Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

and this is his work:
Blog 'miracle' saves Christmas for hard-luck family

and this:
Shuttered bakery reopens, rehires workers

To me Christmas is not just about Jesus, it's about all of us - finding, and embracing, in ourselves that innate desire to help others, to live in peace with each other, and to make this world a better place one small gift or gesture at a time.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Caroline Kennedy: "No Drama" Before "No Drama" Was Cool

I relish the idea of Caroline in the Senate. This guy really sums up the rationale behind it. (hat tip to Dangerblond) I particularly like this bit about the differences between the Kennedy and Clinton camps of the party.

I'm not saying that these superficial contradictions make for anything hypocritical: to the contrary, the critics of a possible appointment of Attorney Kennedy to the US Senate are essentially correct in perceiving that something much bigger than symbolism would occur through it. The Kennedy and Clinton tendencies in the Democratic Party have embodied two distinct magnetic poles each trying to pull the party in different directions for the past 16 years, and before that between Kennedy and Carter tendencies.

This was very much at play with Senator and Attorney Kennedy's endorsement of Obama early in the primaries, and intentionally signaled as such. The Kennedy organization was not happy - many of us were not - with the change in direction that the Clinton administration brought to the party, toward a blatant acquiescence to corporate interests, away from the New Deal and the Great Society. And while both families have had their share of public personal scandal, for the Kennedys that hasn't bled much at all into the political or policy realms: we just have never seen Ted Kennedy, for example, go to Malaysia and collect $200,000 for a speech from a corporate power broker, lavishing his benefactor's company with praise, as occurred yesterday with Bill Clinton, now getting a few last international paydays in before his ethics agreement with the Obama administration kicks in to prevent future such embarrassments.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some Brother Bill, but Tio Teddy has always been a political hero of mine. His very subtle, quiet, unobtrusive way of pushing progressive causes for the last 46 years is what I think public service is about. Don't worry about getting credit, worry about getting it passed. Results rather than personal aggrandizement, country before self, just like his brother asked. I'm positive the daughter will continue the brothers' work.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

awwww - the poor pitiful private school parents are gonna' have to slum.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/dec/08/private-school-dilemma/

The upshot is - with those white (let's be honest now) students back in the system, standardized test score averages for the respective schools will rise dramatically. The b/w ratio will be more in balance and the security issues will lessen. But that's more class related than anything else, really. The idea that the public schools are struggling to meet standards is related to race is asinine. It's completely linked to flight of middle class families from the system(s), of all races. Economically disadvantaged families (aka "poor") generally do not have the means or wherewithal to support their children with homework and projects, much less the greater school community.

Along that line, I've really been frustrated with Snowden recently - My gripe is this - how is a child whose parents work the 3rd shift at Kellogg's or FedEx for $8/hr supposed to compete with the children of architects and professors? I'm not talking innate intellectual ability, I'm talking stuff wise. Not everyone has a computer at home with on demand Internet access. We have the means to do research at home on say, the Aztecs. (Seriously, Liz had a project on the Aztecs. It was so unfair to the rest of the 4th grade - her partner, yeah, well, her mother is an artist. Who do you think had the most well-researched, historically accurate, aesthetically pleasing triorama?) Anywhoo, back to the middle class guilt - We also can go to the craft store at will and pick up tubes of native American figures, fast-drying clay and glitter. We have color copier/printers at home. The students were supposed to "work on the project at school" in an effort to even this out, but seriously - that's unrealistic as well. So the kids of middle class parents bring their superior supplies to school. How does that make it more equitable?

Now I know some will say nothing will ever be completely equal; inequality is built into nature. There are some that are smarter, stronger, faster. True. (One of my favorite short stories is Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut.) But that doesn't mean the system should be stacked to favor those already gifted/privileged. And that's what I think many of these projects do - favor those who already have the tools to succeed and further penalize those who do not. I go to awards ceremonies and hear the same names called time after time* and look at the faces of those kids that work their butts off, making do with piecemeal supplies and government cheese, and my heart shatters into a million Catholic, middle-class guilt ridden pieces. Those kids' names will never be called, not because they haven't tried, not because they aren't good enough, but because they're poor.

So, I'm really having trouble finding any sympathy for the whiney-ass SUV-driving, bleach blonde entitled soccer moms and their spawn. Let me try again . . . . nope. Nothin'

*Yes yes, the names are those my children and their friends and I'm proud of their accomplishments but still . . .

It feels so wrong, but yet . .

Jack Black as Jesus feels so very right (in a twisted borderline sacrilegious sort of way!)

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Hobos, lava, and lakes of moonshine

I hate to bump Obama, but this bit is hysterical - as long as you're a history dork, which, I am. (and it's narrated by the PC dude! I must get his new book!)

YES WE DID!

Sorry I didn't post any great musings about the election - I JUST got over the hangover. So yeah - we won. Whoot!

Of course, some people are already attacking the man for things he hasn't even had an opportunity to do - as if he ever would. The right wing wackos are calling Obama a Marxist, comparing him to Hitler (apparently incapable of distinguishing between liberal, fascist and Marxist), throwing the race card, and blaming him for the downturn in the stock market.

The best is "well, America is a center-right country," implying that the majority of the moderates lean more towards conservatism than liberalism. Oh contraire mon frere. America was founded on liberal principles - I refer you to John Locke and Montesquieu as well as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. And, if history and philosophy bores you (philistine that you are), here's a quick read that should make it pretty clear in modern terms: The Center Left Nation.

Hail to the Chief!

Preach it, brothers and sisters!

just sayin' . . .

Props to http://digg.com/comedy/Sarah_Palin_s_Pregnancy_Decision_Map_PIC

Milque toast and the convention part 2

New Orleans! I forgot freakin' New Orleans........ they need to have everyone from the 9th ward there..... All of them, everyone should tell about how they got fucked over.... Oh wait, get someone from the Corps to tell about how they knew this would happen - that they had been warning about.... and how the Corp had been trying to get money for it......and money was cut. And how the Corp and Fema got to be the scapegoats for something that should never have happened.... Something that the administration had been warned was a HUGE FREAKIN" DANGER...... Then bring out the people who lost everything, who got screwed over by the insurance companies, then had the fema trailers yanked out from under them.... All for something that didn't have to happen... becuase Shrub was too busy inspecting his navel lint or something during a briefing. Pictures... lots of Pictures of New Orleans and Gulf Coast......

Marky Mark and the Good Fight

The latest brouhaha here in the Bluff City concerns First Amendment rights to free speech and fascist attempts at squelching said rights. To wit:

• Police director sues for critical bloggers' names


• Director Godwin's Looking For Him -- and We Found Him: MPD Enforcer's Dirk Diggler!


• Mayor says blog case is not about 'whistleblowers'


• Matthews files motion to see blogger papers

Over at Biddies in My Brain, my friend has written a couple of good posts about the whole fiasco. No need to reinvent the wheel when you can link to it!

Aside from the serious constitutional issues this raises, my main complaint is this: WHY, for the love of all that is fried and musical in this city, are our leaders wasting time and energy on this? They will lose this case - it seems pretty darn cut and dried. Why are they not out there trying to clean up the drugs in Binghampton? Why are they not doing something about the aggressive panhandlers or the rampant vandalism and graffiti down the Sam Cooper corridoror? BTW - why have we never heard any more about the Sam Cooper Sniper?

Oh wait - some of them are too busy hurling racist and anti-semitic smears at Congressmen or suing the school board who is (SURPRISE!) upset because their budget was slashed with no warning and now hundreds of millions of dollars of state monies are in jeopardy and school starts in two freakin' weeks.

This city has so much to offer - a world-class zoo, the Mississippi River, trees that would make even my hippie tree-hugger brother gasp, museums, culture, theater, food (other than BBQ even) nationally and internationally recognized colleges and universities, Steve Cohen, unique architecture and neighborhoods, Greg Cravens, cutting edge cancer research hospitals, Fed-Ex, Shelby Farms, Overton Park, Autozone, the Redbirds at Autozone Park (all baseball fans - you really need to visit that place!), Sun Studios, Graceland, Issac Hayes, Al Green, Justin Timberlake, independent movie moguls, The Shell at Overton Park, 3-6 Mafia, the Civil Rights Museum, Gibson Guitar Factory, Huey's, and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head with only one glass of tea in me!

Why do our leaders, elected and otherwise, squander all this with useless, inane, asinine bullshit lawsuits and infighting? They cry and moan about the flight to the 'burbs and flail around for "solutions" and form task forces and advisory panels. Hey - guys - the problem is YOU! Get your heads out of your collective butts and get busy fixing the mess you made or get out of the way and let people like "Dirk Diggler" at MPD Enforcer 2.0 and Smart City Memphis get busy.

Sly Fox

The sly fox
Cyclops
We locked
In the idiot box
The video slots
Broadcast
The Waco Davidian plots
They own YouTube, Myspace
When this ignorant shit gon' stop?
They monopolizing news
Your views
And the channel you choose
Propaganda
Visual cancer
The eye
In the sky
Number five
On the dial
secret agenda
Frequency antenna
Doctor mind bender
Remote control
soul
Controller
Your brain holder
Slave culture
Game's over
What's a Fox characteristic?
Slick shit
Sensin'
Misinformation
Pimp the station
Over stimulation
Reception
Deception
Comcast digital Satan
The Fox has a bushy tail
And Bush tells
Lies and Foxtrots
So I don't know what's real

[Chorus]

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Big Brother is watchin'

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Fox 5 is watchin'

[Verse 2:NaS]

The Fear Factor got you all rattled up
O' Reilly
Oh really?
No rally needed
I'll tie you up
Network for child predators, settin' 'em up
Myspace pimps, hoes, and sluts
Ya'll exploit rap culture, then ya'll flip on us
And you own the post, and ya'll shit on us
What is they net worth?
They gon' try to censor my next verse?
Throw 'em off the roof neck first
While I'm clicking my cursor
Reading blogs about the pressure they put on Universal
It gets worse while I'm clicking my mouse
While they kickin' my house
They figured us out
Why a nigga go south
It's either he caught a body, no sleep they watchin'!
I watch CBS
And I See B.S.!
Tryin' to track us down with GPS
Make a nigga wanna invest in PBS

[Chorus]

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Big Brother is watchin'

Watch what you watchin'
Fox keeps feeding us toxins
Stop sleeping
Start thinking
Outside of the box and
Unplug from The Matrix doctrine
But watch what you say Fox 5 is watchin'

[Verse 3:NaS]

They say I'm all about murder-murder and kill-kill
But what about Grindhouse and Kill Bill?
What about Cheney and Halliburton? (Halliburton?)
The backdoor deals
On oil fields
How's NaS the most violent person?
Ya'll don't know talent if it hit you
Bringin' up my criminal possession charges with a pistol (pistol)
I use Viacom
As my firearm
And let the lyrics split you
Who do you rely upon?
They shoot shells at Leviathan
I'm dealing with the higher form
F**k if you care how I write a poem?
Only Fox that I love was the red one
Only black man that Fox loves is in jail or a dead one!
Red rum
Political bedlam
Don't let the hype into your eyes and ear drum
Murdoch on Fox
Not 18 with Barracas
And he hate Barack cause
He march with the marchers

[Outro]

I pledge allegiance to the fair and balanced truth.
Not the biased truth
Not the liar's truth
But the highest truth
I will not be deceived
nor will I believe
In the Propaganda
I will not fall for the Okey-Doke
I am tuned-in

[NaS]

Watch, cause they're watching
Watch what you're watching

Better watch, cause they're watching
Watch what you're watching

Me-Me-Media
Misleading ya

Watch what you're watching

In the interest of brotherly love, peace, friendship, mutual prosperity, citywide self promotion, political grandstanding and all that

For your reading pleasure:

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, it has come to pass that the heavens are shut up and a drought of Biblical proportions has been visited upon the Southern United States, and

WHEREAS, the parched and dry conditions have weighed heavily upon the State of Georgia and sorely afflicted those who inhabit the Great City of Atlanta, and

WHEREAS, the leaders of Georgia have assembled like the Children of Israel in the desert, grumbled among themselves and have begun to cast longing eyes toward the north, coveting their neighbor’s assets, and

WHEREAS, the lack of water has led some misguided souls to seek more potent refreshment or for other reasons has resulted in irrational and outrageous actions seeking to move a long established and peaceful boundary, and

WHEREAS, it is deemed better to light a candle than curse the darkness, and better to offer a cool, wet kiss of friendship rather than face a hot and angry legislator gone mad from thirst, and

Whereas, it is feared that if today they come for our river, tomorrow they might come for our Jack Daniels or George Dickel,

NOW THEREFORE, In the interest of brotherly love, peace, friendship, mutual prosperity, citywide self promotion, political grandstanding and all that

I Ron Littlefield, Mayor of the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee,

Do hereby Proclaim that Wednesday, February 27, 2008 shall be known as

“Give Our Georgia Friends a Drink Day”

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_122772.asp

muwahahaha

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I don't force people to convert before I feed them, though.