Conservatively Speaking

·       Legend of Santa Claus 1,663 Years in Making.

·       Another Boxer Blunder

·       Much Ado About Nothing: House

·       Russian Navy Sinking

·       Republicans Clobbering Democrats In Favorability Polls.

Huge protests and hundreds of arrests at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Denmark. At one point it got so bad, police had to put an Al Gore speech on loudspeakers to try and sedate the crowd.– LENO

The legend of -Santa Claus began with a monk named St. Nicholas, who was born around 280 A.D. in Patara, which sits in modern-day Turkey. Nicholas of Myra was known for his piety and kindness and, according to legend, he gave away all of his wealth, traveling throughout the country to help the poor and sick. His feast day is celebrated on Dec. 6, the anniversary of his death in 346 A. D.

St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe by the Renaissance. He continued to have a positive reputation after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints were discouraged. The American Santa Claus first appeared on the scene in the United States as “Sinter Klaas.”

Sinter Klaas was first reported in a New York newspaper in December of 1773 and 1774 that groups of Dutch families were gathering to honor the anniversary of St. Nicholas’ death. Of course the remaining puritans had a conniption fit.

Sinter Klaas was the Dutch nickname for St. Nicholas, or as they spelled it, Sint Nikolaas. Sint Nikolaas’ visits to the Dutch families were meant to judge good and evil. “Far from being a fun-loving gift-giver, this seasonal visitor was a stern, dour, judgmental bishop who visited homes in full Episcopal attire and demeanor.”

He gained popularity after the publishing of Washington Irving’s 1809 book “The History of New York,” where he refers to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York.

As he grew more popular, he was described as wearing a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat and yellow stockings or wearing a broad-brimmed hat and Flemish pants.

In Europe, St. Nicholas continues to be portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes that resembles the actual St. Nicholas. However, in the United States, the modern image of Santa as a portly fellow in a red suit was created with a cartoon that was inspired by Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” now known as “’Twas The Night Before Christmas.” Moore wrote the poem for his three daughters and originally wasn’t going to publish it due to its frivolous subject. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore’s account of St. Nicholas to draw a cheerful man with a red suit trimmed with white fur, along with his North Pole workshop, elves and Mrs. Claus. The cartoon was published in Harper’s Weekly in 1881.

Visiting Santa at a store was popularized in the mid-19th century. Advertising for Christmas shopping began in the 1820s and by the 1840s, newspapers were printing separate holiday shopping sections featuring images of Santa Claus. In 1841, a Philadelphia store had a life-size Santa Claus model that attracted thousands of children. From there, more stores began attracting children and their parents with a “live” Santa Claus.

Scandinavian folklore describes a troll in a sleigh pulled by goats visiting children at Christmastime.

In Swedish, the troll is called a tomte; in Finnish, he is tonttu; and in Norwegian, Danish and southern Swedish dialects, he is called nisse. He is typically drawn as a small, bearded, elderly man dressed like a farmer.

During Christianization, the troll became unpopular and was connected to heathenism. However, in the 1840s he became the bearer of Christmas presents in Denmark. Later in Sweden and Norway, and influenced by the Dutch tradition, he began to bring presents to children instead of a traditional Julbock (Yule goat). He typically goes through the front door at night and delivers the presents directly to the children. Some Scandinavians also put out porridge for him to eat and many American children leave treats for Santa Clause on Christmas Eve.

In Finland, children are visited by Joulupukki, or Christmas Goat, who lives in the mountains of Korvatunturi in Lapland Finland. He goes through the front door during Christmas Eve celebrations and asks if there are any well-behaved children there, instead of waiting for the children to be asleep. He typically wears red clothes and uses a walking stick and travels on a sleigh pulled by reindeer.

Prior to the Christianization of the Germanic people, Odin was one of their major gods. Odin, riding on an eight-legged horse, would lead a hunting party through the sky during the Germanic holiday of Yule. Children would fill their shoes with carrots, straw or sugar and place them near the chimney for Odin’s flying horse to eat. Odin would then fill the empty boots with gifts and candy. The practice evolved into hanging freshly washing stockings (likely to dry by the fire) the custom  was brought to the United States by the Dutch and hanging Christmas stocking on Christmas Eve is a custom in many western households..

In central Europe, the tradition continues with children placing a boot or shoe outside the front door on the night of Dec. 5. During the night, the boots and shoes of the children who were good are filled with gifts and candy by St. Nicholas. The children who were bad receive a tree branch from St. Nicholas. In America the custom became coal..

A second figure also travels with St. Nicholas on Dec. 6 in some European countries. In Germany and Switzerland, Christkind (meaning Christ child) delivered presents to well-behaved children. The Christkind is believed to be an angel-like figure. However, in some countries, the second figure elicits fear in the children by threatening them with beatings for misbehavior.

In Russia and Italy, a woman delivers presents to children instead of Father Christmas.

The Russian folklore tells of a elderly woman named Babouschka who purposely gives the wise men the wrong directions to Bethlehem so they can’t find Jesus. However, she later begins to feel remorseful. But she can’t find the wise men to undo what she’s done.

A different version of the story tells that Babouschka declined to go with the wise men due to cold weather. She then regrets her decision and sets off to catch up with them, filling her basket with presents along the way. She never catches up and finds Jesus, and instead leaves presents for children.

Babouschka now gives presents to children on Jan. 5, the Russian Orthodox Christmas, every year in the hopes that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven.

Italian children are also visited by a woman, this one is a kindly witch called La Befana who rides her broomstick down the chimney..

Santa wouldn’t be able to travel through the foggy night without the nose of his lead reindeer, Rudolph.

Rudolph was created in 1939 by a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store. Using a similar rhyme pattern as “’Twas The Night Before Christmas,” the writer wrote a story about a young reindeer who was teased by the others because of his glowing red nose to entice holiday shoppers into the store.

The message of Rudolph turning his red nose into a positive was popular and the department store sold 2.5 million copies of it that year. The book sold more than 3.5 million copies when it was reissued in 1946.

The song was written by Johnny Marks in 1949 and recorded by Gene Autry.

After criticizing opponent MEG WHITMAN for spending $19 million of her personal fortune on a gubernatorial campaign STEVE POISNER has matched her. Both Republican wannabes are virtually self-funding their campaigns for California Governor. Meanwhile across the aisle 72-year old A. G. Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown has used the Democrat party to clear the way for his nomination for another term as a retread – he elbowed both LA’s and SF’s Mayors out of the way.

The U.S. Senate defeated an amendment last week to restrict taxpayer funding of abortions under Obamacare. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., voted against the measure, arguing that it would require women to buy special riders to purchase abortion coverage.

 

In defending her no vote, Boxer argued that male senators were doing to women something they would never do to men. Quoth Boxer: “The men who have brought us this don’t single out a procedure that’s used by a man, or a drug that is used by a man that involves his reproductive health care, and say they have to get a special rider.

 

There is nothing in this amendment that says if a man someday wants to buy Viagra, for example, that his pharmaceutical coverage cannot cover it, that he has to buy a rider. I wouldn’t support that.”

 

That quote illustrates why Washington cannot be trusted to overhaul health care.

For starters, Viagra does not involve reproductive health care, as Boxer suggested. A man who uses Viagra probably shouldn’t be thinking about reproducing, unless he wants company for his grandkids.

 

What is more, abortion is not health care. It’s a reproductive choice — a legal choice that Congress, since 1977, has chosen not to subsidize.

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid argues that in defeating the amendment by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., the Senate did not authorize the use of taxpayer funds for abortions, but Nelson doesn’t see it that way. Nelson thinks the Senate opened the door for government-subsidized abortion. That means Nelson’s much-needed Democratic vote might not be there for the final bill for Obamacare.

 

Now, it’s true that Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs are designed to remedy the symptoms of specific physiological disorders. But if you watch TV, you know that the pharmaceutical industry none too subtly has been peddling enhanced sexual performance for healthy men.

 

That is a choice, too — and men can pay for it.

 

In fact, while Boxer may say she objects to making men find a plan that covers ED drugs, the folks at Medicare tell me that Medicare does not pay for Viagra or other drugs for erectile dysfunction. (Yes, Medicare used to pay for ED drugs, but no more.) If men want Viagra, they either have to pay for the prescription themselves or find a private plan that covers their ED drug of choice.

 

Which makes Boxer’s Viagra/abortion analogy all that much more, well, limp.

Avoirdupois (av-ur-duh-POIZ, -PWA)  noun: Heaviness or weight of a person. ETYMOLOGY:From Middle English avoir de pois (goods sold by weight), from Old French aveir de peis (goods of weight), originally referred to things sold in bulk.

Tuesday the U. S. House almost unanimously passed more sanctions against Iran. Even advocates say this move to cut off gasoline imports to the rogue nation will be virtually worthless unless Russia, China and others join in. It is unlikely Russia or China will join any such boycott.

But, even if others do Venezuela has pledged to break any such boycott by shipping 20,000 barrels of gasoline a day to Iran. That could setup a flashpoint as Venezuelan merchantmen stream into Iran with gasoline and out with God knows what.

On his way back from the Copenhagen Climate Conference California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sarah Palin is living in the “stone age” because she called on Obama to reject climate change impositions on US business. While Arnold was abroad popping off California is ringing up a half trillion dollar deficit. He should stay home and shut up.

The Russian Navy is in serious trouble and struggling to remain an effective blue water force, The Russian Navy is building and modernizing warships. In the next few months, the big anti-submarine ship Vitse Admiral Kulakov will resume combat duty with the Northern Fleet.

A second warship, Project 1155, the Admiral Kulakov was commissioned in 1982 and was on combat duty with the Northern Fleet until March 1991, when it retired for repairs that lasted more than 18 years.

In fact, the ship’s fate closely resembles that of Russia. Its repairs were suspended in 1993 for lack of funds, and it was plundered in the late 1990s. The authorities even considered scrapping it, but instead resumed repairs in the mid-2000s.

In late November 2009, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, former commander of the Northern Fleet, said that in the next ten years Russia might lose the bulk of Soviet-made surface ships.

“The funds allocated [to the Navy] are insufficient to build new long-range sea- and ocean-going warships and maintain our current warships in combat order,” he said.

Warships built in the 1970s and 1980s currently make up the bulk of the Russian Navy. Their service life can be prolonged through repair, but not indefinitely.

The ocean-going warships, which form the core of the surface fleet’s combat group, are the biggest problem. There are approximately 30 such warships of different types, from cruisers to frigates, including those in mothballs, but all of them should be replaced within 10-15 years. Otherwise the Russian Navy will degenerate into a third-rate coastal fleet unable to protect the country’s interests outside its territorial waters or even on its coasts.

However, Russia is so far building only sea and coastal ships (corvettes and boats), and not very quickly at that. Project 20380 corvettes have a sufficient combat capability but cannot replace larger ships. Russia’s largest warships being built now are two Project 22350 frigates, one of them to be commissioned in 2011 and the other one only laid down in 2009.

Given the sluggish pace of fleet renewal, Russia will have only 15-20 corvettes and seven or eight frigates of the new generation by 2025. This is not enough to reliably defend any theater of war in Russia, which has very long sea borders.

To change the situation, Russia should build more warships of the corvette and frigate classes faster and should also start building larger-class warships such as destroyers, in order to replace the large ships that are quickly becoming obsolete.

It should also continue the fleet repair and modernization program to prolong the service life of its best warships, such as the Admiral Kuznetsov air carrier and Projects 1144 and 1164 missile cruisers, until 2025-2030.

However, Russia’s efforts are hampered by lack of funds and also by the disintegration of its shipbuilding industry and related sectors, which has dramatically undermined its ability to build warships.

To resolve the problem that developed over two decades, it is not enough to increase allocations to defense. The authorities must take emergency measures to rehabilitate all sectors of the shipbuilding industry, including the process for training personnel.

Cooperation with foreign shipbuilders could have a beneficial effect at this point. The government may not be sure of the need to buy foreign-made warships such as a Mistral-class helicopter carrier, but it certainly needs to promote cooperation with foreign companies to train workers and engineers, gain access to modern design and the practical skills necessary for building warships of different classes, and to buy cutting-edge equipment.

France’s Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles, including 13 battle tanks, as well as 450 military personnel. The vessel is equipped with a 69-bed hospital and can be used as an amphibious command ship.

In the 1990s Russia adopted a strategy of making friends with the world, wholeheartedly supported by its foreign partners, which gradually turned into a deliberate destruction of the country’s defense industry. The negative effects of that strategy have reached a high point now. To mitigate them, Russia should adopt a strict and consistent policy embracing all related spheres, from education to law-enforcement.

There is very little time left to think about such a policy because the days could be numbered for the Russian Navy.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

Source: MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) with special thanks to Colonel Reside USA.

Democrat National Committee Chair Howard “The Scream” Dean, a physician, says the Senate should scrap the entire Obamacare bill because it is inadequate. Public opinion is now against Obamacare in every major poll.

Republican candidates have bounced back to a seven-point lead over Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.

 

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 37% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.

 

Republicans have held the lead on the ballot for over four months now. Democrats currently have majority control of both the House and Senate with 2010 shaping up as a watershed like 1994 was and 2008 was for Democrats.

 

If a Tea Party candidate is in the race, the picture changes dramatically like Ross Perot’s Reform Party propelled Clinton to the White House with a Democrat Congress.. A separate, three-way Generic Ballot test finds that Democrats attract 36% of the vote, while the Tea Party candidate picks up 23% and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

 

Since late June, support for Republican candidates on the regular two-way Generic Ballot has ranged from 41% to 44%, while support for Democrats has run from 36% to 40%. Looking back a year ago, the two parties were in a much different place. Throughout the fall and winter of 2008, support for Democratic congressional candidates ranged from 42% to 47%. Republican support ranged from 37% to 41%.

In November, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats fell to a four-year low but is still more than the number who call themselves Republicans.

 

Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republican voters believe their party’s congressional leaders are out of touch with the party base. By contrast, a plurality (47%) of Democratic voters says their congressmen agree with them ideologically.

 

While other polling firms appear to show different results on the generic ballot, like ABC, CBS. NBC. NY Times. Real Clear Politics explains the differences in survey samples and question ordering, stating, “If you are asking which pollsters have it right, I’d probably put my money on Gallup-Rasmussen.” Rasmussenhas gotten the last two Presidential contest absolutely right while the others missed both.

 

In Nevada, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continues to lag behind all potential Republican challengers in next year’s U.S. Senate race. For now at least, his championing of the president’s health care plan appears to be hurting the Democratic incumbent.

 

Former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton appears to be the Republican with the best shot of beating either of the potential Democratic candidates in Colorado’s race for the U.S. Senate.

 

Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has crept past Republican Congressman Mark Kirk in Illinois’ 2010 Senate race, and other Democratic hopefuls are closing the gap.

 

In Ohio’s 2010 Senate contest, Republican Rob Portman has pulled away somewhat from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner but still finds himself in a highly competitive race with Democratic Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher.

 

Likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey is now ahead of both Democrats who are vying to run against him next year in Pennsylvania’s 2010 U.S. Senate election.

 

Senator Charles E. Schumer (D) New York verbally attacked a flight attendant calling her a “bitch” when- as the rules require—after she asked him to turn off his cell phone because hes preventing the plane from taking off.. Schummer claimed she was rude but, witnesses say it was he was acting the ass. ‘The senator made an off-the-cuff comment under his breath that he shouldn’t have made, and he regrets it,’ Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon has said.