Traditions

Uncharitable

It is bad enough that our president is flitting around proclaiming global climate change as the greatest threat facing the world even though it has been nearly 19 years since the planet's temperature has increased at all. He could at least have the decency to avoid claiming his political opponents are helping these guys...

And while we're on the subject, the black-eyed skank known as Hillary Clinton has a penchant for doing the same thing.

"I'm hungry! Someone fetch me some puppies and kittens! Now!"

According to this festering pustule of a human being, people like me who think taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for a woman's birth control, or foot the bill for her to have an abortion, are no better than people who do stuff like this...

People who say such things have no business lecturing the rest of us about "civility" in our discourse. None. Of course, that particular talking point is a staple of the progressive left in this country.

"No 'middle finger' image today? Getting soft in your old age?"

It's the Christmas season...Santa's making a list and checking it twice...

Things That Make Me Happy: Charity Edition

The Christmas season has all sorts of traditions, some of them more meaningful to me than others. I can't abide eggnog, for instance, although lots of people seem to enjoy it. If I never taste another candy cane in my life, that would be just fine.

Ever since I was a young boy, though,
I have enjoyed putting money in red "kettles" manned by Salvation Army bell-ringers. If I didn't have any coins, my mom would always fish a few out of her purse if I asked her. I loved the sound those coins used to make in those metal kettles back then, but they mostly use plastic buckets these days.




In 2004, when the Target department store chain announced that SA and its red kettles would no longer be allowed on Target store premises, I stopped shopping at Target.
I didn't give Target my business again until a couple of years later, when they announced a partnership with SA that would make up for the revenue SA once obtained from the kettles in front of Target stores.

In this morning's news was a story about a couple in Rosemount, Minnesota who made a $500,000 donation to a red kettle. That is a new national record for the organization, and I hope it achieves the anonymous couple's purpose of encouraging others to give. Should I win the Powerball, though, there will be a new record set shortly thereafter...

"Has anyone ever told you that you're super competitive?"

It has come up occasionally, yes...

Willful Blindness

From the acerbic pen of Mike Ramirez, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

On December 2, 2014 the United States Air Force Band showed up at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. and staged what they called a "flash mob" performance of a medley of favorite Christmas songs.

Having some fun on the last day before Christmas break.

One of the highlights of my Christmas season last year
was sharing the video of their amazing performance with
all of my students at Thomas Jefferson High School on the last day before Christmas vacation began.

I later learned that they had done a similar performance in 2013 as well. I don't know if they're going to do it again this year (as a theatre guy, I'm aware of how daunting the logistics of it must be), but if they do I will pass it along here. In the meantime, all of the band's recordings are available for free download on their website. Treat yourself.

Today's send-off is the official video of their stirring 2014 performance. Full disclosure:
I start weeping tears of joy at around the 2:30 mark. Every time. Enjoy...