Thursday Late Evening Open Thread

Posted by SouthernGirl2_arch on December 24th, 2009

“O Holy Night” (“Cantique de Noël“) is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem “Minuit, chrétiens” (Midnight, Christians) by Placide Cappeau (1808–1877), a wine merchant and poet, who had been asked by a parish priest to write a Christmas poem.^{[citation needed]} Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight,^[1] editor of Dwight’s Journal of Music, created a singing edition based on Cappeau’s French text in 1855. Another edition begins “O Holy Night, the starts their gleams prolonging.”^{[citation needed]} In both the French original and in the two familiar English versions of the carol, the text reflects on the birth of Jesus and of mankind’s redemption.

Categories: Christmas Greetings, Empowerment, Encouragement, Engagement-Debate, Enlightenment, Enrichment, Entertainment, Music, Open Threads

Tags: Adolphe Adam, Birth of Jesus, Christmas Greetings, Goodwill, Josh Groban, Joy, LOVE, O Holy Night, Peace on Earth

SouthernGirl2

Obamas Arrive In Hawaii For Vacation (PHOTOS)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/obamas...

HONOLULU -- President Barack Obama arrived in Hawaii on Thursday for a holiday vacation in the state where he was born and lived as a child.

The president, first lady and their daughters came to the island of Oahu for a more-than-weeklong vacation away from Washington. The Obamas have no public schedule and are expected to celebrate the holidays in private at a rented compound in Kailua.

A crowd of about 75 military servicemen and women and Hawaii politicians including Gov. Linda Lingle greeted Air Force One when it landed at Hickam Air Force Base. Obama took several minutes to greet military personnel and their families before getting in a black SUV for the ride to his vacation home.
Shanti2

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!
rikyrah

merry christmas
SouthernGirl2

Merry Christmas, Shanti!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shanti2

Sweet dreams, I'm getting ready for Santa Baby!!!!!
SouthernGirl2

LOL!

Stop!!!!!!!!!!!!
Muzikal203

Awww, poor Bo:

HONOLULU -- President Obama and his family arrived in Hawaii on Thursday afternoon to begin a 10-day vacation, but one member of the family -- Bo, the puppy -- did not make the trip.

White House officials confirmed that the Obamas' Portuguese water dog stayed behind when Marine One departed the White House on Christmas Eve. Hawaii has strict quarantine policies, requiring 120 days of pet isolation to contain rabies. And a 10-hour flight could test the discipline of any young dog. So Bo will be boarded until the family returns in early January.

Officials did not immediately disclose the puppy's whereabouts, nor confirm whether Santa Claus would be able to find him to fill his stocking on Thursday night.

He's probably running around the WH enjoying having the place to himself. I hope everyone put their socks away! ~lol~
Town

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HOSTA...

This fool probably attended all the teabagger rallies, read all of Glen Beck's books and thinks Sarah Palin is the bee's knees.
SouthernGirl2

WYTHEVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Warren "Gator" Taylor was tired of driving, so he pulled off the interstate in this Blue Ridge Mountain town to buy gas and food. The Tennessee man had been angry at the government for months, even years, federal officials said Thursday, and this seemed like as good a place as any to use the handguns and mock explosives he had packed in his beloved red pickup.

Tired of driving & mad at the government? ... So he takes people hostage & demands a pizza?

Oh Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WordSmith

Warren Taylor, who Federal officials say was the hostage taker, was angry at the federal government because his son had died in Afghanistan and his beloved truck was about to repossessed.

Repossessed....which means he had payments and couldn't or wouldn't make them. So who's to blame there. The gov't? The Afghanistan angle i can certainly understand. And in a wheelchair.

Taylor, who has a criminal record and was registered as a sex offender in Florida, didn't argue for bail but had his lawyer ask about accommodations for his health conditions. He has a prosthetic leg and diabetes, public defender Randy Cargill said.

Jezzus. Here's a bit more and a picture.
SouthernGirl2

He shot his ex-wife in Beall's parking lot because he blamed her that he appeared on a local television news segment of Crime Stoppers? He's not only mean but nutso!
SouthernGirl2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvll9QoAm58
SouthernGirl2

Ron Brownstein: 'The Left's Fatal Abstraction'

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20...

With the Senate's passage Thursday morning of sweeping health care reform, President Obama took another giant step toward the biggest legislative achievement for any Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson muscled Medicare into law in 1965.

Comprehensive health care reform has defeated every president who has pursued it, from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. But, even with some hurdles remaining, Obama is now on track to sign legislation early next year moving the U.S. toward universal coverage. Though the bill bears all the scars and imperfections of its arduous advance, it's likely to stand as the signal domestic accomplishment of his presidency, even if he serves two terms.

And so, naturally, the reaction of the most visible component of the Democratic base has been to link arms with congressional Republicans and the conservative grassroots to insist that the bill be killed. Even as conservatives denounce the bill as an ominous extension of government's reach, leading lights of the Internet-based digital left like Howard Dean, MoveOn.org, Markos Moulitsas and Arianna Huffington are portraying it as a Christmas gift to special interests. One side sees a socialist taking America on a sleigh ride toward Sweden; the other a sell-out surrendering to big business and reactionary "ConservaDems." Who says no good deed goes unpunished?

The new Internet-based left, because it is so heavily reliant on college-educated whites generally less exposed to the economy's storms, has a blind spot on kitchen table issues.
rikyrah

VIDEO:THE KARATE KID REMAKE TRAILER STARRING JADEN SMITH
Submitted by lisa on December 23, 2009 at 10:02 am 19 Comments''

http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2009/12/23/videot...
SouthernGirl2

Madoff Beat Up? Broken Ribs, Facial Fractures, Collapsed Lung For Schemer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/was-ma...

Serious injuries sustained by convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Maddoff are consistent with those suffered during an assault, according to ABC:

Sources told WTVD, the ABC affiliate in Raleigh Durham, North Carolina, that the convicted Ponzi schemer had facial fractures, broken ribs and a collapsed lung and was discharged from Duke two days ago. Officials at the Butner federal prison, where Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence, would not confirm the report.
Madoff was admitted to Duke University Hospital last Friday. He has since been been moved to the Federal Medical Center, part of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, N.C., where he is an inmate.
WordSmith

¡¡sɐɯʇsıɹɥɔ ʎɹɹǝɯ 'ʎɹɹǝɯ ...... Merry, Merry Christmas!!

I'm excited as hell. I love this place and am grateful I have one sane place to stop and enjoy, and accepted. I hope tomorrow is as fun and wonderful for everyone at W.E.E. as I expect it to be for my family and me.

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou in case anyone wants to call President Obama and his family.
rikyrah

please explain how you did that.

and Merry Christmas.
WordSmith

please explain how you did that.

Oh Lawd.... (starting my heart back up) .... I thought Sr. Margaret Mary Shelton had risen from teh dead!

Here, Sister; I mean, rikyrah...... never say Facebook isn't good for somethin'
rikyrah

thanks
Alexander2

Merry Christmas, rikyrah. Despite our differences of opinion, I think you are a good person.
rikyrah

thank you Alexander; you're not so bad yourself :)

I hope you have a Merry Christmas with your family and friends.
SouthernGirl2

How'd you do that? lol

Merry Christmas, Wordsmith!
WordSmith

Please see or above or here!
Alexander2

Merry Christmas, Wordsmith. This is not a Christmas Song. My mother taught me that consciousness transcends race and all those boundaries that separate people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQSlH-LLTQ
WordSmith

Thanks for that. Didn't you say once your mother was a fan?
SouthernGirl2

Midwest Snow Storm Turns Holiday Travel Dangerous

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/midwes...

MINNEAPOLIS — A blustery storm spread snow and ice across the heartland Thursday as Americans rushed to get home for the holidays, grounding flights, stranding drivers on white-knuckle highways and forcing churches to cancel Christmas Eve services.

"I don't think God wants anyone to get killed or break a hip or break a knee or something," said the Rev. Joseph Mirowski of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration in Mason City, Iowa, where up to a foot of snow and sleet was expected.

A foot or two of snow was forecast in parts of the Plains and the Midwest by Christmas Day. Blizzard warnings were issued for Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin, and drivers were encouraged to pack emergency kits before setting out during what is normally one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

The storm was also expected to glaze highways in the East with ice on Christmas.

Stay safe everyone!
SouthernGirl2

C-SPAN Caller: I'm So Mad About Health Bill Passing, I Took My Christmas Tree Down! (AUDIO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/cspan-...

On the day before Christmas, one C-SPAN viewer took their unhappiness with the Senate's newly passed health care legislation to a new, personal, level: taking down her Christmas tree.

Bunny from Kansas called in to C-SPAN to express her disappointment. "I'm so disappointed," she said. "I have taken my Christmas tree down, I've taken my Christmas wreath off my house, I've taken all the lights down. This is supposed to be a nation under God, and it isn't."

Bunny then took it one step further by wishing that "every light in the nation go out, especially in the White House." Her reasons for such extreme measures were vague but included "genocide on the seniors."

***Rolls Eyes***
WordSmith

Bunny - from Kansas..... Bunny
SouthernGirl2

lol
WordSmith

Bunny just didn't sound all that bright. A "nation under God." Jezzus.... I still don't know what she was talking about in relation to Germany kicked out, who? - hospice? "Scotland wouldn't have anything to do with them."

I'll just bet ya everything I own, Bunny is some fluff-headed white woman on Medicare whose son is trying to educate to what's really happening and she's having none of it. And - if that's the case, the Christmas tree was as artificial as her blue hair, and small.
SouthernGirl2

lol!

Taking down your christmas tree & lights in protest?

Geez!
SouthernGirl2

Pope Knocked Down By Woman At Christmas Mass (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/pope-k...

VATICAN CITY � A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday.

The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini. Footage aired on Italy's RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red jumper vaulting over the wooden barriers and rushing the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards.

The commotion occurred as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out through the public that packed the basilica. The procession came to a halt and security rushed to the trouble spot.

Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police. He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was taken to hospital for a check up.

"During the procession an unstable person jumped a barrier and knocked down the Holy Father," Benedettini told The Associated Press by telephone. "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession."
dannie22

Wow! Somebody bumrushed the pope.