages) with two children.

Compared with 2006, the hourly living wage increased anywhere from 76 cents for the single adult to $1.42 for two adults with one working.

Not surprisingly, those in King County needed the highest hourly living wages, ranging from $13.11 for the single adult to $36.62 for two working adults with two children. A single parent with two children would need to earn $29.83 per hour.

Snohomish County tied with King County for the highest hourly living wages needed in two categories and was second in the rest. Island County was third highest in all categories. Residents of Asotin County in the southeast corner of Washington needed the lowest wages.

Seventy-nine percent of job openings in Washington last year paid less than a living wage for a single parent with two children, up 2 percentage points from 2006. The figures were identical for both years in three other categories: 72 percent for two adults (one working) with two children, 61 percent for a single adult with one child and 30 percent for a single adult.

"When families are unable to earn living wages, many are forced to make the difficult choices between adequate health care, balanced nutrition and paying the bills," the study said.

Among other strategies, the study advocated for taxpayer support for economic development; more investments in training, education and apprenticeships; increased wage progression; and use of living wage figures to set wage policies and determine eligibility for public assistance.

Posted by frank at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 9 Dec 9:43 AM:

Loosing our bling puts us in a fearful state because we have been taught that is who we are.

I have seen in my life all the stuff i have lost and know that it will come back ten fold and it always does. When you start to see what is real in life the bling as no value.

That is where we have lost as a people we only see what is in it for us? Instead of thank you father for what I have, and please father help those who need it.

We judge and disregard people because of their lack of bling, while we should be rejoicing we are alive and well.

I have one good friend in this life and i would give every thing I have just to keep that one friend in my life because relationships with others is above and beyond any amount of bling.

The greatest things in life are free or close to it. A warm summer rain, the smell of a flower, a hot shower, a walk in the woods to reconnect with nature, watching a baby take his first step, so many things just pass by, getting little attention because they are parts of life we ignore for the chance to gather more bling.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Posted by Economics 101 at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 9 Dec 9:05 AM:

On the other hand if the rest of the Government started auctioning off Senate/Congressional seats to the highest bidder (such as alleged by the Gov. of Illinois), we could easily a) reduce the government debt and b) identify the corrupt people bidding on them.

So few recall the excesses of Rome which caused its downfall.

I limit my purchases to essentials and unlimit my experiences to those things that do not require large purchases such as visiting the library, walking in the park, hikes, cheap transportation. Speaking of cheap entertainment. The City Council meetings are always a good guffaw watching the "Joe Shogan" show each week. With special guest star Nancy who bubbles on without saying anything of value.

Posted by Sue at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 9 Dec 8:15 AM:

Posted by J.Grey at Quote of the Day -- December 8, 2008 at 9 Dec 7:45 AM:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/

Evidently we really don't torture people in this country any more. We kidnap them off the streets and ship them to foreign countries where we contract the torturing out to others.

So much for our core principle of 'liberty and justice for all'!

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Quote of the Day -- December 8, 2008 at 8 Dec 4:57 PM:

Posted by Diana Davies at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 8 Dec 10:32 AM:

Posted by frank at Quote of the Day -- December 6, 2008 at 8 Dec 10:16 AM:

Like my latest complaint is why do so many non-Indian descent people go spend money at the casinos? Don’t these people know because of the casinos we are paying more for taxes, energy, costs, etc? Inland power at this time supplies Northern Quest with power but they have been told NQ is working a deal with Bonneville power to become a substation meaning they wont be buying power from Inland or Avista like we have to.

The power companies bill commercial a higher rate in an attempt to keep the residential at a lower rate, when NQ starts buying from the wholesaler airway heights residential will be paying a higher rate.

Up until a few months ago inland was giving NQ a good rate but after finding out they are going to Bonneville Inland realizes NQ is an unreliable customer at best. So I think from my sources they are billing with no discounts.

Look at you phone bill, utility or power bill we are all paying federal tax. The casinos don’t pay ANY federal tax. So we all get to make up the difference.

I will admit I liked going to the casino on occasion but after finding out this info decided to spend my money elsewhere.

Wal-mart gets a lot of dirt thrown at its business practices but you know what, they pay federal taxes like the rest of us.

Posted by frank at Unhitch the trailer and RUN... at 8 Dec 9:57 AM:

And like we will find in our own city, State, and county governments, the unions are killing America.

The unions fight for wages and benefits the average taxpayer will never see in their working lives, but for some reason we are supposed to pay higher costs and taxes to help pay benefits for a select part of the population.

That is coming to a end. the unions are not needed any longer because we have labor laws now, that protect the workers.

I think we should unhitch the trailer and let them fall, they will come back but maybe when they do the United Auto Workers Union wont be along for the ride.

Why is it when the country is in trouble we are giving money to giant industries that should be more then liquid?

We have given away billions of dollars and the market is still falling.

All our so called politicians in Washington are millionaire's I don't see any of them digging in their pockets, why should I?

Posted by frank at Quote of the Day -- December 7, 2008 at 8 Dec 9:44 AM:

Try to tell that to a poor man.

Posted by frank at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 8 Dec 9:42 AM:

I personally think we should all loose our trappings once every 10 years (I have). The more important aspects come back (family, friends, life, freedom), the more you loose and regain. The ideal that it is not important at at all, comes to mind.

Every day be thankful for what you have.

Posted by frank at A Word A Day -- espalier at 8 Dec 9:24 AM:

Liquidity:

When you look at your investments and wet your pants.

Posted by Diana Davies at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 8 Dec 7:57 AM:

We've reached lower than the lowest common denominator. I'm at a loss as to the answer.

Posted by terry at Shopping--our patriotic duty? at 7 Dec 10:48 PM:

Coke or Pepsi. Which side are you on?

Personal savings, we were once told, were the bulwark of a strong economy. Yet in the aftermath of what was inarguably one of the biggest challenges to face our nation, 9/11, our call to action by our leaders was to spend our money: To go shopping. Sacrifice?

And shop we did. We enjoyed easy credit, bought our flat screens, moved to McMansions. . Build condos for retiring baby boomers. Gentrification.

Instead of moving from crises to crises, like the history of market economics proves, isn't it time to seriously consider more stable alternatives?

Is Canada bailing out their financial sector?

Posted by J.Grey at Unhitch the trailer and RUN... at 7 Dec 3:49 AM:

They're going to 'cut costs'? What costs? By what date certain is each cost going to be reduced by what specific amount?

They're going to build more fuel efficient vehicles? How many models? What will the fuel economy numbers be? When will the models be on the show room floors?

What penalties will be assessed if the specific goals are not met? I'm not interested in another game of, 'promise them whatever it takes to get the money - they'll forget about it in a year or two and we can get back to business as usual.' No. Not this time.

And by the way - this offer is only good for Ford and GM. I'm not interested in bailing out Chrysler. Remember not so long ago when they had their turn at the public trough, complete with promises about how they were going to be a model corporate citizen from then on and would never ever fall back into their old arrogant and short-sighted ways? Chrysler is done as far as I'm concerned. Ford and GM are probably done too, but I'm willing to give them one last chance to make their case, provided this time there are concrete, detailed promises tied to specific schedules for performance with drastic penalties for failure to perform.

Posted by Diana Davies at Unhitch the trailer and RUN... at 6 Dec 5:01 PM:

Let the oil industry bail out the automakers. After all, they have been partners in this debacle.

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Handel's Messiah Sunday evening... at 6 Dec 2:44 PM:

It was a fantastic performance and amazingly very professional. Who would have thought that we would perform together right on the spot, having never rehearsed together with all the other Park employees.

It snowed that day. My first Christmas in August.

Posted by Steve at Santa Checks his List... at 6 Dec 8:37 AM:

Fight On
Right On
Sights are on
Lights are out
Cowardly bloggers
You probably pout
But Laird will kill you
And you will deserve it
He has to do this
He must preserve it

Steve Vaitriani

(sorry about the confusion for the administrator/some thought I was Mr Smith, which is a huge compliment)

stevevaitriani@gmail.com

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at Santa Checks his List... at 6 Dec 6:58 AM:

Mornin Dave.. not sure what is going on in your cubicle this morning.. but I concur.. although my feelings are that cast insults.. whether they use their real name or a pseudonym... neither is acceptable in my world. take em out... John

Posted by Dave Laird at Santa Checks his List... at 6 Dec 6:22 AM:

At least learn to spell my e-mail address correctly when you attempt to use it to SPAM Community Comment. I thought better of you than that, but I guess I was wrong.

I loathe people who are cowards at heart, who will not use their proper names when casting insults.

Dave

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Elder Abuse at 5 Dec 11:05 PM:

Posted by Marty... at The Consumerism of Christmas portrayed... at 5 Dec 9:48 PM:

Posted by Marty... at Elder Abuse at 5 Dec 9:42 PM:

Posted by JeanieSpokane at A Word A Day -- flummadiddle at 5 Dec 2:30 PM:

"Gilly talks to hear his head rattle. He passes the time with flummadiddles. I learned right away that he says things without giving any thought to them." Dorothy Garlock; Larkspur; Warner Books; 1997.

These are priceless gems - these are words that make you giggle just to say them.

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Santa Checks his List... at 5 Dec 2:02 PM:

Posted by jantri at Santa Checks his List... at 5 Dec 11:39 AM:

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Santa Checks his List... at 5 Dec 8:31 AM:

Posted by I was at Costco.. at The Consumerism of Christmas portrayed... at 4 Dec 9:23 AM:

Since she wasn't going to stuff it, why not have the meat department cut it in half and give half to a food bank. She looked at me and said. "Why would I go to all the trouble for that?". I decided to walk away instead of giving some more "advice" about what she could do with her turkey.

We have indeed lost the spirit of the Holidays. Buy, buy, spend spend. "I'll buy this toy and keep the kid happy for a couple of hours."

I try through out the year to collect unigue and unusual gifts for my friends. Nothing of great value. Instead of buying gifts. I print out vouchers for my time. A couple of years ago my sister needed her house painted. My gift to her that year was 40 hours of my labor to help paint etc.

I believe now in the giving of oneself just not the hullabaloo of consumerism.

Pax su la Terre.

Posted by Steve at The Consumerism of Christmas portrayed... at 4 Dec 6:25 AM:

Let me take a different approach. While the focus on love and humanity, the pure goals of Christ and Buddha and,arguably, Zoroastrians, while all that is and should be the focus of our energy and time, there is a hidden surprise to consumerism. Allow me the courtesy of this opinion;

There is nothing wrong with massive consumption and competitive "keeping up with the Jones's. Now, before you break out your Chomsky dictionary, keep this in mind. The engine of capitalism is the consuming of products. This can be seen as selfish by neighbors who salivate with jealousy. My attitude is that, if you seek to consume in the name of gifting for your family and friends, what is wrong with that ? Now, for those that spoil their kids and raise children like Dylan Klebold, so drenched in narcissism that they need psychological scuba gear, this is not what I refer to. I know a guy that just bought his son a Lexus. The 18 year old had to sign a rather involved contract, so the parents were teaching a lesson to him. And the Lexus was old(1991)and cost a little less than 2 thousand dollars. The point is that the neighbors saw this as consumerism run amok. But just who has the business of judging how much we spend. Is there a common per capita ? If, Mr. Laird, you are saying we americans take for granted how lucky we are, I agree wholeheartedly. If you are saying we are focused too much on malls and not enough on family, again, I am a parrott on your shoulder agreeing with me matey.

On the other hand, however, if you are saying shopping is evil and the people who spend and waste should be ground into soylent green, well, we have a disagreement of opinion.

Steve

Posted by Diana Davies at Picture of the Day -- December 3, 2008 at 3 Dec 7:30 AM:

It's fine with me. The guys rocking the disco moves with the fabulous hats are just doing what they do, while I'm sure their bad-ass counterparts are hot on the trail of the bad guys.

Posted by J.Grey at Picture of the Day -- December 3, 2008 at 3 Dec 5:26 AM:

Speaking of my military days...

Man, I thought the Navy's dress blues were a weird set of clothing! I don't know what's worse about those...uh...'unusual' sets of headgear: the fact that they must weigh ten pounds at least, the fact that both sides are stuck with them, or the fact they are evidently so 'meaningful and important' that there are several different variations to keep track of. (Compare the two Indians with the 'fringe on top' on the left with the 'festive bunting' being worn by the Indian on the right - the one apparently doing some kind of Indian Rope Trick for the amusement of his fellows.)

And dig the wild disco moves of the Pakistani in the background! Man, I was obviously right to have joined the U.S. Navy. If I had to do stuff like that every evening at sundown, I'd have spent my entire naval career recovering from one sprain after another.

Posted by JeanieSpokane at A Word A Day -- absquatulate at 2 Dec 10:02 AM:

Posted by Bush Wacked. at What will Bill do? at 2 Dec 8:32 AM:

Who was the last senator named to the post of Secretary of state? That would be Maine's Ed Muskie (D), who was picked after Cyrus Vance, Jimmy Carter's secretary of state, resigned in April 1980 in protest of Carter's ultimately disastrous decision to attempt a rescue of the American hostages in Iran.

When was the last open Senate Seat? June of 1968, when Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, a Republican, named GOP Rep. Charles Goodell to the seat in September.

So whose in line to fill Hillary's seat? Bill could petition for it, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on the hot list. His father filled he seat decades earlier and its been a long time since we had a Good Kennedy in office.

Bill can either. 1) Do nothing. 2) Continue to do what he does now and work in the background or 3) he could become the defacto Asst. to the Secretary of State. Bill historically was graded average in Foreign Affairs during his Presidency.

Bill Clinton still presents a wild card that could be a moving force for the Obama presidency. Whether he is allowed to or if he wants to is yet to be decided. He wasn't a bad President, did actually quite good in domestic affairs. Will his image as a former/reformed philanderer tarnish his ability to contribute or just sit on the sidelines? We shall see.

Meanwhile for you Obamafiles, this should be insightful reading. Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, a book that discusses Lincoln's decision to bring his rivals into his Cabinet.

Posted by Diana Davies at What will Bill do? at 2 Dec 8:10 AM:

I just love him.

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at How will history view Bush? at 2 Dec 5:22 AM:

I am wondering what the new Status of Force's agreement that puts our soldiers inside their bases by June of next year...to be slowly withdrawn.. has to say about the "contract employees"... the shadow force that has been toting a fair bucket of our blood.. john

Posted by frank at How will history view Bush? at 2 Dec 12:03 AM:

Posted by frank at Quote for the Day -- December 1, 2008 at 1 Dec 11:58 PM:

Maybe it the cities new green campaign, destroy out everything that is green.

Posted by Wally World at The Christmas Messenger at 1 Dec 9:55 PM:

A worker trampled to death when customers stormed a Wal-Mart for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving had no experience in crowd control and was placed at the entrance because of his hulking frame, police and a lawyer said Monday.

The details about the deadly stampede came out as police pored over video surveillance provided by the store while considering possible criminal charges. Lawyers were also preparing to sue over the episode.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey noted that the worker, Jdimytai Damour, was 6 feet 5 and 270 pounds, making the trampling all the more stunning. He was killed when a crowd estimated at 2,000 strong broke down the electronic doors in frantic pursuit of bargains on big-screen TVs, clothing and other items.

Posted by Diana Davies at The Christmas Messenger at 1 Dec 4:51 PM:

My world gets a lot smaller during this time of year. When a Christmas carol comes on the radio, I change the station. I avoid the stores guilty of such crass commercialism. I'm gathering blankets and coats for the shelters and sending my hard-earned annual donation to Planned Parenthood. I'll pull my family together in a few weeks to begin the celebration of Hannukah. That's it.

I can hear Thomas Wolfe whispering in your head. You can't go back, but you can reinvent.

You'll never see me in WalMart buying cheap crap that I can do without. Never have, never will.

Posted by JeanieSpokane at The Christmas Messenger at 1 Dec 4:37 PM:

The worker killed was my oldest son's age. My first thought when I read that was, what if it happened to my son? About 12 years ago he was a clerk at K-Mart. He had just gotten out of the Army after serving two years in South Korea, along the North Korean border. I worried about him like you wouldn't believe and practically kissed his feet when he finally arrived home safe and in one piece. That year, K-Mart decided they would beat all the stores on Black Friday by being open on Thanksgiving Day. I thought, how tacky. How UN-Christmas can you get?

It's bad enough that we are noticing decorations being up in stores earlier and earlier - used to be that we were aghast at "before Thanksgiving even cleared." Now it's before Halloween. I saw decorations and Christmas displays in September.

Anyway - I babble - I DO blame the stores and all the hype that goes on and - the drumming in our heads with ads, displays, commercials. We are facing a terrible recession and we are inundated with "buy this! you can't live without that!"

But if it were MY son who was trampled by such careless disregard for his life - I would hunt them down, every last one of them. I would sue them in civil court. I would definitely sue the store. And I would even be so insane with grief that I would try a class action against all chains, Wal*Mart, Sears, Penny's, Macy's, Target, Shopco. I wouldn't quit until I died a lonely childless death.

I am so angry about this story I cannot express it.

Oh, to bring back Christmas of olden days where we made corn cob dolls and handmade toys.

Posted by Diana Davies at The Christmas Messenger at 1 Dec 3:59 PM:

WalMart bears a huge responsibility for this. Of course they cultivated and expected a huge crowd. The trick when you whip up a frenzied crowd is having resources in place to properly control them.

I wonder how many years WalMart will drag out the lawsuit brought by the family of the dead store clerk?

Posted by Diana Davies at Quote for the Day -- December 1, 2008 at 1 Dec 2:10 PM:

Posted by JeanieSpokane at The Christmas Messenger at 1 Dec 12:46 PM:

Dave - where's your costume?

Posted by Dave Laird at The Christmas Messenger at 1 Dec 12:16 PM:

I will touch briefly upon what you have said because it's Monday, and my time is short. You spoke eloquently and succinctly about the meaning of Christmas, which is not necessarily what most people subscribe to.

Have we lost the meaning of Christmas in the glitz and glamor of consumption? Yes, it would seem so, but there is still that quiet messenger with his message of hope and good cheer.

I once thought of an old Santa, one with tired gentle eyes and ragged clothing, showing up at one of the malls, and simply honoring the children with a gift of love and compassion, may even write about it as the Christmas Season is still young on the vine, but I also wondered in my heart of hearts whether anyone would stop to see a Jolly Old Elf with bad clothing and tired eyes?

Dave

Posted by Bush Wacked at How will history view Bush? at 1 Dec 11:44 AM:

Such as the size of Iraq to Nazi occupied Europe and Japanese Empire occupied Pacific. Obviously the Nazi's and Japanese armies were a bit stronger than any lackluster terrorists in Iraq, and yet we were able to win that war in slightly less than 4 years? Just how long have we been in Iraq?

Even if Bush War 2.0 was justified, the fact remains is that he hamstrung our Commanding Generals when he failed to listen to them. Obviously since Bush didn't partake in the East Asian War Games (aka Vietnam) he failed to learn the lessons that his father did in Bush War 1.0 in letting Colin Powell and Schwartzakoff in letting the War Fighters fight the war.

Its a bit scary when we have nearly as many Civilians in Iraq as we do military? Washington Post has a nice article this am on the Mercenary Armies that prop up our Military over there.

This is just one small part of the Bush legacy that will present him in the historical view as a bumbling fool. We nary have touched on the "signing letters", Secret Prisons, Torture, Firing of 7 attorney generals, Blantant hiring practices in the Dept of Justice where you had to be a card carrying Republican to get a job. Other posters have touched on the other areas Bush will be remembered for.

The sad part is that we will now have to finance a large Presidential library which will be largely a facade since so much of the Bush Whiiehouse documents have been deleted, shredded or never recorded in the first place just to protect his backside. Can we say Scooter Libby?

January 20th will not just celebrate the new President, it will be a bigger party getting rid of the older one. May they have tar and feathers ready. Bush should remember they execute a lot of criminals in Texas. Best not to go back there.

Posted by Dave Laird at Quote for the Day -- December 1, 2008 at 1 Dec 11:42 AM:

Please to note that Godliness does not necessarily denote any particular religion or belief. It is state of being Godly.

Dave

Posted by I know why at Demonstration in Mumbai... at 1 Dec 11:30 AM:

Its actually quite simple. They finally got tired of the U.S. sticking its nose into everyones business. Imagine what recourse a small group/class of individuals has against a Country that marginalizes them.

We have agents/operatives/listening/monitoring of every government in the world, including our own. I used to read Intel reports of Pierre Trudeau's bedroom life. We were deep into spying in our own neighboring countries politics. It has not stopped. We no longer focus on the Former Soviet Union, so what are all those 20,000 CIA and NSA employees doing? Looking busy?

Just take a look at the size of the "BLACK" budget. Thats not including the smaller ones tucked into each Services Intel budgets. The Black budget is nearly the size of the entire DOD budget and for what?

Why would people do this? Even in Ireland where fighting has gone on for decades, there was a motivation. Not just rampant killing but to get back at an opressor that had insinuated itself into the street on your block, into your church, into your government. Revenge fuels a lot of hate.

Its obvious that we as the U.S. has pissed off nearly every nation in the world and we only sway control through the last grasps of economic reins. The answer to terrorism, is to not give them a reason to be terrorists. This is fanciful, but imagine if we took that $3 Trillion Dollar war and had just invested 1/2 of it into social programs, schools, hospitals, infrastructure in Iraq, we wouldn't have thousands of Muslims begging to take out our government. If its the Department of DEFENSE, they why is it so OFFENSIVE?

I noticed that China test flew its first Commercial aircraft the other day. I guess all those jobs that Boeing exported are now coming back to haunt us. At their labor/management rates, I can expect to start seeing all the Airlines shopping for a $25 million aircraft instead of a $125 million one.

Posted by Diana Davies at Demonstration in Mumbai... at 1 Dec 10:55 AM:

A start: Close Gitmo. Stop the torture. End the occupation of Iraq. Start listening.

Posted by J.Grey at Demonstration in Mumbai... at 1 Dec 10:41 AM:

May I respectfully suggest that the question isn't only 'how' do we stop terrorism. I suggest that an equally important question is just how much are we prepared to sacrifice in order to accomplish that goal?

I would remind you that Saddam's Iraq was for the most part terrorism free - at least relatively speaking. And I submit that given the circumstances, that was a pretty impressive feat. After all, consider the chaos that ensued when he was eliminated from the picture and the control he exerted was removed.

It's important to remember that the price the average Iraqi paid for that 'security' was living beneath the heel of a brutal tyrant in a totalitarian police state.

We can be free from the spectre of terrorism if we really and truly want to be. The problem is that the cure might be worse than the disease. This is especially true when you remember that the goal of the terrorists arrayed against us is not and never was the physical destruction of this nation. Rather, the goal is and always has been the destruction of the so-called 'American way of life' as exemplified by the liberties and freedoms we Americans enjoy. It is those liberties and those freedoms that are the real target.

It would be tragically ironic if it was we ourselves who fulfilled the real terrorists' agenda by bowing to fear as we traded in a little of those liberties and freedoms for a little security.

Posted by Diana Davies at Quote for the Day -- December 1, 2008 at 1 Dec 10:26 AM:

Posted by Cindy H. at Quote for the Day -- December 1, 2008 at 1 Dec 9:23 AM:

Posted by Dave Laird at A Word A Day -- skedaddle at 1 Dec 9:17 AM:

You wrote:

We say skeddadle down here in the south of England.... but more often then not we would say... scarper...

Well, my goodness gracious. Look what we have here! According to the Merrian-Webster Collegiate Dictionary scarper is probably of French ancestry, ie., scappare to flee, to run away, Leave or depart. Words are such fascinating things, particularly when you study how they evolved. Thank you!

Dave

Posted by Dave Laird at Demonstration in Mumbai... at 1 Dec 9:12 AM:

You wrote:

The warnings of a potential terrorist attack in Mumbai were noted and ignored.

The warnings of a potential terrorist attack in the United States were noted and ignored.

A better reaction time, indeed. It happened again. My heart is broken.

You stated exactly what I was trying to say and far more eloquently than I could at the time. How do we stop this? Perhaps it is a question for the next President of the United States to answer, no?

Dave

Posted by Diana Davies at Demonstration in Mumbai... at 1 Dec 7:10 AM:

The warnings of a potential terrorist attack in the United States were noted and ignored.

A better reaction time, indeed. It happened again. My heart is broken.

Posted by marmitetoasty at A Word A Day -- skedaddle at 1 Dec 6:38 AM:

x

Posted by J.Grey at How will history view Bush? at 1 Dec 5:54 AM:

Turning again for a moment to the 'Bush as Liberator' topic: I wanted to emphasize the point that Saddam was guilty of causing something like 600,000 deaths over a 24 year period. The current 'struggle for liberation' has resulted in a harder to define number of anything from 300,000 to 1.2 million in 5 years.

If 600,000 deaths in 24 years makes Saddam a monster, what does 300,000 deaths in 5 years make us?

Or does the fact that 'our cause is just' completely change the picture?

Really?

What do you suppose those 300,000 corpses have to say about it? Does the fact that they're now 'free' make it all worthwhile?

Or, being dead, are they not saying much about anything?

More to the point; are we not even supposed to ask questions like that of the outgoing Bush regime with regards to their claims of being 'the Great Liberators'?

Posted by J.Grey at Quote for the Day -- December 1, 2008 at 1 Dec 5:38 AM:

Posted by J.Grey at How will history view Bush? at 1 Dec 5:30 AM:

That final paragraph should have read:

"And I for one say that enough is finally enough and if I have my way, Mr. Bush IS going to be called to account for his many abysmal failures - with an especial eye out for exposing and prosecuting any criminal wrong-doing, as are all the elected officials who are equally responsible and potentially equally guilty for bringing this nation down to its current, sorry state."

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at How will history view Bush? at 1 Dec 5:28 AM:

Pat.. calling people that post here "Idiots" is not something we do... post your own thoughts.. and feelings.. it's not nice to name call, and leads us to discount your otherwise points that are valid for you. John

Posted by J.Grey at How will history view Bush? at 1 Dec 5:21 AM:

But that's about as far as I agree with Pat.

With respect to 'presiding over' (that's the phrase I believe you were looking for) "unbelievable economic growth": When Bush took office, this country was riding an economic surge. Growth indices were up pretty much across the board, we had a tidy little budget surplus and the Stock Market was posting record growth every other week. Today, as Bush leaves office, the country (along with the rest of the developed world) is mired in the depths of one of the most vicious recessions we've seen in living memory, we're staggering under record deficit numbers in the budget (including a $700 billion I.O.U. courtesy of Big Business' unrestrained excesses) and the Stock Market is on life support.

So absent regurgitating a completely unsubstantiated and woefully unwarranted talking point, pray tell how that is 'providing unbelievable economic growth'?

Now please note: I'm NOT saying that all these economic woes are solely President Bush's fault. It is indeed true that there is a lot of blame to go around on Capitol Hill for the current economic mess. But just because Bush isn't solely to blame, that doesn't mean he's completely blameless either - though already that seems to be the tack that the Bush Appologists are trying to take. It's a rather transparent attempt at the old, 'I'll take full credit for any success, but don't try to blame me for any failures!' ploy. And I'm not buying it.

Regarding terrorist attacks: I agree that it's grossly unfair to try and lay the blame for 9/11 at Bush's feet. I believe that is the case because these things don't spring into being over night. The groundwork for 9/11 - especially the anger and hatred of America that motivated the terrorists - was a long time in the making. But if that's so, then I do lay the blame for the attacks that might occurr during Obama's term in office at Bush's feet. I do so because all the anger and hatred that Bush has cultivated during his watch is going to be at least in some measure what's driving the attacks that take place down the road. Again, you can't have it both ways. If Bush can't be blamed for the attacks that occurred during his watch but that were inspired and planned before it, then he IS responsible - at least in some measure - for the attacks that were inspired and planned during his administration but that were carried out after it.

Now by that same logic, should it be that Obama does an equally abysmally bad of job of failing to address the issue, then we'll talk about correctly placing the blame on him for the attacks that take place late in his term and after.

As for liberating 50 million Iraqis and Afghanis: Oh, really? How do we define 'liberating'? The numbers are hard to gauge but a fairly oft-cited figures is that during Saddam's 24 year in power his repressive, totaliarian regime was responsible for something like 600,000 deaths. (That would include the appalling meat-grinder casualities Iraq's military suffered in it's war with Iran.) Compare this with the also hard-to-gauge figures posted diring the current war. There we're seeing similar numbers (anywhere from 300,000 to 1.2 million.) Except those figures are heavily weighted towards civilian deaths. Now, add in dislocation (tens of millions of refugees), the destruction of infrastructure (electrical power is still being rationed some five years after the assault) and the constant fear of terrorist attack that bedevils the average Iraqi's life and I ask again; how do you define 'liberate'?

Now I'm NOT saying that Saddam wasn't a monster who needed to be eliminated. He was and as far as I'm concerned, he got what was coming to him a dozen times over. What I am saying is I strongly dispute the method used to bring about that indisputably happy conclusion. There were better ways to bring about his downfall, ways that we could have explored if we hadn't been rushed into a needlessly expensive, needlessly disruptive war based on lies and omissions.

Last but certainly not least, the 'just forget it and move on' argument: Let me put it simply; if even half of what the Bush administration is being accused of is even potentially true, then there needs to be an investigation that would make Watergate pale into insignificance. And the reason why that investigation is necessary is very simple. As long as we Americans allow ourselves to forget about the past betrayals, corruption and bungling by our elected officials, we will continue to be beset by betrayal, corruption and bungling.

And I for one say that enough is finally enough and Mr. Bush IS going to account for his crime

Posted by Diana Davies at How will history view Bush? at 1 Dec 4:15 AM:

The bottom line remains: Bush is dishonest, deceptive and a dim bulb. See oil prices, Katrina, Iraq war, Justice Department, the environment, etc. Take off your beer goggles and remember where the buck stops.

And I wouldn't call 4207 killed and 30,000 wounded in Iraq "hurt feelings".

Posted by Pat at How will history view Bush? at 30 Nov 10:42 PM:

I'm not a huge Bush fan. But he is the president and people should respect that.

The two yahoos who posted before me are obviously left-wing goons who will never believe Bush has done any good in his entire life. Bush could save their life and they would hate him. It's fine. It's a free country. But it's also naive.

Don't you idiots think before you post? Do you really believe the Congress (controlled by Democrats for the past 2 years) would have decided not to investigate Bush if they had ANYTHING that they could use to impeach him? Like it or not, Congress is just as much to blame for the things that have gone wrong as Bush is.

And I dare the Democrats to, for the next two years, do nothing but investigate Bush. Do it. Please. Because if they do, the public will throw them out quicker than they did the Republicans.

People are tired of the BS. Just get to work government, and quit investigating who did what to whom, and who hurt who's feelings and why.

Posted by Bush Wacked at How will history view Bush? at 30 Nov 1:39 PM:

I believe once he and his cronies are out of office, he will be investigated (like he isn't already) and then all of his illegal activity will come out. Will we the U.S. Citizens have the fortitude to find him guilty of his heinous crimes? Can was say 1 1/2 years of missing whitehouse emails?

IMHO Obama would not have been elected if Bush had been minimumly competent. The Paulies got so much traction because the Democans we sent to the house/senate never performed to the public mandates that sent them there.

Posted by Diana Davies at How will history view Bush? at 30 Nov 1:39 PM:

So he liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace? Really? When was that and how many bodies again? What was that you said? Mission accomplished?

Yeah, we know he came to Washington with a set of "values", having been subjected to them for the past eight years to the world's great peril. The United States has little standing in the world, thanks to Bush and his failed policies.

Good riddance, W. Go back where you came from. I have no respect for you.

Posted by Dave Laird at Beauty and the Beast... at 30 Nov 7:23 AM:

You wrote:

That photo could also be one of Provence France in World War II... so it makes one wonder if the "beast" is the Tank or the folks that sent it...?? John

According to the attribution, the tank was firing on Taliban positions from within the forest. My book is that the tank is the beast, for any other time, I would be delighted to spend a quiet afternoon along that lane, minus tanks, of course, eating and saluting the beauty of the woods.

Who knows? According to the attribution, Osama Bin Laden may be hiding somewhere nearby. On second thought, cancel my tentative travels to that neck of the woods.

Dave

Posted by ChefGus Olsen at Beauty and the Beast... at 30 Nov 7:01 AM:

Good Morning Dave,

That photo could also be one of Provence France in World War II... so it makes one wonder if the "beast" is the Tank or the folks that sent it...?? John

Posted by Steve at Mr. President? at 29 Nov 5:49 AM:

A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down
The medicine go down

Posted by Dave Laird at The First Thanksgiving you were gone... at 27 Nov 4:34 AM:

Thank you for all the kind words. There are just a few more in the Thanksgiving Day series for this year, and then I will begin the series I call The Daze of Christmas 2008.

If you enjoyed or were moved by my Thanksgiving series, I hope you truly will enjoy the next series, as well.

Again, thank you all...

Dave

Posted by Diana Davies at Freedom of Speech, or is it? at 26 Nov 6:46 PM:

Posted by J.Grey at Freedom of Speech, or is it? at 26 Nov 11:44 AM:

I got no problem with tactics designed to bring about a long-overdue rude awakening for this nation's otherwise comatose conscience. At least with the respect to the issues that PETA and Greenpeace claim to champion - causes very near and dear to my own heart.

But go back and look at the picture at the beginning of this thread and tell me how anyone is supposed to take antics like that seriously. Crap like that doesn't challenge conscience. Indeed, if anything I say it reduces the immediacy of the problem by trivializing it into a happy-go-lucky little farce that we can snicker at and then dismiss.

It's not that crap like that isn't not helping the cause. It's actually hurting it.

Posted by frank at Freedom of Speech, or is it? at 26 Nov 11:14 AM:

Posted by FlorineD at The First Thanksgiving you were gone... at 26 Nov 10:57 AM:

Thank you for putting words to a song many hearts will be singing.

Posted by frank at Brief history of Thanksgiving at 26 Nov 10:57 AM:

http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/trivia.asp

Posted by ThomG at The First Thanksgiving you were gone... at 26 Nov 10:31 AM:

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Brief history of Thanksgiving at 26 Nov 10:31 AM:

Posted by marmitetoasty at The First Thanksgiving you were gone... at 26 Nov 10:24 AM:

This post brought me to tears.....

*shuffling through the shelves of me mind to try and find such precious memories as yours*.... nope.... cant find them....

Hold them tight to your heart dear Dave....

x

Posted by JeanieSpokane at The First Thanksgiving you were gone... at 26 Nov 10:24 AM:

Posted by Steve at The First Thanksgiving you were gone... at 26 Nov 9:48 AM:

Such beautiful use of the english language. We have a member of our family recently diagnosed with cancer. Someone who is,in fact, very close to me. "Near and Dear" is one way of saying it. This year I am so thankful for my wife and family. Attempting to put it into words is an excersize in futility. Especially after the perfect prose from the pro's here. Thank you Mr. Laird, for causing me to grin this morning. While reading your words I was taken back to the moment I met my wife. She is my medication and my relaxation. My true love. My soul mate. I am a lucky man. Very, very lucky. Thank you for reminding me of this one immutable and obvious fact.

Posted by Cindy H. at The First Thanksgiving you were gone... at 26 Nov 9:32 AM:

Posted by Diana Davies at Jeanie's answer for the day... at 26 Nov 8:18 AM:

It's a fabulous visual. I wish I had cartoon drawing skills. Absent those, I'll just have to take your word for it!

Posted by Dave Laird at Quote of the Day -- Novembere 26, 2008 at 26 Nov 6:17 AM:

Say, now that I come to think of it, the author has a good point. Some of the most difficult years of my life were responsible for most of the formative development in my life since that time. In my opinion, only two things can make you stronger:

Adversity
Your closest personal friends.

What say you to that?

Dave

Posted by Dave Laird at Jeanie's answer for the day... at 26 Nov 5:52 AM:

You wrote in part:

And yes, my dogs can out-burp a teenage boy any day of the week. Flatulent cats count, too, of course, though there's nothing worse than a gassy cat.

Well perhaps not quite. ;-)

I have heard the opinion that given sufficient numbers of participants, a certain class of flatulent Type II Diabetics are equivalent to a 30-piece orchestra in full bloom. The only admonition would be, "do not light your Bic lighters at the conclusion of the concert."

The Hindenburg is pale by comparison.

Of course, that could simply be a rumor started by those beneath the age of 20-something.

Dave

Posted by Diana Davies at Jeanie's answer for the day... at 26 Nov 5:05 AM:

And yes, my dogs can out-burp a teenage boy any day of the week. Flatulent cats count, too, of course, though there's nothing worse than a gassy cat.

Posted by Dave Laird at Jeanie's answer for the day... at 25 Nov 9:09 PM:

you wrote in part:

I have no intention of being the victim of icky holiday muzak for the next month. I refuse to participate. Bah effing humbug.

I nearly fell off my bar stool just now upon reading this mini-rant. It should be pointed out that occasionally the Ghost of Ebeneezer Scrooge wanders by to haunt the Ballroom, and always delights everyone with his predictable bent about Christmas.

Where you and I agree to disagree is the part about Holiday Muzak. Since I do not possess nor wish to own anything even closely resembling wretched Muzak, I am quite happy with my somewhat antiquated collection of digitalized versions of Christmas music, but not what you might think.

For Christmas music is vastly more to me than the usual collections of old hymns and hackneyed tripe that has been re-recorded by inept members of the Jackhammer Choir and Orchestra. In fact, it is about the history of music itself.

Your dogs eructate? My God, you even got me to look that one up! I have a flatulent cat. Does that count? ;-)

Dave

Posted by Marty... at Observations of the Holidays... at 25 Nov 7:59 PM:

Posted by Marty... at The Turkey and the Chicken at 25 Nov 7:48 PM:

Now all I have to do this evening is to wrap Christmas and birthday presents for all celebrating over the next couple of months. (Why do kids have to be born so close to Christmas?)

Posted by Diana Davies at Jeanie's answer for the day... at 25 Nov 7:41 PM:

I have no intention of being the victim of icky holiday muzak for the next month. I refuse to participate. Bah effing humbug.

Posted by Marty... at Jeanie's answer for the day... at 25 Nov 7:29 PM:

Posted by Diana Davies at Freedom of Speech, or is it? at 25 Nov 3:34 PM:

Their message is lost in portraying what they consider to be outrageous, as evidenced by Fuzzy Wuzzy's boobs emoticons and snuggling up with "them bunnies". (Give it up, Fuzzy, it's never going to happen).
I'll never understand that fascination, except maybe in locker room fantasies of middle school boys.

Free Speech, okay. But the cops in Spokane would probably arrest the models on the basis of indecent exposure. We can't, after all, have people of Spokane traumatized by seeing bare breasts. I would hope Mario Savio, God rest his soul, would have better things to talk about.

Posted by jantri at How the Gummint Works... at 25 Nov 1:00 PM:

Posted by JeanieSpokane at Jeanie's answer for the day... at 25 Nov 10:51 AM:

Posted by frank at Picture of the Day --The amazing monarch... at 25 Nov 9:37 AM:

I wouldn't be surprised if the truck driver sat on the butterfly after taking a lunch break.

Posted by frank at Suicide brings on many changes... at 25 Nov 9:35 AM:

We don’t care!

We have thousands of animals put to sleep every year because no one cares.

If someone kills himself or herself no one cares.

Police kill a disabled man and no one cares.

Death of the innocents in our world is accepted because no one cares.

Is it any wonder we yell jump, maybe we are really yelling it to ourselves?

Posted by frank at How the Gummint Works... at 25 Nov 9:23 AM:

Dave just imagine how many we could employ to guard the ash, at least 3 workers and 10 managers. All paid as federal employees with full benefits.

Posted by Fuzzy Wuzzy at Freedom of Speech, or is it? at 25 Nov 9:10 AM:

Do you know how cold it gets in Red Square this time of year? Moscow weather today was 32.7°F/0.4°C with snow showers.

I could snuggle up with a couple of them bunnies. (o)(o)

Great advice J. Grey. Especially so if the author followed it.

Posted by J.Grey at Freedom of Speech, or is it? at 25 Nov 7:56 AM:

Nowadays both groups have all the real-world relevance of the Ringling Bros clowns and the street mimes who get in your way while you're trying to get somewhere in New York.

As far as I'm concerned nowadays they are for the most part a bad joke and they could best serve a bunch of causes very dear to me by sitting down and shutting up.

Posted by Dave Laird at Touching the face of God... at 24 Nov 9:22 PM:

Thank you for the compliments. I am working on finding more pictures of this type. It did start my day off right, as well!

Dave

Posted by Dave Laird at Observations of the Holidays... at 24 Nov 9:20 PM:

Dave, I am looking forward to this!!! This year we, all of us, need to be filled up with the meaning of Christmas - whether or not it is part of our faith. We need the spiritual touch.

Yes, I indeed am looking forward to this series. It all relates to what I have said about writing: A good writer must always try to move the reader, either to tears, laughter or deep introspection, especially during the Holiday Season which must have meaning and purpose.

Yes, my favorite radio station started 24-hour Christmas music a couple weeks ago. I love Christmas music - but I shuddered a bit when I heard it would be 24 hours a day from then until Christmas day. If I stayed on that station, I would definitely have some kind of eye twitch by Thanksgiving - and what shape would I be in by Christmas. And then when I