The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
Featuring:
Civil Disobedience
Burt Prelutsky
"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
~~~lll~~~
nObama's New Year's Resolution: More nObama
Barack nObama sat down with NPR before leaving for Hawaii for his lavish taxpayer-funded holiday to let people know he plans on staying the (golf) course in his final two years in office. The big takeaway from the 40-minute Leftmedia lovefest: He has no intention of changing his game plan. nObama insists the reason the Democrats were beaten so badly in November was because they didn't run on his record. "I'm obviously frustrated with the results of the midterm election," he told NPR. "I think we had a great record for members of Congress to run on." Perhaps the president was referring to nObamaCare, which has never achieved any level of respect or approval from the American people. Broken websites, hidden fees, millions kicked off their insurance and a steadily growing bureaucratic nightmare that would make any Beltway pencil-pusher proud -- these are just some of the elements of the fiasco that has become nObama's signature piece of legislation. -The Patriot Post 
BOEHNER BATTLE SETS UP ANOTHER BUST
Conservatives who demand maximal resistance to President nObama’s agenda have placed a new marker: the election for House Speaker set to be held as the new Congress convenes on Tuesday. Two Republican rivals to Speaker John Boehner have declared themselves, with Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida announcing their candidacies over the weekend. And as Alex Pappas reported, the leader of the effort to topple Boehner, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has spent weeks trying to build the 28-member coalition he needs to deny Boehner a 217-seat majority. The coverage has been intense, but is Boehner really in danger? Nope. Despite the announcement from at least six other GOP lawmakers that they won’t be voting for Boehner, this looks like a dead letter. -Fox News
Conservatives who demand maximal resistance to President nObama’s agenda have placed a new marker: the election for House Speaker set to be held as the new Congress convenes on Tuesday. Two Republican rivals to Speaker John Boehner have declared themselves, with Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida announcing their candidacies over the weekend. And as Alex Pappas reported, the leader of the effort to topple Boehner, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has spent weeks trying to build the 28-member coalition he needs to deny Boehner a 217-seat majority. The coverage has been intense, but is Boehner really in danger? Nope. Despite the announcement from at least six other GOP lawmakers that they won’t be voting for Boehner, this looks like a dead letter. -Fox News
Moral minority - Boehner’s supporters have pledged that even if the speaker fell short on the first ballot, they will hold successive votes until he is reelected. Even so, multiple ballots would be a moral victory for Boehner’s foes. History is certainly against the insurgents. No election of a speaker has gone beyond the first ballot since 1923, when Frederick Gillette, R-Mass., won re-election on the ninth ballot. Forcing so rare a moment would get attention for the movement and foreshadow deeper difficulties for Boehner on looming votes on immigration, spending, taxes and other hot topics. But is even a moral victory in reach? Nah.
Whipped - Just look at the pool of potential votes for the Jones plan, which are presumably lawmakers from the most conservative districts in the country. Here’s one metric: Of the 30 House districts in which nObama fared the worst in 2012, many are represented by members of Boehner’s leadership team, including Majority Whip Steve Scalise and committee chairmen including Jason Chaffetz and Hal Rogers. And the same is true as you page through other less-red districts. The votes just aren’t there. A similar effort to unseat Boehner came to a clattering end in 2013, and the speaker has more clout now. With Republicans in control of the Senate, Boehner’s friendship is more valuable to ambitious members who would like to see bills passed and headlines made. These are not unknown facts to Jones & Co., who fell out with Boehner long ago. So what’s the point?
Whipped - Just look at the pool of potential votes for the Jones plan, which are presumably lawmakers from the most conservative districts in the country. Here’s one metric: Of the 30 House districts in which nObama fared the worst in 2012, many are represented by members of Boehner’s leadership team, including Majority Whip Steve Scalise and committee chairmen including Jason Chaffetz and Hal Rogers. And the same is true as you page through other less-red districts. The votes just aren’t there. A similar effort to unseat Boehner came to a clattering end in 2013, and the speaker has more clout now. With Republicans in control of the Senate, Boehner’s friendship is more valuable to ambitious members who would like to see bills passed and headlines made. These are not unknown facts to Jones & Co., who fell out with Boehner long ago. So what’s the point?
Elimination round - There’s no downside for Jones, Yoho and Gohmert, who have already been frozen out of leadership love. The move generates attention and headlines from both conservatives yearning for a more ideological speaker as well as liberals who just want to see the fight. But there may be some downside for the movement the men seek to lead. This gambit stands to be another disappointment for an insurgency that came up empty with convoluted procedural plays on blocking nObama’s temporary executive amnesty as well as a bid to defund his health law. Failures such as these shrink rather than grow insurgencies, especially when they are conducted in very public fashion to the jeers of the press corps and pundit class. If the conservative rebels in the House and Senate make one resolution for 2015 it ought to be this: Next time, win one. -Fox News
MCCONNELL KINDLES HOPE ON TAX DEAL
The Hill: “This much is true: Both President nObama and top Republicans are saying the right things about tax reform right now. Whether that means that the two sides will make the progress in 2015 necessary to overhaul the tax code before nObama leaves office is another question entirely…Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has said that tax reform is on the short list of issues - also including trade and infrastructure improvements - with the best chance for bipartisan cooperation once Republicans take full control on Capitol Hill in January. And Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who will be the House's top tax writer next year, has said he's willing to compromise on one of the GOP's top priorities for reform - that the individual and corporate systems be revamped together…And while Ryan has said that he's willing to work with nObama on tax reform, he's also been far from confident those discussions will lead to anything.” -Fox News
The Hill: “This much is true: Both President nObama and top Republicans are saying the right things about tax reform right now. Whether that means that the two sides will make the progress in 2015 necessary to overhaul the tax code before nObama leaves office is another question entirely…Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has said that tax reform is on the short list of issues - also including trade and infrastructure improvements - with the best chance for bipartisan cooperation once Republicans take full control on Capitol Hill in January. And Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who will be the House's top tax writer next year, has said he's willing to compromise on one of the GOP's top priorities for reform - that the individual and corporate systems be revamped together…And while Ryan has said that he's willing to work with nObama on tax reform, he's also been far from confident those discussions will lead to anything.” -Fox News
TOP IOWA DEMS NOT FEELING THE LOVE FOR HILLY
WSJ: “Iowa Democratic leaders say they are troubled by the prospect that Hilly Clinton could win the state’s 2016 presidential caucuses without a serious challenge, a view primarily rooted in a desire for a more liberal candidate or at least a robust debate about the party’s policies and direction. Interviews with more than half of Democratic chiefs in Iowa’s 99 counties show a state party leadership so far reluctant to coalesce behind Mrs. Clinton. County Democratic officials also voiced qualms about Mrs. Clinton’s ability to win a general election and her fundraising ties to Wall Street firms and corporations, which remain a target of liberal ire. Many county officials said they would like to see senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont enter the race, though they were split over whether any could gain traction and overtake Mrs. Clinton…Beyond the personal, some worry Mrs. Clinton might not be best-positioned to defeat the eventual Republican nominee, concerned her candidacy wouldn’t be exciting enough to draw in the younger voters who backed Mr. nObama.” -Fox News
WSJ: “Iowa Democratic leaders say they are troubled by the prospect that Hilly Clinton could win the state’s 2016 presidential caucuses without a serious challenge, a view primarily rooted in a desire for a more liberal candidate or at least a robust debate about the party’s policies and direction. Interviews with more than half of Democratic chiefs in Iowa’s 99 counties show a state party leadership so far reluctant to coalesce behind Mrs. Clinton. County Democratic officials also voiced qualms about Mrs. Clinton’s ability to win a general election and her fundraising ties to Wall Street firms and corporations, which remain a target of liberal ire. Many county officials said they would like to see senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont enter the race, though they were split over whether any could gain traction and overtake Mrs. Clinton…Beyond the personal, some worry Mrs. Clinton might not be best-positioned to defeat the eventual Republican nominee, concerned her candidacy wouldn’t be exciting enough to draw in the younger voters who backed Mr. nObama.” -Fox News
1.
John Hinckley won’t face murder charge in death of James Brady
(By Peter Hermann) - Federal prosecutors said they will not charge John W. Hinckley Jr. with murder in the shooting of President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary in a 1981 assassination attempt...even though a medical examiner concluded that James S. Brady’s death in August was caused by the old wounds. The decision, announced Friday by the U.S. attorney for the District, comes four months after a medical examiner decided that Brady’s death at the age of 73 was a direct result of a bullet fired 34 years ago outside the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest. In a statement, prosecutors said their decision was based on “a review of applicable law, the history of the case, and the circumstances of Mr. Brady’s death.” Hinckley, now 59, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan, Brady and two others and has spent the past three decades at St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/prosecutors-will-not-charge-hinckley-with-murder-in-death-of-james-brady/2015/01/02/67de0024-929a-11e4-a900-9960214d4cd7_story.html
2.
America’s Vanishing Civic Duty
(fixthisnation.com) - According to a new poll from the Associated Press, Americans don’t feel the sense of civic duty they did in previous generations...When compared with a similar poll done thirty years ago, today’s citizens don’t feel as compelled to keep up with the news, serve on a jury, or even report crime in their communities. The poll asked respondents about six activities related to civic awareness: volunteering, jury duty, knowing English, reporting crime, voting, and keeping up to date with the news. While the importance of voting and volunteering has remained the same, numbers are down in the other areas. And even though three quarters of Americans said that voting was a central part of citizenship, the 36 percent of eligible voter turnout in November undercuts the assessment. http://www.fixthisnation.com/conservative-breaking-news/americas-vanishing-civic-duty/
3.
Why The Sandy Hook Lawsuit Is Wrong
(leanrightamerica.org) - Standing up for freedom is not always easy. There’s a reason we build monuments to the men and women who have dared to challenge totalitarianism, fascism, and the ever-present forces of oppression...It takes courage to fight against unjust laws, power-hungry politicians, and those who would use tragedy to limit liberty. Threats to American freedom are difficult to fight because they often come wrapped in the disguise of a higher morality. They put champions of liberty in the unenviable position of refuting genuine victims of tragedy. Nowhere is this conflict more defined than in the battle over gun rights. No one wants to be on the team that says, “No, parents of Sandy Hook, you’re not right to sue Bushmaster.” But in the quest to ensure our Constitution’s survival, that’s exactly what we must do. http://www.leanrightamerica.org/uncategorized/why-the-sandy-hook-lawsuit-is-wrong/
4.
If Black Lives Really Mattered You Would be Protesting Abortions
(By Tim Brown) - I do like Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. He speaks his mind and leaves no doubt as to what he means...In an interview during Christmas week on CNN with Poppy Harlow, Clarke gave a special message to those protesting police officers under the banner of "Black lives matter." Clarke said if black lives matter those protesters would be outraged at abortion and protesting that. The sheriff wanted protesters to take emotion off the table and have an "objective discussion" about the reality of black on black crime. He also indicated that when the recent deaths of black men due to white police officers were a "sliver of what is going on in America's ghettos today." http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/01/sheriff-david-clarke-protesters-black-lives-really-mattered-protesting-abortions-not-cops/
5.
Mystery at the sun's south pole
(By Mark Prigg) - There were no fireworks on the sun to welcome in the New Year - and in fact, scientists say the end of the year was relatively quiet on the solar surface...However, the sun has started 2015 with a mysterious event - a huge hole has appeared. Known as a coronal hole, the phenomenon occurred near the south pole - and is seen as a dark area covered all of its base in these stunning images. The incredible image was captured on Jan. 1, 2015 by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows the coronal hole as a dark region in the south. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2894840/Mystery-sun-s-south-pole-Nasa-reveals-huge-coronal-hole-solar-surface-winds-jet-500-miles-SECOND.html
6.
6.
Calif. Taxpayers to SUBSIDIZE Auto Insurance for Illegal Aliens
(CA Political Review) – State officials hope a new law that offers California driver’s licenses to immigrants in the country illegally will also encourage them to buy insurance...To encourage the practice, the California Department of Insurance is aggressively marketing its Low Cost Auto Insurance program to the large pool of immigrants projected to seek licenses under the AB 60 law taking effect Jan. 1. “It would be a tragedy if after all this effort, the 1.4 million people who are getting driver’s licenses for the first time don’t have auto insurance,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. I say, they shouldn't be driving. http://www.capoliticalreview.com/capoliticalnewsandviews/california-taxpayers-to-subsidize-auto-insurance-for-illegal-aliens/#sthash.IwAUGli4.dpuf
7.
Jihadi commanders in Russia pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi
(The Washington Times) - The Islamic State group just gained six new commanders — in Russia. Three Chechen and three Daghestani commanders have retracted an oath of loyalty...to Caucasus Emirate leader Sheikh Ali Abu-Muhammad (Aliaskhab Kebekov) and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Sultan Zaynalabidov, Rustam Aselderov, Abu-Mukhammad Agachaulsky, Makhran Saidov and two other commanders known as Khamzat and Usman are now loyal to the terror organization attempting to create an Islamic caliphate in the heart of the Middle East, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty reported Friday. http://pamelageller.com/2015/01/jihadi-commanders-in-russia-pledge-allegiance-to-islamic-states-caliph-al-baghdadi.html/
8. Islamic Emirate of Afghan training camp, operations in Kunar
(By Bill Roggio) - nObama say, Afghanistan is “not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again.” you tell me, is nObama clueless or complicit?...The “Multimedia Branch of Islamic Emirate’s Cultural Commission” publicized the hour-long video today on Voice of Jihad, the group’s official website. Titled “Epic battles of Kunar,” the video features “footage of attacks by Mujahideen on enemy bases and check posts” and also shows “the head of Islamic Emirate for Kunar [sic] walking inside an overrun outpost,” according to the Taliban statement accompanying the release. http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/01/taliban_video_highli.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29#ixzz3NhuXsUAo
9. With Israel ‘war crimes’ gambit, PA risks loss of US funding
(By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil) - In initiating a war crimes probe against Israel with the International Criminal Court, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas may fall afoul of US legislation that would mandate defunding the PA...The US funds the PA to the tune of some $400 million per year. Even if Abbas’s ICC investigation gambit does not play out — and Palestine’s route ahead at the ICC is strewn with legal obstacles — it is viewed by many leaders of the incoming Republican-controlled Congress as the latest justification to reexamine the PA’s American funding. http://www.timesofisrael.com/with-israel-war-crimes-gambit-pa-risks-loss-of-us-funding/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=674ba73671-2015_01_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-674ba73671-54638825
10.
This Photo Inspired a Book, Film and Pro-Life Message
(By Gabriella Morrongiello) - In August 1999, doctors diagnosed Samuel Armas—who was still in his mother’s womb—with spina bifida, a congenital disorder that causes deformation of the spinal cord...To prevent her future son from suffering severe neurological damage, Armas’s mother, who was 21 weeks pregnant when the diagnosis was received, underwent prenatal surgery. During the surgery, Clancy witnessed something remarkable. “Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening [of the exposed uterus], then pulled back until just a little hand was showing,” Clancy wrote on his personal blog. “The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor’s finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm.” http://dailysignal.com/2015/01/03/photo-inspired-book-film-pro-life-message-across-globe/
Civil Disobedience
Burt Prelutsky
(By burtprelutsky.com) - What Barack nObama has done to America is so vile that one can only hope that he will receive his just comeuppance in the hereafter. After all, we know that as an ex-president, he will, like Bill Clinton, make tens of millions of dollars in book deals and speaking fees. He and Michelle will live in a mansion, fly between Chicago and Hawaii on a private jet, protected by the Secret Service, and hobnobbing with the show biz glitterati who adore him and see him as super cool and the fount of all wisdom.
Ultimately, only God will have the ability to punish him for trashing our Constitution, along with our traditions and values. It’s of small comfort to those of us who think he has single-handedly undermined American power and influence in the world by coddling our enemies, betraying our allies and turning a blind eye to the existential threat posed by Islam. Even on those rare instances when he has been forced to acknowledge the evil done in its name, he has referred to it as workplace violence or dismissed it as a generic form of terrorism.
Still, a great many people regard it as unseemly if you attack nObama’s actions or his motives, insisting that respect be paid to the office. To me, that sounds like baby talk. The office is the office. It’s what its occupant does that should determine how much respect you pay it. For better or worse, being elected president indicates nothing more than the fact you managed to win a popularity contest by spending hundreds of millions of other people’s dollars lying about yourself or your opponent.
I feel the same way when people take the NYPD to task because the cops have been turning their backs on the unrepentant commie bastard, Mayor De Blasio, who went on TV to reveal he told his bi-racial son, Dante, to be very careful when he comes in contact with New York cops because they’re racists and his life might be at risk. He told young Dante that lie in spite of the fact that blacks and Hispanics make up the majority of his city’s police force, and that Dante’s father never steps outside without having a squad of cops protecting his ungrateful ass.
The wonder of it is that New York voters are so devoted to liberalism that they’d never even consider recalling De Blasio. Chris Christie saw his approval numbers sink and his political career jeopardized simply because a few of his underlings shut down a bridge as political payback to a Jersey mayor. But De Blasio encourages a mob of left-wing thugs and fellow travelers to shut down streets, stores and bridges, in the week leading up to Christmas, while chanting “Kill the cops!” and even some conservatives, including Rudy Giuliani, think it’s disrespectful for the men in blue to turn their backs on the schmuck even though he’s made a career of turning his back on them.
Speaking of institutions that don’t deserve our respect, the U.S. State Department officially deemed Israel’s actions “unacceptable” on 87 different occasions in 2014. That placed the Jewish state in fourth place right between North Korea and Pakistan on Hanoi John Kerry’s shit list.
One must admit that’s an odd place to find an alleged ally. When you realize that during the same period, Iran was working on a nuclear bomb; American soldiers were being killed in Afghanistan; China was menacing Japan and South Korea;, North Korea was committing cyber-attacks against an American company; Russia was gobbling up Crimea and threatening Ukraine; al-Assad continued to murder thousands of Syrians and ISIS in Iraq continued to slaughter Kurds and behead Americans and Brits; you wouldn’t think Israel would rank so high, considering they were mainly being condemned for building apartment houses within its own borders.
After referring to Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas in a recent article, referencing her farcical claims to being a Native American in order to enhance her resume and promote her rise in academic circles, and possibly cash in on casino money, a reader in Massachusetts let me know that within the state, conservatives have taken to calling her Fauxcahontas and Lieawatha. We would do well to keep these amusing terms in mind in case Hilly Clinton falls by the wayside and Sen. Warren winds up on the presidential ballot in 2016.
Meanwhile, in Argentina, a very weird century-long tradition was continued when President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner adopted a young boy as her godson in order to ward off the curse that supposedly turns the seventh son of a family into a werewolf on the first Friday after his 13th birthday. The child is not only saved from a life of baying at the full moon, but awarded a gold medal and a scholarship.
Until recently, only Catholics could apply. But this year, the lucky winner was Yair Tarvil, a young Jew. And high time, I say. After all, why should Jewish seventh sons be condemned to bay at the moon and run naked through the woods? Inasmuch as a 13th birthday is also the occasion for a bar mitzvah when a Jewish boy is magically transformed into a man, I’m curious if they somehow merged the two ceremonies for young Yair. You’d think it must have been really tough to shop for just the right greeting card. I wonder if his relatives congratulated him on becoming a man or on not becoming a werewolf.
In the old days, people thought there were three ways to cure the condition: through the application of wolfbane, which is a poisonous plant, surgery or exorcism. There was an odd cultural element to it, because Sicilians thought the best cure was to stab the victim through his hand (paw?); Germans believed that if you called the werewolf by his Christian name three times, he would snap out of it; whereas Danes thought that a good scolding would do the trick.
My own experience with werewolves was limited to seeing hair sprout on Lon Chaney Junior’s hands while fangs popped out of his mouth in old movies. All the while, Maria Ouspenskaya, who always seemed to be suffering from a curse of her own, which made it impossible for her to say “Hello” without making it sound terribly foreboding, would mumble, “Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”
Being an impressionable child, even though, so far as I knew, there was no wolfbane in our neighborhood, for a long time, whenever the moon was bright, I would check to see if hair was sprouting on my hands. In fact it wasn’t until I was into my 30s that I came to realize that in my particular case the curse was that, moon or no moon, the hair would fall off my head.
Ultimately, only God will have the ability to punish him for trashing our Constitution, along with our traditions and values. It’s of small comfort to those of us who think he has single-handedly undermined American power and influence in the world by coddling our enemies, betraying our allies and turning a blind eye to the existential threat posed by Islam. Even on those rare instances when he has been forced to acknowledge the evil done in its name, he has referred to it as workplace violence or dismissed it as a generic form of terrorism.
Still, a great many people regard it as unseemly if you attack nObama’s actions or his motives, insisting that respect be paid to the office. To me, that sounds like baby talk. The office is the office. It’s what its occupant does that should determine how much respect you pay it. For better or worse, being elected president indicates nothing more than the fact you managed to win a popularity contest by spending hundreds of millions of other people’s dollars lying about yourself or your opponent.
I feel the same way when people take the NYPD to task because the cops have been turning their backs on the unrepentant commie bastard, Mayor De Blasio, who went on TV to reveal he told his bi-racial son, Dante, to be very careful when he comes in contact with New York cops because they’re racists and his life might be at risk. He told young Dante that lie in spite of the fact that blacks and Hispanics make up the majority of his city’s police force, and that Dante’s father never steps outside without having a squad of cops protecting his ungrateful ass.
The wonder of it is that New York voters are so devoted to liberalism that they’d never even consider recalling De Blasio. Chris Christie saw his approval numbers sink and his political career jeopardized simply because a few of his underlings shut down a bridge as political payback to a Jersey mayor. But De Blasio encourages a mob of left-wing thugs and fellow travelers to shut down streets, stores and bridges, in the week leading up to Christmas, while chanting “Kill the cops!” and even some conservatives, including Rudy Giuliani, think it’s disrespectful for the men in blue to turn their backs on the schmuck even though he’s made a career of turning his back on them.
Speaking of institutions that don’t deserve our respect, the U.S. State Department officially deemed Israel’s actions “unacceptable” on 87 different occasions in 2014. That placed the Jewish state in fourth place right between North Korea and Pakistan on Hanoi John Kerry’s shit list.
One must admit that’s an odd place to find an alleged ally. When you realize that during the same period, Iran was working on a nuclear bomb; American soldiers were being killed in Afghanistan; China was menacing Japan and South Korea;, North Korea was committing cyber-attacks against an American company; Russia was gobbling up Crimea and threatening Ukraine; al-Assad continued to murder thousands of Syrians and ISIS in Iraq continued to slaughter Kurds and behead Americans and Brits; you wouldn’t think Israel would rank so high, considering they were mainly being condemned for building apartment houses within its own borders.
After referring to Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas in a recent article, referencing her farcical claims to being a Native American in order to enhance her resume and promote her rise in academic circles, and possibly cash in on casino money, a reader in Massachusetts let me know that within the state, conservatives have taken to calling her Fauxcahontas and Lieawatha. We would do well to keep these amusing terms in mind in case Hilly Clinton falls by the wayside and Sen. Warren winds up on the presidential ballot in 2016.
Meanwhile, in Argentina, a very weird century-long tradition was continued when President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner adopted a young boy as her godson in order to ward off the curse that supposedly turns the seventh son of a family into a werewolf on the first Friday after his 13th birthday. The child is not only saved from a life of baying at the full moon, but awarded a gold medal and a scholarship.
Until recently, only Catholics could apply. But this year, the lucky winner was Yair Tarvil, a young Jew. And high time, I say. After all, why should Jewish seventh sons be condemned to bay at the moon and run naked through the woods? Inasmuch as a 13th birthday is also the occasion for a bar mitzvah when a Jewish boy is magically transformed into a man, I’m curious if they somehow merged the two ceremonies for young Yair. You’d think it must have been really tough to shop for just the right greeting card. I wonder if his relatives congratulated him on becoming a man or on not becoming a werewolf.
In the old days, people thought there were three ways to cure the condition: through the application of wolfbane, which is a poisonous plant, surgery or exorcism. There was an odd cultural element to it, because Sicilians thought the best cure was to stab the victim through his hand (paw?); Germans believed that if you called the werewolf by his Christian name three times, he would snap out of it; whereas Danes thought that a good scolding would do the trick.
My own experience with werewolves was limited to seeing hair sprout on Lon Chaney Junior’s hands while fangs popped out of his mouth in old movies. All the while, Maria Ouspenskaya, who always seemed to be suffering from a curse of her own, which made it impossible for her to say “Hello” without making it sound terribly foreboding, would mumble, “Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”
Being an impressionable child, even though, so far as I knew, there was no wolfbane in our neighborhood, for a long time, whenever the moon was bright, I would check to see if hair was sprouting on my hands. In fact it wasn’t until I was into my 30s that I came to realize that in my particular case the curse was that, moon or no moon, the hair would fall off my head.
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