Blessed Greetings to Our Troops (+Open Thread)

A velvet warm muggy Christmas Eve, sitting on a bunker wall having a smoke, watching the treeline, a chopper clatters overhead playing Christmas Carols as it sweeps the wire, you never forget and every year you wish the best to those far away from home and wish them a safe return . . . transcends all politics.

And time. On an errand with my daughter,17, said the song on raadio, “Home” by Daughtry reminded her of ‘the troops’. And we were talking about driving lessons. Even the children don’t need explainin to ’bout this. If any are far away, know in your heart, you are not alone; your thoughts are the sounds of my wind chimes.

Beautifully written, Jess…. you painted a picture in my mind. Thank you.

Taters: I cant imagine what a gas it is playing “Merry Christmas Baby” with your girl Etta James…..(12 songs of Christmass 1998) Who’s playin keyboard? Its’ on the cable radio…and sax? Ahh what I’d give to do that all day.Alas, This will more than do!

Nice guy…and real ironic.

A 710-year-old copy of the declaration of human rights known as the Magna Carta _ the version that became part of English law _ was auctioned Tuesday for $21.3 million, a Sotheby’s spokeswoman said.

The document, which had been expected to draw bids of $30 million or higher, was bought by David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, the spokeswoman said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/carlyle-group

Bio:
David M. Rubenstein CSIS Trustee

http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_experts/task,view/type,34/id,245/

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought I heard an interview with him in which he said he was donating it to a public institution. (I wasn’t really listening, so just caught bits of it.)

I wonder if he will have the stains removed from it where George and Dick and the Boys in the Bund have used it for comfort tissue.

:::::::::::::::

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. – George Orwell

You might be right I had not heard much on it. I was thinking it ironic because of his connections to so many entities that have a colorful past.

I want to wish a Merry Christmas to all the wonderful folks here..A shout out to susan, Leslie, Larry, Preacherlady, Shirin, Teakwood, Taters, Fred, Wethornet, Cee, the list goes on and on.
Bless you all..
Thanks for the kind words about Jordan who is serving us bravely in Falluja, Iraq. We miss him deeply.
He got his Christmas presents yesterday..We sent him a laptop, webcam and iPod. We’ll be able to chat with him on webcam so that is the most exciting thing for us.
Christmas is a big thing here at our house..We have a big big family..Dinner tomarrow is for 42 people.
Poor mrs hoopster..she has been baking for 2 days now…Imagine if you will, the choas and excitement at our house…
Merry Christmas to you all and we’ll be chatting again in a few days…

If you have a few bucks change you haven’t spent on gifts yet …

At least as of yesterday, MoveOn was still accepting donations for long distance cards for troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s something just about any of them could use, I suspect, and they only come in one size:

https://civ.moveon.org/donatec4/holiday_troops.html

For everyone who’s celebrating Christmas, I hope it’s a good one.

Lord yes. Isn’t that the truth. And a document like that shouldn’t be in private ownership, imho. Hopefully, he will share it, but since he owns it, he could do anything he wants with it, and that’s not quite right.

Send our very best to Jordan. 42 people. Wow. Mrs. Hoopster is a heck of a woman, isn’t she. I bet you do your part too. Have fun!

If you have “old phones” here is a site we sent five oldies to in case you have a new one.

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $1 million in donations and distributed more than 400,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas

http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

A pinch o salt and Best wishes to all. Back at ya HoosierHoops.

I wasn’t on that one Teakwood, sorry to say. waaah…It’s a nice record though.

I have played w/ the great piano player and singer Charles Brown – the writer and original performer of the tune.
Slightly ot – I just recently got word that I am on a grammy nominated recording for this year – I was fortunate to have made a cameo appearance on the track Got My Mojo Workin’ on an Otis Rush recording and DVD, “Otis Rush Live…” for best traditonal blues.

Best Traditional Blues Album
Pinetop Perkins, “Pinetop Perkins on the 88′s – Live in Chicago”
Otis Rush, “Live…And in Concert from San Francisco”
Kenny Wayne Shepherd featuring Various Artists, “10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads”
Koko Taylor, “Old School”
Henry James Townsend, Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins, Robert Lockwood Jr., “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas”

http://www.austin360.com/news/content/music/stories/2007/12/1207grammylist.html

http://www.modernguitars.com/holland/archives/000468.html

Otis means alot to me and he’s a friend. He suffered a stroke a few years back and is no longer playing guitar – but he’s still singing. The afore mentioned recording was prior to his stroke. I also got to record with him before on “Tops” – released in 1985.

Merry Christmas, Hoosier Hoops, to you and your family and of course, Jordan is in our hearts and thoughts.
My niece Carlie is getting excited. Her husband Michael is coming home from Afghanistan in a few days.

Fine job, Susan. Keep us posted on how it went.

Our evening? it was great. My daughter made from-scratch German chocolate cake. Oh god it was good. I couldn’t eat of the piece I got, so saved the rest.

It was really low-key. We chatted, played with the cats, fed the outdoor homeless cats, and even watched some TV. Tomorrow’s more of the same. Nice.

Hope you had a great time too! LOVE your post. Will comment later there.

below, is a link to robert cray singing, w/ a video, the classic song, “twenty.” which you’ll recall that taters has, iirc, played with robert. it is a classic war song. the video shows empty boots, arlington cemetry style. it is beautiful. about 07.52.

taters/anyone, do you have any info on this song? who sang it origionally? was it from the ’60′s? thx.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hY4JlbC6wQE

also, here is cass dillon with billy joel’s song, “christmas in fallujah.” (hoosier hoops i’m thinking of your jordan. a classmate of mine was in the marine corps barracks in beirut, which if i’ve got this right is the same marine regiment that h.h.’s son is in.) 04:54.

briefly, as i gotta go jump in hte shower; time to open presents soon.

the kids are old enough to not believe in santa anymore, and young enough to be wildly excited. sweet.

later we’ll go to my sister-in-laws for dinner. the two families. they’re good folks; no angst.

christmas is kind of grim for me as my health has been craposis the past few months. pretty nasty. just an old broken down airborne ranger. but, i feel i’m coming out of it. (i also do a crappy job of exercising and self care. resolution for 08: fewer websites, more exercise. )

switching gears. i never had christmas overseas in a war zone. THANK GOD! but, i was overseas in an outpost of the empire. really plucks at the heart. some good things tho. (i may write it up later.)

part of what makes my christmas brighter, in this era of madness, is this blog. it’s like the tv show cheers. we all know each other…even the lurkers. community is good.

My wife sent me this.

GI Saves Iraqi Boy in Unlikely Adoption
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER – 1 day ago

MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) — Capt. Scott Southworth knew he’d face violence, political strife and blistering heat when he was deployed to one of Baghdad’s most dangerous areas. But he didn’t expect Ala’a Eddeen.

Ala’a was 9 years old, strong of will but weak of body — he suffered from cerebral palsy and weighed just 55 pounds. He lived among about 20 kids with physical or mental disabilities at the Mother Teresa orphanage, under the care of nuns who preserved this small oasis in a dangerous place.

On Sept. 6, 2003, halfway through his 13-month deployment, Southworth and his military police unit paid a visit to the orphanage. They played and chatted with the children; Southworth was talking with one little girl when Ala’a dragged his body to the soldier’s side.

Black haired and brown eyed, Ala’a spoke to the 31-year-old American in the limited English he had learned from the sisters. He recalled the bombs that struck government buildings across the Tigris River.

“Bomb-Bing! Bomb-Bing!” Ala’a said, raising and lowering his fist.

“I’m here now. You’re fine,” the captain said.

Over the next 10 months, the unit returned to the orphanage again and again. The soldiers would race kids in their wheelchairs, sit them in Humvees and help the sisters feed them.

To Southworth, Ala’a was like a little brother. But Ala’a — who had longed for a soldier to rescue him — secretly began referring to Southworth as “Baba,” Arabic for “Daddy.”

Then, around Christmas, a sister told Southworth that Ala’a was getting too big. He would have to move to a government-run facility within a year.

“Best case scenario was that he would stare at a blank wall for the rest of his life,” Southworth said.

To this day, he recalls the moment when he resolved that that would not happen.

“I’ll adopt him,” he said.

cont’d
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJ4klfaBtFmmxh03OjensoJiuUxAD8TN9RH80

omg! wow! this is poignant. made me cry. in a good way. thx taters.

ala’a means “to be near god” in arabic.

i have been very disappointed in journalists these past many years. but there are beacons out there like this. like the nytimes reporter on the kentucky dentist i posted down blog. tom ricks of the washington post. kudos to carrie antlfinger and the associated press.

This story is so full of joy. Thanks for sharing it with everyone. What a wonderful miracle for them both… and Taters, congrats on the nomination, and to Otis as well. I pray for his full recovery…

I do not think Clinton has an ingenuous bone in her body. It makes me crazy that my fellow Americans are considering her for President. Not that the other candidates are swell, but it really sickens me that someone who won’t get real for a nanosecond is taken seriously by ANYBODY.

I wish you much success in the coming year and keep your washboard and bucket bass busy.

I saw Oscar Peterson passed. What a body of work.

Hello everyone my name is Sam yea a guys name but its short for you guessed it Samantha , my parents were hippies what can you say?
Well anyways Im just joining the forum and this is my first post, wanted everyone to know who I am and what I`m all about.

I build motorcylces here in Daytona Beach, Florida as a hobby have my own little back yard garage and everything, right now there is a metric bike
that is called a Johnny Pag that was in really good shape its a small metric chopper only 250cc but its one hot ass bike now that its customized a wee bit
Its my first build and well its in the style of an old rat chopper awesome bike it is my first build so I`m sorta predjudice on the subject.

Anyways I`m here to learn and grow as a biker enthusists, builder and lover of hott ass bikers and the bikes we ride.

This is a pic of my bike that I built my ole man has it up for sale on ebid for me but you can see how nice it is and maybe some day I will be as famous as jesse james lol
I`m not that good but inspire to be so. http://us.three.ebid.net/perl/auction.cgi?auction=13219223&mo=auction – see my Johnny Pag Here

Does anyone know where I can buy more metric chopper or bobber frames, parts etc?