SOMETHING I WISH I WERE SINGING THIS CHRISTMAS.
...Come to think of it, I WISH I WERE SINGING THIS CHRISTMAS-- PERIOD.
Life is too short to explain that just now [the story of the Great Choir Massacre of '07 will have to wait] -- so listen and enjoy, in these last days of Advent.
"I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS,
IF ONLY IN MY DREAMS..."
How many of us grew up listening to Der Bingle singing that song, and never knew that it referred to the troops of World War II. Now I know -- in every sense of the word.
Cincinnatus blogs from Al Asad, at the near edge of the original Holy Land, and gives us a new take on the seed of Abraham, promised by God to be more numerous than the stars.
Well, there's been little to report because little out of the ordinary has been going on here the last few weeks. The day guys go out and fly their missions, and then the sun sets and every few days (or nights, "days" for me since I'm up for 14 hours, but . . . I'm not going to explain it anymore, because it makes my head hurt and my brain is starting to reject the programming) I launch and spend a few hours staring at the green world around me through my goggles.
Last night was about as uneventful as it gets, especially considering we went out on an eastern route we're not allowed to fly during the day that takes us within sight of the lights of Baghdad. And lights there are, in the city itself and extending north along both the rivers that run through it. Mesopotamia is lit up like a Christmas tree (or the hajj equivalent, this time of year) through our night vision goggles, though not like cities and towns are back at home. At home, urban centers are these big blobs through the goggles, sometimes big and sometimes small, but generally kind of circular in shape. Out here, night shows you how much of a river culture Iraq truly is: cultural lighting is almost continuous as it spreads out along the rivers from the seat of the old caliphate, but it rarely extends more than a half-mile from either river-bank.
The night sky is also a veritable blaze of light, given that we rarely see clouds and there's nothing on the horizon to obstruct one's view. Sure, it's all green in the NVGs, but you can see thousands more stars than back in the real world, and the goggles help amplify the light from shooting stars that you'd never see unaided. Last night they were falling everywhere, the bigger ones leaving a trail of fire in the heavens that lingered on our artificial eyes. It was a night where little on the ground (except the landing phase) was as interesting as the patterns on the tapestry above.
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson gets up-and-down reviews as a campaigner, but when the rest of the field, both parties, are making goofballs of themselves trying to win votes with Christmas themes, Fred just says what should be uppermost in the mind this Christmas whether your loved one is Over There or not.
Newsflash: CANADA SET TO FLEX ITS
HUMAN RIGHTS MUZZLE
Story here.
FREE MARK STEYN!!!!
