New Year's Resolutions
It is that time of year, once again, where one is compelled to look their past years personal performance and vow to make certain changes. The coming of the New Year does, afterall, offer one a fresh start, so to speak.
Resolutions: Stop spending and start saving, stop smoking, stop drinking, spend more time with the family, become more involved with the community and volunteer, lose weight, join a health club, etc.
All very noble.
I am picking two, and hoping to actually accomplish one of them. Understanding that spending is out-of-control under the best of circumstances, weighing the necessity of each purchase may bring this under control. (I'm going into this one with a grain of salt).
Spending time with my family. This is a must. Dinner together is fine, but it also accounts for merely an hour of the entire day. Play more, talk more, and show the love more.
Now if I can only tear myself away from the news for an hour or two more per day, (and realize that eBay is not news!), I should manage to accomplish this goal.
Wishing all a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Christmas - What’s in a name?
Christmas – Lately the word, and perhaps the meaning, conjure up visions of ACLU lawsuits filed on behalf of atheists who find that the colors red and green, a plastic or ceramic statue of a baby, or the singing of songs with the words “God, Jesus, Christmas” included are deeply offensive and somehow are infringing on their constitutional rights.
Bah Humbug. The “War on Christmas”, as explained by commentator Bill O’Reilly is a systematically planned attack on Christianity by secular progressives who have, over a period of years, infiltrated our courts, our schools, our towns and our villages.
When this was brought to the publics attention (and also denied vehemently by most major media outlets), a funny thing happened. Some retailers, Target to name one that comes to mind, immediately switched commercials from Happy Holidays to Merry Christmas. Money talks. The fact remains that the Holiday is Christmas, about Christ and about Christians who shop with the intent of buying “Christmas presents”.
Upon reflection of the retail aspects of the season, it is necessary to step back and take a moment to understand where this gift-giving frenzy originated. It was back in Bethlehem, with the arrival of wise men from the east, bearing gifts for:
Christ.
The real meaning tends to get a bit lost in all that glitters. Expectations are high and disappointments follow – generally speaking due to the fact that the original message, the redemption of society and mankind by the birth of God Made Man and his subsequent messages outlining how to live to attain freedom, is lost a good deal of the time.
This season, take the time to reflect on the true meaning, Christ, and God’s gift to mankind. The following guidelines are helpful: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and secondly, Love your neighbor as yourself. Not impossible tasks. Give to the poor, show kindness to the elderly neighbor, the relative you normally try to avoid (we all have one) and have yourself a Merry Christmas.
Signs of the Season (or topics that amuse,shock or annoy):
Daytona Beach Man Strangles Grandmother with Christmas Lights
Ahmadinejad Opponents Leading Elections (Yes,Virginia, there is a Santa Claus)
Teen Shot 6 Times,Robbed of Gold Teeth
Christmas Trees Return to Seattle Airport
Man Strangled by Pet Snake
Christmas – Lately the word, and perhaps the meaning, conjure up visions of ACLU lawsuits filed on behalf of atheists who find that the colors red and green, a plastic or ceramic statue of a baby, or the singing of songs with the words “God, Jesus, Christmas” included are deeply offensive and somehow are infringing on their constitutional rights.
Bah Humbug. The “War on Christmas”, as explained by commentator Bill O’Reilly is a systematically planned attack on Christianity by secular progressives who have, over a period of years, infiltrated our courts, our schools, our towns and our villages.
When this was brought to the publics attention (and also denied vehemently by most major media outlets), a funny thing happened. Some retailers, Target to name one that comes to mind, immediately switched commercials from Happy Holidays to Merry Christmas. Money talks. The fact remains that the Holiday is Christmas, about Christ and about Christians who shop with the intent of buying “Christmas presents”.
Upon reflection of the retail aspects of the season, it is necessary to step back and take a moment to understand where this gift-giving frenzy originated. It was back in Bethlehem, with the arrival of wise men from the east, bearing gifts for:
Christ.
The real meaning tends to get a bit lost in all that glitters. Expectations are high and disappointments follow – generally speaking due to the fact that the original message, the redemption of society and mankind by the birth of God Made Man and his subsequent messages outlining how to live to attain freedom, is lost a good deal of the time.
This season, take the time to reflect on the true meaning, Christ, and God’s gift to mankind. The following guidelines are helpful: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and secondly, Love your neighbor as yourself. Not impossible tasks. Give to the poor, show kindness to the elderly neighbor, the relative you normally try to avoid (we all have one) and have yourself a Merry Christmas.
Signs of the Season (or topics that amuse,shock or annoy):
Daytona Beach Man Strangles Grandmother with Christmas Lights
Ahmadinejad Opponents Leading Elections (Yes,Virginia, there is a Santa Claus)
Teen Shot 6 Times,Robbed of Gold Teeth
Christmas Trees Return to Seattle Airport
Man Strangled by Pet Snake
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Hope for the Future
From the left of center.
Reporting in the Tehran Times, Stephen Zunes notes that the “election of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate is not likely to result in any serious challenge to the Bush administrations support for Israeli attacks against civilian populations of its Arab neighbors”. He goes on to name and specifically attacks the future House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, noting that her concerns for human rights have never applied to Arabs.
It is one Arab reporter's take on American, yet it appears to reflect the view of all Arabs that they are somehow victims of the great Satan (USA).
There is no peace in Israel because it exists. Simple. Add to that the fact that certain “radical” Islamic Arabs feel the same way about the United States and one comes to the realization that they will not be happy until both nations are destroyed (Add all of Europe into that mix and or any other nation or continent that does not follow the religion of Jihad.
Are there moderate Muslims? Of course, they reside happily in the United States, have somewhat assimilated into our culture (a culture based upon the melting pot of all nations), and have attained political office.
So, why are they silent?
During the war in Ireland, where every day was a good day to blow up some British, there was very little outcry against terrorism on this side of the pond, especially from Irish American’s. Why would we, then, as American’s, hold Muslim’s to a higher standard than say, the Kennedy’s?
When it is perfectly fine for Sein Feinn leader, Jerry Adams to be invited to March in a St. Patrick’s day parade in a small city in Western Massachusetts, (Tim Murry, politician), why not invite Osama to Disney Land?
It is as if one is living in three decades simultaneously. The 1930’s, as France and company continue to deny internal struggles of sectarian violence (i.e. Muslim terrorists in their own back yard), Jihad spreading from sea to shinning sea (those are oil slicks), the 1960’s, when KGB spies were said to exist and the cruelty of Russian had schoolchildren rolling under our desks (we’ve traded Russia for Iran, but a school desk is no longer considered effective protection against a nuclear bomb, and the 1970’s, when hippies thought they could change the world through peace (flower children are now in control of our government). I fear for my children, I fear for my friends, I fear for our country. I look for a leader who will not necessarily bring two American political parties together, but rather have the backbone to stand up and never stand down to political pressure, in order to preserve our integrity, our sovereignty and our sanity.
George Bush has become a dismal failure in the eyes of conservatives simply because he is truly no difference in thought process than Hillary Clinton. So where are the real men (or women)? Where is the leader who will clamp down our borders, (including Canada and our ports), step on small countries who are out of control and need a time out, without caring one whit what France thinks, putting them back together and leaving? Suspend the constitution if need be (see Abraham Lincoln) and specifically the Freedom of the Press (where in several instances reporters should have been prosecuted under the articles of treason). Ideally, a refreshing change would be a leader who is not apologetic for being an American but rather proud of that fact. The ideal leader may not exists, but surely someone will rise up with like qualities and lead all conservatives (Republicans and Democrats) forward without fear of being politically incorrect.
From the left of center.
Reporting in the Tehran Times, Stephen Zunes notes that the “election of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate is not likely to result in any serious challenge to the Bush administrations support for Israeli attacks against civilian populations of its Arab neighbors”. He goes on to name and specifically attacks the future House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, noting that her concerns for human rights have never applied to Arabs.
It is one Arab reporter's take on American, yet it appears to reflect the view of all Arabs that they are somehow victims of the great Satan (USA).
There is no peace in Israel because it exists. Simple. Add to that the fact that certain “radical” Islamic Arabs feel the same way about the United States and one comes to the realization that they will not be happy until both nations are destroyed (Add all of Europe into that mix and or any other nation or continent that does not follow the religion of Jihad.
Are there moderate Muslims? Of course, they reside happily in the United States, have somewhat assimilated into our culture (a culture based upon the melting pot of all nations), and have attained political office.
So, why are they silent?
During the war in Ireland, where every day was a good day to blow up some British, there was very little outcry against terrorism on this side of the pond, especially from Irish American’s. Why would we, then, as American’s, hold Muslim’s to a higher standard than say, the Kennedy’s?
When it is perfectly fine for Sein Feinn leader, Jerry Adams to be invited to March in a St. Patrick’s day parade in a small city in Western Massachusetts, (Tim Murry, politician), why not invite Osama to Disney Land?
It is as if one is living in three decades simultaneously. The 1930’s, as France and company continue to deny internal struggles of sectarian violence (i.e. Muslim terrorists in their own back yard), Jihad spreading from sea to shinning sea (those are oil slicks), the 1960’s, when KGB spies were said to exist and the cruelty of Russian had schoolchildren rolling under our desks (we’ve traded Russia for Iran, but a school desk is no longer considered effective protection against a nuclear bomb, and the 1970’s, when hippies thought they could change the world through peace (flower children are now in control of our government). I fear for my children, I fear for my friends, I fear for our country. I look for a leader who will not necessarily bring two American political parties together, but rather have the backbone to stand up and never stand down to political pressure, in order to preserve our integrity, our sovereignty and our sanity.
George Bush has become a dismal failure in the eyes of conservatives simply because he is truly no difference in thought process than Hillary Clinton. So where are the real men (or women)? Where is the leader who will clamp down our borders, (including Canada and our ports), step on small countries who are out of control and need a time out, without caring one whit what France thinks, putting them back together and leaving? Suspend the constitution if need be (see Abraham Lincoln) and specifically the Freedom of the Press (where in several instances reporters should have been prosecuted under the articles of treason). Ideally, a refreshing change would be a leader who is not apologetic for being an American but rather proud of that fact. The ideal leader may not exists, but surely someone will rise up with like qualities and lead all conservatives (Republicans and Democrats) forward without fear of being politically incorrect.
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