musing minds

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord – Luke 2:11

Uncle David’s surgery has been rescheduled to January 4th. He will be coming home today to spend Christmas and New Year’s with the family.

Prayers would be appreciated for my Uncle David. He’s been at Mayo for the past two weeks and they have found some cancer on his pancreas. He has been previously diagnosed with pancreatitis, which was why he is there. They plan to do surgery on Thursday.

Thank you.

I wonder if the people that have such a problem with religion in the public square just don’t have enough faith in their own faith or non-faith. Are they afraid that a creche will suddenly convert them? That a wish of “Merry Christmas” will turn them into a Christian against their will? That a wish of “Happy Channukah” will convert them to Judaism?

I have enough faith in my faith that I am not offended by any other expression of any other faith.

As a child, we all sang Christmas songs and Channukah songs in the weeks before Christmas Break.

Update: It seems Charles Krauthammer feels the same way.

Some Americans get angry at parents who want to ban carols because they tremble that their kids might feel “different” and “uncomfortable” should they, God forbid, hear Christian music sung at their school. I feel pity. What kind of fragile religious identity have they bequeathed their children that it should be threatened by exposure to carols?

I’m struck by the fact that you almost never find Orthodox Jews complaining about a Christmas creche in the public square. That is because their children, steeped in the richness of their own religious tradition, know who they are and are not threatened by Christians celebrating their religion in public. They are enlarged by it.

It is the more deracinated members of religious minorities, brought up largely ignorant of their own traditions, whose religious identity is so tenuous that they feel the need to be constantly on guard against displays of other religions — and who think the solution to their predicament is to prevent the other guy from displaying his religion, rather than learning a bit about their own.

My four year old noticed the Nativity set tonight. He went over to it and said, “Mommy, who are these people?” Right at that point he had his finger on the Baby Jesus figure. I said, “That’s the Baby Jesus.” He said, very seriously, “He’s the Son of God.”

He is learning.

This is my absolute 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!

Just heard on Fox News – The Ra^thergate report will now be issued sometime in January. USA Today story here.

Media Research Center has a prediction about the bias at CBS

LaShawn Barber is guestblogging over at Blogs for Bush.

In her post Leftist Media (And Bloggers) Still Campaigning for Kerry she notes that the liberal media are trying to make a scandal out of this.

My own thoughts mirror LaShawn’s.

Bernard Kerik has withdrawn his name from consideration for the post of Secretary of Homeland Security. Reuters story has the following:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush’s pick to become homeland security secretary, former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, abruptly withdrew his nomination for the job on Friday night.

The move came after news organizations raised some potential problems about Kerik, including his profitable membership on the board of Taser International, the stun-gun maker.

Read the rest.

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said on O’Reilly tonight (I had to watch the repeat to make sure I had heard correctly the first time) that the people having trouble with drivers licenses are the “Anti-Immigration Wing of the Republican Party.”

Did you get the memo? I sure didn’t.

I am not against immigration – I have friends who are immigrants. People who followed the rules, learned the language, took the test and took the oath.

Illegal Aliens don’t belong here. Period. Go back to your home country and if you want to come back here, do it right. Any amnesty would be allowing them to “cut in line”. If you want to become an American – you are quite welcome here. Just do it legally.

Terrorists come here illegally to use our own system against us.

When 19 terrorists can have 63 drivers licenses between them, there is a problem. When I moved from Vermont to back to Illinois and got my Illinois drivers license I had to surrender my Vermont drivers license. Of course, the terrorists didn’t tell the DMV that they had valid licenses from other states and/or lied and said they physically lost it or something. If there were a national database of drivers licenses, DMV’s would be able to check for unexpired licenses from other states, and, if they issue a new one, have the previous unexpired license(s) declared void.

Update: Prestopundit has more on the Driver’s License issue from an article in the LA Times.