12 Days of Christmas

I was thinking of the carol 12 Days of Christmas and how yucky most of the gifts are.  Who really wants a Turtle Dove or French Hens or Calling Birds or Geese or Swans, especially with all the mess of multiple birds?

In general, maids a milking is not that useful in most households!

Ladies dancing or pipers piping or drummers drumming would not lead to peace and quiet!

And who wants a bunch of lords a leaping?

Now 5 Golden rings might be OK, but I don't like wearing rings!

Not to mention the cost:

Want to give your true love some traditional Christmas gifts? Why not buy him or her the items from the famed "The 12 Days of Christmas" carol?

Maybe because it will set you back $107,000. That's about 6 percent more than the items from the song cost last year, according to PNC Wealth Management's "Christmas Price Index." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/12-days-of-christmas-cost_n_2193494.html

I being an ignorant sort did not know this:

Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas

(The 12 Days of Christmas)

1 True Love refers to God

2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation

7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments

11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles

12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

http://www.carols.org.uk/the_twelve_days_of_christmas.htm

Foggy Walk

This morning, it was very foggy during the dog walk this morning.  Fog reminds me of a song that my LW sings in her Swedish women's chorus called HANDS OF WINTER.  It is depressing and somewhat discordant.

You could only see about 40-50 feet in front of you.  It always seems that it is colder when you are in fog.

I have an over active imagination and it seems that my hearing is more acute when it is hard to see.  So drops of dew falling from trees sound like intruders lurking in the shadows ready to attack us.  The mere fact that the neighborhood is very safe and we never have intruders; has no effect on my imagination.

Fortunately there were no cars near us on the walk.  And the intruders did not attack either and we arrived home safely.

Bush's Fault

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/11/13/105003

Some more election humor!

 Rising prices and chronic unemployment were heavy on the minds of voters Tuesday even as a glimmer of optimism peeked through. Four in 10 said the nation’s battered economy is getting better.
Most everyone agreed there’s still far to go. They were less likely to blame President Barack Obama for the economic troubles, however, than to point the finger at his predecessor, George W. Bush, according to preliminary results of a national exit poll.
Only a fourth thought they were better off financially than four years ago when Obama was elected in the midst of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. Voters were most likely to say their families were doing about the same, and Obama led among that group.
A third felt worse off, and they were voting heavily for Romney.
http://clintonherald.com/electioncoverage/x691732677/Exit-poll-Many-still-blame-Bush-for-bad-economy

Bush had a democratic congress in his last years when the US starting going in the dumper!  But usually the President gets blamed, but not P.O.!

Sportscasters

Last night, I was listening to the Bears/Texans game on the radio.

In my opinion, the Bears' sportscasters are awful.

On one play, the play by play guy said that the Texans had intercepted the pass.  At no time did he say where it was intercepted.  Remember on the radio the only way we know the yard line is if they tell us.

Then he would say a good gain, no amount or down and yardage to go.

The color guy is an ex-Bear, who does not know how to shut up.  Much of what he says is very technical on the blocking (he is an ex-ProBowl Tackle) and is interesting.  He yells "BALL" when there is a fumble and certainly wakes up the dead or sleeping.

On every play, the Bears were interfered with or held or had a personal foul toward them.  A little homer is OK but they are too much.

The old Bears' play by play guy now calls the game for the GB Packers and he was and is excellent.

I much prefer the national radio guys over the Bears' announcers.

Fat Tax

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/11/11/104979

Just thought it was funny!

Denmark said Saturday it would scrap a fat tax it introduced a little over a year ago in a world first, saying the measure was costly and failed to change Danes' eating habits.

"The fat tax and the extension of the chocolate tax -- the so-called sugar tax -- has been criticised for increasing prices for consumers, increasing companies' administrative costs and putting Danish jobs at risk," the Danish tax ministry said in a statement.
"At the same time it is believed that the fat tax has, to a lesser extent, contributed to Danes travelling across the border to make purchases," it added.
"Against this background, the government and the (far-left) Red Green Party have agreed to abolish the fat tax and cancel the planned sugar tax," the ministry said.
Denmark's centre-left minority government is made up of the Social Democrats, Social Liberals and Socialist People's Party, and requires support from other parties to pass legislation in parliament.
The government and the Red Greens reached the agreement as part of their negotiations on the 2013 budget bill.
The previous right-wing government introduced the fat tax in October 2011 to limit the population's intake of fatty foods.
According to the Danish National Health and Medicines Authority, 47 percent of Danes are overweight and 13 percent are obese.
"Now we need to try to do something else to address public health," Food Minister Mette Gjerskov said, news agency Ritzau reported.
The fat tax has been levied on all products containing saturated fats -- from butter and milk to pizzas, oils, meats and pre-cooked foods -- in a costing system that Denmark's Confederation of Industries has described as a bureaucratic nightmare for producers and outlets.
The measure added 16 kroner per kilo of saturated fats in a product.
As an example, when the tax was introduced the price of a pack of 250 grammes (0.5 pounds) of butter rose by 2.20 kroner ($0.37, 0.29 euros) to more than 18 kroner.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i3exgRYcjub3JqFh8NqZULcowKfw?docId=CNG.21e9b6c39551266eec2b615c33bd28bf.71

Government can't teach self-restraint.  Adding a tax raises money does not cause "correct" behavior.


More Americans are becoming overweight or obese, exercising less, and eating unhealthy foods.
That’s the finding of the latest Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which shows that 63.1% of adults in the U.S. were either overweight or obese in 2009.
That was a small but measurable increase from 62.2% the previous year. The survey finds that 36.6% of Americans are overweight and 26.5% obese.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100210/percentage-of-overweight-obese-americans-swells

I like desserts so I try to not get started eating them since once I get started I tend to eat a lot!

Political Ads

We DVR TV shows and watch them usually on Fridays.  A lot of the shows we watch are Monday shows.

So this past Friday, we watched three shows that originally were broadcast on the Monday before the election.

As you can guess there were a lot of political ads during those shows.  Everyone of them were negative, showing why we should NOT vote for their opponent.  Since IL is a very Obama state there were no Presidential ads, but were ads for various House of Reps seats.

I would have thought at least one of them would be positive, but there were none.

We received a lot of campaign literature (exactly none of them could really be considered literature). Everyone of them also were reasons to not vote for the opponents.

I think that a reason to vote for someone would be better at convincing voters then what was used.  But I could be wrong since there are people elected to all the positions!

Gridlock

Now that the election is over, many Americans say the gridlock getting in the way of passing legislation has to go.
"Because they're doing the American public a disservice.  What would happen if we performed our jobs that way?  I think we need to see results and they need to set aside their differences and come together.  If you look at what's happened over the last four years very few changes were made.  Most of the changes were made when the democrats controlled the house.  Once it became controlled by the republicans there was no more compromises," says Houstonian Barbara Cooper.
With fractions of the country fighting for one candidate or another that has added a great deal of separation across the country.  Now, many hope the division will be subtracted from the country.  So the question is how do you get the two groups, Democrats and Republicans, to work as one and do what's best for the country?  Is it a simple math equation or more like tabulating trigonometry?
"Americans are Americans regardless.  We're all one family regardless of what political party you might be in.  No matter what happens it affects everyone.  We just need to come together," adds Houston resident Frank Warford.
Rice University Political Science Professor Mark Jones says in order for the gridlock to go away Republicans and Democrats will have to, well, do the c-word, compromise.
"Everybody wants the end of partisan gridlock but what most people want is their vision to be the dominant one.
"I mean little kids have to learn how to compromise.  You'd think that grown men would too," says Eduardo who lives in Houston.
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/20036912/2012/11/07/many-want-to-get-rid-of-political-gridlock?clienttype=printable

I for one do not mind political gridlock.  The fewer laws that our "representatives" make "for us" is better.  Most laws today infringe on individual liberties.

We need to repeal laws not add more to the hopper.

"I note one proposal to make this Congress a two-house body. Excellent — the more impediments to legislation the better. But, instead of following tradition, I suggest one house of legislators, another whose single duty is to repeal laws. Let the legislators pass laws only with a two-thirds majority... while the repealers are able to cancel any law through a mere one-third minority. Preposterous? Think about it. If a bill is so poor that it cannot command two-thirds of your consents, is it not likely that it would make a poor law? And if a law is disliked by as many as one-third is it not likely that you would be better off without it?"
Robert Heinlein "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"

The professor is speaking to the new congress on the moon.  I think he may have the right idea.

Election 1

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville

As the elder ( dead) Fraser in the DUE SOUTH tv show said, "Enough said"!

More Cartoons

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/10/31/104676

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/10/31/104669

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

Our grandkids will pay!

Halloween Redistribution

Kids understand what's fair.  Adults not so much!