Many of us speak of the assimilation of new immigrants into our society, but what is assimilation? It is simple. Assimilation is the absorption and integration of people, ideas, or culture into a wider society or culture. When thousands of people enter a country from a foreign land, it takes considerable time for them to understand our culture. We have gone through this process several times in the history of the USA. Each time, it was difficult for us, but more so for the newcomer. It is they who have to learn a new language and new customs. We on the other hand have to tolerate the migrants old ways as they slowly evolve into the American way. During my lifetime I have witnessed several waves of immigrants entering our society. First was the wave that bought my parents here in the nineteen twenties and long before I was born in the nineteen thirties. I grew up in a neighborhood populated by Americans, Hungarians, Italians, Ukranians, and Polish. I’m certain I left some of them out, but time has a way with dealing with memories.
My father’s assimilation began when at age seventeen he joined the Illinois Central Railroad as a laborer. His sponsor was his sister’s husband, who had arrived a few years earlier than he did. Uncle John Yusko most likely helped him learn the language on the job. Also, many of his supervisors were the sons of immigrants who knew the language and could communicate in Hungarian when English failed. Gradually, my Dad began speaking in English, but never at home. He and Mom spoke in the familiar language of their birthplace. As children, my older brother taught me and our younger sister to talk English while he learned from the Nuns at school. Many of the local businesses were run by immigrants and they too learned from and taught their customers. The best assessment I can make is that assimilation takes time and patience. My dad had a fairly good command of the language even into his nineties, but reverted to Hungarian when he didn’t have the English word. It was hilarious when Mom and Dad while speaking Hungarian slid an English word into the sentence. In my mother’s case she reverted more to Hungarian as she aged.
The second wave of immigrants I encountered was after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution against the Russians. My mother paired me with the nephew of our Pastor’s housekeeper. He was about the same age as me and a genuine Molotov cocktail-throwing rebel who fled for his life. We were inseparable; he challenged me to speak Hungarian, and I urged him to speak English. We were inseparable for about a year, and then I left town to go to college. The next time I saw him, he was on leave from the army. He had joined up to assimilate faster. He sure did. He returned on leave speaking excellent English with a hefty Alabama accent. He went to school on the GI Bill and became an engineer. He assimilated.
The next round of migrants I became aware of came from Viet Nam. My cousins in California helped them through their difficulties for at least ten years. The hardest part of assimilation is getting employment. These poor people struggle with life and do their best to make a living. After that, I lost track of any other migrant infusions, but I have witnessed an awful lot of Central Americans cutting lawns in the neighborhood. I even convinced myself to hire one to do my lawn chores. It is the best decision I ever made to assist with assimilation.
This morning, I researched how the Israelis infused so many people into their country. They devised a process called the Kibbutz. As new immigrants arrived, they were assigned to a Kibbutz, which is nothing more than a farm with a formal name. The newcomers worked the land to raise vegetables and livestock for their consumption and the markets. Any profit made was distributed equally between members of the Kibbutz. That sounds a bit Marxist to me. Many of these enterprises have evolved from agriculture to manufacturing, depending on the individuals’ capabilities. I think this concept appeals to me and is one that we could propose here. Why not divide these people into manageable groups, assign them to some land and basic tools, and let them have at it? The problem with my idea is the government. We have so many swamp creatures inventing regulations and work rules that a Kibbutz in the Israeli sense would be unlawful.
Back when my parents arrived, there were no unions, children were allowed to work, OSHA wasn’t yet an idea, and workers could take chances on the job. It was a working economy. However, employers tended to overdo things. Working conditions became difficult, and the people felt like slaves. When our most revered president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, became president and worked to ease people’s suffering by inventing new laws and regulations, he called it the New Deal, but inadvertently created the Swamp. The various Bureaus have been left unfettered to make rules that are as strong as laws, except they aren’t laws written by Congress and voted in. They are regulations that are imposed upon us whether we like them or not. Because these Bureaus are not controlled by ‘We the People’ they have gone on their merry way and have continued to dream up countless ways to make our lives better than we can. Since the nineteen forties they have grown and spent trillions of dollars on too many things that don’t really make our lives better, but they do make our lives more expensive.
The current government’s approach to assimilation involves two policies: The first is to fly or bus people by the hundreds to various parts of the country and let them loose. The second is to do nothing and allow the immigrant himself to find a way to live. The first is to spread the population without regard to the immigrants or the cities where they are dumped. Cities nationwide have seen this invasion and are remiss about handling housing, clothing, meals, and, more importantly, jobs. The result is that we see communities of tent cities popping up in urban areas all around the country.
When the country encouraged a large population of immigrants to come in the early twentieth century, it needed labor to do work. The current administration has no clue what these people will do when they arrive. Should I hire a gardener, a housemaid, and a cook and provide them a place to live while they work for me? I could be okay with hiring help, but I cannot afford that, a life with my family and Uncle Sam, too.
I’m afraid in the long run, I will end up paying these people to assimilate. Uncle Sam will finally wake up and realize he has created a human catastrophe. He will then begin implementing new social programs to assist immigrants. Two things will happen: 1. He will raise our taxes, and 2. He will print money to pay for the programs, thus increasing inflation and making life equally miserable for all of us. This flood of new immigrants smacks of the redistribution of wealth plan inaugurated by our Progressive, Liberal, Socialist, and Communist former President Obama. When does this guy go away?
Santa is Missing is short and easy to read. The story is very adult-like in composition since the viewpoint changes every chapter. Children twelve and older will have no trouble reading it by themselves. Kids younger than twelve may need you to read it to them.
There are a few characters I should identify:
1. Morty Angel is the Guardian Angel assigned to Ben
2. Ben is a ten year old who is guarded by Morty Angel
3. Jasper is a Lead Elf who works for Santa
4. Gabriel is the Archangel working in Heaven as God’s assistant
5. Sentra-vision, a special communication device used to call heaven.
6. Sky-scooter, a special flying scooter given to Morty by friends. Since he cannot fly like other angels he needs the Sky-scooter to travel. It has amazing properties.
7. Polly is a polar bear, a friend of Morty’s
8. Major Joe ‘Do-Do’ Taylor is an Air Force pilot at Elmendorf Air Base.
There are cartoon pictures scattered throughout the story done by Grumpa Joe.
Morty sat invisible on Ben’s shoulder. He watched the snow falling gently. Ben listened to Miss Brown. The temperature dropped since they got to school this morning. Ben looked out the window and wished he could be playing in it. Miss Brown went over math sets. There were two more days before school let out for the Christmas holiday.
Morty’s head bobbed with sleep when his wings fluttered. He jumped to attention as his wings fluttered again. “God is paging me,” he said to himself. Morty raised the end of his Sentra-vision belt to his eye. He saw Gabriel sitting at the desk outside God’s office. He squeezed the belt to signal that he was ready to receive. Gabriel pushed a button on his console and God appeared. Morty watched and listened carefully.
“Santa is in trouble. I want you to help him. It is only a few days until my Son’s birthday celebration. I don’t want Christmas to be spoiled because Santa can’t make it on time. Leave immediately.”
The bell rang just as God finished the message. School was over for the day.
Ben rushed to get his boots and coat. He ran out of school with his Guardian Angel hanging onto his sleeve.
“I want to be first in the new snow, he whispered to Morty.”
Ben jumped into the deep new snow, and fell backwards. He swept his arms above his head and spread his legs apart.
“Look, Morty, I’m making an angel.”
That’s when Morty became visible and told Ben to get ready. “We have to go rescue Santa.”
“What?”
“We have to go rescue Santa, God just told me to go help him. Come on, get onto the sky scooter.”
“But, but, but . . . my parents will wonder where I am.”
“Don’t worry. God will send an angel to let them know that you are okay. Now, let’s go, Santa needs us.”
Ben climbed on and wrapped his arms around his guardian angel. Morty set the navigator for the North Pole, then pushed the thrust button. They were out of sight in an instant.
Santa is never late said Mrs. Claus to herself. She paced back and forth wondering where he was.
“He has never been late before,” she explained to Gabriel over the Angel Network. “He left at 8:00 p.m. last night for a training ride with Rudolph and the first team. On a regular day, he is back by midnight. It is 3:00 a.m. and he is still gone. I sent the elves to look for him.”
“Santa keeps a strict training schedule. They have to be in perfect shape to be able to deliver all the gifts. They fly fast, stop on a roof, then start-up fast again. They pull all the presents, and Santa is not a light weight. I keep him on a diet, but poor Santa never loses a pound,” said Mrs. Claus.
The elves were still very busy making toys and wrapping presents. They used Santa’s computer to know how many toys to make. Before Christmas, Santa visits children all around the world to ask them if they were bad or good. If they answer “good,” he asks them what they want for Christmas. Each kid gives him a list of toys. Of course, Santa already knows if they were bad or good because he has Sentra-vision like the angels. He keeps a record of all the good deeds and all the bad things that a kid does on his computer.
Elf-Jasper was charting Santa’s route and connecting each gift to a child’s house. He was ready to download the chart into the tracking system on the sleigh when Mrs. Claus asked him to look for Santa.
Jasper ordered his elves to hitch the back-up team to the red sleigh. They left to search all of Santa’s training routes, but it was snowing so hard and they could not see anything.
Ben and Morty hung onto the scooter as it sped to Santa Claus Village near the North Pole. Morty used his Sentra-vision belt to get information about the mission. He learned that Santa was missing on a training mission, and the elves could not find him in the snowstorm. Morty wondered how he was going to find Santa.
Ben must have read his mind.
“Morty, why don’t you send a message to all of the animals in the world to look for Santa.”
“Great idea,” Morty shouted over his shoulder. They were traveling so fast the noise from the wind and snow made it hard to hear.
The Scooter, automatically began to slow down and lose altitude. The voyage to Santa’s Village was nearly over. Morty called Jasper to ask for help.
“Jasper, please contact Gabriel. Tell him to spread the word to the animal kingdom. Have them report all suspicious activity.
“Make a special call to the wolves to search for the reindeer with their noses. They have a keen sense of smell and can tell when an animal is hurt. If the reindeer are injured, the wolves will find them,” said Ben.
“Fantastic idea,” said Morty. “Did you copy that Jasper?”
“Ten four,” answered Jasper, “I did.”
Jasper locked Sky-scooter onto the landing beam. Then, he relayed the message to Gabriel.
High on a Mount Denali glacier, deep in a dark crevasse, Santa crawled out from under the green sleigh. He checked himself for broken bones and brushed snow off his suit. He started a roll call.
“Rudolph.”
“Here.”
“Donner”
“Here,” answered Donner weakly.
“Blitzen.”
“I’m here,” he said, “My antlers are tangled in the runner.”
“Dasher.”
“Here, but my leg is broken.”
“Prancer.”
“I’m here, scrapped and bleeding.”
“Comet,— Comet, does anyone see Comet?” asked Santa.
“I can feel him,” said Cupid, “He’s out cold.”
“How about Dancer and Vixen?”
“We are okay,” they answered in unison.
“Donner, please help Comet.”
“Dancer, Vixen, see if you can help Prancer.”
“Rudolph, turn your nose on.”
“Oh great, my light doesn’t work, now what do we do?”
“Try harder,” said Santa, “we need that light.”
“How will we find our way home without your light?”
“Why did we crash?” Asked Cupid.
“Something exploded right next to us,” answered Rudolph, “the shock forced me into a downward spin, then my light went out. We broke through the clouds, and saw the mountain, but it was too late. We landed fast, and slid into this crevasse.”
“Comet is waking up,” said Prancer.
“Where am I?”
“We crashed into a crevasse,” answered Prancer.
“Let’s put our heads together and see how we are going to get home,” said Santa.
“Does the Sentra-vision work?” asked Rudolph. “We can call Jasper. He can find where our signal is coming from.”
“I checked it before, it doesn’t work either,” said Santa, “See if you can repair it.”
“Blitzen, splint Dasher’s leg. Dancer and Cupid, explore the crevasse in that direction. see if we can climb out of here.”
“Donner and Vixen, explore the opposite direction. I’ll help Rudolph with the Sentra-vision.”
Sergeant John Jacobs watched the radar at Fort Greeley missile base. Sargeant John served at on the far edge of Alaska. Everything appeared normal until eleven o’clock. At eleven the screen started flashing, and the horn sounded. John nearly jumped out of his seat. A strange blip headed toward North America at very high speed. He knew what all the other blips on the screen were, but this one behaved different.
Could it be a missile coming in? He checked the equipment. Everything was normal. The blip kept coming. John picked up the red phone and dialed Elmendorf Air Force Base.
“Major, we have a red alert coming at us from the west. All the equipment checks out; it is the real thing.”
“I’ll be there in a flash.” Major General Holmes was at home decorating his Christmas tree when the Sergeant called.
“I’m sorry kids, it’s an emergency I have to go.”
Minutes later, Major Holmes saw the blip on the radar screen himself. The object was near the coast line now.
“Scramble the tactical unit,” he ordered.
“Yes sir.”
Elmendorf confirmed the unidentified object approaching U.S. airspace. It was too fast to be an airplane. It had to be a missile. Three F16 jets sped toward the blip.
“It looks like we’ll intercept it over Denali,” Radioed Major ‘Do-Do’ Taylor.
On this evening Santa took the team to Siberia. He was returning to the North Pole from the extended training flight. The reindeer were at peak condition. Rudolph and the team were feeling good. Santa knew they were ready for Christmas Eve. They would deliver presents to good kids all around the world.
The team was excited. It felt good to fly fast. They loved speed. Santa was anxious to get home early. He and Mrs. Claus still had gifts to wrap for the elves. Mrs. Claus knitted new caps and socks for them.
The F-16‘s approached Denali, the highest peak in North America. A heavy cover of clouds hid the mountain, and the pilots flew by radar. Major Do-Do spotted the object on his radar. It flew under the clouds. Most of the time the jets flew above the clouds where the the pilots could see the stars and the moon. This flight was different.
Major Do-Do used pilot nicknames to talk to his wingmen.
“Crackers, do you have anything on your radar?”
“Yes I see something that is flying a crazy pattern.”
“I see it too,” said Dogface.
“The orders are to make contact with the object and determine if it is a missile, turn on your after burners,” ordered Do Do, “Let’s catch it.”
All three jets sped up to sixteen hundred miles per hour and broke the sound barrier with a loud bang.
“Did you hear that?” shouted Santa.
“Yes,” they sang in unison, “What was it?”
“I don’t know,” answered Santa “Maybe it is the ice cracking on the glacier below.” Just then, Santa let the reindeer have some fun. He flipped the reins gently, signaling them to go faster. The sleigh jumped forward. The team loved going fast, the faster the better. Even at this high speed they were barely breathing hard. They could go even faster if Santa asked them to.
“Get ready to practice a high speed landing,” said Santa.
“Okay,” responded Rudolph, “Let’s have some fun.” Neither Santa nor the reindeer had any idea that they were being chased by the jets.
Just as Santa gave Rudolph the signal to speed up, Major Do Do received orders to shoot. He fired a missile without knowing that he was shooting at Santa. The rocket was just a few yards behind the sleigh when the team kicked into high gear, and shot forward. They flew faster than the missile. Santa signaled the landing maneuver. Rudolph turned them into a sharp upward loop. The team was at the top of their loop, flying upside down, when the rocket exploded. It blew up just as they curved downward. The explosion caused Rudolph’s nose-light to go out, and knocked them off course.
“Oh oh, this is going to be ugly,” said Rudolph. The confusion caused the team to drop hard and fast.
Do Do, Crackers, and Dogface saw the object disappear from their radar.
“Mission completed,” radioed Do Do, “let’s head for home.”
Rudolph pulled the team out of the loop onto the glacier at top speed. The reindeer skidded and plowed a trench in the snow. Rudolph went down. The team tumbled, rolled, and slid behind him. Dasher clipped a large chunk of ice and shattered his leg. Comet banged his head and went unconscious. After sliding and plowing snow for what seemed like an eternity they disappeared into a deep crevasse.
The Air Force spotted Santa, but thought he was a missile. They fired at the team, but they out ran the missile. The maneuver caused them to crash-land on Denali, and to disappear from all radar.
At the North Pole, Morty and Ben set up a communication center. Ben opened a map of the world and pinned it to a wall. He marked the location of every report that came in from the animal kingdom with a push-pin. The messages began coming in immediately.
Most reports were “nothing sighted, scented, or heard in our sector.” If a spot on the map looked empty, Morty called the animals in that sector and asked for a report. Soon the map was filled with red push pins. There was one bare spot on the map. It was in Alaska. It was snowing very hard all over the state and the snow kept the animals from moving around.
Morty called Gabriel, “Send a fleet of Guardian Angels to Alaska, and have them look for Santa.”
Gabriel paged all available angels and sent them to look. Each angel was assigned a sector, and was asked to report unusual activity.
The grizzly bears were hibernating, so they were out, and the wolves, elk, sheep, and goats were all down at lower levels for the winter. The highest points of the mountain were assigned to the bald eagles, but they had to wait for the morning light and for the snow to stop.
Mrs. Claus began to cry. Ben took her to the kitchen to make some tea. There, in the kitchen, he spoke softly and assured her that if anyone could find Santa, Morty could.
Morty studied the map with Jasper. There were red pins everywhere. Where could Santa be?
“Do you see what I see?” asked Morty.
“Yes, there is a big blank spot over Denali.”
“I bet that is where they are,” said Morty, “If he is high on the mountain in the storm, it would explain why we have not heard from anyone there. It also means that we’ll have to use some special tools to find him. I’ll ask my friend Polly to help.”
He called Gabriel over the Sentra-vision.
“Find Polly Polar Bear, and let me know where she is. I think she can help us on Denali.”
“I will get back to you as soon as I find her,” said Gabriel.
Just as he promised, Gabriel called back with Polly’s location, “she is on an ice floe near the North Pole.” He down-loaded her location into Sky Scooter.
“Let’s get going,” said Morty. Together, they boarded the scooter. Morty hit auto pilot and they were off to find Polly. It was still snowing hard when they left.
Polar bears love the cold, and Polly was on an ice floe hunting for seals. Morty landed on the ice right next to her.
“Hello Polly, meet Ben.”
“I haven’t seen you since last year, what brings you here on a night like this?” asked Polly.
“Santa is missing and I need your help to find him. We think he is lost on Denali,” said Morty.
“I know, I called in my report earlier,” answered Polly.
The three of them squeezed on the scooter, and took off.
On the way, Morty called Gabriel.
“Tell Jasper to get the elves and the Red team ready to meet us.”
“Roger,” answered Gabriel. “While you were fetching Polly I got a report from Guardian Angel Frederick. He was with his pilot who got an order to fire a rocket over Denali.”
“Oh Lord,” said Morty, “I hope it wasn’t directed at Santa.”
Morty landed on the top of Denali. Polly jumped off and put her nose into the air.
“Nothing human or animal, but I do smell something, it smells like fire,” said Polly.
“That could be the missile. Can you tell where it is coming from?”
“I can’t tell for sure.”
“Polly, you scout this side of the mountain, Ben and I will fly to the other side. I’ll check with you later.
“Ben, you drive the scooter, and I’ll look for Santa.
“Don’t be afraid,” said Morty, “you will do very well, I trust you very much.”
With that said, Ben and Morty left to start their search.
Polly followed her nose down the mountain. The smell of the fire was still there. She ambled down to the glacier. “This is going to be fun,” she thought, “I’ll just slide on my belly while I search.”
Polly zigzagged going down. The smell of the fire got stronger. She changed direction and the smell grew weaker. After the third pass, she was certain the smell was stronger on the West side.
“I’ll stay on the side where the smell is strongest, and cut my slide time in half,” she said to herself.
The big polar bear continued sliding, but now she only went half the distance. On her fifth pass the scent was very strong, and she saw disruptions in the snow.
Those look like tracks that have been snowed over. I’ll stop here and wait for Morty to check in.
Ben and Morty flew back and forth down the opposite side of Denali, and saw nothing unusual.
“It’s time to check on Polly.” Ben pointed the scooter to the top of the mountain and over to the other side where Polly was waiting for them.
Morty called Gabriel.
“Frederick reported that after the missile exploded the object disappeared,” said Gabriel
The big snow storm covered over the crevasse, making it impossible for Santa and the reindeer to see. Donner and Dancer returned from their exploration. There was no way out, except up. Rudolph worked on the Sentra-vision unit with Santa. They could not make it work. Rudolph stomped his hoof against the dashboard in frustration and to his surprise his nose lit up.
“Santa, watch this,” he said. He held his hoof against the dash and his nose glowed red. It didn’t light up as brightly as it did when he was leading the sleigh, but it was bright enough to give them some light in the crevasse.
Ben and Morty crossed over the peak of Denali and started down to look for Polly.
“Did you see that?” asked Ben.
“What?”
“The red snow down below.”
“No, I didn’t see it. Do you see Polly yet?”
“Yes, she is just up ahead.”
Ben landed the Sky-scooter next to Polly.
“I’m glad you finally came, I found something interesting in the snow, and a few seconds ago I thought I saw a red glow in the snow up ahead,” said Polly.
“I saw it too,” said Ben.
“Let’s check it out,” said Morty. “Turn on the signal beacon so Jasper will know where to send the rescue team. Ben, you hover over us while I ride on Polly’s back. We will move forward cautiously.”
“There it is again,” shouted Ben, “a red flash in the snow about fifty yards ahead of us.”
Polly walked slowly down the glacier with Morty perched on her back. She followed the tracks, then suddenly she stopped.
“I smell reindeer blood,” she said, “it’s fresh under the new snow.”
“Where are they? Asked Morty, Keep on walking.”
“I just saw the red light again,” said Ben from the air. The snow lit up with a red glow just a few feet ahead.”
“They could be covered by snow,” said Polly, “but I don’t see any bumps or mounds anywhere.”
“Let me try something,” said Ben, “if I pass over the top of the snow quickly, maybe I can stir it up, and uncover something.”
“Go ahead,” said Morty, “tap the thrust button, and then hold on tight.” Ben tapped the button, and the scooter shot down the mountain, creating a turbulence of air behind it. Snow flew everywhere. Polly and Morty felt like they were in a blizzard. The swirling snow covered them over. Ben turned at the bottom of the glacier, and flew back. Morty and Polly were brushing snow off of themselves
“There is a hole in the snow with a red light coming out of it,” said Ben.
Polly took a few steps forward. She stopped abruptly, and backed up. Suddenly, the snow covering the crevasse began to cave in revealing a deep canyon in front of them.
“A crevasse,” growled Polly. “They slid down the glacier into the crevasse. That explains why we couldn’t see them or smell them.”
The falling snow-bridge nearly buried Santa and the team.
“I hear voices, someone has found us,” said Santa, “Rudolph keep your nose flashing on and off.”
Rudolph was up to his antlers in snow and couldn’t move.
“I need some help to dig Rudolph out of the snow pile, come here quickly,” called Santa. Cupid started jumping as hard as he could and soon freed himself. He sprang up and over to Rudolph and started moving snow with his antlers. Santa was on the other side digging with his hands.
Morty got on the scooter with Ben and looked down into the crevasse. He saw Santa and Cupid shoveling snow off of Rudolph.
“Don’t worry Santa we’ll clear the snow out of there in a second.”
Morty moved Ben out of the driver’s seat. “Hold on Ben.”
Morty took Sky-scooter high over the crevasse in a big arc. He nosed downward and tapped the thrust button. Sky-scooter swished down into the crevasse at supersonic speed. Just as he was about to hit Santa, Morty pulled up, and steered the scooter out of the crevasse. The scooter created a vacuum and the snow that fell came flying out after the scooter. It looked like a giant white tail on the end of Sky. The snow arched up and over Polly’s head and landed into a huge pile.
“Gabriel, we found Santa. Send Jasper with the rescue team. They are trapped at the bottom of a deep crevasse,” radioed Morty.
IN THE LAST CHAPTER, THE SEARCH TEAM SPOTTED A MYSTERIOUS RED GLOW IN THE SNOW. THEY DISCOVERED SANTA ON THE BOTTOM OF A DEEP CREVASSE THAT WAS COVERED BY A SNOW BRIDGE.
Mrs. Claus breathed a big sigh when the news came. The elves cheered. Jasper left immediately with the rescue team. He followed the signal sent by Sky-scooter. The Red Team landed on the edge of the crevasse. The elves jumped into action with rope ladders and lifting equipment.
“Take care of Dasher’s leg first, then Comet’s head,” said Santa.
Four elves found Dasher, put a sling around his body, and gently lifted him up to the sleigh. Albert Elf placed a compress against Comet’s head, and Mercy bandaged Prancer’s bloody shoulder. It was Prancer’s blood that Polly smelled.
The Red Team raced back to the infirmary at the North Pole with Dasher, Prancer, and Comet then returned. The elves lifted Santa and the reindeer out of the crevasse while they were gone. Only one more thing had to be rescued; Santa’s favorite supersonic sleigh.
The sleigh was wedged between the walls in the deep split. Neither Santa nor Morty could budge it. Ben came to the rescue again.
“I’ll tie a rope to the runner and you tie the other end to Sky-scooter,” he said.
“Great idea,” said Morty.
Ben shimmied down a rope into the crevasse.
“We will use the power of the scooter to pull the sleigh out.”
“I can pull too,” said Polly, “let me try first.”
Morty looped a rope around Polly’s neck. Ben tied the other end to the runner.
“Pull hard Polly,” said Morty, “pull really hard.” Polly pulled with all her might, and the sled moved a tiny bit.
“That’s it Polly,” yelled Morty,“it’s moving.”
Ben pushed on the sleigh from another direction, and loosened it some more.
“Pull again, Polly,” said Morty.
Polly strained and the sleigh started to move up the wall.
“I can’t hold it,” she said.
“Ben, is the rope tied to the runner?
“Yes, it is.”
Morty pushed the thrust button for power.
“Pull, Polly, pull.”
She pulled as hard as she could. On the other side of the crevasse Sky-scooter made a long loud roar, and the sleigh inched out of the hole onto the glacier.
“Thank you,” said Santa. “Now, please take me to the North Pole, it is Christmas Eve, and I have work to do.”
Morty rushed Santa back to the North Pole. Polly said she would find her way back alone, and Ben returned with the elves.
Mrs. Claus and the elves had a back up sleigh packed and ready to go, but there was still one problem. Santa didn’t have a replacement light for Rudolph’s nose.
“I’ll lead you Santa,” said Morty, “with Sky-scooter I can fly anywhere.”
“Would you do that for me Morty?”
“My orders from the Boss were to make sure his Son’s birthday was not spoiled. If you don’t get the presents to all the good kids, they will be disappointed on Jesus’ birthday.”
By this time, Ben arrived.
“Can I come too? He asked.
“You can ride with us until we get to your house.”
“We will go to your house first,” said Santa. ‘Morty will tuck you into bed while I climb down the chimney. After I eat the milk and cookies, we will be on our way again.”
That night Morty rode on Sky Scooter at the front of the reindeer team. Morty and Sky-scooter did such a good job, Santa didn’t even know Rudolph was not there. Santa took off from each roof shouting his wish
“Merry Christmas, ho, ho, ho.”
Morty helped Santa complete the delivery of Christmas presents to good children all around the world to celebrate Jesus birthday.
As Morty led Santa from house to house, Ben slept. He was cozy and warm in his bed dreaming of how he helped to rescue Santa from the glacier. He remembered having tea with Mrs. Claus and assuring her that Morty would find Santa.
On Christmas morning, Ben awoke and ran into the room where the Christmas tree stood. There were presents piled everywhere. Morty was there too. He sat on a pile of packages with Ben’s name on them. He yawned, and stretched his arms out wide. Ben dove into the presents and started tearing them open.
Morty thought to himself, I’m really tired. The trip with Santa was a great work out. I wonder how he does it every year?
While scanning my old articles, I came across a photo of Sarah Palin, remember her? She ran as John McCain’s Vice Presidential candidate when McCain ran against the super fraud Barack Obama. At the time, Sarah was hated by the press and many political pundits. They did their best to vilify her from every aspect. I wish to compare Sarah to the current Vice President Kamala Harris.
Sarah Palin
Kamala Harris
Caucasian (white)
Colored (black maybe, mixed with philipino)
Elected Mayor of Wasilla, AK, then Governor of Alaska
Served as Senator, Attorney General, and District Attorney from CA. Biden selected her as his VP
University of Idaho, Communications
Howard University, Law
She is an excellent speaker, who can easily answer tough questions on the fly
Delivers a pre-written speech off a teleprompter. Answers all questions with predetermined talking points.
Conservative
Progressive (Communist, Liberal, Socialist,)
Mother of five
Step Mother to her husband’s two adult kids
Opposed to Abortion in almost all cases
Supports abortion
Opposed same sex unions
Has always endorsed same sex marriage
Maybe it is because I am a certified bigot, but I prefer a beautiful white woman over an attractive black woman every time, especially if the white woman is conservative, can speak eloquently under pressure and has a hearty but womanly laugh.
This country of ours is turning pussy. By now, I would have guessed a hundred drones would have been shot out of the sky. Instead, we wait patiently for someone related to Uncle to confess that they are a Russian attempt to keep Donald Trump from being inaugurated. Let me be the first to spread that rumor.
Actually, I have a theory about drones. It is so simple that it has to be true. Why no one has postulated this theory is hard to believe. What season is this? Christmas, of course. What happens at Christmas? We all run around buying presents for our loved ones. A few of us, like me, do all of our shopping online. This phenomenon has grown so big that most of my packages won’t arrive until after Christmas.
It is a known fact that one or more of the largest delivery companies has been experimenting with drone deliveries. Here is my theory: Amazon and Walmart are using the holidays to test mass package deliveries. The drones are concentrated in neighborhoods, fly from place to place at various altitudes, and disappear to go get another package. Like Santa Claus, they deliver packages all around the country. They already own drones and have spent enormous amounts of money to buy them in all sizes. That is my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Stop the insanity! How does our Congress rationalize authorizing a bill to fund the government by putting a 1500-page bill in front of a greedy Congress? It is not enough that the money required to keep the government running is insanely exorbitant. They want to load it up before the regime changes. That is a guarantee for more inflation early in 2025. It is just what we want as citizens: higher prices for everything.
Many people will not be paid during the shutdown but will get paid back. In other words, they don’t lose anything. Many will take vacations or will retire. Over the years, Congress has passed numerous loopholes to keep from not being paid. So, what is the big flap about closing down? Nothing. It is all a political battle between parties. But a shutdown is worth whatever small sacrifice some people will be forced to make to improve the lot for all of us in the long term. This whole thing is a bluff by Biden’s shadow government designed to put tremendous burden on the incoming president. Democrats are officially declaring open warfare against Trump right from day one. If I had my wish come true, all democrats would be jailed for voting for a 1500 page bill, anytime, much less three weeks before a change.
The newly elected government has just two years to make change happen. We elected them for change. The USA is technically bankrupt with our existing debt and are now taking all tax income to pay the interest. There is but one way to fix the problem. We must stop spending, pay our bills, and live frugally on what we have. You and I are not allowed to print money to pay off our debts; We are forced to use what we get from our employers to pay our bills. I live in a state that is also bankrupt. Illinois continues to borrow money to pay for spending that occurred a long time ago. Most of it is the result of unfunded pension funds. With all the retirees drawing pensions the state has no money to pay for roads and bridges. Fortunately, for us we can still borrow, but we too, are living on borrowed time. Our legislature does not have the balls to do the right thing which is to reduce the man power employed to do the work.
I voted for fiscal responsibility, not for pork barrel spending of money we don’t have. Shut her down!
