Hither and thither 12/24/10

By popular demand, here's the Christmas Weekend edition of Hither and Thither. If I may say so, I think we've got a great, fun, varied collection. Have fun, bring a friend, spread the word. Fun loves company, too. The usual verities apply.

• Happy Christmas, y'all.

• It's... the Christmas truck! (From an email from my mother-in-law.)

• Reader Angie found us a Nativity scene sculpted out of butter.
• Steve Hays has some fun with wizened old souls too pious to commemorate Christ's birth. (Not that I have an opinion on the subject, obviously.)
• Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is given an historical once-over by Kevin DeYoung here, and here.
• Now, combining — not one, not two, but — three frequent BibChr/HT themes along with the holiday:

• Admiral A for the epic win?
• Alphabetically related, Al Mohler has a really good, Biblically-contentful, direct essay on the necessity of affirming the Virgin Birth. And no, I don't say that about all Mohler's essays.
• Mohler plays around Kristof's incredulity at Christian credulity regarding the Virgin Birth. This never, ever ceases to amaze me. What is supposed to be so hard about this doctrine? As S. Lewis Johnson said, affirm Genesis 1:1, and everything else in the Bible makes perfect sense.
• Merry elf Fred Butler pointed me to the worst Christmas gifts, ever. (I don't know... I think the laser looks cool.)
• Every one of my kids has been better than I about going to sleep Christmas Eve. In case yours are more like I was, you might have them read how to go to sleep when you're excited.
• Gotta love getting a timely "fail" from a reader named Win:

• Thinking ahead: you're going to have yummy leftovers, and a number of tough, tough decisions. You want to make good choices. Here, let me help (click to embiggen):

• Stuck for a last-minute Christmas gift? My Josiah just showed me... the answer!
• A Roman Catholic mental health worker in Britain faces disciplinary hearings for giving coworkers a pamphlet suggesting that there may be negative after-affects to abortion.
• Fred Butler found us everything you might want to know about Rubik's Cube... except how to solve it.
• What is currently one of the most effective and widespread avenues for free speech? That would be, of course, The Intrawebs. So, given the Obama administration's legacy of unbridled power-grabs and its march towards a police state, can anyone be surprised at the FCC moving in to control the internet? Of course, it's all in the name of fairness, and helping us. God help us and save us from Big Brother's "help."
• No surprise, John Fund shows leftist groups backing this move towards censorship. They and Obama hate conservatives'/Christians' free access to soapboxes, and would end it today if they could. Never forget: horrible presidential elections have horrible consequences. It isn't over yet.
• And the equally-indispensable Byron York has shown once and again that the group leans left, to say the least.
• Moderates. Pah. Mark me: a "moderate" — political or theological — is just a liberal without the guts (or honesty) to say what he is. Like this newest pathetic distraction, the "No-labels" folks. Eesh.
• Meanwhile, one happy political event we can note together: the passage from power of a nasty, treacherous, arrogant, unprincipled fool. Goodbye, and good riddance, Arlen Specter.
• Another thing to like about Rep. Mike Pence: he introduced a bill to deny taxpayer money from abortion-pusher Planned Parenthood. Should be a "duh!", but it took Pence to do it.
• Aww Alert: Reality Check found us a rescued hummingbird.
• The Dolphin Coalition convention? (Thanks again, RC.)
• Well now, this is different. Some would say "better" — me, I kind of like the First Amendment. But anyway: Mexican politician fined for saying "God." (Thanks to Rita Martinez' honey for the tip.)
• Troublemaker Fred Butler tries nobly (but unsuccessfully) to get some evolutionist pro-homosexual-agenda liberals (did I just say the same thing thrice?) to think logically. Fred, Fred... excellent try, but what were you thinking?
• My first thought is: where's the mayo, lettuce, onions, and all?

• My second is, "Yum!"
• Maybe it's me, but I think an iPad is a pretty expensive cat-toy. (Thanks to RC for the tip.)
• Here is the legacy of shame of Senators who betrayed our military, who suffer and die for their political grandstanding. It is disgraceful that both Dems and GOPers voted to inflict this on the armed forces. But OTOH, do you notice something consistent about all of those who voted to protect the military?
• Mark my words: if this is not countered soon, some really bad results (I first wrote "fruit") are on the way. For instance, immediately the next day, a friend who's in the service stated Congress' betrayal as a reason he'll be heading for the door as soon as he can. And a BibChr reader with 15 years in the service is not looking forward happily to the remainder of his tour.
• Reader Paula notes that the always-wrong Richard Cohen is all for sparking up the torches and starting the witch hunt, ridding the Marines of excellent men to make way to spare the feelings of broken people who embrace a particular sexual perversion. General Amos explained why this was a bad policy; so General Amos must go. Because he might make sexual perverts who will be forced on enlisted men feel uncomfortable.
• Now, the Irony Alert: this same General Amos has pledged to lead the process of integration.
• Now, combining the previous two topics (expense and shameful senators): seriously? $823,200? Yikes!
• An eminently-qualified scientist is rejected as a candidate to run an observatory in Kentucky (in "the Bible Belt," ironically) for the sole crime of being "potentially evangelical." Pretty good job of reporting by The New York Times, though sadly their style-book still seemingly bars the expression "some scientists."
• This is a manifestation of the Church of Darwin's vicious cycle, on which I've often commented. Evolution is true, because no scientists question it. Question evolution, and you are not a scientist, because no scientists question evolution. QED. However, the irony is that this man is an evolutionist. Is the real motivation peeking out from under its rock?
• Hang on, hold up there... the cat wants a closer look.

• In time for Christmas/New Year travelling, Navmii has released a free turn-by-turn GPS for the iPhone. So far, the reviews are mixed and not wildly enthusiastic. When our venerable GPS lost her mind on a recent trip, we turned to Mapquest's voice-driven feature, and made it home.
• And now, a festive, if inappropriate, moment:

• OK, now: I despise NOW, and I despise frivolous lawsuits. So I don't respond warmly to reading that NOW is suing Hooters for catering to children. However... good heavens, what kind of father (or mother) would give a young daughter a T-shirt that reads "Future Hooters girl"? I mean, besides the kind of father who needs his, er, hinder kicked across the room until the little ball rolls back into the little hole?
• Under my initial post on Mary's virtual absence from Jesus' teaching, Barbara noted that Luke 11:27-28 is "brilliant" and reads " Almost as if He knew beforehand that there would be these sorts of problems" (i.e. with idolatrous veneration of Mary). Which leads to...
• ...my tangential thought about the Beast of Revelation. Surely some have wondered, "Why would the Beast adopt any form of 666, knowing what the book of Revelation says about it?" Equally ask, "Why would Roman Catholics worship Mary, knowing what the Gospels say about such veneration?" Hubris is reason enough; what's more, I could easily envision him doing it deliberately to show how little he cares about Biblical prophecy or Biblical-anything-else.
• Deep, huh? Where else, I ask you, do you get this kind of mix?
• So, staying mixed: knowing how many of my readers like CW music, here's Buck Howdy's TSA parody song, courtesy of reader Reality Check. It's actually pretty funny, if uncomfortable.
• A while back, I took off on Francis Chan's whackily-explained lurch off from his pastoral responsibilities. Reality Check noted that Chan is moving somewhere to Asia, for his next chapter in life. I sincerely hope that the move is good for the Gospel, and that Chan follows through on whatever commitment he makes to the people he'll serve.
• And if anyone points out that many TSA employees are dedicated professionals, which many undoubtedly are, my response would be (A) yeah, (B) and yet....
• Finally, "You think it's cold where you are?", and etc.