“Christ is Born,” from the Carpenters’ “Christmas Portrait” album ~
Karen Carpenter is my all-time favorite female vocalist. The visuals are totally dated (the 70’s?!), but the beauty of her voice is just timeless ~ Enjoy. 🙂
“Christ is Born,” from the Carpenters’ “Christmas Portrait” album ~
Karen Carpenter is my all-time favorite female vocalist. The visuals are totally dated (the 70’s?!), but the beauty of her voice is just timeless ~ Enjoy. 🙂

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:
No, We Can’t ~ … end Homelessness with the money spent on Christmas decorations. Because the majority of homeless aren’t just poor – they’re mentally ill ~
Prior to the 1970s, people with serious chronic mental illnesses like schizophrenia were for the most part incarcerated in psychiatric wards at state institutions.
Today, unfortunately, they’re on the streets.
As horrific as yesterday’s Connecticut massacre was, Sandy Hook Elementary isn’t the site of the worst school tragedy in American history. That dubious distinction goes to Bath Consolidated School, Bath Township, MI, back in 1927.
Was it guns? Well, the murderer, Andrew Kehoe, was toting a Winchester rifle, but he only used it to trigger explosions. Most of the killing was done with dynamite and firebombs. 48 died, mainly children, and 58 more were injured.
Pure evil takes different forms, but it’s always lurking on the edges of civilization, hiding in the shadows, waiting to attack the good.
Does Egypt Need Advance Aircraft? ~ OK, with the Muslim Brotherhood in charge now, who still thinks this is a good idea? Not me! Which is why I’m signing the Petition to Stop Funding Egypt & Defend Israel at ACLJ (The American Center for Law and Justice)
MEA Misleads on Oklahoma Right-to-Work Numbers and Michigan Still Worse Economically Than RTW Oklahoma ~ When intimidation and thuggery don’t work there’s always mis-representing the facts. The MEA (Michigan Education Association) was less than honest about the impact of Right-to-Work legislation in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma’s personal per capita income (PCPI) has grown from $23,517 in 2001 to $35,268 in 2010, a 50 percent growth rate over that period. From 1999 to 2008, Oklahoma had the fourth highest PCPI growth rate in the nation, primarily due to Right to Work.
Founder of Domino’s Pizza Sues Feds Over ‘Gravely Immoral’ Aspects of ObamaCare ~ Michigan homeboy Tom Monahan filed a lawsuit yesterday which includes Dominos’ Farms as a planitiff.
When DNA was first discovered six decades ago, the world was fascinated by the simple beauty of the double-helix; 23 pairs of chromosomes precisely positioned in an elegant spiral. Even more fascinating was the realization that the entire genetic code for a unique human being was contained in this microscopic structure; an infinitesimal blueprint for life.
What we’ve discovered over time is that the simple cell has never really been “simple” – it’s unbelievably complex. And as scientists have continued their research, deciphering the code (mapping the human genome), peering ever closer, the original double-helix structure has necessarily grown more and more complicated.
Each human body is made up of sixty trillion cells. Yet a strand of DNA is so extremely thin that each one of those cells contains a piece 5 to 6 feet long. And tiny as it is, the information coded within that tightly coiled strand is so intricate and specific that it describes the genetic make-up of exactly one of the more than 107 billon people who have ever lived on earth.
Each one of our individual cells contains fifty billion atoms, arranged into more than one hundred different proteins, packed full of genetic information; DNA, as well as RNA (ribonucleic acid) which governs the cells’s nutrition, repair and replication.
The “simple” living cell contains an amazingly complex maze of tiny tubes, miniature chemical factories, transportation and communication systems transmitting millions of precise instructions between DNA and RNA – all synchronized in perfect harmony. (The inspiration for the rapidly growing field of nanotechnology.)
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“The chance that higher life forms might have emerged in this way (by coincidence) is comparable with the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.”
~ Sir Fred Hoyle
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Unavoidably, the more micro-biologists learn about the structure of the cell and its functions, the more detailed and intricate the DNA model has become.
They’ve now identified hundreds of distinct proteins, different types of RNA, depending upon it’s function within the cell; tRNA, rRNA, mRNA…
If they discover much more complexity, they’ll run out of ways to explain and represent it!

So here’s the thing – given all the unbelievably complicated information packed into each nucleus, considering the purposeful activities occurring at a cellular level, how is it even conceivable that something so complex we humans can barely comprehend it, could have evolved??
The more scientists learn about these amazing building blocks of life, the less chance it’s even remotely possible that these tiny cells, and everything in them, could have self-assembled.
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More than 25 years ago, botanist and biologist Dr. George Howe, calculated the probability that the complex genetic information encoded in DNA could have been produced by random mutation;
The chance that useful DNA molecules would develop without a Designer are approximately zero.
… let me conclude by asking which came first – the DNA (which is essential for synthesis of proteins) or the protein enzyme (DNA-polymerase) without which DNA synthesis is nil? … there is virtually no chance that chemical “letters” would spontaneously produce coherent DNA and protein “words.”
Since Howe wrote that, research has of course only revealed more complexity at the cellular level, so now the odds of evolution must be… less than zero!!
Only a committed Darwiniac would ignore the evidence of intelligent design clearly present in DNA. It’s hard to imagine even Charlie himself would believe that if – after each new discovery of complexity – we just keep tacking a few billion more years on to the universal timeline, somehow the genetic code (which contains 5 billion “letters”), and its ability to repair and replicate itself, would have had enough time to s l.. o.. o..w l y come into being (from nothing!). Yet that’s exactly what evolutionary biologists have been doing for decades; assuming an ever-older earth.
Lately, they must have realized that a gazillion-year old universe was a bit much, so they’re getting more creative with their theories. For instance, what if we’re just a tiny speck in a massive “multiverse…?”
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From micro-biology on one end of the spectrum, to the vastness of the cosmos on the other, every organism, process and law of nature bears witness – as Discover Magazine pointed out – to an extraordinary fact about the universe:
Its basic properties are uncannily suited for life. Tweak the laws of physics in just about any way and — in this universe, anyway — life as we know it would not exist.
Physicists don’t like coincidences. They like even less the notion that life is somehow central to the universe, and yet recent discoveries are forcing them to confront that very idea. Life, it seems, is not an incidental component of the universe, burped up out of a random chemical brew on a lonely planet to endure for a few fleeting ticks of the cosmic clock. In some strange sense, it appears that we are not adapted to the universe; the universe is adapted to us.
But scientists just can’t let a Divine foot in the door, and;
Short of invoking a benevolent creator, many physicists see only one possible explanation: Our universe may be but one of perhaps infinitely many universes in an inconceivably vast multiverse. 😯 Most of those universes are barren, but some, like ours, have conditions suitable for life.
“Multiverse” is just the latest conjecture to be proposed to keep Darwin’s theory of evolution afloat.
Rather than go where the DNA evidence takes them (to a DESIGNER), some scientists just refuse to evolve beyond their own (Darwinian) assumptions. They simply posit theories that become more and more implausible.
There are still evolutionists so committed to their theories (and atheist worldview) they’ll never accept the truth until they discover a miniature manufacturer’s label inside the cell proclaiming “designed by God.”
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Related:
Now Evolution Must Have Evolved Different Functions Simultaneously in the Same Protein ~
Simply put, evolution either must have evolved two independent designs simultaneously in the same protein, or it must have been a two-fer, evolving the one design and getting the second for free. Either way the evidence does not bode well for evolution.
Despite the total lack of proof, Leftists are always accusing conservatives – particularly the Tea Party – of being racist. Yet whenever clear evidence of racism – from the Left -stares them right in the face (the union thugs in Lansing on Tuesday), they somehow blank out and totally ignore it.
AlfonZo Rachel (ZoNation) says the tragic NY subway death last week is another sorry example of the mainstream medias’s selective reporting ~
The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential
to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it.
~ James Madison ~
Herd mentality. Why do Leftists like to chant so much?
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Update – 12-12-12 1:15 a.m. – Michigan becomes the 24th Right-to-Work state as Gov. Snyder signs new legislation. Democrats have already filed lawsuits in an attempt to overturn.
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Update – 12-11-12 8:05 p.m. – Fists & foul language ~ Just in case the mainstream news forgets to mention or show any of this… Steven Crowder was attacked by union thugs during the anti-Right-to-Work protest in Lansing today. The same foul-mouthed gang helped tear down an Americans’ for Prosperity tent.
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Update – 12-11-12 12:00 p.m. – Things are gettting ugly ~ Angry Union Protesters Shout Down Tea Partiers in Michigan (and State Rep. Tweets Violent Threat) from the Blaze.
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As Michigan’s Freedom-to-Work comes up for a vote in Lansing today, union opposition is intensifying. Of course, the Progressive Labor Party – aka the Commies – will be there to lend a hand: Communist Labor Party Will Join Michigan Right to Work Protest.
“PLP will be there with the protesting workers, but instead of liberalism and trade unionism, we will be arming the workers with the Red ideas of a revolution that will give us the right to work for ourselves in a Communist society under the dictatorship of the working class.” ~ Progressive Labor Party
[Source: Breitbart]
Doesn’t that sound like fun?
And Michigan teachers plan to turn out in such force for the protests today that two metro Detroit school districts were actually forced to close:
The school district superintendent in Taylor, MI, a Detroit suburb, said the district would not have enough teachers to fill the district’s classrooms, according to local news reports. The Taylor Federation of Teachers is reportedly helping to organize the protests.
In Warren, officials announced Monday that classes were canceled at Warren Consolidated Schools due to teachers taking the day off to travel to Lansing to protest the state’s impending right-to-work legislation.
So class, what can we learn from our teachers’ example:
• It’s ok to put your own selfish desires ahead of your personal responsibilities
• Adolescent antics are an acceptable means of protest
• Employees should be forced to join a union whether they want to or not
• Communists are our friends
• It was never all about the children
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Funny, at the couple dozen Tea Party events I’ve attended (including the Glenn Beck rally in D.C. with close to 1,000,000 people), I never saw anyone pepper-sprayed, or arrested…

Dec. 6, 2012 ~ Protesters are led out of the State Capitol Bldg
in handcuffs after demonstrating against right-to-work
legislation inside the Capitol in downtown Lansing, MI.
Eight people were arrested for resisting and obstructing
when they tried to push past two troopers guarding the
Senate door. [Photo: The State Journal, Rod Sanford/AP]
And I definitely never saw this many state troopers at once ➡
Yikes!
Ran across the following post at Jefferson Review: A new American Christmas Tradition. It’s from last Christmas season, but considering that the economy hasn’t improved at all since then, it’s a great idea for a new approach to gift giving that’s still totally relevant. The best thing is, most of the suggestions are two-fers; get a gift the recipient will love, and help support a local business at the same time.
Also, perfect for that last-minute shopper!
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As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes there is!
It’s time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper? Everyone — yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local American hair salon or barber?
• Gym membership? It’s appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.
• Who wouldn’t appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates.
• Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down the Benjamines on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.
• There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants — all offering gift certificates. And, if your intended isn’t the fancy eatery sort, what about a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this isn’t about big National chains — this is about supporting your home town Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.
• How many people couldn’t use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?
• Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day.
• My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is struggling to get his repair business up and running.
• OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes.
• Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre.
• Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.
Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip.
You see, Christmas is no longer about draining American pockets so that China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn’t imagine.
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Keep the money in your local community; give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans!
Related:
Made in the USA Forever ~ Some unique – and uniquely American – gift ideas.
[Hat-tip: J&JinPA]
As we rush through the season with too much to do and too little time, here’s a simple reminder of what’s really important ~
Video from the Archdiocese of Dublin
Three years ago Tom Hirschman, a special education teacher at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque, was in the running for national coach of the of the year. This week, he tells Fox News he was forced to resign as head coach of the girl’s soccer team for praying over an injured player on the opposing team. Apparently, he also violated district policy last year for watching two movies with the girls — “Soul Surfer” and “Forever Strong” — because they featured religious themes.

Hirschman said he was surprised that something as seemingly innocuous as praying with an injured player has come back to haunt him, referencing the incident earlier this season in which he says an opposing player affirmed his request to pray with her.
“Literally, she did not move an inch, she was laying out on her face,” he said of the injury. “It was pretty scary … Our girls pray before every single game, but it’s student-led. So I went ahead and asked if I could pray with the team and I ended up asking the athlete herself if I could pray with her and she said yes. Who knew it would come back to be a big deal?”
Well Tom, it didn’t used to be a big deal. But the times they are a changing.
I’ve been reading “A Noble Treason,” (which I highly recommend) a moving account of Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, and the White Rose revolt against Hitler. It’s the story of a handful of college students who dared to speak out against the Nazi evil that had transformed their country. They were all Christians.
For the most part, during the late 1930’s, the churches in Germany were co-opted by the National Socialists. At that time, most churchgoers and many of the clergy were small “c” christians, their faith lukewarm at best. So, rather like the proponents of slavery in the 1800’s, and present-day liberal theologians, they found it no great leap to freelance the word of God and distort scripture to comport with the prevailing ideology.
The members of the White Rose, students at the University of Munich, were all capital “C” Christians. When Hitler first came to power, the Bavarian minister of culture had instructed their school’s professors;
“From now on, it will not be your job to determine whether something is true or not, but only whether it is in the spirit of the National Socialist Revolution.” ~ Hans Schemm
Sound familiar: rejection of objective truth and suppression of any but the approved worldview (currently secularism; reinforced by political correctness)?
History does repeat. Circumstances very, the cast of characters changes, but the eternal struggle between right and wrong, between good and evil, remains the same.
While we’re not seeing evidence of a movement toward nationalism in the U.S., as was the case with Nazi Germany, our government certainly seems to be making every effort to stamp out any allegiance to a Creator, to a Higher Power than the state. Praying over a soccer player, as Coach Hirschman discovered, has become a big deal, because it’s not in the spirit of the secular progressive movement.
Anyone who doesn’t see some eerie similarities between pre-war Germany and the America of today, either doesn’t know their (non-revisionist) history, or isn’t looking.
“Just like Christ, I have a duty to my own people.” ~ Adolf Hitler
[Painting Depicts Obama as Crucified Christ – Fox News]
Adolf Hitler is our Savior, our Hero
He is the noblest being in the whole wide world.
For Hitler we live,
For Hitler we die.
Our Hitler is our Lord.
Who rules a brave new world.
[from a song popular in the Jungvolk – a German youth organization]
Related:
The Left’s War on Christianity ~ by John Hawkins at RightWingNews
Lawmakers urged not to join Prayer Caucus

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Vetoes Bill To Create Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange ~ This Huffington Post article says that makes 19 states now, but being a Leftie news source, they miscount states the same way Obama does. I get 23 states currently opposing the HHS mandate.. And so does FreedomWorks.
1 in 4 British Families Going Hungry Due to Green Energy ~ Fuel costs are through the roof, causing a new phenomenon: “electric poverty.” Guess those wind farms really aren’t working out too well.
Anti-Gun Democrat Gets Arrested For Trying To Take HIS Gun On A Plane ~
(Illinois) state Senator Donne Trotter had to go to court yesterday because he was charged with bringing his .25 caliber Beretta (in his garment bag) onto an aircraft. He was arrested at O’Hare International Airport this past Wednesday, when security saw the gun via the airport’s x-ray.
Oddly enough;
(Trotter) opposed concealed carry legislation in the state and worked to outlaw so-called assault weapons.
The Left is nothing if not hypocritical. As long as they got theirs’ – everyone else can go swing.
What the Budget Impasse Is Really About ~ Excellent article at National Review Online by Mona Charen. It’s not just the fiscal cliff… it’s what’s at the bottom.
Think Mad Max.
When governments cannot pay their current employees because they’ve gone broke paying pensions to previous employees (among other obligations), you don’t get a “fiscal cliff” or even a bad recession, you get the unraveling of civilization.
The Grinch of 2012/2013 and the Theft of a Nation’s Spirit ~ A fitting analogy between America and Whoville ~ You can guess who plays the role of the Grinch.
[Cynthia E. Ayers at Family Security Matters]
Major Victory in Case to Safeguard Religious Liberty Against Abortion-Pill Mandate ~ Good news! ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) won an injunction against the HHS mandate for their client, a St. Louis business owner, claiming that it’s a blatant violation of the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom:
Nobody froze with Washington at Valley Forge to secure the right of government bureaucrats to coerce free men and women to violate their consciences. Nobody died on Omaha Beach so that someday all Americans would have the right to force their boss to buy them birth control pills.
Remember back in high school when most everyone wanted to be popular? Fit in with the “cool” kids? There seems to be a certain segment of the electorate still stuck in that insecure mindset years after graduation. Somehow, being a Republican is the height of “uncool.” If these “Democrats” spent some time doing a little independent thinking, they might realize they should probably be voting… Republican ~
[Video from Steven Crowder]
Before the GOP becomes totally indistinguishable from the new Democratic Socialist Party, and surrenders every last shred of their principles and dignity, Kurt Schlichter (a successful attorney) has some advice for House Speaker Boehner and his fellow RINOs (Republicans-In-Name-Only):
A Lawyer’s Tips on Negotiating for Dummies and Congressional Republicans ~
John Boehner and his inept coterie of GOP establishment cronies have made every mistake in the book. It’s professionally embarrassing.
Frankly, if these hacks were my associates, they’d be on a street corner with signs reading “Will litigate for food…”
Their clients – the voters who elected them – were pretty clear. No tax increases. Period. After all, not one Republican congressman was elected on a platform promising “I will raise taxes in order to help Obama morph America into Greece.” Well, maybe some of the ones from New England did, but that’s beside the point…
Naturally, the first thing the GOP does is roll over. Then to compound it, Lindsay and Saxby smarm up the Sunday morning talk shows with sanctimonious talk about how they are so patriotic that they are compelled to break their solemn pledge to their constituents never to raise taxes…
Besides knowing what the client wants – and not utterly ignoring it – the skilled negotiator next figures out what the other side wants. Negotiations are rarely just about the putative subject. In a lawsuit, sure there’s money, but there is also often emotions – anger, pride, and so forth. All of these play a role. And sometimes, there is another objective entirely.
Here, it’s pretty clear that Barack Obama is not merely trying to get the Republicans to raise taxes. Additional fuel for the bonfire consuming America’s culture of self-sufficiency is a sweet bonus, but he has his sights on something more.
Obama is trying to get the GOP to commit suicide so that it will be unable to oppose him. And the GOP is responding to this attempt to disembowel it by handing its enemy the figurative samurai sword.
So, how should the GOP run this show?
… what if the GOP’s offer was a two-word response beginning with the letter “F” – and what if they meant it? After all, the secret of being the unreasonable negotiator is that you can’t be bluffing, that you have to be ready to pull the pin and take the whole table out with you. In other words, the Republicans ought to be telling the President “Hey, I’ll be Thelma and you can be Louise, and we’re pedal to the metal.”
This is the final lesson. A sharp lawyer takes a tough situation and turns it to his advantage, while a hack takes an advantage and turns it into a tough situation. With a little skill, the GOP could not only get what it wants tax-wise but also turn the tables, setting the Democrats at each others’ wattled throats and neutering Obama.
Read Schlichter’s whole article. It’s deliciously sarcastic, while at the same time offering excellent analysis and advice.
So of course, it will be studiously ignored by the RINOs who are, at their core, unprincipled, and stuck on submissive.
Copyright © Designs on the Truth ~ Anno Domini MMXI-MMXIX