Picture of the Day

I thought this picture would be an appropriate one for the day, although it was taken in December of 1989.

Poverty Is Not Cute!!

Via Lucianne, I found this article by Mary Katherine Ham that makes me want to scream, makes me want to spit at every enviro-whacko in sight, makes me so angry that my hands can hardly stop shaking enough to type properly. How dare they? How dare those pretentious, snobbish glassbowls talk about great it must be to live in poverty? How dare they talk about how charming it is to use a horse and cart, how they are proud to have a horse? Well, in the area of Eastern Europe my grandmother and her family fled, they were happy to have a cow. Because they had a better chance to put food on the table, not because of some environmentalist's wet dream!!

Maybe it's wrong that I feel this more personally, because as I mentioned not that long ago, some of my ancestors came to America from an area very close to that discussed in the article. My great-grandparents' descendants could still be living in a hellhole, instead of enjoying the gifts of freedom to create wealth and make their own choices. Still, there's an ongoing tradition of the wealthy and powerful "bleeding hearts" working so hard on making themselves feel good, while hurting at worst and ignoring at best those whom they claim to care about so much. (h/t Ace.) So perhaps sometimes a problem so pervasive needs to hit you personally.

What also disturbs me here, is that these idiots are not just rhapsodizing about how wonderful it must be to live in filth and use outdoor toilets in freezing cold weather. No, they're getting their noses out of the air long enough to butt them in and do their best to prevent something that would actually help the people in the area. Even one of the Chaplain's reads, the Daily Reckoning, thinks the mining project could be a great investment if it was ever actually allowed to get off the ground. But no, the people there should live by selling woven baskets and wood carvings to tourists. Yeah.

Ironically, do you know when mining did the worst damage to the area? During the Soviet era. Yep, during the socialist paradise that all these nutjobs want to bring back. Considering my trip to West and East Berlin right after the Berlin Wall fell, I can easily believe this. West Berlin was a thriving, modern city. East Berlin was burning brown coal for fuel and still hadn't gotten around to rebuilding a lot of the damaged areas left over from WWII. Not very environmentally friendly to have brown coal dust coating the streets and the buildings. There were areas in East Berlin where nothing would grow anymore due to the pollution. Not the way I want to live. And the more I learn about the evil out there, and the stupid who mindlessly assist the evil, the more I want to fight back to keep them from destroying my dreams, or the dreams of my children. If only the poor around the world could get this chance as well.

Christmas in Deutschland

On November 9, 1989, I woke up in my college dorm room to the radio announcement that the Berlin Wall had been opened. Since I was traveling to Berlin the very next month, this was awesome cool news!

On December 3, 1989, a group of college students, including myself and my DH-to-be, arrived in Berlin, with three professors from our college. Here is a Christmas fair near the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche in Berlin. Christmas Fairs in Germany seem to be the equivalent of the little fairs that pop up in many small towns in America over the Fourth of July. I think this one only had food, but there was one in East Berlin that had carnival rides similar to an American Fourth of July fair. I'll post pics of that later.

Here's a picture of Checkpoint Charlie, as we drove past it.

Here's a Mercedes-Benz building lit up for Christmas.

Here's my DH standing by the Berlin Wall, and taking off a few pieces.


It was exciting to be in another country for Christmas, although the weather was mostly gray and gloomy, and oddly enough, no snow in most of the places we visited. I'll continue to share my experiences with you as the month goes on.

Sunday Fun

Today there was an open house at my husband's place of employ, American Greetings, to show off all the new work that has been done in the building, especially the new American Greetings card shop, and a Starbucks, with an attractive plaza in between. The kids got to do lots of activities; there was actually more going on then I thought there would be. Some of the Schreiber clan came with us, which is why I have no pictures right now, as we forgot our camera and I left the picture taking up to the Die-Hard Equestrian.

To answer Kathy's question, my (future) husband and I were in Berlin early in December of 1989. I will provide pictures and more details later, as well of some of the other places we went and some of the Christmas-y aspects of our trip. Since we were students at the time, it was easier to get into East Berlin and other areas of then-East Germany, such as Leipzig and Dresden. We also got some pieces from the Berlin Wall.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Like Emily, I thought I might have to put off the decorating to start building an ark! Fortunately, the rain stopped, although a strong wind replaced it. But I'm attempting to create some cheer inside. I bought a wreath at the store to give off that nice pine scent, since we have an artificial tree.

I strung some colored lights on the bannisters. I will probably hang lights other places as well, and maybe decorate the bannisters more. I just like the colored lights, and our tree has white ones (pre-strung tree).

These stockings are pictured especially for the Presbytera, and any other kitty lovers. :)


These little singers are special to me. I bought them in East Germany, right after the Berlin Wall fell. It is apparently a tradition for children to dress so, and go around singing carols at Christmas time. We saw some children like this in Leipzig, but I don't think I got a picture, because we were on a moving bus. :( I have two more singers, but they need a little repair. The Scientist was examining them down the basement before she brought them up, and she dropped the box. I'm glad I noticed now, as the girls didn't notice that pieces had fallen off, and the pieces were still on the basement floor. They might have become cat toys. :0

We might not put up the actual tree until after the Scientist's birthday, but at least my dolls are starting to decorate theirs!