Monday, December 24, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas
One of the most intriguing Christmas stories you will ever here is about the World War I 'Christmas Truce' of 1914. I know I'm showing more weirdness but yet I'm not. If you study art history you can't help but like history and it's something my grandfather first told me about years ago. It was only five months into the war and nobody yet understood industrialized or total war so a few leaders suggested a Christmas truce, the generals refused. On Christmas Eve some German soldiers began decorating their trenches with candles and trees and, generals be damned, the truce was born. The two sides sang carols together, exchanged gifts, and one group even played soccer in the no mans land between the trenches. The truce, mostly between German and British troops in Belgium, was never recognized by higher ups and the first official histories of the war ignored it completely. It never happened as far as they were concerned.
"O ye who read this truthful rime From Flanders, kneel and say:
God speed the time when every day
Shall be as Christmas Day."
From "A Carol from Flanders" by Frederick Niven
Snoopy vs. The Red Baron
link
"O ye who read this truthful rime From Flanders, kneel and say:
God speed the time when every day
Shall be as Christmas Day."
From "A Carol from Flanders" by Frederick Niven
Snoopy vs. The Red Baron
link
Friday, December 21, 2012
Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas
One for my mom ....
"The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart ....
White as the gleam of a receding sail,
White as a cloud that floats and fades in air,
White as the whitest lily on a stream,
These tender memories are; a fairy tale
Of some enchanted land we know not where,
But lovely as a landscape in a dream."
"Holidays" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, "Christmas Canon"
link
(Sorry, You might have to watch this on YouTube. Atlantic Records, in its infinite wisdom, allows you to have an embed code but doesn't always allow it to work.)
"The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart ....
White as the gleam of a receding sail,
White as a cloud that floats and fades in air,
White as the whitest lily on a stream,
These tender memories are; a fairy tale
Of some enchanted land we know not where,
But lovely as a landscape in a dream."
"Holidays" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, "Christmas Canon"
link
(Sorry, You might have to watch this on YouTube. Atlantic Records, in its infinite wisdom, allows you to have an embed code but doesn't always allow it to work.)
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas
This video has it all so it had to be used, there was no choice in the matter. Carols, a tree, presents, Santa's helpers. Best get it out of the way now before the final four.
The Victoria's Secret Angels Sing "Deck the Halls"
The Victoria's Secret Angels Sing "Deck the Halls"
link
Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas
This is a video a friend sent me last night and not one of my 'official' 12 days of Christmas posts or that would make it "Katie's 13 Days of Christmas" and christ what with the Mayans and everything who needs the bad luck? Just think of it as a bonus post.
Now anybody that knows me knows how much I like Anne Hathaway but this short hair of hers, I just don't know about that. I'm not about to kick her out of my dreams over it though. And yes, yes that is my princess saying motherf*cker in the video, you were warned.
Now anybody that knows me knows how much I like Anne Hathaway but this short hair of hers, I just don't know about that. I'm not about to kick her out of my dreams over it though. And yes, yes that is my princess saying motherf*cker in the video, you were warned.
link
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Observations 12.19
"Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Charlotte Bacon, 6. Daniel Barden, 7. Olivia Engel, 6. Josephine Gay, 7. Dylan Hockley, 6. Madeleine Hsu, 6. Catherine Hubbard, 6. Chase Kowalski, 7. Jesse Lewis, 6. Ana Marquez-Greene, 6. James Mattioli, 6. Grace McDonnell, 7. Emilie Parker, 6. Jack Pinto, 6. Noah Pozner, 6. Caroline Previdi, 6. Jessica Rekos, 6. Avielle Richman, 6. Benjamin Wheeler, 6. Allison Wyatt, 6.
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Charlotte Bacon, 6. Daniel Barden, 7. Olivia Engel, 6. Josephine Gay, 7. Dylan Hockley, 6. Madeleine Hsu, 6. Catherine Hubbard, 6. Chase Kowalski, 7. Jesse Lewis, 6. Ana Marquez-Greene, 6. James Mattioli, 6. Grace McDonnell, 7. Emilie Parker, 6. Jack Pinto, 6. Noah Pozner, 6. Caroline Previdi, 6. Jessica Rekos, 6. Avielle Richman, 6. Benjamin Wheeler, 6. Allison Wyatt, 6.
And I don't even have to tell you who they are.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas
I don't know, my whole little Christmas project just isn't as enjoyable as when I started it. Some clips I was going to use like Die Hard, yes it is a Christmas movie, and the Home Alone black and white gun scene just seem wrong. So I'll go with a modern classic suggested by my brother. U2's first Christmas tune ....
link
link
Observations on Guns
The more I thought about what I wanted or needed to say about guns the more notes I had and the greater the threat of some massive post that made no sense to anybody. I decided I would break it into two parts. There is just too much swirling around in my head so first I'm going to get out some basic "facts" about why I think about guns the way I do. Maybe in the end it will be that long awkward post broken in two but I have to start somewhere.
At times it is a very emotional issue for me, at other times very fact based, which is very hard to explain to some people. Before I go any further let me get this out of the way, it has to stop. Every year more Americans die in this country from gun violence than died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Yes the second amendment guarantees the right to own guns but that right shouldn't override the most basic of Jefferson's rights, the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." When the Constitution was written muskets couldn't hit the side of a barn from 100' and there was no such thing as a semi-automatic musket. Does the second amendment give me the right to a nuke? I don't think so, so why a semi-automatic assault rifle with a hundred round magazine? Nobody needs to go to Cabella's for armor piercing bullets to go duck hunting. It's just insanity.
I grew up in a small town ruralish county in Pennsylvania, a state which has more NRA members than any other state other than Texas. In the fall the thoughts of a large part of the state doesn't turn to Penn State football but to hunting. Pennsylvania has more hunting seasons than I can remember. Small game, deer, bear, archery, and musket come to mind. All my uncles hunt and my dad does too although I always had the feeling he hunted more to be with his brothers than for any other reason. I love my uncles but I argue with them all the time and doing that has taught me two things about gun control. Like global warming it's just a bad term and if there is ever going to be a rational gun policy in this country it has to soothe the very real, if somewhat irrational, fear of rural Americans that somebody is going to come and take there hunting rifles.
For years I owned gun, a completely legally purchased and licensed hand gun. My one uncle taught me how to shoot it, took me to a safety class, and often took me to a shooting range where, to be brutally honest, I quite enjoyed shooting it and did much better than hit the side of a barn. Why did I enjoy it? Have you ever played a shooter computer game? If you have you and enjoyed it you understand even if you don't want to admit it to yourself. It's the same feeling just a 'real' feeling and not a 'virtual' one. Beyond that I wont get into it because it's one of those no win emotional issues of the gun debate. One extreme will say I'm evil because I enjoyed firing a gun and the other will say I'm bad because I got rid of my gun to prove a point.
Why do some people react with near hatred of the right when it comes to gun control? Because they have to deal with people like Texas Governor Rick Perry who yesterday told a wingnut meeting that teachers should be able to carry guns. Then there is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who thinks a mass shooting in an elementary school is the natural result of taking god out of schools. If his god is that spiteful it would allow twenty children to die to prove a point I'm so glad I don't believe in it. As for the National Rifle Association I'm not sure I can discuss them, least at the national level, without a touch of loathing. There answer to everything seems to be more guns. Guns in school, guns in church, more guns everywhere as if 300 million weren't enough.
But now it all comes down to one simple fact, twenty small children died in a way nobody deserves to die. As I wrote somewhere last Friday, what does it say about a country when it kills its children?
So you can see that, even when I'm trying to not be emotional, when it comes to guns in America emotion is never far away for anybody.
At times it is a very emotional issue for me, at other times very fact based, which is very hard to explain to some people. Before I go any further let me get this out of the way, it has to stop. Every year more Americans die in this country from gun violence than died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Yes the second amendment guarantees the right to own guns but that right shouldn't override the most basic of Jefferson's rights, the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." When the Constitution was written muskets couldn't hit the side of a barn from 100' and there was no such thing as a semi-automatic musket. Does the second amendment give me the right to a nuke? I don't think so, so why a semi-automatic assault rifle with a hundred round magazine? Nobody needs to go to Cabella's for armor piercing bullets to go duck hunting. It's just insanity.
I grew up in a small town ruralish county in Pennsylvania, a state which has more NRA members than any other state other than Texas. In the fall the thoughts of a large part of the state doesn't turn to Penn State football but to hunting. Pennsylvania has more hunting seasons than I can remember. Small game, deer, bear, archery, and musket come to mind. All my uncles hunt and my dad does too although I always had the feeling he hunted more to be with his brothers than for any other reason. I love my uncles but I argue with them all the time and doing that has taught me two things about gun control. Like global warming it's just a bad term and if there is ever going to be a rational gun policy in this country it has to soothe the very real, if somewhat irrational, fear of rural Americans that somebody is going to come and take there hunting rifles.
For years I owned gun, a completely legally purchased and licensed hand gun. My one uncle taught me how to shoot it, took me to a safety class, and often took me to a shooting range where, to be brutally honest, I quite enjoyed shooting it and did much better than hit the side of a barn. Why did I enjoy it? Have you ever played a shooter computer game? If you have you and enjoyed it you understand even if you don't want to admit it to yourself. It's the same feeling just a 'real' feeling and not a 'virtual' one. Beyond that I wont get into it because it's one of those no win emotional issues of the gun debate. One extreme will say I'm evil because I enjoyed firing a gun and the other will say I'm bad because I got rid of my gun to prove a point.
Why do some people react with near hatred of the right when it comes to gun control? Because they have to deal with people like Texas Governor Rick Perry who yesterday told a wingnut meeting that teachers should be able to carry guns. Then there is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who thinks a mass shooting in an elementary school is the natural result of taking god out of schools. If his god is that spiteful it would allow twenty children to die to prove a point I'm so glad I don't believe in it. As for the National Rifle Association I'm not sure I can discuss them, least at the national level, without a touch of loathing. There answer to everything seems to be more guns. Guns in school, guns in church, more guns everywhere as if 300 million weren't enough.
But now it all comes down to one simple fact, twenty small children died in a way nobody deserves to die. As I wrote somewhere last Friday, what does it say about a country when it kills its children?
So you can see that, even when I'm trying to not be emotional, when it comes to guns in America emotion is never far away for anybody.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas
Saturday night "Saturday Night Live" paid tribute to the victims of the Newtown shootings with a rare serious opening by the New York Children's Chorus.
Observations 12.17
Last night President Obama made a speech at a prayer vigil in Newtown, Connecticut. It was a good speech, maybe one of his best, or maybe it was just the moment. Either way it was the best I have ever heard on the subject, again maybe the moment. One thing I didn't realize until today was that he made the entire speech without even once using the word that the speech was primarily about. He never said the word gun ....
"This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged. And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm? Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know they are loved and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
I've been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer’s no. We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change. Since I've been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings, fourth time we've hugged survivors, the fourth time we've consoled the families of victims.
And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and in big cities all across America, victims whose -- much of the time their only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We can’t tolerate this anymore.
These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."
You can read the entire speech here.
"This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged. And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm? Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know they are loved and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
I've been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer’s no. We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change. Since I've been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings, fourth time we've hugged survivors, the fourth time we've consoled the families of victims.
And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and in big cities all across America, victims whose -- much of the time their only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We can’t tolerate this anymore.
These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."
You can read the entire speech here.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Katie's 12 Days Of Christmas
A Festivus for the rest of us.
n. An alternative to the crass commercialization of Christmas, typically celebrated on December 23. It involves The Airing of Grievances (telling your family and friends all the ways they have disappointed you during the year) and does not end until the Feats of Strength (pinning the head of the family) are accomplished. A plain, metal pole is used in lieu of a Christmas tree, because decorations (such as tinsel) is distracting from the true meaning of the holiday.
link
n. An alternative to the crass commercialization of Christmas, typically celebrated on December 23. It involves The Airing of Grievances (telling your family and friends all the ways they have disappointed you during the year) and does not end until the Feats of Strength (pinning the head of the family) are accomplished. A plain, metal pole is used in lieu of a Christmas tree, because decorations (such as tinsel) is distracting from the true meaning of the holiday.
link
Sunday Observations 12.16
The past few months I've had some fun with the petitions on the White House website. Who wouldn't have some fun with secession, death star building, imaginary countries? At the moment there is a very serious petition you should take a look at; We Petition The Obama Administration To: Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress. At the moment it has 113,000 signatures or four times what is needed for an official response from the Obama Administration. It's very short, only five sentences, and you can sign it here.
That's all I'm going to say about guns at the moment. I had a few notes for today but now they all seem relatively unimportant as I look at them. The wingnuts made a big deal of President Obama planning on spending Christmas in Hawaii and thought he should cancel those plans if there is no fiscal deal. Petty as hell because they know damn well, as Joe Scarborough noted, he was born there. Some of us are lucky enough to be born in Hawaii and some of us aren't. I wouldn't mind spending Christmas on Kee Beach with lights in the palm trees and a Corona in my hand but I don't see it happening anytime soon. The wingnuts probably think the President should be spending Christmas in Nairobi.
Here is a little something to remind you that even after the past few days there is always something to make you smile about life. Last week I posted a photo of Larry Duncan and Randell Shepherd, the gay bears, getting their marriage license in Seattle. Last Sunday the two were married in Seattle's First Baptist Church. While not religious at all the two said they wanted a church wedding because as Larry said, "Enough people have told me, ‘God hates fags,’ I want someone in a church to say, ‘God loves fags,’ to have that stamp on it." No word on where the happy newlyweds spent their honeymoon.
I did something yesterday I have never done before, went into a Japanese bookstore. If for whatever reason you ever want to feel totally lost in the world I suggest a Japanese bookstore. The most awesome looking books you'll ever see but I have no idea what they said.
Finally Jesuit Father Jose Funes, the head of the Vatican Observatory, assures us the Mayan Apocalypse is not going to happen this week. In L'Osservatore Romano he published an article in which he emphatically states the Mayan calender is 'irrational' which is something I'm sure a Jesuit priest would know something about.
I have to go now, seems hell is calling ....
That's all I'm going to say about guns at the moment. I had a few notes for today but now they all seem relatively unimportant as I look at them. The wingnuts made a big deal of President Obama planning on spending Christmas in Hawaii and thought he should cancel those plans if there is no fiscal deal. Petty as hell because they know damn well, as Joe Scarborough noted, he was born there. Some of us are lucky enough to be born in Hawaii and some of us aren't. I wouldn't mind spending Christmas on Kee Beach with lights in the palm trees and a Corona in my hand but I don't see it happening anytime soon. The wingnuts probably think the President should be spending Christmas in Nairobi.
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| Meryl Schenker, ZUMA Press |
I did something yesterday I have never done before, went into a Japanese bookstore. If for whatever reason you ever want to feel totally lost in the world I suggest a Japanese bookstore. The most awesome looking books you'll ever see but I have no idea what they said.
Finally Jesuit Father Jose Funes, the head of the Vatican Observatory, assures us the Mayan Apocalypse is not going to happen this week. In L'Osservatore Romano he published an article in which he emphatically states the Mayan calender is 'irrational' which is something I'm sure a Jesuit priest would know something about.
I have to go now, seems hell is calling ....
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