Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)

Luciano Pavarotti and Trisha Yearwood

In Latin:

Adeste Fideles
Laeti triumphantes
Venite, venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte
Regem angelorum
Venite adoremus
Dominum
Cantet nunc io
Chorus angelorum
Cantet nunc aula caelestium
Gloria, gloria
In excelsis Deo
Venite adoremus
Dominum
Ergo qui natus
Die hodierna
Jesu, tibi sit gloria
Patris aeterni
Verbum caro factus
Venite adoremus
Dominum

In English:

Oh, come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant!
Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the king of angels:
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.

Highest, most holy,
Light of light eternal,
Born of a virgin,
A mortal he comes;
Son of the Father
Now in flesh appearing!
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God
In the highest:
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.
Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
Born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing!
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.

Hymn # 41 from Lutheran Worship
Composer: John F. Wade
Tune: Adeste Fideles
1^st Published in: 1767

Thomson Correctional has been chosen to be Gitmo North. It’s just 125 miles from my home. The prison is currently owned by the State of Illinois and is underused. It’s not underused because there aren’t enough state prisoners. It’s just underused. Sen Dick Durbin (D) and Governor Quinn (D) think this is a great idea to sell the prison to the Federal Government, upgrade it to a Federal Maximum Security Facility and hold trials there. They say it will bring in a lot of jobs to the area.

What a crock of sh*t. Wasn’t the original construction of the prison supposed to bring in a lot of jobs? It probably did for a while, while the construction was going on. Thomson, Illinois still only has a population of 600 souls.

The Illinois Times reported on November 25th that:

The IDOC Web site shows that 25 of Illinois’ 28 prisons are operating over capacity, with at least three prisons holding more than double their capacity of prisoners. Compiling the online data shows Illinois prisons hold about 44,000 inmates – almost 14,000 inmates over their combined capacity of about 30,000. Those numbers do not include the state’s adult transitional centers, some of which are overcrowded as well.

The prison was opened in 2006 at a cost of ~ $145 million. As of the 2008 Annual Report, it is a Min/Max Security facility that holds 0 maximum security prisoners and only 144 minimum security prisoners. The prison has 1600 max security beds and that section of the prison has never opened. The minimum security side has 200 beds. There are 15 buildings. There are the 1600 cells and eight housing units in addition to the 200 bed minimum security section. Total building space is 625,000 square feet on 146 acres.

Durbin was just re-elected again in 2008 so he’s safe for another 5 years. Quinn on the other hand will need to be elected in 2010 in order to hold on to the Governor’s seat he fell into when Blagojevich (D) was impeached earlier this year.

Illinois primaries will be held in February. Quinn, even though he is the “incumbent” has primary challengers. With a majority of Illinoisans against bringing Gitmo north, his Dem opponents in the primary would do well to play this up. If Quinn should win the primary, his Republican and Independent opponents would also do well to play this up. Hopefully Quinn will only have this partial term as governor under his belt.

The Anchoress has a couple of polls up.

The first asks for your opinion on President Obama’s statement that he gives better gifts than he gets.

The second (in the same post) asks what grade you would give President Obama. He gave himself a solid B+.

Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah

Oh Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah
Come light the menorah
Let’s have a party
We’ll all dance the hora
Gather round the table, we’ll give you a treat
Sevivon to play with
latkes to eat

And while we are playing
The candles are burning low
One for each night, they shed a sweet light
To remind us of days long ago
One for each night, they shed a sweet light
To remind us of days long ago

The Little Drummer Boy

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

Angels We Have Heard on High (Gloria in Exelsis Deo)

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly sounding o’er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains

Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Shepherds why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?

Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Come to Bethlehem and see
Christ whose birth the angels sing
Come adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the newborn King!

Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

See Him in the manger laid
Whom the choirs of angels praise;
Mary, Joseph lend your aid,
While our hearts in love we raise

Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Via Tom Maguire we find that the NYT thinks that Accepting Peace Prize Will Be a Test for Obama.

We also find out that David Axelrod has no freakin’ clue.

“There is one very pregnant question,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama. “How do you reconcile your role as a commander in chief with your aspirations to promote a more peaceful world at a time of war? That’s a question that he’s going to explore in some detail.”

Axelrod seems to think that commander in chief = warmonger. Of course, we know that’s what they felt about GWB in the role of commander in chief, but it’s not so.

Axelrod also seems to think that there is some kind of essential disconnect between commanding the U.S. Armed Forces and wanting peace.

A strong military is a deterrent to those who would war with us. The presence of a strong military does more to promote peace than to promote war.

New Guinness commercial “Slide”. A neat Rube Goldberg-esque delivery system!

Trans Siberian Orchestra’s mash up of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Carol of the Bells

This is Tiffany (Tiffy) our new puppy.

Tiffy, click to embiggen

She is a Yorkshire Terrier/Bichon Frise mix. One hybrid club calls this mix a Borkie, another calls it a Yo-Chon.  Because the Bichon hair is curly and the Yorkie hair is straight, this poor baby has half and half and is having a perpetual bad hair day.

Yorkies have stand up ears and Bichons have floppy ears, hers start to stand up, then flop.

She’s got mostly the white of the Bichon and the tan of the Yorkie with only a little bit of the Yorkie blue here and there.

We are working hard on potty training (she mostly hits the pads) and some simple commands like sit, come, and answering to her name.

She’s 4 months old.