Gentlemen - start your engines. It's the official start of the holiday season. From now until New Years Day, we will be inundated with Christmas music, ads for Christmas sales, decorations everywhere, and FOX "News" once again declaring a War on Christmas because someone somewhere had the audacity to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".

That's why today is so special. It's the calm before the storm. It's the day when family and gratitude and reverence are embraced. Tomorrow is a selfish feeding-frenzy at the mall, but today is a quiet moment at home.
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11 comments (Latest Comment: 11/29/2013 02:59:30 by Raine)

It’s that time of year again, the time when Blogger Joe travels over the internet to spread the joy and cheer of the holiday season.
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13 comments (Latest Comment: 11/30/2013 18:47:17 by livingonli)

The prevailing wisdom in politics for much of my voting adult life was that Democrats were better with domestic policy, and Republicans were better with foreign policy. This was during the time that Reagan supposedly single-handedly brought an end to communism and the demise of the USSR, and Clinton over saw the tech explosion of the 90s and eliminated the budget deficit.

Of course - that was before President Bush (the younger) created the foreign policy disaster that was Iraq, and managed to irritate and alienate most of our allies (British prime minister Tony Blair excepted). He also managed to destroy the economy with massive tax cuts early in his administration combined with lax regulation that created the unsustainable balloons which popped right before President Obama came into office.
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48 comments (Latest Comment: 11/26/2013 02:23:59 by TriSec)

Most of the time, Massachusetts towers far and above the other, lesser states. Most of the things the rest of you take for granted were probably invented here, or had help from people from here. (Like the United States, but I digress.)

Speaking of which, I hope you all enjoy your holiday this week. Plymouth sound familiar? (I know it's a sore spot with indigenous peoples, and Wal-Mart workers this year, but once again I digress.)

But I've got three stories this morning that will bring us all back to earth...for a few days, at least.
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1 comments (Latest Comment: 11/24/2013 03:19:48 by Will in Chicago)

The problem with constantly being surrounded by people like you and familiar stuff is that it becomes so much a part of the fabric of your life, you cease to question it or examine it for what it is. This is true in politics, in racial or economic strata cultures, or - in a broader sense - our common American experience.

It's always interesting and educational to step outside those boundaries, and look in from the outside. It's good to see what others consider normal and abnormal in their circle of life versus yours. I was reminded of this once again as I read this link about things that non-Americans find odd about America. Surprisingly, our health care "system" wasn't a common theme.
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88 comments (Latest Comment: 11/21/2013 23:15:31 by Raine)