Open Thread Saturday

I'm going to cut firewood today, so I can release some of that stored carbon back into the atmosphere, it's 13 degrees back in this holler.

WH Social Secretary Desiree Rogers proudly says she's already organized OVER 200 events @WH: "We got Earth, Wind & Fire doing a conga line."

Where are all the headlines about Baucas and his affair?

Oh, excuse me, the 'D' behind one's name automatically makes such news invisible to the state-run media.

Had a fire going last night & will probably have one tonight.

Thanks Andew, great choice. Merry Christmas. There's still hope for America.

I'm enjoying the posts on BH re The 25 Best Christmas Movies. How about a writer coming up with The 25 Best Christmas Songs of all time? Chestnuts would be in my top ten.

Anybody else catch the fact that the head of the Secret Service testified that the number of threats against the current president is at the same level as the last two? How can this be? I seem to remember the MSM reporting a 400% iincrease in threats against Obama, and this of course plays into the MSM's scheme to paint the vast majority of the nation as hopeless racists. It is interesting how the truth trickles out eventually, even when it gets largley ignored, it still is out there. It was Huxley that stated "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored".

We had the LP album, and I too now have the CD. It is one of the best.

I'll start with my favorite "Christmas in Dixie" (never get tired of hearing it, even in July). It's a country song and I don't like country!

So ghetto – everything from Obama the POTUS being photographed wearing sandals to the collard greens in the WH garden.

Leave the collards alone. Collards are a gift, especially when cooked up with a nice hambone and a little hot sauce.

Here's my top fifteen(not in order)
1.) When My Heat Finds Christmas-Harry Connick, Jr.
2.) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas-Frank Sinatra version
3.) Christmas in Dixie-Alabama
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas-many versions
5.) Feliz Navidad-Jose Feliciano
6.) Silent Night-Elvis version
7.) Silver Bells-Dean Martin version
8.) White Christmas-Der Bingles version
9.) Frosty the Snowman-Gene Autry
10.) Ave Maria-Enzio Suarti
11.) Christmas In New Orleans-Satchmo
12.) Away in a Manger-many versions
13.) Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer-Burl Ives
14.) The Christmas Song-Torme
15.) Jingle Bells-various versions

Damn. I left out Chestnuts!!!

Oh, Come all Ye Faithful – Elvis version

I want my country back!

on the side maybe some cornbread.

Somewhere in the world, a polar bear just died because of you. I hope you're happy.

Sounds good to me.
Some songs are good; it's just certain ways some artists do them that render them unfit for human consumption.

But LDB and 'Rockin..' are unmitigated abominations.

I believe this was from Mr. Cole's own variety show that he had in the 1950's.

Call Al Gore and ask him which one, since he seems to know exactly how many there are and where each one is. I will send flowers.

In ancient time the soldiers followed the general who delivered on his promises of gold…When your support the two gov. parties what Gold do they offer you?

When the "Velvet Fog" (which he didn't like being called) cedes over a song you know Nat King Cole was truly great.

There was an old bar in Austin on the road to Mt. Bonnel that had collard greens cooking during the day time on saturdays and whenever and the patrons were welcome to have some. Damn good.

The old lady that ran the bar had a perpetual scowl and would hollor "Bring back the EMPTIES!"

ya, love that TMC!

TCM has many virtues, but posting scheduled showings of the short films/clips that fill up the spare minutes is not one of these. Still, many of those shorts are extraordinarily good… the TravelTalks, for example.

Last night I was lucky to see one I'd not seen before… "An Airman's Letter to His Mother," a Michael Powell propaganda/morale film from 1941, based on a true story. No evidence of it in TCM's database, but there is Wikipedia entry about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Airman%27s_Letter...
And if you don't want to wait around watching TCM hoping for it to reappear, you can watch it on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kywoXa8G-Hk
I recommend that you do.

Where in Jersey is it going to snow? I used to live in Piscataway, and always remember the weather reports, "snow, north and west of the city."

Morgan Freeman set to marry his 27 year old step-granddaughter? Oh, Lord, PLEASE tell me this isn't so. I do NOT want to add his name to my 'stars I will never watch because they disgust me' list. It's too long already.

http://www.hollyscoop.com/morgan-freeman/morgan-f...

It's looking like 2-4 inches from Trenton to Paramus. That would include Piscataway.
It's 4:00pm now – mixed rain with HUGE-O flakes right now in Bergen County.

All of what you said is very true, and very sad.

They appear in my cable on-screen schedule, but because they are so short often all you see is a small empty box. You have to click on them and they'll say what they are. i agree–there are a lot of lovely little gems.

Senator Baucus (D-MT) awarded his girlfriend a position based wholly on her…
____________________________________________.
(Fill in the blank…and fill it gooooood!)

If Senator Ensign (R) was a Democrat the story would have been covered the same by the news media –Especially since he was a married man who committed adultery with the wife of his friend and campaign staff member, and then made a payment of $96,000 to the couple with money the Senator got from his parents. Ensign called for President Clinton to step down in 1999 for his adultery scandal.

If Governor Sanford (R) was a Democrat the story would have been covered the same by the news media –Especially since he vanished in thin air, leaving South Carolina without a Governor, so he could sneak out of the country to cheat on his wife and family while breaking several ethics regulations.

If Senator Vitter (R) was a Democrat the story would have been covered the same by the news media –Especially since he was a married man who frequently paid for prostitutes even though he called for President Clinton to step down in 1999 for his adultery scandal.

If Senator Larry Craig (R) was a Democrat the story would have been covered the same by the news media –Especially since he was arrested and convicted for attempting to solicit gay sex in an airport restroom.

When Righties constantly say they can’t get fair treatment from the news media, it’s called sour grapes from a group that can’t grasp how insignificant they actually are to a public long fed up with all their baloney.

Sure does, I'll have to call my friend in Edison, and find out what's going on.

Yeah that is kinda ironic, huh. Suppose anytime the royalty check comes in is a good time, although I wouldn't know.

As someone who gets a drizzle of teensy ones every now and then, royalties are manna in heaven. I can only imagine the tsunami that Torme got every year from that one song alone.

If it was a liberal p-bear we are!

"Let It Be Christmas" – Alan Jackson would be on my top ten.

And if pigs had wings, they would fly. There is no way to prove your point about the four examples that you listed. Do you have an explaination for why Cindy Sheehan has disappeared down the memory hole now that her protesting is aimed at Obama?

Like your picture tag,it sends the perfect message,ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES,my Patriot Friend !

I LOVED Egypt, but I have always been interested in its history, so to actually stand in front of the monuments, etc. was fantastic. The scale is mind blowing. When you stand at the foot of the Great Pyramid it's so huge you really can't see what shape it is, if that makes sense. I was there in June of 2001. The people were courteous, but you did feel as if you are a cash crop–there to be nickel & dimed for all you're worth for tips, etc. But even so, one American dollar will go very far, indeed. Accommodations were perfectly fine, tours very well organized, but the food…kinda sucks (and I like middle eastern food; the Egyptian version just isn't good at all) and you can't drink the water or eat fruits with a lot of water in them, ie ice, oranges, etc. And while an Egyptian would no doubt take great offense, it's a 3rd world country in terms of infrastructure, poverty, etc. But oh-man–to see ALL of Tut's treasures in one place? Astounding.

He especially liked August, he said, when all the royalty check from the previous Christmas came in!

Mel probably wasn't wearin no swim trunks…

Actually he wrote it in collaboration with Bob Wells, but check out a story of Mel Torme meeting up with his song here: http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL245.htm

Excerpt: "…I was about halfway through when four Christmas carolers strolled by, singing "Let It Snow," a cappella. They were young adults with strong, fine voices and they were all clad in splendid Victorian garb. The Market had hired them (I assume) to stroll about and sing for the diners — a little touch of the holidays.

"Let It Snow" concluded not far from me to polite applause from all within earshot. I waved the leader of the chorale over and directed his attention to Mr. Tormé, seated about twenty yards from me.

"That's Mel Tormé down there. Do you know who he is?"

The singer was about 25 so it didn't horrify me that he said, "No."

I asked, "Do you know 'The Christmas Song?'"

Again, a "No."

I said, "That's the one that starts, 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…'"

"Oh, yes," the caroler chirped. "Is that what it's called? 'The Christmas Song?'"

"That's the name," I explained. "And that man wrote it." The singer thanked me, returned to his group for a brief huddle…and then they strolled down towards Mel Tormé. I ditched the rest of my sandwich and followed, a few steps behind. As they reached their quarry, they began singing, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…" directly to him.

A big smile formed on Mel Tormé's face — and it wasn't the only one around…."

** (carried over from last post)

Nat King Cole communicated love in his music, particularly in this video. MLK did it a different way, but maybe it would be good to hear his take on it from one of his sermons:

"And this is what Jesus means, I think, in this very passage when he says, "Love your enemy." And it’s significant that he does not say, "Like your enemy." Like is a sentimental something, an affectionate something. There are a lot of people that I find it difficult to like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and other people. I don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re doing. I don’t like them. But Jesus says love them. And love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul. And here you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Love your enemy." This is the way to do it. When the opportunity presents itself when you can defeat your enemy, you must not do it."
– Full sermon at http://www.ipoet.com/archive/beyond/King-Jr/Lovin...

How about a major shout out ot MEL TORME , THE COMPOSER of 'The Christmas Song' ( Chestnuts Roasting….) and whose rendition of this song is just as good as anyone's !

Sounds like you had a great time! I would love to see, Alexandria, and the Suez canal, and of course the pyramids. Yeah, I've also known, from my travels that the cuisine of other countries takes some getting used to, and for sure tourists, Americans in particular, are quite the cash cow the locals need to milk. From my experiance in Morocco, I noticed that there isn't a set price for most things, and one needs to haggle when purchasing, is that the same in Egypt, as well?
I can only imagine how impressive the pyramids and the spinx look like in person, as I've only them seen photos, like most people.