One Year in 40 Seconds

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village

The child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in another obscure village

Where he worked in a carpenter shop

Until he was thirty

He never wrote a book

He never held an office

He never went to college

He never visited a big city

He never travelled more than two hundred miles

From the place where he was born

He did none of the things

Usually associated with greatness

He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three His friends ran away

One of them denied him

He was turned over to his enemies

And went through the mockery of a trial

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves

While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing

The only property he had on earth

When he was dead

He was laid in a borrowed grave

Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone

And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race

And the leader of mankind's progress

All the armies that have ever marched

All the navies that have ever sailed

All the parliaments that have ever sat

All the kings that ever reigned put together

Have not affected the life of mankind on earth

As powerfully as that one solitary life

YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS - AT LEAST NOT FOR TODAY

By proroguing Parliament, the Governor General, who probably never envisioned being called upon to perform such taxing duties, has given Canada a breather, temporary as it might be and has stopped it from joining the ranks of Banana republics - for now. The attempt, by the Big Three, to take over Canada, hot on the heels of an election, has been stalled.

It has been said we get the kind of government we deserve. However, even warm and fuzzy Canada does not deserve the attempted suburban coup we witnessed last week. In the ultimate display of brazen behaviour Jack Layton, Stephane Dion and Gilles Duceppe have thumbed their collective noses at Canadian voters and tax-payers, together with the electoral system.

They give no credit to the intelligence of we mere peons and rest happily in the delusion that they have convinced us that their real concern is the economy. What is annoying them is the fact that the gravy train - $30,000,000 - not earned but confiscated from the hapless taxpayers, just for voting, is under threat.

Giddy with the taste of success, the marshalls in the Liberal Party tried to pull a fast one in crowning a new leader through a polite little Caucus meeting. However it didn't quite work out. What a difference three hours makes. In a conference call which lasted three hours a decision was reached to allow MPs, Senators,m defeated candidates, group presidents to vote - a total of approximately 800. It appears that the hundreds of thousands of grateful slaves in the Liberal Party will be ignored via the coronation of one who has been described as an immigrant from the United States as the new leader. In theory we could have, within the next few weeks, a Prime Minister who has not been elected.. Wake up Liberals. Wake up Canada.

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

Today Catholics all over the world celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Once again, this does not mean that they worship Mary. They do acknowledge that she was conceived and born free from Original sin. Why? For Jesus - God the Son - to come into the world in His earthly form, a spotless womb was needed. It was divinely decided from the beginning of time that a sinless lowly maiden would become the mother of Jesus, the Christ.

Almighty God, nevertheless, gave Mary the opportunity to use His gift of free will, hence her words to the Archangel Gabriel who appeared to her "Be it done unto me according to Thy Word."

From that point, Mary resumed her life long role as a humble, obedient, lowly and loving maiden. Her strength cannot be denied as seen in the harrowing journey to Bethlehem, the Flight into Egypt, the unwavering acceptance of the Passion of Jesus and her presence at the Crucifixion. Inspite of her humility, she has remained the most well known, most powerful and most loved woman in history. O purest of creatures. O Mary conceived without sin.

Wise Words Are Wise Words In Any Faith

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.. In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully, Ben Stein

God help America

President-elect Obama has made it clear that it will be his policy and his policy alone. Sure, he'll talk about policy but the decisions will be his.

He has also stated that he will appoint pro-abortion judges and pro-abortion judges only. We already know what he plans for children in-utero - right up to the brutal end. No surprise since he has stated that he wouldn't want to punish his daughters with a baby if they made a mistake.

His proposed Cabinet makes one groan. Hillary comes to mind. I personally have trouble mustering confidence in a Secretary of State who can't tell the difference between an airstrip and a battleground.