Merry Christmas

Birth and re-birth,

Now and then and forever too.

Born and re-born,

For me and for you.

Gather together, clasp the hand

Or hands

Of those close and those

Who should be closer.

Hold forth the past, pass it along

To the future in words, deeds, and

Glances of love.

Gather together and talk, think,

Live His coming, His presence, His Love.

Celebrate the new, and the old, and the ancient,

With the songs and prayers and smiles

Taught and learned;

Remembered and discovered.

This is a timeless time,

Revel in that all encompassing Love

That is, too,

Timeless.

Juxtaposition

Interestingly enough, these two stories showed up on the Grassroots PA website at the same time. I was going to try to save this for tomorrow, as today is Christmas and both of these stories are not happy, then, I realized, today is the day to post this, to maybe let one or two people see that what we celebrate today is one of the best ways to combat these two haters. In my opinion, both of these people should be charged with crimes, but only one is...that in itself is nuts. The first is a racist hater, a young kid from Dover PA. He's following in the steps of racists, and arresting him for his actions might teach him a thing or two...but, not if he reads that this guy isn't going to be charged with anything.

The second guy hates Jews and Scandinavians, or, as is the case with these extremists, anyone who is not Muslim. He won't be charged because none of the groups he hates are 'protected', while he seems to be due to his conversion.

Now, I tend to try hard to see the good in people, but these two? Not really. If they were to read a little bit of the Gospels, just read them, I'm not asking them to convert, but to think. Love is easier than hate, and it sure works better.

For instance, the racist nut job would find that all people are equal in the eyes of God and the Jihadist would learn that the passages in the Koran that call for the killing of non-believers don't exist in the New Testament, he can still worship Allah if he wants, but should try the peaceful version.

Sorry for the sad intrusion, I'll top this with the Christmas Poem!

They read my blog

It looks as if the Turnpike Commission read my little blog...or it was the thousands of people like me that hated the idea of not knowing how much the toll was going to be!

Even the Sate Auditor General hated the idea! This is why we have open government, so we can change the stuff that makes no sense.

He just doesn't get it

People can't seem to understand that no matter how much they try, they can't force their own morals, thoughts, ideas, on others. A private organization is permitted to set rules, and the Boy Scouts of America does just that. I do not agree with the anti-atheism clause, for the record, but do agree with the no-gay-leaders clause. Notice, it does not say no gay scouts, it says no gay leaders...there is a difference.

Now, in Philly, the city wasted millions to try to kick the scouts out, they lost, and the settlement is to sell the land on which the scouts built a headquarters to them. In steps a well meaning (oh, bull-crap, he's not well meaning, he's hateful to a group he disagrees with) philanthropist to try to buy the building and land out from underneath the organization.

I have no problem with discussing this issue with people, and will debate the points readily, what I can not stand is assuming the Scouts 'discriminate' against gay leaders due to some moral code only. Sure, some of it is morally based, nothing wrong with that, either, but the rest is simple reality.

Now, disagree with me, disagree with the scouts, but you can't honestly disagree with the number of incredible well adjusted citizens that come out of the organization. In a world where the First Lady is pushing anti-obesity, this guy is trying to hurt an organization that teaches how to be 'physically fit'.

Let the scouts be scouts, don't enroll your kids if you disagree with their message, but don't shut them down if you disagree...

Exit question: What would be the discussion if this guy went to New York City and tried to buy the location where the Cordoba House Muslim Community center is going to be built? Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death in most Muslim countries...

They'll just write themselves

In the coming months and years, blog posts will be simple. Just Link to an article from, oh, 2000 or so, and then link to the current weather report. (I know, when a realist mentions weather, it isn't climate, but when an AGW religionists mentions weather, it's proof). So, for today, how about a breathless article warning the kids of 2000 that there will most likely never, ever, be snow in England again. 2010 was the date when the oceans were going to flood Philly too (I kid). Has anyone noticed the weather in England? Last year too? The earth is huge, massive, bigger than a human can comprehend, and we silly humans think we can affect it? We can't, we don't, and even if we did, the earth DOES NOT FREAKING CARE. Humans will survive, animals will survive and the planet will survive.

Get over yourselves people, please.

And before...oh, never mind, no one is going to comment on this...

Arrogance

It amazes me; whenever I think that humans have reached the peak of arrogance, another one pops up and proves me wrong. Take Joe Brimmeier of the PA Turnpike Commission who recently opined: "Why go to the expense of printing these things when most people don't even look at them?"

He was referring to the little cards we get when we use the PA TPKE, or, those of us that don't use it often enough to justify the easy pass contraption. I look at it as soon as I safely can, or, much preferably, and if possible, I have a passenger look at the ticket so we can have the money ready at the other end of the journey. This was standard, and still is for more than 1/3 of the drivers on the road (according to the linked article).

Just because those of you with easy pass have know idea what you are paying does not mean that the rest of us don't want to know. I want the option of getting off at Morgantown instead of Downingtown if I don't have enough money for the toll, I want to jump off at Harrisburg West instead of Carlisle if the difference is big enough, and don't even talk to me about the funky pricing between KOP and the NJ TPKE.

If the commission is printing such an overabundance of cards, maybe that should be looked at, not inconveniencing the travelers.

A very worthy cause

Mr Khaled is visiting Yemen on an ambitious mission to, as he puts it, take the battle against al-Qaeda to its heartland.

President Saleh: 'Yemen is not a haven for terrorists'

"My big aim is to uproot extremism in Yemen by encouraging people to be positive, face down the extremists and say 'We don't want you in our country'," Mr Khaled said.

So I promised some time ago to talk about the moderate Muslims that want to rid the world of terrorism, here is one.

I wish him luck!

Location, Location, Location

Much ado about nothing, really. It seems that one of the Downingtown Council members is upset that the Christmas Party is going to be held at the D'town Country Club instead of St. Anthony's due to 'scheduling' conflicts. I read that to be 'money', but I am cynical. The comments tell the real story though, it seems as if the complaining council member connected the golf club to the attempt to build on Kardon Park (not real up on that one, I admit) and she is also active in/leader of? Friends of Kardon Park. Hmmm...it was nice to see 38 comments on the story, active members of Downingtown!

Oh, as an aside, y'all need to kick Bob Smith out when his term is up, he feels that as elected official he should attend for free...get over yourself Bob.

Not Local, again

I know, I promised more local stuff, and I will do one later tonight, but first, two things I need to get off my chest.

On the ride in to work I was listening to NPR (no commercials), and heard something to this effect from a re-broadcast of one of the afternoon shows: Americans want both lower taxes and those healthy benefits too...I paraphrased.

Yup, this is true, but to most who only listen to the surface, this is describing the same human being, someone who wants stuff and does not want to pay for it making the heads of liberals explode. Think for a minute though that there are really two sides to this statement. The side that pays taxes and does not get welfare and the side that gets benefits and pays nothing (for three generations now, going on four). The ones screaming for higher taxes don't pay taxes, the ones screaming for lower taxes...you get the picture. A person working hard, paying taxes, isn't taking welfare to live, a person taking welfare to live isn't paying taxes...do I need to repeat it?

Democrats and liberals can keep pushing this class warfare, they are going to lose because as soon as someone gets a job and grows up, they vote to lower taxes.

The second thing is a continuation of the climate fraud. At work I listen to the BBC on Sirius, good world news, left slanted, hard left. They have been breathlessly following the insanity in Cancun and doing little clips about how horrible it is to be alive right now as the climate is beginning to kill us all...reallly, Google 'climate connection'. Anyway, tonight they talked to people from a town in Mali, and blamed climate change for the sand dune that is about to swallow the town. Did the BBC explain that Mali is located in the Sahara Desert? Of course not, that would be too many words for the story, right, not necessary information.

The real chuckle came midway through though, I think this was possibly a live report because they were interviewing a man who complained, "Every time we plant a tree to stop the dune, 5 more are cut down for firewood." So it's not the climate that is allowing the dune to advance, it is the normal shifting of sands, something that has happened for millions of years, something people have dealt with by simply moving away.

I hate to say it, but there are too many people being propped up by misguided altruism. Both issues in this post point that out, but to say it out loud...I am in for it...

Shut up and play

Nils Lofgren, admittedly a talented musician, has decided that Michael Vick shouldn't be allowed to play professional football because he killed a dog or three.

I know I am not going to be the only one to take Nils to task for this, but I wanted to add to the chorus. I googled his name plus ray lewis, no speech. I googled his name plus donte stallworth, no speech. There are other NFL player who are involved in the deaths of humans as well, but I am not going to bother, I know Nils didn't speechify over them. (Lewis was found not-guilty, Stallworth was drunk when he killed a guy).

Back to google, this time Nils Lofgren and Roman Polanski...nope, nothing about the rapist continuing to make movies.

How about Nils talking about drug abuse...nope, I guess that is cool with him too, along with alcohol...much bigger killers of humans that Michael Vick was of dogs.

The man did his time, he is out, he is now working, do I think he should be allowed to own a fire arm? Nope...play football? Yup.

Alarmists

So back in the mid 1970's I was taught in school that all the horrible things that we humans had done to the planet were causing a new ice age. Then, miraculously, when that didn't pan out, we were told that we were causing the planet to heat up. Now that that is not panning out for the alarmist, they are simply calling it 'climate change'.

I told my kids when the Mr. Gore went nuts to remember this, to relax, to be sensible about energy use, to never litter, to care for the environment, but not to buy into any alarmist bunk. I told them that by 2020 the next ice age would be upon us, everyone was going to freeze, 'billions would die!!!!!111!!!!!" (to steal a phrase from a bigot).

What does disturb me though is the number of people who fell for the hoax this time...I know that scientists can be persuasive, but the one screaming the loudest (Hansen) was the one who started the ice age crap in the '70's...that should have awakened people.

Okay, the reason? To belong to a group, a group that knows the 'right thing', that has the solution, and that can change the world. Sound familiar? We Christians have belonged to a similar group for over 2000 years, Jews much longer than that, and Muslims about 400 years less. Other religions exist as well, older and younger, all of them promising to explain life and to help change the world.

God is pretty interesting, huh? To allow the secularists to create (pun intended) a religion all their own, one with all the trappings of a 'real' religion, and one that if followed correctly would help many people and change the world. But, as with all organized groups, sometimes money and power take over...it surely did with the religion of AGW. Just read the stuff coming out of the Cancun summit about destroying economies and (check page 6) "relocating human settlements."

It was never about saving people, it was about power.

This might be fun...in a poetic sort of way. I noticed it is on a weekend when the Eagles are not playing, that will help with attendance for sure!

Now, I read the Daily Local Article, and the most of the 7 poets have been featured in a journal published by the woman who puts on this show...this is not really a problem, but it does remove it from the once local nature of the event, according to the Daily Local. Why is this? I then went to the website of Think Journal to find out.

"Think Journal publishes emerging and established writers with an editorial focus on words that have meaning, that are presented in a clear way, and that exhibit the skills demanded by craft."

(Why does this change my font when I copy and paste?)

This didn't help me a whole lot, just more of the normal Mumbo Jumbo editors seem to offer to kill the hopes and dreams of poets everywhere. If we thought our poems were everything above, we wouldn't hide them in closets...

Anyway...see ya there?

Why? For the exact result they got

So a couple of short sighted idiots over at West Chester University decided to stir the racial pot. Knowing full well that advertising for a "White Student Union" would bring out all the nuts, they printed up a bunch of flyers and hung them up. Sure enough, the usual suspects came to the fore to first denounce, and then, when it was learned that these were idiot 'leftists' rather than idiot 'rightists', to gently applaud the idea but not the manner. Really.

The comments at the Daily Local on the article are interesting as well, running more towards eliminating all race-based organizations than I had expected to see. Are we past the color coded groups? One would hope, but one also must wonder why a white organization is automatically racist but any other organization is not....

Maybe because I was denied even applying for an NAACP scholarship based on the color of my skin this bothers me. Not that the organization would have been banned, attacked, and derided before it even started, but that so many people assume that anyone thinking about starting such an organization must be a racist.

That word, too, is tossed about entirely too much as well. It is lessening the definition so that when a real racist shows up we have to wonder if the accusation fits.