$1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting on Jan. 1

On January 1, regardless of the outcome of fiscal cliff negotiations, Americans will be hit with a $1 trillion Obamacare tax hike.

Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

America has brand-new Benedict Arnold

He single-handedly delivered the swing vote to approve Obamacare and perhaps even crushed the American health system that has been the envy of the world. WND has selected U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. for its first-ever Benedict Arnold Award... MORE

Is it time to consider civil disobedience?

 

 
Americans can sit by and watch government ignore the Constitution and all the principles that made the country great.

Or they can take action, like they did in 2010.

Gun sales surge in Virginia after Newtown

Gun sales have surged in the region and across the nation in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre as enthusiasts rush to buy firearms they fear will be outlawed by a fresh push for gun control.

Gun dealers requested nearly 5,150 background checks on purchasers in Virginia eight days after the Dec. 14 shootings in Newtown, Conn. — the largest number ever in a single day, Virginia State Police said. And in the days since, the daily number of background checks has regularly doubled corresponding totals from the previous year. Cont Reading


By Justin Jouvenal

Top 10 dumbest things the U.S. government is spending our tax money on

Burning Money

 
10 tremendously idiotic ways to spend other people's hard earned money

Hobby Lobby Defies Obama Administration with Civil Disobedience for Religious Liberty

Now that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied Hobby Lobby’s application for an emergency injunction protecting them from Obamacare’s HHS Mandate on abortion and birth control, Hobby Lobby has decided to defy the federal government to remain true to their religious beliefs, at enormous risk and financial cost.

Hobby Lobby is wholly owned and controlled by the Green family, who are evangelical Christians. The Greens are committed to running their business in accordance with their Christian faith, believing that God wants them to conduct their professional business in accordance with the family’s understanding of the Bible. Hobby Lobby’s mission statement includes, “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company … consistent with Biblical principles.” 

The HHS Mandate goes into effect for Hobby Lobby on Jan. 1, 2013. The Greens correctly understand that some of the drugs the HHS Mandate requires them to cover at no cost in their healthcare plans cause abortions.

continue reading article here

The Penny

Several years ago, a woman named Arlene and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the home of her husband's employer. Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.

The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. Her husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant one evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband.  He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.  Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.  He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure.  How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

"Look at it," he said. "Read what it says."
She read the words, " United States of America ."

"No, not that. Read further."

"One cent?"
"No, keep reading."

"In God we Trust?"
"Yes!"
"And?. . ."

"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin, I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him. Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray. I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!"

When I was out shopping the other day, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. "Yes, God, I get the message!"

It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And, God is patient.

Phillippines Contraception Law Signed by President Benigno Aquino

Supporters say the law, which took 14 years to pass, will reduce poverty and maternal mortality in a country with the highest birth rate in the region.

The Roman Catholic Church repeatedly tried to block the bill.

The country's Congress failed to pass the measure several times before giving it final approval on 19 December.

The law is due to take effect in mid-January, said presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte.

"The passage into law of the Responsible Parenthood Act closes a highly divisive chapter of our history - a chapter borne of the convictions of those who argued for, or against this act," she said.

 

Article continues here 

FRENCH 75% INCOME TAX STRUCK DOWN BY CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL

Raising taxes for those earning more than 1m euros (£817,400) has been a flagship policy for Mr Hollande.

The policy angered France's business community and prompted some wealthy citizens to say they would emigrate.

Mr Hollande's government said it would rework the tax, due to take effect in 2013, to meet the council's complaints.

In its ruling on Saturday, the Constitutional Council said the new tax rate "failed to recognise equality before public burdens" because, unlike other forms of income tax, it was to be applied to individuals rather than households.

 Continue reading here

 

 

 

 

 

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

The Holy Family is the name given to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We know very little about the life of the Holy Family. The four gospels speak very little about them. They speak of the early years of the Holy Family. It includes the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, and the finding of Jesus in the temple. Though the exact details of the day-to-day life of the Holy Family may be unknown, we can still learn a lot from them.

The Feast of the Holy Family is not just about the Holy Family, but about our own families too. The main purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family as the model for all Christian families, and for domestic life in general. Our family life becomes sanctified when we live the life of the Church within our homes. The family is called the “domestic church”. St. John Chrysostom urged all Christians to make each home a “family church”. In doing so, we sanctify the family unit. We cannot imagine the family without Jesus and we cannot live out the Church in the family. The best way to make happy family is making Christ the center of family and individual life.

The ways to do this include: reading scripture regularly, praying daily, attending Mass at least on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, imitating the actions of the Holy Family, going to confession frequently, making a  pilgrimage, attending annual Retreat and so forth. Some of you are doing these and I urge you to continue to do so. Besides these positive actions, there are also the various actions and behaviors that are contrary to God’s Divine plan for the family. They should and must be avoided. These are abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, polygamy, divorce, spousal abuse, child abuse, and staying together without marriage.

Saint Paul gives us some advice on family life in Colossians 3:12-21. He has told us to be holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience. If one has a complaint against another, he told us to forgive each other. That is the real family; there should be understanding between husband and wife. The Lord forgives us, so we also must forgive.

The families must have love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. To the Wives, Saint Paul told to be subject to their husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. To the husbands, he told to love their wives, and do not be harsh with them. He again told to the Fathers; do not provoke their children, lest they become discouraged. To the Children, Saint Paul instructed them to obey their parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

The Holy Family feast is a good time to remember the family unit and pray for our human and spiritual families. We also may take this feast to reflect on the value and sanctity of the family unit, and to evaluate our own family life. What are the ways we need to be improved? Finally, we can use this feast to ask ourselves what we are doing to promote the family within our own cultures, neighborhoods, and communities.
As we celebrate today the feast of Holy family, let us ask Jesus, Mary and Joseph to give us the same spirit that our family may become happy, peaceful, joyful and holy family.

William Larry Swilling, 77, Walks Miles With 'NEED KIDNEY 4 WIFE' Sign

Read More

 

 

I saw this today ,and it touch my heart Ive been married for 40years the same lady.

Campaign for Liberty

Dear Friends,

In case you missed it because of Christmas, please take a moment to read the email below concerning Campaign for Liberty's priorities for next year.

And after you read the email, please fill out your Supporter's Directive to inform Campaign for Liberty on what issues matter most to you.

There's no doubt the fights our liberty movement will face will be among the toughest we've ever experienced, so we must know where you stand.

In Liberty,

Teri C.

TOP RELIGION STORY OF 2012 : Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments as follows:
 

The top religion story of 2012 was The Chronicle of Philanthropy survey of American charitable giving, “How America Gives”; it was released in August. Its central finding was that the more religious a city or state is, the more charitable it is; conversely, the more secular an area is, the more miserly the people are.

story continues here 

Economic Week in Review: Fiscal fears Fray Confidence

 Difficult Congressional and White House negotiations—expected to continue this weekend—have turned the long-looming fiscal-cliff issue into a nail-biter. Major tax increases and spending cuts, with the resulting drag on the economy, are set to take effect at the start of the new year unless the political negotiations yield an agreement. Worries about a post-"fiscal cliff" economy, if talks fail, have undermined consumer confidence, which plummeted in December, even as a report on new-home sales was upbeat. For the week ended December 28, the S&P 500 Index was down 1.9% to 1,402 (for a year-to-date total return—including price change plus dividends—of about 14%). The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 4 basis points to 1.73% (for a year-to-date decline of 16 basis points).


continue reading here

China Approves Tighter Rules on Internet Access

China has tightened its rules on internet usage to enforce a previous requirement that users fully identify themselves to service providers. The move is part of a package of measures which state-run Xinhua news agency said would protect personal information. But critics believe the government is trying to limit freedom of speech.

The announcement will be seen as evidence China's new leadership views the internet as a threat. The Chinese authorities closely monitor internet content that crosses its borders and regularly block sensitive stories through use of what is known as the Great Firewall of China.  However, it has not stopped hundreds of millions of Chinese using the internet, many of them using micro-blogging sites to expose, debate and campaign on issues of national interest.

In recent months, the internet and social media have been used to orchestrate mass protests and a number of corrupt Communist Party officials have been exposed by individuals posting criticisms on the internet.


Article continues here

WINE'S SWEET HISTORY

In his new book, Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures, Paul Lukacs writes that the wine we drink today is radically different from what people drank in ancient times.

His chronology touches on pivotal moments in wine's history from its invention 8,000 years ago, to the globalised industry of today. But Lukacs contends that the reason people drink wine has never changed. It's all about pleasure.

BBC News met Paul Lukacs at The Wine Bistro in Baltimore, Maryland to talk about his new history of an ancient indulgence. Produced for the BBC by Leigh Paterson; camera by Peter Murtaugh.

DELHI RAPE VICTIM'S CONDITION "DETERIORATES"

A female student gang-raped on a bus in India's capital Delhi has "taken a turn for the worse" at a Singapore hospital, doctors say.

The 23-year-old arrived in Singapore on Thursday after undergoing three operations in a Delhi hospital.
"Her vital signs are deteriorating with signs of severe organ failure," hospital official Kelvin Loh said. The attack earlier this month triggered violent public protests in India that left one police officer dead.

Six men have been arrested and two police officers have been suspended following the 16 December attack.
Doctors had earlier described the woman as "fighting for her life".

Article continues here

Putin signs Russian Ban on US Adoptions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a ban on Americans adopting Russian orphans.

The law is a reaction to the US Magnitsky Act, which blacklists Russian officials accused of rights abuses. The death of anti- corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 became a symbol of the fight against corruption in Russia, and soured relations between Russia and the US.

article continues here 

Florida Judge Quotes Christmas Movie In Ruling Obama Eligible

Florida Democrat Michael Voeltz had filed a lawsuit against Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as President of the United States and claimed that he was a threat to the safety and security of the United States. Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom WatchUSA served as Voeltz’s attorney on the case.

Election Cycle Political Donations

 Some interesting information on donations to both political parties this past election.

 

AMERICANS CAN NOW DETERMINE WHERE TO SHOP AND SPEND THEIR MONEY

 

Shopping

Price Club/Costco donated $225K, 99% went to Democrats

Rite Aid donated $517K, 60% went to Democrats

Magla Products (Stanley tools, Mr. Clean) donated $22K, 100% went to Democrats

Warnaco (undergarments) donated $55K, 73% went to Democrats

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia donated $153K, 99% went to Democrats

Estee Lauder donated $448K, 95% went to Democrats

Guess, Inc. Donated $145K, 98% went to Democrats

Calvin Klein donated $78K, 100% went to Democrats

Liz Claiborne, Inc. Donated $34K, 97% went to Democrats

Levi Straus donated $26K, 97% went to Democrats

Olan Mills donated $175K, 99% went to Democrats

 

WalMart donated $467K, 97% went to Republicans

K-Mart donated $524K, 86% went to Republicans

Home Depot donated $298K, 89% went to Republicans

Target donated $226K, 70% went to Republicans

Circuit City Stores donated $261K, 95% went to Republicans

3M Co. Donated $281K, 87% went to Republicans

Hallmark Cards donated $319K, 92% went to Republicans

Amway donated $391K, 100% Republicans

Kohler Co. (plumbing fixtures) donated $283K, 100% Republicans

B.F. Goodrich (tires) donated $215K, 97% went to Republicans

Proctor & Gamble donated $243K, 79% went to Republicans

 

Spirits

Southern Wine & Spirits donated $213K, 73% went to Democrats

Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons (incl. Beverage Business and considerable media interests) donated $2M+, 67% went to Democrats

Gallo Winery donated $337K, 95% went to Democrats

Coors & Budweiser donated $174K, 92% went to Republicans

Brown-Forman Corp. (Southern Comfort, Jack Daniels, Bushmills, Korbel Wines, Lenox China , Dansk and Gorham Silver) donated $644 K -- 80% went to Republicans

 

Hungry?

Sonic Corporation donated $83K, 98% went to Democrats

Triarc Companies (Arby's, T.J. Cinnamon's, Pasta Connections) donated $112K, 96% went to Democrats

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (chicken) donated $366K, 100% went to Republicans

Outback Steakhouse donated $641K, 95% went to Republicans

Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) donated $133K, 87% went to Republicans

Brinker International (Maggiano's, Brinker Cafe, Chili's, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Crazymel's, Corner Baker, EatZis) donated $242K, 83% went to Republicans

Waffle House donated $279K, 100% went to Republicans

McDonald's Corp. Donated $197K, 86% went to Republicans

Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Bahama Breeze) donated $121K, 89% went to Republicans

Heinz Republicans $64,000 Democrats $21,300! John Kerry's wife's company!!!

 

Traveling and/or dining

Hyatt Corporation donated $187K of which 80% went to Democrats

Marriott International $323K, 81% went to Republicans

Holiday Inns donated $38K, 71% went to Republicans

Massacre of the Holy Innocents

Today, December 28th, is the feast of the Holy Innocents.  Below is some information about this little know holy day I'd like to share with everyone.  These babies are considered to be the first martyrs for Christ.

The Massacre of the Innocents is the biblical narrative of infanticide and gendercide by Herod the Great, the Roman appointed King of the Jews. The historicity of the incident is "an open question that probably can never be definitively decided",^[1] but according to the Gospel of Matthew^[2] Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi. In typical Matthean style it is understood as the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy:^[3] "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children."^[4]
The number of infants killed is not stated, however the Holy Innocents have been claimed as the first Christian martyrs.



Here is more info from the Catholic Encyclopedia

Sign the Petition to Bypass Roe v. Wade

Dear Friend, Did you see the message below? Senator Roger Wicker is working hard to pass the Life at Conception Act and its vital you act.

OBAMA to be IMPEACHED and IMPRISONED

 

 

Comment

 

Beck is an honest man.

God Help Us

 

A massacre that has turned the world upside down.

Sunday I learned about the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school while we were setting up at Fox News to tape Cavuto on Business. The news was so horrible that we all felt as if we had lost our legs and could no longer stand. It was such horrible news that it simply turned the world upside down.
It still is that kind of news, and it’s incredibly depressing about the nature of humanity. And my wife and I pray all day for the souls of those dear children and for the peace, if there ever will be peace, of their families… and for the souls of the adults and the peace of those who knew and loved them.
As usual, the smartest comment about the whole subject came from John R. Coyne, Jr. “There is evil in the world. It’s beyond mental illness, beyond gun control. It is evil.”
The killer got his weapons from his mother, who apparently had bought them legally and registered them. That tells us something about what anti-gun laws would do, although maybe the mother should not have had them either. In this world, a killer devil can kill his mother and steal her guns to kill six year olds. That’s what some humans are and I am not sure what laws will stop them.
Second, I read that the killer was socially awkward (putting it mildly) and “reserved.” I know what that often means. He spent much of his miserable life playing shoot ’em up video games on line or on machines. I see a troubled young man doing that often.
Up close and personal.
In these games, the “player” just spends his whole day attempting to exercise and exorcize his loneliness and low self-esteem by shooting imaginary creatures and creating damage all day long.
At a certain point, just “killing” on the console blurs into doing it in real life. “Killing” is just what the kid does all his life. How much of a stretch is it for him to shoot into a movie theater or a political gathering or a kindergarten in “real life”if his life is so pitiful that he does not know what’s real and what is not? If you are looking for a villain, try shoot ’em up games.
Third, what motivates “great” deeds? So that a man’s name will not be forgotten and he will be sung about even after his death, goes the ancient saying. That’s what you get if you slaughter 26 totally innocent people at a grade school. If you want another villain, try the media itself, which has now given Adam Lanza fame beyond what he could have dreamt of. It is impossible to blame the media, but evil men like Adam Lanza have gamed the system to perfection.
Fifth, why are these killers always men? What is it that we teach our young men in this world that makes them think it’s a mark of manliness to kill the unarmed and innocent? Whatever it is, it’s disgusting. It’s not manly to kill any unarmed human. It’s miserable, crawling cowardice.
Finally, a comment that will enrage the beautiful people. The whole world is rightly overwrought and crazed with grief over the murder of twenty totally innocent and blameless souls last Friday in Newtown. It was and is a catastrophe for the ages.
But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promises to kill every Jew in Israel and then in the whole world, including babies… and he had his defenders, even at the Democratic National Convention. And it was daily life in Nazi-occupied Europe from 1939 to 1941 to kill thousands of Jewish children every day. But powerful, intelligent men and women in this country defended Hitler, spoke up for him and for keeping America from even sending arms to Britain when England stood alone. What are we to make of that? No one even mentions, no one even knows about the horrendous Armenian genocide by the Turks in 1915, when well over a million of the most talented people on the planet were wantonly murdered — and the world has still not officially called it genocide — and Hitler explicitly said it was a model for him. Who today even talks of the purposeful mass starvation of millions of beautiful Ukrainian children by Stalin? The U.S. did not say one word about it as a government. The U.S. still will not confront Turkey seriously about the Armenian children.
Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge killed roughly one third of all of its people, including children, from 1974 to about 1977 — and it was U.S. policy to avoid doing anything to stop them — because they were opposed to the North Vietnamese Communists and Communist Vietnam, which had just taken over South Vietnam — our ally. What can we say to that? We cheered the deposing of the President —Richard Nixon — who would have stopped the Khmer Rouge from taking power. There is plenty of Cambodian blood on our hands. There is plenty of blood of all kinds on our hands, especially of the most innocent and blameless among us… real babies, truly innocent.
God help us. Man is made of such crooked stuff that it is impossible to set him straight, said a famous philosopher. God help us.

By Ben Stein
 

Letter to Glenn Beck,

Reed Chambers II

This is a copy and paste rendition of an Email I just now sent to Glenn Beck (me@glennbeck.com) It is suggested that you also copy and paste this email into the body of YOUR EMAIL and also send your email message to me@glennbeck.com so that tens of thousands of emails on this subject is received by Glenn Beck, asking him to organize a mass meeting of conservatives before the US Supreme Court:

Christmas: The Greatest Gift For All

Christmas is a time of traditions. If you have found time in the rush before Christmas to decorate a tree, you are sharing in a relatively new tradition. Although the Christmas tree has ancient roots, at the beginning of the 20th century only 1 in 5 American families put up a tree. It was 1920 before the Christmas tree became the hallmark of the season. Calvin Coolidge was the first President to light a national Christmas tree on the White House lawn.
 Gifts are another shared custom. This tradition comes from the wise men or three kings who brought gifts to baby Jesus. When I was a kid, gifts were more modest than they are now, but even then people were complaining about the commercialization of Christmas. We have grown accustomed to the commercialization. Christmas sales are the backbone of many businesses. Gift giving causes us to remember others and to take time from our harried lives to give them thought.

The decorations and gifts of Christmas are one of our connections to a Christian culture that has held Western civilization together for 2,000 years.

In our culture the individual counts. This permits an individual person to put his or her foot down, to take a stand on principle, to become a reformer and to take on injustice.

This empowerment of the individual is unique to Western civilization. It has made the individual a citizen equal in rights to all other citizens, protected from tyrannical government by the rule of law and free speech. These achievements are the products of centuries of struggle, but they all flow from the teaching that God so values the individual’s soul that he sent his son to die so we might live. By so elevating the individual, Christianity gave him a voice.

Formerly only those with power had a voice. But in Western civilization people with integrity have a voice. So do people with a sense of justice, of honor, of duty, of fair play. Reformers can reform, investors can invest, and entrepreneurs can create commercial enterprises, new products and new occupations.

The result was a land of opportunity. The United States attracted immigrants who shared our values and reflected them in their own lives. Our culture was absorbed by a diverse people who became one.

In recent decades we have lost sight of the historic achievement that empowered the individual. The religious, legal and political roots of this great achievement are no longer reverently taught in high schools, colleges and universities or respected by our government. The voices that reach us through the millennia and connect us to our culture are being silenced by “political correctness” and “the war on terror.” Prayer has been driven from schools and Christian religious symbols from public life. Constitutional protections have been diminished by hegemonic political ambitions. Indefinite detention, torture, and murder are now acknowledged practices of the United States government. The historic achievement of due process has been rolled back. Tyranny has re-emerged.

Diversity at home and hegemony abroad are consuming values and are dismantling the culture and the rule of law. There is plenty of room for cultural diversity in the world, but not within a single country. A Tower of Babel has no culture. A person cannot be a Christian one day, a pagan the next and a Muslim the day after. A hodgepodge of cultural and religious values provides no basis for law – except the raw power of the pre-Christian past.
All Americans have a huge stake in Christianity. Whether or not we are individually believers in Christ, we are beneficiaries of the moral doctrine that has curbed power and protected the weak. Power is the horse ridden by evil. In the 20th century the horse was ridden hard, and the 21st century shows an increase in pace. Millions of people were exterminated in the 20th century by National Socialists in Germany and by Soviet and Chinese communists simply because they were members of a race or class that had been demonized by intellectuals and political authority. In the beginning years of the 21st century hundreds of thousands of Muslims in seven countries have already been murdered and millions displaced, because their religion does not submit to Washington’s hegemony.

Power that is secularized and cut free of civilizing traditions is not limited by moral and religious scruples. V.I. Lenin made this clear when he defined the meaning of his dictatorship as “unlimited power, resting directly on force, not limited by anything.” Washington’s drive for hegemony over US citizens and the rest of the world is based entirely on the exercise of force and is resurrecting unaccountable power.

Christianity’s emphasis on the worth of the individual makes such power as Lenin claimed, and Washington now claims, unthinkable. Be we religious or be we not, our celebration of Christ’s birthday celebrates a religion that made us masters of our souls and of our political life on Earth. Such a religion as this is worth holding on to even by atheists.

As we enter into 2013, Western civilization, the product of thousands of years of striving, hangs in the balance. Degeneracy is everywhere before our eyes. As the West sinks into tyranny, will Western peoples defend their liberty and their souls, or will they sink into the tyranny, which again has raised its ugly and all devouring head?


by:Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Christmas Facts You May or May Not Know

Did You Know?

In 1895, President Cleveland displayed the first lit Christmas tree in the White House.  In the early 1900's lighted tress were very expensive which compare to today's economy would be more than $2000.  General Electric sold lights for at-home trees in 1903 at $12 a strand.

About 37 million fresh Christmas trees are sold every year!

In 1836, Alabama was the first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.  Oklahoma was the last to do so in 1907.

The popular Christmas Carol, Jingle Bells, was originally written for Thanksgiving.  It was composed by James Piermont in 1857 and was originally called One Horse Open Sleigh.

In an effort to raise money to pay for a charity Christmas dinner, a large crab pot was set down on a San Francisco street, becoming the first Salvation Army collection kettle.

Animal Crackers are cookies imported from England in the late 1800's.  The circus-like boxes were designed with a string handle so they could be hung on a Christmas tree.

Wreaths were used from the earliest time as a symbol of victory. In the 17th century, wreaths with holly, red berries and other decorations appeared.  Holly, with its sharply pointed leaves, symbolized the thorns in Christ's crown-of-thorns.  Red berries symbolized the drops of Christ's blood.  A wreath at Christmas marked a home that celebrated the birth of Jesus.

 

Bob Hope Christmas

Bob Hope was without a doubt one of the greatest entertainers of all time. A wonderful look at some special moments Bob spent with the troops during his many Christmas performances. Thank You to all the Veterans that ever spent a Christmas away from their family and to Bob Hope for spending his with them.

Bob Hope Christmas

Times We Doubt Our Faith

Advent of Doubt

Monday, December 24, 2012

Yesterday, one of the more talented young men I've had the pleasure of getting to know contacted me with the following:

Christmas Letter from Mom and Dad

 

 

 

Submitted by : Marty D'Arcy

The Legality and Authenticity of Santa Claus

 

In re: The Legality and Authenticity of Santa Claus

'Bah!' said Scrooge, 'Humbug!'

The Redemption of Scrooge

WAL-MART SENIOR GREETER

Charley, a new retiree-greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn't seem to get to work on time.  Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp-minded and a real credit to the company and obviously demonstrating their "Older Person Friendly" policies.

One day the boss called him into the office for a talk.  "Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang-up job when you finally get here; but your being late so often is quite bothersome."  "Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it." "Well good, you are a team player. That's what I like to hear”. “Yes sir, I understand your concern and I will try harder”.

Seeming puzzled, the manager went on to comment, “I know you're retired from the Armed Forces. What did they say to you there if you showed up in the morning late so often?"  The old man looked down at the floor, then smiled. He chuckled quietly, then said with a grin,

"They usually saluted and said, Good morning, Admiral, can I get your coffee, sir?"