Saturday, December 24, 2011

'☆' CELINE DION_ The Magic of Christmas Day '☆'

Portsmouth, New Hampshire



and, for the "kids" wanting to track Santa, here is the official site:

Welcome to NORAD Tracks Santa



A GIGGLE with the GOATS Jingle Bells Holiday 




Friday, December 23, 2011

Cartoons and Music Videos: For the children - Christmas Eve ...

Note: I will be with family tomorrow, Christmas Eve and on Sunday, so here's the last post until Monday - A Very Merry Christmas!







The Toy Shop❉1928 Silent Christmas


Plutos Christmas Tree ❉1952

Sylvester and tweety❉1952 Gift Wrapped Christmas

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS - 1933 CARTOON

Sniffles

 Victoria Justice (Christmas)

An't We Got Fun .. 1937 Christmas Cartoon












EGYPT’S ISLAMIC SUPREMACISTS OBLITERATING COUNTRY’S CONNECTION TO WEST


Friday, December 23, 2011

A protester stands in front of the burning Institut d’Égypte in Cairo on Saturday, December 17

BY PAMELA GELLER

More fetid blossoms from the Obama-endorsed "Arab Spring," which is turning Egypt into an Islamic supremacist wasteland. This is what the museums staging exhibits for faux contributions to science, etc. by the Muslim world should include. The destruction of symbols of other faiths is consistent Islamic supremacist practice. And remember, Muslims burned the original and world-renowned Library of Alexandria. (h/t Crombouke)
It was barely mentioned in the Israeli and global media, but the following event pertains to the whole of Western civilization: Last Saturday, violent groups of Islamic-Salafi radicals burned the famous scientific institute established by Napoleon in Egypt after its first encounter with the West. Some historians consider it the start of modern times in the Middle East.
The site, L’Institut d’Egypte, held some 200,000 original and rare books, exhibits, maps, archeological findings and studies from Egypt and the entire Middle East, based on the work of generations of western researchers. Most of the artifacts were lost forever, burned or looted.
It’s difficult to understand the modern Middle East without these studies, which were overcome by an immense fire. The large building was situated in the center of Cairo and torching it was a symbolic, intentional act. Those who burned the building and its artifacts meant to burn the era of logic, enlightenment, research and individualism.
This was a grave provocation against the whole of Western civilization, a desire to disconnect from science, research and modernity, while cynically using a Western means – that is, democracy – in order to take power.
One need not go all the way to blowing up the pyramids, as some of Egypt’s Salafis wish to do after they seized some 35% of the new parliament seats (alongside 40% of the Islamic brotherhood,) and there is no reason to go as far as Afghanistan, where the Taliban blew up the huge Buddha statues. The elimination of Egypt’s non-Muslim past is already here.
Anything that dates back to the Pharaohs, that is ancient, or that is Western is destined to be destroyed, and the mission has already been launched in the most symbolic manner: The outset of Egypt’s modern era, which the Salafis seek to erase, and in fact rewrite. This is a battle for writing the history of Egypt and of the Arab and Muslim world.

UNESCO’s silence

This isn’t a new phenomenon, and in Jerusalem as well we see elements associated with political Islam trying to erase any presence of the 3,000-year Jewish existence there, on Temple Mount for example – existence that pre-dated Islam.
In 1258, the Mongols burned the immense library in Baghdad known as the “House of Wisdom.” It held rare writings that have disappeared forever, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and the other cornerstones of Western civilization. All we know today is that these books existed, yet following the terrible fire in Baghdad they were burned forever. The Mongols sought to secure the same objective as Egypt’s Salafis: Erasing the past and keeping only their present.
All of this is happening while the confused West is lauding the new democracy established in Egypt, without understanding that this democracy is erasing the historic Egypt that was intimately connected to the West and its culture; a new Egypt shall rise on the ruins of the great fire. What we are seeing here is not a battle for power, but rather, a battle for perception, memory, heritage and historiography; that is, the writing of history.

Symbol of Egypt's non-Muslim past is set ablaze


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2011

POINT OF NO RETURN


It was barely reported in the West, but the great fire engulfing Egypt's Napoleonic Institut d'Egypte, with its priceless collection of documents and books, has destroyed another key symbol of the country's non-Muslim past, while UNESCO remains silent. Article by Guy Bechor in Ynet News:

It was barely mentioned in the Israeli and global media, but the following event pertains to the whole of Western civilization: Last Saturday, violent groups of Islamic-Salafi radicals burned the famous scientific institute established by Napoleon in Egypt after its first encounter with the West. Some historians consider it the start of modern times in the Middle East.


The site, L’Institut d’Egypte, held some 200,000 original and rare books, exhibits, maps, archeological findings and studies from Egypt and the entire Middle East, based on the work of generations of western researchers. Most of the artifacts were lost forever, burned or looted.


It’s difficult to understand the modern Middle East without these studies, which were overcome by an immense fire. The large building was situated in the center of Cairo and torching it was a symbolic, intentional act. Those who burned the building and its artifacts meant to burn the era of logic, enlightenment, research and individualism.


This was a grave provocation against the whole of Western civilization, a desire to disconnect from science, research and modernity, while cynically using a Western means – that is, democracy – in order to take power.


One need not go all the way to blowing up the pyramids, as some of Egypt’s Salafis wish to do after they seized some 35% of the new parliament seats (alongside 40% of the Islamic brotherhood,) and there is no reason to go as far as Afghanistan, where the Taliban blew up the huge Buddha statues. The elimination of Egypt’s non-Muslim past is already here.


Anything that dates back to the Pharaohs, that is ancient, or that is Western is destined to be destroyed, and the mission has already been launched in the most symbolic manner: The outset of Egypt’s modern era, which the Salafis seek to erase, and in fact rewrite. This is a battle for writing the history of Egypt and of the Arab and Muslim world.


This isn’t a new phenomenon, and in Jerusalem as well we see elements associated with political Islam trying to erase any presence of the 3,000-year Jewish existence there, on Temple Mount for example – existence that pre-dated Islam.


In 1258, the Mongols burned the immense library in Baghdad known as the “House of Wisdom.” It held rare writings that have disappeared forever, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and the other cornerstones of Western civilization. All we know today is that these books existed, yet following the terrible fire in Baghdad they were burned forever. The Mongols sought to secure the same objective as Egypt’s Salafis: Erasing the past and keeping only their present.


All of this is happening while the confused West is lauding the new democracy established in Egypt, without understanding that this democracy is erasing the historic Egypt that was intimately connected to the West and its culture; a new Egypt shall rise on the ruins of the great fire. What we are seeing here is not a battle for power, but rather, a battle for perception, memory, heritage and historiography; that is, the writing of history.

Read article in full

It’s an Obama world.


Grassley & King Meet With Walter Reed Officials to Discuss Bible Ban at Military Hospital


Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, December 23, 2011, 4:55 AM


GATEWAY PUNDITWhile we were preoccupied with Obama’s disastrous economic policies and foreign interventions, military bureaucrats under Barack Obama passed a new rule that barred loved ones from bringing Bibles to wounded soldiers.

The US Military says they are rescinding the order but only after Republican lawmaker Steve King denounced the policy on the House floor.
Earlier this week Rep. King and Senator Charles Grassley spoke with Walter Reed officials about the controversial measure.
Washington, DC- Congressman Steve King and Senator Chuck Grassley met with senior leadership of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center yesterday to discuss a recent memo released by the Medical Center prohibiting the use and distribution of Bibles and other religious materials during visits to wounded soldiers. After receiving the memo on December 2nd, King called Vice Admiral John Mateczun, Commander of the Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical, and Rear Admiral Alton Stocks, Commander of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, to Capitol Hill. King and Grassley were informed that the memo was worded improperly, that the Medical Center has rescinded the memo, and that a new memo will be drafted to affirmatively assert that religious items and artifacts are welcome in the hospital, if they are welcomed by the patient. King and Grassley released the following statements after the meeting:
“The meeting with Vice Admiral Mateczun, Rear Admiral Stocks, and Senator Grassley was productive because the Walter Reed staff has agreed to write a new rule that affirms a visitor’s ability to bring Bibles and other religious material when they visit,” King said. “I have asked to look over the new rule before it’s officially released and that they identify the individual who is responsible for writing this unconstitutional nonsense.”




Christmas in Eurabia! Fa la la la la la la la la!!!!! (Videos) - by Caroline Glick

Caroline Glick


This week on the Tribal Update, the media satire television-on-Internet brought to you every week by Latma, the Hebrew-language satirical media criticism website I run we produced a special song for our Christian friends celebrating Christmas on Sunday.

Here is the song.


And here is our entire show that includes an interview with a senior IDF commander about the greatest threat facing Israel today -- THE SETTLERS!


Enjoy the show and the rest of Hanukah. Shabbat shalom and Merry Christmas to the Christians.

If you are trying to figure out what to do with all the extra change in your pockets, (and stocks in your portfolios), before the end of the year, how about making a tax deductible contribution to support our work at Latma?

Latma is funded through contributions to the Center for Security Policy in Washington. If you are in the United States and would like to support our efforts, you can contribute by clicking here. It takes you to the online contribution page for the Center for Security Policy through Network for Good. To earmark your donation to Latma, please write "Latma" in the box marked "designation."

You can also send checks to: The Center for Security Policy
                                            1901 Pennsylvania Ave., NW,
                                            Washington, DC 20006

Thanks so much!



Video: The Heart of a Lioness


Uploaded by on Mar 2, 2010
A lioness in Kenya has adopted a baby antelope- and later other cubs from a different animal species. This short touching documentary will open your eyes and rethink about how humane animals can be. A must watch.



“And the lion shall lie down with the lamb…”
Although the phrase of “the lion shall lie down with the lamb” is one of the more popular quotes from the Bible, it’s really misquoted. In the King James version, it’s the wolf that dwells with the lamb, and it’s a leopard that lies down with a kid, and “the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.” (Isaiah 11:6)


But in today’s world, there really is a lion that lies down with a calf…in fact, she adopted and nurtured a total of five antelope calves.


It’s a remarkable story of the love of one animal for another, and it seems to personify the truth that not all natural enemies are exactly that—natural and unavoidable enemies.
On Christmas Day of 2001, game wardens at the Samburu National Park in Kenya watched as an adult lioness frightened off an oryx antelope mother, and picked up her baby calf in its mouth. Because lions normally hunt these antelope, they assumed the lion would kill and eat the baby. But then the unexpected happened.


The lion, named Larsens, began to nuzzle and fondle the frail little creature. Behavioral scientists first stated that the lioness had probably mistaken the oryx calf for a lion cub. But then the lioness showed her awareness of the calf as another species, because she allowed the calf to return to her natural mother to nurse.


For more than two weeks, the lioness Larsens nudged the little calf along, all the while allowing her to return to her antelope mother for nourishment before chasing the mother antelope away once again.


The fragile baby oryx was seen crossing the savannah with her lioness “mother,” and would curl up by her side for naps. Tragedy struck one day while the lioness napped by a water hole. While the baby oryx was playing, another lion attacked and killed it.


According to the wardens, Larsens was enraged when she woke. Ten times she circled the lion that killed her oryx calf, roaring all the while. Then she disappeared from view.


Larsens was seen a few weeks later, following herds of oryx antelope. “She never kills them,” said one warden. “When she is hungry, she goes after warthogs.”


But Larsens would again amaze the rangers with her mothering instincts. On Valentine’s Day, 2002, lioness Larsens was spotted with another oryx calf. And just like the last one, she’d adopted the calf as her own.


It seemed Larsens had learned the need to protect her new baby from other lions and predators. She guarded the new baby ferociously, chasing off any lions that approached. “There are other lions trying to attack the lioness to get to the baby, but the rangers are watching them and the lioness is protecting the calf,” said park warden Mark Lenya-kopir.
“This is one extraordinarily maternal cat,” said lion expert Jim Cavenor. “I've seen lions adopt a few small animals, but they usually end up turning round and eating them after a couple of days. But she seems to be totally fixated on this little one.”


Unlike the common assumptions of most people, animals do think. Their thinking is not some robotic response to environmental stimuli, but an active, cognitive reasoning. Larsens is proof of this. She adopted a series of what was normally a “prey” species for lions, and protected them as her own. She knew she could not provide nourishment for them, and allowed them to return to their mothers for food.


Larsens is just one example of how animals react with emotion, with feeling and with true knowledge of what they are doing. She ultimately adopted a total of five oryx calves, giving all of them fierce protection and tender care while ignoring her own basic needs. Her actions have made her a legend among the people of Kenya, and they bestowed another name on her because of their reverence for her loving nature.


The Samburu people call her Kamunyakthe blessed one.


Sources: The Observer, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy


Bee's note:
This morning, awoke to snow falling gracefully and making all things new and white - beautiful scene from y window.  The weather does not prevent last minute shoppers from racing to the nearby shopping malls and grocery stores; last minute preparations for the weekend and for many, the Christmas Day celebration this Sunday, Dec. 25th.

The news from around the world looks bleak, as nations rise up throughout the Middle East and innocents are murdered in the streets in Cairo, Egypt and Syrai; bombings in Iraq since the last of our soldiers packed up to come home earlier this week; Christians living in predominately Muslim countries fearing for their lives, as churches are bombed and Christians are attacked and murdered by Islamists. is there a Muslim country in this world that is not fighting among themselves and with those who are non-Muslim?  ... If so, name one!  Truly a mistake to ever refer to Islam as a "Religion of Peace", when it is an ideology, not a "religion" - an ideology that refuses to enter the age of civilization that wishes peace, not war, among its neighbors.

What the Christians fear now in Islaimic-ruled countries, such as Iraq, has happened to the Jews in those same countries a few years back; as I had posted a few months ago, there are approximately 6 Jews remaining in Iraq, (reported by "Point of No Return") and even less in Afghanistan; I believe the last of the Jews were air-lifted out of Yeman two years ago by Israel; and it's anyone's guess if there are Jews living in Egypt at this time!  It brings to mind that very familiar saying by pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.  
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

I have shared the story of the lioness to demonstrate that animals show mercy towards those creatures who are not of their own kind and yet, as humans, we are witnessing such a lack of mercy among nations throughout the world, that surely  this is a time to be thankful, understanding the importance of mercy and  gratitude for living in a country that allows each of us the freedom to worship (or not to worship) without having our heads cut off for our beliefs!  The "heart of the lioness" is a story of mercy - a very fitting story when wishing each other, 

Peace on Earth, Good will to men .....

              

Message to Steve:
and search through 
the Jewish refugees on "Point of No Return" ... you will find a report on the Iraqi Jews forced to leave Iraq.

Timeline to disaster for the Jews of Iraq



                             


Thursday, December 22, 2011

Essential Christmas: The 10 Best Holiday Specials And Movies


PJ MEDIA

Posted at 3:30 pm on December 19th, 2011 by 
In a day when parents and children rarely watch the same TV shows, Christmas TV specials and holiday movies still somehow manage to continue to bring families together.
These days it’s even easier than it used to be to share these traditions. ABC Family has made an art out of holiday programming with their “25 Days of Christmas” programming blocs that package specials throughout the month of December. Home video and streaming services also allow families to watch programs whenever they want.
In the spirit of Christmas, I’m offering to you this list of the ten most essential specials and movies of the season.
We’ll start with a pair of very different types of animation from a production company synonymous with Christmas specials…
Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass are synonymous with their stop-motion Christmas specials of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Viewers not familiar with their names will recognize their unmistakable round-headed characters, candy-colored landscapes, and softly falling snow. A few of their specials are on this list, starting with The Year Without A Santa Claus.
In this 1974 special, Mrs. Claus (voiced by Shirley Booth) tells the story of the year Santa (voiced by Mickey Rooney) decides — on doctor’s orders — to take a vacation. Two of his elves and the young reindeer Vixen take a trip to find enough Christmas spirit to cheer Santa up. Along their way, the elves battle the Heat Miser and Snow Miser and visit Southtown, USA, where they get lost. Santa journeys south to find Vixen and discovers that the children of the world need him. He can’t skip Christmas.
The Year Without A Santa Claus is a clever story with some memorable scenes and catchy songs, including those involving the villains.
It’s not as ubiquitous as Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, but The Year Without A Santa Claus is trippy holiday fun.
Another Christmas special that has stood the test of time is Frosty The Snowman. Originally aired in 1969, Frosty vaguely follows the story line of the popular Christmas song. The special tells how the kids who built Frosty help him escape to the North Pole while trying to elude the magician whose hat brought him to life.
The special is a Rankin/Bass production but it’s a traditional cartoon, not the company’s signature stop-motion. Rankin and Bass hired a Japanese company to animate the showand it has a decidedly different look from most animation of the period. Jimmy Duranteprovides the narration and performs the title song.
Looking back the animation in Frosty is poor and the special as a whole is a bit cheesy but it’s still nostalgic Christmas fun.
Next up is a movie about one boy’s quest for a special Christmas gift. Don’t poke your eye out!
Some of our Christmas television classics originated on the big screen. One started out as a sleeper in theaters and grew in popularity with repeated small screen airings. It became so popular that one family of cable networks has run 24-hour marathons of the film every Christmas Eve for the last 14 years. Of course I’m talking about 1983’s A Christmas Story.
A Christmas Story is based on the semi-autobiographical works of humorist and storyteller Jean Shepherd. The film is a loving look at boyhood Christmas memories from the 1940s. All Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB Gun. Every adult to whom he mentions his Christmas wish — from his parents to his teacher to the department store Santa — gives him the same response: “You’ll shoot your eye out!” The movie continues with a series of episodes and subplots, ending on Christmas day when Ralphie receives his prized gift.
The film is full of hilarious and iconic scenes.
In its initial release, A Christmas Story earned mixed reviews and decent box office. It was after its first broadcast on HBO and subsequent basic cable airings that the film graduated from cult status to full fledged holiday tradition. In 1997, TNT aired its first 24-hour A Christmas Story marathon. The tradition moved to sister network TBS in 2004. The Turner networks have shown A Christmas Story over 250 times. Not bad for a little $2 million dollar movie.
Next: The “origin story” of one famous Christmas figure…
Here’s another Rankin/Bass special that has become a perennial favorite during the Christmas season. The 1970 show Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town tells how an orphan baby became Santa Claus. These days, we call it an “origin story,” and this charming special goes into detail to tell Santa’s beginnings.
Mail carrier S. D. “Special Delivery” Kluger (voiced by Fred Astaire) narrates the tale. The Kringle family of toymakers finds a baby on their doorstep. They adopt him and name him Kris. As Kris (voiced by Mickey Rooney) grows up, his ambition is to make the Kringles the premier toymakers in the land. He melts the heart of the Winter Warlock, falls in love with a teacher named Jessica, and delivers presents to the children of Sombertown, where toys are outlawed. He is arrested, but the Winter Warlock helps him and Jessica escape. An outlaw in Sombertown, he changes his name to Santa Claus and moves to the North Pole where his legend grows.