-Caveat Lector- Here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Mike PEACE HEALTH HAPPINESS + * "X" * "XXX" "XXXXX" * "GOD JUL" * "BUON ANNO" * * "FELIZ NATAL" * * "JOYEUX NOEL" "VESELE VANOCE" "MELE KALIKIMAKA" * * "NODLAG SONA DHUIT" "BLWYDDYN NEWYDD DDA" """""""BOAS FESTAS""""""" "FELIZ NAVIDAD" * * "MERRY CHRISTMAS" * * "KALA CHRISTOUGENA" "VROLIJK KERSTFEEST" * * * "FROHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN" "BUON NATALE-GODT NYTAR" * "HUAN YING SHENG TAN CHIEH" * * "WESOLYCH SWIAT-SRETAN BOZIC" "MOADIM LESIMHA-LINKSMU KALEDU" * "HAUSKAA JOULUA-AID SAID MOUBARK" * """""""'N PRETTIG KERSTMIS""""""" "ONNZLLISTA UUTTA VUOTTA" * * * "Z ROZHDESTYOM KHRYSTOVYM" "NADOLIG LLAWEN-GOTT NYTTSAR" * * "FELIC NADAL-GOJAN KRISTNASKON" * "GLEDILEG JOL-NOELINIZ KUTLU OLSUM" "EEN GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR-SRETAN BOSIC" * "KRIHSTLINDJA GEZUAR-KALA CHRISTOUGENA" * "SELAMAT HARI NATAL - LAHNINGU NAJU METU" * * """""""SARBATORI FERICITE-BUON ANNO""""""" * "ZORIONEKO GABON-HRISTOS SE RODI" * * "BOLDOG KARACSONNY-VESELE VIANOCE " "MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR" "ROOMSAID JOULU PUHI -KUNG HO SHENG TEN" * * * "FELICES PASUAS - EIN GLUCKICHES NEUJAHR" "PRIECIGUS ZIEMAN SVETKUS SARBATORI VESLLE" "BONNE ANNEBLWYDDYN NEWYDD DDADRFELIZ NATAL" * * """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" XXXXX * XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX "As food for thought at this time of year, below is my 'Political Animal' published Wednesday in The Daily Journal in Manassas, Virginia." --Bill Kling ____________ Bill Kling POLITICAL ANIMAL The Daily Journal Prince William County, Virginia December 22, 1999 Remembering Christmases past CHRISTMAS MEMORIES come readily to mind during this last month of the year, happy remembrances of childhood and children, and often poignant recollections of Christmases in other places and other times. Christmastime is that kind of looking-back season. Especially in my thoughts this particular looking-back season are the Christmas of 1944 and another one a decade later. Both times, America was at war. In 1944, it was World War II. In 1954, the conflict was the Cold War against the then-Soviet Union's aims at world domination. Those times seem far removed from the here and now of present-day Northern Virginia. For the young among us, they are the stuff not of memory but of history books and old newspaper clippings. But for those of us who remember, they're crystal-clear and defining. Christmas 1944 was when my younger brother Joey and I got our bicycles. How Mother managed it, I don't know. Our father was in Burma with Gen. "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, fighting the Japanese. The European war against Germany continued. In America, meat and gasoline were rationed, as were many other items. Manufacturing plants were producing weapons and other war materiel. Automobiles and bicycles weren't being made for civilian markets. Nevertheless, there in our living room that Christmas morning stood two brand-new bikes -- thick-tired, pre-war Schwinns with Bendix brakes, battery-powered lights on the front fenders and bells on the handlebars. Blue for me; maroon for my brother. They were the best bicycles in our rural community in south-central Pennsylvania. We put red cellophane over the fender lights so German bomber pilots wouldn't detect us if we had to ride out during nighttime blackouts. They were the only bicycles my brother and I ever had. Over the years, they lost their sheen and picked up dents, scrapes and rust spots, but their value in our eyes never diminished. The thought of those bicycles made Christmas 10 years later all that much more heart-wrenching. The Army was my home in 1954, a Signal Corps detachment assigned to Southern Area Command headquarters in Munich, Germany, the Bavarian capital. I sang in the post chapel choir, comprising Army personnel, civilian Defense Department employees and military dependents. For that Christmas Eve 45 years ago, the post chaplain, Maj. David Reardon, arranged for our choir to sing carols at a Munich camp for "displaced persons." Only weeks before, these refugees -- hundreds of men, women and children -- had fled to the freedom side of the Iron Curtain, driven from their homes in Eastern Europe by Soviet oppression. They were being "processed" for relocation to new homes in other countries. We gathered in the mess hall of the camp, a German Army post during World War II. In a corner of the vast room was a large Christmas tree, tinseled and alight with real candles. The choir sang a number of Christmas carols, trying to include many we hoped would be familiar to the refugees. There was little applause that night. We did our best, but we could tell from the solemn looks on the faces in our audience, sitting at metal tables across the mess hall, that for them this wasn't the joyous time it was for us. They had left behind families and friends, worldly possessions, heritage -- everything but their lives -- to escape Soviet tyranny; to pursue the freedom we Americans so often take for granted. Our closing carol that night was the universally loved "Silent Night." For it, all the lights in the mess hall were turned off -- except the candles flickering on the Christmas tree. Our choir sang the beautiful words of that carol in English -- "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright..." And as we sang, the hundreds of refugees slowly rose to their feet and joined in, singing along with us in German and Czech and Polish and Lithuanian and Hungarian and Yugoslavian and... Tears streamed down many faces, glistening in the soft candleglow. And when we finished singing that loveliest of Christmas carols, there came spontaneous hugs and kisses, too -- and smiles. To this day, the memory of that night nearly half a century ago makes me misty-eyed and choked with emotion. So, if you should ask me what I remember best about other Christmases, my voice is likely to grow husky as I tell you, "Bicycles and 'Silent Night' sung by candlelight." And you'll understand -- won't you? Have a merry Christmas. Remember the reason for the season is Jesus, who is the Christ -- and may God bless and keep us, every one. _______________ Bill Kling, former national political correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Times, lives in Coles Magisterial District and was chairman of the Prince William County Republican Party from January 1992 through March 1996. His "Political Animal" column appears Wednesday and Sunday. His e-mail address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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