Makepeace for Men of Gentle Will

My song, save this, is little worth;

I lay the weary pen aside,

And wish you health, and love, and mirth,

As fits the solemn Christmas-tide.

As fits the holy Christmas birth.

Be this, good friends, our carol still—

Be peace on earth, be peace on earth,

To men of gentle will.

            William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

Old Bill was the best of men. He died on December 23rd hours short of Christ's birth and the season for which he lived all year.  He was the single parent of two daughters and a very busy gent, but managed to maintain a kindness and genuine humanity every day of the year.

Gentleness is a tough commodity.  Sharp words, cross looks, snortin snouts seem our only responses to the current tempus et mundi.  The sleep of children, the warmth of the stove and the best blood coursing our hearts can reset our human thermostats. I'll give it a go.

Merry Christmas! Let Us Adore Him!

Hebrew Verbal Form - hadar = Splendor

A primitive root; to swell up (literally or figuratively,
active or passive); by implication, to favor or honor, be
high or proud.
Lev 19:32 -- honor the presence of an old man
Isa 63:1 -- glorious in his apparel,
Isa 45:2 -- level the mountains,
Lam 5:12 -- the faces of elders were not honored.
Dn 11:20 -- splendor of (the) kingdom


From Oxford English Dictionary:
to address, salute, reverence, to worship as a deity, to
pay divine honors to, to reverence with relative or
representative honors, to reverence or honor very
highly; to regard with the utmost respect and affection,
to offer worship.
to like or admire very much, to regard with loving
admiration and devotion, to love intensely or deeply
to enhance the appearance especially with beautiful
objects, to enliven or decorate as if with ornaments


No legislation can do this. No activism can make this possible. No series of columns can bring forth a child. Yet, we demand to honor those trinkets above what life happens to be. The fragility of goodness gets overwhelmed with selfish shouts and shabby egos.

We forget the meaning of adoration.

What and Whom we honor speaks to ourselves. Last August hundreds of people helped rededicate the grave of a young man who died at Okinawa in 1945. Cpl. John Fardy, Leo High School Class of 1940 was the posthumoius recipient of America's Highest Honor - the Medal of Honor. His grave marker made no mention of that fact. A historian, Dr. Terry Barrett brought this fact to every one's attention and Purple Heart Veterans, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan War veterans, Leo Alumni, Leo students and people who had heard of the story put in time, treasure and talent to rededicate the grave so that people would also honor a hero. That hero was as fragile as the day he was born. Like baby in the manger, his mother outlived him.

We honor our elderly.

We honor our spouses.

We honor our children.

We honor our family.

We honor our neighbors.

We honor our country.

We honor our church.

We honor ourselves in daily acts, thoughts and prayers.

Tonight we honor our Being. Our Being within God's Plan. I was blessed to witness the birth of my children. I honor that blessing. These births did not 'happen' they occurred as a consequence of something greater - the signal of God's love. Life is not tissue, impulse and liquid.

Two thousand plus years ago, in Roman occupied Judea, a carpenter and his expectant wife journeyed to fulfill their tax obligations and those requirements coincided with the necessities involved in allowing God to bring forth a child. Having witnessed the three births of my children, I understand that contractions and breathing and coaching and forceps and stirrups and in the case of my son a great deal of cutting without anesthetic were fundamental but not essential. God brought them forth, Malthus, Hegel, Nietzsche, Dewey and Sanger notwithstanding.

I adore my children and the woman who made them possible. I adore the child born in Roman occupied Judea during the tax collection while Quirinius was Governor in Syria.

I honor those of us who adore and honor God in the simple acts that honor others.

Merry Christmas!

Tyna Robertson and Arianna Huffington: Serial Sisters of Superstar Serangeti

Nothing says Christmas like Sharing. Toys for Tots; Salvation Army Buckets; St. Cajetan's 8th Graders Caroling for the Elderly; giving trees at Sacred Heart Parish for poor kids in Englewood and serial skanks Tyna Robertson and Arianna Huffington helping themselves to people with talent.

Yep, my old heart is warmer than Brian Urlacher's Under Armor after the OT win over Green Bay and gayer than the cowboys and farmers in the swell choreography of Oklahoma!

It seems that the spirit of giving and taking has blanketed the landscape of Chicago like Patrick Fitzgerald's paper trail wire-net on Governor Blagojevich this snowy Chicago morning.

Item one: The Lord of Dance, Chicago's Own Michael Flatley of Little Flower Parish*, has horn-piped a chorus line of lawyers seeking documents on why serial dater Tyna Robertson has not met the vig on the $11 million settlement dropped into her elegantly manicured mitts:

Burr Ridge, IL -
Tyna Robertson got a house call from the Cook County sheriff’s office at about 8:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 22, at her Burr Ridge home.

The mother of Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher’s son was under arrest. Robertson was arrested for a warrant stemming from false sexual allegations she made against Michael Flatley, of Riverdance fame, according to media reports.

The dancer requested Robertson be held in contempt.

Robertson was taken into custody this morning and appeared in a Cook County circuit court later this afternoon.

The case involving Flatley ruled for Robertson to pay $11 million, which she has allegedly not paid any part of, according to reports. Cook County Judge Alexander White said if Robertson does not cooperate with Flately’s attorney, she could go to county jail for six months.

Robertson was supposed to appear in court for the Flatley case but did not show up, reports state. She contends she never received notice, reports state.

Reports said that Urlacher picked up his son, Kennedy, after Robertson was arrested. Urlacher and the Bears are scheduled to play the Green Bay Packers tonight at Soldier Field in Chicago.

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/darien/police_and_fire/x512360393/Mother-of-Brian-Urlacher-s-son-arrest-at-Burr-Ridge-home-this-morning

Urlacher has gotta love Lord of the Dance! Nothing says Christmas like a gift from a complete stranger.

Stranger yet is Arianna Huffington, the Greek serial dater who looted some California tycoon slob named Huffington of his family handle and all his gelt.

Arianna's millions gave her the where-with-all to become a dedicated Leftist and publisher of Huffington Post - The Hollywood Squares of Internet journalism. Huffington Post is remarkable for its cavalcade of C-List Hollywood talent and wits who post columns fulminating against President Bush, praising Congressional Puffer Fish Barney Frank, and congratulating celebrities for having strong like-minded opinions. Some of the lightweights for Huffington Post include: Steve Weber - a generally face-less actor who was on some TV show back in the 90's,Marty Kaplan a guy with a resume like GD's Rap Sheet, Bob Creamer, check-kiting felon and Progressive Lecturer.

Well it seems that Arianna's gang has been pinching material from people with genuine talent:

Kevin Allman, a New Orleans journalist and editor of Gambit Weekly, finds The Huffington Post's idea of starting a whole series of city-focused aggregation sites hypocritical, especially given the site is named after Arianna Huffington, a popular, and now-liberal-leaning columnist.

In other words: professional newsgathering organizations have paid professional writers to do professional work, and then Arianna comes in, creates links to their creations, and sells ads on her own page. How progressive.

But Peretti says some 95 percent of The Huffington Post's traffic goes through the headline links, and that when The Huffington Post does original reporting or adds to a story, it changes a headline link to point to its content.


Otherwise, the Chicago project picks the 'best' stories from publications like the Chicago Tribune, the Sun Times and the Chicago Reader.

As for disgruntled publishers, Peretti seems genuinely perplexed and says The Huffington Post links should be good for them — and suggests that upset editors get in touch and build relationships with Huffington Post editors.

Oh, Yeah!!!


BWAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!

You, Sweet-Pea, are a Lulu,Sir!

Heck, I do that near every day - lift stuff off the Internet and write about it ( but I always [as much as in my limited powers to do so] and give Credit/HTs/Props/Acknowledgments and provide links to the sources)for nothing - no pay - just to practice my writing chops for benefit of you my human sisters and brothers.

Christmas 365/24/7 - for Patrick Francis, doncha know? Shoot, I'm a Soft-touch. I make a drop to every Squeegee Artist and Styrofoam Cup Capitalist! They are actually out there working! Unlike Arianna and Kid Sis Tyna!

Tyna and Arianna, it seems - by what it is reported in the news and elsewhere - to me are just a pair of Lion sisters poised to pounce out there on the Celebrity Serengeti: cut a weak man out of the herd and devour! Merry Christmas Girls!

* Click my post title for more on Flatley