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a hippopotamus, of course!

It’s hard not to get too distracted by the news of the day. If you’re an American, a Christian, or you just love freedom, here are some things to help you sleep better in the days ahead.

Bing Crosby says you should “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep”:

Jewel proclaims the birth of the Savior - “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”:

and John Wayne loves America:

One more blessing for this post — I’m glad the Lithuanians are on our side:

U.S. and Afghan soldiers in Zabul Province give high marks to the Lithuanian Special Forces, who like to ride these captured Taliban motorbikes to sneak up on, and chase Taliban fighters. The “LithSof” are on their way to becoming living legends: Both Afghans and Americans report that the Taliban are afraid of the Lithuanians. Stories about them are filled with dangerous escapades and humor.

Americans say that the Lithuanians are sort of a weaponized version of Borat, who think nothing of sauntering around a base in nothing but flip-flops and underwear. “They look like mountain men. They never shave, sometimes don’t bathe, and often roll out the gate wearing nothing but body armor and weapons. Not even a t-shirt,” an American soldier told me. The Lithuanians may be a little bit nuts, but the Americans love to have them around because Lithuanians love to fight, and when you need backup, you can count on them. That contrasts starkly with many of the NATO “partners.” Maybe when your country spends almost a half-century with the Soviet boot on its neck, its first generation of free soldiers know what freedom is worth — and that you sometimes have to fight for it.

Absolutely stunning: The Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2008.

Check back each day on their site for new images.

Merry Christmas!

One of my all-time favorite Christmas songs:

Rusty Chevrolet by Da Yoopers:

It’s been generally thought that Jesus was born in the spring or summer due to the shepherds watching their flocks at night — it had to be somewhat warm to allow this. Also, the tradition of celebrating Christmas in December came from the early Church trying to co-opt Roman winter solstice celebrations. The exact date of Christ’s birth has generally been lost to history and is mentioned nowhere in the Bible.

As the Baseball Crank notes: “There are two documentable historical events, however, that the Biblical narrative can be tied to - the Roman census under Caesar Augustus, and the Star of Bethlehem.”

Astronomers now believe they have figured out the exact date the Star of Bethlehem appeared:

Astronomers have calculated that Christmas should be in June, by charting the appearance of the ‘Christmas star’ which the Bible says led the three Wise Men to Jesus.

They found that a bright star which appeared over Bethlehem 2,000 years ago pinpointed the date of Christ’s birth as June 17 rather than December 25.

The researchers claim the ‘Christmas star’ was most likely a magnificent conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter, which were so close together they would have shone unusually brightly as a single “beacon of light” which appeared suddenly.

…

Australian astronomer Dave Reneke used complex computer software to chart the exact positions of all celestial bodies and map the night sky as it would have appeared over the Holy Land more than 2,000 years ago.

…

“Astronomy is such a precise science, we can plot exactly where the planets were, and it certainly seems this is the fabled Christmas star.”

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I’D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN’T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
‘SANTA DON’T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON’T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY! COUNTRY, MY CORPS.’

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN’T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT’S CHILL.

I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, ‘CARRY ON SANTA,
IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.’

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
‘MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,!
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.’

This poem was written by a Marine.

The following is his request. I think it is reasonable…..

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending
this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming
soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and
women for our being able to celebrate these festivities..
Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we
owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and
dead, who sacrificed themselves for u s. Please, do your
small part to plant this small seed.

One of my all-time favorites — the original “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” video by Dr. Elmo. Merry Christmas!

Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has a clear message from the USO tour in Iraq:

We’re winning

I dare ANY media outlet to print that. I dare you because it’s true. The most powerful message I got over there, from every single soldier, was their extreme disappointment that we are not hearing the facts about what they are doing.

Two analogies I thought were ‘appropriate’ in this context.

A table needs four legs to stand, right now Iraq is standing on 2 of its own, and we’re (NATO forces) providing the other two.

A football game with 2 minutes left, right now we have a 3 pt lead, the next year or two will be spent increasing that to 20 or more points. Would you rather play the last two minutes with a 3 pt or 21 pt lead? Which one would you feel was more of a lock?

Make no mistake, when we leave it needs to be ‘a lock’ or else we’ll be sending these brave warriors back into harms way, when we should not have to.

To the war critics:

Before you piss and moan about anything understand we met soldiers from the post at Waleed on the Syrian border (a bad ass bunch of Marines I might add) to the FOBs around Baghdad that were still seeing ‘action’ unfortunately. NOT ONE of them was anything but respectful, and dead set on completing their mission.

So all of you “bring them home now” folks who think you are doing some greater good by saying that, are in effect doing the exact opposite. They want to come home when the mission is done, period.

What winning really means:

It went something like this. They were occupying a Government building in a city that housed senior Baathe party officials pre war. The city was at around 50k in population. Post war the city was about 4000 people. That number had now swelled to over 40k and was growing daily and the US base there was in a building that the mayor of the city, and citizens, interacted with on a daily basis!

These soldiers were still on daily missions and at high alert but over the past 5 months things are changing dramatically. Where they used to spend 24/7 hunting down terrorists and extremists in local communities, they were now out and about helping rebuild vital parts of the city, playing games with the local children and integrating themselves into the communities there. The Iraqi’s were blown away at the fact that these soldiers weren’t demons or something worse.

It’s not over, not by a long shot, but we are winning and people need to know that.

(emphasis added)

Want to help the USO? They are always looking for donations, volunteers, and company partners.

Merry Christmas to our troops. And thanks for all you do.

The American Center for Law and Justice is the leading defender of the freedoms of speech and religion today.

They’ve created a Christmas Resource Center to help us know exactly what those rights are.

This site includes a Religious Holiday Displays Letter and a School Holiday Events Letter.

I’ve included some snippets from each letter here. The letters are very detailed and I encourage you to read them thoroughly.

From the letter on displays:

Does the “separation of church and state” forbid religious displays on government property? NO

Can the government erect holiday displays that include religious components? YES

Is the display of Christmas trees considered a religious endorsement? NO

Are private citizens ever prohibited from erecting religious holiday displays on public property? YES

However, the First Amendment protects the right of citizens, civic groups, and churches to erect religious displays in public fora.

It is clear that private religious displays in public fora are constitutional. In parks, town squares, plazas, and even government buildings which have been opened for public expression, citizens, civic groups, and churches may erect private religious displays without violating the Constitution. In certain circumstances, local government may deny private individuals the right to put up displays (for example, by prohibiting “unattended displays” in a non-traditional public forum), but such policies must be based on content-neutral criteria rather than the “religious” nature of the display. Similarly, the government may erect holiday displays that contain a crèche, menorah, or other religious elements as long as the display also celebrates the secular facets of the holiday.

From the letter on events:

Are students allowed to sing Christmas carols with religious themes at school events or in holiday programs? YES

Can schools teach about the biblical origins of Christmas and Easter? YES

May schools display religious symbols during Christmas? YES

Are students permitted to write about the origin of Christmas and the birth of Jesus or other religious sentiments in school assignments? YES

May schools continue to refer to the “Christmas” and “Easter” holidays? YES

They encourage anyone who encounters any hostility or has questions about their rights to contact the ACLJ at 1-757-226-2489. You can also visit their website ACLJ.org

Update: A friend notes these ACLJ letters refer only to federal law. Good point. State and local laws vary widely. In almost all cases, however, state and local laws will recognize broader religious and speech rights than present under federal law. And the courts, in general, will defer to the jurisdiction with the least restrictions.

Saxby wins!

Norm is still ahead!

We got 6 inches of snow yesterday!

The newly installed tire chains on the 24 HP lawn tractor with the snow blade are awesome (and the key to victory).

We’re expecting 6 more inches of snow overnight and tomorrow. ( I like the cold and snow — I’m 100% Norwegian-American, so that may explain some of it. )

I’ve even noticed an uptick in people, businesses, and TV shows saying “Merry Christmas”, instead of those other dreaded generic “non-offensive” phrases (although what if I’m offended when people don’t say what they mean and mean what they say?).

I join Adam in his cause — you will only hear and see “Merry Christmas” from me.

Beyond that, it is also my mission now to be as joyous as possible. To remember the birth of our Lord and Savior. To have fun. To be informed of the news of the day, but to keep it in historical and spiritual perspective.

For a good distraction we have lots of Christmas Specials to watch — Mahalo and the Christmas Specials Wiki are nice reference guides.

Now who couldn’t smile when they watch this?