Merry Christmas 2011

I became aware of these two videos within 24 hours of each other, and they both make me smile...

At first I envisioned some kinda east coast <--> west coast chick singin' let it all hang out goofy Christmas song video rivalry, like them rappers used to have... (That is what them rappers used to have, yes?!?)

But the fact is, I'd much rather see 'em workin' together, sometime, somewhere... I think they're both phenomenal talents, and I urge anyone unfamiliar to get to know these performers better... (Obviously, this isn't their best work, but for what they are, these videos are pretty great...)


East Coast: Antigone Rising




West Coast: Francesca Valle



For more info:
Antigone Rising
Francesca Valle


Merry happy, everyone... Celebrate, and be joyous.

Merry Christmas, Happy Winter Holiday

All my best to all who pass this way, and all who love them... May Christmas be as sacred as your faith and reason allow. Whether you find yourselves at midnight mass or going out for Chinese, may you celebrate with friends, family, food, and fun.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm letting those I disagree with be just as wrong as they want to be for the next 24 hours or so... Life's too short, and my faith calls for peace, love, and joy 'round now... May everyone reading these words get all of 'em, to overflowing...

Merry Christmas, and God bless...

Deleted: Liberty Pundits Blog - Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com

The following comment, posted to the Liberty Pundits Blog post American academia: Condemn Israel, love Muslims on Saturday, 09/25/2010 at 04:14 PM (LP blog time) was subsequently deleted (technically "flagged for review") within 12 hours or so of my posting it:

Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com, and is accepting signatures from anyone willing to speak out against human rights abuses in the Middle East. As you're obviously interested in the story, I urge you to step up and sign it: Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition

Obviously, we'll be counting on everyone here to reply to this request.

Here's how I made note of it at the blog post where I'm tracking these "invitations to stand up against human rights abuses in the Middle East" at the various blogs to which I've posted or submitted them:

*** 9/26 *** - It seems that Liberty Pundits here flagged my previously posted comment for review. Y'all see what I posted at all these sites... Is a comment asking folks to sign s Statement of Concern about human rights in the Middle East, at a post about that very same Statement, critical of the fact that a whole lotta previous folks didn't sign onto it, somehow off topic or offensive? Or is it that Liberty Pundits hates liberals (and/or muslims) more than they love supporting God given natural rights for all mankind? Hypocrisy? You decide. ***

This is the fourth rightwing blog to either remove my posted request to sign the petition, or obviously fail to approve it's appearance (at blogs pre-moderated for content, a practice I find questionable, to begin with.)

All I can say is, I'm pretty disappointed in these rightwing bloggers. They claim to stand for human rights, and be so indignant when others--folks they disagree with politically, natch--fail to heed the call. And then they fail to heed the same call, themselves. It's pretty sad to see...

Moderated: Thoughts From A Conservative Mom (blog): Dr. Gottheil's 'Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com...

Though I submitted the following comment to the "Thoughts From A Conservative Mom" blog post
Prof calls fellow academics ‘sanctimonious bigots’ on 9/25/2010, the fact that other posts and comments were posted there, but my comment never showed up, lead me to believe that my comment was moderated away. A visit to my blog from an administrator at this blog (thanks web traffic counter) later that day pretty much confirmed it. My comment:

Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com, and is accepting signatures from anyone willing to speak out against human rights abuses in the Middle East. As you're obviously interested in the story, I urge you to step up and sign it: Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition

Obviously, we'll be counting on everyone here to reply to this request.

Here's how I made note of it at the blog post where I'm tracking these "invites to sign the Statement" that I'm posting on rightwing blogs:

9/25 - *** Rachel at 'Thoughts From A Conservative Mom' here, obviously doesn't really care much about the rights of muslim women or gay folks, because she chose not to allow my comment about signing Dr Gottheil's Statement of Concern to appear. Not only didn't she reply to Dr Gottheil's plea (very much like those "sanctimonious, bigoted" academics failed to do), she doesn't want her readers to reply, either. Let human rights be someone else's problem, I guess... Sanctimony and hypocrisy walk hand in hand, sometimes... ***

Needless to say, I'm disappointed in her...

Moderated: American Power (blog): Dr. Gottheil's 'Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com...

Sometime on Friday, 9/24/2010, I submitted the following comment to the American Power blog post 'Sanctimonious Bigots' – Leftist Professors and Double Standards. (I can't recall the actual time, except to say it was before 9:30 PM.):

Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com, and is accepting signatures from anyone willing to speak out against human rights abuses in the Middle East. As you're obviously interested in the story, I urge you to step up and sign it: Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition

Obviously, we'll be counting on everyone here to reply to this request.

After waiting about 12 hours, I noted the following at the blog post where I've been tracking responses to my "sign the Statement against human rights abuses in the Middle East" commentary on rightwing blogs:

9/25 - *** Dr. Douglas has added several posts to his blog since I submitted my comment, so I reluctantly have to assume that he has rejected my comment asking he and his readers to step up and sign Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern. As he is both a conservative and an academic in the field of political science, I'm most disappointed in his obvious lack of concern for the human rights of women, gays, and lesbians in the Middle East. Given the chance to reply (figuratively, anyway) to Dr Gottheil's e-mail plea--a plea we can be almost certain Dr Douglas received and read--he chose not to step up, just like those "leftist" (and likely "nihilist" or "demonic," too) professors that he posted about failed to do. Double standard? You decide. ***

One has to wonder why Dr Douglas did not allow that comment to post, effectively refusing to reply to the Statement of Concern (or for that matter, allow his readers to do so), just like the professors he criticizes. Could it be that he is exhibiting the same kinda double standards that he's railing about in his post? One has to wonder...

Deleted: DUFF & NONSENSE! (blog) - Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com

The following comment was posted on 9/24/10, at 9:00 PM (or thereabouts), to the blog DUFF & NONSENSE!, at the post Humbug and humbuggers!, which was harshly critical of liberal academics who had signed a petition critical of the Israeli government, but subsequently failed to reply to a single unsolicited e-mail request from Dr. Fred Gottheil, a fellow professor they had likely never heard of, asking them to sign a statement against human rights abuses in other countries in the Middle East.:

Dr. Gottheil's Statement of Concern is now posted at PetitionsOnline.com, and is accepting signatures from anyone willing to speak out against human rights abuses in the Middle East. As you're obviously interested in the story, I urge you to step up and sign it: Support Regarding Discrimination in the Middle East against Women, Gays, and Lesbians Petition

Obviously, we'll be counting on everyone here to reply to this request.

Disappointingly, as of 9:20 AM on 9/25/10 (less than 24 hours later), this blogger seems to've deleted my comment, as well as the backlink to a post I'd made at another blog describing my attempts to get folks to sign onto the petition. How should we judge this behavior, when evaluating this conservative's commitment to human rights? Duff sure seemed to care when it was liberal academics who weren't stepping up, but when it's his turn to speak out, he chooses not to do so himself, or to allow any of his readers the opportunity to do so, either. Hypocrisy? You decide.

All I know is that I'm damned disappointed in him... Humbug and piles of brown, indeed.