New Year’s Eve. Christmas is over, and the dire threats of Al Qaeda to spread panic with a spate of Christmas bombings has not come to pass. The Taliban now have surface to air missiles? The word in Defense Department circles had it that the Chinese trained the Taliban in the use of surface to air missiles in order to shoot down Santa Claus, whom the Chinese rightly believe to be us. But Santa came through the season unscathed. All of this was just a waste of Al Qaeda suicide bombers and a waste of Chinese time, of which they have much, and of Chinese money, of which they have much of ours, for Santa Claus and Christmas are not long for this world anyway, if the ACLU and the multi-cultis have their way, and both Santa Claus and  Christmas will soon be consigned to the old dustbin of history.

 

Christmas has come and gone again, and I was struck, as I have been for many years now, with how far we have come in de-linking Christmas with the birth of Christ. Kids don’t sing Christmas carols in school anymore lest someone be offended at the display of Christianity. There are no more Christmas pageants in our nation’s public schools, with little kids dressed as angels. No, all that is gone, and good riddance say he multi-culturalists and the ACLU and the other crazies of the Left. Gone and replaced with Winterfest, or Winter Festival, as if we were all a bunch of Druids. Merry Christmas has been replaced with Happy Holidays, and Christmas cards hardly mention the name of Christ. Then again, maybe we are all Druids now.     

 

 

Happy holidays! The children cry

As Winterfest begins

They’re off from school but don’t know why

Their faces shiny grins

They know snowmen and Santa Claus

And elves and presents too

They know of wide nutcracker jaws

And snowy landscape view

But they don’t know what it all meant

At least not many do

They think it’s all about the gent

Who with his reindeer flew

They’ve not been told of Jesus’ birth

To do so would offend

They’ve not been told He came to Earth

His mission to attend

Born Christmas day so long ago

Two thousand years and more

In a dry land that saw no snow

A babe men did adore

He’s Christ the King men did avow

Sent to us by His father

And if he looked around Him now

He’d say Why did I bother?

 

 

.

We casually throw around terms like Boomers and Generation X without truly understanding the deeper meaning of what a generation is and represents. In the mid 80s I read a book called Generations, in which the authors showed the United States had four different generations, which followed each other like the hands on a clock, from 12 to 3 to 6 to 9 and back again to 12. These generations the authors labeled (I paraphrase) Aggressive, Aggressive Passive, Passive, and Passive Aggressive. Their contention was that it took two to tango, and as long as one of the three Passive generations was in control of the levers of power, all out war would be avoided at all costs But let an Aggressive generation be in political and cultural control of the country, a blow, or even a spit in the face, would be responded to with a blow. When I read the book some 25 years ago, I saw by their charts that an Aggressive generation would be in power sometime after the 2012 election, and following their logic, and given the nature of the world and the nature of the threats posed to us by a variety of actors, it followed we would in a major war sometime between2014 and 2020. Or so was my reading of a very persuasive presentation. If the authors were correct in 1986, and are correct now, it is coming, possibly much sooner than we think, and it might very well be a nuclear war with China and North Korea, with sideshows against a few of the more noxious muslim countries. If and when it happens it will be a World War.

 

 

Again the lights go out

Again the young men march

Again the women weep

Their babies in their arms

Again the skies rain down

Again the seas run red

Again the children cry

When heard the shrill alarms

For it was ever thus

From Athens, Rome to now

For people must defend

Their temples, gods and farms

 

 

An international test of schoolkids showed Asian kids outperforming American kids by a country kilometer, but American educators are not impressed. “Our kids are first class in socializing and dancing,” they say smugly. “Not one of those Asian kids ever even heard of Lady GaGa.” When it was suggested the current economic climate was hurting the schools, the Educator said, “We’re combining many of our activities to cut costs. For example, many schools are now holding Driver Ed and Sex Ed classes in the same car.”

 

 

Who cares our kids can’t read or write

Who cares if math won’t come out right

What matters is we do not slight

Slow learners

So what if our schools do not teach

That excellence is in your reach

We must move more at pace of each

Slow learner

Yes other kids are good at math

But we’ve not driven down that path

And we produce what few doth hath

Slow learners

The world at large is passing by

Their kids succeed because they try

Our kids don’t study and that’s why

Slow learners

The teachers unions do deplore

And say that all’d be well if more

Tax money went into their store

Slow learners

The president says money spent

On teachers will correct the bent

That has occurred with good intent

Slow learners

But things are not as bad as seem

There are good kids who dream the dream

The test results show not the cream

Slow learners

Are Philly schools good as Shanghai

No they are not and we know why

That’s why on them we can’t rely

Slow learners

But if you tested just the best

You’d find that our kids pass the test

There’s always been the top, the rest

Slow learners

 

 

Pakistani papers recently were aflame with the story, attributed to secret documents revealed by Wikileaks, that the United States was colluding with India to commit genocide against Pakistani citizens in Kashmir. When the report was revealed to be a hoax, the Pakis instantly accused the West of conspiracy. But it was just a joke.

 

 

A joke played on the Paki?

How very, very tacky

For Pokkeeston’s so young, but just a stripling

Would you play a joke on Kim?

If you do, then sing a hymn

To that master of the Khyber, Rudyard Kipling

Or as Sherlock used to say

Rushing Watson to the shay

The game’s afoot, old fellow, let’s be off

Well that was then and this is now

And I say, if you’ll allow

They were better off when ruled by some Brit toff

They claim God himself did task it

Bid them build the biggest casket

Large enough to take all infidel to hell

If it works, don’t say it’s whacky

We will all be then in Paki

And be spilling into ‘Ganistan as well

I know Pakistan is nuclear

And while nothing could be spooklier

I can’t see them setting off some critical mass

I’m inclined to take for granted

They know Wikileaks was planted

And so I give the Paks a Khyber pass

 

 

A spate of shark attacks recently off the coast of Sharm el Sheikh, an Egyptian tourist resort at the tip of the Sinai penisnsula, has caused the Egyptian functionaries much distress, as the attacks have disrupted the smooth flow of tourist dollars into the nearly empty Egyptian treasury. Of course, in typical Arab fashion, they blamed the shark attacks on the Jews, claiming the Israelis secretly threw the sharks into the sea for the express purpose of discomfiting the Egyptians. Apparently they never saw Jaws. But on the other hand, there is little difference between Jews and Jaws.

 

 

I‘m throwing in the towel

It’s just a tiny vowel

That spells the difference between jews and jaws

Do consonants do harm?

What happens then when Sharm

El Sheikh turns into Shark will give you pause

My momma always said

Son use your punkin’ head

Don’t swim where big black fins are seen offshore

I’ve heeded that advice

Except for once or twice

And now I sing much higher than before

 

 

The most important battle ever fought on planet Earth may very well have been the battle of Milvian Bridge, on October 28, 312 AD, between the forces of two Roman Emperors, Constantine and Maxentius. Though outnumbered, Constantine won, and by winning assumed sole control of the government of Rome. Legend has it he saw a sign in the sky the night before the battle, a sign that said In Hoc Signe Vincit, In This Sign You Shall Conquer. The sign was the Christian sign of the Chi-ro, the first three letters of the name of Christ. Constantine had his men paint the sign on their shields, won the battle, and later made Christianity the state religion of Rome. Europe therefore was Christian when the Arab invasions began five centuries later, and a Christian Europe united in defeating the Muslim armies. It is difficult to see how a non-united non-Christian Europe, with many differing religions, could have resisted the sword of Islam any more than the Middle East, North Africa and the eastern lands stretching from Persia to India had been able to resist. Had Constantine not won the battle of Milvian Bridge, Europe would not have been Christian, and we would all be Muslims now. There would have been no Enlightenment, no science, no Western culture, no democracy and no United States.  

 

 

IN HOC SIGNE VINCIT

or

HOW CONSTANTINE PUT THE X IN XMAS

 

 

We wish you a merry X-Mas

A sentiment just fine

But did you know that Xmas

Has its roots in Constantine?

Back in the day of Roman clout

When Legions reigned supreme

 A couple emperors duked it out

To see who owned the dream

Old Connie told his soldiers he

Had seen in the night sky

A sign proclaiming victory

And gave the reason why

He said the sign did light the night

The sign of the Chi-Ro

That promised he would win the fight

If allegiance he would show

The sign proclaimed the Christian King

Whom they would recognize

To rule the earth and everything

From seas to shining skies

Thus Constantine did give the word

“The sign upon each shield!”

The morning saw his army gird

For battle they’d not yield

The Christian god now on their side

The troops were confident

That no defeat would God abide

And into battle went

 You know the rest, they passed the test

And Constantine emerged

A Christian king, one of the best

The pagans they were scourged

What was that fiery sign you ask

That flared in bold relief

That gave to Constantine the task

Of changing men’s belief

 From many gods to the one True

I’ll tell you so you know

The sign that flared up in the blue

Was the old Greek Chi-Ro

The letter X, that sounds the same

As Ch, then with Ro,

The letter R, becomes the name

Of Christ, to those who know

And still today the letter X

Stands for the risen one

And not a slight designed to vex

Adherents of the Son

Had Constantine not climbed the ridge

And to the sign did bow

He’d have lost that day at Milvian Bridge

And we’d all be muslims now

So Merry X-Mas as we dine

On this fine Christmas Day

And drink a toast to Constantine

Who showed us all the way

 

 

MERRY XMAS!

 

 

There is much chatter in the Arab world that Wikileaks is an American disinformation project. Could Assange be a front for the US government? I don’t believe so. We don’t do that sort of thing very well. But the Brits do. Remember Garbo and The Man Who Never Was? You will recall Assange is Australian, and looks, acts and talks like a guy who would’ve fit right in with the chaps at Bletchley Park or wherever it was James Bond and his pals at MI-6 hung out. No, if Assange is a game being played by the United States, it is being sub-contracted to the Brits.

 

 

A German agent planted near

Old Blighty’s threatened shore

With British pistol in his ear

Switched sides and won the war

There was a man who never was

And spoiled the German’s game

We have a man who never was

And Barack is his name

And so we have this Assange guy

And we’re led to believe

A pfc on his first try

With nothing up his sleeve

Downloads a quarter million docs

On Lady Ga-Ga stick

Despite the secrets behind locks

The theft was mighty slick

Where was our Garbo all this time

Did outrage assay forth

From White House on this horrid crime

Did Garbo alter courth?

Of course the man who never was

And Garbo are the same

He speaketh not of Assange’s deed

And Barack is his name

 

 

The Treasury Department has a lot of printing to do to keep up with the growing national debt, and in the course of printing warehouses full of new money they sometimes run into a snag. It seems a substantial number of recently printed hundred dollar bills have a vertical crease, and when you pull the sides of the bill the crease unfolds, leaving a blank space in the center of the bill. Does Ben Franklin deserve such treatment? The government spent 120 million dollars producing bills it cannot use. But all they have to do is say if you get a hundred dollar bill with only half of Franklin’s face, it’s a fifty.

 

 

Ben Franklin was a printer

His Almanac was neat

He printed many documents

That never had a pleat

Now comes along Obama’s crew

Just screwing up the place

Producing hundred dollar bills

With half of Franklin’s face

But Franklin doesn’t give a damn

He knows his place is sure

He knows Obama’s face on bills

Will come just after Gore

 

 

Hollywood has brought out a movie called Fair Game, or the Adventures of Joseph and Valerie Wilson, aka Valerie Plame. The movie is based on the self serving, filled with lies and distortions books written by the shy, retiring, self effacing pair. The movie bears no relation to reality, but that is not the point. The point of just about every Hollywood movie these days is to make the United States look evil or stupid or both. The question of course is, does anyone remember Valerie Plame or Joseph Wilson? And if anyone does remember either of them, does that anyone care? There was an old song, back in the 30s or 40s, called My Old Flame. Sappy lyric, but with a few adjustments it fits.

 

 

My old Plame

I can’t even think of her name

But it’s funny how and then

That my thoughts go running back again

To my old Plame

I’ve met so many who had fascinating ways

A fascinating gaze in their eyes

Fascinating ways to their lies

And when she wrote a book

We counted all the lies it took

From my old Plame

My old Plame

She let Scooter take all the blame

She had all the Dems to thank

As she ran not walked into her bank

Did my old Plame

And now a movie tells her story sad and true

A story only cameras can tell

How one Bob Nowak made her life hell

But now she’s in the chips

And now the past is just some blips

For my old Plame

 

 

South Korea has defied the Russians, the Chinese and the North Koreans, and will begin a planned artillery exercise today despite the warning from North Korea that doing so constitutes a casus belli, and will respond with overwhelming force if the artillery shoot goes forward. The North says if the war starts, it will go nuclear. We shall see. The North Koreans have threatened to incinerate Seoul, and one day they just might do it. They threaten to sink American warships in the Yellow Sea, and one day just might do it. The North Korean leadership is crazy, everyone says, though they seem to be doing all right. Every time they threaten us we hurry them to the negotiating table where we threaten them with dire consequences if they don’t accept our money, our food and our oil. Sure sounds crazy to me. And if they ever carry out their threats to turn Seoul into a radioactive parking lot, what will our response be? Well, if they do it while Obama is in power the answer is – nothing.

 

 

When North Korea bombards Seoul

Obama’s guys will take a poll

To see if we should act or sing and dance

We must not act just out of fear

But wait until the facts are clear

We must of course leave nothing up to chance

Our allies spread throughout the world

Don’t want their banners yet unfurled

Too early still to know what’s going on

It’s better that we just hold back

To see if it’s just one attack

Or just the king-four move of lonely pawn

Our lone response from Sec of State

Will show the Norks we are irate

That they would start to shoot in midst of talks

We know that Kim’s a peaceful man

Who’s doing all that one man can

To hold in check his country’s youthful hawks

And so we offer Kim a bribe

Such things as we will not describe

But first among them cash and oil and food

We must do nothing to inflame

Or cause our foes at home to blame

Us for our country’s ugly sour mood