How correct is he?

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 crèche, 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 Nick and Jessica 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 Nick and Jessica 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 recently) 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?

[...]

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

If [you disagree] then just discard [this idea]... 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

St. Nicky

Here we are, the 17th of December and I am putting up information from the 6th. Great.


St. Nicholas, whose day is now celebrated on December 6th, is the ancestor of Santa Claus. St. Nick was a Bishop a long time ago (very specific) and gave gifts in secret to people. In keeping with a long tradition which my parents picked up from their two years in Germany, we also celebrate this special day by putting our shoes out in the hall on the eve of St. Nicholas Day.

Here we are waiting to open our shoes very patiently.

"That last picture cut off heads, let's spread out more."

This is what we got in our shoes, with some variation. I got a pomegranate, some chocolate and only three sticks. Others got some different fruits.

We also got some clothing, which I here model for myself in the mirror. This really is a nice shirt.

Thank you, St. Nicholas and Thank you, God who has given us many good examples of people in the past who lived first for you.

~Tim

creación de Dios

I may anger some of you, but I will be bold.
I like squirrels. Exciting to say, we have one that is making a home in a tree in our backyard.

This little guy is a bit chubby since winter is coming. Here he is half out of the whole in which he is making his home.

I think this is so cute of him. He is just making sure all the details are working out in there.

Here he is gathering fresh leaves from the tree to pad his home. It was so much fun to watch him stuff his face, run over to his nest, drop the leaves and arrange them, then run back for some more.

Like the title of this says, la creación de Dios es muy buena.

~Tim

YES! Yes! Yes.

SNOW.

I love the stuff. Just a few days ago, I got up and there was snow all over. It was a wet sticky snow that covered all the trees properly. What a joy to see.

I took both of these pictures at 6:15 in the morning, and the only light came from city lights reflecting off the clouds and the streetlight here.

I took this picture later in the week during the daylight.

I love snow. God definitely has a beautiful creativeness in His characteristics.

~Tim

What do You think?

"Consumerism makes you think you don't have to suffer to follow Jesus. It makes you think you can have lots of things, and Christ as well. In reality, you just end up with lots of things, and most of the time you don't even realize Christ has gone."

~Li Tianen
A Shanghai pastor

Cuisinier

Apparently, school has decreased in intensity recently. That being the case, I have been able to spend some time playing with food.

Last night, I grabbed a recipe and made an dish with a strange name-Spinach Flan with Tomato Thyme Sauce.

It had just come out of the oven when this picture was taken.

You can easily see the spinach and bread crumbs in it.

This is a picture of my sister's plating. It has here the tomato thyme sauce on it.

While those in my family who have no taste buds for spinach declared it a disaster, the others of us who have better cultured palates found it excellent. I was pleased with my "go" at it.

~Tim

coffee (decaf of course!)

One of the perks of having a sister that works at a chef school is that she brings home great food and recipes. The two of us just made a recipe for a Starbucks' mocha frappuccino coffee with lowfat decaf 3 squirt chocolate whip (or something like that).

It was definitely worth the work.




~Tim