Outsourcing Torture

Aren't we glad that the party of moral clarity is in charge? Torturing children to obtain confessions from their parents is just another day's work for our friend and ally, Uzbekistan.

More here.

And here.

The worst bit here.

Rummy greeting Karimov at the US Embassy in Uzbekistan. What is it about Rummy and brutal third world despots?

Note: Graphics above and links obtained from the General.

Photo Booth

I had a day out with the kids today––took them to the Detroit Historical Museum (actually a lot of fun) and then shopping at Target. After, they came to my house to see my CHristmas tree, and hang out till the rest of the adults arrived for dinner.

To keep them amused while waiting, I showed them the Photo Booth feature of my iMac--a built in camera takes pictures like the old photo booths. Unlike its predecessor, this booth lets you add effects to the photos, arty and fun house both. They had a blast!








To see them all, have a look here.

Global Warming

George Bush does TOO care about the environment. See his important presidential address on the subject.

Merry Xmas!

Our meteorological luck held out and , despite above freezing temperatures, fog and rain, enough snow remained on the ground to allow us to have a white Christmas. In the evening the rain turned into snow, and big, fat flakes fell in lovely flurries.

I had a really nice Christmas, spent with friends and family. I've posted some photos here, here and here.

More to follow in days to come.

Meanwhile, the third generation says hello:

Big Brother IS Watching You

Read about it here.

Garden in Winter

It's Christmas Eve, and I've lots to do, but I've posted a few photos of my garden in winter. It's magical thinking I guess--I'm hoping the realtively warm weather (above freezing) and predicted rain don't melt all our snow away before tomorrow.

Now I've presents to wrap, food to prepare, CDs to burn and centerpeices to arrange. Enjoy my snow photos!

All I Want for Xmas......

Please, Santa, if you give me this I promise I'll never ask for anything EVER AGAIN!



Really!

Party Pics, Part 1

Nancy was nice enough to bring the photos Wes took at my party to work today, and the board has been a bit slow, so I get to post a few of them here.

The first is a view of the tree through the window of my enclosed porch:

Next we have a picture of some of the fare on offer, with the pickled herrings front and center:

Some of those attending my party include Ella, with baby David, now three months old, and her mother, who is visiting from Russia:

And here are my Mom and Aunt Susie, seated on the piano bench and admiring the tree:

And lastly, this is what Wes found when he went up to my bedroom to fetch his and Nancy's coats:

I will try and post more of the photos on my web site later. And, Loraine, it's your turn now........

Xmas Cookies

We decorated Christmas cookies tonight. I went to Bill and Laurie's house, and there the kids, Laurie, Baba and I applied sugar frosting and non pareils to sugar cookies. We didn't merely slather the frosting on, but did so in a most artistic fashion.

My specialty, natch, was Xmas trees!

Smoochie wanted to help, too, but mostly stayed under the table excitedly wagging her tail.

More photos can be found here.

Little Victories

Reason seems to have returned to the world. In an absolutely scathing decision, the judge in the Dover "Intelligent Design" lawsuit let the old school board have it, calling them liars and imposing the plaintiffs' costs upon them. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones, appointed by President Bush in 2002, correctly ruled that the concept of intelligent design was not science, but thinly disguised Christian creationism and therefore barred from being taught in public school science classes.


And then the Senate managed to filibuster ANWAR drilling, which had been added as a rider to the military budget. Senator Ted Stevens, to whom this proposed rape of pristine wilderness has been a life's dream, took his bat and ball and pouted all the way home. Will he be man enough to keep his promise and resign?

Unfortunately, the poor and working classes were further victimized yesterday, as Prince of Darkness Cheney flew home to break a tie in the Senate, and pass huge spending cuts in social services, so that Billionaires for Bush can have a really happy Christmas. Tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy, again!

Xmas in Alaska

Joan sent me this photo of Mendenhall Glacier and holiday wishes.

Xmas in Nicaragua

My friend Jasmina sent me a Christmas photo of her lovely daughters, Alison and Alexandra. Aren't they sweet?

Global Warming

While our Dear Leader continues to deny the importance of global warming, polar bears begin to pay the price.

Holiday Cheer

My party last night was lots of fun (I am told) and a smashing success--lots of people, and few leftovers. I was too busy hostessing to take photos, so I am waiting for friends (Loraine and Wes) to e-mail me some.

While we were having a grand old time in Union Lake, the prince of darkness scuttled away from his secure location to bring some holiday cheer visit with our troops in Iraq. During a "roundtable discussion", he was told that the guys weren't seeing much progress on the ground, so he assured them that things were going swimmingly, and to not believe what they see on the TV. Whatever. He later gave a speech to the troops:

Shouts of "hooah!" from the audience interrupted Cheney a few times, but mostly the service members listened intently. When he delivered the applause line, "We're in this fight to win. These colors don't run," the only sound was a lone whistle.

The troops didn't seem encouraged by the VP's brave words; they may have been thinking back the Cheney's own brilliant military record.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the GOP continues to play Scrooge, filling the stockings of the richest 1% at the expense of the neediest members of our society.

Invisible Snowman

The kids made a snowman yesterday--two, actually. They appear to be mother and child (based on wardrobe only). And, strangely, they appear invisible. Ah, the joys of white on white photography!


It really is gorgeous outside, and not terribly cold. I put up more lights and garland today, but will probably have to pass on the icicle lights-- my ice-filled gutters mean no way to hang them.

But nothing I do to my yard is as pretty as the work of nature:

Friday Birdfeeder Blogging

Eight inches of snow is inducement for many birds to come and visit the feeder. Today I had the usual juncos and black-capped chickadees, with blue jays and a northern flicker later in the day.


The blue jays scatter seed everywhere, creating a small avian-mammalian ecosystem. The squirrels were scrambling for the debris below, as always. The rabbits are shy, and wait for dark to come out at night and graze on the detritus. My yard has so many tracks in it, you'd think I had a small herd of children!

War in Xmas, Part X

The enemies of Christmas have opened a new front in the PLANT KINGDOM, no less! And I have startling evidence!

One month ago, all of my Christmas cactuses were in full, glorious bloom:


As we approach Christmas, they have lovely glossy green leaves, but not one is even in bud! NINGUNO! Ні Один! What can this mean except the plants, too, are now engaged in a war on Christmas!? The horror!

On the positive side, I saw a truly heartwarming sight today--a life-sized creche, in a grotto, all covered with eight inches of snow. How traditional! Just like the original nativity!

War on Xmas, Part IX

Tom the Dancing Bug has an updated Grinch story.

And who's watching to see if you're naughty or nice? It's not just Santa any more! The NSA, under order of Bush, has been reading the e-mails and listening to telephone conversations of American citizens without obtaining a court order.

Xmas Tree Update

The tree was officially completed Wednesday, December 14, just before 10 pm, when I applied the last strand of tinsel. It has some 5000 little white lights, 3000 strands of tinsel (if you can trust the numbers on t he boxes) and many hundreds of ornaments (I've never counted them, but there are enough to fill about a dozen large plastic storage containers, plus two more of birds and a large stack of paper snowflakes).


Today I cleaned up around it, and moved it into position. I had to tie a few branches up against the wall, and trim a couple of others so I could reach the stairs. I moved a bunch of ornaments around to do this, but I'm done at last.

We had a large snowstorm today--probably eight inches of new snow on the ground. It really looks like a northern white Xmas out there now!

War on Xmas, Part VIII

News from the trenches:

Washington, DC - Congressman John D. Dingell (MI-15) recited the following poem on the floor of the US House of Representatives concerning House Resolution 579, which expressed the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected. “Preserving Christmas” has been a frequent topic for conservative talk show hosts, including Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly:

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House
No bills were passed ‘bout which Fox News could grouse;
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
So vacations in St. Barts soon would be near;
Katrina kids were nestled all snug in motel beds,
While visions of school and home danced in their heads;
In Iraq our soldiers needed supplies and a plan,
Plus nuclear weapons were being built in Iran;
Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell;
Americans feared we were on a fast track to…well…

Wait--- we need a distraction--- something divisive and wily;
A fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly
We can pretend that Christmas is under attack
Hold a vote to save it--- then pat ourselves on the back;
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger
Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger!

This time of year we see Christmas every where we go,
From churches, to homes, to schools, and yes…even Costco;
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy,
When this is the season to unite us with joy
At Christmas time we’re taught to unite,
We don’t need a made-up reason to fight

So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter, and those right wing blogs;
You should just sit back, relax…have a few egg nogs!
‘Tis the holiday season: enjoy it a pinch
With all our real problems, do we honestly need another Grinch?

So to my friends and my colleagues I say with delight,
A merry Christmas to all,
and to Bill O’Reilly…Happy Holidays.

Apparently, it was suggested that Hannukah be given the same protections. The GOP House leaders said no way.

At least Congressman Dingell has the right attitude to this grandstanding! It makes me proud to be a Michigander.

War on Xmas, Part VII

General JC Christian, over at Jesus' General, has come up with a marvelous anti-war (on Xmas, of course, not the other one). It's double-plus good!


And the Washington Post has a bit to say on the pervasiveness of anti-Xmas animus.

Winter is icummen in

(A classic Wilson Bentley snowflake photo)

In 1902, Ezra Pound wrote a poem called Ancient Music; it was a parody of a classic Anglo-Saxon poem (author unknown) The Cuckoo Song, which is about the arrival of spring. Pound's version

Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm.
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.

Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.

Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm.
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

It often seems that we in Detroit are have a British winters--wet, snowy slush, damp and gray. This year we're definitely not having such a miserable excuse for a winter. We had a big snowfall before Thanksgiving; although it all melted away, the temperatures subsequently dropped, have remained reliably below freezing for the past two weeks, and look as though they will stay there for the conceivable future.

Last night the temperatures got into single digit range, and the lake froze over. It's only a thin sheet of ice as yet, but it is ice. No more lovely, slate blue, choppy waves. Just a very flat expanse of ice.

And now it's snowing. The weather service is predicting 5 to 8 inches of snowfall by morning, which means I'll have to get up early to clear it off. The landscape will be all white lumps as I'm trudging off to work tomorrow. Good night all!

War on Xmas, Part VI

This just out:

This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches around the country. Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day. …

… Cally Parkinson, a spokeswoman for Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., said church leaders decided that organizing services on a Christmas Sunday would not be the most effective use of staff and volunteer resources. The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday was 1994, and only a small number of people showed up to pray, she said.

“If our target and our mission is to reach the unchurched, basically the people who don’t go to church, how likely is it that they’ll be going to church on Christmas morning?” she said.

Among the other megachurches closing on Christmas Day are Southland Christian Church in Nicholasville, Ky., near Lexington, and Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, outside of Dallas. North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., outside of Atlanta, said on its Web site that no services will be held on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, which also falls on a Sunday. A spokesman for North Point did not respond to requests for comment.

The closures stand in stark contrast to Roman Catholic parishes, which will see some of their largest crowds of the year on Christmas, and mainline Protestant congregations such as the Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran churches, where Sunday services are rarely if ever canceled.

So, the same folks who are upset that clerks at Target say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” aren’t actually interested in a religious observance of the birth of Jesus.They want to keep Xmas holy at Target and Wal-Mart, not at church.

Meanwhile, Bush's friends aren't very happy with him. As I noted in a previous post, this year's White House Holiday card did not mention Baby Jesus, but contained an Old Testament verse and wished 1.4 million of his close friends and supporters a happy “holiday season.” Conservative Christians are outraged:

“This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture,” said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Bush “claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn’t act like one,” said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. “I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it.”

And I'm sure they'll still be fuming about it on Christmas morning as they sit, happily ensconced at home, with family, opening gifts in front of their Xmas trees.

Homemade Bailey's

I've always enjoyed Bailey's Irish Cream, either over ice or with coffee (it makes coffee drinkable!) Several years ago, my friend Lorrie Oikarinen gave me a UP church cookbook. Among the recipes was a large section dedicated to alcoholic drinks, and Bailey's was among them. I made a batch, and have made hundreds since. I mix up huge amounts for Christmas, both as gifts and for my party. I hand it out in quart jars.

Here is the recipe:

Bailey’s Irish Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half-and-half
4 eggs
2 T chocolate syrup
2 t instant coffee
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract
1 cup vodka (cheap variety)

Place all the ingredients except the vodka in a blender. Blend. Allow to settle a bit, as it is quite frothy at first. Add vodka to taste; I use 1 cup vodka per 3 cups mixture. Keep refrigerated (if you do so, this will last almost indefinitely).

The original recipe called for whiskey, but I prefer the vodka, and think that Bailey's made this way actually tastes better than the "real" stuff.

Snowflake Pysanky

I've posted my snowflake pysanky photos on my .mac site, under "Non-traditional Pysanky". You can click on the link in the right column and navigate through, or you can just click here.

And I've discovered evidence that the secularization/ commercialization of Christmas predates today's crazed liberals. To whit:

Xmas Shopping

Well, holiday shopping, actually--not all my friends celebrate Christmas. I'm off today to buy the ingredients and then mix up the homemade Bailey's. That means visits to Costco, Kroger, and Union Lake Liquor.

Do you need gift suggestions? I like (NOT for myself, I should note) the singing mounted deer head (life size) I saw at K-Mart. It reminds me a bit of the Billy Bass that Roscoe got me a few years ago; my Billy was the Christmas version, sporting a Santa hat and singing Christmas songs. This deer sticks to a country and western repertoire. Dave Barry has some even more interesting suggestions here.

I'd rather just sit here and watch the birds at the feeder; the blue jays aren't around at the moment, so the chickadees, juncos and goldfinches are out in force. There's even a downy woodpecker noshing on the suet. (Not my photo, alas; I borrowed it from lookoutnow.com.)


But, no rest for the wicked. Shopping, and then more outdoor decorating in sub-freezing weather. At least it's not actively snowing!

War on Xmas, Part V

There's a great editorial in the NYT today on the subject. What the Times does manage to point out quite well is that those who are going on about this so-called war are actually furthering commercialization of Christmas.

This campaign - which is being hyped on Fox and conservative talk radio - is an odd one. Christmas remains ubiquitous, and with its celebrators in control of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and every state supreme court and legislature, it hardly lacks for powerful supporters. There is also something perverse, when Christians are being jailed for discussing the Bible in Saudi Arabia and slaughtered in Sudan, about spending so much energy on stores that sell "holiday trees."

As the Times notes,

...America has a complicated history with Christmas, going back to the Puritans, who despised it....(They) considered Christmas un-Christian, and hoped to keep it out of America. They could not find Dec. 25 in the Bible, their sole source of religious guidance, and insisted that the date derived from Saturnalia, the Roman heathens' wintertime celebration. On their first Dec. 25 in the New World, in 1620, the Puritans worked on building projects and ostentatiously ignored the holiday. From 1659 to 1681 Massachusetts went further, making celebrating Christmas "by forbearing of labor, feasting or in any other way" a crime.

More recently,

A 1931 Times roundup of Christmas sermons reported a common theme: "the suggestion that Christmas could not survive if Christ were thrust into the background by materialism." A 1953 Methodist sermon broadcast on NBC - typical of countless such sermons - lamented that Christmas had become a "profit-seeking period." This ethic found popular expression in "A Charlie Brown Christmas." In the 1965 TV special, Charlie Brown ignores Lucy's advice to "get the biggest aluminum tree you can find" and her assertion that Christmas is "a big commercial racket," and finds a more spiritual way to observe the day.

It's good information. Read it all.

War on Xmas, Part IV

Even when the word "Christmas," is included in the title of the parade, for some it still isn't good enough. There is controversy in Sapulpa, Oklahoma:

Some churchgoers are accusing the Chamber of Commerce of taking Christ out of the town’s Christmas parade. Some churches are putting their own floats in the parade, to get their point across. The name of the parade now is the Winterfest Christmas parade, but some churches say that Christ should be the focus of the season, not winter. The Chamber says it has received dozens of letters and emails from people upset with Christmas being left out of the parade’s title. But the Chamber says the full name of the parade is actually The Sapulpa Chamber Winterfest Christmas Parade. The parade has had the same name for five years, and the Chamber says it has never received any complaints in the past. The Chamber says no one has ever requested that Christmas be removed from the parade’s title or theme. As of now, there are no plans to change the parade’s name."

It seems that a new front has opened in the War on Xmas. Will Bill O'Reilly be there manning the barricades?

And, really , what do these people want? It's called a "Christmas" parade. Not Hanukah, not Kwanzaa, not Solstice. Christmas. I guess they hate sharing billing with anyone, even a season of the year.

On another note, everyone celebrates Christmas in his own way:

War On Xmas, Part III

Betty Bowers explains it so well. As she wrote me today in her newsletter,

As Christians, it is essential to remain cognizant of the seemingly illogical fact that even though we constitute the vast preponderance of Americans, we are constantly the object of cruel persecution by the majority of our fellow citizens. And during the Christmas season this insidious anti-Christian harassment most often takes the creatively sneaky form of politeness by strangers.

Therefore, it is imperative that when you see someone baring a charming smile or other outward signs of a predisposition to warmly greet (be alert for nefarious waves or other gestures meant to disarm you), you must be ready to verbally pummel this would-be well-wisher with fiery, barbed indignation. When some Darwin-worshipper or yarmulke-sporting outsider wishes you, say, "A joyous Holiday Season," treat their shocking rudeness as an opportunity to upbraid them for failing to investigate the god you worship before impetuously rushing into attempts at convivial greeting. Indeed, if someone has the temerity to wish you a so-called "Happy Holidays," you must be prepared to rebuke them with a ferocity that would melt an obese snowman from forty paces.

So remember, even if you're in the majority, you're actually an oppressed minority. Yell and scream for your right to impose your religious beliefs on everyone else. It's America after all, not some bastion of "religious liberty."

Meanwhile, In DC, Cheney Scrooge and Little George celebrate the holidays as they love best:

War on Xmas, Part II

Sadly, it seems that I have not made the White House Christmas Holiday card list yet again this year.

"Holiday?" you ask. "Holiday? What happened to Christmas? Is our dear holiday not under siege? And has not Dear Leader joined Bill O'Reilly in the brave counter-offensive?

Apparently not. According to my sources at Salon magazine,

you won't find the word "Christmas" anywhere on this joint production of Hallmark and the Republican National Committee. On the outside of the card, there's a Jamie Wyeth painting of a rather lonely-looking White House in the snow. On the inside, the president and the missus send us -- or somebody, anyway -- their "best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness."

And, they note, there is a Bible passage inside, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the birth of Baby Jesus. It is from the Old Testament!!!!!

Personally, I prefer last year's card:


Addebdum: the White House cards have gone out, and the Right seems to have noticed something missing.

Half Staff

I noticed the flags were flying at half staff when I left the hospital tonight. I've noticed it a lot lately, and I'm no longer sure why. In the old days, it seems, it was rare to see the flag thusly displayed--the death of a former president might warrant it, or some other dignitary. I usually knew why. No longer.

I went to the "Home of Heroes" web site (sent that way by Google) to get an idea of when we lower the flag. According to them (and statute), the flag is lowered on

• Memorial Day (only until noon)
• Peace Officers Day (May 15th)
• "Upon the death of great individuals or current or former government officials, the President of the United States can direct that the flag be flown from the half-staff position 'as a mark of respect to their memory.'"

(It is my belief that the governor of a state can also order flags lowered within the state.)

There is a strict hierarchy for government officials:

When respect is thus shown upon the death of current or former United States government officials, the flag is flown at half staff according to the following:

• 30 Days from the death of the President or a former President
• 10 Days from the day of death of the Vice President, a sitting or former Supreme Court Chief Justice, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives
• From the day of death to the day of Internment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of an Executive or Military Department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession of the United States
• On the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress

The president can also direct that the flag be flown at half-staff as a symbol of respect for great Americans who are noted for their non-government service and achievement, or as a symbol of respect for other officials and foreign dignitaries.

In recent years, Bush has gotten a bit carried away. The flag has been lowered for victims of terrorist acts, natural disasters, and unnatural disasters (the War in Iraq).

I have no idea why the flag was lowered today, and why it has been lowered so often recently. I suspect it is to honor the death of Democracy.