Catalina’s Neighborhood

Is, as I feared, little more than a 2 hour Channel commercial (no channel product placement - just the style of one looooooong channel commercial). All the good parts? Already shown in the commercials (yes, they're that brief).

I spent the whole time thinking that it looked like it was filmed with the intention of immediately being redone as a play. Turns out that's because it's based on a play, which I didn't know.

I did know, however, that it's also loosely based on the Fellini film 8½. That helps a lot. Well, it helped me stay in my seat and not walk out.

I read that Fergie's performance was "a revelation". Really? It wasn't long enough to be much of anything to me.

Nicole Kidman's costumes, with boobs clearly much larger than her own/real ones, was distracting.

I liked Penelope Cruz' character (little slut!).

Kate Hudson reminds me more and more of her mother every time I see her. Doing 60s dances just added to the effect.

The dancing & burlesque are good. "Moulin Rouge" and/or "Chicago" it ain't. Mostly boring, it is.

But it got me out of the house (and my pajamas) for 3 hours. Now I'm safe & warm, back in both of them.

BHO engaging Ahmadinejad

Examine the word “feckless”. It means:

1. Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.

2. Careless and irresponsible.

-         Houghton Mifflin e-Reference

The adverb form of this word is the description Charles Krauthammer assigns to President Barack Hussein Obama’s 2009 foreign policy especially as it relates to Iran.

JRH 12/25/09

The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, is on Terrorist Watchlist.

Nigerian man tries to light powdery substance on Detroit flight, officials say

A 23-year-old Nigerian man tried to light a powdery substance aboard a Northwest Airlines flight before landing in Detroit on Friday, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News.

Two people noticed the attempt and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News.

The man is being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.

The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, counterterrorism officials said.

The man was subdued by the crew of Flight 253 from Amsterdam, one counterterrorism official said. The official said the man left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, then boarded the Northwest flight in Amsterdam on Friday.

Flight 253 was an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers. The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane was taken to a remote area of Detroit Metropolitan Airport and all passengers deplaned and were rescreened along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said.

President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.

U.S. counterterrorism officials are treating this as a possible terrorist attack and are taking it “very seriously,” counterterrorism officials said. An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure there no similar attacks, Burton said.

U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.

On Dec. 22, 2001, passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami subdued a man who was attempting to detonate explosives in his sneakers. Richard Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in 2003 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cousin, Ramzi Yousef, were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34592031

 The True Story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

      A guy named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty
      apartment window into the chilling December night. His 4-year-old
      daughter, Barbara, sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bobs wife, Evelyn, was
      dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could
      never come home. Barbara looked up into her dads eyes and asked, "Why
      isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" Bob's jaw tightened and his
      eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of
      anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be
      different for Bob. Being small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by
      other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was
      often called names he'd rather not remember.

      From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did
      complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job
      as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he
      was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's
      bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his
      daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums.
      Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938. Bob struggled to give hope
      to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift.
      But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined a make one - a storybook!
      Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's
      story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob
      told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the
      character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his
      own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit
      outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named
      Rudolph, with a big shiny nose.

 
      Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on
      Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there. The general manager of
      Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a
      nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to
      print Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and distribute it to children
      visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and
      distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a
      major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an
      updated version of the book. In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the
      CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best
      seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried
      with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort
      his grieving daughter.

      But the story doesn't end there either. Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny
      Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down
      by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded
      by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was
      released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records
      than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas."
      The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on
      returning to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson,
      just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad. In
      fact, being different can be a blessing!

**The above story was emailed to me by Insight of the Day & Bob Proctor.**

http://www.bobproctor.com

A pornament, personalized, and magnets from CrankyPants:

Pornament

Personalized Naughty List

HedgeHog!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574614342336518408.html

Bouhammer Note- This version of ‘Twas the Night before Christmas’ was sent to me yesterday by its author, SSG Scott Nelson, who is currently deployed in Afghanistan. He said he re-worked the famous poem in order to put some Christmas spirit in the soldiers fighting on the front lines in the Global War on Terror. Personally I think he did a pretty good job.  I want to thank SSG Nelson and all of those that are forward deployed who take the time to read this blog and for their feedback. I am flattered that those whom I tend to write about, read Bouhammer’s Afghan & Military blog and that they like what they read. Merry Christmas to all, but especially to those that are deployed away from family trying to make it though just “one more day”. http://ow.ly/PAfA

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Afghanistan,
not a creature was stirring, not even the Taliban.
Combat boots were aligned under the cots with care,
but nobody expected that St Nicholas would be there.
The soldiers were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of home danced in their heads.
When out by the wire there arose such a clatter,
all the soldiers sprang from their beds to see what was the matter.
Away to the fighting positions they flew with a flash,
threw on their gear and made a mad dash.
The moon shining down on the desert below
gave the Afghan qalats a menacing glow.
When up in the sky something strange did appear,
but all the brave soldiers suppressed their fear.
Calmly they prepared for the battle ahead,
though their hearts were filled with a visceral dread.
But soon they discovered a cause for the racket,
a laughing fat man in a brilliant red jacket.
He was driving a sleigh loaded with gear,
pulled behind a team of eight reindeer!
The soldiers gazed with awe at the sight,
of the familiar man flying his sleigh through the night.
Down came the sleigh with a dizzying drop,
and soon Santa landed in the midst of the COP!
As he stepped down into the gathering crowd,
he patted his belly and exclaimed aloud:
"Combat landings are always a fright,
maybe I shouldn't have had that egg nog tonight!"
He pulled out a bag which bulged at the seams,
filled with the things of the soldiers dreams.
Ipods and video games and paperback tomes,
cookies and candies and letters from home.
To each soldier he gave with a hug and a smile,
chuckling and jiggling with joy all the while.
When his bag was empty and all his treats gone,
he led the soldiers in a few Christmas songs.
Soon they knew it was time that St. Nick must go,
but a private stepped forward, said "Santa, I want to know..
Why did you come to this forsaken hole in the sand,
where war and cruelty ravage the land?"
Santa looked up with a gleam in his eye,
and for a second it seemed as if he might cry.
With a quivering voice he said to the women and men
"I look forward with joy to that day when
all mankind will be happy and live together in peace,
from the North to the South to the West to the East.
But for now I know some must fight,
to ensure that the weak and oppressed have the right
to live their lives as they want, as they please,
without tyranny bringing them to their knees.
I know these men and women are lonely and scared,
far from their life,
far from friend and neighbor and child, husband or wife
These heroes deserve the joy of the season,
and to this land I come for that reason"
He saluted the soldiers with pride in his eyes,
then climbed into his sleigh with a sigh.
With a whistle and a flick of the reigns in his hand,
the sleigh and the reindeer rose above the land
He bellowed as he rose ever higher and flew out of sight
"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!" 

A Soldier's Night Before Christmas

A letter from General David H Petraeus as sent to Michael Yon, beginning his 6th year of war coverage...

Michael:

As you know, our troopers are doing magnificent work in Afghanistan, Iraq, and a host of other places throughout the Central Command area and, indeed, throughout the world.  Many of them will celebrate the holidays while deployed on combat and contingency operations, defending our nation's freedoms far from home and far from loved ones.   They - and their families - have made enormous sacrifices in recent years, in many cases deploying multiple times and enduring long separations from those at home while carrying out important missions in challenging conditions against tough enemies.

As we all remember our many personal blessings this holiday season, we should also take a moment to remember how truly fortunate our country is to have the remarkable men and women of our armed forces who serve so courageously and so selflessly.  They truly are America's new greatest generation.

To our troopers overseas and to those here at home:  thank you for all that you have done to help keep America safe and to protect the values for which generations of Americans have fought in the past.  We are deeply grateful for your extraordinary service in recent years and we are equally thankful for all that we know you will do in the years ahead.  It remains the greatest of privileges to serve with each of you.

Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful holiday season and a great year in 2010.  May God bless our great country and each and every one of you, and may God bless our troopers serving around the world and their families at home.  Thank you very much!

GEN David H. Petraeus
Commander, US Central Command

Merry Christmas to our brave men and women Embracing the Suck, no matter their political persuasions. http://www.snooperreport.com/

Wishing you a speedy recovery Janice! Let's Dance!