The midnight mass, one of the great traditions

Over the years, our family went to the 5:30 pm mass and went to bed early to wait for Santa Claus. However, we have been attending the midnight mass now that our boys are older.

It is one of the most beautiful Catholic traditions. My favorite part of the mass is the Gospel Reading from Luke 2:1-14:

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustusthat all the world should be registered.
This was the first registrationand was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
All went to their own towns to be registered.
Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galileeto Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem,because he was descended from the house and family of David.
He went to be registered with Mary,to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.
While they were there,the time came for her to deliver her child.
And she gave birth to her firstborn sonand wrapped him in bands of cloth,and laid him in a manger,because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields,keeping watch over their flock by night.
Then an angel of the Lord stood before them,and the glory of the Lord shone around them,and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them,Do not be afraid; for seeI am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,who is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign for you:you will find a child wrapped in bands of clothand lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angela multitude of the heavenly host,praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest heaven,and on earth peace among those whom he favours!

Merry Christmas to all. Let's remember to keep Christ in Christmas.

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Remembering a couple of war heroes who died over Christmas

(My new American Thinker post)

We got the news yesterday that two war heroes of the past died over the holidays.

First, we heard about Edwin A. Shuman:

"As Christmas 1970 approached, 43 American prisoners of war in a large holding cell at the North Vietnamese camp known as the Hanoi Hilton sought to hold a brief church service. Their guards stopped them, and so the seeds of rebellion were planted. 
A few days later, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III, a downed Navy pilot, orchestrated the resistance, knowing he would be the first to face the consequences: a beating in a torture cell. 
"Ned stepped forward and said, 'Are we really committed to having church Sunday? I want to know person by person,' " a fellow prisoner, Leo K. Thorsness, recounted in a memoir. "He went around the cell pointing to each of us individually," Mr. Thorsness continued. "When the 42nd man said yes, it was unanimous. At that instant, Ned knew he would end up in the torture cells."  
The following Sunday, Commander Shuman, who died on Dec. 3 at 82, stepped forward to lead a prayer session and was quickly hustled away by guards. The next four ranking officers did the same, and they, too, were taken away to be beaten. Meanwhile, as Mr. Thorsness told it, "the guards were now hitting P.O.W.s with gun butts and the cell was in chaos."  
And then, he remembered, the sixth-ranking senior officer began, "Gentlemen, the Lord's Prayer."  
"And this time," he added, "we finished it."  
The guards had yielded.  
Everett Alvarez Jr., who was the first American pilot captured in the Vietnam War when his Navy plane was shot down in 1964, said in an interview that the defiance Commander Shuman engineered was emulated by senior officers in other large holding cells.  
"It was contagious," said Mr. Alvarez, who was in another cell during the first prayer service. "By the time it got to the fourth or fifth cell," he said, the guards "gave up." He said the prisoners were also singing patriotic songs.   Commander Shuman remained incarcerated at the Hanoi Hilton for more than two more years. But by then the prisoners' right to collective prayer had been established.  
"From that Sunday on until we came home, we held a church service," Mr. Thorsness, an Air Force pilot and recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroics on a mission in 1967, wrote in his memoir, "Surviving Hell: A POW's Journey" (2008). "We won. They lost. Forty-two men in prison pajamas followed Ned's lead. I know I will never see a better example of pure raw leadership or ever pray with a better sense of the meaning of the words."

The other "war hero" was Rodolfo Hernandez of California:

"Mr. Hernandez was an Army corporal trying to hold a hill in May 1951 when his platoon was overwhelmed by attackers accompanied by heavy mortar, artillery and machine gun fire.   
Corporal Hernandez had already been struck by grenade fragments and was bleeding heavily from a head wound when his commanding officer ordered his platoon to fall back. He continued firing until his rifle malfunctioned, then threw six grenades and charged at the opposing foxholes.  
"I took my rifle and fixed the bayonet," he was quoted as saying in "Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words," by Larry Smith, "and then I yelled, 'Here I come!' "  
He managed to kill six attackers before falling unconscious from grenade, bullet and bayonet wounds. His action allowed his unit to retake the hill.   Corporal Hernandez was so badly wounded that his comrades initially took him for dead. They were placing him in a body bag when someone noticed movement in his hands, said his wife, Denzil. His injuries were so extensive that he had to relearn how to walk, how to speak and how to write with his left hand (his right arm was permanently damaged).  
By the time Corporal Hernandez received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman in the White House Rose Garden on April 12, 1952, he was able to speak a few words."

We say thank you for your service.   Also, we remind the younger readers that Mr Shuman and Mr Hernandez served in unpopular wars. 

Most of the country was back here arguing about Vietnam when Mr Shuman was defying the Hanoi Hilton guards. 

Korea was also very unpopular and most of its heroes largely forgotten, as Clay Blair wrote a few years ago.

Again, thanks for their service and courage.     

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‘Pero muchacho en Cuba no hay blanca Navidad’

Like many of the Cubans who did not grow up in Miami, we used to get our doses of “Cubanismo” by buying Cuban LP’s in the mail.

As I recall, my father subscribed to a Miami-based “Record of the month” club and we got Cuban music that way.

To say the least, it was a moment of upmost emotion when my mom would call my father and say:  “Mi vida hoy llego uno de la Riverside.”   Then they would start talking about the time that they danced to Tito Gomez and that wonderful “orquesta.”

One of my biggest “exilio” memories was our family buying an LP of Christmas songs and hearing Olga Guillot sing “Blanca Navidad” or an adaption of the Bing Crosby classic.     

It was too much for my mom who said:  “Pero muchacho en Cuba no hay blanca Navidad.  Que es eso?” (But son, in Cuba there is no such thing as a white Christmas. What’s that?)

It was quite a day in our home!   Listen here!

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2015 podcast: Christmas books and poetry of the season with Frank Burke

Christmas books and poetry of the season with Frank Burke....

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Pearl Harbor 1941 and World War II with Barry Jacobsen, military historian.

Pearl Harbor 1941 and World War II with Barry Jacobsen, military historian......Listen in now at https://t.co/lSklluDcGE. #BlogTalkRadio

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) December 7, 2016

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  

Sorry, lefties, but Pinochet looks better every day

We remember that Augusto Pinochet was born on this day in 1914. He died in 2006. Back in 1988, General Augusto Pinochet had run Chile for 15 years.  He overthrew President Salvador Allende in 1973 and took over a country in total chaos.  His free market policies turned Chile around and created an economy that was the envy of the developing world.  Unfortunately, he never had the legitimacy of an election.  So he did something strange.  He asked the people if he should continue, and they had a "plebiscite."  Pinochet lost and left power.  This is the story:

Gen. Augusto Pinochet's bid for eight more years in power ended in defeat today, as a united opposition beat him soundly in a presidential plebiscite of Pinochet's own design.

After a long night in which the opposition continued to announce returns showing a 60-percent vote against Pinochet and the government gave out practically no totals at all, a government spokesman announced early this morning that with three-fourths of the vote officially counted, Pinochet was losing with 53 percent of voters rejecting him. There would be no further vote totals until midday, he said.

Later, Interior Minister Sergio Fernandez, who had run Pinochet's campaign, announced that the regime would recognize the results of the vote, which he characterized as still provisional. Because of the democratic process that had transpired, "the great winner is the country," Fernandez said. Pinochet himself made no statement.

Chile said no, and Pinochet accepted the verdict.  Let me add that it was time for Pinochet to go as much as I admired his economic accomplishments.  As a Chilean told me back in 1988, Pinochet did a good job, but it was time to get our democracy back.

Down in Cuba, the situation is ripe for such a plebiscite.  Cubans have never voted in a free and multi-party election.  Yes, they vote in Cuba, but it's a sham, because the Communist Party is the only on the ballot.

President Biden should call for such a plebiscite with international observers.  It should also say the U.S. will recognize the winner as the legitimate government and end the embargo immediately.

Will the Castro regime accept the challenge?  No, but let's keep the pressure on.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Still talking about Pinochet after all these years

We remember that Augusto Pinochet was born on this day in 1914. He died in 2006. 

Back in 1988, General Augusto Pinochet had run Chile for 15 years.  He overthrew President Salvador Allende in 1973 and took over a country in total chaos.  His free market policies turned Chile around and created an economy that was the envy of the developing world.  Unfortunately, he never had the legitimacy of an election.  So he did something strange.  He asked the people if he should continue, and they had a “plebiscite.”  Pinochet lost and left power.  

This is the story:

Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s bid for eight more years in power ended in defeat today, as a united opposition beat him soundly in a presidential plebiscite of Pinochet’s own design.

After a long night in which the opposition continued to announce returns showing a 60-percent vote against Pinochet and the government gave out practically no totals at all, a government spokesman announced early this morning that with three-fourths of the vote officially counted, Pinochet was losing with 53 percent of voters rejecting him. There would be no further vote totals until midday, he said.

Later, Interior Minister Sergio Fernandez, who had run Pinochet’s campaign, announced that the regime would recognize the results of the vote, which he characterized as still provisional. Because of the democratic process that had transpired, “the great winner is the country,” Fernandez said. Pinochet himself made no statement.

Chileans said no, and Pinochet accepted the verdict.  Let me add that it was time for Pinochet to go as much as I admired his economic accomplishments.  As a Chilean told me back in 1988, Pinochet did a good job, but it was time to get our democracy back.

Down in Cuba, the situation is ripe for such a plebiscite.  Cubans have never voted in a free and multi-party election.  Yes, they vote in Cuba, but it’s a sham, because the Communist Party is the only on the ballot.

President Biden should call for such a plebiscite with international observers.  It should also say the U.S. will recognize the winner as the legitimate government and end the embargo immediately.

Will the Castro regime accept the challenge?  No, but let’s keep the pressure on.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Thanksgiving is about family

Our first Thanksgiving in the US was 1964.  It was a pleasant experience but my dad had to work at the hotel.  He had a night job and we needed the money.

Over the years, my mother "Cubanized" the meal with "yuca" and black beans.  Our turkey always had a Cuban flavor and everybody loved it.

Most of all, we are happy to get together and say thanks for living in the US.

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We remember Garrick Utley (1939-2014)

We remember Garrick Utley.  He was one of those TV newsmen that many of us grew up watching:

"Clifton Garrick Utley was born Nov. 19, 1939, in Chicago. His parents, Clifton Utley and Frayn Utley, were pioneering broadcast journalists in Chicago, and he began accompanying them to studios at an early age.He graduated in 1961 from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., then served in the Army before joining NBC as John Chancellor’s assistant in the Brussels bureau. (Chancellor later became anchor of the “Nightly News.”)By 1964, the 24-year-old Mr. Utley was reporting from war zones in Vietnam, earning $62.50 a week, he later recalled.After covering major international events, Mr. Utley served as a weekend anchor of “Nightly News” in the 1970s, reported on U.S. presidential elections and prepared a series of in-depth programs on civil rights, foreign affairs and other topics.He won two of broadcast journalism’s most prestigious honors: the Overseas Press Club of America’s Edward R. Murrow Award for coverage of the Cold War and the Peabody Award for his contributions to a 1985 NBC special report, “Vietnam: Ten Years Later.”

My memories are of Vietnam but he also reported from Prague 1968.  

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1966: Sandy Koufax retired

 

Sandy Koufax retired on this day in 1966.   His arm was spent at age 30.  

 

I saw him pitch a couple of times on TV, or more specifically when he broke my heart in game 7 of the 1965 World Series against my favorite Twins.

 

For my money, he was the greatest lefty of our generation.   Just ask the hitters who couldn't hit his wicked pitches!

 

From 1961 to 1966, his last season with the LA Dodgers, he won 129 games and led the league in strikeouts 4 times.  He was also the ERA champ 5 seasons in a row.

 

What about the post season?   He pitched the Dodgers to victories in the 1963 and 1965 Series.  

 

It's a shame that arm troubles cut his career short!

Check out the book by Jane Leavy.

 

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