The Christmas Conspiracy
photo credit: patsw
Midway through the service I felt an interior ache grow. Susan had suffered a long illness. News of her death had not surprised me, or anyone else who knew her. But death is death: vacancy, emptiness, negation. The exquisite singing of the boys’ choir doesn’t sweep away the ugly cancer of death. The youthful purity of their voices seemed to draw attention to it by way of contrast.
Death. I think of the twenty children killed in Newtown, Connecticut. In my mind’s eye their caskets are processing down Fifth Avenue to join us. I remember the final days of my mother’s life before she put on the mask of death. “O Rust,” she said to me, “it’s so hard.” Gaping, hungry mouths of freshly dug graves open up in my imagination.
Underneath, or perhaps overtop or within this collage of dark thoughts I’m returning to a summer afternoon in rural Iowa when, at the turning point of an eight-day silent retreat, I walked down a hot, dusty gravel road beside sun-beaten corn fields contemplating the crucifixion of Christ. I saw him hanging on the cross. I heard Christ say in despair, “It is finished.” Then I saw him being swallowed by Satan, and felt Satan’s hot, foul breath.
Death. It’s hateful. It’s fearful. And in that moment at Susan’s funeral, as the floor collapses underneath my feet and I feel as though I was about to be dropped into a dark abyss, death seems all-powerful, the final word. Christmas is just ahead, but the promise of good tidings and joy appears empty, impossible, false.
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Pope Benedict XVI: Find Room for God in Fast-Paced Modern World
(Reuters) – Pope Benedict, leading the world’s Roman Catholics into Christmas, on Monday urged people to find room for God in their fast-paced lives filled with the latest technological gadgets.
The 85-year-old pope, marking the eighth Christmas season of his pontificate, celebrated a solemn Christmas Eve mass in St Peter’s Basilica, during which he appealed for a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and an end to the civil war in Syria.
At the mass for some 10,000 people in the basilica and broadcast to millions of others on television, the pope wove his homily around the theme of God’s place in today’s modern world.
“Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him,” said the pope, wearing gold and white vestments.
“The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full,” he said.
Read more from this story HERE.
A ‘Dad’ is Tenth Most Popular Christmas List Request for Children
When it comes to Christmas, it might be safe to assume children will ask Santa for an extensive list of toys, games and treats.
But a survey of their typical lists for Father Christmas has shown many have more serious concerns, requesting “a dad” instead.
A study of 2,000 British parents found most children will put a new baby brother or sister at the top of their Christmas list, closely followed by a request for a real-life reindeer.
A “pet horse” was the third most popular choice, with a “car” making a bizarre entry at number four.
Despite their material requests, the tenth most popular Christmas wish on the list was a “Dad”.
Read more from this story HERE.
The NRA vs. the Second Amendment
photo credit: muffett
I admit, the suggestion seems ludicrous on its face. After all, the NRA ostensibly represents millions of gun owners and wields immense pro-gun lobbying power in Washington. But it is precisely this perception of the NRA as the end-all, be-all of Second Amendment advocacy, when combined with a perpetuated misunderstanding about the primary functions of both the NRA and the Second Amendment, that makes the organization a threat to gun liberty.
In fact, the NRA has quite a history of supporting restrictions on our fundamental right to bear arms. The NRA supported the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 (the first comprehensive federal restrictions on the right to bear arms). The NRA supported gun-control measures throughout the 1960s and continues to do so to this day. It even supported Mitt Romney’s candidacy despite Gov. Romney’s horrid record on gun rights (support which Gov. Romney was always quick to point out in defense of his record). Wayne LaPierre, the current CEO and executive VP of the NRA, testified in 1999 in support of the Federal Gun Free School Zones Act and many other federal violations of the Second Amendment. In short, the NRA’s history is the history of a group more concerned with protecting the commercial viability of the gun industry than protecting the principle of the Second Amendment.
So when Mr. LaPierre took to his massive national platform last week to respond to the horror in Newtown and the subsequent attacks on gun rights, his speech left little doubt what the NRA is worried about. Mr. LaPierre blamed the weather, he blamed the media, he blamed video games, he lashed out at every target he could think of in a transparent effort to deflect, rather than engage, the anti-gun argument. He then insisted that the government should arm hundreds of thousands of government agents and put them in every school in America.
This was not the reasoned, principled argument of a scrupulous believer in the Second Amendment; it was the nonsensical, desperate plea of a charlatan trying to defend his product at the expense of any principle at stake.
Read more from this story HERE.
After Only 3 Days, White House Petition to Deport Piers Morgan Gets Enough Signatures
As we reported last week, CNN’s Piers Morgan came completely out of the closet with respect to his hatred for guns, calling Gun Owner’s of America President Larry Pratt an idiot, among other things. Mr. Pratt got the better of the exchange:
MORGAN: Yes, I know — I know why sales of these weapons have been soaring in the last few days. It’s down to idiots like you. Mr. Pratt, thank you for joining me. When we come back –
PRATT: Thank you for your high-level argument, Mr. Morgan. It’s really very good.
MORGAN: You know what, you wouldn’t understand the meaning of the phrase high-level argument. You are a dangerous man espousing dangerous nonsense. And you shame your country.
PRATT: Disarmament is dangerous. Ask Neville Chamberlain, your role model.
As a result of Morgan’s outburst, Second Amendment loving Americans filed a petition with the White House. It states:
British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment. We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens.
Within just three days, the petition exceeded the twenty-five thousand petitioners necessary to generate a White House response. At the time of this article, it had well over thirty thousand signatures:
Japan: On Path to Rearming?
WASHINGTON – Despite what has been described as a “pacifist” constitution implemented following World War II, Japan is considering rearming to offset what is perceived in the East Asia region as a more assertive China, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
That nation is throwing around its military weight to enforce its hegemony over the East and South China Seas.
Almost all the countries in the region are affected by China’s new assertiveness in the region, including Vietnam, the Philippines and even India, in addition to Japan. All have open and somewhat confrontational disputes with Beijing over jurisdiction over islands and potential maritime oil and gas resources.
For India, it has a number of contracts with Vietnam for offshore oil and gas exploration in the East and South China Seas to meet its increasing energy demands. In recent months, China and India have had disputes over access to areas where Beijing claims exclusive jurisdiction.
In addition to separate disputes between New Delhi and Beijing over land border disputes between the two countries, India has decided to enhance its presence in the East and South China Seas with an increased military naval presence of its own.
Read more from this story HERE.
‘Tis The Season: US Senator Charged with DUI, Released on $1,000 Bond
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – — Idaho Sen. Michael Crapo was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with driving under the influence in a Washington, D.C., suburb, authorities said.
Police in Alexandria, Va., said Sunday that the three-term Republican was pulled over after his vehicle ran a red light. Police spokesman Jody Donaldson said Crapo failed field sobriety tests and was arrested at about 12:45 a.m. He was transported to the Alexandria jail and released on an unsecured $1,000 bond at about 5 a.m.
“There was no refusal (to take blood alcohol tests), no accident, no injuries,” Donaldson said. “Just a traffic stop that resulted in a DUI.”
Police said Crapo, who was alone in his vehicle, registered a blood alcohol content of .110. The legal limit in Virginia, which has strict drunken driving laws, is .08.
The 61-year-old Crapo has a Jan. 4 court date.
Read more from this story HERE.
Obama Threatened Boehner With ‘Public Shaming’ Over Fiscal Cliff Negotiations
President Obama allegedly threatened Speaker John Boehner with a public shaming if he held up a compromise on the fiscal cliff negotiations.
Mr Obama reportedly said that he was willing to blame the failed negotiations on stubborn Republicans in either his inauguration speech or the state of the Union if the two parties were unable to reach an equitable decision.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Mr Obama made the threat a number of times, and though nothing has been formally decided as the deadline looms one week from today, the move would be a drastic one, and seen by many as a divisive way to head into his second term.
One of the points where President Obama became frustrated with Mr Boehner came when the Speaker said that he expected some show of gratitude or concession after he reportedly handed over $800 billion from tax revenue earnings.
That was promptly shot down by the President, with him allegedly retorting: ‘You get nothing. I get that for free.’
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Rocket Launch Proves North Korean ICBM Can Now Hit U.S. Mainland
The rocket launched earlier this month by North Korea had the capability to travel more than 6,000 miles, meaning this type of rocket could strike the United States, South Korean defense officials said.
In remarks to reporters Friday, which were embargoed until Sunday, three officials with South Korea’s defense ministry offered their observations about the December 12 launch based on a recovered oxidizer tank that had been part of one of the rocket’s boosters. According to NASA, an oxidizer tank contains oxygen compounds that allow rocket fuel to burn in the atmosphere and outside of it, in space.
North Korean officials cheered what they hailed as a successful launch of a long-range rocket, which they said put a satellite in orbit. But the mission drew international condemnation, with many viewing it as cover for testing of ballistic missile technology, which the United Nations has forbidden Pyongyang from using.
The South Korean military officials said the evidence they found helps show their nuclear-equipped rival’s intent and progress in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Based on a simulation, the officials estimated the rocket can travel more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), meaning it could reach the U.S. mainland from North Korea. It can carry a payload of about 500 to 600 kilograms (225 to 275 pounds).
Read more from this story HERE.