A Very Good Christmas
Gerald Ford Cashed Out — Former President Gerald R. Ford, the nation’s only unelected commander in chief, died Tuesday night. His office did not release a cause of death. He was 93.
Troop “Surge”: This Plan Brought To You By The Good People At BadIdea.com — In an effort to sway President Bush’s soon-to-be-announced policy decisions on Iraq, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said Tuesday he hoped the president would listen to “informed opinion” and plan a withdrawal of U.S. forces. Okay, let’s see, everyone on the planet with two working brain cells to rub together thinks that, whatever else Dubya does, sending more troops to Iraq is just not going to do the trick. So what does Dubya want to do? Well, send in more damn troops, of course.
Look, guys, we lost all right? We totally blew it in Iraq, screwed it up from the word ‘go’. The army can’t solve this problem. It’s time to bring them home, and maybe try some other option. Of course, there’s always the point that as long as we’re stuck in the quagmire in Iraq, we really can’t stir up much trouble with anyone else.
And Just To Underscore The Point: A Christmas day explosion pushed the number of American troops killed in Iraq above the Sept. 11, 2001, death toll, prompting one father of a slain soldier to call for an end to the war.
Dubya’s “War on Terror” has cost us more US lives than 9/11 did (vs. a country that didn’t have anything to do with 9/11). It’s made us less safe and turned a formerly stringently secular Middle Eastern country, hailed for their women’s rights and other secular rights, into a breeding ground for terrorist religious fanatics. It’s driven us into debt, flushed our economy down the crapper, stripped away our rights and freedoms, and generally has all around been a complete balls-up. Hey, good job, Mr. President!
Brendan Gets His Christmas Rant On. (Found via Pharyngula.) I could go on, but unlike Johnny Hart, I’m tired of flogging the same old dead horse over and over again. Like a lot of born-again Christians, Johnny Hart sees himself as some sort of persecuted minority, pretending that Christmas isn’t the biggest shopping season of the whole damn year, that brings in tons of money.
And now, about the family Christmas:
We had a pretty good Christmas this year. Dinner was delicious, Annie Grace was adorable, and chatting with the family was fun. We got some good loot, including a framed picture of my Grandpa and me, from my Grandma. I was pretty young in the picture — three or four, maybe? My Grandpa passed away several years ago, and I don’t have any pictures of him, so it was really nice to get that one.
I also got the new bedding that I wanted — a couple of sheet sets and a new comforter. I put those on the bed last night, and they were really nice. Art got a “super suit” — Superman pajamas — from my Dad. Y’know. So that when the jammies are in the wash, Art can yell, “Woman! Where is my super suit?!”
Art got me a remote car starter, which I am extremely happy to have. The JellyBean was a stick-shift, so I could never have one before.
A big present from StickDude arrived this morning — three huge duffel bags, one for each of us, with his Stickzilla (a Godzilla stick figure) logo on them, each with a fleece blanket with his Stickzilla guy on them — extremely awesome. I’m all wrapped up in the blanket right now as a matter of fact, because holy crap, it’s cold out. He also sent us his Starwars gaming books, the d20 version, which I’m looking forward to reading. The guys have all played Starwars, but I never have.
All in all, it was a very good Christmas. Today, I managed to get a bit of straightening up done, and some stuff put away. Pretty soon, I have to get ready to take Jazz in to the vet to get checked out for the asthma attack thing, and this weekend, Grim goes in to see what’s up with all the itchy skin and crabbiness, and also a possible ear infection/allergic reaction.
December 30th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Glad you guys had a good christmas. Did I miss what car replaced JellyBean? What\’s the new(er?) vehicle and have you bestowed a name to it yet? I\’m still thinking about a Scion xA for me in about 4-6 months; gotta do some test driving, though.
Did I not tell you that you\’d like at least half of the stuff? Those fleece blankets are better (and bigger, though I knew the dimensions) than I thought! I wrap myself in mine every night in front of the TV. And the bags are good and tough.
Is Grim a lab? He looks an awful lot like Pepper, my mom\’s lab (RIP), when she was younger. Get those pets healthy! Few things are sadder than an unhealthy/sick, unhappy dog. So far Spike\’s doing well (the cat we rescued from straydom when he was just a few weeks old). Although he does have an odd shoe fetish, he is pretty effective at catching the occassional gecko or tree roach that finds its way inside. He\’s also good for a laugh when the wind throws a bunch of leaves at the glass door, rumbles of thunder, rumble of the vacuum being rolled from the utility room, or the mystery invisible string in the middle of the carpet. Pets rock, man.
Hopefully, Art will let you read some of the SW books. The Core Worlds one could help create modules for any gaming environment and there\’s plenty of geeky stuff in all of them.