Night Music

Here's a bit of a rarity, via YouTube. Ind and Sylvia Tyson gave an aspiring songwriter a huge leg up in the music industry when they recorded two of his songs on an album they released in 1964. Ian and Sylvia divorced and went their separate ways in the mid 1970s but they got together again for a reunion concert in 1986. That aspiring songwriter from two decades in the past, now successful on his own, joined them on stage. Ian and Sylvia performing a Gordon Lightfoot song with the composer. A classic trifecta.

Early Morning Rain:

Fred Thompson’s Christmas Ad

H/T to Ed Morrisey who says it is the best one from any candidate. I agree with that assessment.

Silver Boars

Shoppers in the French city of Poitiers got a bit of a surprise today when a wild boar joined the throngs and went on a shopping spree. We, more like a shop-smashing spree. Apparently, the boar was not in the apparel shop looking for a new shirt.

Christmas shoppers and employees were evacuated from the store and the 90-kilo (198-pound) boar began charging at police, before falling in a hail of bullets early in the afternoon.

Just how the animal entered the shop, located in a commercial area near the city of Poitiers, remains a mystery. But three boars were spotted during the day in the region bordering the countryside, a police statement said.

Let's all sing a rousing chorus of Let it Sow, Let it Sow, Let it Sow. Swinelet Night? Anyone? Why are you looking at me like that?

Let's all sing a rousing chorus of Let it Sow, Let it Sow, Let it Sow. Swinelet Night? Anyone? Why are you looking at me like that?

Another Storm Pounds Midwest

Another in the continuing series of heavy winter storms is hammering the Midwest. This one brought blizzard conditions, whiteouts, multi-car accidents and the closure of major roads.

Dozens of vehicles were involved in a pileup on Interstate 29 in western Missouri, authorities said. Sections of some Oklahoma highways were closed because of whiteout conditions.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said preliminary reports indicated 20 to 40 vehicles, including three tractor-trailer rigs, were involved in the early afternoon chain-reaction wreck on Interstate 29 at St. Joseph.

Multiple ambulances were sent to the scene but there was no immediate indication how many people were injured or if there were any fatalities. Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph said it was treating several people from the accident though none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

The patrol closed about 100 miles of I-29 from Dearborn, which is between Kansas City and St. Joseph, to the Iowa state line. The storm blew locally heavy snow across Oklahoma, eastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri, plus parts of Nebraska and Iowa.

In Oklahoma, U.S. 412 near Mooreland was closed because 15 to 20 cars had slid off the road or had been involved in collisions, authorities said.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said a six-car collision on U.S. 64 in the state's northwest corner involved an ambulance that was carrying victims from the scene of another accident. Parts of that highway and others in the Panhandle were closed because of blowing snow and low visibility.

The Kansas Department of Transportation said a 40-mile stretch of I-70 west of Topeka was closed because of a weather-related 30-car pileup. It was not immediately clear how many people were injured or if there were any fatalities in either pileup.

Very nasty weather - and there is arctic-cold air coming in right behind the storms, so it is not getting better in the center of the country. Accuweather is showing a very large area from Oklahoma to Michigan under the snow storm with a huge area of rain running roughly parallel to that off to the east. Winter is only a couple of days old and it has already been a bad one.

Obama Takes The Lead In Iowa

Mark Blumenthal over at Pollster.com has aggregated all of the recent polls from Iowa for Democrats and Republicans. With the usual caveats, it appears as if Obama has taken the lead, as has Huckabee. The margin for Obama is very narrow, the one for Huckabee appears to be somewhat bigger.

So what do we know? Among Republicans, Mike Huckabee has clearly seen a dramatic increase in support for the last month, and now leads nominally in eight of the last nine polls (the individual margins may not be statistically significant, but the mostly consistent direction tells us that that Huckabee's advantage is most likely real). Still Huckabee's support remains soft and the Republican ad war is turning negative. Things can still change a lot over the next two weeks.

For the Democrats, Obama has gained over the last month, but the latest round of surveys are neither consistent nor powerful enough to tell who would win if the Iowa Caucuses were held today. And obviously, with the race as close as it appears to be, changes over the next two weeks could also prove decisive.

If you look at the line for Clinton, it would appear that there has been a real erosion of support in recent weeks. There isn't a timescale on the graphs, but there appears to be a sharp knee that dates back several weeks and Clinton has been sliding ever since. Will it be enough to unseat Her Inevitableness? Too soon to tell. But we only have a short time to wait, don't we?

The End Of “The Gods In The Closet”?

I remember reading about Japan's Kakure Kirishitan, or Hidden Christians, years ago. They are descended from converts to Christianity made by Portuguese missionaries in the 1500s. Christianity was outlawed by Japan in 1614 and many of the converts were suppressed and even martyred. A few held out, practicing a distorted Christianity that evolved into something that no longer really resembles the religion that was originally taught to them. The faithful kept their religion an secret, hiding their religious symbols, called Nando-Gami or Gods in the Closet, in secret cupboards, only bringing them out when conducting their secret services. Now, there are fewer and fewer of the Kakure Kirishitan each year and the few remaining fear the religion will die out.

IKITSUKI ISLAND, Japan (Reuters) - One by one, the sacred relics — a medal of the Virgin Mary, a crucifix and other revered objects — are taken from a cupboard and placed on an altar for a Christmas Eve rite passed down through centuries from Japan's earliest Christians.

Then, kneeling in the simple hall built where martyrs are said to have been burned on this tiny, remote island 400 years ago, five elders murmur chants as they bow and make the sign of the cross.

The kimono-clad deacons are descendants of "Kakure Kirishitan," or Hidden Christians, who kept their religion alive on Ikitsuki and in other isolated pockets of Japan during 250 years of suppression, adapting their rites to the demands of secrecy and blending them with local beliefs.

These days, the religion faces a modern threat of extinction as young people, like those elsewhere in rural Japan, leave their homes in search of jobs, drifting away from their gods and the rituals that honor them.

"It's sad. The tradition of our ancestors is disappearing," said Ayuzo Matsuyama, one of those gathered to observe "Osanmachi" and "Gotanjo" — Christmas Eve and Christmas — last weekend, the last Saturday and Sunday before the winter solstice.

"We inherited this 'old Christianity' from our ancestors and we wanted to continue it forever, but young people don't feel that way," added the 79-year-old former maker of sake, or rice wine…..

…..Rites such as confession and communion that could be conducted only by priests were lost. Others took on elements of Buddhist ancestor worship, indigenous Shinto with its focus on purification, and folk practices such as prayers for good crops.

Medals or hanging scrolls depicting saints and martyrs, often with Japanese features, were hidden in cupboards as "nando-gami" ("gods in the closet") and only taken out on special days.

In an apparent echo of the bread and wine of the Eucharist, elders still share sashimi and sake as part of the Christmas Eve and other ceremonies. Huge "mochi" rice cakes adorn the alter.

Transmitted orally and in secret, Latin "oratio" chants, "orasho" in Japanese, lost all but symbolic meaning.

Now, the younger generation has moved away, seeking jobs or a different life and the number of adherents to the old religion is declining rapidly. There is much more on the Kakure Kirishitan here and here.

Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline?

Victor Davis Hanson, over at Real Clear Politics, takes a look at exactly the same issue that the Washington Post did in my previous post: Bill Clinton charging to the rescue of the Hillary campaign and claiming that theirs was a "co-presidency." Hanson thinks this is an enormous mistake for a number of reasons.

Hillary's campaign is so stalled that her advisers have tried dredging up Obama's kindergarten essays and his admitted drug use. And now they're resorting to flying in Bill Clinton to save the day. Some polls and conventional wisdom suggest he may yet restore his wife's fortunes.

But Bill's not exactly a fireman. He may instead throw gasoline on the fire.

First, his vote-getting abilities are suspect. He never won 50 percent of the vote in a presidential election. That fact and the embarrassment of his impeachment were why Vice President Al Gore kept him away from his 2000 campaign. True, Bill's presence is said to resonate with African-American voters, but most may prefer Obama anyway, as polls now show in South Carolina.

Second, Bill Clinton often comes across as a narcissist. He talks the longest and loudest about himself. It is almost impossible for first-person Bill to praise Hillary without adding, "When I was president" or "I had a vision." Third, Bill cannot always distinguish truth from fiction. In his rescue mission for Hillary, he has already weighed in on the Iraq war — in which he falsely claimed that he was against it from the very beginning.

Most recently, in a dig at Obama's lack of experience, Bill claims that he nixed an earlier run for the presidency in 1988 because he saw that he wasn't yet ready for the job. But the real reason more likely was worry about the less-than-desirable and now well-known aspects of his personal life. That tendency to dwell on — and fudge — his own past earns splashy headlines but takes attention away from his wife.

Do read it all, Hanson has still more reasons why he thinks having Bubba on the trail this way may actually end up hurting Hillary - potentially very badly hurting her. The more Bill Clinton talks, the more it looks like he is angling to get a third term in office and is just using his wife's candidacy as a vehicle to do so. He has always come across as self-centered, so he doesn't play altruistic well at all. There's always a "what's in it for me" quality to anything Bill Clinton does. This is no exception. Go read it all, with Hanson it is always worth reading the entire piece.

Forward Into The Past

The Washington Post reports that an increasingly desperate Hillary Clinton campaign has, after months of resistance, suddenly embraced Bill Clinton and is actively promoting the idea that theirs was a "co-presidency."

Both Clintons are making the case that theirs was a co-presidency — an echo of Bill Clinton's controversial statement during the 1992 campaign that voters would get "two for the price of one" if they elected him. At times, the former president has seemed to cast the current race as a referendum on his administration.

Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), the Democratic front-runner nationally but facing strong challenges in Iowa and New Hampshire from Obama, has shifted her emphasis repeatedly over the past few months as the senator from Illinois made inroads in the two states. She has tried to show a more "human" side, and on Friday brought along her daughter, Chelsea, and her mother to events here titled "The Hillary I Know."

She has tried to co-opt the message of change from Obama, declaring that she has been "working for change" her entire life. Over the past week, she injected the phrase "new beginning" into her stump speech.

But the unchanging core of Clinton's message is her experience, and in recent days she has presented the election as a binary choice: between a competent, experienced Clinton and novices such as Obama. "That's the kind of logic that got us George Bush in the first place," she said this week in Iowa.

And the main basis for her assertion is the time she spent as first lady. Bill Clinton is hitting the theme hard as the voting in Iowa and New Hampshire draws closer, pointing back to the 1990s, citing his record as his wife's, referring to the work "we" did in office and, for the most part, brushing past or ignoring the tumult of those years.

So does that mean all the scandals are co-scandals as well? All the bitterly hyperpartisan hackery should be jointly blamed on Hillary and Bill? You can read the rest of this new "back to the future" themed article, but for many of us, that is exactly what bothers us about the Clintons.

Will The Last Person Leaving The FEC Please Turn Out The Lights?

The Federal Elections Commission will, for all intents and purposes, be officially out of business effective January 1st, due to the failure of Congress to approve new commissioners. (I posted about this situation before the actual train wreck that has now happened.) The Democrats refused to confirm Hans A. von Spakovsky, one of the Republican nominees and the Republicans then refused to let the Democratic nominees be confirmed, adopting an all or none position. The situation leaves the FEC without any means to actually do any important work until new nominees are approved. Things like approving campaign matching funds.

Seven presidential candidates have applied to receive public matching funds for their campaigns, but they may not be able to access the money until the FEC certifies their requests. That takes four votes.

The national political parties each anticipate an infusion of about $1 million from the U.S. Treasury to help pay for their national conventions. Releasing that money takes four votes.

And then there is a range of vexing campaign finance questions that hang in limbo: Can a firm that operates a blimp accept unlimited contributions to fly it over New Hampshire with Ron Paul's name on the side? Can a senator use his campaign account as a legal defense fund? How will campaigns comply with the new law that requires them to identify the lobbyists who are collecting campaign checks on their behalf?

"Work on those questions will grind to a halt," said FEC Chairman Robert D. Lenhard, whose recess appointment will expire on New Year's Eve. Lenhard said he did not wish to reflect on the situation, other than to offer a familiar lament.

"Politics," he said glumly yesterday, before returning to the ice rink to skate with his daughter. "That's what generated this situation."

The FEC is composed of three appointees from each party, all nominated by the president. There is already one vacancy, and three recess appointments will expire on Dec. 31.

This situation is ridiculous. The Democrats are holding the whole process hostage because they do not like von Spakovsky. The Republicans are not trying to derail the Democrat's FEC nominees personally, they are merely refusing to allow what amounts to a legislative veto of a qualified candidate. Who gets hurt? The lower tier presidential contenders. from both parties. At least this time the Republicans have stood their ground and refused to allow the Democrats to roll the process, as has been their practice for quite some time now.

Living The Carbon Credulous Lifestyle

In what is being promoted as a "carbon negative" trip, two Britons are traveling from Britain to Mali using a vehicle fueled with a biofuel derived from waste chocolate products.

London - While others eat their way through advent calendars this Christmas season, two Britons are doing something quite different with their chocolate: using it to drive across the Sahara.

More precisely, Andy Pag and John Grimshaw are fueling a 4,473-mile journey from Poole, England, to Timbuktu, Mali, using 3 tons of discarded chocolate converted into 396 gallons of fuel.

While the expedition might sound like an attempt at making the Guinness World Records, it's actually aimed at showing off greener alternatives to fossil fuels and even biofuels like ethanol. And they claim the trip will be the world's first carbon-negative voyage.

"That means that we will actually be saving emissions that would be in the atmosphere if we'd stayed at home," says Mr. Pag, whose "BioTruck" carries with it two large plastic vats of the chocolate-turned-fuel.

According to CarbonAided, the independent company that is evaluating the trip's carbon footprint, or lack thereof, they will be able to save 15 tons of emissions thanks to a combination of techniques.

As well as emitting fewer greenhouse gases, biodiesel burns more efficiently and so releases fewer harmful pollutants than conventional diesel.

Well, since NOX formation is tied directly to burn temperature, I question that claim. I also question the evaluation unless it completely accounts for everything that went into making the raw material for the biofuel. The implied storyline here amounts to nothing more than a claim of a perpetual motion machine. One of the people involved in this makes this rather ridiculous claim at the end of the article:

But Elvey at Ecotec remains positive. "I am a firm believer that we can be self-sustaining because of the amount of rubbish we produce."

To believe that there is more - or even close to - an equal amount of energy left over in rubbish after the goods are consumed shows an appalling lack of understanding of basic laws of the physical world. Energy conversions run at about a 30% efficiency at best.