No one will ever confuse me as an expert on Jewish holidays and traditions, having grown up in a town where the local synagogue building was owned by the Catholic Diocese and used as the Bishop’s office. Jews were a decided minority in my childhood – I think I only knew one Jewish family. And 1950’s elementary school Catholicism wasn’t exactly nuanced in its ecumenical approach to any other religions (“If you aren’t Catholic, you’ll fry in Hell for all Eternity.”) By the time I was in high school the demographics of the town hadn’t changed much. The little Jewish cemetery, located just a few yards behind the new Catholic high school, was more a favorite “secret” meeting place for hormonally-charged classmates skipping classes rather than a resource for the religion and culture of those interred.

I say all this as a preface to explain why this may not be the most politically (or religiously) correct Hanukkah greeting ever – but it is, nonetheless, a sincere and joyous wish that this Festival of Lights may be a harbinger of a bright future for all.

Happy Hanukkah!!!

By the way – did you know that Yorkshire terriers were Jewish? Me neither. Oy vey.

Guest Post by Loki

Kim Jong Il has finally died. And with his death the fatal flaw of all dictatorships is about to be played out on the world stage. A dictator whether good or bad is the lone leader of their country. And on their death a huge power vacuum is created. And politics does not allow a vacuum in leadership.

Kim Jong Un is taking over for his father. But he is an unproven leader. His father has bequeathed him the leadership role whether he is ready or not. He must prove his ruthlessness to maintain his power. This can prove very difficult. He has siblings. At least one sister who is also in a position of power may have her eye on the leadership role. Whether Un can maintain his tenuous grip of power or whether another family member forces their way to power will be decided very soon. And there is also the military. They hold no fealty to Un and some general may decide he is better than Un or the rest of the family.

So we have a dictator of a communist party about to try and prove his right to ascension with a probable military display while fighting for his control of the leadership from his siblings and the military. Things in North Korea could get very unstable and violent.

Then we have our own President Obama who while quite ready to take advantage of any crisis in America seems very tepid about doing the same against any communist country. Instead of taking advantage of a crisis I fear the crisis will be that he is taken advantage of and prove himself yet again inadequate for the job. Another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

Whatever the outcome it will be played out no matter whether our president decides to join the game or sits and complains about the difficulty of his job.

From Loki’s email files….

This actually happened with some guys from Maine.
They dressed the truck up with the guy spreadeagled on the roof.
The driver and passenger put on Moose heads.
They went down the Maine toll road Interstate, causing 16 accidents.
They went to jail.

Yes alcohol was involved.

I really haven’t said a whole lot about the OWS “movement” because I find it to be inauthentic, hypocritical, manufactured, annoying, and obnoxious – among other things. But my friend sent me an email that finally explains the concept in terms I can understand.

Yep – that pretty well sums it up.
H/T Bridget

Guest post by Loki

A novel from Stieg Larrson.

A little bit of a spoiler warning, some of the story will be revealed but the major plot will not be revealed.

Something a little different this time and not political. After hearing all the hype about this novel I decided to purchase the book. It has been lying in a pile of other books waiting to be read. Recently I saw the TV ads promoting the movie. I decided it was time to knuckle down and read the book before the movie ruined the novel.

I learned many years ago that books of about 150 pages make a good 2 hour movie. Any books longer than that can never be covered fairly in a movie. The upcoming movie will not even come close to covering this novel. I doubt a 10 hour mini-series could get close. This is not a simple book.

First off there are many plots and sub plots revealed. There are affairs, lawsuits, libel, jail time, mysteries and murders. And the large number of characters can have the reader racking their brains trying to remember which character is which. To add to the confusion most of the names are Swedish (it is a Swedish novel translated) and many assumptions are made that the reader is familiar with Sweden and local customs and values.

Although the book is touted as a murder-mystery-thriller at times it seems more like a character study of Swedish morals. The story follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist through most of a year. After publishing a libelous story and followed by a lawsuit conviction he is about to lose his job, his business and spend time in jail. He is approached by a rich patriarch seeking to have a decade’s old murder of his niece solved before his death.

The character is interesting and the plot is compulsive. And it is not a real mystery as the reader is not expected to try to solve the murder. But the most interesting character in the book is Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo. Yet she is only one of many main characters in the book. But she is by far the most compelling and interesting. She is an extremely damaged woman with what could be described as asocial behavior bordering on being a psychopath who may have Asperger disorder. A woman who has created her own moral standards while trying to live within societies confines and avoid consequences imposed by society. I found myself wishing to read more about her. But that I fear will have to wait for the second book in this trilogy.

I recommend that anyone interested in this book read it soon especially if you are planning on seeing the movie. For I fear the movie would ruin the book should you try to read it afterwards. Because the movie will be unable to even approximate the depth of the book. I give the book 3 out of 4 stars.

As to me, I have made myself a cup of hot chocolate and started reading “The Girl Who Played with Fire”.

That’s my kid!!!

“Witnessing the Republicans and the Democrats bicker over the U.S. debt is like watching two drunks argue over a bar bill on the Titanic.” – Anonymous

H/T Puddy.

Some of the more pro-active Congress critters (current and wannabes) have made noises about a new “Contract With America” ala the 1994 set of promises that breathed life into a moribund Republican Party during the Clinton administration.

Because I’m just one of those really thoughty kind of people, I figured that I’d give my loyal readers an opportunity to develop a new contract between the American people and those they elect to serve them. So let’s combine our collective wisdom and come up with the terms of an agreement that spells out the expectations we have for those who are seeking our vote.

“We the People”, being the party of the first part and all candidates for the United States Senate and House of Representatives (Congress) in 2012 being the parties of the second part, do hereby agree:

“What’s in your wallet?”

The Obama re-election organization has been less than successful in its effort to derail Herman Cain’s campaign. First they tried playing the race card, and saw that effort fall completely flat. Guess they can’t tell the difference between a real black American who grew up in the post-war South and the effeminate, elite, half white, half black product of a sixties Hawaiian, Indonesian, communist, anti-American culture. Fortunately, the American public is more keenly attuned to such subtleties. The race card sure didn’t buy them anything there. Time to put that one back and pull out and try something else.

Now, rumor has it that there is much angst and confusion about the failure of David Axelrod’s attempts to thwart the surging Cain campaign by dragging up a bunch of old, outdated, unsubstantiated, irrelevant charges of sexual harassment from his tenure at the National Restaurant Association. Ann Coulter has a great expose on the whole thing. She explains in detail just how and why the American public isn’t buying the bullpucky the Dems are throwing out there.

Evidently, there’s an expiration date on the Bimbo Card. Who knew?

The Bimbo Card – Not always there when you want it.

H/T to Chrissy’s Site Bites for the custom illustration!