Holiday Traditions: What’s Your Fave?
Posted by Michelle Moquin on December 24th, 2009
I’ve never considered myself a traditional girl, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like traditions. Like watching, ‘White Christmas’ and It’s A Wonderful Life’, during the holiday season, or baking my favorite holiday cookies, and indulging in Hot Buttered Rum!
I found this article that I think you would enjoy:
Lets Bring back The Holiday Season Edition
It seems that Americans have always been nostalgic around the winter holidays. Just look at the lyrics of Irving Berlin’s iconic song, White Christmas, written around seventy years ago:
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
According to legend, Berlin came up with the song while dawdling poolside in the sunshine at Arizona’s Biltmore Resort. The trappings of a snowy holiday must have seemed very far away to him — as they do to many of us today in different parts of the country and world.
In this special edition of Let’s Bring Back – my recurring column that celebrates objects, rituals, curiosities, and personae from eras past – I’ve compiled a shortlist of holiday season cheer from eras past. Many of these whimsical things are not necessarily from a world “[we] used to know,” but rather one that we wish we had known.
Without further ado, Let’s Bring Back ….
1. Popcorn strands on Christmas trees. Along with those wonderful big yellow bulbs, the sort that hang in Van Gogh’s cafe paintings. Also popular in my childhood household: construction paper chains, which invariably drooped lower and lower to the floor as the days passed.
I love childish, disheveled-looking Christmas trees; so did one of my favorite writers, Truman Capote. In his novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s, main character Holly Golightly decorates hers with stolen balloons from Woolworth’s; in his short story A Christmas Memory, a child and his elderly cousin festoon their tree with “coils of frazzled tinsel gone gold with age,” “a few winged angels devised from saved-up sheets of Hershey-bar foil,” and a “shoebox of ermine tails.” As a final touch, they “sprinkle the branches with shredded cotton (picked in August for this purpose).”
2. Fur muffs. Black or white ones, worn with red coats: very Dr. Zhivago-chic. Rarely made anymore, they can be easily found in flea markets, vintage stores, and on eBay for a song.
3. Ice skating parties. And ice-skating after-parties as well. The 1966 New York Times Cookbook includes a menu for “A Supper After a Skating Party,” featuring hot buttered rum and old-fashioned vegetable soup. Just the thing to warm your ego after your many spills onto the ice.
A recipe for hot buttered rum from the Food Network:
* 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
* 2 cups light brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
* Pinch ground cloves
* Pinch salt
* Bottle dark rum
* Boiling water
In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Refrigerate until almost firm. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the butter mixture into 12 small mugs. Pour about 3 ounces of rum into each mug (filling about halfway). Top with boiling water (to fill the remaining half), stir well, and serve immediately.
4. Bing Crosby’s Christmas albums with the Andrews Sisters. I love the Andrews sisters: Maxene, Patricia, and LaVerne. These ladies – and their songs – once pulled the heartstrings of every homesick American soldier in World War II. And Mr. Crosby’s voice consoled the soldiers’ wives, sweethearts, and mothers back home.
5. The art of toasting. Nothing makes an occasion more memorable (for better or worse) than a toast given to commemorate it; yet it is an increasingly arcane artform. In their book A Gentleman’s Guide to the Noble Tradition of the Toast, etiquette experts John Bridges and Bryan Curtis offer the following example of an appropriate New Year’s Eve toast:
“I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than with a group of people who have been such an important part of my past and, if the heavens are smiling on me, will be an equally important part of my future. Here’s hoping the new year will bring each of us good health and happiness.”
However, Bridges and Curtis warn the gentlemen not to say something along the lines of the following: “Here’s to the new year – it can’t be any worse than the last one.”
6. Laura Ingalls-style Christmas stockings for little girls. I used to absolutely covet Laura’s stocking presents that she finds in her stocking on Christmas morning in Little House in the Big Woods. If my memory is correct, it was filled with a rag doll, peppermint candy, tangerines, and a shiny penny in the toe. I’m not sure that all girls would appreciate the relatively spare quaintness of this suggestion, but any Little House fans certainly will.
7. Sleigh rides. The perfect occasion to debut your new fur muff, and after which to try out the hot buttered rum recipe above.
8. New Year’s Day parties. An elegant alternative to drinking your face off the whole night before and ringing in the New Year with a horrendous hangover and sense of remorse.
The 1966 New York Times Cookbook suggests the following menu for a civilized “Dinner for New Year’s Day”:
* Consomme Julienne
* Beef Wellington
* Sauce Madere
* Rissole Potatoes
* Spinach with Sauteed Mushrooms
* Grand Marnier Pudding
9. The film Scrooge with Albert Finney (1970), who was the most deliciously peevish Ebenezer Scrooge ever to grace the silver screen. While the special effects might seem hokey by today’s standards, Finney’s wistful cantankerousness and the London street scenes make revisiting this movie a sheer pleasure. Plus: Finney is a gorgeous hunk of man in the flashback scenes.
10. While we’re in the general realm of Dickensian England, let’s bring back Christmas goose for supper. These days, turkeys often have to do double-holiday duty, appearing on our tables at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, why not opt for their old-fashioned feathered cousins instead?
In Fall 2010, Chronicle Books will release a book by Lesley M. M. Blume based on this popular column. ‘Let’s Bring Back‘ will be a sophisticated, stylish cultural encyclopedia, celebrating forgotten objects, pastimes, and personae from bygone eras. From sealing wax and quill pens to the Orient Express, fainting couches, and limericks, there is a great deal of ground to cover. Please make sure to visit previous installments of Let’s Bring Back.
Readers: Some fun ones huh? Any traditions you have that you would like to share? Blog me if you can.
Zen Lill: Thanks for sharing your experiences. And I agree with you. I try to see what is underneath the ‘crankiness’, aka the ‘persona’, and be compassionate to the soul.
Peace out…and have a wonderful Christmas Eve where ever you happen to be.
With Love…
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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December 24th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Merry Christmas everybody
December 24th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Merry Xmas Zen Lill
You have given me a very merry xmas.
Michelle and my blog family. I wish you all the best for the coming new year.
Janet
December 24th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Michelle
I discovered this when my travel ticket came in for my first ship voyage.
Celebrity Cruises Now Encouraging Binge Drinking
By Bryce Longton
December 02, 2009
It’s getting desperate over in the cruise sector of the travel industry — so desperate in fact, that Celebrity Cruises is launching a new feature to entice guests to get onboard: all-you-can-drink. Usually, cruises cash in on the onboard charges, which is where they make all their money. As a captive on the cruise ship, you’ll generally get charged for drinks and any other extra activities beyond sunning on the deck. Now, however, you can partake in the grandest vacation activity around, for a set fee. There are six plans for the binge drinker, starting with binge soda drinking at $5.75 per night, but the real deals include the hard stuff.
READ MORE
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I am amazed by the greed
Liney
December 24th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Vick
I left Guam because they are so hard on gays there. I will always love you.
Did you send me this?
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This is a quiz. Click on “Dining Out In The World” below, then select your answer by clicking on the twirling utensil.
It will give you the correct answer, then move to the next country.
Dining Out In The World
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Thanks for keeping me same until I could save enough to get of the island.
Love
your boy
December 24th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Michelle
I couldn’t pull up your blog for three days. Guess you really pissed someone off. I was depressed, but when I found this I was really depressed.
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Depression: Your gateway into a world of meds
Dear Friend,
Antidepressants are bad enough on their own.
But the latest evidence shows that those who rely on them often end up on other drugs – like powerful painkillers.
Antidepressants just may be Big Pharma’s “gateway” drugs. You probably know the concept – a street drug like marijuana is a “gateway” to harder drugs, such as cocaine.
Instead of coke, however, patients who take depression drugs are far more likely to get prescriptions for opioid painkillers like morphine and codeine, according to a new study. Not once… not briefly… but for long periods of time and at higher doses than non-depressed patients.
Sounds more like a gateway to hell than a path to healing – and one more reason to avoid dangerous antidepressants.
The study published in General Hospital Psychiatry looked at insurance company prescription drug records. They found, for example, that one insurer had 9 percent of non-depressed patients on these painkillers – versus 25 percent of depressed patients.
And in another insurance group, depressed patients had doses that were 35 percent higher than non-depressed patients taking the same painkillers.
Not everyone who touches an antidepressant is going to end up hooked on painkillers… but many of them will end up reliant upon antidepressants, whether they realize it or not. Some of these meds are even addictive, and come with side effects that can include suicidal thoughts and behavior.
In any case, once depression is treated with drugs, few patients get the kind of attention they need to get off those meds. They simply keep taking them… day after day… year after year.
And that’s dangerous, especially if they start adding prescription painkillers to the mix.
Patients and even many prescription-happy doctors don’t realize that not only are these drugs short-term solutions at best, but most people never needed them to begin with. You just need to find the natural solution that works best for you.
Sometimes, it’s as easy as going out for a run. That’s right – several studies have shown that aerobic exercise is just as effective as many meds, even in cases of major clinical depression. Not only that, but patients who choose exercise over meds are more likely to remain depression free.
The challenge here is getting started – people fighting depression often have motivational problems as well. But the payoff is a pretty good one: beating your illness with no meds or side effects.
In many cases, your body is simply calling out for some extra nutrients. There’s a reason so many people on terrible diets end up depressed – their brains are practically starving, and many are deficient in critical amino acids.
Tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine and methionine have helped many patients overcome depression. Make sure you’re getting enough omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins and magnesium, too – these deficiencies have also been linked to depression.
And don’t forget St. John’s wort, a natural herbal remedy that studies have shown can be just as effective as popular antidepressants – but without many of the side effects.
Talk to your doctor first, because St. John’s wort can interact with some meds.
And if you’re battling pain along with your depression, don’t turn to painkillers – especially those opiates.
Find your natural answer, and you’ll find cures that offer a different kind of gateway – and this one leads to good health.
On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls
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If I don’t get in again, let me say now MERRY XMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.
Ruth
December 24th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Hafa adai
ON this day Dec. 17, 1901 — 108 years ago — 32 Chamorro leaders petitioned the United States Government for the establishment of a permanent civilian government in Guam. The petition was endorsed by Naval Governor Seaton Schroeder. Commented The New York Times:
“The spectacle of a satrap, a minion of the military power, urging on Congress the abolition of his place and the establishment of a scheme of progressive self-government for the subjects of his arbitrary rule is not what the opponents of government would expect. But it seems to come very easy to Commander Schroeder. The petition should receive prompt attention.” Congress ignored the petition.
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Yes an all white US Congress ignored the pleas of another group of non whites they had in their power. Now we are supposed to be anxious to serve our white masters. We can’t be granted equal status for suffering as our white counterparts did while fighting for the USA, but we are supposed to give more than 30% of our island over to them.
Think about it Chamorros. Are we as good as the rest of our fellow American citizens? If so, we deserve equal treatment.
Peter
December 24th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Movie director Cameron made a statement on 60 minutes saying he didn’t know that OJ would one day become a real terminator by killing his wife.
If someone made this statement on 60 minutes or any other show about a white person who had been found innocent of a crime, it would have been at the least edited out.
But this was a statement made by a white person about a black person that white people in general have decided was guilty.
So OJ can be slandered without recourse to a lawsuit. This is another example of “Just us” justice by white america. It is taken for granted so much that I’d wager no white person listing was the least bit bothered by the statement.
That is the same white “just us” justice that has whites from all levels of american society wondering out loud what will happen if Khalid Sheik Mohammad is innocent.
They ask this as if the very fact that they have decided that he is guilty, he should be judged so or their is a travesty of justice.
It is that attitude that makes OTWs and the rest of the world denounce what white america likes to cal the best system of justice in the world.
December 24th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
479,520 minutes. 7992 hours. 333 days.??That’s how long it’s been since Barack Obama was sworn in as President. At the end of this first year, some progressives are feeling holiday blahs because we haven’t won everything we wanted.
Don’t.
Remember our hard battle at the start of the year over whether to direct our tax money toward creating jobs and stimulating the economy? Won that one. Here in my hometown construction workers are doubling the size of our overburdened community health clinic thanks to that stimulus money, and similar worthy projects across the country kept thousands of Americans working.
How about the F-22 fighter jet? TrueMajority members have worked for years to end that wasteful project, and this July we won THAT one, freeing up $65 billion in Pentagon pork spending for more urgent needs.
Then there’s healthcare. Progressives are still arguing over whether the current deal is good enough, and if there is a better strategy for winning more. But even the weakest deal under consideration, which already passed the Senate this weekend, will insure 30 million more people and outlaw insurance companies refusing coverage for pre-existing conditions. By any measure that’s a victory for our side. And yes, there is still a daunting amount to do.
A few days ago Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida read your petition opposing the escalation in Afghanistan on the floor of the U.S. House. Meanwhile we delivered the almost 100,000 signatures — including thousands of TrueMajority members — alongside veterans and other anti-war activists. ??But our signatures alone aren’t going to be enough. Progressive champions in the House are ready to oppose the $1 trillion cost of the escalation, but there simply aren’t enough of them yet. We need your support to convince more members of Congress to demand an end to the war and a plan to bring everyone home.
?In 333 days we’ve done some remarkable work, but we’ve also learned this year that the fight for change is a marathon, not a sprint. ??Thanks again for a great year
?-Ben, Chris, Darcy, Drew, Matt,?and the whole team at TrueMajority / USAction
December 24th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
OMG
I saw you at Mass this morning Anna. I said hi, and you just walked right pass me as if you didn’t see me. Has the fame gotten to you?
Your once tight bud
Claire
December 24th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
It seems that money is the sole driving force behind the “religious” conservatives. Isn’t it telling how they are so easily conned into the the next money-making scheme. Here is one being pushed by Ann Coulter.
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How to Profit Despite the
Liberals’ Lies and Deception
Dear Fellow Conservative,
What if you discovered that the vet who takes care of your dog was Michael Vick? Would you think twice about bringing Fido back for his annual shots?
Or what if you discovered that your auto mechanic was a member of Greenpeace? Would you think twice about having him work on your SUV?
Of course you would. Just as, I hope, you would think twice about trusting your retirement savings to someone who secretly despised — or simply didn’t understand — the free-market capitalist system that makes profits and prosperity possible.
Yet that, believe it or not, is exactly the position millions of Americans are finding themselves in today — as they discover that Wall Street, far from being a stronghold of “rich Republicans” and “laissez-faire capitalists,” is actually dominated by liberal Democrats who support, overwhelmingly, the prosperity-wrecking big-government policies of Barack Obama and his merry band of neo-socialists.
Think I’m exaggerating? Consider the following facts and statistics:
• According to an analysis of Federal Election Commission records by the Center for Responsive Politics, the 2008 Obama campaign received $12.6 million from Wall Street “Securities and Investment” firms versus McCain’s $7.9 million
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• The top three corporate employers of donors to Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Rahm Emanuel were Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JPMorgan
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• Employees of Lehman Brothers alone gave Obama $370,000, compared to about $117,000 to McCain. (No wonder Bush let them go under.)
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• Since 1998, the financial sector has given a total of $37.6 million to Obama, compared to $32.1 million to McCain. But Obama ran for his first national office only in 2004. So McCain got less from the financial industry in a decade that included two runs for president than Obama did in four years.
What’s this all about? Well, you see, the financial industry takes care of Democrats — and as we’ve seen in recent months, the Democrats take care of the financial industry. After all, it’s a lot easier to get rich by taking money from taxpayers than to do it by choosing consistently profitable investments for your clients.
Fortunately, there is someone who can help you invest your money who is as financially savvy and devoted to the free-market system as today’s Wall Streeters are financially illiterate and devoted to shaking down taxpayers.
His name is Mark Skousen, Ph.D., editor of the investment newsletter Forecasts & Strategies — and he just might be the smartest financial advisor working today.
Skousen, after all, launched his career by predicting, during the 1980-82 recession — and to the scornful laughter of nearly all the other so-called experts — that “Reaganomics will work.”
Boy, did he get that right. And boy, has he gotten it right ever since:
• Just this past March he called the exact bottom of the market, telling his subscribers that “stocks are a screaming buy.” In the four weeks following, the Dow soared a remarkable 24.5%.
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• In 2006 — more than two years before the financial meltdown — he warned subscribers that “we clearly are headed for fiscal disaster,” and showed them how to protect themselves.
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• Just weeks before the NASDAQ collapsed in 2000, he warned his subscribers that tech stocks were dangerously overvalued.
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• He told his subscribers in 1995 that the NASDAQ would double, and then double again — which is exactly what it did.
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• He called the Gulf War of 1990 “a turning point for U.S. stocks” — and the Dow subsequently began a bull market that didn’t end for nearly ten years.
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• And he issued a “sell everything” recommendation to his Forecasts & Strategies subscribers just 41 days before the stock market crash of 1987 — then told them to get fully invested again several weeks later, just in time for the recovery.
It’s because of calls like these, after nearly 30 years of publication, Forecasts & Strategies is still going strong, while literally hundreds of rival newsletters have gone the way of Janeane Garofalo’s acting career.
And here’s the best thing about Mark Skousen. He knows how to make you money even while President Obama is wrecking the economy with his “New New Deal.”
After all, Dr. Skousen points out, the late billionaire John Templeton — whom Money magazine called “the greatest stock-picker of the 20th century” — began to build his vast fortune while FDR was wrecking the economy with his original New Deal.
Let’s face it: Making money in Obama’s America is about to get harder — keeping it, harder still. So we can all use as much trustworthy financial advice as we can get. The best investment advice I know of, bar none, can be found in Mark Skousen’s Forecasts & Strategies — and I urge you, now more than ever, to give it a try.
Click here to learn more.
Sincerely,
Ann Coulter
P.S. Mark has just revealed his 5 “secret” strategies to make you 50% Richer in the next two years. I urge you to take a look at what Mark Skousen has to offer and get the full details on Forecasts & Strategies today.
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Cathy
December 24th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I found this on the net. I think it is interesting.
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Common vitamin tops meds
Drugs being taken by millions of Americans looking to control their cholesterol levels may not work at all, according to the latest research.
In fact, ezetimibe – the main ingredient in Zetia and Vytorin – may actually raise the risk of heart attacks and other problems while failing to clear buildup off artery walls, according to a new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The study compared Zetia to a rival med, Niaspan, and was sponsored by Abbott Laboratories – makers of Niaspan. Looks like they got their money’s worth from this one, but you’re the real winner here and I’ll tell you why in a moment.
Researchers followed 363 people who had been taking statins for an average of six years. Some got Zetia, the other were given Niaspan. The researchers stopped the study early once they got the results they were looking for: The Niaspan group had less plaque buildup in their arteries.
Zetia, on the other hand, appeared to do absolutely nothing to those plaque levels.
In addition, two of the 160 Niaspan patients had heart attacks or heart-related deaths or other heart-related problems, versus nine among the 165 who were taking Zetia.
It would be one thing if this was the only study to find problems or at least no benefits from Zetia. After all, it was sponsored by a competitor. But other studies point in the same direction: Zetia doesn’t seem to do a thing for most people, and it may bring with it plenty of risk.
One study published last year linked Zetia and Vytorin to an increased risk for cancer.
Remarkable when you consider that these two meds have combined for $21 billion in sales since 2003. These are drugs that never should have been approved in the first place, yet millions are taking them.
But let’s dig a little deeper here, because this study doesn’t simply prove that Niaspan is better that Zetia, or that you should choose one drug over the other. It really proves that you don’t need meds at all.
Niaspan is a prescription version of the B-vitamin niacin.
And that makes you the real winner, because you can get plenty of this B-vitamin on your own from espresso, oatmeal, peanuts, mushrooms, many kinds of fish, and more. You can even get an over-the-counter niacin supplement – they’re cheap and easy to find.
Talk to your doctor if you think that’s right for you – or if this supplement can help shift you away from potentially dangerous meds like Zetia and Vytorin.
Just remember, if you need help getting cholesterol levels under control, you can’t just rely on a magic pill, whether it’s a prescription statin with all its side effects or a simple niacin supplement.
The real answer is in your lifestyle. You can do it – if you’re willing to change your eating habits. You can still enjoy many of the foods you love, you just have to be willing to cut out most of the foods you already know are bad for you… but can’t seem to keep away from.
Some people find these changes easy to make, others need a little time to adjust – but just keep yourself focused on the real goal here: getting healthy the right way, without having to depend on a lifetime supply of expensive drugs and worry about their side effects.
The biggest step is always the first one – are you ready to take it?
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It has been impossible to post to your blog lately. I hope this makes it.
Ruth
December 24th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Merry Christmas Zen Lill
Thanks for saving us 203lbs. It makes for some good holiday eating and we look so good in our clothes
Hafa Adai and Happy New year.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
WE would Like to wish A MERRY CHRISTMAS to Michelle, Doug, Zen Lill, Alexander H. and all Faithful Blog Readers and Commentators, including Adam and the Tao — And TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.
HOWIE and AL
December 24th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Merry Christmas everyone : )
Janet, ZL chamarros – wow 203 lbs, excellent!, Stacey, Reba, Caroline +4 or more?, Uwella, MaQun, Faina and the French women, Anna on Guam, Lindsay on Guam, Barbara, Susan, Maple, Delany, Grace, Rhonda, Zung (and if I missed a name I apologize) – have a blast tomoorrow, eat what u want and we will all get back at it and to it when we’re done celebrating : )
Everyone also includes Howie and Al although I probably couldve and shouldve said Happy Hanukah a week or so ago, sorry…
Anonz – if you’re out there and reading, I hope you enjoy a safe and peaceful holiday.
Catch you all on Boxing Day : ) Luv, Zen Lill
December 24th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
And Ruth (sorry, Merry Christmas to you and your daughter Evelyn) gave a great gift above in comment #5, please read and let’s all stay motivated to move (exercise) it helps in so many ways – great article about forgoing depression meds and taking a run to lift mood instead. Thanks for that article! – ZL
December 25th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Anonymous,
I saw that interview and noticed that statement myself. It is saddening that he said it, it is saddening that 60 Minutes said nothing, although that would be expected-which is also sad, and it is saddening to see that these comments continue to infect our society.