Oh yeah, one last note before I head out the door: I’ve blogged several times from the road, though I don’t usually make a note of where I am. But from where I’m sitting right now if I look to my left and out through the window of Lisa’s old bedroom, I can see the site of where the Vann House stood a few hundred yards away. That – and the land that Lisa’s family lives on – used to be part of New Echota, the capital of the Cherokee Nation. Her family wound up owning most of this, though most of it got sold off over the years. But that already came a long time after one of the most notorious events of American history…

It will be 169 years ago tomorrow, on December 29th 1835, that at the Vann House – which I can see from the keyboard ...

…because I just took what has become for me a rare peek inside Free Republic and Liberty Post. I’m not going to “name names” but I did happen to notice the attitude of any number of posters on either site.

“Liberals”, don’t worry: Christians did not take over America’s political establishment this past November. Because they aren’t really Christian to begin with, at all. Or really “Christ-like” anyway. I mean, would a REAL Christian suggest mass-slaughter of registered Democrats? And yet that’s just ONE thing that I saw mentioned on both sites, from people who claim to be on “the right side of things” and don’t hesitate to gloat that “they won”… whatever the hell it is that they are supposed to have won. Whatever it is, I’d sure love to know what exactly it is that they plan to do with it, now that they’ve “won” it.

This ...

In the old days if a kid misbehaved his mom would throw out his comic books. Today she sells them on the Internet and buys a fur coat with the profit! Just heard that GoldenPalace.com, the online gambling outfit known for its crazy promo stunts, had the winning bid of $5,300 and plans to donate the toys to a needy family. So at least some kids who’ll prolly appreciate it will have a Merry Christmas. Not so for these brats, who learned the hard way that Santa is making a list and checking it twice…

Dad tries to sell Christmas gifts on eBay

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON (AP) – The kids were naughty, Dad put the presents on eBay instead of under the tree – and Mom’s been crying ever since. Now, even the tree’s down.

Saturday morning was sure not to be very jolly for three brothers

...

We kinda “spread out” the Christmas gifts in our family instead of unloading them all in one shot: everyone gets something Christmas Eve night (usually the more thoughtful stuff). Then next morning the REAL toys – like Dad’s new recliner, or my LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon set, or the Xbox that “Weird” Ed and I tore Greensboro all to pieces inside-out trying to find for Lisa – get doled out. That’s when Lisa found the new Clay Aiken “Merry Christmas with Love” CD in her stocking.

And the night before, prior to us turning in for a long winter’s nap (among other things) she received my first gift to her for the season: Clay Aiken’s book (co-written with Allison Glock) Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life. Yeah, she’s been an Aiken-aholic since that first night he showed up looking like Opie Taylor’s illegit son on ...

Just as with every Thanksgiving and Christmas (and a few times in between) for the past two years, last night I hauled out the propane burner and stainless-steel pot, and played around with 350-degree hot peanut oil and a turkey all pumped-up with garlic butter…

The finished product:Given that I didn’t get to marinade this one as soon as I would have wished, it came out very tender and juicy. Hey it went fast so I guess that’s the highest compliment a cook can receive, right? 🙂...

It was 60 years ago today, on Christmas 1944, that one of the more amusing incidents in military history took place. General Tony McAullife of the 101st Airborne, U.S. Army was approached by Nazi envoys. A few weeks earlier Hitler had thrown the full weight of what remained of the German army into the Ardennes… his last great gamble to win the war. What would become known to history as “the Battle of the Bulge”.

McAullife’s forces, based in Bastogne, Belgium, were almost completely surrounded. The Nazis seemed certain to overrun them without mercy. Nonetheless the Germans thought the polite thing to do would be to ask McAullife to surrender. That’s what they suggested they do after the envoys arrived in camp.

McAullife’s terse reply: “Nuts.”

The two envoys looked at each other, confused and not sure what this was supposed to mean.

“What, you want me to write it ...

From GOPUSA…

Congressman Mocks Parrot Arrests
By Bobby Eberle
Talon News
December 22, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) — Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) issued a statement on Tuesday contrasting the government’s zeal in preventing parrots from Mexico from illegally entering the country with their efforts to stop illegal immigration in general.

Under the headline “Apparently There Are No Jobs Available That American Parrots Won’t Do,” Tancredo said he was surprised to learn of the “incredible success that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers enjoyed in apprehending smugglers attempting to illegally smuggle 150 Lilac Crowned and Mexican Redhead Amazon Parrots into the United States.”

The statement points out that ICE, however, has not had the same luck in preventing an estimated 3 million illegal alien human beings from swarming into the U.S. annually unchecked.

“It’s nice to see that ICE has their priorities in order,” quipped Tancredo, head of the Congressional

...

The following is something that I wrote in December 1998 while an op-ed columnist on my college newspaper. A little while ago I found the original file of it that I’d saved to disk from the paper’s website when it got published. Thought it might be a neat thing to bring back six years later since Christmas is a few days off.

Originally published in The Pendulum, Elon University, 12/03/1998

Celebrating the Christmas season means celebrating the memories
Chris Knight
Columnist

     Some of the best memories that we take through life are about the times we cherish the most. And sometimes, it doesn’t take much to bring back the joy.
     Last Friday as I was driving around Greensboro, the all-time coolest Christmas song ever came over the speakers.
     Who knows what this genius recording artist’s name is? Does it really matter? Whoever he is, he’ll forever be remembered as giving

...

U.S. Representative Ron Paul from Texas has posted a great piece titled “It Can’t Happen Here”. It’s aimed squarely at those who believe that government can do no wrong so long as “their guys” are in power. Brilliant read and it’s worth taking the time to digest.

I’m going to write more about this later, but I’ve been doing some thinking lately about freedom and what is required to guarantee freedom in a country like America, because it’s NOT going to be guaranteed or even well-regarded by this present government. And here’s what I’ve come to realize: a people will remain a free people when (A) they make their individual consciences answerable to a higher authority than man’s, (B) they regard their fellow man’s right to life, liberty and right to own property and to pursue God as their own consciences lead them, (C) hold individual life to be ...

Will have to wait a few days to see how this turns out (’cause it might not yield much of anything) but here’s the setup: I’m an avid player of the Star Wars Galaxies online role-playing game and lately I’ve been winding up with WAY more loot inside the game than I know what to do with. Good loot, we’re talking. Stuff that people pay a fortune both in-game (and out-of-game) to possess. I had to get rid of it ‘cuz I’m running out of room to hold it all, but I’m too nice a guy to exploit anyone in giving it to ’em and charging an outrageous price.

So I posted a notice on the message board for the server I play on, telling everyone that between now and Thursday morning I’m taking 200-words or less written contributions about the funniest thing they’ve experienced during the Christmas holidays, with ...