We remember Ken Stabler (1945-2015)

We remember Ken Stabler a great quarterback who was born in Alabama on this day in 1945.  He died in 2015.
   
After Alabama, Stabler was drafted by the Raiders in the second round, No. 52 overall, in the 1968 NFL draft.   He threw for 27,938 yards during his 15-year career in the NFL, compiling a 96-49-1 record as a starting QB.

Stabler played for the Raiders from 1970-79, was the NFL Most Valuable Player in 1974 and earned Pro Bowl honors four times.

He led Oakland to victory in Super Bowl XL in January 1977.

I remember that he beat the Colts on his way to that Super Bowl victory.  Great quarterback.

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We remember Clara Barton (1821-1912)

We remember Clara Barton who was born in Massachusetts on this day in 1821.  She died in 1912.

During her travels to Europe, she saw the work of the Swiss Red Cross over there.  She was inspired to start the organization in the US.

On May 21, 1881, Clara Barton and others started the branch in Washington DC.

We remember a great humanitarian and organization.

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December 2012: Let's talk a little tango with Georgina & Oscar

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO LISTEN:

Let's talk a little tango with Georgina & Oscar 11/29 by Silvio Canto Jr | Current Events Podcasts:

Guests: Leslie Eastman joined me for a chat with Georgina Vargas and Oscar Mandagaran. They are a lovely tango couple from Argentina:

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The Cuban Christmas kitchen with Marta & Sonia

Guests:  Sonia Martinez, author of "From soup to nuts" & newspaper columnist........Marta Verdes Darby, author and editor of "My big fat Cuban family".......we look at Cuban recipes for Christmas......

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Click to listen:

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Today, we recall Luke 2:1-20 and the whole point of this holiday:

"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.

And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them."

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1864: Christmas and President Lincoln

In 2004, we started a tradition of posting something historic on holidays.  

Today, we remember President Lincoln and Christmas 1864:  

One hundred fifty years ago, the United States experienced its last holiday season of the Civil War. For the past three Decembers, President Abraham Lincoln had been frustrated by defeats on the battlefield and the continuation of a seemingly endless war. This Christmas of 1864 however, President Lincoln had much to celebrate. He was glad First Lady Mary Lincoln had returned safely from a shopping trip to Philadelphia; on December 21 he had telegraphed her: “Do not come on the night train. It is too cold. Come in the morning.”1
In addition to being elected to a second term in November, President Lincoln had good news from the front indicating the Confederate war effort might be coming to an end. General Philip Sheridan drove the Confederates out of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and a Confederate effort to capture Nashville, Tennessee resulted in the defeat and near collapse of Confederate forces in the Western Theater. Perhaps the largest victory of all, however, came as an early Christmas gift to Lincoln in the form of a telegram from General William Tecumseh Sherman. The telegram read, “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.”2
With Savannah in Northern hands, victory seemed that much closer to President Lincoln. Washington celebrated the news of the fall of Savannah with a 300-gun salute. The same day Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles attended the Lincolns’ Christmas reception for the cabinet at the White House, where he bragged “of the achievements of the South Atlantic Blockading squadron in capturing Savannah, while also being kind enough to acknowledge that the forces under General Sherman had rendered the navy some not inconsiderable help!” After the navy secretary left the room Lincoln and several other military officers observed ruefully that Welles seemed to think the capture of Savannah was a naval victory.3
On Christmas Day 1864, Tad Lincoln, the President’s young son, embraced the spirit of the holidays, inviting several cold and hungry newsboys he had met into the White House for Christmas dinner. Although the unexpected guests were a surprise to the White House cook, the president welcomed them and allowed them to stay for dinner. Thomas Pendel, a bodyguard and doorkeeper appointed during the Lincoln administration, recalled in an interview: “’We didn’t have many doings in those days’ says Mr. Pendel, ‘there were too many grave things to think about. . . Mrs. Lincoln used to buy a great many presents for Tad, but he could amuse himself with the ‘bucktails’ better than with playthings.’”4
As Lincoln celebrated his last Christmas both in the White House and during his life, he probably reflected upon previous loss and a hopeful future. During Lincoln’s last peacetime Christmas in 1860, the Lincoln family was in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln had been elected president. Although war had not broken out, war clouds loomed over the nation. That Christmas Eve, Lincoln’s close friend Senator Edward Baker visited Lincoln. One year later, Baker was dead, having been killed at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff in October 1861. In February 1862, the President experienced another personal loss when his son Willie suddenly fell ill and died in the White House. The holiday season of 1862 was marred by the Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg only a few weeks before Christmas. On January 1, 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation redefining the purpose of the war and, by the end of 1863, victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg had bolstered the Union cause.
Members of Company K of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry celebrated Christmas in winter quarters on the grounds of the White House in 1863 and 1864. While several years previously they had enjoyed the holiday season with their families in Pennsylvania, they were now celebrating with their fellow comrades protecting the president and his family. The White House functioned as Lincoln’s command hub. Within the War Department, a short walk from the executive residence, Lincoln stayed in constant communication with his generals by telegraph.
The Lincoln White House celebrated the Christmas of 1864 on a more positive note as the end of the war was in sight. While challenges remained, Union victory seemed inevitable that Christmas season. Although Lincoln would not see another Christmas, the decisions he made during his time at the White House to prevent the dissolution of the Union ensured the nation would endure, and through Lincoln’s presidency the White House came to symbolize for all time the trials of the office.

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad.

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