musing minds

A really beautiful one: Mary Did You Know?

Mary, did you know?

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered
Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby
You’ve kissed the face of God

Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
The dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?
This sleeping child you’re holding
Is the great I AM

(buddy greene, mark lowry)

My favorite Christmas Hymn: O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our Friend!
He knows our need-to our weakness is no stranger.
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

About 11:40 CST last night the snow started falling.

It’s still falling.

Today was to be the last day of school before Christmas Break.

Today is now the first day of Christmas Break. Kids are happy.

I’m glad I got the presents wrapped earlier in the week.

We need a new flag too, and bring the old one to the VFW for proper disposal.

Unless Global Warming hits big time in the next few days, I think we’re pretty much guaranteed a White Christmas!

Watching the news tonight it was mentioned that many people are leaving teddy bears in memoriam to Caylee Anthony.

I said to my husband, “I hope someone is gathering them up before the weather gets to them and gives them to a local hospital.”

Have you seen those roadside memorials with stuffed animals that have been ruined by the weather?

It does the dead person no good. It could do a live person a lot of good.

Please, if you feel you need to memorialize someone, give the stuffed animal to a local hospital to give to one of their patients in the name of the person you want to remember.

The hospital knows which patients need a lift. The elderly patient with no visitors, the child who could use every bit of love he can get…

This type of gift could make the difference and could help a patient get better faster.

On Meet the Press yesterday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D-IL) said that there are indications that Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) may step aside as early as today.

“I don’t know if that means he will resign or take another option that’s provided under the Illinois constitution where he can voluntarily recognize that there is a serious impediment in his ability to carry out his duties and therefore temporarily remove himself,” she said.

If Blagojevich opts to temporarily remove himself, he can potentially keep his salary, Madigan said. (source)

Even if he does either resign, or temporarily remove himself, a special election still needs to be held. A Rasmussen poll reveals

Sixty-six percent (66%) of all Illinois voters say the state should hold a special election to fill Obama’s Senate seat rather than let Governor Rod Blagojevich or his successor appoint a replacement. (source)

There is a level of distrust in the administration that would go against any appointment for the office of Junior Senator from Illinois. Some of the arguments against a special election are that it will cost too much. We can just wait until the next scheduled elections in April and put that office on the ballot as well. For those that think that’s too long to go without a junior senator, I will answer that with the fact that we have pretty much been without a junior senator for the last two years and that four more months won’t really matter so much.

Related: Blagojevich Arrested
A Special Election?

This is one of the funniest videos I’ve seen lately.

It starts automagically so adjust volume ahead of time.

Then you can go to Beware of the Doghouse…

On Monday I tried to place an order with Amazon for almost $500 worth of Christmas gifts for the family.

I had 24 items in my shopping cart. I pressed the checkout button. I tried to choose a shipping address. I pressed the Ship to this address button and nothing happened. I could not advance to choosing a shipping method or payment method.

This was 9 pm central so I went to the help page and clicked the Contact button and then had Amazon call me.

The customer service rep was unable to help me and suggested I try again in a half hour or so and call back if I still couldn’t advance past choosing a shipping address.

I tried again and couldn’t advance past choosing a shipping address. By then it was too late for me to call back so I went to bed.

Tuesday morning I tried again to place the order and once again I couldn’t advance past  choosing a shipping address so I called again.

I was on the phone with the customer service rep for 38 minutes. He couldn’t help me either. He wanted me to put my credit card information in the One-click settings. I don’t use One-click because I don’t want to associate a particular card with a particulr address. I use different accounts depending on what I’m purchasing. He told me he was going to escalate the issue to the team. I received an email shortly thereafter that said, in part,

Greeting’s from Amazon.com

I have forwarded your concern to the techinical team and they will work on this issue.  Rest assured,  they will get back to you within the next 24 to 48 hours.  I apologize for this inconvenience.

Please be assured that we are here to make things easier for you and will do whatever we can to prevent you from bearing any kind of loss.

So on Wednesday I tried again several times and still couldn’t get past choosing a shipping address. I was also getting messages that items in my cart had been removed because the item was no longer in stock and the price went down slightly on one item.

This morning at about 5:30 I tried once again. At the shopping cart there were notices that two of my items had risen in price (one was the item from yesterday that had decreased in price) and two items were no longer available. My order from Monday that had 24 items and was nearly $500 in price was now just over $400 and only had 19 items in it.

I was finally able to advance past choosing a shipping address. When I got to shipping options I chose super saver shipping because the front page at Amazon said that I still had 7 days to order and be able to receive my order by Christmas. But the next page told me that the microwave/convection oven I had ordered would not arrive by Christmas with super saver shipping and if I wanted it by then I should choose a faster shipping option.

So I called Amazon  once again. I explained to the customer service rep that I had been trying to place this order since Monday. That there were issues with their site that prevented me from placing the order, that I had lost items from my shopping cart because I hadn’t been able to place the order when I wanted to, and now at least one item in my order (the most expensive one) wouldn’t make it by Christmas unless I spent more on shipping.

I asked for free 2 day shipping  on my order because of all the inconvenience that I have had with this order so far. She put me on hold while she found out if she could do that.

About 5 minutes later she came back on the line and said that 2nd day shipping for the order would amount to around $100 and that they could only give me a $30 credit towards the shipping costs.

I told her if that’s all she could do then I would cancel the order. And then I hung up and canceled the order.

Shortly thereafter I received an email saying that I could have a free trial of Amazon Prime and that after the trial period I could pay the $79 annual fee. It did say that I could go into my account and decline to upgrade to the full annual Amazon Prime if I so chose.

Well, the order is canceled and I will now do my shopping at brick and mortar stores for this Christmas and I have only 2 weeks to do it. I actually have to get it done by next Friday because the kids will be out of school after that and one just can not take the children with when buying Christmas presents…

Hubby has an order in with Amazon for an out of stock book that he needs for work and he may well cancel his order too. That book is $100…

So needless to say, I am not a happy camper with Amazon right now.

The Illinois General Assembly is getting ready to strip Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) (Happy 52nd Birthday Rod!) of his power to appoint a replacement for President Elect Obama (D-IL) in the US Senate.

The state’s top two legislative leaders Tuesday said they will move fast to seize control of the process of selecting a replacement for

In separate statements, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones said they will call a special legislative session next week to repeal the state law that now gives the governor the power to fill Mr. Obama’s seat. Both said they will press instead for a special election to fill the remaining two years of Mr. Obama’s term.

“I am prepared to convene the House next Monday to change state law to provide for a special election for the U.S. Senate replacement,” Mr. Madigan said. “I would urge U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to take note of this action.”

This would be great! A special election will work even if Blagojevich does resign his seat as we called for yesterday and will at least give Illinoisans  a chance to seat a Republican as the Junior Senator from Illinois.

Let’s have that special election!

Governor Rod Blagojevich [Blah-GOY-o-vich] (D-IL) arrested this morning!

Just yesterday he said, “I don’t believe there’s any cloud that hangs over me. I think there’s nothing but sunshine hanging over me.” (source)

And this morning he was arrested at his home.

More very good information at The Capitol Fax Blog.

Like OJ, it seems that Governor “Hair” felt he’d gotten away with stuff for so long that nothing could touch him.

This blog calls on Governor Blagojevich to resign instanter so that Lt. Governor Quinn may assume the duties of Governor and appoint someone without any taint to complete President Elect Obama’s Senate term.

Merry Fitzmas!

More coverage:

Ann Althouse: Governor Blagojevich Arrested!, Hot Air, Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway, Classical Values, Real Clear Politics Blog, Don Surber, Volokh, Political Byline, American Princess, Sister Toldjah, Fausta, Patterico’s Pontifications

Our post on Blagojevich’s quote about “Testicular Virility” is here.