One oversight of the gift giving season was that no one at our house received President Carter's new book, Our Endangered Values. People knew that I wanted it. That was corrected last evening when Kent and Sarah came to visit us with Carter. It was wonderful to see Miss Sarah, who I was surprised to learn is now training as a launch flight controller for the shuttle. Scary job. She is in simulators now and says that things happen about 5 times faster than she can comprehend them so far. Kent brought us a signed copy of President Carter's book. That was especially nice. Of course we are distantly related to the President and I have had the privilege of meeting him and Rosalyn several times before so this all adds extra meaning to the gift. President Carter says this is his 20th book, but his first political book. It is so nice to see Sarah's face for real instead of just in a photo on the internet. She's off to Patagonia soon to climb mountains and photograph penquins and fjords.

On a serious note, I'm halfway through Al Franken's book, the Truth, with Jokes, and it is difficult to read. The delineation of the depravity of moral values of the leadership of the Republican party is difficult to imagine. We have all heard the cliche, "the end justifies the means." This of course is a negative and harsh thing to say whenever it is uttered. The current leadership of our country has taken this phrase to levels never before imagined. A BILLION dollars was spent promoting the message of the "Swift boat veterans for truth." It was directed by Karl Rove. After much investigation it is clear that everything they advocated was false. Every person who was in the area of John Kerry's military service supports the official accounts of his heroic actions in battle. Every person. Ted Coppel even ran down the Viet Cong commander who fought against Kerry. His account matches the official accounts. John Kerry was a war hero. And spending a BILLION dollars to call him a coward and a murderer may win you an election, but it also condemns you to hell. You need a bag when you read this book because the revulsion of the truth of how this election was won will make you vomit.

We can't stop fighting against these lying, stealing, murdering b%#*&s! Read Our Endangered Values and the Truth with Jokes.

Mike Luckovich has some comments in addition to cartoons in the AJC online newspaper. This one is pretty thought provoking:

i wish i could say all this in a cartoon

You might also want to hear something from the conservative side. Luckovich quotes conservative columnist Steve Chapman, who definitely thinks things have gotten out of hand in the current administration.

conservative columnist steve chapman

What are we going to do about this out of control ship of state. Something has to change. . . and soon.

I guess I'm just about absolutely contented on Christmas morning. Everything but family and joy is far away. The house is warm as toast. The presents and wrapping paper and bows scream out opulence. A photo doesn't seem to do it justice.

The weird gifts continue from the same people who have given you weird gifts in the past. How is it possible to not be able to buy a reasonable Christmas present year after year? What must those lives be like on a day to day basis? Do they just operate in confusion all the time? Luckily we all laugh with glee about those presents.

Carter and I talked about buying a Carlos Paez Vilaro painting as an investment. But I don't think I can afford it AND who would ever want to sell it once you had one. Perhaps I'll enquire about one of the smaller ones that is not listed on the website (since the larger ones are about twenty thousand dollars). He's a Uraguayan master ala Picasso, if you don't know him. His website is really a good one http://www.carlospaezvilaro.com.uy/casapueblo.swf
and the music alone at the beginning is worth the trip there. But spend some time interacting with this site and you'll really have fun.

It's Christmas and I smell coffee and cinnamon (wassail). There are English muffins with butter and jellies. Carter has given me a Simon and Garfunkel treasury from the past. Five albums plus 9 unreleased cuts on CD. They sound better than they ever did on vinyl. Of course one of my goals this week is to get the vinyl playing again in the conservatory. Rachel gave me a great collection of Johnny Cash hits. I got some cool books. Al Franken to make me laugh and make my blood boil, and 1776, to engage my mind and make me think about the origins of our country. Of course I've read the first few pages of each. Great maps and paintings in the latter. Also a coffee table book of Gettysburg, mostly text and photos of the participants. A trip to Gettysburg should be required for all politicians. You get a different understanding of honor and sacrifice when you are there. You will cry standing in those fields. There are crowds of people walking over the battle field and they all speak in hushed tones. Not even a child dares to raise their voice. And when you stand on the field of Pickett's charge, you cannot speak at all. How did Lee make such a error in judgment? He was behind the times and was ruined by technological advances. It would have worked in the revolutionary war. The troops would have have broken through the northern lines and broken their army and the confederates would have marched on Washington without resistance and likely burned it. The war would have been over and turned out differently. Lee could see that ending in his mind. Pickett never forgave him.

There are warm snuggly pajamas, mugs, oranges, top gun in widescreen and lemony snickett (that should be fun). The bird clock and carol clock are chirping and singing. The Christmas tree lights are lit brightly. Carolers and an instrumental quintet have been added to the village of Dicken's houses and people. What a pleasant and overdue addition.

Hopefully your house is warm and bright and happy today too.

I remember as a child being overwhelmed by the Christmas tree. Didn't you sit in the dark except for the tree lights and stare at the tree? Oddly, that hasn't changed. It is still amazing and beautiful. The reflections in the windows make a double, triple, quadruple set of lights. Somehow I've managed to wrap all the presents before the last moment and they are piled in stacks around the tree. The paper and bows of many colors give glory to the tree.

It is consistently cold in the south this season. We usually get some pretty warm days in any season, but its cold this year. Heating bills will be through the roof. I think about all the people in New Orleans and Mississippi who are trying to live in partially reconstructed homes. And all those folk working to put things back together. They must be having a cold Christmas in many ways. Up here in the hills we miss the beauty of the sea shore, but we miss the terror of the wind and rain as well.

I have gotten used to my new home now and feel like I actually live here. But my visitors are shocked by it I'd say. What a house for a party. And it does dress up nicely for Christmas. We had a little party last night for some friends.

Sometimes I miss being in charge of the Christmas Eve service. I did a good job with that. It is Christmas Eve. Papa comes today, and children will be here. Sister and family will come in the next day. Thankfully there will be singing. Mama will not be here, but we will sense that she is in the next room somewhere, just around the corner, perhaps in the kitchen cleaning up after us, listening to our songs. Would that we could give her a hug and tell her what has been going on.

It's Christmas Eve. Even when things have not turned out like you planned, on this day, things are okay.

Frodo failed. Bush has the Ring.

I don't understand how we can celebrate Christmas vacation during a time when democracy has ceased to exist in our country. How can the government take a break when the president has seized all power unto himself. He does not claim to be operating within the FISA law, but rather, he claims that as commander in chief he has the authority to violate any law, to suspend law for whatever he needs that in his judgement protects the country. How is this different from a dictatorship or absolute monarchy? It is a turning point in U.S. history.

And what is this "War against terror?" Who is the enemy? When will it end? How will we know when it's V-day? Isn't the enemy a totally trumped-up, PAPER TIGER? Osama bin Laden? Are we afraid of him? Do we even think about him? No. Saddam Hussain? The bearded man in his underpants, who had no programs of weapons of mass destruction. His armies fought us by being annihilated by our air weaponry and firing their rifles into the night after explosions had destroyed their locations. They fled in the face of our military. Their only weapons are guerilla warfare against our occupying armies. They have no leader, no names. They are "insurgents" in our press, "freedom fighters" in their own.

I've seen these fear mongering Republicans all my life, garnering votes by fear. Most of my life it was fear of the dirty commies. Communism was the enemy. They planned to take over the world. They would bomb us out of existence one night when we least expected it. They tried to convince us that one morning we would awake and NYC and Washington would be smoking ruins and the local democratic party (commies in disguise) would have taken over the country. What a load of crap. Communism collapsed under the weight of its own corruption and ineptitude. Republicans quickly claimed credit for the defeat and danced around, hands held high. But then they lost their paper tiger and Bill Clinton's era of prosperity for the middle class came into being. Rather than celebrating, the right attacked his personal life, things which have previously been offlimits in the press were brought into our living rooms by rightwing smear mongers. It was an unheard of, revolting tactic. They could not win elections so they have stolen them. And do you hear that wind noise sound? That whooshing?

That is the sound of the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of our country. It is the sound of pension funds disappearing, jobs vanishing by the thousands. It is the sound of medicaid assistance becoming unavailable to the eldery poor. Need medical care? You must sell your trailer first and become a ward of the state, then you can get medicaid assistance. Want a student loan, well then pay full price for that loan money. And here's an ironic one, the Republicans, who have howled about doing away with the IRS, have mandated in this most recent legislation that the IRS investigate all student loan applicants to make certain they are not fudging their need for a loan. More big government. More big brother.

Why didn't Bush use FISA for wire taps. There can only be one reason. He knows that FISA would not approve his wiretaps. He said there were WMDs. He said Saddam was connected to Al-qaida. He said Saddam was building nuclear weapons. He said he's only eavesdropping on Al-qaida members in America. When my blog suddenly disappears off the internet. You'll know he was listening in on me. And you are next. He knows you have been reading it!

I took this from reality-basededucator.blogspot.com. I agree with him a lot.

This administration does whatever it wants and rarely if ever pays a political price for its misteps, mistakes, or even crimes. They simply spin their way out of whatever controversy they're in and the send their GOP apologists and party hacks out to hit the TV circuit to spread talking points which a compliant news media is happy to disseminate and a willing public is even happier to lap up.

"The House has absolutely zero oversight. They just don't engage in that," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said in an interview last week.

Specifically, Democrats list 14 areas where the GOP majority has "failed to investigate" the administration, including the role of senior officials in the abuse of detainees; leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame; the role of Vice President Cheney's office in awarding contracts to Cheney's former employer, Halliburton; the White House's withholding from Congress the cost of a Medicare prescription drug plan; the administration's relationship with Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi; and the influence of corporate interests on energy policy, environmental regulation and tobacco policy.

Meanwhile, the House ethics committee has not opened a new case or launched an investigation in the past 12 months, despite outside investigations involving, among others, Cunningham and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

...

Democrats, who have tried to get Davis to subpoena the White House for Katrina documents, are not impressed. "Republicans have made a mockery of oversight," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), the committee's ranking Democrat. "There was nothing too small to be investigated in the Clinton administration and there's nothing so big that it can't be ignored in the Bush administration."

Well don't just think you'll throw a dinner party for 35 people and it will be a snap. But oh what fun. We had guests from Athens, Alpharetta, Marietta, Macon, Auburn, Birmingham, and Montgomery. The gathering has a certain pull to draw them from all those cities to our house, equally inconvenient to all. Just the place settings were daunting. Three tables of 8, two tables of 4, special seating for the walking wounded and babies. Melody came 2 weeks after hip replacement surgery. Elmeria came with her oxygen tank after weeks in the hospital. My neices and nephews are having children at a prodigious rate. There were two under 1 and two on the way. Aunt Mary Ann and Elmeria are the only two remaining from their generation. Dean Foy was there. He is a hoot. Not exactly related to our family but close enough.

Our tree is fabulous this year. Garland and lights adorn the 70 feet of staircase railing. Lights outside on bushes and trees. An village of little houses and people on the mantle. We had valets to park cars and bring in packages, and take out packages. We needed some kitchen help too, but maybe in another year. By midnight the swirl of people were gone, the tables cleared, the dishes washed and all was quiet. There is more to put away and things to leave out for another party on Christmas day. The swirl of color, noise and excitement is sort of like the Christmas tree.

Our new home was up to the requirements of giving a grand party. Everyone seemed to have a grand time.

We are exhausted today!

So after hearing the whitehouse say for months that they couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation (the CIA leak affair), now we have the preznit saying to the press and the nation "Tom DeLay is innocent." Uh . . . isn't that a comment on an ongoing investigation? Isn't that a call to all loyal Republicans who might find themselves on the DeLay jury to hold out the innocent verdict for good ole Tom? Could it be considered jury tampering?

Now we also find that Bob Novak is saying that he is confident that the preznit knows who leaked the CIA information. Didn't the preznit tell us he would immediately fire anyone who was responsible. Does that mean he looked at us on the TV and lied about a matter of national importance? Can impeachment be far behind? Well the answer to that one is yes. Impeachment won't be considered by our unbelieveably corrupt goverment.

Happy Holidays to you all.

Alarm! Alarm! Someone called the town tree a "Holiday" tree. The liberals are trying to take the Christ out of Christmas! Alarm! Alarm!

It is as though the phrase Happy Holidays was invented this year by liberals and is some sort of anti-Christian plot. Oh come on. There is a conspiracy going on here. It is similar to the smoke and mirrors about homosexual marriage that was stirred up right before the last election in order to drum up support for the Republican side. This "Happy Holidays" controversy is designed to take up time on the evening TV newscasts, and on the editorial pages that then can't be used to cover :

1. the lack of purpose in the directionless war in Iraq,
2. the Libby/Rove/Cheney outing of a CIA operative (treason, grounds for impeachment),
3. the Abramoff investigation,
4. money laundering by the head congressional Republican--Tom Delay, in order to rig elections in Texas, which led to the Republican take over of their states congressional seats,
5. packing the Committee for Public Broadcasting with political appointees to try and turn National Public Radio and Television into another mouthpiece for the Republican Party,
6. the continuing scandal about FEMA's lack of cooperation with democratic local and state officials in the Katrina disaster, (last night a lucid, articulate 89-year- old black woman who is living in her car was on the local news saying that Fema is promising her a trailer in 6 to 9 months),
7. secret European prisons designed for torture of "enemy combatants,"
8. the mounting carnage in Iraq, the increasing anger in Iraq over our presence there,
9. the fact that oil production and energy and water availability for Iraqis has still not reached pre-war levels under our leadership.
10. and 100 other failed Bush administration policy stories, including more tax cuts for the rich at balanced by cuts in medicare, student loans, and disaster relief.

Bush sited all this progress this week in the cities of Najaf and Mosul as success stories in Iraq. Is he telling the truth? The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin says that it is doubtful.

Some American journalists intent on fact-checking President Bush's vision of Iraq are finding it too dangerous to inspect the areas Bush yesterday cited as models of success.

Which sort of tells you the story right there.

While conceding that American efforts to rebuild Iraq have been flawed at times, Bush nevertheless yesterday touted the effectiveness of reconstruction projects in Najaf and Mosul in particular as examples of the "quiet, steady progress" transforming the country.

So how are those projects really doing? Hard to say.

It's too dangerous to allow visitors to inspect them freely, Rick Barton of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington told James Glanz of the New York Times. "I bet if we could get around and see these places that they would not be the story that he's telling," Barton said.

Froomkin goes on to quote an article from Saad Sarhan and Robin Wright in the Washington Post that notes that Moqtada Sadr, militia leader and former enemy of the U.S., is running security in Najaf:

"Some Iraqis challenged Bush's assertions," they write. "In Najaf, Rafid Farhan, 33, said security is now controlled by Moqtada Sadr, a young cleric and militia leader, and not U.S. troops or the Iraqi government. . . .

"[M]ilitia fighters of the two rival religious parties that control the Shiite holy city recently clashed in street battles. A few days ago, former prime minister Ayad Allawi was attacked during a visit by an angry, rock-throwing mob that some Iraqis charge was backed by a militia -- and that Allawi called an assassination attempt."

Shiite militias battling it out in the streets and many cities too dangerous for Western journalists to visit...

...Sure sounds like "quiet, steady progress" to me.

The Abramoff investigation had another guilty plea this week indicating that bad news is ahead for Tom DeLay, Ralph Reed (Republican candidate for Liet. Governor in GA and former head of the "Christian Coalition."), Karl Rove and others.

These stories are having a hard time getting the light of day in the "liberal media" because of the current rush to cover the Happy Holidays controversy that is being called into every newspaper and TV station by Republican focus groups. Anything to take the heat off government failures.

Surely it is time for the country to ask this president and his entire administration to step down.

You really have to see 1000 poinsettias in one place to appreciate the sight. Had a busy week that continues. Dedication concert in the new auditorium last Thursday. The bigwigs had their say and took their bows for producing a pretty but small and acoustically bad auditorium. Well if you turn off all the air handlers it is than only dead as a doornail. Varsity Glee Club sang the Star Spangled Banner to open the basketball game tonight. The athletic crowd was totally not prepared for that. It knocked them on their ear. The guys felt powerful and they were.

More poinsettia pick up in the morning from 8 till 12. Half of them still remain in the chorus room at present. Sunday night Chamber and Singers perform at a local church. Tuesday the ensemble sings for the Chamber of Commerce. Just a little much to do.